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Josh

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Everything posted by Josh

  1. Saw on Facebook that they've added a cask system and are currently pouring Oliver's "Draft Punk" IPA...may have to stop by for a pint if I can put a dent in all the work that's piled up.
  2. I think your decision is probably the best one...I actually investigated Chicken and Rice thinking it would be a Latin American joint of some sort, and really pining for some good Puerto Rican food.
  3. Last night: Grilled mahi mahil steaks with lemon caper sauce Red rice pilaf with garlic scapes and cilantro Mixed green salad with roasted beets and Roquefort Tonight: Pureed chard soup with pancetta and croutons BLTs if I can find a tomato worth eating...ham and cheese on baguette if not.
  4. They must have really upped their game. We got delivery from them about 6 months ago and it was grim...like we threw everything out and got pizza grim. Have you given Chicken and Rice a try? It's the incredibly nondescript place in the H St. Connection building. The quality can be really hit or miss, and seems dependent on having the head cook present, but if he's there, it's really great. When he's not there, it's varied between just okay, and waaayyyy to salty. As for other Hill places, I can say that Aatish is at least consistently not terrible, and tends to be our go-to for delivery Indian.
  5. I love this exchange. I live a couple blocks from Boundary Rd, and it has most assuredly earned its place as my neighborhood go-to. I would bring special attention to this part: I hope this missive provides a window into what exactly it is we do at Boundary Road. I feel we haven't been particularly great at communicating it, precisely because our mission is tied to our evolution. You don't open as a neighborhood institution; you gotta earn that shit. I really like that there hasn't been some heavy-handed PR blitz telling us all how to enjoy the "concept" of your restaurant. Letting the scene evolve on its own is what has endeared BR to me. It reminds me so much of the feel at my old neighborhood haunt in NYC, The Redhead. That place took "evolution" to a whole new level, starting with just drinks and popcorn, moving through weekly supper club-type gatherings, and finally settling into its final restaurant form. The neighborhood didn't need to be told what the mission was, since we had been involved in creating it all along.
  6. Wow! Is there anything La Tienda doesn't sell?
  7. Thanks for looking Sthitch, but I'm searching for these: Percebes
  8. Strozzapreti (12 years of Catholic school) with crumbled Calabrian sausage, red kale, and ricotta. Union Market special (Red Apron for the sausage, Eastern Shore Organic for the kale). Watercress and orange salad. Homemade pineapple soda (on call all weekend). A quick meal, and a nice accompaniment to the Game of Thrones finale.
  9. Gooseneck barnacles (aka percebes)? I saw a tweet from Rogue 24 that they are serving them. If I could get my hands on some of those guys and steam them, I would never have to buy my wife another gift. She became completely obsessed with them last summer in Spain.
  10. I agree that the fish and chips has always been great, but the thing that elevated the Vic above other pubs was the dedication to serving up interesting daily specials. I may stop by now and again if I want fish and chips, but I'll miss the experience of walking down H with something else in mind and changing plans when I saw something that sounded great written on the sidewalk board. I really hope they fill the spot with someone who continues to think outside the pub-grub mold.
  11. Work brings me out to Laurel a few times a month, and when I'm out here, it's typically Korean for lunch. Myoung Dong is fine for an inexpensive Korean lunch, but certainly not worth a trip to Beltsville like the nearby Da Rae Won. I've eaten at both a handful of times, and quality-wise, there is no comparison. For the 1st time today, I tried the fried Mandu, and meh. Chewy rather than crispy skin, and forgettable filling. Compare that to the version at Da Rae Won that should be held as the mandu standard (blistered, post-apocalyptic skin that shatters when you bite into it). The thing that will keep this place in the lunch rotation is that I can get duk bok gi here, and not at its glorious neighbor. Sometimes you really need some fire-coated rice cakes to kick you in the gut, and when that need arises in Beltsville...
  12. The plan was to eat our take-out at the ballpark, but the boy wasn't cooperating, so we ended up eating them at the dining table. (And given the piss-poor performance by Los Nacionales, I'm glad we didn't head down there.) We departed from our usual duo of meat and chicken shawarma, and split shawafel and shish taouk sandwiches. The falafel was pretty soggy, and really took away from the generally awesome spit-roasted meat. The shish taouk was a bit unbalanced today, with too much garlic toum and not enough tangy pickles for my taste. I still devoured it in less than 3 minutes, mind you...I'm just in a nit-picky mood. I think sticking with the spit-roasted varieties of sandwich are still your best bet here, as I don't think the falafel they put out is worth writing home about. And it may be worth your while to ask for extra pickles on your shish taouk if you have a sour/salty tooth as I do.
  13. Wife's out for a business dinner, so it's just me and the sleeping boy. Sometime simple's best. Linguine with green garlic and olive oil. A little red pepper and parmesan. Perfect.
  14. I was in Charleston for a conference a few months ago. The pimento cheese at Husk did not suck. The boiled peanuts with jalapenos were fantastic as well, and the beet/celery/gin cocktail I had took just enough of the edge off.
  15. Radishes and garlic scapes sauteed in butter with parsley and mint. I need to remember to saute radishes more often.
  16. Has anyone heard who they are getting to step in as chef? This was a regular in the H St. rotation in the past, but I'm not inclined to return if they're just going to coast along on the past chef's recipes.
  17. 2012 Ameztoi Rosé Getariako Txakolina "Rubentis." A rose txakoli picked up at Cordial in Union Market. Fantastic summer drinking...heading back tomorrow to grab a case. Apparently Andres has bought up the rest of the area's supply to sell by the glass at Jaleo...or so says the guy giving me the hard sell at the shop. Also picked up a bottle of Shrub and Co. tart apple shrub from Salt and Sundry. Went with my standard instinct with new mixing things, and did a variation on a Manhattan. This one was 2 parts Knob Creek, 1 part shrub, 1/2 part Dolin rouge. Need to think of a name for it. Just finished a bottle of the Liber & Co. Texas grapefruit shrub. Fantastic stuff. A couple of cocktails were born from that bottle: Dark and Shrubby 2 oz dark rum (Goslings, of course) 1 oz shrub ginger beer A Shrub Grows in Manhattan (Not so original with the names) 2 oz bourbon (I used Eagle Rare) 0.5 oz grapefruit shrub 0.25 oz Maraschino
  18. Rose Txakoli Radishes with sea salt and butter Salad of beet greens with roquefort Steak tartare with green garlic Rye + apple shrub + Dolin rouge Head + Pillow
  19. Someone upthread mentioned Bangkok...I would trade all forms of 7-11 brand tubed meats for the cheap, giant bottles of Beer Chang and the spicy dried mango snacks with plum powder we lived off years ago during our honeymoon in Koh Samui.
  20. Went for dinner with the wife and babe on Wednesday evening. We first ate at Le Grenier during their first couple months of operation and were decidedly underwhelmed. Recent comments in a Kliman chat made me want to give it another shot, and I'm glad we did. Standouts were a shaved fennel and pear salad that was inexplicably served in tiny bowl that made eating it nearly impossible, which was too bad, because it was a great salad. The blood sausage served with carmelized pears and spaetzle in a dijon sauce was fantastic...an opinion shared by our 8 month old. We floated out of the restaurant on a parenting-high, as the manager came over and began speaking to us in French (which we don't speak), convinced we could not possibly be American, what with us dining out with our well-behaved infant and all. We'll definitely put Le Grenier back in the rotation, especially if our parenting is complimented each time.
  21. You'd think we would've learned our lesson about trying places in the first month of opening by now, but here we are... Vendetta is a new Italian restaurant/bar/bocce court venture by Joe Englert in the old Red Palace space. The place looks amazing. It's tough to believe it used to be a dive bar and grungy music/burlesque venue. We started our night with cocktails, all of which were well made. The favorite of the group was the Linden Court (bourbon, amaro, madeira, orange bitters, and vanilla). I would normally have ordered a Negroni, but curiously, they have chosen to muck up the drink by adding orange juice. For appetizers, we ordered pickled green beans, a charcuterie plate, fritto misto, and "artisan bread." The charcuterie was the highlight, but they can't really take credit for much more than plating nicely sourced salumi. The fritto misto was fine, but nothing outstanding - 3 medium sized shrimp and 3-4 baby octopi. The breading did not seem to be seasoned at all. The bread consisted of 4 chunks of cold, standard crusty bread and a pretzel stick, all inexplicably served in a large paper bag. It was served with a too-small amount of "bourbon chutney butter." For mains, there were a couple of specials, but everyone went the pasta route. The pastas are touted as being made in-house. You choose a shape and then pair with one of several sauces. I can only vouch for the squid ink and the rabbit ragu. Both were completely unseasoned and served on the cool side of luke warm. The papardelle served with the ragu was drying out with the noodles all clumped together. No bueno. The requested salt shaker and wine were delivered ~5 minutes after everyone finished their pasta. Luckily our dining companions were great, and between the cocktails and the company, a good time was had by all. I'm sure the service issues will iron out somewhat over time...the food, I'm more skeptical about. There was such a tremendous lack of seasoning throughout, I'm not sure anyone back there was paying any attention to what they were putting out. All that said, I'm sure we'll be back for cocktails and bocce...and maybe that's the whole point.
  22. My wife and I tried Chupacabra a couple weeks ago and were pleasantly surprised by the quality. We ordered a number of tacos (chorizo, barbacoa, pastor, and lamb). They are served on corn tortillas that have been nicely griddled and topped simply with onions and cilantro. The lamb was the clear standout. The chorizo wasn't memorable. We also had a queso arepa which was nice and crispy with mildly salty oaxacan cheese oozing out...went great with the salsa verde. All in all, a clear winner in the H St. NE taco battle with the also recently opened Sol.
  23. Since the reservation policy has come up recently, I thought I'd share that over the holiday weekend, I went with a party of 6 and had and we all had a great time. The reservation process was straightforward, and the service was fantastic from the moment we walked in, to closing the door behind us. I think we tackled nearly the entire menu, but the beef tongue and fried oysters really stood out on this visit. The oysters had an excellent breading, verging on too much, but in a good way. Served piping hot, and devoured within seconds. The BBQ eel special was fantastic, and had to be ordered in multiples to prevent chopstick stabbings.
  24. Hi all, Longtime lurker, overdue on joining up. My name is...Josh, and I'm relatively new to DC (2.5 years). I live in Capitol Hill NE, just off the H St. NE corridor. I moved from NYC (East Village) for work (doc at Children's National). I've used the hell out of this site since moving here, and it's definitely my most trusted source for news/reviews. Tough to name a "favorite," but places I frequent are Toki Underground (this place was a godsend for my wife and I as we suffered through Momofuku withdrawal), Bangkok Golden, Ethiopic, and Boundary Road. Obviously lots of H St. places for obvious reasons. My most memorable meals in DC thus far have been Komi and Cityzen. The wife still dreams of the cheese cart from the latter, while I hold on to the memory of getting the last pour of a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle. Thanks to everyone for all the advice I've gotten (anonymously) so far. I hope to be able to add something useful to the conversation here soon!
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