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BookGuy

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  • Birthday 03/26/1941

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  1. Pines reopened this past Sunday in the old Portobellos spot on North Pollard Stret off Langston Boulevard in Arlington. I went on Tuesday evening and believe that the place needs more time to become worth visiting. A lot of the food seemed to be overaged and not fresh and not really heated enough. The place was also cold and many diners wore their coats throughout their meals. I guess the moral of this story I’d wait awhile until a place gets most of the kinks out.
  2. I haven’t been to the Rosslyn branch yet, but there was a comment on Tom Sietsema’s chat last Wednesday about the food being overly salty. This is enough to scare me away if the food is all pre-prepared. The Perron who wrote also noted that he/she complained afterward and received no response.
  3. I was at Liberty Tavern on Friday night and it was disappointing, sad as I really do like their fried chicken deal on Mondays. It may have been due to restaurant week as the place was quite crowded, but the pumpkin soup was lukewarm, the chicken wings overcooked, and the Caesar salad overly salty. It may have been because the kitchen couldn’t keep up with the crowd and the servers were frazzled. I hope it was due to Restaurant Week and the place will revert back to its usual consistency.
  4. Back in the 90’s, I took someone from out of town to Kinkead’s and she loved the food. I also noted that Leon Panetta was two tables away and she didn’t know who he was. It was then that I realized that Washingtonians live in a different world than people elsewhere. I am grateful that Kinkead’s was part of my world for as long as it was.
  5. To be honest, I was never impressed by Landrum’s restaurants, all good concepts that faded away. At Rsy’s And at Hellburger, I always felt that there was something missing. People who I took to Ray's complained that there was a strong feeling of being rushed. Considering the failed businesses, good for a bit and then gone, there needs to be a fuller analysis of why these concepts failed.
  6. While I am feeling somewhat nostalgic about eating options in the Twin Towers, I remember when I moved to Rosslyn in the early 1980's, that complex had a restaurant called New York, New York which closed in a few years after I moved to Rosslyn. Although I was young then and, therefore, had no basis for comparison, it reminded me of what a typical Manhattan eatery was like with a break menu of surf and surf, something like I imagined Toots Shor's or Jack Dempsey's must have been. The closest that my fading memory can come to describing something similar would be Joe's, the Miami transplant on fifteenth street near the White House.
  7. I went over to the Twin Towers to The Great Eatery, the buffet and sandwich place, and they posted a sign that August 31 would be their last day after ten years. Although I think the cause is mainly the movement of various businesses on the Mall level due to the expansion of the WJLA empire, I am sorry to see it go, particularly as a similar buffet place at the Rosslyn Metro Center closed several months ago. Now, aside from a sandwich shop on the street level, a fairly large complex has no interior dining options. There are still food trucks along Wilson Boulevard and assorted take out places in the block across Wilson, but it is sad when a business closes that was at least convenient.
  8. I took my teen-aged goddaughter there before a basketball game at what used to be the Verizon Center. She was more in awe that it was a Mike Isabella place because she had heard of Mike from some cooking show that she occasionally watched. I have also been to his Greek place, both the Ballston and Bethesda branches, and they were just OK. It leads me to believe that my goddaughter, being a college student, may have hit it on the head: it was considered better than it was because Isabella popped up on television. If you want an economic response, it was like the Ray's The Steaks franchise in developing a name, over-expanding, and paying the price eventually.
  9. I have lived in Rosslyn for thirty years and note that, during that time, we lost Tivoli, Tom Sarris, and the China Garden. I even remember early on that there was a very pleasant restaurant called New York, New York in the Twin Towers. You would imagine that with the residential towers sprouting up down here that there would be some better dining options for dinner. I do note that a brief Circulator ride takes you to Georgetown and even as far as DuPont Circle. By the way, Mi Jana is fine but it is one of the few dining spots at Court House.
  10. Rosslyn has many fast casual lunch places and very few dine in places. For dining, you have to go up the hill to Pierce Street to Barley Mac, Kona Grill, and Quinn's or go further to Clarendon to Ambar, Lyon Hall, or Liberty Tavern. I should note that Nando Peri Peri that opened in Rosslyn doesn't carry my favorite chicken livers.
  11. The price of the dish is eighteen dollars. If I remember correctly (I also had two Black and Tans), there were three large pieces of fish plus the fries.
  12. I am not a complete expert on fish and chips but I do recommend a fairly new bar in Rosslyn, Quinn's on the Corner, located at the corner of Quinn Street and Wilson Boulevard in Rosslyn. I would you could call the batter fluffy and it certainly not dried out like the fist is in many other places. The only negative I can give to Quinn's is that the chairs are high.
  13. McDonald's reopened in Rosslyn opposite the Metro after being closed for a number of years due to construction. Of particular interest is that it has automated ordering via touch screen, something apparently existing in one other part of the chain. I tried it last Sunday after coming home from a sports event. I should not that, although I am computer literate, the touch screen method, particularly the need to double back to order more than one of an item, was not that easy for the first time. I did order two McChickens and one small fries to go and skipped the credit card swipe to pay at a counter, I waited for five minutes to pay cash and was sent to another line to wait for my order. This took about fifteen minutes and struck me as interesting unless the chain is trying to get out the bind of being fast food. Fortunately, with the new buildings we should be getting other small chain places such as Sweetgreens and Nado Peri Peri as alternative choices.
  14. It would also help if the web site showed the menu. It did not on the Boss site nor on Open Table. I think that the place is capable of being successful considering the large number of well-heeled visitors to DC who might like the ambiance. We just have to know that it is there.
  15. This is a new restaurant which appears to be under the Warner Theater. Although it boasts a Pennsylvania Avenue address, although that esteemed Avenue is a block further south, it is actually located at Thirteenth and E, NW, with the entrance on Thirteenth. You go down a nice flight of stairs into a well-decordated room. I took my goddaughter there last week and the fifteen year old enjoyed a clam chowder that was actually full of clams. I opted for the fried chicken that the Post food critic had recommeded. I liked the chicken very much as did goddaighter who had one of my pieces and pronunced it as better than Joe's where she had chicken last month. She finished off with chocolate chip cookies and milk and, when she had one cookie left, they put it in a neat little box for her to take home. I will go back, of course, and I do wonder why these new restaurants are not reviewed more frequently. Boss is a nice place and certainly better than Chef Jeff's across the street. Perhaps the entrance is too hard to find.
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