eatruneat

Thank you for this review. We have been looking for a good sushi place in this price point since Sushi Capitol in Chinatown closed and the Capitol Hill location has fallen off a bit in quality. I was looking for a place to celebrate an upcoming birthday and have my first post-baby sushi feast and was considering a few places. Now, I will try to reserve seats here.

Don't forget the shreddy letty, shaved onions, pickled pep relly, and hoag dressing (olive oil and vinegar)! But now that you put it that way...

@MichaelBDC walked by over the weekend and decided to stop by and grab a sandwich for lunch. We split a Mort and Mootz and...it was fine. There was a bit of hype around this place and I thought the sandwich would be revelatory and it was just as one would expect a mortadella and mozzarella sandwich to be. If anything, it was a bit heavy on the mayo. I wouldn't be opposed to grabbing another sandwich from this place, but we are not in a rush to go back.

Same group sued Knead Hospitality (Mi Vida, Succotash, Gatsby, and others) and got them to remove their Initiative 82 fee, per Washingtonian. How much longer until restaurants just raise the cost of menu items and eliminate tips entirely? It's just too confusing. I went to L'Ardente last week and had a fantastic meal. Menu clearly stated that 20% tip would be included and the bill highlighted the 20% service charge to make it clear that it was already added. "Great! Very clear and easy," I thought. My brother and I split the check and since he hadn't looked at the bill I flagged for him that service was already included. Because L'Ardente uses the portable devices to pay, the server was standing right there and hemmed and hawed and said "Well, that is a service charge that gets distributed to everyone who works in the restaurant and isn't really a tip for the service you received so..." I had already paid so too late for her! But my brother was still in the process of signing his check and because we did get very good service and was in a celebratory mood, he tipped 20% on top of that. I couldn't help but feel a little annoyed with the server and what was a fantastic and fun meal left me with a bitter taste in my mouth.

I just went to L'Ardente last night and the food was as good as ever. Hard to go wrong there when it comes to food. Definitely second the Unconventional Diner and Kinship suggestions. I will also throw in Petite Cerise, Nina May, Rumi's Kitchen, Cafe Riggs, and Seven Reasons. When it comes to work event type experiences, I have gone to a work happy hour at Unconventional Diner and they did a great job with drinks and passed appetizers. They blocked off a section of the restaurant and there was a lot of space to mix and mingle. I haven't been to Cafe Riggs but our neighbors had their wedding reception there in October and raved about the food and the service (both in organizing the reception and during the meal itself).

Thanksgiving dinner was takeout from Unconventional Diner and it made us question whether we should ever cook Thanksgiving dinner again as long as Unconventional Diner is an option. Our dinner for two consisted of autumn harvest soup, half a turkey (half a breast, a thigh, a drumstick, and a wing), mashed potatoes, gravy, mushroom stuffing, cornbread muffin, cranberry sauce, brussels sprouts, and two slices of pumpkin pie. There was enough food for a second dinner for both of us on Friday and dinner for me on Saturday. Also, our dog is still enjoying the last of the turkey breast. 🙃 Logistics wise, Unconventional Diner had everything down pretty well. The line was long but moved pretty well even though they took the time to make sure everyone's box was complete and people understood the reheating instructions. The reheating instructions were very straightforward and simple and everything reheated well, not just once but twice. Unconventional Diner is also doing a beef wellington dinner from December 15-31. It would be a great option for a nice dinner at home this holiday season.

The aforementioned Vincent stopped by yesterday with two orders of jolloff rice w/ goat and an order of efo riro for us. As the kids say, "it slaps." The jolloff rice was pure comfort food. The spices/seasoning was delicious and it had a good amount of heat, but not too much. Each order came with two decent sized pieces of goat, one very meaty and one with a little more fat/tendon. The efo riro was also delicious and we welcomed the greens even if they were cooked in a healthy amount of oil.

Went for our last DINK dinner last week. Food was very good, service was very not good. We started off with two glasses of sparkling wine, the escargot en croute, and assiette de rillettes. The escargot was amazing, especially the pastry dough that wrapped around the shells. I could have gone for another order. The plate of assiette de rillettes consisted of two slices of bread topped with with a sizeable amount of rillettes and a healthy amount of sliced sausage, some mustard, and two cornichons. It was enjoyable, but hard to mess this up. For our entrees, I had the duck l'orange while @MichaelBDC had the seed crusted tuna with maitake mushrooms and beet bordelaise. Both dishes were perfectly cooked and I especially enjoyed the duck breast. Our only nit was that the tuna came with two small-ish slices of tuna. The dish was beautifully composed and the mushrooms were excellent, just wished there was another slice of tuna to make it the main event, not equal to the radish and mushrooms. Service was really slow, with a long and unacknowledged wait between the appetizers and entrees. This was especially annoying because our wine glasses sat empty and one of us would have ordered another glass sooner if someone had stopped by. Another aspect of the service that was less than great for this level of restaurant was the "pushiness" of our server. For example, after putting in our orders she asked us if we'd like any bread to start. We declined without giving a reason, not that we needed to provide a reason to pay for bread we didn't really want but both appetizers already came with carbs and we felt more bread would be overkill. Her response was "Really?! REALLY?! It's just that the bread here is really good." We got a similar reaction when we declined dessert. This time I said I had too much leftover Halloween candy throughout the day, which prompted her to tell me that their sorbet is a really digestif. Pretty off putting way for us to end the meal. We'll be back, only because I still want to try those foie gras beignets. Hopefully service will have improved by then.

Tim Carman has a piece in the Post about Truong Tien this morning. Secret is out. 😥

I have been wanting to go to Truong Tien since getting a tip from a friend of my SIL that it was serving some really solid Hue cuisine. @MichaelBDC and I headed out there this rainy Saturday and had a great feast. We started with orders of the banh bot lot la (tapioca dumpling w/ pork and shrimp wrapped in banana leaves), banh cuon thit heo mam nem (steam pork rolls with fish sauce), and vegeterian banh beo (steamed riced cake). The banh beo was the clear winner here and if we didn't order so much food we would have gotten more. The banh bot lot la was also super good but @MichaelBDC couldn't have any because he is allergic to shellfish and I only ended up eating one, saving the rest for leftovers tonight. The banh cuong thit heo was good but nothing special. For the main event, @MichaelBDC ordered the bun bo hue and I had the banh canh cha ca. @MichaelBDC really loved the BBH. I had a sip of the broth and thought it was good, but prefer a more aggressive broth so didn't think it was the best I've had. I haven't had banh canh in over a decade and really really really loved my bowl. The two soups really hit the spot in the rainy weather. A few service notes...get there early on weekends if you can. Although the place only recently opened over the summer, word has gotten out and it is very popular. We arrived around 11am and got one of the last four tops (About six or seven total). There was also one big center table for large parties that was occupied and a circular 6 top that was kept empty for another large party. Twenty minutes later and there was a line at the door with people willing those of us inside to hurry up and finish. At first they told us they didn't have anything available from the vegetarian menu but then later came back and said they had the vegeterian banh beo, so we added that to our order. Not sure what the hold up was, but it would have been nice to get more vegetarian options so @MichaelBDC could partake in more apps. Finally, they don't have any drinks other than hot tea or water. No Vietnamese coffee or other drinks sadly. Hopefully they will add it soon.

The Sfeeha is also available in the evening at the Georgetown location of Yellow. @MichaelBDC and I went there last month when they were still testing out their (not) pizza concept and had a great meal. Pizza crust was made with their pita dough and the toppings were top notch. We split the sfeeha, an order of Beiruti hummus with an extra pita, and their summer squash pizza. It was all delicious. Dessert was not necessary, but also very necessary, if you know what I mean. I got a soft serve (baklava + pistachio brown butter) while @MichaelBDC had the Turkish coffee affogato.

Anyone had good dim sum (preferably in DC or VA) recently?

With our days of DINK-dom winding down, we dropped by Reveler's Hour with a friend Tuesday evening for a lovely dinner. We ordered three firsts, three pastas, and left stuffed (with two bottles of wine to go): sweet pepper arancini with grilled eggplant puree, mozzarella, and espelette grilled squid salad with marinated beans, garlic, cherry tomato, chili and semolina sourdough smoked prosciutto with cantaloupe, and olio verde campanelle with pistachio + green zebra tomato pesto and grana padano tagliatelle with roast pork, sweet and hot peppers, parmesan, and fennel pollen breadcrumbs bucatini with lamb sausage, eggplant, tomato, and ricotta salata Everything was great but the arancini, campanelle, and tagliatelle were standouts. We have been going crazy with summer produce at home, and Reveler's Hour took it up a notch or two. We enjoyed a bottle of Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo so much we bought one to enjoy at home ($60 on the wine list, $30 retail).

Another anniversary, another wonderful celebration at Kinship. We have never had a less than amazing meal at Kinship but this dinner may have topped all the rest. We are still thinking about the amuse bouche summer garden granita with summer garden consomme the kitchen sent out. This consisted of a cold broth of tomato water, basil, lemongrass, and chile poured over a "slushee" of the same broth. Chef Ziebold stopped by our table and explained the inspiration behind the taste as well as how it is made. I am jealous that @MichaelBDCfor taking the whole thing as a shot and therefore got seconds while I restrained myself and sipped it like a classy lady and did not get seconds. The current menu takes advantage is heavy on the summer produce and we took advantage of it. We ordered the Kinship Saganaki, the Grilled Quail for our appetizers and then followed it up with the Corn Milk Poached Halibut and the Grilled Blue Fin Tuna for our entrees. Everything was perfectly cooked, especially the fish which were both so tender we didn't need a knife. Although we were pretty full after the entrees, I couldn't get enough of what this kitchen was putting out and ordered the Valrhona Carmelia Swirled Parfait for dessert while @MichaelBDC stuck with a digestif. Not too sweet or rich, the parfait was a perfect ending to another amazing meal at Kinship.

We asked Vincent, our Nigerian born personal trainer, for his assessment of Jolloff Etcetera compared to other establishments he and his family go for Nigerian food. He said that in his view Jolloff Etcetera has the best jolloff rice and egusi. FWIW, last year for Christmas, Vincent treated us to a Nigerian feast from Kingsway and it was amazing. Pepper soup, jolloff rice, efo riro, egusi, fried fish, fufu, goat, it was all really good and we ate well for days. It was so good we asked Vincent to bring some of that jolloff rice for our house warming earlier this year and he generously brought over a whole catering tray and all our guests loved it. Can't wait to try the jolloff rice at Jolloff Etcetera.

We went in May to celebrate @MichaelBDC's birthday. Our meal was really really good. Great ingredients and the dishes were well executed. French food is not my favorite so we aren't in a rush to go back, although the current menu online looks really good. One of our friends lives in the neighborhood and he goes nearly every week. Definitely worth a visit.

We haven't been back since our trip in 2019 but my cousin just came back and raved about Roscioli, Forno Campo de Fiori, Supplizio, and Bonci. I also still follow Rome-based travel guides Katie Parla, Elizabeth Minchilli, and Gillian McGuire on Instagram and like their recommendations (via Instagram or their websites).

I was craving Ethiopian food the other week so we walked up to Chercher. We split an order of the vegan special and the geba wot. It was all very good and hit the spot, although we still prefer Zenebech, which we haven't been to since it changed over to Elfegne. Chercher seemed a little more reserved in the use of spices than what we remember from Zenebech.

We walked by this protest on our way back from Petco with our dog. Police blocked off 7th St. from NY Ave. to L St. NW for this protest. Kinship doesn't even have foie gras on the menu right now so I don't know what the deal is with this protest. And for all the chants about animal rights, they had zero regard for our sweet dog. She was already scared of the loud chants and the crowd of people, but in these activists zeal to protest the non-existence of foie gras at a restaurant one lady almost stepped on our dog and a guy kneeling on the sidewalk set off the siren on a bullhorn right as we walked by, completely terrifying our dog!

Thanks @Bart I've been waiting for this one to open and their website still says "coming soon." Any idea what the price of the all you can eat options are?

The sale of our old condo took place the same week as Winter Restaurant Week. To celebrate no longer carrying two mortgages, @MichaelBDC and I joined our friend at Convivial for dinner. An overall fantastic meal was had by all. The friend, who is quite the connoisseur, started with the escargot and then had the boeuf bourguignon. He declared both to be fantastic and literally gave an applause. @MichaelBDC had the octopus with potato salad to start and followed it with the trout almandine. While skeptical of the "potato salad" accompaniment to the octopus, @MichaelBDC ended up loving this dish and still talks about it nearly a month later. The potato salad was nice and salty to perfectly complement the octopus. The trout was also great and a perfectly composed dish. I started with the chicken liver parfait and followed it with the cassoulet. I loved both dishes, but I think I didn't assemble my meal right, as in it was too rich and I couldn't appreciate the cassoulet after the chicken liver parfait. Gotta mix it up next time. Convivial has fallen off our radar the last year or so, but this meal reminds us that we need to make it back more often.

We went to L'Ardente for a birthday dinner last week and it was fantastic. We started off with the Duck Hunt (duck ravioli with foie gras and truffle), which was perfectly luxurious. Four bites was all we needed, but we wouldn't have minded more. Next was the Venetian "Risotto" (riced calamari, lobster stock, king crab), my favorite dish of the night. I could really taste the lobster stock and there was also a good hunk of king crab. Fortunately, I got this all to myself due to my dining partner's shellfish allergy. @MichaelBDC ordered the grilled octopus with patatas bravas and a romesco sauce. The octopus was cooked perfectly but the potatoes were pretty bland unless you made sure to grab some sauce with it. We ordered a similar dish from Convivial a few weeks ago and enjoyed that one a lot more. For the mains, we shared the rigatoni alla carbonara, pappardelle with white ragu, and grilled vegetables. We had a few bites of the vegetables because we felt we needed something green, but quickly focused on the fantastic pastas. To finish we had the caramel apple, which was great. We went on a Friday at prime time (7:30pm) because it was my birthday and the restaurant was beyond packed. When we left a little past 9:30pm, people were still waiting to get seated. Restaurants need to make money but I felt we were packed in there like sardines, which is fine for certain restaurants but it felt wrong at a high end place like L'Ardente. Our table was so close to the booth behind me that servers kept bumping me to pass by and the person behind me could have easily rammed into me getting out of his/her seat (or I could have bumped into them!). Compare that to my usual birthday dinner spot, Kinship, where there is space between tables and parties have some sense of privacy. It wasn't bad enough to keep me from going to L'Ardente again, but I would just go on a weekday or less busy time. Food was great and maybe I'm showing my age, but when we are spending that kind of money, I would rather have a more relaxed and special occasion feeling than our experience.

I was listening to a podcast over the weekend that veered into the topic of plastic surgery (the podcast is called Bitch Sesh: A Real Housewives Podcast). And one of the hosts said that a lot of people (including or maybe especially Real Housewives) who get plastic surgery know that it's not going to look natural or they know that it won't improve their appearance that much, but the point is to show that they have money to have plastic surgery. Do the sky high price tags at some of these restaurants really reflect the quality and inventiveness of the food? Or is it really so someone can say they went there, implying they could afford to go there and spend that kind of cash, even regularly? Unfortunately, we are seeing more and more in the latter category.

Spent another 10 sunny days in San Diego for Christmas with the family. Like previous years, @MichaelBDC and I stayed in the Gaslamp District for a few days before family festivities. A run down of some of our dining adventures. We owe a great debt to @Mark Dedrick for recommending The Neighborhood, our favorite spot during our stay in the Gaslamp. We were starving after a five hour flight from Dulles to San Diego and headed straight to The Neighborhood after checking into our hotel room. Ordered the pierogies and the sausage platter exactly what our tummies wanted. Drinks were very well made too. I have never had a rickey I liked until the ones I got here. Highly recommend. Looking for a light dinner after the aforementioned pierogies and sausage platter, we wandered over to Taka Sushi and sat at the counter. We ordered some nigiri a la carte, all of which were very good. A little over priced (but what isn't these days), wish there was better variety, and there was quite a bit of upselling by the sushi chefs (they sold me on the live shrimp but we passed on the others), but overall we were pleased with our meal. One day we wandered over to Little Italy and spent a few good hours at Vino Carta, a wine bar and retail shop. Wish we had something like this in DC. I would describe this as Maxwell Park, if Maxwell Park also had a retail shop. After our wines, we headed to Crack Shack for some fried chicken. The only thing we ordered were the chicken oysters and they were as good as we remembered them! Finally, stopped by Civico 1845 for a solid pasta dinner. Our one big miss this trip was Karina's Cantina in the Gaslamp. I can't be 100 % sure, but I am pretty positive I got food poisoning after eating the agua chiles here one day. That resulted in us having to cancel our reservations at Callie, a meal we were really looking forward to. A few other highlights from our trip was some delicious Bun Bo Hue (and some banh nam, banh beo, and banh bot lot) at Hoai Hue in City Heights, a go to for our family. If you have a car and don't mind crappy parking lots, I highly recommend. Another great area for Asian food is on and around Convoy Street in Claremont Mesa/Kearney Mesa area. Pho Duyen Mai has a solid bowl of pho (we did not make it to Pho Hoa this time) and I enjoyed the best Chinese food in a while at Eastern Dynasty two miles down the road. Finally, FWIW, my family reports that Jasmine is not as good these days resulting in no dim sum this trip. A bummer to be sure.

Can't speak to your experience with Della Barba, but I know some restaurants shut down online orders if they get too busy and find themselves in the weeds. Had this happen a few times with Baan Siam. I cannot wait to order from Della Barba again. We took a hiatus because they made their delivery zone smaller and we fell out of it. Then they took a hiatus. Initially, we are outside of the delivery zone for this location too, but fortunately they moved to DoorDash for delivery. We hardly ever use DoorDash but with the $5 a month credit we get with our Chase card (and the credit rolls over to a max of $15), we will do it once we get back from spending the holidays in California.