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Showing results for tags 'Patio'.
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Chef Dennis Friedman is opening a fast-casual concept called Newton's Noodles later this month. Lots of better writing than mine: - the Post - Eater - PoPVille has the official presser - WBJ has the business concept After making private sacrifices that I shall not reveal*, I managed to get an invite to the soft opening. I never get to feel fancy, so this is BIG for me. This is their press event, and Chef said pictures and cameras are no big deal. (Nobody will notice me and my camera in the corner.) Cheers! * - mostly, we eat at Newton's Table a lot. We might have made doe-eyed sad faces.- 26 replies
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For several years now, I have read Tom Sietsema's restaurant reviews in earnest, taking exception with certain things, but generally in accord. However, his review of Aria has weakened the tongue of the glacier to the point of calving, and so I go, leaving in my wake offal of bergy bits and growlers in my beer hall putsch. He writes: These "rings of light" so quickly dismissed as Vegas kitsch harbor a complexity lying outside the field of the Paris scope, reaching downward from the ceiling and serving to contract the angle of the diner's perceived azimuth down, down, down and away from the hard-featured grizzly white ceiling tiles, at once forming an amalgam of the central balustrade of the dining room's circular columns with the equally circular concavity buried in the courtyard outside, echoing the annular selvage of the Rios building, and expanding, expanding their wake into the four surrounding monuments, the circle of Fort Defenses, the Washington beltway, the Chesapeake watershed, the eastern seaboard, the western hemisphere, the earth itself, the exosphere, the elliptical orbit around the sun, the Milky Way, the periphery of the heliopause, our globular cluster, the spiral arms rimming our galaxy, the Local Group, the Virgo Supercluster, and perhaps even to the edge of the visible universe itself. I call on Tom Sietsema to resign as Washington Post Food Critic. It is time for someone who cares about our galaxy to step in and lend a more appropriate fashion aesthetic to our expanding nebula of restaurants. Did I mention that I hate stars? Rocks. -
Mike & Eric, who formerly ran the now shuttered Bay Hundred in Tilghman Island, have resurfaced with a new restaurant in St. Michael's: Mike & Eric's. My impression of what the place offers is excellent skillfully prepared food at moderate prices, served in a casual setting by a very friendly hospitable staff at a great location. MIke, who is a very warm and welcoming host/bartender, runs the front of the house, while Eric runs the kitchen. They have some sidewalk seating, a very quiet back patio, and a comfortable dining room that is designed, according to MIke, to be as "non-jarring" as possible. For starters we enjoyed the Crab Bisque made with lump crab and sherry, and corn & crab fritters that came with a zesty red pepper aioli for dunking. For main dishes we had the Crab Canneloni made with swiss chard, ricotta, and crab topped with a sundried lemon cream, and the Bouillabasse, which was packed with seafood such as mussels, shrimp, scallops, and fish in a saffron tomato fennel broth, although I'd say the Bouillabasse is more like tasty seafood stew than a bouillabasse. The wines offered match up nicely with the items on the menu and are reasonably priced. They're located at 200 S. Talbot Street in St. Michaels. -
For a nice bar scene, Ragtime has really good onion rings, if you ever have a craving for one. And it was a bonus that they had Bell's Oberon. -
On the way through Manassas this afternoon, hunger pangs attacked Lady KN and I, and Bella Vita was visible in a strip mall on the side of Liberia. A good meal was about to be had. First things first - this is not a chain, although there is a related restaurant in the Richmond area called Dolce Vita. Next, the interior is very nice. It's family friendly, but there are happy hour specials and a little bar off to the side of the entrance. Pictures of Frank and Dino on the walls -- and inexplicably, a picture of Bogart above the urinal -- and plenty of tempting dishes on the menu. Candy Sagon would be all over this place with one of her meaningless two-star reviews, and it qualifies for her purview -- lost in the Virginia suburbs and not really worth a review. Nonetheless, Lady KN and I had a competent snack, beginning with the appetizers of mussels (plump and flavorful) and calamari (nicely crisp and tasty). No lemon was provided for the calamari and no sopping bread was provided for the mussels, but these were easily corrected omissions. We followed with spot-on salads -- Wedge for Lady KN and Chef's for me -- and these were very good. They arrived on rectangular plates, so the the ingredients were nicely spread out instead of piled high. The competence of our dishes led me to peek at the menu and see if anything might compel me to return at some point, Pappardelle with Lamb Bolognese, Gnocchi Boscaiola, Scallops alla Brandy over Fettucini and a pizza named "The Butcher Shop" all caught my eye. More than likely, we'll try this place again at some point. http://bellavitaonline.com/ -
We had an amusing experience at lunch today. We both ordered the Chicken Salad. The menu indicates that it comes with curried chicken, a salad, and tea bread (all on the same plate). My wife is allergic to nuts, and we should have asked if the tea bread had any. Our chicken salads arrived, and, yes, the tea bread was loaded with nuts. My wife told our very charming server of her allergy, and her salad was whisked away, presumably for some nutless bread or some additional salad as a substitute. After waiting several minutes our server brought the "new" salad to our table. There was no bread, but the dimensions of the plate were smaller. The kitchen had scooped the chicken salad and the green salad onto a smaller plate. Why didn't it simply remove the tea bread and return the original plate? Would not have taken more than 15 seconds. I'm sure there were legitimate reasons, but no explanation was offered. We chuckled about this through our lunch. Middleburg in January is quiet and peaceful. No bikers roaring up and down Washington. No leaves to obscure the panorama. -
The Pure Wine Cafe is one of many places that we enjoyed, but rarely found ourself revisiting. Now is the time to eat there again -- especially if you can try their new patio in the fleeting nights of the year when we can eat outside. Pure Wine started as a tiny place on Main Street in Ellicott City. Small plates. Good wines. But such a tiny space that they didn't take reservations, and it often took second place to restaurants where we knew that we could get parking and a seat. Now, they've blown through a wall and spread upstairs into a second dining room and a stone patio overlooking Main Street. It's beautiful space and -- like the new patio at Portalli's -- a real reason to explore downtown Ellicott City. The patio. Pure Wine has always had a fun kitchen. A small, seasonal menu of maybe a dozen items. On Sunday nights, some dishes even sell out because they only buy what they expect to use. It's also a fun joint. We arrived on one of those Sunday nights when all the outdoor seats were filled. The hostess set us up on two chairs a few steps above the patio. We drank wine and a cider from Millstone Cellars in Monkton, then slid into a table once one opened. We missed some sliders that looked terrific, but we ate well. A salad with spinach, peaches and goat cheese. Some fish tacos. And a terrific charcuterie plate headlined by salami and an amazing blue cheese. The cheese was creamy with a blue flavor, but milder so that it went well with everything else on the plate. Sitting outside gives a new feel to Pure Wine. You overlook the Old Columbia Pike intersection. It's almost a city feel. The entire new space is modern. A sleek bathroom. A wine cellar built into the bedrock with glass walls so that you can see inside as you walk upstairs. A new second-floor dining room where 10 people were watching a pair of guitar players perform while we ate. With original bar on the first floor, you now have three really different options -- and they take reservations. When we were there, the Pure Wine folks were talking about heaters to extend the season. It's all new. They're figuring it out.- 1 reply
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Craig LaBan of Philly.com reviews Tiffin Bistro, Munish Narula's casual version of his Indian chain, Tiffin, at 1100 Federal Street in South Philadelphia - slideshow. Website
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Before I knew of my food allergies (soy, nuts, sesame) I was a sushi addict. I would be still; however I find sushi in DC to be sub-par to NY, and the same goes for service, unfortunately. I realize this is a generality but it is sadly true in most cases. I often order sashimi from Uni sushi but decided to re-try Tono tonight. When I called and gave my phone number/address, the manager said that he saw I hadn't ordered recently. I explained that this was due to my allergies- especially the fact that Tono had blatantly disregarded them in the past, including soy sauce which spilled all over my order. Major problem! The manager explained that he was the new Sunday floor manager, and would take special attention to make sure my order arrived allergy free. Wonderful.. I ordered the Sashimi-jo, no sauce anywhere, no allergens, please do not even include soy sauce in the bag, and they were happy to sub a salad for the miso soup. Sounds promising, right? Well, I was told my order would arrive within 45 minutes. An hour later, it showed up. Forgivable, whatever. I opened up the order to see some sort of fried crawfish/shrimp(?) along side my sashimi. What is it fried in? What is it? I called and asked to speak to the manager. He told me it was fried in peanut oil. Ok, so obviously you did not pay attention to my allergies. Then the manager had the gaul (balls even) to tell me not to order Japanese food again, due to my allergies to most of the main ingredients. Sir, I eat fish safely. I eat wasabi, ginger, vegetables- safely. But if there is a peanut fried item in my sashimi, I throw out the 25 dollar order which you refused to refund. And, FYI, I regularly order sashimi from Uni sans probleme. And if there ever is a problem they are gracious about it, at least apologizing and not telling me to stay away from all Asian food. No, I am not foolish enough to wander into Thai restaurants. But I can and do eat Chinese food on occasion (steamed of course, no sauce)... If I could prepare wonderful (and safe) sashimi in my kitchen, I would. God forbid I try to pay you for it. -
Looking for a place to lazily enjoy some late afternoon drinks outside in the shade. Cocktails, wine, beer, all good. Unhurried and delicious. A view of something (the river? historic buildings?) is nice, but not required. Arlingxandria is best, but DC will do in a pinch!
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I need suggestions for crab shacks/houses/dives/restaurants on the water within an hour and a half of DC. Cantler's is obvious but given that it is commission weekend I am going to assume it will be crazier than normal. Capt. Billy's in Pope Creek, Md., my usual go to, only has smalls and mediums this week. What's left? --- Harris Crab House (DeanGold)
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Harris Crab House Kent Narrows. I much prefer this to Cantlers myself. -
The suave, wood-paneled Peacock Grand Cafe, an offshoot of the Georgetown neighborhood haunt Peacock Cafe, should open by the middle of December in the former Legal Sea Foods space on K St. NW, which has since been outfitted with an expansive bar/lounge and a brick pizza oven; expect lots of signature cocktails and wines by the glass to pair with its midpriced New American menu of salads, pizzas, grilled fish and steaks -
We've seen the slow renovation of El Patio into a pizzeria over the last several months, and after an aborted attempt a few weeks ago (they closed a bit earlier than we anticipated), we carried out a pizza from Crust. They have 14" and 20" pizzas, comparably priced to most local competitors. The space is big--for some reason, I didn't think that El Patio was this large, and so they must have opened up the space quite a bit. There were 5-6 tables occupied at 9 PM on a Friday night, and the openness is nice. I'm not sure about the layout--a long counter where it looks like you could sit and eat a meal is empty, and without seats; a row of chairs by the cash register (for take-out orders, I assume) seems like an afterthought. Service was straightforward, welcoming but not effusive, but then again I was only there for take-out. The servers' interaction with the tables seemed nice. And the pizza: it was good, with a nicely browned, crisped on the bottom, a bit doughy on top, crust. We ordered sausage and artichoke. The sausage was nice; the artichokes a bit off for me--too vinegary, I think that they had come directly from the can/jar, and a water rinse would have been much nicer. The sauce was sweet but not overly so, and the cheese was good. This is NY-style pizza, though many NY-style afficionados would likely take issue. But if judged objectively, I think it stands up pretty well as a solid pizza. With Pizza CS just down the street, so to speak, Matchbox (which some people love, I'm a bit less of a fan) just a few minutes away, and Mamma Lucia down the road, there are suddenly a lot of pizza options in this area just off of the Rockville Pike. As a Neapolitan-style fan, my first choice is pretty clear, but I'd happily go back to Crust. -
So, my office picked Bistro Bistro for our holiday luncheon. Is this anything to look forward to? -
This Tribeca eatery is a great value for a good meal. They have outdoor seating weather permitting, and are dog friendly to at least small dogs. My husband sheepishly after this meal looked at me and admitted it may have been the best meal of our trip, and certainly the best value. The sheepish look was because we had two nights before been at Le Bernadin. We checked in with the very nice hostess, we were a few minutes early and our table wasn't quite ready yet. She offered me the bar and I laughed told her I better go wait with the hubby and pup and she was very nice and said don't worry I will find you when your table is ready. Sure enough a few minutes later she did. Our waitress was very nice, while we just wanted a few cocktails, we overheard her extensive conversation with the table next to us regarding wine selection, she brought them out a couple different things to try, including what she recommended when they were a bit unsure. I had the Mare Mosso with bourbon, zacapa rum, ginger beer, apple cider and fennel honey. It was really refreshing, not overly sweet and nice on a evening after a long walk wearing out the dog. I am not sure what Hubby had. I started with the Arugula Insalata. A generous bowl of peppery fresh greens with asiago, lightly dressed. It had mission figs and some speck, but not too much, which was good as I mainly wanted greens. It was so good, Hubby actually stole a decent portion of it, which never happens. It was really a simple dish, but really just hit the spot. Hubby had the duck meatballs with dried cherry mostarda. Those were also good, nicely flavored with a juicy texture, a little rich, but good. For entrees I had skate with squash, fried green tomato and agrumato. I thought this dish was also really fresh. The skate was nicely cooked with a good touch of acidity. The tomatoes weren't overly breaded, had a nice flavor and not at all mealy or overly dense. The vegetables were at that perfect, cooked, still a little crisp stage. It was a really nicely composed dish. I love the flavors a little tangy, lemon, but with nice texture. Hubby had the paparadelle. I didn't try any since I had really good paparadelle at Eataly previously, but he loved this place, so it must have been good. For dessert I had the peach crostada with goat's milk gelato, basil syrup and it had a little bit of brittle of some sort. I really like the tanginess of the gelato with the sweetness of the crostada and the basil syrup really rounded it out so it wasnt' overly sweet, but a really nice composition of flavor and texture. Hubby had the lemon tart and thought it was really good, as well. We both liked that the dessert wasn't too decomposed or messed with, just simple flavors, with really impeccable execution. This whole meal made me want to come back. -
Today's Daily Candy says this place opens tomorrow. Does anyone have the scoop? David Gregory seems like an old friend. Where is Gregory going? -
Sou'Wester is hosting a 3-course Sunday dinner out on their patio for $42, with Eric Ziebold and Eddie Moran manning the grills (which will be outside), and hanging around afterwards. The catch? Bottles of wine are ONE DOLLAR (you choose reds or whites, restaurant chooses the wines, bottles must remain on premises). This is limited to 40 seats, one seating. There's already a dr.com area (or, you can sit privately). In Celia Laurent-Ziebold's own words last night: "For tomorrow, let them know, if you get any requests, to call 202-787-6033 as now availability is limited in terms of tables and I don’t want to overbook." Forget valet parking; there's plenty of free street parking on Sundays if you don't mind walking a block. APRIL SHOWERS BRING MAY FLOWERS The warm weather is here and we are throwing a Sou'Wester "backyard" BBQ on our Patio. This will be the first in our series of Summer outdoor events. SUNDAY, APRIL 29, 2012 5:00 pm First Course POTTED DARDEN HAM SALAD Butter Pickle Spears and Toasted Foccacia or GRILLED CAESAR SALAD Olive Oil Cured Tomato Crostini Main Course BLACKENED BLUEFISH Anson Mills Carolina Gold Shrimp Jambalaya, Spicy Shrimp Emulsion or GRILLED CORNISH HEN Local Asparagus, Red Bliss Potatoes and Meyer Lemon Marmalade Dessert STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE or SOU'WESTER S'MORES $42 PER PERSON You Choose your Menu We Choose your Wine $1 BOTTLES OF WHITE OR RED RESERVATIONS Phone 202.787.6033 Email mailto:sou'wester-events@mohg.com * Wine must be consumed at event, on premises * Valet $9 with validation --- ETA - Sorry I couldn't post these details yesterday. I had to wait until their email was sent out to their customers first.
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I've always preferred Green Papaya for Viet food in that neighborhood. Fair warning -- the service can be somewhat, shall we say, abrupt. -
So while I was handing out Chorizo Corn Dogs at Taste of Arlington last weekend I ran into a friend of mine whom I attended high school with in Arlington. He is a bartender at Whitlow's and seems to know the in's and outs of the scene better than I do, being 36 and with a 2 month old son seems to make me an 'at home' type of person. His father owns the land where the Aegena taverna once stood, and they are opening up the Tiki bar there hopefully soon. But what interested me overall was the fact that after the weather turns back into Fall, they are going to re-shape the restaurant into a fine dinning establishment. So I guess theya re going to strike the iron when hot. Spring/Summer weather, open a Tiki Bar. Fall/Winter weather, open a fine dinning establishment. Should be fun.
