JLK

A seemingly bottomless bowl of pasta with tomato sauce. I'm HUNGRY

Has anyone tried the guacamole?

​Rehoboth Here I am, in overcast Rehoboth Beach, going stir crazy from too much family time and too much pouting/sulking/complaining about food. You may recall from my posts that I have an aunt who always orders a "French martini" but is never satisfied, and often, upon seeing tuna offered as an entree, asks if it can be served "blackened." I regress to my teenage self and do much eye rolling. Tonight we hit new lows at the new Porcini House. I put my head in my hands a few times. At the end, I took aside the server (Tim) and thanks him gratefully for not rolling his eyes as I did. He laughed it off. Anyway...the food. We'd had lots of snacky foods back at the house so none of us had appetizers. I couldn't decide between two of the offered risottos, corn or tomato, so I ended up with half portions of each at the suggestion of the server. Although I didn't think I was that hungry, I ate about 90% - burp. Really rich and delicious. I offered my difficult aunt a taste of either and she declined as risotto is too "creamy." My father, who usually eats whatever is put in front of him, does not like rice. I don't get it either. My mother, sulking over the choice of restaurant, the lack of you-peel shrimp or anything else she considers sufficiently "beachy" ordered - wait for it - a burger, well done. It arrived pink and she sent it back. *sigh* In the end, she hated it, the accompanying popcorn (I'll admit, that's a weird side) AND the side of potato puree she ordered. She really should have had the chicken pot pie, but refused citing the presence of black truffles. She hates mushrooms and can't understand that they're not the same. Both aunt and uncle had the tuna "cooked" and cleaned their plates although the tuna looked awfully dry to me. Uncle was annoyed when the pinot noir he let the server pick ended up being $12. I somehow managed to bite my tongue. What I wanted to say was "pick your own wine then!" and "that's not that bad!" He also pointed out that at his country club, his wine glass is "full." I wanted to tell him that when you pour crappy wines...oh never mind. <Do you sense that I have been in hell this week? I have. Someone please adopt me.>

This topic is worse than triple spacing.

I'm driving out to Rehoboth tomorrow and will report back with any finds. It used to be easy for me to bamboozle my family into letting me pick the restaurants, but in recent years, they've started pushing back, wanting less "scary" food and also wanting less expensive options.

I dined with a coworker at Guajillo last night. I wanted RTS, but was denied so I walked into Guajillo, feeling a little guilty. This restaurant definitely isn't just a consolation prize or the RTS waiting area. I wish the decor were a bit fresher (the seats at tables...not so comfy, not so new) and that the server who helped us were every so slightly more charming, but food ranged from fine to seriously delicious. My margarita (rocks, salt) was served in a pint glass and packed a punch. We shared queso con chorizo, along with chips and salsa. Emptied all of the dishes and bowls. Knowing that I'd have a heavy appetizer, I ordered the tamale appetizer while my coworker had an appetizer sampler plate. The tamales were fine, but I regretted not getting the carnitas when I tasted the bit on my friend's sampler plate. I REALLY wanted the churros for dessert which were noted on the especialidades del casa part of the menu and asked for some. "No churros!" was the reply and I didn't feel like flan so I went home and to bed without dessert. Somewhere my trainer was doing the Happy Dance. With three margaritas total (only one was mine; did I mention they're strong??), the shared queso and our two larger appetizers, the bill before tip was around $52/54, aka quite a deal.

In spite of hopefully offering a "colossal crabcake" entree for an astonishing $25, Evolve is a bar, not a restaurant. There's a "strip" and I assume they mean "steak" for $16. This is apparently the week where my friends steer the ship -- last night, I wanted to go to RTS, and got a very good sub in Guajillo; tonight I wanted Cashion's and got Evolve briefly before eventually getting Cashion's. Our server on this delightfully mild night was sincerely sweet and well-intentioned, oddly attired (hot pants, tiny top, big boots, a large band aid on her thigh), and often absent. An older woman sitting across from our patio table would pace between the tables, smoking, walk into the restaurant, shout at someone in Spanish, come back out, smoke more, pace more, shout at someone via cell phone. I assume she is somehow affiliated with Evolve because she was there when I arrived and still there when I departed, all the while holding a plastic bag I had originally assumed was take out. Worse was the man (perhaps a bouncer there on weekends) who lingered, pacing between the front door and the patio entrance, spitting loudly pretty much every time he hit the sidewalk. And yet, we still ordered an appetizer, feeling obligated to try something from the laminated menu. We shared a plate of warm brie, overwhelmed by preserved apricots, and asked for the check before moving next door for a delicious (and expensive) meal at Cashion's.

Yelp's DC newsletter also had an interview with Spike.

No takeout at RTS. I understand of course. We ate at Guajillo instead which was very good, but I'd had half a burrito for lunch so it was my second choice to RTS. Hopefully soon!

Does RTS accept carry out orders? I'm thinking "no, mayhem" but have to ask. I'm heading to Guajillo for a margarita which I tried to parlay into dinner at Ray's. Negative. Friend used the "I just ate at Ray's last week" excuse which sounds dumb to me.

I'm really eager to have a full meal at The Source after really enjoying the bar menu.

My breakfasts there have been...blech.

As I have said before, the Dupont location would never be my first choice, however I have not found an acceptable Indian restaurant downtown that delivers.

For the last six months, I have been trying to believe that there's minimal difference between the Glover Park and Dupont Circle locations. Tonight, my palate is not fooled. Tonight, every element is just...less than. A bite of paneer, if taken without a lot of its too-smoky tomato cream sauce, rice and garlic naan, is flavorless and rubbery. The aforementioned naan is bland. The scariest part of all is seekh kebab that refuses to be broken into bite size pieces by my fork. I resorted to stabbing the thing biting off pieces that way. Fortunately I'm home alone and there's no one to comment on sloppy manners. In the container alongside the three cylinders of meat is, inexplicably, mixed greens straight from a bag (frisee??). Glover gives you four kebabs, by the way, not three. Portions, at least as delivered, are smaller than that from Glover. And I hate their delivery containers!! Whereas Glover carefully separates its components into good-sized containers - paneer makhani here, rice there - Dupont uses a snap top container with sections like a cafeteria tray. Sauce sloshes over the rice, leaving what would be a great lunch, soggy. The portion was too small to carry to make the effort to take it to work anyway, I suppose. And they always put some piece of whatever green vegetable is lying around atop the rice. Today is was about six snow peas. Other nights it a large hunk of broccoli. Straight to the garbage. *sigh*

I had a nice lunch at Coco Pazzo during my last trip to Chicago. It was a nice meal, but nothing ground breaking. If you have a hankering for Italian, go to Spiaggia.

How did we miss this?

A paper plate full of whatever-is-in-the-fridge plus some hummus my friend picked up at Costco (really good!). Consumed poolside. Blueberries, sharp cheddar, water crackers, ripe avocado with salt, cambazola.

Where didn't I dine? Six Flags in Largo during my company outing. We had a nice, shady picnic pavillion, but the food was scary. The hamburgers (which some speculated were veggie burgers due to the light color) were swimming in some kind of liquid in their warming pan. The hot dogs and baked beans didn't look much better. Fortunately I prefer to hit the coasters on an empty stomach.

Charlie Palmer Steak

Definitely Open City.

"Down with picky eating" (NY Times)

I had wanted to check out Hill Country, but my friend wanted the group to check out the BBQ fest instead. I was kind of dreading it (festival + crowds + extreme heat = cranky me), but in the end, it was great. Each restaurant represented on-site generally offered one main dish and a side or two. Hill Country's main (beef ribs) didn't seem like practical eats for me at the time so I instead went for the easier-to-eat pulled pork sandwich offered by the Checkered Pig stand. Like the festival itself, I wasn't so excited about getting this sandwich given that it's been a long time since a pulled pork sandwich knocked my socks off, but man! This was a fantastic sandwich. I used a little bit of CP's own barbecue sauce with a splash of Texas Pete hot sauce. YUM. I could have eaten another one, no problem, but we were wandering around by that point.

Potbelly catered a work lunch last week and the sandwiches sucked (the cookies, on the other hand, were GOOD). I like Corner Bakery's catering better than Corner Bakery's regular food.

Said patio is very nice (although I chose to dine inside Friday night; big a/c fan). Ate many of my old favorites with a friend, including a remarkably good cheese plate. We sent it back bare. We were attended to by the delightful Ashley and Mark helped us choose wines which is always a good thing.

Yes, definitely.