Our Picks

[Editor's Note: I asked Bruce to write this. He posted it in the Current Events Forum, but I moved it here for now because I want you to read it, and to discuss it if you wish. Cheers, Rocks]

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First, I come in peace, and many of you know I have a Middle Eastern background. I also have a degree in Middle Eastern studies, and I spent a significant amount of time in the national security community as a Middle Eastern area specialist.

The agreement reached  between Israel and the U.A.E., and now Bahrain, is historic by its nature. It's probably long overdue. But it's important to understand that this is not a "peace" deal. It is first and foremost an economic deal. That's an important perspective for us to keep in mind. There was no war between Israel and the oil states, nor was there likely to be one.

Israel craves Arab oil money. The common joke from my Israeli friends asks why they wandered in the desert for 40 years, and didn't settle on any land that had oil. Israel gets a sizable influx of capital from the oil states, and Israel also gets a forward operating base to use in any future contingencies with respect to Iran. The oil states get Israel's technology, some of which is helpful in defending against Iran, but also, some of it is helpful in collecting intelligence on Iran. That's what an economic deal is, more or less.

Meanwhile, I hear from my inside friends that the Trumps and Kushners will cash in, probably with new properties in Tel Aviv and Dubai. There is no altruism here. This deal probably wouldn't have involved the U.S. at all unless the "what's in it for me?" litmus test was passed in Washington.

For this to have been a peace deal, it would have had to include the Palestinians. The Arab-Israeli conflict is largely an Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Because the Palestinians were left out of it, this was not a peace deal. There are many fingers to be pointed here, chief among them the current administration in Washington and its over-the-top support for anything Netanyahu wants, but history will judge whether or not a deal that excludes the Palestinians will move the needle at all on peace.

So, let's applaud what happened as a possible step in the right direction, but let's be careful about what's really at the heart of this deal.

Tommy Jacomo, executive director of D.C. power lunch institution the Palm, dies at 75, by Harrison Smith, March 7, 2020, on washingtonpost.com.

Located inside the space once occupied by the former Ruth Chris’ steak house in Penn quarter, Cranes welcomes you with a tasteful and minimalist decor, accented by the recurring motif of the eponymous crane (obviously…), including in the holders for the chopsticks.

The restaurant defines itself as a Kaiseki (haute cuisine) establishment. The chef, Pepe Moncayo, a Spaniard who has lived and worked in Singapore for ten years, offers a Spanish/ Japanese fusion menu constituted of small and medium plates.

We visited Cranes a few days ago and tried a large assortment of meat, fish and vegetable dishes. These included the madai aburi (torched red snapper), the cauliflower with persimmon and guanciale, the leaves and roots sunomono (that is, marinated in a traditional vinegar-based dressing), the grilled young onions, the octopus with squid ink potato puree, the bacalao tempura, the cold capellini, the bao ban with prime rib, the kurobuta pork in sherry sauce and the duck gyoza with celeriac puree, water chestnuts and rostit (presumably in reference to the traditional Catalan way of pot roasting with vegetables in an earthenware vessel). They were all delicious and quite unique in their creative mixing of Japanese and Spanish flavors.

In general, the fusion between Spanish and Japanese cuisines is achieved by using a mainly Spanish chief ingredient with condiments or sauces inspired by Japanese typical gastronomy. Or, conversely, by using a mainly Japanese chief ingredient with condiments or sauces in the Spanish tradition. The grilled young onions and the Kurobuta pork provide two examples.  

The grilled young onions dish is a riff on the traditional Catalan calçots, typically served with romesco. The calçots are scallions--every year there is a festival, called the calçotada, in late winter/early spring, in the Catalonian town of Valls dedicated to this delicacy.  The Cranes version replaces the Catalan romesco with a Japanese-inspired horseradish kimizu (a sauce with egg yolk and rice vinegar), pine nuts and chives. Though we may still prefer the traditional calçots with romesco, chef Moncayo’s adaptation was excellent.

The Kurobuta pork centers on a high-end Japanese ingredient, namely the meat from the white-spotted black Berkshire Japanese pigs, heirs to the Berkshire pigs imported in Japan in the 19th century and raised according to very strict “organic” standards. These high standards translate into a very tasty “porky” pork, very different from the fat-less chicken-like pork that abounds in run-of-the mill supermarkets.  And Chef Moncayo accompanies this Japanese delicacy with a Spanish inspired sherry sauce.

In sum, Cranes is a truly interesting combination of Mediterranean and Asian flavors and a great addition to the dining scene in the DC area. We would have loved the dishes to be a bit more abundant, given our appetite... Other than that, well done chef Moncayo!

So Jon and Ankur thought a Sunday afternoon about 3p would be a good time for a DR invasion. Weekday evenings would also work, but I think traffic makes Sunday more likely to gather a food crowd. 

I'm proposing March 29th. Before I go create a topic, can I get a few people to say "sure, I'll go on that date"?

Kate had to cancel.  So we have 1 spot.  Anyone?  

So Jon and Ankur thought a Sunday afternoon about 3p would be a good time for a DR invasion. Weekday evenings would also work, but I think traffic makes Sunday more likely to gather a food crowd. 

I'm proposing March 29th. Before I go create a topic, can I get a few people to say "sure, I'll go on that date"?

BLUF:  Sheldman's review from 2016 still stands. 

I sought soup as antidote to our day-long rain.  Walking into Reren, I realized a million other people had the same bright idea.  I was lucky to get a seat at the communal high top in the back. (Which is my favorite way to dine solo, by the way. #Extrover-table) 

Honey Ginger Tea ($4) is a must-try, properly hot and offering remarkable complement to most menu flavors.  Wait for the sliced shards to fully settle, lest you get a mouth full of astringency (been there, winced that).

Reren Signature Lamen ($11) boasted remarkably fresh, mild baby bok choy.  Pork belly and egg texture experienced as others have noted, almost too soft without a lot of strong anything.  Subtle is the aim here, and based on the crowds, a winning formula.

As the second course, the Buns Sandwich (2 for $7) was gone in 60 seconds.  Definitely worth a return visit.  Although the same pork belly mutes into the background in the lamen, the vegetables, pickles, and properly spiced mayo of the sandwich make this ingredient infinitely inhalable.  See the clever little plastic bowl in the picture---visually indistinguishable from ceramic.

Service had a few missteps, negated by the friendliness of the staff.  An adjacent table received a duplicate order, unclear if it was a server or kitchen mistake.  The standard practice of no bar napkins with iced water translates into leaky table syndrome.  It's better for the environment, I get it, and perhaps I am just overly sensitive to preventable messes after years chasing a small child. 

Make sure you try the citrus candy arriving with your check, astonishingly refreshing.  But do not taunt happy fun boy and do not sip the honey ginger tea while having the candy--it goes from brightly pleasing to please make it stop.

I'll be dreaming about those bao bun sandwiches.

Wow, 2+ years since anyone last mentioned this stalwart of the Eden Center!  Today we picked up my son's college apartment mate at Union Station and brought them to Huong Viet en route to our home in Herndon.  Our son has been vocal in his displeasure with the quality of food at Rochester Institute of Technology (on-campus and delivery) and after a meal at Huong Viet,  his apartment mate now "gets" why Isaac has been so critical.  One bite of their cha gio is pretty much all it took.  We ordered cha gio, the chopped baby clam appetizer, and split the big mixed grill platter (grilled shrimp, chicken, beef, pork, noodles, and greens for wrapping) two ways while my husband had the yellow noodle duck soup.  My only complaint is that I think someone forgot to add the sugar syrup to my salty lemon drink so it was a bit too salty for me.   

This is a restaurant that doesn't coast on its reputation.  It cranks out good to stellar Vietnamese food from a huge menu.  It's also the reason I was so unimpressed by the Slanted Door in San Francisco back when Slanted Door was one of the top rated restaurants in that city.  Every traditional Vietnamese dish I had at Slanted Door was better and cheaper at Huong Viet.  

Primrose has "Wine Wednesday" now with 30% off bottles of wine.  It was Wonderfully quiet there tonight with folks out of town and chasing restaurant week deals at other restaurants.  I'm pretty sure the discounted bottle of Sancerre we had tonight was a better deal than 9 out of 10 restaurant week dinners.  The brioche shrimp toast was pretty awesome too.  

Michael Bozzelli is making the Alban Road flagship a special place for a good meal. And occasionally something interesting happens:




🚨🚨🚨 SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Food Dude USA 💥 WILL BE FILMING 🎥 AT ALBAN RD, Fri 8/23 // stay tuned for info about killer deals🍕, beer 🍺 tasting & live music 🎸on that day 🙌

Food Dude is an interesting concept on the YouTube platform.

Anyone know a pupusa super-fan or expert?

I'm a producer at WAMU working on a new podcast called Dish City. One of our episodes will focus on pupusas and the marriage of Salvadoran and Mexican food at so many local restaurants. So far, I've interviewed an academic about Salvadoran migration to DC, and the manager at El Tamarindo in DC. Are there any specific restaurateurs, historians, food fans, etc. that you would want to hear discuss pupusas and Salva-Mex food? 

If you were to listen to this episode, what questions would you want us to discuss?

Hi all, I'm a producer at WAMU working on a new show called Dish City. With my co-host Patrick, I'm exploring city change in Washington, D.C. through the District's iconic foods (think: half smokes, Ethiopian food, mumbo sauce, pupusas, jumbo slice, etc). 

There are food & food history podcasts out there, but I don't know of one that zeroes in on D.C. specifically. Would you listen? What kinds of foods do you think we should be covering and what kinds of questions do you hope we explore? We're really open to feedback. 

We launch in September. It'll be just one season of 7 episodes --around 20 minutes each. If you like, you can follow us on Twitter to see what we're reading and what we're up to. 

Happy hour from 3-7pm, $2 off rail drinks, $5 mules, $5 house wine.  Thursday has a raw bar happy hour all night.  My friend got oysters that just weren't super plump and had very little liquid in them, I think they just weren't shucked super well.  I had peel and eat shrimp that were good.  Mule was good, not too sweet.  

So went back again for a great evening at the outdoor patio.

NOTE: They have done away with their "tasting" menu which is still posted on their website.  I let them know, so it should hopefully be updated soon.

Our meal and server were excellent.  They have a Family Meal, which is explained as if you are in Italy and stop in a villa - the family would serve you their freshest available food.  This was the closest thing I could find that would be similar to a tasting menu.  The appetizer portion all came out at one time, which was cool - so it went something like this:

OUR DAILY FOCACCIA<br style="background-color:#ffffff;color:#5e5e5e;font-size:11.5px;text-align:center;">WILD RAMPS, NETTLE PESTO, PIPE DREAMS FARM GOAT CHEESE

SESAME CRUSTED FETA <br style="background-color:#ffffff;color:#5e5e5e;font-size:11.5px;text-align:center;">SESAME, VIN COTTO, EARTH + EATS HONEY 

Octopus Salad

Broccoli rabe

There was more, but my attention after the excellent bottle of 2007 Calebretta, Azienda Vinicola became much less sussinct.

Main Course started with a Bison Hanger steak which was excellent.

A lighter version of homemade pasta with a light alfredo-type sauce and fresh cracked pepper.

We ordered the CARAMELIZED RICOTTA GNOCCHI<br style="background-color:#ffffff;color:#5e5e5e;font-size:11.5px;text-align:center;">PORK SAUSAGE RAGU, CALABRIAN CHILI, PARMESAN CHEESE as an add-on because it sounded excellent - and it was.

There was also a beet/spinach salad, another round of bread.

My descriptions are not doing this place justice - the atmosphere on the patio was crisp and lively, not stuffy.  It was busy and we enjoyed a great meal with dessert as noted below.

CRISPY YEAST DOUGHNUTS <br style="background-color:#ffffff;color:#5e5e5e;font-size:11.5px;text-align:center;">ORANGE BLOSSOM SYRUP

They serve lunch as well and their Brunch looks great - for those wanting to try it  and not invest in an all-out dinner - there is an opportunity there.  The dinner was reasonable considering the complexity and diversity of the food we experienced.

Just so it is official, we are ending the restaurant owning phase of my life. The Grotto will close before the autumnal equinox. I know so many here and have great memories of dinners and people saying “I’m so-and so from the board.” The board with no need to say more.  I hope those of you with fond memories will come in before we’re done. 

Cocktails
These are going to almost all be in Miami Beach based on one ridiculous evening of drinking that got a bit out of hand. Keep in mind that cocktails in Miami beach will be $15+ so can get expensive quickly. On the other hand, there's some truly good cocktail places out there.

Miami Beach
Repour - Probably the cheapest drinks (don't lower your expectations too far, its still Miami Beach) and probably my favorite of the evening. Very laid back vibe next to the lobby of the Albion Hotel.
Regent Cocktail Club - The smallest cocktail list of the places we visited (though still with a full bar), but well made drinks. There was also live music that was quite good and was nice to sit and relax and listen to some music with a couple cocktails.
Sweet Liberty - Dimly lit, we sat at the far end of the bar and the bartender helped us immediately. Good cocktails, imaginative, and made well.

Brickell
Blackbird Ordinary - Solid place for a solid cocktail. Not sure what it's like on the weekends as some of the pictures definitely look different than what it was like during the week (very laid back)

Things to Do

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Wynwood Walls. Most of Wynwood is adorned with graffiti that is amazingly interesting to walk around and look at. And then there's the art exhibit called Wynwood Walls. Absolutely amazing. Graffiti artistry at its highest in a curated exhibit. Entrance is free. You could easily spend a couple hours here if you were so inclined. I think we spent a bit over an hour and it's one of my favorite parts of the city.

Hat Yai, the new Belmont location. The Hat Yai combo with puffy, stretchy roti, thick and darkly flavorful curry, crispy/juicy/tasty fried chicken, including an extra wing, ordinary sticky rice, and various pickly/saucy elements. The food is absolutely divine if you are into SE Asian flavors, the vibe is a bit overly trendy, young, and shiny new, and the tall stools are deeply uncomfortable (hard, weird height). I almost went to the other location to have the same meal again the next day but ran out of time.


Chicken rice at Nong's Khao Man Gai.  It's sad that the original and other carts are gone, but they have two teeny restaurants serving, theoretically, the same food.  While this was pretty and yummy and I was happy have this dish again, it didn't blow me away like the dish I remembered (I've had it twice from the original cart, years ago).  The soup is blander, with no pickled taste.  The sauce is fiery sweet but not...hmmm...life changing, which is kind of how I felt the first time I took a bite. It was nice.  It's a PDX institution.  But for my $ and calories, I'd go to Hat Yai every time unless I was feeling like I needed a cleansing meal.

Finally, no pics but I went to the Din Tai Fung location at the Washington Square mall.  It was a rather long line for a weeknight but a lot of fun per usual.  Pork XLB are still delicious and perfect, and the vegetable dumplings are good for vegetable dumplings if you must, but the brand-new fish dumplings were not a dish that I'd order again.  I had to try them in my quest for the West Coast version of China Bistro's sliced fish dumplings, but the mushy filling is overly fishy yet not particularly flavorful (I did ask in advance and knew it was not a sliced fish filling).  Meh.

We had a group dinner at Jim Thompson restaurant in Bangkok. This is a mostly touristy affair, with a gift shop across the pathway from the actual restaurant. But the silk fabrics are nice, and they aren't pushy, so it was relatively innocuous.

As was dinner. The plated dishes were quite beautiful, and flavorful. The use of pea flower to dye some of the dumplings in the first course, and the sticky rice (with mango) at the end was a nice touch. A pomelo salad with river prawn in an ornately carved pomelo shell was for me the clear highlight. 

I can't really complain much. But after having dinner at Paste, and after grazing on street food for a few days, this dinner was kind of like going to a concert where you respect the musicianship but aren't really so excited by the music. 

I've been travelling to Miami for the last couple months, so figured I'd at least stop by and give some recommendations. All are listed in general order of 'goodness' within their group.

Breweries
Wynwood
J Wakefield - The grand daddy of breweries in the area. The owner is renowed for being a bit of an ass, but I don't think I've ever seen him there and the bartenders are generally very nice. Pretty easily the best brewery in Miami proper. They'll have flights of most of their beers (they'll usually have a stout or two that are 10oz pours only, no flights). The inside is Star Wars themed and on Wednesday nights (when I tend to be there) they alternate between boardgame nights and arcade fighter nights. They'll almost always have a mix of sours, stouts, IPAs, and a mix of other styles.
Concrete Beach - Fine alternative to J Wakefield if you want to go somewhere else but don't want to hit up an ABInBev brewery. They have a fairly wide range of beers, but don't remember seeing anyhing particularly dark on my visit.

Doral
M.I.A. - A pretty varied beer list, with multiple sour, IPA, stout, brown, and pale options with other styles as well. Solid all around brewery, definitely worth hitting up if you're in the Doral area. The food is really solid as well.
Tripping Animals - Another brewery that's worth hitting if you're around Doral. Focuses mostly on Berliner Weisse (a light sour, typically fruity) and IPAs.

Ft Lauderdale
3 Sons - On part with J Wakefield. Focuses mainly on IPAs, stouts, and sours. Puts out some really awesome beer (particularly if those are styles you prefer). Also has great pizza.
Invasive Species - Wide range of beers including a couple lagers on my visit (including a Japanese rice lager) and a saison (a style not all that common in South Florida for some reason).
Funky Buddha - They produce a number of 'off-the-wall' beers, like a maple bacon porter and a french toast stout. They also are distributed probably the most of anyone in Miami/Ft Lauderdale. Solid food options available as well.

Other breweries
Maybe visit these if you're looking for something to do and happen to be standing right next door?
Wynwood (in Wynwood)
Veza Sur (Wynwood)
The Tank (Doral)
Biscayne Bay (Doral)

Beer Stores
Boxelder - Great draft list in Wynwood that offers a number of hard-to-find beers typically and is well curated.
Union - Another place with a great draft list in Little Havanna.

"Ray's Hell-Burger Is Closed" on popville.com

An old friend of mine, whom I grew up with and knew from Jr High on, Larry Burdett, passed away either on the evening of June 19 or in the early morning hours of June 20; June 20 being his birthday.  The explosion of grief among family and friends is enormous.  Larry was the nicest most sincere fellow, moved back to our home town after college and lived there his entire life.  He passed away at the house his grandfather built in the 1930's; a house he grew up in.  Like his father he was a member of the local volunteer fire department and grew to become chief, serving 3 times in total (a position that rotates every year). 

We grew friendlier in the last few years.  Larry was a prolific FB user, and a prolific friend of many combining the two gave him over 750 FB friends.  On that basis the grief is enormous.  Due to FB we grew friendlier, he being an original member of groups associated with our home town, me having joined later on.

Larry opined on a variety of topics including politics where our perspectives were pretty similar.  His political posts were unique in that his friends from all political persuasions joined in.  For those that join in political arguments on the web it was completely unique.  I used to ask him if it was okay to rant--he approved.  He started asking me about people we grew up with, ones whose perspectives were on the opposite of ours.  We grew friendlier.   I saw him last Autumn.  It was a real pleasure--we were the essence of old friends, even as we hadn't been close in school. 

He is receiving an amazing outpouring of web love.  For a very "common man" he was remarkably loved.

See ya Larry.  Enjoy your bourbon and watching U of Kentucky up in heaven with your folks and other departed friends.  Hopefully there is a fire department there and you and your dad can ride the trucks to help out victims. 

Dinner at Paste Bangkok was fantastic. Service was efficient, and while English was clearly not the first language of any of the servers they did fine in describing the dishes, and were very polite and welcoming.

I didn't feel like having wine with this dinner, so I opted for a "Phraya sour," one of their 'signature cocktails." It was great, nicely tangy and refreshing after a walk through the hot Bangkok night.

While their menus online suggest that they will only do tasting menus for parties of 2 or more, they offered me (as a single) a nice tasting menu. The amuse bouche of spanner crab on top of a rice cracker was a promising start, though not nearly as interesting as everything to come after. A trio of starters (watermelon/ground salmon/galangal, roasted duck/nutmeg/coriander, and scallop/mangosteen/young coconut) were each really nice, with the scallop dish being the clear highlight. It was sweet, sour, creamy and a little crunchy, absolutely amazing. The soup course of watermelon rind, dish roe and dumplings was flavorful and interesting, and I used the leftover broth to flavor the first helping of jasmine rice. 

These courses were followed by two 'main' courses (sour sausage/crunchy rice balls/kaffir lime/'weeds', and a southern-style yellow curry with spanner crab). The sour sausage dish was incredibly flavorful--the jasmine rice that was provided wasn't to tone down the spiciness, but to provide a counterpart to the intensity of flavor, in my view. A small dessert trio was almost too much--almost, but a very nice riff on the salty cream coffee.

I'd love to go back, but with so much else to experience in Bangkok, that's not too likely. Nonetheless, this is Thai cuisine done at such a high level. I was very impressed.

Dinner at Paste Bangkok was fantastic. Service was efficient, and while English was clearly not the first language of any of the servers they did fine in describing the dishes, and were very polite and welcoming.

I didn't feel like having wine with this dinner, so I opted for a "Phraya sour," one of their 'signature cocktails." It was great, nicely tangy and refreshing after a walk through the hot Bangkok night.

While their menus online suggest that they will only do tasting menus for parties of 2 or more, they offered me (as a single) a nice tasting menu. The amuse bouche of spanner crab on top of a rice cracker was a promising start, though not nearly as interesting as everything to come after. A trio of starters (watermelon/ground salmon/galangal, roasted duck/nutmeg/coriander, and scallop/mangosteen/young coconut) were each really nice, with the scallop dish being the clear highlight. It was sweet, sour, creamy and a little crunchy, absolutely amazing. The soup course of watermelon rind, dish roe and dumplings was flavorful and interesting, and I used the leftover broth to flavor the first helping of jasmine rice. 

These courses were followed by two 'main' courses (sour sausage/crunchy rice balls/kaffir lime/'weeds', and a southern-style yellow curry with spanner crab). The sour sausage dish was incredibly flavorful--the jasmine rice that was provided wasn't to tone down the spiciness, but to provide a counterpart to the intensity of flavor, in my view. A small dessert trio was almost too much--almost, but a very nice riff on the salty cream coffee.

I'd love to go back, but with so much else to experience in Bangkok, that's not too likely. Nonetheless, this is Thai cuisine done at such a high level. I was very impressed.

Dinner at Paloma in Mougins, France was really spectacular. It's a charming, intensely polished restaurant with some of the best service I've encountered; the service team truly made you feel that you were in the best hands, but were also completely unobtrusive.

Dinner was a multi-course affair, starting with an array of small bites before jumping into a Jose Andres dish (I believe), a direct steal from him (but who cares, really?): foie gras cotton candy. Absolutely a flawless homage (if Andres created the dish, or if somebody else has) and a fun way to move into the menu. The bread service was very good, featuring three nicely flavored butters, and then came a tomato dish that was, in a word, crazy. The menu describes it as "Heirloom Tomatoes with Provence Strawberry: Tomato garnished with a creamy centre and delicately chopped Green Zebra tomato with lemon thyme flavours, accompanied by a carpaccio and little strawberries." But while that technically describes it, this was something like a tomato that had been hulled out, maybe roasted, the inside coated with white chocolate, which was then filled with green tomato and a lemon thyme sauce and serve with delicately sweet strawberries. It was unclear to me how one would even begin to prepare such a dish, and it was heavenly.

The main course is described on the menu as "Brittany Lobster Marinière: Lobster medallions preserved with salty butter, accompanied by a lobster sauce with orange and basil flavours and artisanal linguine served with a creamy seafood emulsion." Again, that's right, but it doesn't convey how much of a spectacle this dish was, the seafood emulsion arising out of the cupped plate like a foamy soufflé. Original and delicious.

Speaking of soufflé, in fact the dessert course was an apricot one, served with a nice sorbet. One dessert was enough; too was indulgent but too delicious to say no. The typical 'sweets' finish was nice, and small

This was a really, really good meal; it should be, of course; what was surprising to me was that the tasting menu was only 98 Euros/person--an absolute bargain for food (and a restaurant experience) done this well.

Turkey* and cheddar sandwiches with romaine on some kind of bread that Whole Foods calls "Fire Bread." It has wheat germ in it. Good and solid for a sandwich plus a bit crusty. Potato chips.

*This is the actual roasted turkey they sell at the deli counter at WF, not the pressed deli kind. I didn't know what I wanted to make for dinner and picked that and the sliced cheese up in a cold case in the deli department.