washingtony

I like Danji for dinner before a show. It's mostly walk-ups, but I've had luck in showing up at 4:45 or so and being able to get in when they open at 5.

I wonder, at what point, is there a culinary version of the never-ending debate about valuing art in spite of the artist (see, e.g., Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, etc)? Without answering that question, I will say this: the guy really knows how to make a cup of coffee.

I like The Square hotel--it has a great central location. And if you can't get into room 606 in the SAS hotel, you can at least enjoy the Jacobsen egg chairs in the lobby of the Square Hotel. As for more seven-year-old friendly food options...the Norrebro Bryghus restaurant could be fun because he can look at the brewing equipment and you can drink its products. I've never been, but Warpigs looks amazing: it's Texas barbecue as done by a Danish brewer (Mikkeller) and an Indiana-based brewery (3 Floyds). Trovehallerne is a great food market with all sorts of fun options. There's a Wagamama near Tivoli Gardens. Sure, it's not real ants or fake rocks or whatever else is new nordic, but it's a crowd pleaser we can't get in DC.

I went to Geranium a couple of years ago and it was incredible--it's worth every Michelin star and Danish krone. Easily the best fine dining I've ever had in a soccer stadium. It was so good that the next day we got a call from Noma saying a spot opened on the wait list and we passed on it without (excessive) regret.

Just got back from a week in Rome. (Yes, it was brutally hot, but that gave us an excuse to eat too much gelato, as well as to indulge ourselves with the cheesy ice bar in Monti.) When visiting Rome, we like to stay in Trastevere. The neighborhood is so quaintly Italian that someone should lodge a complaint with the Italian-American Anti-Defamation League. But the real benefit is that it's walkable to so many destinations and has numerous restaurants and piazzas for the passeggiata. In Trastevere, Dar Poeta is still a great pick for pizza. Da Enzo is still serving fantastic cacio e pepe (and one night had a really sublime fresh ricotta that was on the daily specials). For gelato, Fior di Luna is really good, but the neighborhood's best may be at the local outpost of Fatamorgana. The delightfully generically named Cooking Classes in Rome is also in Trastevere and is well worth a day, so long as you're doing it for the fun and a good meal rather than expecting it to be a semester at Le Cordon Bleu. Outside of Trastevere, Testaccio is the place to go for food. Giolitti has the best gelato we found in the city (and we tried at least a dozen different places). They take their gelato very seriously--if they don't approve of your different combination of flavors, they'll refuse to put them together. The food market was also a lot of fun, with some great places for street food, produce, and cheese. And of course the Volpetti shop is worth stopping into, even if you just sit there and conspire how to get the cheeses through customs. Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Italy's nascent craft beer scene. Open Baladin is a beer bar near Campo di Fiori run by the Baladin brewery (though they also have beers from other breweries). It's really like something you'd find in Portland or Denver, but with better ciabatta. There's a nearby bottleshop called Johnny's Off License. Fantastic selection with great, friendly staff who are happy to help show you the best of Italian craft beer.

They were at Prequel serving lunch on weekdays for the last month or so, but now the website has no mention of them. I stopped by for the poke pop-up a couple of weeks ago but ended up with a Pedro and Vinny burrito instead. Meat was definitely available, but I was happy that both bean options were vegetarian.

I wish I had as good of an experience as Rieux--I love Turkish food and was really hoping for this restaurant to be better than nearby Alba and L'Hommage. It's not. First, the service. We were seated in the main part of the dining room but we rarely saw our waiter, making it nearly impossible to get his attention. Turns out that he may also have been the bartender and was trying to cover the bar and our table (which again, wasn't in the bar area). Times like this highlights the GAR team approach to service. My wife had the chicken kebabs (tavuk sis). She cut in and the middle was uncooked. (I don't mean pink hued, I mean jiggly raw.) We sat there for five minutes, never seeing our waiter, so we finally flagged down another employee, who looked at it and said, "Oh, this is fine, but you must want it well done." Ah, yes, how silly of her to not indicate her preferred wellness for chicken! (Preference: no salmonella) He took the plate to the bar and discussed it with our waiter and came back in about ten minutes with the plate reheated in the oven. The chicken was cooked, but the rice was like substandard rice-a-roni. Not a great dish nor great response from the staff. I got the artichoke hearts with peas and carrots meze (zeytinyagli enginar). It was so wan and depressing. But that wasn't surprising after one bite strongly suggested that the dish used canned peas. I'll take mushy sad green peas in an English pub, but here it was just disappointing. Bright point of the night was the the labneh with walnuts and dill (haydari). (The thing is, I love all labneh, so I'm easy to please.) It was placed on the table, though, with just a spoon and no accompanying bread. It took more than five minutes for us to get bread to go with it, all the while wondering whether they just wanted us to glob spoonfuls of it on to the plate and eat it with a fork. We cut our losses short by skipping coffee and dessert, paid, and Midnight Expressed ourselves out of there. It's going to take some mighty big changes for us to return when we could just go to Zaytinya or even Lebanese Taverna instead.

I've grown sort of wary of the fast casual proliferation, but this place gets it. I'm especially fond of the ratatouille: it's warm, comforting, and distinct with the addition of tahini. I really enjoy how they're vegan but I didn't notice anything in the signage or the advertising that mentions this. If somebody walks in and refuses to eat there because of the lack of meat, they can go elsewhere. But I think they'd be pleasantly surprised.

I just got back from a quick weekend to New York. The whole trip was animated by absurd amounts of hype--mainly because I reread my dogeared Goethe and decided that sometimes you just gotta pull a Faust and make a bargain. At least that's how I explain how I procured those Hamilton tickets for Saturday night. I was afraid the hype would sully the experience, like poor Japanese tourists with Paris Syndrome. But it didn't! So the next day rolls around and I decide to keep the hype train going. Superiority Burger in the East Village has been getting a lot of buzz, especially with the James Beard nomination and glowing reviews from the Times and the New Yorker. It's a fast food joint, but less like one done by Danny Meyer and more like one done by Ian MacKaye and John Belushi's Olympia diner guy. Everything is vegetarian or vegan but not in a crunchy Moosewood sort of way. They've got a burger, a wrap, sloppy joes, and various side salads. The burger is the best veggie burger I've ever had--that first bite took me back to sitting outside LAX, jet fumes in the air, tearing into an In-N-Out burger. It had that balance between patty, cheese, sauce, and toppings. It used its iceberg lettuce not as a throwaway, but as an integral textural component. It was incredible. The wrap was also insanely good--it's everything you expect from a vegan wrap, but, you know, actually delicious. I sadly didn't get a chance to try the sloppy joe. The two sides I tried (burnt broccoli salad and crispy potatoes) were both more complex and nuanced than they had any right to be. They could be at home at a Jose Andres restaurant. I suspect most of the sides are equally amazing. The burger, wrap, and two sides ran about $25. Like Hamilton, Superiority Burger lives up to the hype. And thank goodness because it's about the only place I can afford after getting those tickets.

A Nabokov themed restaurant really does seem like something I'd be interested in, but I'd hope it'd be totally full on themey, like a Rainforest Cafe. I want buffalo waxwings! Butterflied butterflies! Ada's apple cake!

I love beer and I love all things Belgian but I admit that I wasn't terribly excited for Sovereign. It's fairly easy these days to find great beer at places with better food than Churchkey or Bluejacket. Not to mention that I so rarely go to Georgetown. But last night my wife and I decided on a whim to check it out. Jesus, that was the best decision we've made in a while. Their beer menu is bonkers. For example: Saison Dupont on draft (I've never seen that in the United States); a gueze of the day (last night's Boon Mariage Parfait 2011 was very good); nearly an entire page of Cantillon bottles; nearly a half dozen Fantome bottles; for the love of Tintin, four different Westvleteren bottles! They limit Cantillon and Westy (and maybe others) to a single bottle per group per visit. The food was much better than I expected. A solid cheese plate, pretty good vegetarian options, and thankfully Liege style waffles instead of Brussels style. Overall, I'm very impressed and will definitely be back. Just next time I'll bring a change of clothes and a fake mustache so I can do a flight of Westy 12 in different years.

I heard a completely unsubstantiated rumor that Alba is turning into a sports bar next year. Outside of brunch they didn't seem to do much business, but I assumed they were doing okay because the owners felt confident enough to open L'Hommage nearby. I'm not sure if a sports bar is a good idea, but, thinking really far out, it's got to be better than running an Italian restaurant so close to Eataly (assuming it ever opens).

A few notes after having dinner last night: First, the wait wasn't bad at all for a Saturday night--about 45 minutes, though it was earlier in the evening (we checked in around 6). Second, they've knocked a couple of dollars off the beer price compared to what was posted in the thread last week They've also swapped out Yuengling for a Berliner Weiss from Caboose Brewery (I had never heard of them before--it was a solid Berliner Weiss with the right amount of sour bite to it). I meant to ask if they have bombers or 750 ml bottles of beer on offer. I hope they do because I have fond memories of ordering Brooklyn's Sorachi Ace or similar 750 ml bottles at the original location. Finally, I decided to have dinner here sooner rather than later because David Chang makes it seem like he's not happy with the "best of" approach to the menu, so I want to get a fill of my favorites before he transforms it. The shiitake buns were probably the most meaty, umami flavor I've tasted in years since becoming vegetarian. The Hozon ramen was also really good--it's a deep, earthy vegetarian ramen, especially compared to Daikaya's bright, delicate ramen that puts the focus more on the vegetables. Both ramens excel at what they do (and right now, I'd say both noodles are about equal).

On a relatively recent three-day weekend, I went to Tupelo Honey, Early Girl, and Sunny Point. Sunny Point was definitely my favorite, although it's a bit out of the way from the downtown area. The other two were still good, though I'm not sure if they were worth the one-hour wait. One of my favorite dinners was at Wicked Weed--they're brewing some of the best beer in town and the food was pretty good. If you like sour beers, their new Funkatorium establishment is incredible.

May be too late for you, but in Highland I'm partial to Hops and Pie.

Now Istanbul is a place to eat. And eat and eat some more. I just got back from about a week there and had a tremendous amount of fantastic meals. First things first, IstanbulEats.com is a wonderful resource. Their blog is really helpful and had a post for just about anything I wanted. For example, kaymak (clotted cream from water buffalo) served with honey and bread is now in my pantheon of revered breakfasts, so when I wanted to find the best places to get it, they had a post pointing the way. (I went to Karakoy Ozut, right near the Karakoy tram stop--very friendly staff, very creamy kaymak, I heartily recommend it.) They also have a book that is very handy to keep on you while exploring the city. Also, I went on one of their food tours (the same one Tom Sietsema wrote about) and it was well worth the price because they took us to places that were a bit difficult to find or that wouldn't have necessarily stood out to an unknowledgeable passerby like myself. The döner kebab stand they took us to, Bereket Döner, was revolutionary to a person like me who has devoured döners throughout Deutschland but hadn't ever experienced the döner on its home turf. It was like spending years looking at a copy of a copy of a sketch of Le Corbusier's Notre Dame du Haut and then finally one day walking up to the actual building. Or, another thought, while I have so much love for German döners, eating at Bereket was like catching up to the original sound after so many echos. I imagine most döner places in Istanbul, just like other countries, are getting their doner meat from just a few different suppliers, but Bereket makes it in-house every day, layering the lamb with tomatoes, peppers, and onions. It was juicy, perfectly cooked, and beautiful. The tour was just a fraction of the outstanding food, though. Another outstanding kebab was at, of course, Durumzade. It deserves every ounce of ink or megabyte of electrons it inspires. I went a couple of times but got the same thing--a double-chicken durum. Really good quality meat, really tender, and the onions and peppers pack a ton of flavor. It's a meal made for a cup of aryan (too bad they only have the mass-produced stuff in the shop). I really liked all the simit street vendors everywhere I went--cheap, tasty, and easy to eat while walking to another meal! There were also lots of street vendors serving grilled (or boiled) corn and they looked and smelled delicious, but the one corn cob I tried was chewy and not very sweet...that's something Maryland may be better at. Finally, I had a couple of incredible, more upscale meals. Lokanta Maya would be right at home on 14th street--very chic, modern, and hip with a seasonal selection of mezes. I went for lunch so I kept it light, splitting four mezes with my wife. Each one was very well balanced, with elements of sweet and savory. The real standouts were the wheat salad with peaches, almonds, and lemon and the figs with a burrata-like cheese. Really clean and bright dishes all around. Meze by Lemon Tree was equally modern and impressive. We got the tasting menu (halfway through the fourth dish I remembered why we never do tasting menus...so much food!) which was four cold mezes, a hot meze, a main dish each, and a dessert. The mezes were the real stars--one with eggplant, yogurt, and tomatoes was a dish worth embarrassing yourself over, trying in vain to scrape up every last bit from the bowl. I'm struggling to remember any meze dishes here in town that have so thoroughly impressed me like they did at this place. The main dishes were very good but honestly, that much grilled meat was just overkill after all the meze. The dessert was kaymak with bananas, walnuts, almonds, and pistachios, which would have been perfect on its own but they added some chili syrup on top that, while I understand the appeal of the heat, just didn't work completely for me. I'd go back and just stick to the mezes. And there was so much more to the week (the baklava! the coffee! the iskender kebabs!)--so much that I have little doubt that Istanbul deserves to be ranked as one of the best food towns in the world.

I completely agree about the mugi-miso. I've tried all four ramens at Daikaya now and the miso is by far my favorite--it's got such depth and earthiness. Of all of them, I was perhaps most pleasantly surprised by the vegetarian because it's very bright and clean. It was pretty good but I'll probably always tend to the miso or soy so I can get that hearty, rich, and comforting quality that I like in my pork-laden ramen. by the way, they started lunch service today.

If you get tired of rattlesnake and feel like a nicer Italian lunch or dinner out near Tech Center, the Wooden Table in Greenwood Village is excellent. (Full disclosure: I'm close friends with the family of one of the restaurant's partners.) When I visited a few months ago, I had the best agnolotti I've had outside of Italy--everything I had was superb but the agnolotti was one of those dishes that I'll remember for a long time. The grinders at lunch are supposed to be pretty good too but I've yet to try them.

I'll echo others in this thread who previously recommended Kanella. While I've only been there for the Sunday meze dinner (it was very meat-focused the night I was there), their regular menu offers vegetarian and seafood options that seem similar to some of the dishes I had during the incredible parade of meze. It's just a few blocks east of those concert venues.

I just returned from my second trip to Iceland, although this one was sadly too brief. MBK, I wouldn't worry about the short daylight because there's still plenty to do even when it's dark, such as museums, live music, hot pots, and if you get lucky and have clear weather, you'll get a shot at the northern lights at night. And like astrid said, you can see a lot of the nearby scenery during the 4 hours of light or so you may have. I had a spectacular dinner at Grillmarkaðarins. The restaurant is right in the heart of downtown, just down an alley off of Austurstæti (near the intersection with Lækjargata). You can't tell from the street, but the restaurant is enormous, where even the basement has probably 20-foot ceilings. It's very stylish and inviting, with lots of wood for a country with few trees. Also, the downstairs bar area has more Eames chairs than a Herman Miller factory. We ordered the Christmas tasting menu which is nine courses of modern takes on traditional Icelandic holiday dishes. There was no written menu (we were told it changes frequently) nor explanation of what the courses were that night so we just hoped for the best and were not disappointed. There were a lot of surprises--for example, pickled herring served in a jar beside a deepfried, hardboiled egg topped with salmon was like an Icelandic deviled egg. Goose with a chocolate sauce and a side of roasted potatoes covered in caramel was nearly shocking in its ability to balance salty and sweet without going overboard in either direction. I did not expect to see a turkey dish (though I was more impressed with the bacon mustard that came with it). Two tasting menus and two beers came out to $160 (including tax and gratuity, of course), which I consider a pretty good deal (and helps show how Iceland is not as expensive as it once was--it's no Norway). I haven't had much opportunity to experience this new Nordic movement that everybody seems to be talking about during the last few years but I think this meal really helped me get what the fuss is all about.

I agree completely. I greatly appreciate it when restaurants have the option--or require--reservations made through email or online systems. I think it's more convenient for both the restaurant and me for a variety of reasons: I can do it at any time of day or night; I don't have to worry about international calling costs (or having to use skype) if it's for a restaurant abroad; on that same note, I can worry less about translating or otherwise creating misunderstandings; I have a written record of the reservation; and I don't have to worry about straining to hear the host or hostess over the din of the dining room. To be honest, having to call for a reservation feels a bit antiquated and will probably be an increasingly rare experience.

Unfortunately, I happened to only have mediocre food in Taormina--great views, great sights, but nothing spectacular food-wise. However, and it may not be much help for your trip, I had some of the most amazing meals of my life in the Ragusa region of Sicily (south of Catania, east of Agrigento). I stumbled upon a restaurant, La Piazzetta, off the square of a tiny town called Pedalino. It was one of those watershed meals that fulfilled the promise of what an Italian meal can be: fresh ricotta served with honey, amazing prosciutto, fresh pasta, local wine, et cetera. If you make it down to Modica, besides the delicious chocolate at Antica Dolceria Bonajuto, I definitely recommend Osteria dei Sapori Perduti for lunch or dinner. I was concerned it would be a tourist trap because it had menus in plenty of languages but it really was fantastic. In the town of Noto, I had some incredible ravioli at Ristorante il Liberty. The restaurant is in this really cool, wine cellar-type space and the food was very thoughtful, subtle, and executed very well. And of course you can't go wrong with gelato from Costanzo or Caf Sicilia. There's an older No Reservation on Sicily, but I believe it's mostly in Palermo, I believe, but I haven't been there so I'm not sure how helpful it is.

The New York Time's Ethicist is running an essay contest to discover the best ethical justification for eating meat: I thought and thought and thought some more but I can't come up with an ethical justification (though I am not a vegetarian--rather I'm just a hypocrite). The best I can come up with is something I don't believe: that under a utilitarian understanding of ethics, in which one should maximize happiness, consuming delicious, delicious bacon greatly maximizes my happiness and that trumps any duty I may owe to the source of such bacon. (I think the basic problem with this theory is that it assumes Descartes is correct when he suggests that animals do not suffer and are not conscious--something I certainly reject.) So if anyone has a good ethical justification this could be your chance to be published in the Times.

I actually just got back from Iceland too--and can definitely echo the good things to say about Eldsmidgan. My wife and I got a pie to go on Saturday and sat outside eating it while watching a band during culture night. They're putting what little wood there is in Iceland to good use! As for outside Reykjavik, I have to say, I found the little hot dog cart in Stykkishólmur to be even better than Bæjarins beztu in Reykjavik. Their secret blew me away in its non-obvious simplicity: a spoonful of baked beans under the dog. Everyone loves baked beans with hot dogs but I've never encountered it in bun-form. Genius!

ah, that makes sense--thanks! I was thinking it was more wide swaths of plastic wrapping rather than the normal plastic rings.