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Gypsy Soul, Casual Upscale in Merrifield's Mosaic District with Chef John "Bull" Engle - Closed


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This may be news but it's not doing the restaurant any favors.  Who's gonna want to make reservations in advance if they think the restaurant is going to fold, even if it isn't?  

They dont make reservations in the suburbs.....120 walk ins last night

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Since I couldn't go to the greatest last shows ever!  Gypsy Soul will be celebrating The 50th aniveresary of The Grateful Dead all weekend long.

Yes come in baked as hell as well!!!

Come to the bar and say "I need a miracle!" and get 20% off the bar tab!

Wear your favorite Dead shirt and receive 20% off the entire bill!

We will have the shows playing all night long!!

Vaps recommended!

sunshine day dreams!

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They dont make reservations in the suburbs.....120 walk ins last night  

Made a reservation and went last night -- just in case we wouldn't have another chance.  Excellent as always.  Place seemed very busy.  Great smoked tuna dip and fried green tomatoes with pimento cheese.  Great soft shell crabs with succotash.  Solid (but not as great) salmon with yogurt, smoked cucumber, and pea hush puppies: Salmon was perfectly cooked -- crispy skin but rare on inside.  Smoked cucumber didn't taste smokey.  If the dish were plated differently, i.e. more overlap of the ingredients so that the yogurt was on everything, it would have had more punch.  (A bit more salt would have helped too).  Side/small plate of grilled apricots was a tasty salad with excellent tarragon, almond pesto underneath.

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Finally made it to Gypsy Soul.  Hope this isn't the last time.  At five o clock on a Friday on a holiday weekend, it was empty when we came in, and still almost empty when we left at 6:30.

First impressions - I know exposed concrete and steel with an open kitchen is a Thing these days.  I can't help wondering what all the places with this decor are going to do when it goes out of style?  It's ok but I always feel like I am eating in a food court.  In an airport.

Waitstaff, truly excellent service all around.  Not just the waiter, who was attentive but not intrusive, but the host and the bus staff.

Food - the ham sampler was outstanding.  My favorite was the lardo, smoky and unctuous.  Rhubarb mustard the knockout accompaniment, bright red and brightly flavored.  Pickled ramps complex and earthy.  In contract, pickled garlic scapes inedible.  Garlic scapes seem to remain a challenge to all.  The other hams were all flavorful, well sliced, and all the accompaniments first class, but the rhubarb mustard I liked so much I ate it with a spoon.

Cornmeal crusted blue catfish a revelation.  I've been hoping to encounter blue catfish, it was worth the wait, and something I will keep looking for in the future.  This serving was ever so slightly charred, but the fish remained tender and flaky.  As others have noted, it's not a muddy taste, just clean white fish.  A cornmeal crust is the only way to serve catfish, in my opinion, and this was top of the line.

Husband loved his grilled softshell crabs.  I thought they were tiny, but he was happy with the threesome on the serving, and ate every drop of the butterbean succotash, scraping the plate, which, considering that he's orthorexic Paleo and turns up his nose at "lectins", is a real compliment.  He said that he really appreciated the way the butter from the crab soaked into it.

The smothered greens were dreadful.  I admit to being a greens purist, all I really want is pork and onion.  I keep hoping against hope, but this was a disaster.  The glaze tasted like nothing so much as commercial barbecue sauce.  Fortunately, our waiter, who had recommended them to us, comped them, and we tipped him accordingly (I hope).

Beer list well chosen.  I almost wrote well curated, but that's probably pretentious.  Anyway we liked our beers.

We will be back. I hope.

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(Next time say hi!)

We arrived at about 5:30 this evening, and there were already 3 other tables seated. We got our favorite perch in one of the booths on the front row across from the bar, with a great view of the kitchen and the rest of the room.

We started with the deviled eggs, which had a nice garnish of julienne ham and crispy greens (kale?). The sprinkling of cayenne gave them quite a kick, which balanced the creaminess of the eggs themselves.

"Spring Greens" was a lovely salad of baby greens with pickled cherries and shaved Parmesan. We shared that, and both agreed we would have loved to have had it all to ourselves.

I couldn't taste my husband's entree of monkfish cheeks with soft-shelled clams, but he practically licked the bowl, he loved it so much.

Likewise, I wanted to lick the plate after I finished my soft-shelled crabs with fresh succotash. As Ilaine described, the butter from the crabs soaked down into the fresh corn and lima (?) beans, and joined the parts into a whole. A little sliced caper berry provided a little acid that was just right. Yes, they were small crabs, but I had three of them all to myself! I finished the dish and wanted to start all over again. That was the best plate of soft-shell crabs I've had in recent memory (and I've had some great ones).

For dessert, my husband enjoyed a "Bananas Foster" bread pudding, and I had one scoop each of strawberry sorbet and vanilla bean ice cream. They do make really wonderful sorbets and ice creams.

We also got to sing along to our favorite Grateful Dead tunes playing in the background. I know Ilaine said the place was still pretty empty when she left at 6:30, but that was about when the rush started, and the place stayed about 80% full for the rest of our stay. I suspect it only got busier after 7:00.

Gypsy Soul was firing on all cylinders tonight, and we enjoyed it tremendously. We look forward to going back many times in the future--it's practically in our backyard!

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Since I couldn't go to the greatest last shows ever!  Gypsy Soul will be celebrating The 50th aniveresary of The Grateful Dead all weekend long.

Yes come in baked as hell as well!!!

Come to the bar and say "I need a miracle!" and get 20% off the bar tab!

Wear your favorite Dead shirt and receive 20% off the entire bill!

We will have the shows playing all night long!!

Vaps recommended!

sunshine day dreams!

Hey now!

There have been a lot of great posts here in DR Land, but this is my favorite.

Wish I could make it over there this weekend, but sadly, I'm all booked up.

J E R R Y ! ! !

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Since I couldn't go to the greatest last shows ever!  Gypsy Soul will be celebrating The 50th aniveresary of The Grateful Dead all weekend long.

Yes come in baked as hell as well!!!

Come to the bar and say "I need a miracle!" and get 20% off the bar tab!

Wear your favorite Dead shirt and receive 20% off the entire bill!

We will have the shows playing all night long!!

Vaps recommended!

sunshine day dreams!

Stopped in for an impromptu lunch Saturday, and I can vouch for the "I need a miracle!" discount. (Thanks, btw)

More importantly, I had one of the best BLT's of my entire life. A generous amount of perfectly cooked Nueske bacon was the star, but all of the elements worked perfectly together. The slaw and fries were great as well.

I'll also add that, while I'm not a regular drinker of Bloody Marys, Gypsy Soul's are incredible. Spicy and boozy. What's not to like?

Very pleased to see RJ's spot hitting its stride.

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Strongly considering taking my visiting brother and sister to Gypsy Soul this weekend. Can anyone tell me which menu on their website is more accurate?

This one: http://gypsysoul-va.com/menus/dinner/

Or this one: http://3kj1hwd23lm2yc5qj8l5g52z.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/Gypsy_Soul_Menus-Dinner.pdf

The PDF menu seems considerably more appealing. I mean, smoked pigs head? Yes please!

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This is absolutely not a knock on RJ and concededly a slight detour off topic, but just a general comment: I really like when restaurants keep their menus updated.  We can know when there are new things to try.  And we can decide where we want to eat tonight by looking at what is actually being cooked.  I gather that restaurants have different philosophies on this.  RJ's usually seem pretty up to date.  Fiola Mare does a brilliant job with this; they change their menu daily and update their website to match.  (On multiple occasions, my girlfriend and I have been drawn to a post-work dinner at Fiola Mare just because we glanced at the menu and it called to us).  In contrast, for quite awhile, Ocopa hardly ever updated their online menu.  I never know if the menu has turned over until I decide that it's been a little while and I'll go again.  (I notice that this may now be changing at Ocopa).

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A long-time friend of mine was in town, and I suggested Gypsy Soul would be a good place to catch up while eating and enjoying a beverage or two.

RJ wasn't there, but the place was firing on every cylinder. We sat at the bar, and the young lady who was our server (I forgot her name) was really on the ball. She mentioned she had only worked there a month or so, but knew the menu extremely well, provided recommendations, and made a mean cocktail.

My friend enjoyed the fried chicken immensely; perfectly cooked, the chicken arrived piping hot, and the portion was quite ample. Despite that, I was not offered a single bite, so I assume it was delicious.

Our server recommended the pork belly entree, and I am glad I took her advice. Forgive me again for my memory, but the pork belly was roasted and accompanied by a perfectly spicy (chipotle?) sauce, fried green tomatoes, grilled avocado, and roasted pepitas. Each element was perfectly cooked, and the pork was succulent, but not fatty in the least. Great dish.

RaisaB's comments are spot on--I can't wait to go back.

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That Fried Chicken!!!  This weekend (fri-sun)  96 orders of fried chicken equivalent to 48 whole birds!

Maybe it was this?

"Top 5 Fried Chicken Restaurants in America" on foxnews.com

I'm not sure what it was, but the group sitting to my left almost lost a piece of that chicken. If they had only looked away for a second or two....Grover said she'd never seen so much fried chicken being served.

PS: Once again, excellent dinner Chef.  The charred octopus and the smoked duck breast were both excellent.  Grover had been hoping your corn soup might still be on the menu.  She was quite happy to see it was. (Me?  I just enjoyed every spoonful.  A perfect, cold soup for a very hot evening)

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So the unfortunate part of this business is when a good place on the plate and soul shutters its doors. Knowing through a colleague of mine Gypsy Soul closed its doors last night. To those who enjoyed it remember that last bite you had there as it probably was most memorable.

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yup; 'tis a shame

So the unfortunate part of this business is when a good place on the plate and soul shutters its doors. Knowing through a colleague of mine Gypsy Soul closed its doors last night. To those who enjoyed it remember that last bite you had there as it probably was most memorable.

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So the unfortunate part of this business is when a good place on the plate and soul shutters its doors. Knowing through a colleague of mine Gypsy Soul closed its doors last night. To those who enjoyed it remember that last bite you had there as it probably was most memorable.

No! Some of the best chicken I've ever eaten.  R.J. where are you?

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Don, with all due respect,  if you would please lock this thread after this: [*]

A little wrangler was born

I seen him squirming in the saddle all wet and warm
He's such a changeable form in his very first year

He rides on to wrangler school
With a slingshot and a saddlebag of hand-me-down tools
Doesn't want to look like a fool
Pass the jail without tears

Time machines, remembered scenes
That a wrangler rides through a passing stream
Time's replaced by a peaceful dream
Wrangler space

He reigns his pony to the gate of the school
Feather pens and inkwells of hand-me-down rules
Like trading a pony for an aging mule
He rides away without fear

Time machines, new routines
That a wrangler rides through a passing dream
And time's replaced by a peaceful stream
Space wrangler space

He gets off at a stranger's place
Where the girls dance different with familiar grace
He's knowing that he found the place
That pours the coldest beer

Skol, very cold beer
Cheers, to your friends so near
High, your dreams so clear
Raise another glass to the dreams so near

---

[*] [Of course I'll honor your request. But people here are grieving your loss too - maybe not to the extent you are, but we all still feel it. If people want to wish you well in another thread, I don't think I should stop them. Chin up, RJ]

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The loss of Gypsy Soul was a stomach punch to what was becoming the best little pocket of eating in the northern Virginia suburbs. Let's hope something interesting and not a chain finds that space and does it justice.

According to the sign on the door, expect Greek next year.

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