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Showing results for tags 'Breakfast'.
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Ok. This place is part of our regular rotation. Its nestled in a little strip mall near the nicest trailer park you'll ever see. I can honestly say I have never had a bad meal here. I have also never had a great meal here either. Everything I have had is in a solid 7 range. The Carnitas, Barbacoa, and Stewed chicken are probably the best. Put them in an enchilada, burrito or taco... it's kind of the same. On Saturdays they have a Kid's eat for a buck promotion.... So I find myself here once a month. Most of the time they have a woman in there that does balloon animals. She is an artist. Really some the most elaborate balloon animal creations you'll see at a Mexican restaurant at 7pm on a Saturday (or anywhere else). Hey... I have three kids.... these things are important. With that said, they are doing a good job of playing to the Chantilly/SR demographics and tend to be full on a Saturday. My favorite thing here is actually their breakfast burritos. I like them better than Anitas (heresy!). The difference between a breakfast burrito with chorizo here and at Anitas is that El Fresco actually puts chorizo in theirs. If you are in the area, they are worth trying. I always get the chorizo with red chile. -
Bon Fresco Sandwich Bakery opened a few weeks ago in Columbia and brought sandwiches and bread that rise immediately into my favorites in Howard County. Great ingredients. It couldn't be more simple, but it feels less and less common to find delicious food that tastes like someone was paying attention. Certainly rarer at a casual sandwich joint -- where the chains make their money with interchangeable ingredients. Bon Fresco's sandwiches are exceptional. Thick $6.50 sandwiches that each have several great ingredients. Thick slices of real roasted pork loin with grilled squash and a spicy sauce. A pile of salami that looks more like a gourmet deli than a sandwich shop, topped with green-leaf lettuce and cream cheese. Cream cheese? We would never put cream cheese on salami, but Bon Fresco offers this kind of inspiration in everything from tuna to turkey, prosciutto to grilled vegetables. These are sandwiches with real flavors. Each ingredient stood out, and it came together with the beauty of Thanksgiving leftovers -- a simple sandwich made scrumptious because someone spent an entire day cooking the parts. Of course, great sandwiches start with great bread, and Bon Fresco's baking is every bit as attractive as its meals. In the open kitchen, Bon Fresco bakes baguettes, ciabatta, focaccia and other loaves. You won't buy better bread in Howard County. This is the bread that I love -- crisp crust, light interior. They're sandwich breads so they don't have filings or flavors. We ate two ciabattas right out of the oven. So hot that the crust cracked rather than tore, and we juggled pieces as we drove home and wolfed them down. We brought home a separate baguette, and that bread holds it own with Savage's Bonaparte Bread for sandwiches and French toast. Again, these are sandwich breads so the inside is more perfect white loaf than the famous, yeasty French bread of 2941, but they're spectacular warm and worth the trip over anything that I have bought in a supermarket. This is a great place for lunch or to just pick up bread to bring home for dinner. Check out the salads. There is a rotating selection, and the Israeli coucous and the curried chicken salad looked spectacular when I visited. When a place pays attention to ingredients like Bon Fresco, simple dishes like tomato and mozzarella become worth a few minutes' drive. Bon Fresco is just off Snowden River Parkway on Oakland Mills Road. Like so many Columbia joints, you can't see it from the main road, and I hope that people will search it out. $6.50 was pricey for a sandwich without even chips, but I think Bon Fresco is worth the money. Plus, I have heard that Bon Fresco has already started adding some side salads to their sandwiches, and the owner has told people that they're working on a recipe for potato chips that they'll make there.
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Sooooooooo yesterday I decided to try my new thing of spontaneity when it comes to restos as I explained in my previous post sort of. I was going to go to Eim Khao Mun Kai which is a very interesting and nice spot that serves Thai Chicken Rice. BUT I had always wanted to try the interesting looking Chinese restaurant across the way. I made the plunge and went across the street to see the menu. It was a pretty uninteresting menu featuring basicly what you could find on any Catonesey Chinese American restaurant menu. I persisted and went in and ordered. I got the salt and pepper pork chops and some roast meats on rice like duck etc (I am a great lover of the roasted Chinese meats!!!). I felt everything was a bit boring and too fatty for my personal taste. I wasn't really wowed by this. It just was kinda boring. Now I know I ordered kinda boring but when those roast meats are good it can be a sensational dish and this just wasn't. It was slightly better then New York Noodletown perhaps but not really super dee duper better ya know. I didn't love the pork chops either and felt the flavor was diluted by the fried fatty taste of the preperatioooonnn. So was this meal like terrible not quite but neither was it great either!!! I think in LA this food is much much better generally or San Fran or Vancouver for that matter!!! -
Wellllll I don't mean to be quite the debbie downer between contra and Karam for while this was better then my bad contra experience, if they can be compared, this wasn't great either. Now this isn't a totally fair argument as one is fine dining and one is a Lebanese "snack shop" but I believe experiences can be compared across restaurant genres. I digress though.... Tonights resto just wasn't great. Perhaps I am becoming tooooo demanding but I got the chicken shwarma sandwich with falafel in it and I got a mezze spread cuz like you can't have Lebanese without some hummus. Nevertheless, I expected more from this spot sadly and left disappointed. Firstly, the falafel didn't taste all that fresh. It had that sitting around falafel taste and texture which is like chewy falafel that loses its crunchy skin etc. That was a big disappointment!! The chicken was fine but I wouldn't label it so good that it outweighed the falafel tragedy!!! Next was the mezze. Now Hummus is something I feel like I've really honed my knowledge of in terms of how it's supposed to taste. I expect a certain sourness and bitterness to it bursting with chickpea flavor (I know they use other beans but the flavor should still have a bursting quality in the mouth at least to me). It should not be bland which precisely this was. I dunno if it was the beans used or something but this just wasn't the best I've had. I also got some other spread they were fine but I just didn't feel this place was up to snuff. My anxious side thinks I'm being to tough recently but I dunno I think I'd stick to this negative review if pressed. HOWEVER.....the day was redeemed by a nice Lebanese pastry/ice cream shop which I shall wax about in another post!! I promise next post will be positive!!! Is there another one of these I should be giving a hard look at going to?? My feeling is that Turkish food is on average better in NYC then Lebanese but I haven't had enough of either during my short sojourn here in the city to absolutely confirm or deny that feeling.
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For breakfast sort of near the Inner Harbor (Fell's Point), you absolutely can't beat the Blue Moon Cafe (1621 Aliceanna St Baltimore, MD 21231). Small place with amazing biscuits, great coffee, great atmosphere. Due to its popularity, the lines can get long, but it's well worth the wait. -
This is an interesting situation for me as moderator, and if we had an existing thread for Boss Hog's (we don't), I'd probably mark that as closed and give Simply Fresh a clean slate. Chef Rana (Rana is her first name) took over Boss Hogs in June, 2015, and changed it to Simply Fresh - both the interior and the patio look *nothing* like I remember Boss Hogs looking like, so unless I'm not remembering correctly, she really gave it a redo. I was driving in McLean, and was planning on going somewhere else, but I saw the sign for Simply Fresh, and it looked brand new to me, almost like some sort of grand opening, so I parked on Elm Street and marched on in, shocked at how nice looking the restaurant is now. It's still a cafe, but it's very clean, and looks like it just opened last week (the cashier told me it's been open since the summer, which surprises me). The cashier is a young gentleman, and Rana is his mom (I'm assuming from the language on their website (they have a second website, apparently for online ordering) that she's the owner as well as the chef). Since he's attached to the restaurant, and since there's such a diversity of items on the menu, I trusted him, and flat-out asked him what he liked. "I really like the lamb," he said, and so the lamb it was. This is where it gets even more interesting for me, because last night I went to Hula Girl in Shirlington, and had what amounted to a blue-plate special with their steak teriyaki. As it turns out, the Roasted Lamb with Potatoes ($12.99) made these two restaurants, in my mind, somewhat alike - the lamb, too, was a blue-plate special. The dish was like something my mom would have made (if she was Greek) - a few slices of fully cooked leg of lamb, high on the flavor meter, accompanied by large, bite-sized chunks of roasted potatoes, and a side salad - both dishes (this one, and the one from last night) were meat-starch-salad, were about the same size, and were about the same price; the only thing different - vastly different - is the atmosphere of the two restaurants: Hula Girl is a bright, loud bar; Simply Fresh is a quiet, workaday cafe. I had just gotten some always-needed cardio, and was starving - I knew halfway through the dish that I was not going to be terribly full, despite it being a perfectly reasonably sized portion of food. Knowing that the Orange Bowl was starting at 4PM, and that I'd be plastered in front of the screen (I'm watching and typing at the same time), I wisely got a second dish to go for later in the day, which was a "special" listed on the chalkboard out in front of the restaurant - however, the exact same dish is on their regular menu, so it was more marketing than anything else. I figured the Roasted Chicken with Potatoes ($9.50) would be the same plate of food as the lamb, and other than substituting chicken for lamb, it was. An uncut, half-chicken was well-roasted - rubbed, moist, and super tasty - whether or not you get the chicken or lamb depends solely if you're in the mood for chicken or lamb - I can recommend them both as good, hearty plates of food - nothing you'll remember in a month, but solid. Just having finished the chicken dish a few minutes ago (I didn't even need to heat it up), I realize that this was my final meal, and final write-up, of 2015, and I can't think of anything I'd rather do to celebrate the New Year, than to support a local, family-owned, mom-n-pop (or, in this case, mom-n-son) restaurant - Hula Girl, too, despite it's pomp and circumstance, is pretty much of a mom-n-pop; just in a completely different style (and most likely with some investors). Simply Fresh (the sign says, "Simply Fresh - barbecue & more") has BBQ, and a couple girls walked in and picked up a $100+ order, undoubtedly to celebrate New Year's Eve. Simply Fresh is big on breakfast, and across from the counter on the right, where you order your meal, it also has a counter on the left, with a pastry display case and an Illy coffee setup - this is probably where the cashier is in the mornings (have a look at this breakfast menu, and file it away in your head for future reference). They're open 7 days a week at 7AM each morning, except for Sundays, when they open at 8AM - I would not hesitate to try the breakfasts here. It's a pleasant, albeit somewhat stark, place to eat, and you won't regret coming here, although it wouldn't surprise me if there was a clunker or two on the menu (when one person does all the cooking, it's hard to do *everything* well). Over the next hour or so, I'll be either cursing at the TV or jumping with joy (Clemson is down 17-16 at halftime to a resilient Oklahoma Sooner team), and then, when it's over, I'll forget about it (unless Clemson wins), and I'll be spending this evening doing exactly what I want to be doing, given that I can't be with the people I want to be with: staying home, not having a drop to drink, relentlessly practicing a Beethoven sonata, maybe watching a rerun or two, and being thankful for this wonderful community. Happy New Year, everyone! I hope that 2016 brings you everything you wish for, and please remember always how grateful I am to have you in my life. -
The Waterfront Market & Cafe held their press preview last week and friends and family grand opening on Sunday. The official public opening date has been announced as next Tuesday, November 26. Based on photos from the various events, the space looks great and it should be a very nice addition to the quite limited options located directly on the water. There's definitely a push to draw locals in with the "back to your waterfront" tag line. The menu will include custom sandwiches, salads, prepared gourmet items, beer and wine to go (or drink there), fresh sushi, pastries, etc., with similar items available for purchase at the retail market. More specifics here, via LocalKicks. Jody Manor, the owner of Bittersweet Cafe and Catering (in business since 1983), knows a thing or two about creating a sustainable, successful business, so here's wishing him a long run in this latest venture. I'm looking forward to checking it out soon after it opens! -
I have a reservation at Osteria the Sat. before Christmas. It's on the early side, 5:30, but I thought better to secure a spot than take a chance later. My only problem is that I'm going to have to eat a DiNic's pork sandwich for breakfast at that rate! Although, I'm very intrigued by Fork etc, which is a cafe next to Fork. The concept seems very unique; a great restaurant, Fork, that opens a cafe to serve breakfast, lunch, dinner to go and high quality local products. Perhaps Sunday brunch. -
By now, everyone in this forum has read Sietsema's review of Leopold's Kafe & Konditorei in last Sunday's Post Magazine. This was clearly the horrendous service to which Mr. Seistema has been alluding in his last four chats. Was I the only one who found it inconceiveable that a restaurant with "manequine like managers" and "clueless servers" can be granted a single star? My understanding is that one star is given to restaurants that provide a "satisfactory" dinning experience. Has the bar of satisfaction dropped so preposterously low that entrees can arrive atop appetizers? Who could find satisfaction in being ignored by three staff members when trying to order? Mr. Sietsema even reffered to the managers as 'human peacocks' more concerned with their own dinner on a Saturday night than the pleasure of their guests. While not entirely surprised by the awarding of a star to Leopold's - Beacon Bar and Grille was also heavily criticized for their service and earned a star - I am offended as a restaurant professional. I have not been to Leolold's and I am in no way trying to criticize them. I wish their ownership and management team the best of luck. However, this review describes as satisfactory service that would make me walk out if I were a guest, and that I would not tolerate in my restaurant. It makes me want to grow hair on my bald head solely for the purpose of tearing it out. . -
No website that I could find, so here is their twitter: @HolyCrepesTruck Le Menu is here. This truck has been visiting a parking lot near my office the last couple of weeks. I have gone twice, and found both of my savory crepes delicious. The pesto aioli has been in both, and it's phenomenal. Today's was bacon, ham, mozzarella, onion, tomato, aioli. I have never had a savory crepe before but these are nice and crispy on the outside and you can almost eat them like a burrito until gravity and wet ingredients collapse the last few bites which are then finished with a fork. Being able to text my order and run to grab it when it was ready is a nice feature, especially when it's -37 degrees with wind chill. -
Anyone try this place? 4.5 stars on Yelp at 70 reviews... Grand Trunk "Grand Trunk Opens In Penn Quarter - Breakfast Foods, Curries, Naan, Burgers, Salads, Tea, Smoothies, All In A Night-Club Atmosphere With Techno Music, Chandeliers, Flat-Screens ...." on popville.com Something looks fishy about the Yelp reviews. Many have similar format and comments. -
Happy to find a violet gelato with chocolate bits at the Clarendon location. I do like the Choward violet chewing gum (somewhat difficult to find outside of NYC) and this was a cool reminder of that flavor. It was lightly flavored and not cloying. Couldn't help but wonder what a scoop would taste like topped with a bit of limoncello. -
Stopped by WTF for lunch and was very impressed. We had the grilled corned beef sandwich with coleslaw and the duck confit reuben with purple slaw. Both were large, somewhat messy (in a good way) sandwiches with good quality meats. The kale and fontina empanada (they call it something odd like hand roll) on display by the register looked good and I'm so glad we shared one as an app. It was excellent! tasty flaky but solid crust and fresh ingredients. The array of desserts was really tempting but my better half helped me resist. I highly recommend this place. -
I had a lunch meeting in Clifton today, and I suggested Trummer's on Main....my lunch partner countered with Main Street Pub. I acceded. Not a bad choice. If there was a poster for downtown Clifton -- and there probably is -- this is the place that would grace it. The front of the house is the Clifton General Store, with carry-out sandwich and bakery items, plus quite a bit of penny candy. And T-shirts. The back of the house is where the so-called Pub exists, with 10-12 tables and a nice little Pub menu, plus a spare but nice variety of libations. For lunch today, I enjoyed a Chef Salad of reasonably high quality, well worth ordering again, and my companion enjoyed one of the best looking burgers I've seen, cooked to his medium-rare specification. Definitely worth a repeat, and now I'm trying to think of a reason to be in Clifton for a breakfast here.... Just a few steps away from Trummer's. -
Okay, this is one of those mornings where I *have to have a bagel*. Don't ask my why; I just do. Bullfrog Bagels is closed on Monday (and yes I *would* have driven to H Street to get one). I've heard good things about Bagels, Etc. on P Street in West Dupont. Can anyone vouch for them?
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This place is located on Route 1 south of the WalMart and Costco. If you pass the Goodwill going southbound, or the Costco going northbound, you've gone too far. It's a hole-in-the-wall diner, but it's cheap with big portions and the coffee keeps coming (although the can of Diet Coke will cost $2.25; I needed it). Today I got 2 scrambled eggs (they looked like they were more than 2), 4 slices of bacon, real home fries, and 2 large pancakes for $8.99 plus tax. I'm going to get 3 meals out of it. The eggs and potatoes needed some salt, but not a big deal. Breakfast is served all day and the rest of the menu includes burgers, fried shrimp, and a whole lot else. I could go to Denny's for the unlimited Diet Coke, but Elsie's is very much local and worth patronizing. And I could probably cut back on the Diet Coke...- 3 replies
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Construction is under way in the old Pied Bistro space on M St. Their website is here -
Great idea for a thread. Good job!! I don't know if this is splitting hairs or whether it's a typo, but Little City Gourmet's web site says they're in Arlington. -
I went to LAMILL Coffee inside the Four Seasons, just adjacent to Wit & Wisdom this weekend for breakfast. Pastry chef Chris Ford is responsible for a lot of the pastry and food at this location as well. I had a nice cafe con leche to start. We tried the delicious bacon cheddar scone, the beignets with lemon curd to dip them in, and a cinnamon brioche macaroon. The macaroon was large- about 2 inches in diameter. At 11am, With & Wisdom's kitchen also supplies some savory options like an egg mcmuffin using Benton's ham. -
I'm going to post some reviews based on my recent trip to LA and Pasadena for the Rose Bowl. In response to Xochitl10, the only good meal I've had in Riverside (and I've had many there) is at El Corral for Mexican food. It's my great aunt's favorite place, so when I'm visiting her I end up there a ton, and I love it, particularly for breakfast. They have posole and menudo on the weekends. -
Downtown Takoma Park's dining options continued to expand with the opening a week ago of Takoma Bistro, operated by the Bread and Chocolate people. Taking over the ill fated Everyday Gourmet, with some art and a little remodeling they've transformed the space into a warm and inviting cafe that also has outside seating, open seven days a week for three meals a day. a beer and wine license is expected in about a week. Right now the place opens early, at 6:30 well ahead of competitors like Capital City Cheesecake (7:30, weekdays) and Marks Kitchen (9:00, weekdays). The breakfast menu includes eggs, waffles and pancakes (like Mark's, no hot cereal), lunch and dinner offer a wide variety of sandwiches, side and entree salads, burgers and the like, examples of more substantial entrees include chicken pot pie, moussaka, salmon and a flat iron steak. An expresso machine is turning out some great coffee and espresso based drinks. My companion and I went in for a late lunch. She had a tuna melt, but strangely the cheese was under the tuna, not melted on top as per the menu. She thought the accompanying side salad was ok, but boring. I had the burger, beautifully cooked and very good. The shoestring fries were a little overcooked. We finished with a latte and a cappuccino, both exceptional. Friends at a table nearby really enjoyed their salmon salad. The place has been slammed since it opened, and the staff is definitely still finding its way, so involved with working out details of the operation that sometimes customers get ignored. Procedures have to be worked out, and someone needs to keep an eye on the floor at all times. But the community has clearly welcomed Takoma Bistro, and the staff knows there are many rough edges and is working to correct them. Hopefully it will not only bring another option but some synergy to the growing Takoma dining scene. 6923 Laurel Avenue, at present 6:30AM to 9 pm. -
If you had to pick a restaurant near the Kennedy Center for dinner before the opera and you hadn't planned far enough in advance to get a table at Notti Bianchi, would you try Dish or go farther afield? Has any one been there lately? I can't find any mention of it in this forum. Circle Bistro is fine, but have been there a few times this year already. Marcel's is good too, but a bit expensive. -
My four year-old daughter and I made a stop at Windy City Red Hots for a tasty lunch on a wonderful day. As we walked out of the restaurant I noticed a bakery across the street so we headed over for dessert. We entered and I looked around for the usual displays of baked goods one would normally find in a bakery. After asking a waitress for some direction, she said "we're not really a bakery". I got the impression she regularly dealt with this confusion. My sweet little girl did not take this very well, but with promises of apple cider doughnuts at Great Country Farms in nearby Bluemont, I carried her out before she went postal. FYI, Al -
Didn't see a topic for this place. AllSpice Cafe is on Oak Street essentially across the street from the new Heavy Seas Alehouse, kind of on the back side of the building, next door to Kanpai. It's a great little place when you're in the neighborhood. Good sandwiches (I've tended to the wraps like the southwestern wrap or bbq chicken).... mrs. rbh likes the chicken hummus veggie sandwich and swears by their breakfast wraps. They have apple fritters as big as a face - and they have Swings coffee. I've had their soups a couple times and was pleased. Soups and sandwich specials rotate daily. They also have a made-to-order salad station that I have to try sometime. Given the other choices around for take-out sandwiches, I put this over all the walking distance places (capriottis, subway, jimmy johns, etc). Particularly for the price. Basically if I'm working from home and want to wander out for a lunch sandwich, this is the default unless I feel like driving to Italian Store or Earl's. I hope that when the demolition starts on this bldg and the one next door in a couple years that they're able to find a new home.
