Capital Icebox

One breast of the regular fried chicken has 30 grams of fat, 11 of saturated fat and 130 mg of sodium.  WOW.

Yeah, but Cosi's Tuna Cheddar sandwich has 54 grams of fat, 112 mg of cholesterol and 1857 mg of sodium. And one breast of Popeye's has 1380 mg of sodium, not 130. Which I see has already been noted.

Edited to add: a Baja Fresh Steak Burrito Ultimo has 52 g of fat, 22 g saturated fat and 2220 mg of sodium. Just some perspective, y'all.

Defender of Grease Traps,

Terrence

Are they even still in business?

I think there's one still open in Arlington at the corner of Rhodes and Wilson, but I've never been.

Anyone have a link??

Here you go.

Click on the weekly menus on the right of the page to see what they have that day.

The onion rings are the best thing on the menu. And for fried chicken in a bucket, it's a reliable source. Just take some immodium before you go to bed.

Whitlow's on Wilson two years ago after Hurricane Isobel. The place was slammed for brunch, but we got a table fairly easily. The waiter comes by fifteen minutes later and asks us for our drink order and we tell him we're ready to order our drinks and entrees. He asks again what we want to drink, as if he didn't hear what we just said. We all got up and left without even consulting each other. I tried talking to the manager on our way out, but he interrupted and said "Have you ever tried to serve brunch in the middle of a hurricane?" The manager then made like he wanted to throw down, so we left and haven't returned.

Two lessons learned: after a hurricane is not the best time for brunch and Whitlow's isn't worth the abuse anyways, unless you're hard up for an unattractive date or a worthless burger on Monday night. Either will cost you just $4.

Restaurant Eve will be observing "holiday hours" for the next two weeks, starting this Monday. They will be closed all day Sunday to Tuesday (yes, I know they're always closed Sundays, but maybe everyone else doesn't?) and Wednesday to Saturday they will be open for dinner only. Things return to normal after Labor Day.

Edited to add: it'd be great if Eve could put this up on their website, but I've never seen the thing updated.

This means you have two days to get in and try the White Tuna Salad during the Lickety-Split Lunch. Pair it with a drink or dessert, because it's entree size, baby! It comes with two large morsels of perfectly seared white tuna with just the right amount of thyme, sitting atop a large mound of market greens mixed with cherry tomatoes, boiler onions and chanterelle mushrooms. It gets my vote for sexiest salad of the summer (soon to be a contest in DC Style mag, I'm sure).

This is sad news for readers of the City Paper and great news for readers of the Washingtonian. I hope the magazine will give him space on the website for weekly features, something along the lines of 'Young & Hungry' and 'Weekly Dish.' In my opinon, this would draw some of those City Paper readers away for sure.

Majestic also has a great brunch: shrimp and grits, hush puppies, orange pecan waffles, and coffee from Misha's are some items I've taken to. It takes awhile to be seated without a reservation, so call ahead or sit at the window bar and watch people trot up and down King.

Has anyone else heard that the chef is leaving and turning the kitchen over to the sous chef?

Went to Tallula for brunch Sunday before last and had a mixed experience. Our waiter was either 1) fired or 2) went home sick during our meal, so service was bumpy at first. No one even came to our table for the first fifteen minutes, at which point I went in and asked the Maitre' D if we could put a drink order in. A disheveled curmudgeon of a waiter came by a few minutes later and brought us the drinks, then disappeared again. The next time we saw him he was sulking out the door to his car.

The next guy, though, was a treat. (Maybe he was this same Derek guy?) He apologized for the delays and said that they had been slammed that morning, mosty due to the fact that the Washingtonian had just listed them as one of the best brunches in D.C. (A fact that, had I noticed, would have made me put off brunch there for a few weeks.)

When the bill came, our drinks had been comped; all was forgiven. Oh, and I nearly forgot the food. Good prices, nothing too memorable. I had the fried egg BLT: the brioche had a nice crisp, buttery sear to it with soft bread inside and the tomato was juicy and ripe. The home fries were a disaster -- dry, overcooked and in desparate need of some flavor. Next stop on the brunch calendar -- Atlantico. Anyone been?

Went in Friday night for dinner at the bar and had mixed feelings when we showed up and the place was packed. On one hand, you like to see Eve so full that everyone else is eating in the bar; on the other, you want to try that olive oil-poached tuna and you want to try it now.

A few minutes and several tomato water bloody marys later, we elbowed our way into some seats at the bar and went appetizer crazy: mussels with curry, the aforementioned tuna, hawaiian blue prawns, and a cheese tasting. The mussels, brought to us by the Chef himself, were the highlight of the evening. Spooned with just the right amount of curry broth, they had a tangy kick to them. These are very different from the previous, more traditional preparation that used to be on the menu. Try them!

The tuna was... well, it was tuna poached in olive oil and that's exactly what it tasted like, and it was delicious. Same can be said for the prawns, which we were told are only available at 5 places on the east coast, and Eve is the only one around here that has them. Tres cool. The cheese, as always, was a great end to the meal, and inspired us to make our first visit to Cheesetique the next day and stock up the fridge with stinky, moldy goodness.

Now it's Monday, and my mind is scheming ways to get back there for lunch this week to try the peach fritters.

FYI, there was an interesting article in yesterday's NY Times Magazine about the sous vide process, which includes quotes from Richard and other local chefs.  In fact, a number of DC area chefs are using this process.

Joe H mentioned this today and the "reawakening" of sous vide. There's a good earlier article on the sous vide process (and how to do it at home if you have a food saver vac) at Slate:

Sous Vide

Perhaps this could be our regional specialty? I dunno. Those half-smokes at Ben's which are sprinked with fat from the fryer are pretty special.

I think Clyde's has a $4 burger til 7, Monday-Thursday. But this could bear a little fact-checking.

Edited to add: Chef Geoff's has 1/2 price burgers all night Monday and Tuesday and til 7 the rest of the week. Again, probably need to run this by the Society for Sincerity and Accuracy in Happy Hour Posts.

I, too, work in the Watergate misery-plex and I'll add that the recent additions of Coggins, Pita Pit, and a Jamba Juice at the Marvin Center of GW don't improve the lunch scene at all. It's so bad that there used to be a contest in my building known as "The Chen's Challenge," wherein you could eat nothing but the Chen's Lunch Special for 30 days. We lost a lot of good men to that contest.

Today, after sweating through the eight blocks to Breadline (worth it for the glorified Oreo of chocolate cookies and marscapone filling alone) and cursing the absence of the Grill for the next two weeks, I am all the more determined to try this chilled tomato soup.

I remember reading somewhere that some of Morton's locations offer gratis filet mignon sandwiches at the bar during happy hour. Anyone been?

Because I like the people I am inviting... 

Then I would suggest Del Merei Grille or Majestic in NoVa. I know Del Merei is kid-friendly and I've seen kids at Majestic a few times, though mostly at brunch. In DC -- Pizzeria Paradisio in G-town, maybe?

Iota has 1/2 price wine every Monday; Corduroy has a good happy hour as does Circle Bistro, Tallula, Oyamel, to name a few.

Why not Breadline?

Grill might be nice, but I was thinking about a dry, pedantically sauced, and incinerated Cuban sandwich from Breadline.

Mmm... tastes like burning...

It's too bad their bread is .06384 cm thicker than it should be.

The bacon was burned (and trust me, I don't mind crispy bacon--I do mind charred bacon that masks the flavor) and--though it wasn't toasted--the bread was burned as well (as in black crust). I don't know how that happened. Overall,  just wasn't a happy camper. And I was really excited to try this place! I think I'll give it another go in the fall.

Now we're talking -- specifics! Which the post I initially responded to was sorely lacking.

Edited to add: I was reffering to the "i am told by my wife that i can make much better sandwiches at home" post. Now who's not being specific enough? Me, I know. Sorry.

Fortunately, for those who don't care for Breadline, there's a wealth of other options in the area" PotBelly, Baja Fresh, Cosi, that guy with the hot dog stand...

i am told by my wife that i can make much better sandwiches at home. she eats here frequently and reports wild inconsistencies and assembly line problems, including both burning and undercooking, though she keeps going back for more. i am going to have to check this place out. sounds like there's a lot worth trying to find.

What did she get that was undercooked? Can you be more specific about "wild inconsistencies?" What gets burned? And if that's all true, why do you think "there's a lot there worth trying to find?"

I'm a pretty decent sandwich-maker myself, but I don't have the time to make bread like they do, find the freshest ingredients like they do, and get me through a line in less than ten minutes like they do. Breadline isn't for everyone, thank God, but i'm a regular and it's not the mess you describe here.

I did not see a Valet last night at all.  I had foolishly made reservations for 6 instead of my usual 6:30 and had the worst time finding a parking space.  I would gladly have handed over the car to a valet.  Ended up parking illegealy and hoping for the best. Luckily we didn't get a ticket...

When I went the valet didn't get going until later -- we had a 5:30 reservation, so I convinced the parking attendant to valet us a little early. Seemed odd to take reservations starting that early but not have the valet to go along with it.

But I forgot about all that when my plate of oysters arrived...

The hot dog was a little dry but delicious with the sauerkraut and homemade condiments. Probably will hit it with a little extra ketchup next time.

The cannoli were to die for. Didn't realize they were chocolate on one side and cream (with cherry something?) on the other. Totally worth the calories.

Boyfriend agreed that going back tomorrow, considering the upcoming hiatus, sounds pretty necessary.

We went at 12:30 today and there were only five people in line in front of us. Hot Dog was great, but could've used a little more ketchup. My friend's chicken was overdone and a smaller portion of meat than usual. Still, where else are you going to get a sandwich like this for $5?

From everything I've heard about Cakelove, there's nothing not to like about it.

Except the actual product.

To elucidate (I think), cakelove, for some, runs on legend. Everyone I've ever heard from about cakelove has wondered at the fact that he used to be a lawyer and quit his soulless job to open up a succesful bakery. No one has wondered at his cakes.

Chef Armstrong,

I wonder if you could tell us a little about how you chose the location of Eve, and how it's worked out for the restaurant. What are some of the pros and cons of being across the river? How important do you think location is for a restaurant? And what do you think of the Old Town dining scene apart from Eve?

I picked up a "My Downfall" choclate cake for Capital Icebox's better half's birthday last week. Let me add to the chorus lamenting the arid cupcakes that the cake has the same problem. The frosting layers are good, a bit buttery, but not too sweet. The cake, however, lacks flavor (I was expecting a chocolate experience similar to Power's chocolate bar -- big mistake) and is very dry. No moist, spongy cake here -- just densley packed flour. If that's your type of cake, go for it. But I felt like I had embarked on a geological survey and this cake was the Negev desert.

As for the TV show -- isn't the CW that once you get your own show on Food TV, your food isn't much good anymore? Or is it that your cooking wasn't that great in the first place? Perhaps a topic for a new thread....