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eatruneat

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  1. eatruneat
    Celebrated three years of marriage with @MichaelBDClast night with another fantastic dinner at Kinship. We have never had anything on the menu that we didn't think was amazing and last night was no exception. After we placed our order, we received some bread and butter, both of which were very good, especially the butter which was soft and salted and amazing. Despite slathering the butter onto the pieces of bread, there was some left over.@MichaelBDC suggested we request more bread for the remaining butter but I said no because we had a large meal ahead of us. We both thought about eating the butter by itself when the server removed it from our table. Next, we had three appetizers, one for each year of marriage: tuna tataki, pâté de campagne, and softshell crab. The tuna itself was so good and buttery, it nearly melted in my mouth and I couldn't get enough of the dashi geleé I used a spoon to get as much as I could. The pâté de campagne was another winner. @MichaelBDCnoted how light it was relative to other pâtés we have had. He especially loved the dijonaise. I had the softshell crab to myself, minus some bites the grilled peach, red onions, and cherry tomatoes that accompanied the crab. This was my favorite dish of the night and if you are a softshell crab enthusiast, I highly recommend you seek out this dish. For our entrees I had the pan seared duck breast and @MichaelBDChad the grilled lamb t-bones. Both were great plates and cooked to a perfect medium rare. I was too full to finish the cauliflower and mulligawatny sauce that accompanied my duck. While I really enjoyed the duck, I really really enjoyed the few bites of lamb I was able to try. The slow baked tomato accompanying it was also stellar. We were too stuffed at this point for any dessert but that blackberry merveilleux and the drunken cherries are calling our names so we'll have to go back this weekend to finish our outstanding anniversary dinner.
  2. eatruneat
    I was craving dim sum so consulted with @Ericandblueboy for his expert advice and what he would recommend between Vinh Kee and Mark's Duck House. He said the food quality was about the same at both establishments but to get a table right away he said to go to Mark's Duck House if you go on the earlier side and Vinh Kee is a safer bet if you go on the later side. I relayed this information to my rag tag group of dim sum enthusiasts and they said they wanted the experience with carts (Mark's Duck House) but they wanted to go later. So thanks to Eric for the expert advice, but we didn't use it. @MichaelBDC, our friend Walter, and I got to Mark's Duck House around 12:10pm and the place was half full. They could have sat us right away but we were still waiting for a few others since our meet up time was 12:30pm. Our party of five, got seated right away and the carts came fast and furious. Shiu mai, har gow, spare ribs, lo mein, suckling pig, chow fun, bbq pork buns, sticky rice in grape leaves, more har gow, more shiu mai, the rice crepe with the shrimp, shrimp balls, crab balls, Chinese broccoli, turnip cake...we feasted. Favorites for me were the suckling pig, bbq pork buns, har gow, shiu mai, and turnip cake. Quality of food is very good although was higher in sodium than I remember, or maybe I am just getting old. They couldn't refill our glasses of water fast enough. I was bummed that the turnip cake came out towards the end of our meal because that is my favorite dish but I was too full to have more than a few bites. The only thing I really didn't like is that they kept bringing out non dim sum dishes out and were really pushing them on us. I really wanted to stick to dim sum dishes only but I am but one person in a group of hungry people so I had to shut the control freak inside of me down and just go with the flow. Also, the cart experience here isn't as good as others I have had, like the fabulous Jasmine Restaurant in San Diego. There were two carts right next to our table that just had noodle and vegetable dishes on there waiting for someone to ask about them. No thanks for me. Next time, I'd skip the carts if it meant better/fresher food. We left SO stuffed with a few leftovers and the cost was about $35 per person. I wasn't hungry for the rest of the day and my body remembered why I only do dim sum once or twice a year.
  3. eatruneat
    Forgot to mention that we did manage to go to AhSo one evening with my friend who works in Manassas. The meal was very good with some slight executions errors such as undercooked octopus and my under salted gnocchi and PEI mussels. Otherwise, flavors were really nice and fresh and it was a lovely evening overall.
  4. eatruneat
    We are finally back in DC after nearly a month in Ashburn. There were some rough stretches but we were able to have some enjoyable dining experiences during out time in the 'burbs. Ford's Fish Shack (Landsdowne): Some of the very best crab cakes I have had in a while. A lot of crab meat, very little filler. Shoe string fries were okay, wish I had substituted a side salad or vegetable instead. But the crab cakes were amazing. @MichaelBDC had the swordfish special which he liked a lot. Sister-in-law and niece had the chicken sandwich, which they thought was one of the best they've had in a while. King Street Oyster Bar: Decent, but limited, brunch, but stick to the lunch menu. Good selection of oysters and I enjoyed my half dozen. Oyster po'boy for me was good with three large oysters. Fries were fine, nothing special. @MichaelBDChad the steak breakfast burrito and said it was not good. Sense of Thai: Nice atmosphere, good food, if a touch too sweet. Som Tum was very good but super spicy. I had the Chumphon Pad Thai which included shrimp and crab meat. It had a good amount of shrimp, but a touch too sweet for my taste. The PAT Pad Thai @MichaelBDCordered was even sweeter than mine and he only ate half. I ate the other half for lunch the next day. First Watch: Decent brunch option for non brunch people like us. Would go again. Pho Nomenal: Got delivery from here one night. Pretty legit Vietnamese food although I think they hold back on the fish sauce a little too much for my taste. Bun Bo Hue for @MichaelBDC was very good. I had the Vermicelli with grilled pork and a spring roll. Grilled pork was super good, both flavorful and tender. As mentioned earlier, the nuoc cham needed more fish sauce, lime, and spice. Thanks all for the recommendations!
  5. eatruneat
    The big caveat that I should have mentioned is that we are staying with family who are not particularly adventurous, though I think we can convince them to go to Ahso. We did take out from Parrando's Tex-Mex Grill which was bad across the board. We then did brunch at Blue Ridge Grill which was fine but not a place I would consider going back to. Thank you all for the recommendations. We will likely eat in more than out at restaurants, but want to have some places to recommend when the in-laws ask if there's anywhere we want to eat.
  6. eatruneat
    Any recommendations for dining out in Ashburn or even Leesburg and elsewhere in Loudon County? @MichaelBDC and I have decamped to Ashburn for the month while our condo undergoes a bathroom/kitchen renovation. We have had two dining excursions -- one take out and one dine in -- and both were subpar. All recommendations are welcome!
  7. eatruneat
    Izakaya re-opened after going into hibernation during the height of the COVID pandemic so we stopped by because we missed it so. Apparently a lot of people made reservations for the Izakaya thinking they could get ramen and then cancelled when they found out the second floor wasn't serving ramen, so we were able to walk in and get seated right away a little after 8pm. Fortunately, by the time we left the bar had filled up and more people had stopped by for dinner. The menu is more limited than pre-pandmic days, of course, but the food is still really good. We ordered our favorites: Rocky Balboa, fried garlic with kimchi miso sauce, tako wasabi, grilled avocado, and abura miso onigiri. We also also had the spicy tuna and crispy rice and the sliced short rib donburi bowl. Everything was just as good as we remembered, although the octopus in the tako wasabi was a little tough. @MichaelBDCdidn't care for the crispy rice part of the spicy tuna and crispy rice but I loved it so I got the third piece. We did miss some of the dishes that aren't on the current menu: chicken karaage, catfish karaage, brussels sprouts okonomiyaki, and the enoki mushrooms slathered in butter. Hoping these dishes come back soon. Glad to have the izakaya back.
  8. eatruneat
    Our first dine-in restaurant experience in almost a year and both of us didn't realize how much we had missed restaurant dining until we had done it. Between dealing with a spoiled COVID pup with a small case of separation anxiety and saving for a bathroom/kitchen renovation, @MichaelBDC and I were content with cooking, some neighborhood takeout, and the occasional delivery. But I really wanted soft shell crabs and I knew I really liked Tom Power's soft shell crabs so we went on Friday night and it was marvelous. The first floor dining room was mostly full when we arrived for our 8pm reservation. After we placed our orders, the server brought out the usual bread and butter with salt. I had forgotten how good that butter is and I am usually agnostic to butter. That butter is so good that the bread became a vehicle for the butter and we asked for a second pat. @MichaelBDC ordered the special of hamachi with shiso salad to start while I had a half dozen of raspberry point oysters. I hadn't had oysters on the half shell in too long and these were refreshing and lovely. However, the hamachi and shiso salad were the winners this round. The hamachi was melt in your mouth buttery and the shiso salad with daikon was better than we remembered. That is an amazing salad and we hope to enjoy it for years to come. For our main course, I had the softshell crab with wilted greens and ver jus that I had been seeking and they did not disappoint. You read the menu and might think, "is that all?" but it is a perfectly composed dish and is perfectly executed by the kitchen. @MichaelBDCwent with the Duck Confit Cassoulet Style and loved every bite, especially since the duck meat fell off bone. He actually declared that we should make it this winter which is funny because by "we," he knows it'll be "me," and I would rather not try to meet the great expectations of a Tom Power masterpiece, thank you very much. We also ordered a bottle of Gundlach Bundschu Mountain Cuvee for dinner, which was certainly not the perfect pairing with my seafood dishes, but was very nice. It also reminded me of when my cousin had a membership to the winery and I had a membership to Kenneth Volk and we would trade wines. A little nostalgia. We skipped dessert but left full and happy and realizing a proper date night is worth leaving the pup at home for longer than usual. She managed. Also, this was our first time NOT eating at the bar and while we did miss sitting at the bar, I would not wait for that bar special to enjoy Tom Power's phenomenal cooking.
  9. eatruneat
    Little Serow is offering Khao Soi dinner kit to go for two next week. Some reheating will be required and instructions are included. https://serowtogo.square.site/khao-soi For $110, the package comes with: Nam Prik Num & Crispy Pork Skin Chayote & Peanut Salad Jackfruit & Pork Herbal Pork Sausage Chicken Khao Soi Sweet Rice Slice Bite We ordered a kit for Friday and can't wait to try it out.
  10. eatruneat
    Continuing our love affair with Detroit-style pizza, @MichaelBDCtried Motown Square Pizza (delivery by DoorDash). The chef is from Detroit with roots in Ethiopia, so we were intrigued by and planned to order the special tibs pizza. However, in an incredible brain fart I ordered the Motor City pizza instead. No matter, because it allowed us to do a more apples to apples comparison with our favorite, Della Barba. The Motor City (available only on Fridays and Saturdays) comes with sausage, ricotta, hot honey, mozzarella, and parsley in addition to the standard crushed tomatoes and Wisconsin brick cheese. Unlike Della Barba which uses its own delivery drivers, Motown Square Pizza goes through Door Dash so our pizza arrived at room temperature and required some reheating. Still, the pizza was super good and we inhaled two squares each (half the pizza). The dough is lighter and airier than Della Barba, and while good, left the pizza a little flimsy and not as sturdy. The Wisconsin brick cheese melted into the crust more than create the crisp crust that we like so much, but I am really nitpicking here. We loved the pizza, are reheating a few squares for lunch, and will certainly order from Motown Square again.
  11. eatruneat
    I read through the entirety of this thread the other day and it's quite interesting to see how Maketto has changed since it's opening and settled into its current iteration as it is one of our favorite places in the city right now. The Maketto of the first few posts is almost unrecognizable to the Maketto today, especially during COVID times. Reading about people packed together trying to order from the bar made do a double take. The puppy's groomer is a few blocks away so @MichaelBDCand I have made it a routine to drop the pup off and head to Maketto for a cup of coffee or tea and lunch. Maketto has instituted contactless ordering due to COVID and it's a pretty easy and efficient system. I ordered the duck noodle soup the past two times we stopped by because I love duck and it is a very good bowl of soup. The bowl comes with a whole confit duck leg, wonton noodles, and some greens. The confit doesn't add much to the soup, but I figure it is more to prevent the duck from becoming dry. The broth is really rich, can it be too rich? And wonton noodles are probably my favorite noodles of all time (please do not tell my Vietnamese ancestors). The soup hits all my food related pleasure points and I highly recommend it. Other highlights from Maketto include anything I have mentioned in the two posts above and the drunken shrimp fried rice that came with a very good amount of shrimp. It should be noted though that @MichaelBDC did not think the spicy beef and rice bowl was particularly good compared to the other things we have ordered. Maketto started out as a hot spot where you couldn't find a seat and now it's the place we stop by while waiting for our dog to get bathed and groomed.
  12. eatruneat
    Ten months later, we finally got that fried chicken dinner. Pickup is even more seamless than before. You go in one door, the host walks you to your order on the bar, hands it to you, and you exit through another door. The food stayed warm and the chicken remained crisp after our 15 minute walk back to the apartment. The order consisted of a whole chicken broken into parts, mashed potatoes & gravy, biscuits & bacon jam, and coleslaw. Everything was fantastic, especially the chicken, and we still have half of the meal left over for another meal. A truly excellent meal. The cost is $45 now and with extra charges, tax, and tip the bill ended up totaling closer to $64. Those charges add up fast! Overall, still a pretty good deal with a generous amount of very good food, and worth supporting restaurants during this seemingly unending pandemic.
  13. eatruneat
    Try Haikan. Website says they are continuing outdoor seating, but not sure if it's heated or not.
  14. eatruneat
    After a series of pepperoni Detroit pizza, we branched out and ordered the Detroit Hottie, a special with Habaneros, Jalapenos, & Calabrian Chili Oil. We added pepperoni as well. Unfortunately, it was way too spicy for me, but we still managed to enjoy it enough to finish off the pie in multiple rounds. Additionally, Washingtonian reports that Della Barba will go from a takeout/delivery kitchen in Ivy City to a cafe on Capitol Hill around Lincoln Park. The address is 1382 E. Capitol St. NE, currently an Al's Pizza. There is promise of housemade bacon, baguettes, and pastries. Looking forward to it.
  15. eatruneat
    Christmas Eve dinner from Convivial, our second Convivial to go dinner during the time of COVID and this dinner was phenomenal. Chestnut & Foie Gras soup and the Duck & Armagnac Country Pate to start and both were very very good. The soup was the best soup I have had in a while and the pate came with a generously large and tasty baguette. It didn't seem like a generous portion but after our appetizers, @MichaelBDC and I were so full we ended up splitting the cassoulet. There was a lot of pork and sausage to go with the perfectly al dente beans. After all that food, I managed a bite of my dessert, the Paris-Brest, a hazelnut praline mousse in a pate a choux. Perfect ending to a great dinner. Our second entree, the coq au vin de champagne sat in the fridge for two days and we dug in yesterday. This freaking blew away my Julia Child copy of coq au vin. That was good stuff. Hoping to polish off the rest of my Paris-Brest and the key lime pie tonight.
  16. eatruneat
    So jealous! We had wanted to do Kinship for our Christmas Eve Dinner too, but decided too late and they were sold out, so we went with Convivial instead. Walked by Kinship on our way to and from Convivial and saw that they were doing brisk to-go service. I am going to pretend we passed each other on 7th St.
  17. eatruneat
    This is so sad. I had some of the best times at Big Hunt and two of my favorite bar stories took place here. The first is when I got to talking to some friends of the owner and they covered my tab and then some. The second was when I finally got to use this line on some douche bro, "You know what they say about people who wear sunglasses inside? You're either blind or an asshole."
  18. eatruneat
    @Bart, we had to cancel our annual Christmas trip to San Diego this year because of COVID. I will note that there is a stay at home order in San Diego right now and restaurants are only open for delivery and takeout. That being said, I would advise against a nice dinner in Little Italy. We stayed in Little Italy the last few times we've been in San Diego and I think the places are not as good as they once were with the exception of Crack Shack, but that is very casual. If you really had to do NYE dinner at (or from) a place in Little Italy, look to Juniper & Ivy, Herb& Wood, and Kettner Exchange. The first two were started by chefs from Top Chef (Richard Blais and Brian Malarkey) and the third is a carbon copy but with more of a night club atmosphere. Our absolute favorite place in San Diego is Trust, but it is closed. Its sister restaurant, Fort Oak, is doing takeout/delivery and is not too far away from Little Italy in Mission Hills. You didn't ask, but had we gone to San Diego our itinerary would have been: Huntress Steakhouse, Trust/Fort Oak, and Born & Raised. Jasmine for dim sum, Pho Hoa in City Heights (or wherever my family wants to go for pho) and its neighbor Minh Ky for egg noodle soups, Taco Stand (for tacos), and Oscar's (fish tacos).
  19. eatruneat
    Because we're not greedy diners. That is why.
  20. eatruneat
    This radical liberal forgot all about the DCist story until I came here to write up a recent Rose's At Home dinner we ordered. It's amusing to me because I am usually one of the first in line to write off businesses with problematic owners and chefs. Not sure the lack of impact that DCist story had on me speaks more about me or Aaron Silverman. Back to the food, we had Rose's At Home delivered to our place last week. The current menu, which ends this week, consisted of a night called TOMATOES ONLY and another night PICNIC PACK. A third night option would have been ROSE'S CLASSICS (spicy jerk chicken being the entree), but we weren't ready to spend $250 on the three night menu. The delivery itself was smooth and everything was packed very thoughtfully and the prep instructions were very easy to follow. The TOMATOES ONLY menu consisted of green tomato panzanella with sourdough and anchovy, rigatoni all'Amartriciana, and burnt cheesecake with tomato caramel. This meal was fantastic. The green tomato panzanella was really refreshing and perfectly balanced. While the rigatoni was not a classic all'Amatriciana, it was still very tasty. Finally the cheesecake was super, not too dense or rich, and the tomato caramel was a unique and delicious accompaniment Unfortunately, PICNIC PACK was a big letdown after the success of the previous night. The menu included a wedge salad, smoked pork with mustard, sauteed greens, and vinegar pasta salad, and chocolate pudding. The wedge salad was fine, but not something we savored like we did the previous night's panzanella. The smoked pork was very good and we loved the mustard that came with it but the sauteed greens were just very simple mustard greens any seasoning. Putting the mustard on it helped a lot. We did not like the vinegar pasta salad at all. It reminded me of the tubs of pasta salad I see at Safeway, and not in a good way. It wasn't bad if you like that kind of pasta salad but it wasn't our taste. The chocolate pudding was the best part of the evening and I can't say a critical word about that. I'm glad we tried Rose's At Home, but it will really have to take a mind blowing menu for us to order again.
  21. eatruneat
    We did the chef's choice takeout at Nina May a few weeks ago and we LOVED it. Everything survived the 20 minute walk home and another hour or so of sitting on the counter because we weren't hungry yet. When I got there, around 6:15pm on a Friday, the patio was pretty full and there were three other to-go orders getting taken out. Hope they continue the good things and can stick it out through these COVID times.
  22. eatruneat
    Mélange recently opened in the City Vista, taking over the spot left vacant when the excellent Ray's Hell Burger closed. We (and the neighborhood) have truly missed Ray's, but after an initial lunch on Friday, I think Mélange is a worthy replacement (though we will miss Ray's forever). @MichaelBDC ordered The Classic ($13). The description, burger with American cheese, iceberg lettuce tomato, pickled red onions, and brown butter aioli does not do the burger justice. In the words of @MichaelBDC "the chef makes one hell of a burger." I had one bite and agree it was truly delicious. An Eater article, notes that the burger is a Roseda Farm beef blend customized in collaboration with Harvey's butcher shop in Union Market. Things like this could be just hype, but in this case the burger lived up to it. I ordered The National ($13), a spicy doro wat style fried chicken, kebe aioli, turmeric slaw, and fried egg. This is a great chicken sandwich. Messy, but delicious. All the ingredients complement each other perfectly to create a perfect sandwich. A piece of chicken fell out and I had it without any of the sandwich accompaniments and it was very spice heavy, so the slaw, bun, and aioli are definitely needed to offset the spicing on the kitchen. We also split an order of fries, which are of the steak variety. The fries were a fine accompaniment but nothing to write home about. This is a great addition to the neighborhood and we look forward to visiting again soon. With Rasa having recently opened, we are glad that the K St. side of the City Center is filling back up. It only needs to find a replacement for the old Busboys and Poets space.
  23. eatruneat
    Rasa took over the empty space left behind by Taylor Gourmet in the City Vista. While we miss Taylor, Rasa is a welcome addition to the neighborhood. @MichaelBDC have picked up lunch here twice since it has opened and enjoyed our meals both times. The Home Cooking with turmeric ginger shrimp over rice noodles has been my favorite so far even though I was a little hesitant to order shrimp at a fast casual place. I also liked the Tikka Chance on Me although I found the chicken to be a little dry. Michael ordered the Open Sesame his first go round and loved the lamb meatballs although he commented that there was too much eggplant. More recently, he had the Eat Your Veggies which he loved. Bowls are in the $11-13 range but they are VERY filling. Looking forward to more lunch trips to Rasa as we work from home for the foreseeable future.
  24. eatruneat
    Had a terrific birthday meal here in early February. We were looking forward to going back and then the coronavirus hit and now it's gone. So bummed.
  25. eatruneat
    D.C. location has closed for good, along with Poca Madre. I was just on their website over the weekend and saw that the D.C. location was no longer listed. I was hoping there was an explanation other than this sad news. Taco Bamba may have its detractors, but we loved having a quality taco shop close by. I am really really bummed about this.
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