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My friend Thor Cheston, who is a manager at Paradiso, is going to be heading up this project of theirs. Thor is a beer enthusiast of the first order, and this should be exciting! Drop by and say, "Hello!" and have a great beer on draught and some of this city's best pizza. 3282 M St., NW Washington, DC 202-337-1245 Pizzeria Paradiso Georgetown is proud to introduce Birreria Paradiso, a sixteen tap draft bar featuring 80 bottled selections of microbrews, artisinal and handcrafted beers from around the world. Enjoy pilsners, ales, lagers, and stouts in our newly renovated lower level dining room and bar, where you will be able to feast on our Quattro Formaggi Pizza and a Belgian tripel like Gouden Carolus, or a Bosco Pizza and a Saison Dupont on draft. Then, top off your meal with our vanilla gelato paired with North Coast's Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout. We will be offering our complete menu, wine list, and a full bar in addition to the new selection of beers. Most of our longtime favorites are available, including Rogue's Dead Guy Ale, Dogfish Head's 60-minute IPA on tap, and Moretti and Amstel Light in bottles. We will also be serving some standards like Corona,, Miller Lite and Samuel Adams. All of the new beers will also be available in the main dining room upstairs. -
This place opened a 3rd location recently at North Point Shopping Plaza in Reston. It is busy, fairly small location for a strip mall nestled near Giant Food and GameStop - no joke. They just announced they are opening their 4th location in Great Falls, just off Walker Road behind the Wells Fargo bank. Pretty ambitious, which is fine, there are a few Thai places in the general Reston-Herndon-Great Falls geographic area. -
The grilled muffins at Bob & Ediths are pretty good as well. I'd never really heard of them, don't think they are on the menu really. Basically they take on of the fairly largish muffins they have, slice it in half (top to bottom), put on some butter, then grill it on the grill to warm it up and make the buttered part just a bit crispy. I'd never really thought to do it and the waitress the last time I was there just asked if we wanted them like that. Never had in the other 5 or so times I've been. -
Victor Albisu's Taco Bamba opened yesterday in Falls Church/Tysons. It was a rough opening day. When the wife and I arrived at about 7PM the air conditioning was not working and their expediter was doing double duty dealing with the AC techs. We tried six tacos between us, Lengua, Tripas, Suadera and Pastor. All of the fillings were excellent, especially the tripe. The Pastor was not made on a rotating spit and suffered for not being quite crispy enough on the exterior. The flavorings on all the other meats were excellent, better than anything I have had in DC. The house made salsas that were served with the tacos were also excellent. We did not try the tamales, but if they are as good as the ones sold in his mother's store next door, then they are very good. The biggest disappointment were the tortillas. They were flour instead of corn and were not house made. My wife, the Arizonan, seeing the packaged soft tacos opted for the crispy tacos which were made from masa and they worked better than the soft flour ones. For me, the result was like having great pastrami on wonder bread. I hope they get a better supplier for the tortillas. I also prefer to dress my own tacos with, depending on the type of taco, cabbage, raddish, cilantro, onion or peppers. The tacos came pre-dressed though they did have small cups of diced raddish available. With opening night jitters, we ended up missing part of our order, but that is par for the course for any opening night. I am going to work my way down the menu and give them a chance to work out the kinks. As a former Miami resident, I am looking forward to trying their Torta Cubana and I hope they take a shot at another MIami favorite I miss Lechon (whole roasted pig). All things considered, I am very happy Victor Albisu has saved me a trip to Maryland to get a taco- 105 replies
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El Paso on Commerce St in Springfield isn't bad. I haven't found decent cannoli anywhere in the area. If there is some, please let me know too. -
About a week ago I followed signs leading me to Firehook Bakery, in a very odd, industrial location on Flint Lee Road off Lee Road in Chantilly (across from Chantilly Crossing, home of Target and Costco). Having seen Firehook in DC, but not being close enough to try it, I was intrigued. Given that the most prominent bakeries out here are in supermarkets or wholesale clubs, I find this to be a great addition to the neighborhood. I tried a loaf of the pumpkin cranberry bread. Quite delicious. Many of the other offerings also looked good (example: Danish with fresh fruit instead of neon gop). Also, they are giving a free cup of coffee with each purchase, and the coffee is fantastic. Next time I'm in there I'm going to buy a bag of beans. In short, good news for us hicks. -
Right across the street from the Tony Luke's Sports Pub is the original Tony Luke's, which is a stand with a few tables that is very much like John's. And, IMO, a better sandwich than across the street at the Sports Pub. But you can still get the cheese fries. -
Ryan Jensen, former Murky alumnus and currently with Counter Culture Coffee will be opening an espresso bar in the space previously occupied by Murky Coffee, which you may recall, was seized in February by the district for nonpayment of taxes. Link to story -
H & Pizza recently opened between 11th and 12th on H (right next to Taylor Gourmet) and seems to offer a good new option in the neighborhood. You can see the menu here. The place isn't large, consisting of 5-6 communal tables with 6 seats each, and definitely has a more industrial decor, like it's neighbor. My favorite thing about the menu is that the most you will spend on a pizza is $8.64, no matter how many toppings you order. I don't think it's comparable to the Neapolitan places around town, but it is made fresh in front of you and served piping hot. It's also a fairly large personal pizza that could probably be split (although maybe 2 pizzas for 3 people would be an ideal serving). You start with an option of traditional, whole grain, or multigrain crust, followed by an option of 6 different sauces and 6 different cheeses. You then have an option of unlimited toppings from about 8 different proteins, 12 different pre-bake toppings, and upwards of 15 different "finishes and oils." If that is all too overwhelming, the menu also offers 9 different suggested combinations, along with a few salads as well. I decided to opt for one of their suggestions on this first trip and went with the FARMER'S DAUGHTER (Spicy Tomato, Housemade Mozzarella, Hot Sausage, Farm Eggs, Spinach, Parmesan Reggiano, Red Pepper Chili Oil) on multigrain crust. When you step up to order, you choose your crust and then are able to view all of the fresh toppings spread out on your pizza before it is scooted into the oven. A few minutes later it emerges from the other side and the finishes are applied before it is handed over. I was particularly impressed with the flavor of the hot sausage and the nice kick from that alongside the sauce and the chili oil. The eggs cracked on top were perfectly cooked to ooze out as the slices were separated. The crust also had a better flavor than I was expecting and I'd be curious to try the whole wheat next time. My +1 ended up creating his own and had trouble limiting himself in toppings as he added sopprasetta, sausage, mushrooms, roasted peppers, caramelized onions, prosciutto, and basil. Surprisingly, it turned out pretty well and not as heavy as it would seem. I look forward to returning and experimenting with some of the more interesting toppings, such as putting together a white pizza with goat cheese, prosciutto, and fig marsala topping, or something with shrimp and pesto perhaps. -
They have a new spinoff location in Bethesda that is doing the Chipotle model, Cava Mezze Grill. Pita, rice bowl, salad, mini flatbread pitas (to top like tacos) - you get a shmear of a spread and then protein (chicken/beef/lamb/sausage/falafel). Seems like another Chipotle-meets-(insert country) - like Merzi in downtown DC, but with arguably more potential. I'm definitely curious as I think their spreads are pretty good, but I'm not go-to-Bethesda-for-a-fast-casual-lunch curious. Anyone been? -
My other really enjoyable meal in Southern California was at Petros in Manhattan Beach. I dined there with my boss and two colleagues (one a tremendously picky eater) late Wednesday night and thought it was quite a find. My client who lives in MB recommended the spot as he goes there often and knows the staff by name. We weren't disappointed. After sampling warm bread with olives and complimentary garlicky white bean spread, I chose the lamb pasta for my entree and a Greek cheese plate. The lamb was described as slow cooked and indeed it had a lovely tender texture. Also in the dish: a long pasta slightly thicker than spaghetti, roasted peppers, broccolini, olives, kefalotyri cheese and oregano ($22). Having missed lunch, this was exactly what I needed to feel sated and happy. The cheese plate was as salty as I had hoped. Seriously, I have never had a cheese plate focused on Mediterranean selections that wasn't salty. The plate featured Epirus Feta, kasseri, kefalograviera and kefalotyri plus two types of olives for $12. Everyone but the picky eater enjoyed sharing this. My colleagues seemed to enjoy their meals across the board. Their selections ranged from Avgolemono (chicken and rice soup with lemon) which I definitely would have tasted had I been dining with friends. It looked delicious, to a whitefish entree, to lamb pasta to roasted chicken. Although the night was cool, we dined outside on the very pleasant courtyard patio. Their powerful heat lamps did the trick and I wasn't cold at all. Our service was top-notch; our young server expertly described any dish we asked about and pronounced the Greek names with confidence. While it's a relatively elegant restaurant, it's also family-friendly. My group laughed that we were the only gang lacking the seemingly requisite adorable baby. Petros is a great spot. -
"What's our collective verdict on Hard Times?", Al asks as his stomach rumbles from a lunch of Texas 5-way with a side of jalepenos.- 92 replies
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Now that's the crust I remember. I didn't put that as a subtitle to this thread on a whim. It's the gosh-darned truth. There are a lot of places in the DC area that claim NY-Style Pizza and 99% of those claims are complete bullshit. The remaining 1% come oh-so-close but no cigar. Today I had it in, of all places, that deadly, strip of foul restaurants on S. 23rd Street in Crystal City between Eads and Fern. Cafe Pizzaiolo opened up quite recently in a building on the corner that has seen businesses come and go over the past 5 years or so. I would have skipped right by this place because everything on that strip just sucks patootie. But then I saw this review in yesterday's paper and, lo and behold, I'm familiar with the owner from a past life. Owner Larry Ponzi is one of the people responsible for the restaurant in the National Museum of the American Indian. And while it may not be fine dining, Mitsitam Cafe is one of the most unique and worthwhile places to eat in this city simply because of its special menu highlighting a broad array of Native American ingredients and recipes. That venture alone shows that Larry has class and vision. Cafe Pizzaiolo, the restaurant he just opened on his own proves he has talent. He makes two kinds of pizza, NY-style and Neapolitan. Personally I wasn't a fan of the Neapolitan. But I wouldn't hesitate to suggest you try it, as your taste may differ. My problem is that NY style is far and away my preference. And Cafe Pizzaiolo's NY style is far and away better than any NY style pizza I've had in the area. (For the record, my preference has always been Vace, but as I said above, close but no cigar). Great crunch. Great resistance. Great chew. Just enough shimmering oil from the sausage. Wonderful yeasty flavor. Fresh tomato sauce and shredded mozzarella. Pepperoni and roasted garlic also topped my selection today. If you get it, and you should, be sure to keep it simple. The menu has a lot of toppings available that I consider questionable, such as pineapple and chicken breast, but I'm more of a purist and would also make the possession or sale of cinnamon raisin bagels a capital crime if given the chance. Hey, so when is Bebo's pizza oven going to be running? Who cares anymore? Unless you are allergic to NY style pizza, why even consider putting up with all the service issues at Bebo? Drinkie drinks? Aside from the fresh brewed iced tea, today there were five red wines and four white wines (including a prosecco) to choose from. All Italian and not a single cute animal on the labels. By the glass from 5-8 dollars, bottles run $19-$29, but if you choose to take your bottle to go instead of dining in the restaurant, that bottle price drops almost in half. Beers? I didn't see any drafts, but the bottle list is nothing to sneeze at. No Bud or Miller in the bunch. Bell's Two Hearted or Oberon. Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA or Indian Brown Ale. Peroni. Fuel Cafe Stout from Lakefront Brewery in Wisconsin. All about $4.75/bottle. The dining room is pleasant. Warm wood and colorful abstract oil paintings. Neon light accents and Italian advertising posters. I think it was a coffee bar, Starbucks-type knockoff before Cafe Pizzaiolo opened and you most definitely will see some resemblance. It definitely has that cafe feel. But as any Rays the Steaks diner will tell you, "who cares about decor?" (I'm also stuck thinking of George Costanza saying, "Eyebrows? Who cares about eyebrows?") This is the kind of pizza that can be baked early in the day, left out on a tray stand and eaten by the cut slice hours later and still taste great even if it's not reheated. And he sells it by the slice too! In a world surrounded by crap delivery pizza, Pizzaiolo delivers too. So now there's no need to order delivery from anywhere else if you're in the neighborhood. Larry is an independent local businessman who lives in the area and clearly takes pride in what he does. He is EXACTLY the kind of person who needs the support and word of mouth by people like us. And he wants to hear what you think, too. So be sure to tell him. Bottom line.......consider a visit to Cafe Pizzaiolo. If you take Metro, it's only about an 8 minute walk from the Crystal City station and essentially is no farther than going to Bebo or any of the other spots there on Crystal Drive. It's just a couple blocks further away from the river. If you like it, post it. If you don't, send me a PM first so I can come and choke you with a cinnamon raisin bagel before you have a chance to type your first vowel. ETA: This is $20 Tuesday country, pardners. -
I wrote this up several weeks ago, but worth repeating. The Copper Crust Company is a god send to this carb addict. Its located right inside the Central Market in downtown York. The owners are originally from NY, city proper, I may add. They brought their skills to town. An everything bagel that a New Yawker would eat!! Although, I do believe the secret to NY bagels & pizza dough is the water. This should be on a list of MUST eat places while visiting the area, among many more. But rec needs to wait til my next review!! building suspense, kat
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I know I have been in an LA Mart before but I wasn't sure which one. I was not impressed. I went to the Van Dorn location last Sunday. There was a line to get it, nicely socially distanced, and you were given gloves at entrance. This location is stellar. For produce, dairy and dry goods, it may be the best Asian Market I have been to so far. It was nothing special for fish & meats. Simple prepared foods with good looking BBQ & Roast meats, a nice looking hot bar, really tasty looking cold marinated meats like chicken feet, various tripes, pig ear etc. and some baked goods. The produce section is very large and then when you get to what you think is the end, there is an entire second section to the left making it L shaped. It is huge. Hugely huge. So huge, your eyes wll be spinning by the time you shop all of it. Fantastic prices on mushrooms, herbs, greens and more. We had an order coming from the farmer's market so I did not really check out everything. The fruit selection was a tad less impressive than the rest. Dairy had a great selection and, surprisingly, a huge emphasis on Middle Eastern items like yogurt drink, various fetas etc. The Latino cheese & crema etc. section was impressive too. They had a huge selection of locally made logan chorizo in multiple styles. The dry good selection was also good but if I came back with more asian cooking ingredients Kay would feed me to Spot. The frozen selection was quite huge, almost as big as Super H-Mart in Fairfax. There is a full length aisle of western and Indian frozen goods too. The Middle Eastern, Indian and Latino selections were excellent and make this a super convenient shop. But it is not a one stop shop because the meat & seafood just seemed not up to the rest of the store. But in all fairness, Kay was waiting int he car so I did not really explore.
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Is this also the Moby Dick in Georgetown? -
I just finished an awesome sandwich of Red Apron's (Nathan Anda) pastrami.This salty, fatty, spicy beef is the best pastrami I have tasted outside of New York City. It is sold in chunks that approximate 6 ounces for $6 at the Dupont Farmers Market (and probably elsewhere). Sliced and heated, with the fat freely flowing - its great stuff. Also a shout out to the Pain de Campagne bread from Crest Hill (Upper Crust) bakery in Silver Spring on which the marbly meat was placed (with some Batampte Jewish deli mustard). This bread, which is par baked and sold at the local Whole Foods markets, is my favorite local bread and is especially superb for grilled cheese sandwiches. -
I´m still hanging on to my super chicken -
Couldn't find a post about this place so please move if I'm wrong. When my friend hosted book group, she got platters from here and they were delicious so I went with my son about a week ago. And it was just as good. They made a kid's plate for my boy with a kufta kabob, rice and a bit of carrots & potatoes in a sauce - he loved it but I ate the veggies. I had the chicken kabob platter with my chosen side of sauteed spinach and naan-type warm bread. Came with the yummy yogurt sauce too. I finished it - nuff said. Also had the baklava, a huge portion for $3.99. Really nice staff/owners, a few tables for eating in and a lot of people coming to pick up their called in orders. Website: http://www.arlingtonkabobva.com/- 29 replies
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On the way to La Colombe over the weekend, we passed by a new independent coffee house, Compass Coffee. We couldn't resist not checking it out. We weren't disappointed. The space is great - light, airy, with 2 large skylights in the ceiling, an industrial feel to the tables and chairs with white subway tiled walls. Definitely a place for hanging out - and there was already a presence patrons with their Mac laptops surfing/working away. While we were enjoying our cortados and rosemary/garlic biscuit, one of the owners came over to introduce himself. He and his friend, both former Marines got into coffee during their tour of duty and wanted to add to the DC coffee scene. Much, if not all of the storage units and furniture were built/welded by the 2 owners. Pretty impressive. They are roasting their own beans and the barista on duty pulled a lovely smooth and rich cortado. The biscuit was a bit chewier than I prefer, but had good flavour. Compass Coffee has only been open about a month, but the place was bustling with activity. Beans are sold in tin canisters which are treated like growlers in the way that you get a $1 discount when you bring the canister back for a refill of your next bean purchase. We are big fans of La Colombe, but are excited to also support Compass Coffee in their venture. It's a great new addition to the DC independent coffee scene. -
Thai by Thai is one of Sterling's Thai restaurants, and the only one I know of with a "secret" Thai menu. It has become our Thai restaurant of choice. I couldn't find a thread devoted to it, and it is deserving of one. It's a brightly lit place where you order at the counter and they bring food to your table and has a much nicer vibe than most counter-ordering locations. The menu posted over the service counter doesn't hint at the existence of the special Thai menu, but does have a few street food items, such as the sun-dried beef. They have monthly specials posted on the cash register, which are items they are auditioning as possible additions to the Thai menu. The Thai menu is available upon request and includes English translations. Its content changes with some frequency but includes wonderful fare such as deep fried pork belly strips with Chinese Broccoli, fried pork rib chunks with sticky rice and an incendiary dipping sauce, and a pig organ soup. Be sure to have one of their noodle dishes other than the Pad Thai. Noodles come out with a wonderful smokey touch. The Pad Thai is unexceptional, probably tailored for the tastes of the majority of their lunchtime customers. When we look around at our fellow diners, most have ordered a fried rice dish or the Pad Thai. Our experience has generally been that the person running the deep fryer knows their business--the pork strips in that pork with broccoli are perfectly crisped and maintain that texture for as long as it takes to inhale the dish. Noodle dishes are generously portioned; the other dishes are often less so. Thai by Thai's Sterling location is on Rt. 7 just West of Dranesville Road, across the street from the Shoppers Food Whorehouse and the Burlington Coat Factory, in the same plaza as Grand Mart. They also had a sign announcing the December 19 opening of a second location, this time at 29 and 50, near a mobile phone shop. We're just hoping that the chefs who do such exceptional woking and frying are not headed off for that location. -
Souvlaki Bar has multiple locations in the DMV, I couldn't find a thread, if there is one, please merge. We have gone to Souvlaki Bar a few times now as it is super close to the house. We took Mom there the other night as it has really good salads that are a pretty generous portion that you can top with lamb, chicken, pork or falafel. Last time I went I had a greek salad with chicken. I thought the chicken was a nice texture of juicy, flavorful and crispy. So the other night I got the kale and spinach salad with chicken, and I enjoyed it as well. The kale was nice and tender, the salad greens were very fresh, again the chicken was good. A girl had a wrap beside us that looked good too. I don't think they are per se better than like Plaka, and they don't have as big of a menu, BUT they have really nice salads and at least the chicken has been delicious, I will try a wrap with gyro meat next time to see.- 4 replies
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Stopped by Sweet Science for a coffee this morning in NoMa, and saw this on the neighboring storefront.
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Has anyone heard about "Burger Joint" in Bethesda. Hope they're better than the juice place that used to be there. I think their website is burgerjointdc.com (or something similar). -
For me and my dear aged mother, the main casualty of Friday night's storm was the cancellation of today's matinee performance of Don Giovanni at the Barns at Wolf Trap (well, actually, my mother's house in Fairfax was without electricity from 10:30 pm Friday to 4:00 pm Saturday; I suffered no such tribulation in the Kalorama Triangle). We had planned to have lunch before the opera at Plaka Grill in Vienna, which is right on the way. When we learned of the cancellation, we decided to have the lunch as planned. Plaka Grill is in a dreary little strip mall on Lawyers' Road just off Maple Ave, next door to a Papa John's. It's quite a bare-bones sort of place. You place your order at the counter, and they give you a little stand with a number on it to put on your formica-top table so they'll know where to deliver your food. You fetch your own plastic forks and knives and paper napkins. But the service is friendly, cheerful, and efficient, and the food is delicious and inexpensive. We split an appetizer of dolmadakia, which was five grape-leaf rolls with a filling of lamb, beef, and rice, drizzled with a lemony sauce, served hot. They were actually very hot, and tasty beyond my expectation. Then we had "Chicago Gyros", which resemble every gyro you've ever had, but taken to a higher level. The pita wrapper was chewy but tender, the pressed meat stuff was tender, moist, and flavorful. The gyros were rounded out with lettuce, tomato, and tzatziki, and I'd have to say that these were the best gyros I've ever encountered. The one order of dolmades, two gyros, and two bottles of Bass ale came to just over $29. No wonder this place is popular. I wouldn't go a very long way out of my way to eat here, but gosh, what a good lunch I had at such a trivial cost.
