reedm

You can delete Chop's Crafthouse -- just found out they closed permanently on/around 28 September.

We joined friends for brunch there yesterday, and the $45 brunch offer now includes one house cocktail/mocktail, a pastry basket, an antipasti, a main, and a dessert. We added tea and coffee following our meal, and the price for 6 (before tip) was about $330. Considering one could quite easily spend that amount on two people for dinner there, this must be one of the best values in the area. The service, atmosphere, food, and drink were outstanding. I'll spare everyone a description of every dish, and I'll simply say the pasta dish I had featuring spaghetti, king crab, san marzano tomatoes, and controne chiles was one of the best pasta dishes I've ever had. Additionally, the bombolini were a huge hit, and there was not a drop left of the accompanying maple toffee sauce. We all left looking forward to a return visit.

Don, I've read your comments about "pre-prepped" food before, but I'm not quite sure what you mean in the context of upscale restaurants. Will you provide some examples? Surely you're not referring to frozen dinners or the like, but I expect there is a ton of preparation involved in many dishes. I'm asking out of curiosity only, and I'm not questioning you or being snarky. :-)

Fried egg sandwich on whole wheat toast. Just the right amount of mayo. Perfect.

DFW - Terminal E, IAD - Midfield Terminal Let's face it -- US domestic airline lounges are horrific. I've got a United Club membership, and it's a terrible value unless you're willing to pay a premium just to escape crowded terminals. The food offerings were recently "improved", but that only raised the bar from abominable to pathetic. To top it off, the every lounge has the same options. If I traveled routinely, I'd tire of it quickly. The complimentary drinks are very limited, so you can't even try to compensate for the bad food with beverages. I was in DFW last week, and the only free beer was bud in a bottle. Ugh. Of course, you could pay premium prices for other beer, wine, liquor, or even champagne. They offered half bottles of champagne for $38. I've been to the Etihad lounge in IAD once, and it was incredible. While they offered a mezze buffet, you could also order hot items from a menu, and a server would deliver them. The drinks were basically unlimited. Everything in the lounge was complimentary. Oh, and the staff was incredibly friendly. Priceless.

I'd be thrilled to have a Piola in Fairfax, since the choices here are abysmal. Sadly, my go-to place for delivery is Domino's. I've tried many others, but they've been awful, inconsistent, or both. When I lived in Arlington, Piola was a reliable choice for a reasonably priced delivery pizza. Yes, Pete's and Pupatella produced superior products, but they didn't deliver.

Friends of mine, who I trust completely for dining recommendations, ate there a few weeks ago and enjoyed it. It's "high-end" southern comfort food, but other than a choice of lighter selections, there were no complaints.

I don't have a specific person to recommend, but I was impressed by the therapists who helped me at The Jackson Clinics. That was my only physical therapy experience to date, but it was excellent. They have a number of locations.

After searching the interwebs without success for self defense products suitable for my college-going daughter, I suddenly remembered this site is an amazing resource. I initially thought about a discrete pepper spray device, but I also saw a sonic alarm. Appreciative for all advice other than lethal options, please. :-) Thanks.

Despite the incredible information and recommendations from Will_5198, my trip was a bit of a bust from a dining perspective. The conference organizer had pre-arranged dinner for the conference presenters, which was a nice gesture, but it meant I ate virtually every meal in the DFW Marriott Airport South. While I admit that I'm selective when it comes to restaurants, I'm OK with generic food if it's prepared well. Unfortunately, nearly everything I ate was horrible. The first night's dinner featured two large pieces of tuna that had died two deaths. I've never seen gray tuna before, but despite my instincts, and much to my regret, I was a good guest and ate a majority of it. The allure of barbecue is strong, so I made time to sneak away for lunch one day. Thanks to Will's advice, I hopped aboard the TRE and headed to Dallas. (Side note; a round trip/day pass is a mere $5). I'd forgotten about an important quirk of some Texas barbecue restaurants; many are open for lunch only, so that limited my options. I chose Mike Anderson's BBQ House, located close to the UT Southwestern Medical Center, and a short walk from the Medical Center TRE station. The restaurant is only open 1030-230 Mon-Sat, so I had to do some planning to make sure I could be there when they were open, and then return to my hotel. I'll spare the details, but I chose the $15 BBQ dinner plate, which allowed me to choose three meats and two sides. The brisket was dry, but that's not an uncommon occurrence in my experience. The jalapeno and cheese links were excellent, and the pork ribs were the star of the plate. For sides, I selected the "cheezy corn bake w/poblano and onions", and 3 deviled eggs. The corn casserole wasn't fine dining, but it was tasty. The eggs looked promising, but they lacked seasoning. Full of barbecue, I made my way through the enormous medical complex, took a wrong turn, and missed my return train by less than a minute. The bad news was that the next train was not scheduled to depart for 90 minutes. Thanks to uber, I was only slightly delayed, so it was worth the $17 fare. Other than that, I had had a fairly horrible "Japanese" buffet lunch at Midori (located close to the hotel) before I headed back to the airport. Most importantly, thanks to Will_5198 for proving such thorough recommendations. Very impressive!

Lol. I wasn't trying to be overly sarcastic or humorless. However, I've been to Singapore, and while I admire many aspects of their country, some of their "social engineering" practices are somewhat off-putting. Specifically for state-owned or controlled apartment buildings the ratio of the tenants must reflect the ratio of the country. Too many Indians? Too bad--you have to go look somewhere else.

I have to say this is a very odd topic. Perhaps we should ration the food supply so people do not eat too much. That would certainly help overpopulation and food scarcity. Limiting family sizes seems to be a very Orwellian idea. Fortunately in our country we have the Constitution as well as the Declaration of Independence, unlike China, North Korea, etc That said, for arguments sake let's draw this out a bit. Who determines how many children and families can have? Do you have to have one male and one female? What if you have two children and both are males? Are you allowed to have two females? What if, God for bid one of your children dies? Are you allowed to have more? While we're at it, let's decide how much space a person can have, how many cars a person can own, and how much money a person can have. No thanks.

Will, Wow. This is one of the many reasons I love this site. Thanks very much! One follow-up. I think I'm close to a TRE stop. Have you used the light rail, and if so, will it provide access to any of the spots you recommend? I'll be taking a closer look at the rail stops

I'm heading to a conference near DFW tomorrow, and although I'm a native Texan, it's a pretty big area to cover, so I'm hoping to get some restaurant advice from the experts here. Of course, barbecue is a priority, but I'm open to any dinner suggestions. I'll have to rely on uber, so time/distance are a factor. Staying at the DFW Marriott South. Thanks in advance!

I'll add Fiola and Fiola Mare. Both are great places to dine solo and the food and drink are superb.

Graffiato?

I used to look forward to his chats, but they've become repetitious and uninteresting. Not even sure where the dine and dash question originated. I wish Kliman would revive his. Neither beat this site for information, at any rate. Back on topic; I've found the food to be excellent every visit. It may seem like a small thing, but their bread service is excellent as well. The fried chicken is certainly worth the accolades it receives. RIP Chef Richard.

I just returned from a brief trip to Savannah, and while it's certainly something I tried to avoid, I enjoyed an excellent dinner at 22 Square Restaurant in the Andaz. I was waiting for my daughter, and a guy who works at another place enthusiastically recommended the restaurant, and mentioned the chef was from New York. (Not sure if that's true). My daughter has been sticking to a vegetarian diet, and there were a number of options on the menu, including a "BLT" that featured burrata, arugula, and fried green tomatoes. She also had a peach "gazpacho" that was delicious, but was more akin to a chunky fruit salsa. We also shared a cheese plate featuring locally/regionally made cheeses, but I don't recall the name. There are plenty of choices for omnivores as well. I settled on a massive (16oz) pork porterhouse, which was cooked perfectly and served with purple mashed potatoes. Service was fine, but I must caution you this is not the place for a quiet dinner, as the acoustics make for a loud room. During a previous trip, we had a vegan in our group, and she was also able to eat very well. Savannah has a ton of casual places suitable for vegetarians and vegans, but I doubt any are suitable for an anniversary dinner.

I fully agree--great recipe. I've only made it once so far, and 12 oz of pepperoni was too much for my tastes, and the result was much too salty. The crust, however, was perfect. Nice picture, btw!

If you plan to travel internationally in the next 5 years, I'd recommend Global Entry. The nominal cost difference between GE and TSA precheck should make the decision easy.

This popped up on twitter. Yikes. Much too rich for my blood.

When you've got the basics of cricket, move on to test match cricket.

While waiting for my car to be serviced last Saturday, I ventured across Highway 50 in search of lunch. Since Charcoal Chicken was so convenient, I popped in. (I was considering Punjabi by Nature, but gave up trying to find it after a brief walk). I'd read the chicken karahi was a go-to dish on Tyler Cowen's blog (didn't see this thread), so I ordered the bone-in version, spicy, with naan. As ulrath mentioned, the naan is perfect. The small pieces of bone in chicken were braised in a sauce consisting of onions, garlic, ginger, chiles, and tomatoes, and flavored with traditional spices such as garam masala, coriander, cumin, and turmeric. The chicken arrived in a serving dish, accompanied by a mint chutney, and a bit of salad. Did I mention I chose with the spicy option? I was sweating like Ryan Lochte in his second interview with Matt Lauer. The chicken was perfectly cooked, moist, and tender. The flavors were well-balanced, and despite the perspiration that resulted, it was not unbearably hot to eat. One of the best Pakistani dishes I've had in some time. There was a large group of people sitting together, and they ordered a number of dishes that looked great. The customers seemed very pleased, and it made me look forward to trying some of the other items on the menu. Certainly worth a stop if you're in the area.

I've been to Mission BBQ only once, and that was to the location near Pax River. With the exception of the sausage, which was not to my liking because of the appearance and texture, the barbecue ranged from very good to excellent. I don't know of many barbecue spots that feature multiple regional bbq styles and sauces. Their stated mission is noble, and they contribute to many national and local causes that support military, law enforcement, fire fighters, and first responders. While it may be a surprise to first time diners, I think the daily playing of The Star Spangled Banner is a great opportunity to take 2 minutes to honor our country and those who serve and have served.

I just added tentimesodds to my list of "people I trust for restaurant recommendations". Two of the spots he/she recommended, Beer Run and Lampo, are also on the Charlottesville 29 blog/site, and both places were outstanding. This was my first visit to "C-Ville, and I was impressed by the quality and variety of food available, particularly because the town is relatively small. Beer Run was our choice for our first dinner, and it was a perfect way to wrap the day up. The draft beer list is impressive, and multiple serving sizes are available for the adventurous or undecided. I really enjoyed the Potter's Farmhouse dry cider, which is an "inspired by saison" style cider. Dry and crisp, it was a complex and interesting, and perfect for a hot summer's night. On the other end of the spectrum, I introduced my college-going son to Natty Bo. A bargain (?) at $2 for a pint. We all enjoyed our meals, but I was particularly impressed with the salmon banh mi. By no means was it traditional, but it hit all the right notes for my tastes. Served on homemade focaccia, which was very light and soft, it featured grilled salmon strips, the typical banh mi vegetables. Someone knows what they are doing here, because the addition of pickled peaches was just perfect. Check out the dessert case as well. Following a visit to Monticello the next day, we decided on lunch at Lampo. Holy cow--this place serves world class Neapolitan pizza. If you enjoy that style of pizza, read no further, and just go. I understand the place is popular, so I was glad to see it wasn't crowded when we walked in. The four of us decided to order the Cavoletti Di Bruxelles, Insalata Verde, Margherita D.O.C, Hellboy, and an artichoke pizza whose name escapes me. Both salads were perfectly dressed and seasoned. The brussel sprouts salad reminded me Michael Waxman's version, and the insalata featured baby gem lettuce (anyone know where I can find this locally?), parmesan crisps, and a perfect vinaigrette. On to the pizzas. The margherita was perfect-- as good or better than Pupatella and the rest of the D.O.C. purveyors in the DC area. The Hellboy was delicious. Perfectly spicy--don't be afraid of the scorpion chile honey. The carciofi pizza was the unanimous favorite. My comments don't do it justice, but it featured tender artichokes and an amazing herb-based oil (similar to chimichurri in consistency). The staff was very friendly, and I wished I had time to enjoy the rest of the very creative food and drink menu.