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Prompted partly by @KeithA, we visited Muchas Gracias last weekend while visiting DC. Really glad we did - had never been in person and head a really nice first outdoor meal of the season. We got two appetizers to share - the aguachile special and the avocado crab salad. The former is a saucier shrimp ceviche with a bit of jalapeno kick. The crab avocado dish was a real delight for someone who has been out of Maryland for a while. Huge chunks of blue crab with avocado and a nice slaw underneath. Not the most beautiful presentation, but all the right flavors and textures together. Would order this again in a heartbeat. For mains, we ordered fish tacos (which came with a smoking hot habanero salsa), enchilada con mole, and a couple orders of quesabirria. The first and last were very good - I might have liked a bit more flavor on the taco other than the salsa. Quesabirria is just a flavor bomb - adored by both that ordered it. The only real disappointment of the meal was the enchiladas - specifically the mole. Mole should have deep, soulful flavors - this one just fell a little flat. Drinks were tasty and overall a very nice experience. Can't wait to return when I move back.

Really surprised there hasn't been more engagement on this, as I was at Uchi's new stand on Friday in the Square (he took over the one that Cashion's had for what seemed like a couple weeks) and it was buzzing at the 5:30 seating. The dinner version of his omakase has 15 courses, about 5 of which were non-sushi, and it is $100pp, but worth every penny IMO. The quality of the fish and the creativity of Uchi really shine through in this expanded menu, which he does at 2 seatings at 5:30 and 7:30 as he continues to wait for his restaurant to be complete right across the way in the Square. I'll look forward to getting this several more times again going into the summer as I'm sure the price of this will go way up when he gets into that space.

Dinner tonight was this awesome avocado, bacon, and chicken salad. I added cucumber and carrots because I like those and despite putting it on the grocery list, I forgot to buy feta cheese. We have an assortment of cheeses in the drawer so went with a smoked Gouda and something else. Everything worked really well and I probably could skip the chicken and still really enjoy it.

Went there tonight … Michelin-star-quality sushi in the middle of a food court! Complete with a bad musician in the background, and free parking in the garage (you have to use the K Street entrance after 5PM). $100 for this omakase is a steal. Listen to DPop - he’s right.

We had a great time in Japan - visited Osaka, Kyoto, and Tokyo. We enjoyed some good food but also kind of messed up by not planning much. Most of the food was very good but it is was rarely excellent. Here is my advice (mostly based on what I didn't do): 1. Go with people who want to eat the same things as you. Many places in Japan specialize in only a few types of dishes - sushi, tempura, katsu, yakiniku (korean BBQ), ramen, etc. If you have picky eaters and want to accommodate them you'll miss out on these specialized places. I never made it to a real sushi restaurant because my crew wasn't willing to eat nigiri - they usually eat maki rolls which are not that popular in Japan. 2. Have someone like a hotel concierge make reservations for you several days in advance. Many restaurants even not too fancy ones require reservations (often through phone calls in Japanese or use of Japanese language apps) or a long wait. We thought we'd just stroll in and that pretty much never worked at better places so we ended up at more casual or random places. The waits are often long because the places are tiny and so they fill up quick. Also many places will be booked completely for reservations. 3. Insist and plead. One night we showed up at a mostly empty larger restaurant early for dinner and asked for a table. They hemmed and hawed and finally sat us at one of the only high top tables with stool with no backs. We were really tired from walking all day. I kindly begged to be moved to a table with chair backs and they said ok, but we could only stay for 1 hour because they had reservations coming. That was no issue for us and I'm so happy we were more comfortable. Another time, my kids really just wanted some plain rice and that seem to confuse the staff at first request but when I pointed out it was for the kids, they complied quickly and cranky kids became happy kids. 4. Ask for help in the proper way to eat the food. We went to a yakiniku place randomly one night and got lots of confused signals at first. They didn't know if they could seat us, then said yes and then sat us in a room alone whereas we heard lots of other people in another part of the restaurant. We didn't realize we were supposed to order through a QR code menu till we asked. We didn't know how to properly use the stove till we asked. Another time it is was a small thing - I was given a sleeve of small pieces of nori seaweed and a small flat plate. Until I asked I didn't know I was supposed to pour soy sauce on the plate, dip my seaweed it in and then wrap the seaweed around some rice for a much tastier bite than eating them separately. 5. Kaiseki meal - don't go to a ryokan for a kaiseki meal with picky eaters or at least try to adjust the menu. The ryokan gratefully adjusted the menu to avoid shellfish and pork, which we don't eat, but then only gave us lots of fish - not any meat and limited tofu even, so it was a bit of a bust for the others. (I ate great). We ended up eating a lot of yakitori - some really good at hole in the wall places (the one behind the Osaka W is great) and food halls and some not so great. Look up a guide on how to order the parts of chicken you want to eat. I really enjoyed the chicken meatballs (and they cook quicker usually too). You don't have to go to a dedicated sushi place to get lots of great sashimi. Lots of izakayas and other places have it and it is generally great. Like a lot of the food it is also very seasonal - spring is the time for sea bream so we had a lot of that. Ramen - since we don't eat pork, we never got it. It is very hard to find fish or chicken broth based ramen (although it seemed vegan was more popular). There are places but again advance research was needed. Udon/Soba - really good at lots of places. The Yuba (tofu skin) noodle soup place across from Tenryu-Ji shrine (near the bamboo forest) in Arashiyama was excellent. Eat the specialty of the house. On the way to Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto there is a place making lots of inari. Get the inari - either as sushi stuffed with rice or in soup, skip the bland maki rolls. Hotel buffets are great for breakfast. We stayed at the W Osaka and Westin Tokyo and they both had huge spreads of western and Japanese foods (as well as some chinese too). DO eat Japanese breakfast - fish and soup may not be normal for western palates but they are great. Onigiri - the conbini have pretty good but if you can get fresh made it is even better. One of my favorite parts of the Westin Tokyo's buffet was the made to order onigiri. Lawson's conbini fried chicken - it is chicken nuggets but lots of different flavors and really makes everyone happy for a quick and super cheap snack. Viral foods - the 10 Yen Cheese pancake IS very good. The custard version not so much. The hard sugar coated strawberries are good for a couple of bites and then not so much. Cremia extra milky soft serve - I didn't like it. It was too creamy and would suggest sticking to regular ice cream which is readily available. Mochi - if you like it, it is available it lots of varieties and wonderful. Lots of places sell it traditional style with red bean filling (give it a try, it is excellent), or chocolate or custard (also good but a bit too sweet for me), and yes great also topped with a strawberry. If you are there in spring time try the special sakura mochi wrapped with a pickled leaf. I liked the Osaka/Kansai version better than the Tokyo/Kanto version but both were good. One great one was a sakura croissant filled with mochi and red bean that was at the W Osaka buffet. Pickles - Japanese pickles are mild and great. I loved having a variety to eat with my breakfast at the buffets. Izakayas are great options to find a wide variety of foods from noodles, sashimi, tofu dishes, etc. One of the best dishes we had was called "drool tofu" (this was both the English and Japanese name) which was soft tofu with a non-spicy chili crisp like topping. Pizza - Japan has great neapolitan style pizza - we had in a few times and felt like we were back in Italy. We even went to one that was Neapolitan certified in Osaka. They do have some unusual topping varieties like corn, fish roe, etc. but also always had margheritas and quattro formaggio (usually with a side of honey to drizzle on). Bagels - they have really good bagels at dedicated shops. Again with normal and unusual fillings. It seems like they prefer to fill them vs. having a schmear to spread on. Mochi donuts available in conbini and better and cheaper than in the US.

Will have to try that ⬆️ salad. I've got some leftover rotisserie chicken in the freezer. It reminds me a bit of the chicken ranch pasta salad with avocado and bacon I made from her site recently, and rotisserie chicken worked great. Speaking of her site, we had salmon with creamed spinach and mashed potatoes last night. I combined 2 recipes from Half-Baked Harvest, as she tends to reissue variations on the same essential recipe over time. I included both the cream cheese and pepper flakes from this one and the thyme, dill, green onions, salsa verde, and sun-dried tomatoes from this, so it was spicy. I used heavy cream, lemon juice and zest as well. The last bit of the cream went into the mashed potatoes as did some excess dill and green onion tops. It looked beautiful plated.

Last night on the patio had a delicious soft shell crab in yellow curry sauce special. Don’t miss this dish.

I continue to think the lounge is the best way to enjoy Le Bernardin. It's rarely crowded, especially early in the evening, the service is more friendly and prompt, and you have the choice of a la carte or you can also do the full tasting menu. Last Saturday evening brought Tuna with Foie Gras Brioche ($54 and pictured in the post above) and Lobster Rolls ($54). Portioning was generous, with 4 mini lobster rolls presented with truffle butter. Fabulous wine service - in and out in an hour for <$200. Then across the street to Aldo Sohm for a bottle and charcuterie.

I think Boston's got some great Chinese food. We had some delicious dumplings, baos, stinky tofu, sticky rice wrapped in intestine, and greens at Taiwan Cafe in Chinatown. We also had some delicious dim sum at Dynasty, also in Chinatown. Dynasty opens early (9 am). Tried some acclaimed seafood. Neptune Oyster had the best fried Ipswich clams I ever had (just great breading and nicely salted). The kids loved their clam chowder. I thought the Acadian redfish and chips were pretty good as well. Unfortunately their Monday night special of lobster spaghetti was not good at all. The lobster was way overcooked. The spaghetti sauce was just your typical marinara (unlike Joe Beef in Montreal, where the sauce was made with lobster stock). The scallop crudo was also fishy. The Daily Catch at the North End doesn't take reservation or credit card, but a few blocks away is a branch (Waterfront) that takes reservation and credit card. We had clams Siciliano, shrimp scampi, fritto misto and Vongole Neapolitan linguine. Their clam linguine is chopped clams while the Vongole Neapolitan has clams in shells. They didn't purge the clams so they were sandy. The other foods were good but nothing special. Le's Vietnamese around Harvard is decent. There looks to be some good food around Harvard but parking is a pain. We stayed at the Harborside Inn. The room was quite big with adjustable temperature. The fridge worked but there were no coffee/tea maker. The location is great though, right next to Quincy Market. We parked a couple of blocks away at 21 Well St. It's valet only but with in and out privileges. Found the parking on Spot Hero. Quincy Market looks more like a mall food court than a food hall. Nearby Boston Public Market isn't much better. The Isabella Gardner Museum is amazing if you like sumptuously decorated palazzos.

Last night was fish-centered. I made small pumpernickel canapes topped with cream cheese, smoked salmon, red onion and dill. I forgot capers. We also had a baked halibut fillet with lemon and tarragon and a mix of buttered peas and carrots with dill. The plates were very bright-looking.

For those of you who can't spare the thirteen minutes, here are some highlights: "Wow." "Whoa." "Wow." "Wow." "Yum." "Oh, my."

Wow, that aspic looks so worthwhile. Nice to see it on the menu. As always, while the pizzas are great one could (and does) make a nice meal of the non-pizza items when at 2 Amys...

Singapore Somewhat delirious after flying 18 hrs and driving almost 4 hrs home from Newark. Singapore classics that aren't really that exciting: Hainan Chicken (Tian Tian), Soya Chicken (Hawker Chan in their store and at their stall in Chinatown complex), Pork Noodle (i.e., current 1 star holder Hill St. Tai Hwa), Fish Head Curry (Banana Leaf), Nasi Lemak fried chicken. I tried the most acclaimed places and just don't get the hype. Singapore classics that I think are tasty: Tulang Merah (Deen Tiga Rasa at Golden Mile, choose the beef bones), Bah ku Teh (Song Fa), Murtabak (Zam Zam), Chili Crab (Long Beach) Lol....my favorite laksa is still in Urban Hawker in NYC (but I tried 2 in Singapore, the real Sungei Rd and a place in Hong Lim called Trishaw Sungei Rd, which had a Bib Gourmand designation). I will not dissuade anyone from trying out the classics so I suggest you sign up for Monster Day Tour's food tour. $70 Singaporean with visits to 3 hawker centers in Chinatown, tasting some of the most acclaimed foods. Alternatively, download the Michelin app and just hit up all the ones in hawker centers. We stayed around Robertson Quay (not the most exciting neighborhood for food). I prefer Chinatown to Little India or Kampong Gelam in terms of hawker centers and proximity to other sights.

Two dinner parties, two nights in a row. Friday was a Pea Salad with Spinach Mint Pesto Pistachio and creme fraiche from Apricot Lane farm (Sancerre), Red Wine Braised Short Ribs with carrots and asparagus (Stone Tower Hogback Mountain from NoVA), and a Citrus-sented Barsac Sabayon over fresh berries (Pineau des Cherantes). The first two I make quite often and are hits ever time. The Sabayon was new - next time I'd cut the sugar, but the sweetness was offset well by the berries. I inverted the ratio of berries to cream that is shown in the recipe picture linked. Saturday started with cocktails and Foie Gras Macarons from the Eleven Madison Park cookbook. Excellent flavors but the macarons became soggy within minutes of touching the foie mousse. Winter Citrus Salad with Pistachio and Castelvetrano Olives (Erbaluce) sounded like such an odd combination was but knock-out good. Braised Pork with Prunes and Citrus (git link) (Tenuta Terre Nere Etna Rosso - a fantastic pairing) was easily the best dish I've made in months. Finished with chilled port and melon, which I commonly serve after a heavy meal and when I run out of capacity to cook and entertain. A fair amount of trying new recipes went into the planning for this meal, but I was thrilled to get two new recipes to add to the permanent roster. On the menu for tonight - take out!

Y Noodles 1109 W Broad Street Falls Church, VA 22046 571-888-3568 On recommendation, tried out the small restaurant for take out recently. Very impressive favors for Sichuan/Chongqing style cuisine, (from my limited experience of never visiting China). Most of the tables were occupied during our visit and they had a healthy influx of take out orders.

I spent about four days last week in Miami and had a few dinners out. Dinner at Doya in Wynwood was probably the food highlight of the week, with a nice Mediterranean/tapas menu. Nothing really stood out more than another, but the dips (including a great beet root hummus) were all very nice. Service was efficient, and the space is large and very nice. The bar cabinet was about two stories tall and very interestingly-stocked, at least for Miami. Dinner at Log (also in Wynwood) was fine, nothing overly special. Again, the space was cool. The steak tartare was very good, and the ribeye was a well-prepared medium rare. They were a bit weird with how they handled wine; the bottle didn't sit on the table or in a tableside bucket, but rather at the bar. The weird part was that they brought wine refills in mini-carafes, whether it was the red or the white wines that we had. We saw them pouring from the bottles, so it wasn't a bait-and-switch (and honestly, we hadn't ordered especially expensive wines). Not sure what that was about... Dinner Chotto Matte was also really good, a Peruvian/Japanese fusion restaurant. The space is really something, with the massive (and I mean, really massive) entrance door the size of a wall. The inside is very cool, and the retractable roof gives you something cool to look at. Service was fine, as was the food. This is a cool restaurant that wears its hipness on its sleeve (or its wall, I guess). Breakfast at San' Gines in Miami Beach was a great option; we got there early and sat out at a sidewalk table. My cappuccino (and then, later, a second cortadito) were both delicious and the coffee highlight of the week. I only did an almond croissant, but it was very good, even in the Miami humidity that was developing. The sandwiches also looked (and, I heard secondhand, were) very good. It was humming when we left, with quite a line between it and its next door neighbor, an Italian deli counterpart called Rosetta Bakery.

We have those too sometimes. That's when I realize why restaurants add that curly parsley garnish to plates (or used to; it seems not to be so common any more). I try to find any reasonable green herb to mince and sprinkle over the plate. If I have any, sometimes I'll halve a cherry tomato or two to set alongside the beige food. Last night was actually rather beige, come to think of it . I fried up some mushroom and sauerkraut pierogies I'd bought at Stachowski's a couple months ago and had stashed in the freezer. We had them with caramelized onions and sauteed enoki and sliced button mushrooms. This used a lot of butter all around. I balanced things somewhat with braised rainbow chard and green curly kale to accompany.

Thursday night was an unusually beige meal for us. I got home late and was staring in the fridge at options. I grabbed the remaining bacon and started frying it while I cut up a remaining defrosted chicken breast. I also saw a packet of chicken flavor seitan that was near it's expiration date, so tore that up as well. Took the bacon out of the skillet and tossed the chicken in to cook. Once it was mostly done, I added the seitan and a handful of matchstick carrots. I made some Parmesan couscous for the starch and called it done. Worked out well but probably should have added some more veggies. Friday night was this Chili Crunch Tofu & Spinach dish. It was supposed to include rice noodles but I ended up doubling it and didn't have enough noodles for that, so made Korean black rice instead. I also should have pressed the tofu more than I did as it has too much moisture to crisp up like it was supposed to do. Ignoring that though, the sauce was good and it used up all of the spinach, which was a goal. I do have 1/2 a can of coconut milk sitting in the fridge to use for something. Last month, this recipe for Chicken & Carrot Kade Paan caught my eye and we made it for dinner last night. The bag of rolls I found was a 36 count, not 18, so this recipe got doubled. I skipped the egg wash, and we were fine with that. No chili tomato sauce here but rummaging around I decided to do a mayo based sauce instead. I went fusion instead of closer to authentic. Mayo with some aji amarillo paste, basil paste, S & P and that was good for us. We are 4 each and put the remainder in the fridge for future meals. I liked them but I really need to work on getting more filling inside, I'm terrible at that and the finished rolls did seem a bit more hollow than they should have been.

It's a pop-up for the time being. I'm sure when he has his own place and his staffed trained, it will be a legit 1 star place. I still don't know why Maydan gets a star and is one of the most sought after restaurants in DC. At Nakazawa, his movements are serene, not slapping things together as fast as he can.

Loosely inspired by a recipe from The Times, Sunday's appetizer was fresh burrata surrounded by a spring salad of edamame, fennel, celery and mint, lightly dressed. Served with toasted italian bread, made a delicious and (somewhat) light bruschetta. I would imaging you could do the same with ricotta instead of burrata as well. Shaps Bouzeron Aligote. Desert was the easy and always fabulous Cherry Clafoutis from Eric Ripert's Vegetable Simple. Sparkling Lambrusco (forget the producer). Oh and some mixed grilled meats and vegetables in the middle.

Last night was patty melts, french fries, and salad. I bought ground beef on sale that was 80/20. I usually go somewhat lower fat, so the patties were a bit greasy. I should stick to using that for cooking up ground beef for something where it gets well -drained and use the better stuff for burgers.

RIP, I always enjoyed his posts, his passion was reflected in his writing.

I had 2 cactus paddles in the fridge so decided to make nopales with ground beef for dinner. I've had piquin peppers lingering for a long time so was very happy that this recipe called for them. It's a bit brothy but I really like the broth and it went well over rice. I might serve it with beans next time.

Playing a bit of catch-up here on this past week's cooking. Tuesday: I had some enoki mushrooms so decided to make this wrap recipe. I had 150 grams of mushrooms so divided it into 9 sections and increased the sauce accordingly. I had a package of fried tofu sheets, took out 9 sheets, and rehydrated them in the microwave with some water. I've still got 1/2 a package of the sheets so need to do something else with them. We had it over jasmine rice. Flavor was very good, just have to be aware that some of the mushrooms will want to get caught in your teeth. Wednesday: We had Drunken Udon Noodles. Right on the edge of too much heat but just delicious. We doubled the recipe, bumped up the amount of baby corn and Chinese broccoli and tossed in 2 sheets of thinly cut tofu sheets. Thursday: Addictive sweet potato burritos, we've been making these for years. Great for an easy dinner, fantastic for freezing and having for a future lunch. Friday: Using the leftover rice from Tuesday, made Sambal fried rice with chicken. Didn't have any shrimp paste, so decided to use broad bean sauce instead, not trying to replicate the flavor but thought that might taste good. We also had 1 green bell pepper left over, so included that. This was a bit too spicy for me but tasted very good, just needed to top up my water glass a couple of times. Yesterday was leftovers of the burritos and fried rice.

RIP Bruce. Your posts were always good reads.

A while back I had bought a small boneless leg of lamb at TJ's that I intended for Easter. I was eyeing a recipe from a Greek cookbook* I've had for years and don't think I've ever cooked from. When I went to get started, I realized that the 2 hours I'd set aside were not going to be anywhere near enough time given how slowly the prep would go. Instead, for Easter we had this chicken pasta salad, which was excellent and made a ton of food for leftovers. A couple of days later, I set aside lots of time to make the lamb recipe (Roast Lamb from Rhodes), and...we still ate dinner late 🙃. The recipe struck me as a cross between dolma and kleftiko, as the lamb is first wrapped in lettuce leaves and then in parchment or foil parcels. Thin slices of tomato and onion go on top of the lamb before wrapping. The recipe called for either romaine or red leaf lettuce. I had both and used most of two heads of lettuce. (Each bundle uses 4 or 5 leaves.) Having made dolma and stuffed cabbage in the past, I should have thought to cut the out the thickest part of the stems of the leaves. It was hard to roll the lettuce bundles with those intact. Otherwise this came out well, time issues notwithstanding. After an hour roasting, the foil is cut open and feta is crumbled over the lamb inside for the remaining oven time. We had these with asparagus and garlic naan. There were quite a few leftover, so last night I reheated them in a Staub cocotte. I put a layer of drained and rinsed Great Northern beans on the bottom and nestled in the lamb bundles. I halved several cocktail tomatoes and scattered over the top. Then I poured over some canned tomato juice and white wine over it all and heated until everything was nice and warm and the tomatoes were breaking down. This was a great use of the extras and I think we liked it even more than the original. We served this straight from the pot at the table, accompanied by more garlic naan and a salad. For the salad: The remaining romaine and red lettuces, cucumber, radishes, and tomatoes, with crumbled feta and marcona almonds to top. The dressing was the last of the ranch made for the chicken pasta salad. (I only used about 2/3 of the dressing on the pasta salad.) *The cookbook is Regional Greek Cooking by Dean and Catherine Karayanis.

That's an amazing amount of excellent information. I've been to Tokyo a handful of times on business, so my food adventures were typically solo. I applaud you for accommodating kids and less than adventurous eaters--that must have been quite the challenge. I almost always ventured out on my own, but on occasion, I ate with some of my colleagues. They were fairly experienced, but we quickly learned to ask how to eat certain dishes--yakiniku being one of them. I didn't see Tonkatsu mentioned--ask around for a good spot. It was always much better than anything I found in the US. Reservations are essential--many Tokyo restaurants "screen" their customers to prevent no-shows, so you can either use Tablelog--a website that charges hefty service fees and requires non-refundable advance payments, or a concierge. I was surprised how many times I was unable to secure a reservation for one person, even when using a concierge (ANA Tokyo hotel), and also how many times some of the better-known hotel restaurants were fully booked. I was only less-than-thrilled a couple of times. Puffer fish is hyped in the US, but while the experience was interesting, it was very expensive, and the flavor of the fish was unremarkable. I also tried a "higher end" hibachi restaurant, and while everything was well executed, it wasn't something I'd do again.

I watched an extremely interesting "behind the scenes" video on Youtube (produced by Eater). Le Bernardin is not inexpensive by any means, but it looks to be worth every penny.

I had some jarred pesto that I needed to use, so last night, I sautéed shrimp, garlic, and baby tomatoes with pesto. Easy and delicious. I also sautéed some yellow squash and zucchini with onion.

Went to an Easter celebration yesterday and planned to bring a side dish or two. I had some leftover wheat berries from cooking a double batch and some canned chickpeas so that was my starting point. I settled on this wheat berry and everything else recipe as it did not look boring at all and turned out really well. While I was shopping for ingredients, I saw some tamarillos and remembered this recipe, so I picked up 3 of those (forgot I needed 4) and had everything else for that recipe. I did realize after I got home that I was out of normal pesto, so I made a bit of a mishmash that worked for the dish. My BIL made delicious beef tenderloin and twice- baked potatoes, so I was glad I had the salads to balance them out. Then we had cheesecake and tiramisu for dessert. 😋

Last night for us was fish, specifically salmon. Hubby picked this spicy salmon bowls recipe and other than removing the skin, was super quick to make. Since there weren't measurements for the spices, I just eyeballed and used Penzey's Bangkok seasoning instead of chili powder in the seasoning mix. We had leftover jasmine rice so I added some vinegar seasoning to it instead of making a batch of sushi rice and that worked. I have a jar of red Caviart that I've had for a while and it's almost empty now. It works well for sushi dishes, but I just saw that they have a lot more options I need to try.

[Thanks-I-Think emoji implied.]

We arrived at Yongkang Beef Noodles at 11:00, which in retrospect was exactly the worst time to get there -- the doors opened at 11, so those queued earlier got in. We (party of five) were eventually seated at 11:30, clearly part of the second wave of seatings at what is probably one of the more popular beef noodle soup spots in Taipei. We had already figured out what we were going to order, but the whole scene seemed chaotic. Eventually, a staff member noticed our hands raised. We got two of the non-spicy beef noodle soups, one spicy with just beef, one spicy with beef and tendon, and a dan dan noodles. They have you grab your own drinks from a fridge on the back wall, and you can get some optional side dishes at a station near the entrance -- we got an eggplant salad, a cucumber salad, and an interesting soybean and egg mix that I didn't love, but I certainly had never had before. Despite being liberally mixed with chilis, the eggplant and the cucumber were not spicy served alone. The spice, brief and bitey, came when you had the chili itself. The soups lived up to the hype and the line, with certain caveats. Our boys raved, saying the soup was the best non-homemade soup they have ever had. (The baseline at the moment is Ramen Nagi, a chain with multiple locations globally, including near our apartment in Manila.) I literally have never seen our seven-year old finish a full serving with the gusto he had in finishing his soup, the non-spicy variety. I was happy with the texture of the noodles, and the broth was definitely full of flavor. But it was not as spicy as I was expecting -- the eight-year old also had a bowl and had no problem. Not a big deal. The bigger deal was the tendon, which I had in my soup. These were BIG chunks of tendon, stewed to be super-tender... and they were just too much. I wish they had been thinly sliced like the tendon in pho back in the U.S. But overall, still a darn fine bowl of soup. With five soups, five sodas, and three apps, we departed NT$1630 lighter, or around $55. The kids left happy and stuffed, and worked off their meal at the nearby Daan Park. Definitely worth a stop if you are in the neighborhood, and are not cowed by the ubiquitous lines that seem to pop up at Taipei's most popular eating locations.

I had some veggies in the fridge and glass noodles in the pantry so made a bastardized japchae last night. I had no spinach, so skipped that and used fresh shiitake mushrooms instead of fresh. For veggies, I included: 1 zucchini, matchstick carrots, 1 yellow onion, snow peas, 1 orange bell pepper, and 1 jalapeno. I had a package of beef flavored seitan in the fridge, so I sauteed that with a bit of sweet soy sauce and then added it to the bowl. I would have liked to have had greens in it but it helped clean out the fridge and I always like japchae.

To be used as a counterexample in the “Burying the Lede” section of Journalism 101.

quick note to add that it's terrible. went yesterday. How does one cook a tonkatsu broth with no flavor. Sure it looked right and had good mouth feel but no flavor. All of us didn't like it. 4 soup lovers. 10 yr old loved the noodles though. They were not overcooked. Pork was ok. Sea weed salad was as expected. Veggie goyza was mushy. May have been filled with potato.

This, but I'd add that the food is generally quite good - particularly given the price point. A few have even received Michelin stars. Singaporeans take their food very seriously but the whole country eats at the hawker centers - rich poor and in between. Cool experience. If you've seen Crazy Rich Asians, one of the most touristy ones is featured there. Think Tony Bourdain did an episode featuring a couple others.

We've now been a few times to Compliments Only, and have been very impressed each time. The marquee sandwich is the Crunchy Boi, a turkey (or other meat) sub topped with Utz Chips, shredded lettuce, a good amount of mayo, and an oil/vinegar combo. It's exactly the sandwich you want when you are hungry--but it's definitely one for eating right away. Other sandwiches have been just as good, including a very solid meatball sub and their take on the Thanksgiving sandwich--the "Big Dipper" (served with turkey jus, thus the name). The people are friendly, there are some nice tables, a good selection of chips, and what else do you need? This place is a winner.

Dinner tonight was chicken zucchini meatballs in a red curry sauce. I got 1.5 instead of 1 lb of ground chicken so just scaled the recipe up accordingly and added some bread crumbs since I had some leftover. I'm not a fan of frying meatballs so I did them in the oven, 20 minutes at 400*F. Got the rice started then started the sauce. I had a can of coconut milk and some leftover heavy cream and used that combination instead of 1.5 cans. Came together well and super easy. The breadcrumbs were leftover from last night's dinner, which I think is my absolute favorite version of a fried tofu sandwich. I did 12 slices from the tofu block instead of 18, but those were still very thin. Really liked the taste of the breading and fried up very well. I had a chipotle garlic spread that I used for my condiment, topped with some pickle slices and lettuce. We had for 3 meals actually, and one time I did a tahini artichoke dip instead of the garlic spread and that worked well too.

A solid evening at 2 Amys. Not a ton of specials on the wine bar menu, must be a Monday thing. The hit of the night was the Tongue and Tail Aspic. Also good was the Capicola with tuna spuma and cress. The fava bean crostini was tasty as always. Unfortunately the skin on the pickled mackerel was on the chew side. Chris behind the bar thought that perhaps the membrane between the scales and skin hadn't been properly dealt with.

Thanks for the distinction, Ericandblueboy. Helps to temper expectations on an overall experience. Been thinking of trying it.

Your Only Friend 1114 9th Street NW Washington, DC 20001 202-912-1999 Nice little sandwich shop near the DC Convention Center. Enjoyed the The RPG sandwich last weekend.

It was really great a few years ago when it was a pop up. I haven’t gotten there since they’ve found their own place.

It's a big step below Nakazawa based on our experience tonight at 5:30. Uchi is slapping shit together as fast as he can and then passing them on to his helpers. The rice is hot and almost mushy. The fish hasn't warmed to room temp. For $100, it's still a bargain based on the ingredients but it's far from a Michelin star experience. Dunno what Rooster and Owl is charging these days but at one point it was $85 for 4 courses and that was most definitely a Michelin star worthy dinner. On a night when his counter isn't full and he's fully prepped, I can see this being Michelin worthy.

I have lots of negative things to say about many of the overpriced, undergood places that are all over NYC these days, but I have not a bad word to say about this place. It is simply a gem.

Holy crap that looks good.

We need another emoji: ‘Thanks, I think?’

Re-opening in Bethesda over on Cordell, in a small spot that was previously Paris in Town. I liked this place a lot when it opened...then the prices went up, and the quality of the mussels went down. Switched to Black's for my mussel fix, and wasn't surprised when it closed. I'll be interested in trying it again years later.

I've walked by Pisco y Nazca downtown numerous times but never had the chance to try it before lunch today. It was overall a really enjoyable experience. It is a nice, comfortable setting with an open kitchen tucked in the corner. Service was very good and attentive but not intrusive. The lunch menu is huge with lots of options (it may be the same as dinner menu) but I had seen online they also have a regular lunch 3 course menu for great price $26 with a few upcharges for certain items but still a lot of variety in the apps and entrees. I had to ask for the 3 course menu, but they brought it right away and we ended up ordering from it. The table next to us had a really good looking and they said really tasty and ample Japanese style tuna ceviche from the regular menu that I'd try next time. I started with the ceviche of the day, which was a small portion of the cremosa ceviche - raw white fish, onions, disk of roasted sweet potatos, what appeared to be plump large size corn and tigre sauce. It was pretty good but I think I'd try the tuna or another ceviche next time. They were fine with leaving out the usual shrimp from the ceviche when I requested that since I don't eat it. My fellow diner had the Causa de Pollo which is a chilled, whipped potato dish with shredded chicken, mayo, avocado, and sauce all layered - it was a large portion. She said it was very good. For main course, she had the Chaufa de Pollo - essentially peruvian fried rice which was really big and she said it was tasty. I loved my lomo saltado (biggest upcharge at $11 but worth it) - perfectly medium cooked cubes of steaks, great steak fries, sauteed onions and slices of tomato with a mound of rice with a great thin, soy based sauce that was delicious - tangy, sweet but not too sweet. I'd eat the lomo saltado again anytime. It was a really big plate too. We finished with the two dessert options - a small slice of cheesecake and a small piece of flan. I had the flan and it was really good caramel flavor, with the right amount of slightly dense but still not too heavy. It had small pieces of grilled pineapple around the base which were a nice complement but a bit overpowered by the rich caramel. I'm going to have to add this to lunch rotation and check it out for dinner sometime too. It was nice to see the restaurant more than half full downtown on a Friday - and this is without any sidewalk seating. I have hope for downtown just yet as I expected it may be deserted.