KenL

I've had them for years, the rubber on the lid starts to get sticky for a while. But Pyrex was pretty generous with replacing the lids for free (they actually sent me new glassware+lid).

Growing pains no more! For the restaurant has closed!

For Taipei Cafe, I highly recommend this dish called "Ti Pang"; it's a soy sauce braised pork thigh that is steamed for a very long time. Saw it on a cooking show and it took them something like 3 hours.

Oh snap! I guess they decided to change things up a year out after their former head chef (Taipei Cafe owner) left. Word on the Taiwanese/Chinese street is that Taipei Cafe is now the preferred spot for Taiwanese food.

Amazing experience. My fiancee and I loved the food, drinks, and (by some random coincidence) the amazing couple that joined us! Ferhat was awesome (even entertained some of our rather silly questions), the dishes were delicious. I would describe the dishes more, but Choirgirl21 pretty much has all the bases covered. I'm thinking the fiancee and I might make this a regular tradition. 5 stars, 10/10, call it whatever you want, it was awesome.

The pierogies and scrapple were left over from Mighty Pint menu (might even be the same freezer bag, eww...)

Dining out on Thanksgiving puts me in a quandary. On one hand, I feel for the person or family who's flying in from elsewhere and unable to prep a dinner on short notice. On the other hand, I also feel for the dining staff, who are basically spending their dinners at work (some may prefer the comfort of coworkers to terrible family members however). But it is not my position to speak for one or the other, thus my feels vex me. I once worked retail, and had to do a few Black Friday shifts, from 4PM to 2AM, I kept asking myself "WTF."

I dropped by with my fiancee during the Anniversary 50% off night. It was a madhouse, took about an hour to get our sakedon (salmon), gyudon (beef), kaarage (fried chicken) appetizer, and ebi (shrimp) appetizer. There were probably 200 take-out orders during that hour, so it was a pretty high energy/insane environment. The food was alright though (since it was half off, my final bill was $14 before tip). Sakedon - salmon wasn't as fresh as I'd have liked, the rice sauce was a tad salty. Gyudon - sauce was a tad salty, beef texture was great. Kaarage - very very good, and was a steal of a deal during the special ($3!). Ebi shrimp - pretty good, hard to mess up shrimp tempura. The sauces were a tad saltier than what I'm used to (and I used to eat katsudons every day). Overall, a pretty good experience and a solid meal! I mentioned that I remembered Stan from his previous gigs... but he was a bit reluctant to talk about them :\

Well, we were all very excited to try out this new restaurant since we are friends with some of the owners and staff (and fans of Reese's other ventures). If anything, we hyped it up too much for ourselves (we planned this dinner maybe 1 or 2 months in advance). The dishes overall were just inconsistent (even the ones from Copperwood Tavern), maybe in a few months they'll have stepped out of the growing pains.

So my friends and I have been Mighty Pint patrons for over 5 years now, as in we were there pretty much 10+ times a month for 5 years straight. Many relationships started and ended there, many friends gained, many memories lost. So as a last hurrah for our beloved TMP, we booked a 15 person reservation for Second State on its opening weekend. At first glance, "WOW." They really revamped the entire place, we were all extremely impressed with the new decor. TMP was pretty much the definition of dive, and to be able to convert from that to a fine dining establishment is no small task. We're talking some major construction work completed in half a year. The drinks were ok, pretty standard for a barstaurant; I ordered the "Second Statement ($14)" (a sazerac), which was pretty good. Other table ordered a few bottles of wine. --- A sample of the dishes we ordered: 2 orders of mac&cheese: very inconsistent, one was mostly noodles, the other was mostly heavy cream. I guess if we had a pot to mix it together ourselves, it would've been pretty good. We returned the heavy cream order. Broiled sprouts: decent, farm fresh! Bone In Ribeye ($36!!!): my friend usually gets steaks rare, the waitress suggested she get it medium rare because last time a customer complained that it was too rare. Well, my friend's medium rare steak was actually a well done. Ossabaw pork chop ($25): I ordered this, it was pretty good, the apple chutney was delicious. Garlic-parsley fries: pretty good, this was their top item from the Alexandria restaurant though. Oysters: unshucked (what?) returned. Our appetizers also came either during or after our entrees. We ordered a bunch of other dishes, but these are just the ones I remember most clearly. --- The service: We didn't have waters for the first 25 minutes at the table, we had to request waters from 3 different waiters. One person didn't have silverware until she got her food. For most of the entree-eating, we didn't have water refills. The waitress was very apologetic, I suppose they were busy/frazzled/in growing pains so they were unable to provide a "great experience". The manager later came by to give the table whiskey+chocolate liquer shots (they were pretty strong/good). --- Overall, a disappointing experience. I was very sad leaving the restaurant, for TMP was easily one of my most favorite bars in the city, I could always bet on having a great time there with the beers, wings, or shenanigans. What does Second State have to offer? They're just another "fine dining restaurant" in Dupont Circle, and a poor execution of one at that.

I live right next to it, and saw all the folks getting the soft-opening yums.

The majority of my friends from California who frequent Robek's use it as a substitute for Jamba Juice. Once Jamba Juice opened in DC, it was pretty much the end for Robek's. The quality and taste is notably different.

Just called in!

Alright, I feel obligated to post a review here, as it is one of my favorite restaurants in the area, and one which I frequent at least 2 to 3 times a month (I've been here at least 15 times). Hailing from SoCal, where AYCE KBBQ can be found on every block, I have boiled down KBBQ to one of two options: Quality vs Quantity. Iron Age falls under the Quantity group. And for the price, they really can't be beat (though they've increased prices by about $2 / year). My girlfriend I almost exclusively order Gogi A. For $20, Gogi A includes: Beef brisket Garlic pork belly Soy sauce marinated pork belly Teriyaki pork Banchan includes: Kimchi Pickled daikon Potato salad (Various other pickled vegetables) Note: You can ask for whatever you're missing, they're really generous about it. You also get: Salad (lettuce salad with onion, sesame/ginger/fish/soy sauce, my GF loves this stuff). Steamed egg (Gyeran Jjim) Tofu soup (with bits of beef) Bean sprouts (on grill) Rice (optional, they used to give red bean fried rice, but people complained about how the rice was touching the meat while cooking) Pancake (Pajeon) Remember, this is ALL YOU CAN EAT, so you can get refills on EVERYTHING, without limit. Gogi B is $25/person now, and I believe adds bulgogi, kalbi, chicken, and some other stuff (I've only ordered B once, and didn't feel it was worth the money). When I go, I order roughly 5 to 6 rounds of brisket, with 2-3 rounds of garlic pork belly. (After doing squats and deadlifts at the gym of course, gotta get my protein up). I've had KBBQ at many places (I daresay, about 85% of the ones in Annandale and Rockville), and while Honeypig does marinated bulgogi extremely well (secret marinade recipe), it costs $14+ a plate. If you compare quality, then yeah, Iron Age meat quality is not as good, but you're also paying 1/3 of the cost of a similar meal at another restaurant. If you truly want quality meats indiscriminate of prices, I would recommend Yechon (Quality), where you can get lobster and all sorts of seafood. Yechon probably has the best KBBQ in the area, and it's also one of the most expensive restaurants in Annandale. So don't go to Iron Age if you're expecting gourmet food; go if you want to get stuffed on cheap KBBQ and banchan. My average bill @ Iron Age: $42-50 (2 people). My average bill @ Honey Pig/Yechon: $75 (2 people). Usually go with a larger party, so the bill ends up being something like $200 between 4. --- Aside: The only other comparable KBBQ places are Hee Been, Il Mee, and Kogiya. Of which you'd have to consider the distance from where you live, since AYCE bbq at low prices are all more or less the same. Il Mee basically dumps their meat in the buffet "troughs" at 9PM and you can get AYCE (of many different kind of meats, and whatever dishes they have left over) for around $14.

I was back in LA for about 2 weeks, and had 羊肉串, spicy lamb kabobs (http://ediblyasian.info/recipes/lamb-kebab-yang-rou-chuan-). Perhaps they're those! Great choices!