Food find: Skyline Cafe

So I haven't been cooking at all lately because of my kitchen/fridge situation, which has forced me to find many lunch alternatives to my standard must-be-refrigerated sandwiches and soups. Oh well, at least I'm getting out.

My recent find was the Skyline Cafe at 1250 H Street NW. Some people in my office brought back delicious-looking salads from this place, so I was really curious. The places features a huge salad bar along with Asian-style hot food buffet, both for $5.99 per pound. On my first visit, I don't know what possessed me to order a sandwich when all the delicious salad and hot food options were available to me. It was a mistake. I ordered the turkey brie, as did my lunch companion, and it didn't really meet expectations. The mustard was sugary sweet and the bread was dry and sandpapery and the brie, although I watched the guy slice it and put it on the sandwich, was not fresh-tasting or tasting like much of anything. Can you even see the brie in there? Maybe it would have been better hot.

But alas, my second visit was worth writing about. It doesn't look like much, but it was a tasty lunch. I thought I'd give this place another run, this time for the salad bar, which it's known for more than the sandwiches. It did not disappoint. First off, the choices are overwhelming. There's standard salad fare -- lettuce-based salads, cold pasta dishes, tuna and chicken salad, etc. But there are also more interesting offerings such as veggie spring rolls, cooked sushi rolls, dumplings over rice and chilled Asian noodle dishes. I tried a few different things, just out of curiosity. The cold noodle dishes were delicious, fresh and perfectly cooked in terms of the pasta. The sushi was made with regular rice, so it was not so tasty, but it was just avocado, crab and cream cheese. The dumplings and spring rolls were phenomenal. They were obviously made fresh and I was surprised by the quality. And I loved this tomato, mozarella and basil salad they had. It was fresh and tasty.

But it's easy to go overboard here. My plate wasn't even that full and I was over one pound by a bit. But it was still a worthwhile and fairly cheap lunch. Next, I'll have to try the hot food bar and report back.