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schulju

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About schulju

  • Birthday 03/14/1967

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    bradleymd

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    Female
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    I'm inspired by people who are passionate about food. I love to try new places and am excited when someone is serving fantastic food at affordable prices.
  • Location
    Germantown, MD

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  1. I was thrilled to join a friend on opening night of "Addie's 2.0". They plan to start taking reservations in about two weeks and will be on Open Table. Expect lunch to start in a month or so. And brunch will be added at some point. Seating at the new restaurant ins't much more plentiful than the old one. However, there's a nice two-sided bar (one side outdoor, one side indoor). There are several original craft cocktails on the menu. The two we tried were quite nice. But these are a bit complex to put together and I can see the bartenders getting backed up on a busy night. When we arrived at 5, the bar was already hopping. The dining room opens at 5:30 and was full by 6pm. The room is simply but elegantly dressed with very high ceilings. The only issue we had was the heat. There are fans over the bar area, but not over the dining room; given a whole wall of the restaurant was open on one of the hottest days of the summer, we were uncomfortably hot. They did turn up the AC upon our request, but that didn't do much to alter the temperature in the rear area we were seated in. As we left, we could feel the AC in the front part of the dining room, it seemed much more comfortable there. The menu is quite small, with one whole page devoted to the raw bar/seafood tower selections. The seafood tower comes in three sizes (starting at $78 for 7 choices) and can be composed from a lengthy list of selections. The remainder of the menu is split between appetizers and 8-10 entree choices. My companion chose the crab cakes for dinner. While these are only listed on the menu as an appetizer (two 2oz cakes for $22), you can order three for $33 to make it an entree. She said they were excellent. I chose the tuna as it was a favorite of mine from Addie's 1.0. The tuna was extremely fresh and high quality. It was a very large serving as well. My only complaint is that the tuna, the roasted romaine salad and the radishes and avocado that accompanied it were all HEAVILY dusted with chili powder. There was no element on the plate that didn't taste of the chili powder. It was a bit overwhelming. We finished the evening by splitting an order of beignets. 6 piping hot, deep fried dough balls served with a trio of dipping sauces. These were very good and I would definitely order them again. While there were certainly some tell tale opening night issues going on, overall our experience was smooth and free of any significant snafus. For that alone, Addie's gets a gold star.
  2. Third trip to Q in 6 weeks and second dim sum brunch. While the dim sum menu is small it is filled with high quality tasty bites! There were four of us and we ordered up a storm. We had taro puffs, almond shrimp balls, soup dumplings, shrimp dumplings and egg tarts from the dim sum menu as well as the pan fried dumplings, Peking Duck appetizer, Kung Pao chicken and Dry Steamed snapper from the dinner menu. The dim sum was all excellent. The almond shrimp balls were unique and very good. The broth in the soup dumplings was really tasty, although these are probably more petite than the soup dumplings you've had other places. The Kung Pao chicken is a favorite. The only dish that was not excellent was the snapper, and that could be because it wasn't what we were expecting. The fish is hidden beneath a pretty thick layer of shredded "stuff"...it was okay, but the fish itself didn't have much flavor. I've probably OD'ed on Q a bit, but it's nice to find a place that offers dim sum and a full menu so that both my husband and I can enjoy visiting (he's not a dim sum fan). There are a number of people in my circle who want to give Q a try...so I'll likely keep going!
  3. A group of 5 of us (2 of my companions were from Southern China), tried Q for the first time Thursday night. We all had positive impressions overall and wanted to return for the dim sum brunch. This was a business dinner, so I didn't take any pictures. Interestingly enough, the person picking up the tab thought the bill was very reasonable for the amount of food we had. We started with four of the dim sum appetizers. I loved the texture of the Scallion Bubble Pancake when it arrived at the table, but it does get a bit greasy as it cools. We all really enjoyed the Cilantro Fish Rolls, these were crispy and the cilantro gave them a pleasant flavor. Pan Fried Pork Dumplings were good, a bit more gyoza than dumpling, but the meat had a very nice flavor. The only appetizer we didn't love was the Joyful Pyramid Dumplings. These were beautifully presented, each dumpling having a different color wrapper, but they were over-steamed and the wrappers were too soft. They fell apart as you tried to remove them from the bamboo steamer. We reserved a whole duck. I was a bit disappointed in the Peking Duck. It was sliced very thickly, which means it was a bit greasy. It also came to the table a barely warm. (The duck is carved and plated in the kitchen.) One of our party was quite late (almost 45 minutes) so I'm prepared to chalk this up to the kitchen having to hold the entree, but next time I'll only try the appetizer before I order the whole duck again. In addition to the 4 appetizers and the duck we ordered two entrees. Perfect amount of food for 5 hungry people. I loved the Fu Rong Chicken. I am not one for really spicy dishes, so this was right up my alley. The chicken absolutely melted in the mouth and there were a ton of bright, crisp veggies with the dish. Highly recommend for those that want to retain some of their stomach lining. My colleagues absolutely loved the Hot and Numbing Fish in Clay Pot. This dish arrives at the table boiling hot and remains really hot the whole time we were there. This was a bit too hot for me, I only tried a bit of the broth on some rice. The broth was rich and complex. My spice loving friends didn't think it was numbing hot, but they enjoyed it quite a bit. All in all a great experience, but not a replacement for Peking Gourmet Inn, unfortunately. I keep looking for a reason to never have to go to PGI again. I can't wait to go back for a dim sum brunch. I will report back once I've had the opportunity.
  4. My wonderful brother-in-law/resident chef just served these biscuits on Easter. He purchased them frozen from a local grocer. FROZEN..and they were THE BEST biscuits I have ever tasted. Absolute biscuit nirvana! I can't wait for work to be over today so I can go on a hunt for them at a store near me.
  5. While I cannot offer any help on the construction of a wine cellar, I'm more than happy to participate in it's inaugural launch! Cellar warming anyone??
  6. I know I've been MIA for a while, and offer my apologies for being an under-performing member of our community. Let me earn a bit of redemption by letting you all in on a little secret hide-away all the way up in Monrovia Maryland. Wilcom's Inn is a refurbishment of the old dragway bar that sat at the crossroads of Routes 80 and 75. The building has been divided into a sports bar with full kitchen service and a white tablecloth steakhouse with Peruvian flair. L'Academie de Cuisine-trained Chef Mark Fuster has built his menu around steak house staples such as cowboy cut rib eye, NY strip and crab cakes. The real genius of the menu lies in the Peruvian inspired dishes such as LOMO - a very savory stir-fry of filet mignon; empanadas, ceviche and tacos. Wilcom's Inn also offers a bottomless brunch both Saturday and Sunday for $30 that includes tasting sized portions of many of the diner menu options. Mimosas are $7 with 50 cent refills and Bloodies are $10 with $1 refills. If you're a late riser, brunch is served until 4pm! The pot of gold at the end of this particular rainbow is Wilcom's wine list. Curated by the man behind Gaithersburg's former Rico Y Rico, this list is comprised of 90+ rated bottles offered at extremely reasonable prices. Find a new wine you love? Wilcom's has a "carry out" license that permits you to purchase their wines at retail (not menu) prices to take home with you. Hubby and I double dated with friends from Westminster last weekend. We managed to try three different appetizers and four different entrees. Everything was very well received. My friend's LOMO narrowly edged out my scallops (a special) for best dish on the table. Our server, Dani, was friendly, attentive and knowledgeable about the menu. She had great recommendations. It's small, it's a bit loud, and the parking lot is filled with jacked-up pick up trucks. All this is superfluous. Great food, great wine and great service are waiting for you in this dusty corner of Frederick County.
  7. You should have taken a picture of that "thing" they have erected over the entrance to the parking garage. I believe it's supposed to be a Phoenician war ship..but it's "faux" aged...looks crazy...
  8. Can I get a stuffed animal that looks like Zooey's puppy picture??
  9. You may have noticed the adorable kitten who serves as my avatar. Here are a few pics of Belle all grown up, six years later. Also a few of her older brother from another mother, Blade. Belle is very "cat" like...she will deign to lounge across your lap, at her leisure...never yours. Blade is more dog than cat. He follows us from room to room, always wants to be our complete focus, and will cry if you walk out the door and leave him alone with only Belle for company.
  10. First visit to the Pike & Rose location this past Saturday night. I was shocked to realize they had been open for nine months already! We only saw a handful of tables besides our own 4-top all night; one larger party and two 2-tops. Certainly good company can make for a nice evening in any venue, but we really enjoyed ourselves and were planning our next visit while still at our table. We even moved from inside the restaurant to an outside table for after-dinner drinks. The outside tables have heaters and Owen's Ordinary next door has a large outdoor fireplace which kept us comfy on a cool evening. Our server, Carla, and her management team made us feel like welcomed guests. Carla was very knowledgeable about the menu and wine list and graciously brought us a number of wine tastes as we struggled to choose a white wine from the menu. Italian white is not something I know much about and since the wine menu is not on the web site, I wasn't able to do any reconnaissance. We ordered both the Salumi and Formaggi boards. The Salumi board is HUGE and actually quite worth its $25 price tag. The Formaggi board is much more modest, but at least as generous as most of the cheese plates I see around town. There was nothing unusual in either of these items, but they were solid offerings. Frankly, these two boards and a couple bottles of wine were probably all we needed...but of course, we pressed onto full entrees. Three of us had pasta: an order of lasagna, an order of agnolotti and an order of penne allla luganica. The lasagna and penne were both excellent. The agnolotti were filled with burrata and herbs and served in a butter and cream sauce. While quite tasty, the dish was just too rich to be able to eat more than a bite or two. I regretted my decision not to order the lasagna of which I only got one small bite before my husband completely devoured it. He declared it "almost" as good as the lasagna at Floriana..high praise indeed! I thought desserts were the weakest offering here, an order of tiramisu was only mediocre at best. The gelato was okay, but not the rich, creamy dessert that is ubiquitous in Italy. All in this is my favorite restaurant of the Pike & Rose complex to date. I'm sure we'll be trying Owen's Ordinary soon, hopefully while it's still nice enough to sit outside an enjoy that enormous outdoor fireplace.
  11. We were next door at Carluccio's Saturday night (post to come). Our waitress told us they were in "soft" opening for family and friends, expected to open to the public this week.
  12. Weezy, from your description, it sounds like you may be referring to Gemelli's Italian Market in Darnestown ( 12169 Darnestown Rd, Gaithersburg, MD 2087). I have bought many a great sandwich from them. it's also my go-to place when composing an antipasto plate for company.
  13. Although it's likely not worth a trip across the river, I thought I'd let my MoCo comrades know that the 2nd annual Corktoberfest has been scheduled for October 22-23 at the Fairgrounds. Last year there were about a dozen and a half wineries along with half a dozen food trucks. There's also a small area for wine-related crafts and merchandise. We went last year and had a good time. Corktoberfest
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