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So the area in and around the Lake Anne Plaza still aesthetically remains much like it was when Reston initially designed. Concrete structures, on the water, and hidden since it is off the beaten path (it is not RTC nor Northpoint Shopping Center). This relatively new venture by a local family is a great place to grab coffee (they source from Cafe Amouri in Vienna, Virginia), breakfast, lunch or dinner. It is small, but the outdoor seating pared with the nights they feature live music is relaxing and simple. Right now on Sunday evenings they feature Patio party with Paella ($18) but that is all they have on Sunday evenings. If you want more variety, check out the regular menu and decent wine list. They have a nice white Sangria as well. You will often find several of the family members who own/run the establishment there working and more than friendly.

Hungry Pigeon is a place where I could easily see myself hanging out all day. I stopped in for dinner one rainy evening, and was so pleased I wish I would have checked into a hotel so that I could wander back and have breakfast. But first, let me tell you how delicious dinner was. Parking in Queen's Village can be a bit tricky, but I managed to snag a spot right in front. Consider myself lucky, and the night was off to a wonderful start. The decor of Hungry Pigeon is very comfy. I am certain many other restaurants spend thousands to execute the design that is accomplished at the Pigeon. The room is peppered with lush green plants, artwork, and wooden tables throughout the space. There is a communal long picnic style table in the back that I find rather charming. I am not sure what the fuss is against communal dining. I happen to enjoy it. It affords the opportunity to engage in conversation with strangers, or a group of diners that are there for the same reason. On this night, I opted to have a seat at the bar, because let's be honest, it's the best seat in the house. As soon as I sat down, I had the sense I was going to have a wonderful meal. There is nothing pretentious about this spot, and I fell hard for the bohemian energy that filled this space. Before deciding on coming to the Pigeon, I didn't do much digging in terms of learning about the menu. I read that Craig Laban, Philly's food critic, was a fan. He actually gave it three bells, and for the last few years it has been the darling of the city landing on lists published by several of Philly's finest reads. The spot serves all day fare. In the AM, it's counter service for breakfast and lunch, and at 5 it converts to full service for dinner with hand crafted cocktails, a bevy of local craft beers, and wines. On the menu there is a category titled, " Let's cook for you," ($50) and I gladly obliged, and chose the cocktail pairing. ($25) Four courses paired with a cocktail for each course priced under $80, a total bargain in my opinion. The first course or shall I say an appetizer x 3 was delectable. I was expecting one, but was bestowed a flight of 3 apps. A beef tartare dressed in fragrant olive oil donned with briny capers, smoked cheddar and paper thin sliced shallots. Its was served with house friend crisp potato chips. Amazing. Second, a stunning salad composed of strawberries and cherry tomatoes served with farmer cheese and dotted with sumac. Thirdly, a ham cured in amaro presented with a few helpings of pickled zucchini. All of this food was ample enough for 2, so I happily asked the server to pack up what I did not finish. This first course was paired with a delectable seasonal Negroni. A traditional recipes with the addition of a fragrant strawberry- rhubarb shrub. The aroma of the cocktail was like the most delicious strawberry field. That drink went down incredibly smooth. I could not get enough of how wonderfully delicious the drink's aroma had me captivated. And the bread, oh my. Pat O'Malley, who recently returned from a run at Baltazar, is the genius behind all of the pastries, breads, and sweets. For the first bread offering , a country rye is served with softened butter, and later in the meal, walnut bread follows.. For the first course, I nearly sopped the plate clean with the bread in the oil that pooled on the plate of beef tartare. Following the apps, a small plate of house made linguine tossed with tender squash, fragrant baby leaves of basil, butter, and a copious amount of grana padano. There was a fresh herb peppered throughout the dish that I couldn't quite put my finger on, but lent a slight bitterness to the dish. The bitterness was a welcome contrast to the richness of all the other components. A Tired Hand Pilsner was paired nicely with the pasta. Although I am not much of a beer fan in general, it was nice. A pilsner done in the style of a German hefeweizen. I am trying to expand my palate and open myself to enjoy beers, but I am not quite there. I don't enjoy the bitterness that is present in all beers, but I do appreciate the craft that goes in the production of beer and how in the last several years a beer renaissance has occurred. I took a few sips, and was looking forward to what the next course would present. A perfectly cooked loin of swordfish paired with a vibrant salad of haricot verts and tomatoes was absolutely divine. The salad was a raw salad dressed in vinaigrette that I could only guessed to be perhaps champagne vinegar and a generous helping of garlic. There was something fishy about the vinaigrette that I could not stop going back to. Kinda tasted like perhaps a dash of fish sauce was added to the dressing. Can't say for sure, but there was a familiar flavor that reminded of me home. The wine for this course was a varietal produced in the Canary Islands. A bright Listan Blanco, a varietal of Palomino grapes that are popular in the production of sherry, paired nicely with the fish. And to wrap up this incredible meal , a honeysuckle panna cotta topped off with the sweetest strawberries ended a most delicious degustation. The final pairing was an Amarro produced in Croatia. I was informed the Amarro is distilled from orange tea leaves among several other herbs. It made sense to round things out with a digestive, and it was perfect. All of the raves the Pigeon have received are so well deserved. This meal for what I paid, I would have gladly shilled more for. The quality of the ingredients to the attentive, yet relaxed service, will warrant me visiting several times over. Next visit will be to indulge in the full spectrum of pastries. I can hardly wait! Royally fed in the Queen's Village, katt

On fine days, I've been walking along the river at lunchtime in Old Town, and I had noticed an office building in the Canal Center with an upper floor restaurant/patio. Well, today I went with an office mate and we checked it out. It's called Cafe 44, and it's on the 4th floor of 44 Canal Center. Such a gorgeous day, we got a seat out on the terrace. Beautiful view of the river. The space is very clean and modern, whites & grays with touches of orange. The food is nicely done, fresh and with some thought. Today I got a Potomac Peach Salad ($6 small/$10 large, plus $2 or $3 upcharge, respectively, for chicken) that comes with a peach vinaigrette. Nice salad of peaches, apple slices, goat cheese & cashews on an arugula/mixed greens base. The vinaigrette was tasty although a bit on the sweet side, but with the goat cheese and arugula, things balanced out pretty well. The large is not so very large, I would say somewhat smaller than a GAR entree salad. Office mate got the hummus veggie wrap ($7) and enjoyed it. They also have beer, wine & cocktails. Open for breakfast and lunch during the week, for brunch on Saturdays only. Prices are moderate with a few things seeming a bit high -- they had a hamburger special today that was $16, for instance (served with orzo salad or chips). Sandwiches come sans accompaniment but you can do a combo that adds a soda or tea, chips & a cookie for another $4. Service was a little slow but not terribly so, and we were on the far end of the patio from the kitchen door, which might have added to that. Oh, and you can reserve your favorite table. There's also a goodly amount of inside seating with window walls so you can still enjoy the view. A respectable choice for a weekday breakfast or lunch.

Must give a shout-out to one of my favorite sandwich shops around. Generously-sized hand-carved sandwiches on fresh bread at very reasonable prices. Sounds very simple, but I'm always surprised about how few places successfully implement this concept. This is one of them. Last weekend: Roast Turkey sandwich piled with lots of veggies for $5.75 and my personal version of the Turkey Melt (hand-carved turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado, sprouts, swiss cheese and honey mustard on a wheat sub roll) for $6.75. One of the best values around, IMHO.

Bullfrog Bagels did a few pop-ups around the city, but has now opened a permanent store on one side of the Star and Shamrock bar on the East end of H St. I stopped in around 8:30 this morning, and there was a line of about 18 people. The selection today included all the standard bagels as well as a reasonable looking bialy. I needed to get in and out quickly, so decided against any of the breakfast sandwiches (egg & cheese, lox, smoked whitefish, etc.), and got a sesame and everything bagel to go, with sides of scallion/chive and smoked salmon cream cheese. The little guy got a bialy. The everything bagel was indeed everything. Almost, but not quite too salty (which is the perfect amount of salty for a bagel), with a shiny, dark brown outside and perfectly chewy inside. This was a damn fine bagel. The sesame looked like it could've used a few more minutes in the oven, and was a bit pale and soft on the outside. Overall, it was still a pretty good bagel, but didn't compare to the other. I'm not much of a bialy expert, but this one at least looked like the ones I remember from NYC. Nice softened onions and poppy seeds filled the middle. Given the crowd, they're definitely filling a need. Another day, another quality opening on H St.

I am surprised there isn't a forum solely dedicated to the incredible, edible Egg. Someone brought up what Tom Seisetma thinks about adding ketchup to eggs? Thoughts? Horrified? Genius? I want to know what everyone’s favorite preparation of eggs. On and by the way, I am back in full force. I will be chiming in much more often. My goal for 2018 is to make the leaderboard. Can it be done? Ambitious, kat

I'm way overdue in writing something about Field & Tides, considering it's become kind of a go-to for us. The food is vaguely Southern in inspiration. I've been 3-4 times, and honestly never had a bad dish. In general, I've enjoyed their starters a bit more than the mains, though that's my experience at most restaurants. Great brunch/lunch menus, and as befits a Heights restaurant, they have great kid options without pandering.

I patiently waited for a legit bagel place to open near me in DC, and one did (Bullfrog Bagels)...less than a year before we moved away to Houston. Underwhelmed with what folks called the "best" bagels in Houston (Hot Bagel Shop), we began patiently waiting again. Reader, my wait is over. Golden Bagels is the real deal. Perhaps the realest deal I've had since Pick-A-Bagel. I've had both the everything and the sesame. My standards. Firm. Chewy, but not overly dense. These aren't shitty coffee cart bread circles. The spreads are all made in house, and more than get the job done. Sesame bagel + scallion is my #1, followed closely by everything + lox cream cheese. The bialy we tried was a little too puffy for my tastes, but YMMV. They recently launched lunch, which is sure to be popular among the Heights crowd as well. My "build your own reuben" with an everything bagel + pastrami + sauerkraut + mustard was delicious. The pastrami is sliced thin and griddled with melty Swiss cheese. The top/bottom of the bagel is sliced off to give a flat sandwich service.

Barking Mad Cafe has a solid coffee program. They use Counter Culture beans and can draw a serious espresso. Their cappuccinos and lattes are also good, although I have had a few cappuccinos that were wetter than I prefer. They have drip coffee, but no pour over. The standout, though, is their cold brew. During the summer, they had two offerings, both on nitro taps. It's so smooth it's like drinking Guinness coffee. The coffee served at Barking Mad Cafe would be noteworthy anywhere in the DC area. IMHO, it's extraordinary in Gaithersburg, which has nothing comparable within a reasonable distance.

"Reopening of Beloved Roper's Restaurant Delights Residents of Flood-Weary Simonton" by Emily Foxhall on chron.com Residents of Simonton, and of Houston in general: You're an inspiration to us all - a pillar of strength and guts. Hearing that you reopened means a lot to me, personally, and I couldn't be more proud of your can-do spirit: You looked adversity in the eye, raised your collective middle fingers, put your heads down, and went to work, reclaiming your lives. The successful reopening of Roper's speaks volumes about all of you. Kind regards, Don Rockwell

Very sad, I noticed last night that the neighborhood indie ice cream shop on Wilson is hightailing it to Falls Church. I guess David and Rebecca Tax are consolidating their foodie interests (they own Clare & Don's as well).

Walked by at lunch and saw the Now Open sign out front. Turns out it was their opening day. Hope springs eternal when it comes to Bethesda delis, so I decided to give it a shot. It's pretty bare bones space, with a handful of tables inside and an outdoor space with a few plastic tables. But delis don't need to be fancy if the food is good. There the news is somewhat hopeful. The matzo ball soup is solid, with a big fluffy ball and broth that could have been a bit more flavorful but overall was very nice. My litmus test for delis is pastrami. Heckman's is solidly in the thick-cut pastrami camp and the good news is that it's undeniably juicy and well-balanced. But it's also uncomfortably fatty -- not the unctuous kind of fat that melts in your mouth but the kind that makes the sandwich hard to eat when it's stacked high. I ended up trimming some of the fat myself and then enjoyed the sandwich. Surprisingly, they didn't have pickles, which at a deli is unfathomable but presumably will be rectified soon. Service was somewhat confused, which is not surprising on day one. To be fair to the wait staff, I think the problems largely originated in the kitchen. Overall, I'm somewhat more hopeful than some of the other delis that have come and gone in Bethesda.

Cafe Kimchi has closed. The space is now open under (I believe) different ownership with a new name and prettier look. The new restaurant is Torai, which serves Korean and Japanese food. Yelp link (obligatory "Sorry, Don.") Someone I know who lives nearby told me about the change and said that the food is quite good and a step up from Cafe Kimchi. I have not been in to eat here yet and, for that matter, only got food at Cafe Kimchi once. I forget what it was but it wasn't something that traveled too well. Given the small space, takeout probably remains the best option here, though there is some seating. The space is at 751 8th Street, SE, next to District Doughnuts.

Had to fill the gap between work and improv class with some food, and I needed something well balanced, so the Ballston Food Court was out. Up one level it was either Panera or Chicken Out, and we'd just had Boston Market the night before (to cure my hangover from an open bar at DC Coast). Panera it was. I enjoyed my frontega chicken and pleasantly overdressed greek salad. My wife had what amounted to a bruschetta salad served with little wedges of focaccia. The focaccia was definitely the highlight, with the tomatoes being just okay and the mozzarella being a bit firm for "fresh," almost like a hard swiss. Their iced green tea was, as always, a refreshing treat. Overall I think their baked goods are surprisingly good for a mall chain.

... because it deserves its own thread... also Eggslut’s Alvin Cailan Tries Healthy Indulgence at Paper Planes, by Ligaya Mishan, August 28, 2017, on nytimes.com.

I prefer to let the pictures speak for themselves. It's one of my favorite places to eat at in NYC although sometimes I do wish the aura of preciousness could be dispensed with. Buvette 42 Grove Street (Bleecker Street) Greenwich Village

Good tacos and pupusas at My Las Delicias Deli, near the old Swahili space at that hideous junction of rt 1 and Rhode Island. Not sure what was there before. My Las Delicias Deli (Unofficial) Facebook Page

Flying Fish Coffee and Tea is now open (and has been for a few weeks in Mt Pleasant). It's excellent- very friendly, straightforward and good coffee and espresso. Haven't tried the teas just yet. Their iced coffee is terrific. Fantastic addition to the street . Counter Culture beans, they have the usual drip, pour over and mixed drinks. Worth a stop if you are in the neighborhood.

This post is a little about hyperbole and a lot about a place called The Bartlett Pear Inn (BPI), IMHO The Best Restaurant On The Eastern Shore. The BPI has occupied the space formerly known as the Inn at Easton for about two years. Apologies in advance for a longer post...okay a bit of an opus...but it's as much about guilt for not having posted sooner as it is about having a lot to share. And, for those who hate long posts, I've tried to use liberal formatting (sections, bold face, spacing, italics) to make it more skimmable. You can even stop after the one line Executive Summary just below if you like. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Great and often inventive food from a humble yet driven perfectionist. Great people with genuine niceness and hospitable spirits. Great value at moderate prices. Go soon. FULL POST INCLUDING SOME MULTIMEDIA, LINKS, REFERENCES & DETAILS I have to say I'm more surprised this thread didn't already exist than with any other new topic I've yet seen appear on dr.com because... -- It's a truly great place and I'll go into detail on that below. -- It's run by a truly wonderful couple, Jordan and Alice Lloyd. -- The Lloyds were the buyers of the historic inn from Andrew Evans, of the previous tenant, The Inn @ Easton and of current "BBQ Joint" fame. Of course, The Inn @ Easton was loved on this board and had a fairly active thread. Surely some Rockwellians have investigated what moved in when Chef Evans moved out besides me? -- Not that I put much stock in those "other" food community sites but BPI has earned the highest ratings on virtually all of them (tripadvisor, urbanspoon, zagat, yelp, blah, blah). There has been a fair amount of media attention showered on the Bartlett Pear. Though will say TS underrated this place in my view--he was there on a night when the best aspects of BPI may not have been on full display. I hope he goes again soon. IT'S ACTUALLY MOSTLY MY FAULT BPI'S COMING OUT ON DR.COM COMES SO LATE (SHORT BACK STORY) The most blame for BPI's very late coming out on dr.com is best directed at me. Our (my SO and I) story with BPI goes back to December, 2009 and that nasty first snowmaggedon storm which started on a Friday night. It stranded us at the Inn at Perry Cabin in St. Michaels for most of a weekend. "Most" because we made it out for just one dinner--at the Bartlett Pear--the Friday night the snow started falling with the roads just passable for us to make it back to St. Michaels from Easton after dinner. Anyway, since then, we've dined and stayed at Bartlett Pear maybe half a dozen times. I thought I'd posted on it before but hadn't. I suck. So, on with it already. But, first a very brief and relevant word or two about exaggeration. HYPERBOLE Most. Best. Worst. Top 3. Top 10. Outstanding. Extraordinary. Fantastic. Too many of those words in amateurish write-ups like mine. That said, there will be some hyperbole in this post. There has been already. Catch that thread title? It's intended. I think the place rather unique. And, getting the cliched stuff out of the way early, I'll go on record with a somewhat audacious claim but one I think accurate. OVERALL BARTLETT PEAR HEADLINE BPI is at least the best food on the Eastern Shore and would be a Top 10 (5?) for sure were it here in DC. We love it. It's fabulous. We've sent many friends there through word of mouth. One of our very favorite spots in the region. THE BARTLETT PEAR INN/BACKGROUND + WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? As written briefly above, the BPI is now about 2 years old. It's a gorgeous inn as I'm guessing the Inn at Easton was (I regrettably never visited it then). Alice Lloyd, the innkeeper, keeps 7 lovely, luxurious, yet moderately priced, rooms in great shape. She also handles two young children and one boxer but, no worries, the boxer is never in the inn for those concerned about that. I know they did extensive renovation to the Inn before reopening it as BPI. If bath accoutrements are any litmus, they use L'Occitane here but the rooms are surprisingly easy on the wallet. It's a perfect base for exploring Easton and the area. But, The Thing that's most exceptional about BPI is the restaurant and Jordan Lloyd's cooking. Jordan's only 31 and originally from Easton (as is Alice, whose maiden name was the inspiration for the Inn's name). He has the resume of someone older, more seasoned and very accomplished: - culinary school in Pittsburgh - worked and studied under several famous chefs including: * Christian Delouvrier (Bal Harbour, FL) * Thomas Keller (Per Se in NYC) * Michel Richard (here at Citronelle) Even TS wrote "....Lloyd has the chops to back up his dream..." Beyond "chops," Jordan has the passion, ambition, knowledge and skill one would expect given his bio. But, beyond that, there are three things we think most worth noting about Jordan and his cooking. THREE REASONS WHY JORDAN LLOYD'S COOKING STANDS OUT First, Jordan has that gift, exceedingly rare among would-be culinary innovators, to combine and invent; to create new, delicious and, at times, surprising flavors. This is the stuff that can't be taught in culinary school. No foams, sous vide or crazy experiments gone wrong on a plate here. Most everything we've ever had here has just been really excellent; lots of wows. And, in any restaurant of however many stars or diamonds, that's the most important thing, right? Second, Jordan has drive. It's not just about work ethic--though while anyone really good in this industry works their butts off, I can't imagine it'd be possible for anyone to work harder than Jordan. It's about his intense focus to become a great chef and then keep improving. That's why he sought out the jobs he did before opening BPI. That's why he logs the hours he does. That's why he'll even cook in 145-degree ambient temperatures (more on that below). Third and most important, Jordan is just an exceedingly nice guy in a way that can't be faked. He's genuinely humble and unassuming. I wouldn't be so sure about this had I not had as many interactions with him as I have; had I not taken a cooking class with him in his pillbox of a kitchen or chatted with him many times in quieter moments at the Inn. Maybe it's because he's so young. Maybe he was just raised that way. Niceness isn't just what makes someone so likable. Less obvious is that it (and associated humility) are what make it possible for a driven professional to always improve and get the best from staff. Such is Jordan. The BPI serves a full hot breakfast every day and dinner every night save Tuesday. They have a great brunch on Sunday, which I'll use for this post's food specifics since we were just there this past weekend. I'll then post again with some specific dinner items after a future visit unless others beat me to it. FINALLY, THE FREAKIN' FOOD! BRUNCH. This past weekend, four of us planned a Saturday dinner and Sunday brunch at BPI during a weekend stay. But, alas, for the first time in all our visits to BPI, our Saturday plan went awry thanks to the crazy high temps that would tax nearly any air conditioning system. Jordan's kitchen was getting up to 145 degrees and, after sweating out a Friday dinner, he shut down Saturday night to give his staff a break, despite the loss he knew he'd take with the dining room fully booked. We went to plan B for Saturday, enjoyed discovering the Bistro Poplar in Cambridge (which Jordan personally booked us into and which now has its own separate shiny new thread on dr.com) and cursed our bad luck for not having eaten at BPI Friday night when we had the chance. After all, as nice as the Inn is, the food is the biggest reason we keep coming back for weekends. Ah, 20/20 hindsight. So, Sunday brunch couldn't have come soon enough. We'd had a few Sunday brunches at BPI before so knew to expect great things. Our two friends couldn't stop raving. We ordered a larger number of things to best try out the various proteins, produce, dairy and treats featured across the menu. BRUNCH HEADLINE (FOOD AND MEAL EXPERIENCE DETAILS FOLLOW) Wow! Delicious, interesting and impressive. Strongly recommend eating (and staying) at the Bartlett Pear. SERVICE The service at BPI, whether dinner, breakfast or brunch, is always attentive, efficient and genuinely friendly and casual. This is one of the memorable and unusual things about BPI. They effectively meld an elegance and outstanding quality with an informal and casual culture. Most of the servers are from the area and pleasures. We had a relatively new and younger server for the brunch who took great care of us and our various special requests. FOOD We enjoyed: - Truffled Scrambled Eggs ($7): served in cast iron after being continuously whisked, these are light, velvety, savory and really, really tough to duplicate at home despite Jordan's unassuming and deceptively simple directions. - Side of Applewood Smoked Bacon ($4): suffice to say, this isn't the applewood smoked bacon sold at Whole Foods. Need to find out his source. This is the bacon any serious breakfast place should be forced to serve. - "Eggs Benedict" with Stonehouse Farm Poached Eggs, fresh hollandaise, Inn-Made Brioche toast and the bacon ($14 or free if staying at the inn). Of course, the technique is predictably and exactly what it should be with eggs perfectly poached to order. It's the brioche and hollandaise that elevate this benny above most. - Chef's Sunday Inn-Made Pappardelle Pasta ($21): I always, always order the pappardelle whenever on Jordan's brunch or dinner menus. Again, a simple preparation with his hand rolled pasta, light butter, truffle, 8 or so well seasoned cockles and a cheese that really makes the dish and the name of which I can't recall. This dish = sumptuousness. Sumptuousness = this dish. - Stonehouse Farm French Egg Omelette w/ Roasted Bell Pepper Ragout, Homestead Farms Organic Green Salad ($11 or free to overnight inn guests). The omelette was lovely, light and beautifully seasoned but it was the bell pepper ragout that wow'ed. I'm not a big bell pepper fan. That said, these rocked. - Sugar Snap Peas, Roasted Garlic Confit ($6): Maybe an odd thing to get with brunch and everything else but I felt like an in season vegetable and these didn't disappoint. - Pear Tart ($4): Befitting their name, there are often pear-related dishes on the dessert menu in one form or other. This had light airy puff pastry and perfectly chopped tender pieces of ever-so-lightly-sweetened chunks of pear. - Pear Sorbet ($3): the menu calls this a "scoop" but it's actually a quenelle. The best fruit sorbets are an explosion of the featured fruit which makes you forget anything about frozen, ice or ice cream. This is that. - Fordham's Root Beer Float w/ Tahitian Vanilla Ice Cream and Ginger Spice Macaroon ($8): This was the only thing we did right culinarily Friday night, getting some tea and this at BPI's bar after a disappointing dinner elsewhere. Really refreshing and reminiscent of both past and current eras. Jordan's ice cream. A pear straw unlike anything I'd seen before. I'm not sure about the provenance of the roughly 4" diameter macaroon that capped the tall soda fountain glass but it was the perfect complement for the dessert if not quite up to the global macaroon standard :-) BEVERAGE We didn't really put this to the test this trip and others with way more expertise than me will have to assess it. But, I can say that the wine program is of nice size and forethought with about 40 reds, mostly European/French (Beaujolais, Burgundy, Rhone, Bordeaux, Barolo, Brunello) and 30 whites. Smaller selection of about 10 beers but with choices including a Saison Dupont Farmhouse Ale (Belgian/$12), Meredsous Brune Dubbel Ale (Belgian/$8) and Traquair Jacobite Ale flavored with coriander (Scotland/$12). THE END P.S., Go to Bartlett Pear. Stay. Have dinner. Have brunch. Have drinks. This place is a destination. [disclosure: I have no vested interest in BPI other than the history as described above. Just an avid fan.]

Normally, I'd be eating Chinese food and seeing a movie. But thinking outside the box and wondering where my son and I could go for brunch or lunch on both the 24th and the 25th. Open to any kind of cuisine. We're in Arlington so I'd prefer places that are reasonably close. Thanks.

A new carryout place just opened in Shepherd Park. It's on GA Ave between Geranium and the library. They did a soft opening a couple weeks ago and we tried stopping in but chose the one night they closed to work out the kinks learned during the soft opening. We happen to have some friends who have done extensive traveling in Nepal and benefited from them getting some carry-out tonight and bringing it over for dinner, we live just a couple blocks away from the restaurant. Our friend went in hoping to speak Nepalese with the owner and found that the owner is Pakistani, but was told all the other staff were Nepalese, though none were there at the time. They ordered pork, beef, chicken, and vegetarian dumplings, though for some reason, one of the chicken orders was switched to beef. Our guess was that they ran out of the pork as the dumplings are probably made ahead of time and reheated as ordered. They also got two orders of chicken curry which came with rice and chickpeas. The dumplings were all good with nice seasoning, more than one gets from most Chinese dumplings. Even though a little spicy, as noted by the kids, they still loved them. The fillings are predominantly meat, without a lot of other filler. I personally, prefer a little more vegetable mixed in, and these were really filling. They provide three different dipping sauces, a spicy sauce, more traditional (so we were told by our friends) tamarind sauce, and then a light sesame dressing sauce. I used a mix of the spicy and tamarind sauces. Our friend's assessment was that the dumplings were authentically Nepalese style in taste and of average quality. The curry and chickpeas was pretty much what you might get in any of the Indian restaurants around here. The rice though was a blend of rice and various other seasonings and additions, not plain white rice. It was flavorful enough to stand on its own. Unfortunately, since we didn't pay for the food, I have no idea about the price. We will definitely be going back on our own as it's just a couple blocks away. Probably not something to make a special trip for, but if you're in Silver Spring and want to make a little detour for carry out, might be worth a try. It is definitely a nice addition to the area which seems to be oversaturated with Ethiopian restaurants and I think given the option of dumplings here or McDonalds across the street, my kids might actually go with the dumplings. One warning if you are taking the food far, with the new regs on carryout containers they use a cardboard based carryout container that does not hold up to the curry at all. When we opened up the bags, the curry containers were close to total deterioration. The dumplings came in tin containers that probably should be used for the curry as well. Moh-Moh-Licious Facebook Page

Short notice trip to the area this weekend. Spending just one night downtown (Loews). I've never been to Philadelphia, so I'd appreciate a couple of suggestions somewhat close to the hotel. (Midtown?) No real restrictions, but my wife is not as enthusiastic as I am about seafood, and casual attire is preferred.

Check out Grumps on Forrest drive for Breakfast. Very Local, you will be happy.

This picture brings back so many memories of my son and I going to Ireland in 2010 - we were there for about 10 days, and seemingly every single morning, we'd have an Irish Breakfast, which looked exactly like this (except that we had cheaper, lower-quality, hotel versions). By the time our trip was over, neither of us wanted to see another Irish Breakfast again, and I'm pretty sure it remains that way now, six years later. They look *so good*, but in reality, the ones they serve in most hotels just aren't, and when you have them day after day, they really just wear on you. Thanks for the memory - I think!

I've been meaning to try out Manila Mart since the Tim Carman review in the Post last year, and finally made it there for lunch today. Manila Mart is tucked away in a shopping center just off of Rt 1 a block north of Behnke's, in between the Korean duo of Gah RhaBreakm and Da Rae Won. Manila Mart is a Filipino market, with a few small aisles of shelf goods, plus a tiny produce section and I think some refrigerated cases along the side. In back, however, is a hot food counter with a small kitchen and a handful of tables for diners. A handwritten sign behind the counter lists the regular menu items and daily specials. The counter includes multiple vats of meats in variously colored sauces, a warming case with several types of cooked fishes and pork, pre-portioned noodle dishes, a pile of bbq skewers, and an array of desserts. About half of the desserts were labeled, the rest of the food was unlabeled, but they were happy to explain what each one was. I got a pancit bihon - vermicelli rice noodles with a mild flavor topped with chicken and veggies, $5.50 - and a halo halo for dessert, $5. The halo halo has shaved ice with various beans, chunks of colored jellies, flan, and something that may have been rice based, with evaporated milk poured over and a scoop of ube (purple yam) ice cream on top. The other meat dishes (mostly chicken and pork from what I could tell) would probably have been more adventurous choices in terms of flavor - I'll have to try that next time, along with the cassava pie. They have a facebook page and instagram that note when special dishes are available. It looks like they may also offer Filipino breakfast on Sunday mornings.