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Adam23

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  1. I enjoy the show but personally find Phil a bit painful. But then again I never liked Everybody Loves Raymond either.
  2. I stopped by the Corned Beef King truck a few weekends ago in Potomac. Was quite satisfying. Prefer it to DGS and others. But it is super thin sliced pastrami and corned beef.
  3. So many good choices in both locales. Here are some recs for BA. Remember, pay cash and Dolar Blue is your friend. High-end: Chila. Best restaurant in BA. Superb, expensive but compared to the US, very cheap. Experimental Cuisine: Aramburu - great cutting edge items; great value for what it is Closed-Door Restaurants - BA has lots of these. I particularly enjoy Ocho Once - superb value. About $30 pp for multi course meal and wine. Other options: Hernan Gioppini "“ great food and great value Alvear Palace "“ Afternoon tea "“ this is posh, no need to dress up though really. Share one tea and order an extra tea "“ about $30 Don Julio "“ One of many steakhouses "“ arrive early or you wait (but they give you free beer). I like this one the best. Parilla Pena "“ near Recoleta "“ locals joint; no english really but english menu "“ Literally steak, two apps, desert and wine was $20 for 2. I like it for lunch. Ice cream- I cream is amazing in BA. Way better than the US. The best are Volta and Arkako (unreal).
  4. Couldn't find a thread on this restaurant but surprised there have been no postings (or i'm bad at searching). Thai Pad opened in Van Ness a few months ago in the old Quiznos space at 4481 Connecticut Ave. I've been there a few times now including this past weekend. I must say, this is by far, in my view, the best thai restaurant in DC (maybe even the metro area). I am slowly working my way through the menu but so far have found everything to be well balanced and everything is very fresh. This past weekend I had a Massaman Curry which was quite delicious. If you are in the area or craving thai, I would highly recommend it.
  5. I really like my Napolean which is working on 5 years. Very similar quality and features to the Weber and was quite a bit cheaper. Very satisfied.
  6. We bought a reconditioned one. No problems with it at all. Looked to be brand new.
  7. Been watching a few episodes so far. So far, agree it is quite good. It has inspired us to plan a trip to Modena. They do a really nice job showcasing the various famous dishes each of these chefs makes.
  8. I really like my Napoleon grill. Quality is similar to Weber and the price was quite a bit less. Make sure you get the one's made in Canada though. Supposedly they hold up much better.
  9. Agreed. If you can track down his sparkling wine, it is quite nice and I like his Chardonnay quite a lot as well.
  10. Just got back from Tokyo for a quick trip to dine at Noma and did a few days in Osaka and Kyoto. Here is my quick run-down. If you ever get the chance to go to Japan, go. Food is amazing. It is clean. It is safe. The people are very friendly. TOKYO Sushi Yasuda "“ I'm honestly not sure why I booked this place. I think it was the combination of the lower price point and the possibility to have a conversation with a Sushi Chef who is fluent in English. In hindsight I should have skipped this. The Sushi bar clientele was all American. We did the omakase. I think it was 15 or so pieces and miso soup. The sushi was standard US quality and ok but very poor as compared to most anything in Japan. All of the sushi was pre-cut which detracted from the experience. This place was highlighted on Bourdain. You can skip it. Sushi Iwa "“ One Michelin star "“ Lunch is a great value with 5,000 (12 pieces) and 8,500 yen (15 pieces) options. Quality was superb. 6 seats. All clientele was Japanese. No one piece stood out as compared to the others but the quality was excellent. Takazawa "“ I describe this as seasonal dishes with french influences. Wine list is extraordinarily marked up - 300%+ on every bottle, something I saw at no other restaurant I dined at in Japan. 4 tables. Clientele was 50/50 US/Japanese. Chef speaks some English and his wife speaks perfect English. Wonderful service. The platings are very intricate and a bit crazy. For example, a grilled fish was served on sticks next to huge pieces of red hot charcoal which heated the room and placed at your table. The room is set up with a small kitchen to one side so it is a bit theatrical. Very good food. Very enjoyable meal. Sushi Kanesaka "“ Ginza Branch. One Michelin star. We were the only non-Japanese there for lunch. Superb sushi and chef spoke great English and was very friendly. The chef liked us so we got around 18-20 pieces for the 10 piece price which was a steal. The 10 piece lunch normally is a great value, so even without the extra pieces lunch is a great value. This is a larger sushi counter with two sushi chefs working "“ maybe seats 12 or so. Quality was excellent and we had some very nice Uni. Gen Yanamoto "“ Former bartender at Brushstroke in NY who moved to Tokyo. Superb drinks focusing on seasonal vegetables and fruits. Gen speaks perfect English. All guests were American. Bloody Mary cocktail was among the best I have ever had. I would drink dozens of these. Also had an interesting drink made of squash. He likes using rare or hard to find liquors. Quite tasty drinks. Gives the drinks at Eve a run for the money. Noma "“ Noma. We dined in Copenhagen a few months prior and this was different but I think better. The setting and view was amazing. Service was outstanding. My wife had a sake pairing and I had the wine pairing. The sake pairing was amazing - tons of unique sakes and so delicious and pairs extremely well. One particularly interesting Sake was a red rice sake made by a female brewmaster outside Kyoto. The wine pairing was also quite good and had nice pairings. House Champagne was Prevost La Closerie, which is quite difficult to get in the US but extraordinarily easy to get in Japan (now I know where it all goes). All dishes were great and for me the tofu and walnut dish was a standout as was the aged duck. Sushi Tokamai "“ Sushi Chef is wonderful and friendly and speaks perfect English. He has traveled in the US a bit. He talked to us most of the night. Loads of conversation and a very happy guy who clearly enjoys what he does. His assistants also speak English and chatted with us a lot. This sushi was rocking - the best we had all trip and it seems be firing on all cylinders. Every piece was good to excellent. It was also a good value at around $220 or so per person. All clientele was Japanese except us. He said he doesn't get many Americans or English speakers but supposedly Renee Redzepi was there the prior week to us. Omakase was great. Numerous cooked dishes, this night focusing on fugu every which way. Wonderful sushi "“ probably the freshest of all of the places we went to. Of note, his tuna is ridiculously good "“ easily leaps and bounds over any tuna we had on any trip to Japan. Life-changing good. I still remember each piece. So good. One Michelin star. Highly recommend it. Sushi Sho Masa "“ I enjoyed this quite a lot and will go back on next trip. Quality was as good as Iwa and Kanesaka and a tiny step down from Tokamai. I think we had 30 or so pieces with lots of cooked dishes. Chef speaks English and other guests were from Taiwan that evening. The chef has a little book he brings out to show pictures of each fish. The meal was quite enjoyable - I liked how he served the same fish several different ways and did some unique pieces. Very good. Rokurinsha Ramen - We hit it at 9 AM once and at 11:30 and had limited to no wait. This ramen is very heavy fish based "“ so if you don't like a strong fishy broth this might not be for you. It is hard not to like this, but many American palettes would not like this. Very good. Kagari - Tori-paitan ramen. So good. Amazing chicken flavor. So good. We waited about 15 minutes near closing. There was something special about this place - the ramen was outstanding. Or maybe it was the cover of Sweet Child of Mine playing over and over again with the chef singing along. Or maybe it was the tiny closet of a place that seats maybe 8 at a tiny counter. Really enjoyed this a lot. OSAKA Fujiya 1935 - 3 stars - Probably the cheapest 3* meal I have had - great value ($120 for 12 courses). Very enjoyable space, great service and the food was good. Wine list is competitively priced. Had a very enjoyable pasta dish, a wonderful radish dish and a wonderful grouper dish. Solid food in a nice setting. Hajime - Two stars currently - Beautiful space. Amazing platings. Extraordinary price for the meal - I think our most expensive meal. We did a wine pairing and a non-alcoholic pairing with our meal. Both were nice with very high quality wines/non-alcoholic drinks. Interesting the mark ups on wine were quire fair, with a few bottles prices less than I can buy them at retail in the US. The platings of the food are the star here - they are to another level I have never seen anywhere and intricate and a bit insane. Food quality was excellent - I particularly enjoyed how a different piece of bread came with each course. Of note, a lamb course was excellent as was a sous vide/grilled mackerel course. Food was excellent but a poor value. Also no pictures allowed - very annoying. It is not clear to me why this doesn't have 3 stars. Service and food was perfect. Kani Doraku - We wanted crab for lunch. It is touristy. But it was quite good. We had crab grilled, steamed, in soup and sushi. All were tasty. We did a lunch sampler which was $20 a person which was a good value and filling. Tako-yaki - We got them from one of the places with a long line in the Dontonbori area of Osaka. I didn't love them. I thought they would be denser like a hush puppy but instead they are creamy inside. Daruma - Excellent kushi katsu (tonkastsu on sticks). Everything was perfectly fried. We picked a dozen or so meat and vege items which came perfectly fried and served on sticks. I liked the dipping sauce. Mizuno - We wanted to try a okonomiyaki. Wait was short. We had one with shrimp and scallops. Tasty and filling but I would skip it in the future unless drunk.
  11. Eucalyptus was quite good. Had a very nice tagine there. Recommended it to some neighbors who enjoyed it a few weeks ago as well.
  12. Having been in London the past few months, I have to say, nearly every single restaurant here requires a credit card and I have yet to find a "better" restaurant that would take a cancellation less than 72 hours without a substantial fee. I personally have no issue providing a credit card or agreeing to a cancellation policy several days out. I will also note that nearly ever restaurant in London has limits on how long you can dine. 2-2.5 hours and you are out - whether it is the pub around the corner with terrible food or The Ledbury. Someone asked if I cared if a restaurant overbooked tables and cancelled on me. Interesting question. It is pretty routine in most industries. Doctors overbook. Car rentals. Hotels. Airlines. etc. etc. etc. So in a way, why not restaurants. If I ran a restaurant, I probably would overbook a bit. I'm somewhat convinced some restauranteurs in town do to this given how often some restaurants never quite have that table ready until 45 minutes after your reservation time. I think it presents an interesting business opportunity for the programmers who figure out airplane loads and hotel loads. Figure out who is most likely to cancel a reservation using some complicated algorithm and restaurant owners can maximize profits and loads and figure out the right way to overbook their restaurant.
  13. I bet they did still serve two people in my seats. It reloaded the seats on their online reservation system instantly and they were gone quickly. I sort of contemplated sending my assistant over there to make sure the seats sat empty. In one sense, I paid for them. Frankly David Chang doesn't seem like the type of guy who would refund my money even if he did fill those seats. Regarding the ethical issues of multiple reservations, I see none. I routinely make multiple reservations for hotels and transportation and car rentals and figure it out all later. I don't view a reservation as a commitment until day of (unless, I have agreed explicitly to some sort of contract). In some ways Opentable has caused this. It lets me make reservations semi-consciously. I don't need to think much. Just tap tap, done. Before Opentable you had to call, and speak to a human, and it took effort to make a booking. There was a connection with the person who picked up. You felt obligated to show. That has all changed. If Opentable was smart, they would charge for reservations at prime times. They incentivize you by offering 10,000 points to dine at 5:30. Why not charge $20 a reservation for an 8 pm prime table and pass the money on to the restaurant owners.
  14. For what it is worth, we have multiple open table accounts and actually do this quite often. Do we want Rasika or CityZen Friday? Let's book both on Monday and decide on Wednesday (or whatever the cancellation policy is). For trips it is worse, we often have 4 reservations at different places simultaneously on multiple days so we can build an itinerary depending on when we can get hard to get tables. We do eventually cancel the ones we don't want. We don't no show though. We always cancel as early as possible. I think I've only been stung once for a cancellation fee - Momofuku Ko. Wife and I was terribly sick day of and I unhappily sucked up $500 or so of cancel fees. I agreed to it to secure the reservation, so I guess I can't really complain.
  15. Yes. Two dishes featured ants. One was a Beef tartare with ants and the other was a smoked baby cucumber that was coated in ants and then you dipped it into scallop "butter". Both were quite delicious. The ants gave some good crunch and a hit of acidity.
  16. Did a quick trip to Copenhagen. Drinking: - Mikkeller - I think they had 50 or so beers on tap. Some quite excellent, others quite nasty. We had them pour us flights of various styles of beer. Would go back to explore more. Don't let them give you a flight themed on fruit - some truly gross beers made of various Danish berries. - Ved Stranden 10 - Excellent excellent wine bar. We had a nice large plate of cheese and meats and killed two bottles with our friends. One was a very spicy wonderful Syrah from Slovakia and the other was a very rare red blend from Austria. Excellent wine bar. Frequented by every chef in town. Quite reasonable. Dining: - Design Museum Cafe - Very simple lunch of open faced Danish sandwiches - one with salmon, one with fish cakes. Quite good. - Relae - Former Noma head chef. Excellent and quite reasonable (I think the food itself was $75 or so per person for a 7 course dinner). Some hits, some misses but overall quite good. Of note a smoked trout topped with crispy chicken skin crumbs and a very nice cream foam. Truly exceptional dish. I would eat 10 of them. - Noma - No misses. Tons of crazy good oddball wines. Lots of oddball food. Ate ants. Ate foraged moss. Ate year old potatoes. Wonderful service. Gorgeous facility. Lots of truly exceptional dishes (smoked quail egg and an amazing dessert of effectively mashed potatoes and mashed plums were standouts). In the scheme of restaurants at this level - quite reasonable. The staff was particularly great. We spent over an hour with Dan Giusti reminiscing about DC and having a tour of the facility. All staff was exceptionally friendly. Sadly Rene was in NY accepting an award from the WSJ, so we will have to chat with him in Japan. Overall, really enjoyed Copenhagen. Great food, and they get the bike lanes correct unless the mess that is DC.
  17. Quick weekend in Paris. Of note: Porte12 - New restaurant open a few weeks in the 10th. Andre Chiang's first restaurant in Paris. Crappy neighborhood. Amazing restaurant. 8 course meal at E68 per person plus wine. Every course was superb. Some amazing - a very nice veloute; a wonderful perfectly cooked cod; delicious scallop dish, etc. If you can do one more expensive meal in Paris, make it this. It's packed, its booked out no for months; go if you can. L'Arpege - Unless you have money to burn I wouldn't recommend it. Lots of up and downs. Some extraordinary dishes - an amazing tomato broth with vege dumplings; vege sushi; beet tartar (would fool you; it is that good). Proteins were eh - overcooked lobster and fish, though a nicely done chicken. One terrible dish we sent back and Passard remade himself (which was a bit better).
  18. Had dinner last night at The Typing Room. It is located in a new fancy hotel in Bethnal Green, a hipster-esque transitional neighborhood in East London. We did a 5 course meal with the additional cheese course. The food was aesthetically beautiful but fell flat on taste. I can't remember all we ate but some of the items were: We started with a profiterole with olives and mint which was good. Another bite was provided which was super crispy fish skin with fish creams. It was very fishy. No my favorite. They provided two nice rolls and butters (one was marmite butter). The one roll was an IPA beer bread which was quite good. The other was a Parker House-like roll, but nothing too interesting compared to City Zen. One course was a scallop with pickles. The scallop was smoked and grilled and served cold. It was served with a pickle reminiscent of the canned non-refrigerated pickles you can buy. It was a nice course. One course was cauliflower several ways - raw, grilled, fried, etc. It tasted like cauliflower. Not particularly interesting other than that. One course was a tenderloin of deer. England loves their game meat - it is on every menu. This was quite good. Quite tender and tasty. Dessert was mint gelato and some chocolate - basically to make mint chocolate chip ice cream. This was probably the best course and was quite good. Overall, I wouldn't go back to this restaurant. There is a lot better in town at this price point.
  19. Decided to take a last minute reservation at the Fat Duck last week. We were initially planning to go there on the way to our Christmas vacation during our 10 hour layover in London, but it's closed in mid-December for renovations while they move temporarily to Australia. Here is the run down of the menu: Dinner started with a beet macaron with a horseradish filling. Quite delicious one bite. There was also one other thing but I can't remember at this point. - NITRO POACHED APERITIF - Three choices: Vodka and Lime Sour, Gin and Tonic, Tequila and Grapefruit. We had the vodka one and the grapefruit. Basically they take a foam of the two ingredients, freeze it in liquid nitrogen table side and you eat it quickly before it melts. I had the tequila one which was quite tasty and refreshing. -RED CABBAGE GAZPACHO with Pommery Grain Mustard Ice Cream - Absolutely delicious beet soup; more or less tasted like borscht - with an amazing blood red vivid color. Perfect smoothness to the soup. Delicious. - JELLY OF QUAIL, CRAYFISH CREAM with Chicken Liver Parfait, Oak Moss and Truffle Toast - One of my favorite dishes. Absolutely amazing small bowl of crayfish soup with a piece of quail in a gelatin and some chicken liver. Amazing. I would eat several. Served with a little piece of toast coated in truffles. Quite nice. - SNAIL PORRIDGE- served with Iberico Bellota Ham, Shaved Fennel - My wife had a very similar dish at Dinner a few nights before. In many ways part of the menu is replicated in some fashion at dinner. This was an amazing green colored fennel broth with a number of perfectly tender snails. The most tender and flavorful snails I have eaten. Very nice. - ROAST FOIE GRAS - with Barberry, Confit Kombu and Crab Biscuit - Foie Gras - Delicious - MAD HATTER'S TEA PARTY (c.1892) - Mock Turtle Soup, Pocket Watch and Toast Sandwich - This was an ok dish. My wife did not like it at all. I thought it was meh. The concept is cool. Basically you take a pocket watch off of a stand, they tell you a story about the Mad Hatter's Tea Party. You drop the gold pocket watch into the "tea" which is a wonderful mushroom-like broth and the watch dissolves. The both and watch was quite delicious. Four small tea sandwiches were served alongside. They were ok. Not sure what they were. - "SOUND OF THE SEA" - Eh. My wife hated it. I thought it was eh. They bring seashells with an ipod hidden in them. You listen to the sound of the sea. Then they bring a piece of granite and it has some sushi and a "sand" which is very strong fishy concoction that looks like sand. The overall dish was extremely fishy. - SALMON POACHED IN A LIQUORICE GEL - Artichoke, Vanilla Mayonnaise and Golden Trout Roe - Delicious. Perfect sous vide salmon coated in a liquorice gel. Wonderful. - ANJOU PIGEON - Smoked Onion and Malt - Perfect pigeon breast. Delicious, a tad gamy, with wonderful grilled smoked onions. Served with a side of creamy mashed potatoes which were outstanding. Amazing depth and cheesiness. - HOT AND ICED TEA - Tea that is half hot and half cold. You drink it at once and it changes from hot to cold. Quite sweet but tasty. - EGGS IN VERJUS (c.1726), VERJUS IN EGG (c.2013) - Basically an egg served on a nest. It is chocolate filled with some sort of pudding. Quite tasty. - BOTRYTIS CINEREA - A few grapes, some balls of wonderful gelato and sorbets, beautiful presentation. - WHISK(E)Y WINE GUMS - This was one of my favorites. Basically they take a handful of whiskeys from around the US and the UK and turn them into gelatins. They are stuck to a map and you try each one. Jack Daniels, Glenlivet and a few others. Quite interesting to see how different each was. - "LIKE A KID IN A SWEET SHOP" - A few candies. A caramel (decent, but not as good as the ones at Palena or Jacques Gegnin), a very cool white chocolate "Queen of Hearts Card" which was edible and a few other treats. Overall meal - 4 hours. It was quite tasty but had two serious misses, but a few amazing courses. Overall, quite good. I think his other restaurant, Dinner, is better though.
  20. Spending the next few months in London so so far had the chance to try a lot of places in this land of terrible food. Of note in the past week or so - Ottolenghi Islington - Wonderful salads, a very nice pork belly (why do Israelis cook such delicious pork products); great deserts. Very nice meal. Five Fields - Fabulous meal. Shocked it didn't get a Michelin star this past year. Easily the most perfect service at any restaurant in quite some time. We did a tasting menu and it was superb. No misses. Of note, their wonderful baked to order buttermilk rolls (I would go back for these alone), a wonderful roasted scallop and an excellent lamb loin. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal - Nearly perfect food. This man is a master of sous vide. I had an exceptional octopus starter - most tender I have ever had. Also a perfect rare salmon main. The ice cream made to order was quite good as well. Dishoom - As noted above. Wonderful Indian. Inventive drinks. I've eaten breakfast, lunch and dinner a half dozen times this past month. If I could move this to DC, I would. Wonderful lamb sandwich and very enjoyable chicken tikka and chai. Gymkhana - Hottest restaurant in town right now. Game meat oriented Indian food. Wonderful, unique indian food. Very wonderful spicings and good service. Of note, a kid goat curry with brains - very good. Also we had an amazing deer biryani. Of particular note was a super rich "Duck Egg Bhurji, Lobster, Malabar Paratha". Basically indian spiced scrambled eggs with lobster. So good. I'll continue to update this.
  21. We were in Jerusalem in January. All of the food we had generally speaking was quite good, but Mahneyooda was the best meal we had. Really enjoy the food and the place is jumping with a very good scene and drinks. Highly recommended.
  22. Was down in Judiciary Square and stopped by for a slice for lunch. At 2PM it was packed with local workers. Have to say the most satisfying piece of pizza I have had in DC in a long while. Thin crust, lots of cheese, nice sauce with a hint of garlic. Reminded me of the NY style joints where I grew up. Still consider this one of the best pizzas around.
  23. I like my Coravin and find it pretty useful. Makes it quite simple to open something nicer than usual for a glass. I haven't noticed any issues with wines sampled with it.
  24. Ordered delivery last night from Laliguras to try it out. Owner delivered it and says business has been good. Delivery was made in about 30 min, a drastic improvement over the 1.5 hours Masala Art requires. Ordered my usual test order for any Indian restaurant - butter chicken, a roti and a lamb seekh kabab. This isn't Rasika. Nor Masala Art. But is is pretty good. Thr roti was fine. Nothing particularly memorable. A little thinner than some other rotis I have had in the area. The seekh kabab was quite tasty and a good portion. Four small kebabs, nicely spiced with a little cabbage on the side. They were cooked properly and rather enjoyable. They didn't have the heat of the ones at Masala Art nor the complexity of Rasika, but they were pretty good. The butter chicken was good. It wasn't particularly spicy and even arguably a little bland but it was tasty. Their sauce is much more tomato soup-esque than some other butter chickens in the area. The serving had a lot of nice chicken in it and the quality was quite good. It hit the spot but if you want a spicier butter chicken or something with more complex flavors, this isn't it. Overall, the prices seem quite fair and delivery is quick. As long as the quality doesn't decline, i'll keep ordering delivery from here often. If you don't like spicy indian food this may be your place. Possibly a good intro for someone who "doesn't like Indian".
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