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MichaelBDC

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  1. @eatruneat and I were disappointed when we went by Baker's Daughter's Chinatown location last Monday only to discover that it was closed for some reason. We had just returned to the city and didn't have anything for breakfast. A Baked Joint bailed us out that day, but we had really been looking forward to trying the place out. Fortunately another opportunity presented itself when a client wanted a very early meeting later on in the week. I like to make breakfast for her each morning or at least have something she can heat up and the early morning client meeting threw a wrench in the works. So, after the meeting ended earlier than expected, I decided to stop by Baker's Daughter on my way home as it was several hours until lunch and we needed something to carry us over. I ordered the Chef's Breakfast Sandwich and am glad that I did. You can tell that everything from the cheese to the ham to the bread had been sourced with care. The bread was crunchy and just thick enough to support the gooey cheese, smokey bacon, ever so slightly salty ham and peppery arugula. Sure, it's pricetag of $13 is a little steep for a breakfast sandwich and will probably keep us from going back as often as we'd like, but you can tell where the money was spent. Had I not seen this sandwich come out of their almost non-existent kitchen with my own eyes I would never have believed it. Not sure what we'll try there next - the breakfast tacos are high on the list for sure - but if the same care goes into the next thing we order as it did with the sandwich we had it will for sure be a winner
  2. Also, on a happy note, you can now eat their delicious food while wearing shorts! The prohibition has been lifted!
  3. I felt like scoring a Detroit style pie from Della Barba, but @eatruneat wasn't so sure. I inquired with her as to what she wanted, but she was unsure. I suggested that we try Rumi's Kitchen as I read it was very good and it would give us just the short walk our dog needed. We looked over the menu and decided to go with the Shirazi Salad and Mirza Ghasemi to start and Duck Fesenjoon and Chinjeh Lubia Polo for our 'Feast'. We walked over and found the patio at socially distancing capacity despite the chilly weather outside with propane heating towers ablaze. I had to wait outside with the dog, so I wasn't able to see the dining room with its mannequin filled tables - see the Post's review for pictures. Once we got home, we unpacked everything and were a little confused by two boxes filled with an array of herbs, feta and radishes. @eatruneat and I looked at each other and were puzzled as what to do with the contents since there were no directions (I learned later after doing some reading that they are to adorn the taftoun that accompanies your meal). Speaking of the taftoun, it is amazing. Somewhere between naan and pita, it is soft with a little bit of crunch and the perfect accompaniment to our meal. Dipping in into the Mirza, which is a close second to my favorite thing of the night, was delicious. The shirazi salad was nice as well with a not-too-strong lemon vinaigrette and lots of different textures. While I enjoyed my Chinjeh very much - especially the green bean and tomato basmati rice - the Duck Fesenjoon won by a landslide. The drumstick and breast meat were juicy with a little tang and sweetness to them and paired very well with the saffron infused basmati rice. If you're a duck fan, definitely order this dish. Also, take advantage of all of the free things you can get with your 'feast' order. They offer a side of sliced tomatoes for free and decide to get them. It turned out to be a good amount of sliced grape tomatoes that we enjoyed snacking on. Next time around, we're going to get all of the free offerings because why not. Our only regret of the night aside from not getting all of the free offerings was that we wish we had more things to dip the copious amounts of the taftoun in. We will not make that mistake when we dine there again soon.
  4. I'm guessing Stellina Pizzeria. The crust in the top right of the pic looks like their crust and the dots on the paper under the crust looks like the dots in their logo.
  5. @eatruneat and I were feeling good, but in need of a snack after doing a wine tasting at A Litteri and scoring several bottles - seriously, if you like Italian wine, you need to check out A Litteri. They won an award as the best selection of Italian wine outside of Italy a few years ago. Anyway, we sat down at the bar and were warmly greeted by co-owner Antonio. I ordered a glass of wine and @eatruneat ordered the 'Stellina Sprotz'. After trying her drink I immediately regretted ordering wine. Made with DC distiller Don Ciccio & Figli's Amborsia liqueur and a few other ingredients, it was a light, slightly sour orange delight. I looked down the bar and realized that everyone else had one except me. We ordered the Cotto & Funghi pizza and were a little surprised when it came out uncut. Two seconds later a server dropped off pizza cutter, which didn't totally solve the issue. The tray the pizza is served on has a bit of a lip, which makes cutting the crust a challenge. Once cut though, the pie was delicious. The sauce tasted close to Marcella Hazan's tomato sauce with a hint of sweetness and velvety texture and the toppings tasted very authentic. Unfortunately we were time constrained and that was all we were able to try, but will be back to try more and this time I'll get myself a Stellina Sprotz.
  6. I don't know that I've ever seen Sietsema give a place three stars. Especially on a first review. Thankfully @eatruneat read something about the restaurant in Washingtonian prior to Sietsema's review coming out so we were able to get a reservation before the madness began. After meeting up with her at Franklin Hall - my god that place is big - and getting my ass handed to me at a few games of Simon while she cackled in delight, we walked around the corner to the subterranean entrance. We were greeted by the chef's wife and General Manager, Carey Tang and shown to our table. For the $65 per person pre-fixe menu you get to choose an item from each of the four sections, so we got to try two from each section. We started with the kanpachi and an order of carrots. The thinly sliced kanpachi with coconut and citrus was a great way to start off the meal. Subtle tartness from the citrus and sweetness from the coconut lends themselves well to the velvety texture of the fish. The carrots live up to the hype. They are cooked to the perfect softness and their barbecue flavor is spot on. The accompanying 'cornbread' ice cream is a good foil to the their spiciness but not great. While waiting for the next set of dishes we noticed that people were getting bread, so we inquired with our server. She was surprised that we had not received any and went to get us some. Make sure to speak with your server if the same thing happens to you. The reward is sweet, light and fluffy rolls that taste great and don't fill you up. Imagine a MUCH better King's Hawaiian role and that's what they are like. Next up we got the lobster etouffee and 'pot roast' I can't eat the former due to an allergy, but with the speed and thoroughness that @eatruneat polished it off, I'm guessing it's pretty good. I was able to eat the braised oxtail in the 'pot roast' and it took every fiber of my being to share a bite with @eatruneat. I devoured it along with the mashed potatoes and diced rutabaga it came with in about two minutes and was left wondering where I could get more. We got somewhat lucky with the next round when we were brought the NY strip steak instead of the quail. Not that the quail is bad. It's fantastic. But because they let us keep the steak and brought us the quail as well. Also, I say somewhat because the steak isn't anything great. Meat and potatoes people will love it, but it's not memorable. Lacking a sweet tooth, dessert was just dessert for me. I'll let @eatruneat comment on those. Rooster & Owl was one of the very few restaurants @eatruneat and I have gone to recently that we've really enjoyed. We can't wait to see what they do for spring.
  7. The Crispy Pommes Anna on the current menu is outstanding! I would go to the bar just to get that...assuming they serve it at the bar. Great for sharing if you're willing to after the first bite.
  8. @eatruneat and I decided last minute to go out for dinner and were hoping to try a new place that we could walk in to. We decided to see if we could get a table at Unconventional Diner thinking we could always go to the bar at Corduroy for their wonderful 3-for-$30 deal if the wait was too long. We walked in and were greeted by the nice hostess who informed us it would be about 20 minutes for a table and that we could wait at the bar. We headed over to the bar and after waiting on one of the bartenders to finish his pontification of the state of craft beer brewing in the US we were able to order glasses of wine from their nice selection. Not long after we received a text saying our table was ready, so we settled up at the bar and sat down at our table. Cocaine is a hell of a drug. After waiting what seemed like a long time our waiter appeared out of nowhere and dropped off the menus. He then dashed off to another table where he proceeded to talk their ears off and then scurried back to our table to see if we were ready to order. Barely having enough time to go over the menu we said we needed a few more minutes, which caused him to start rambling on about what things on the menu were his favorites and then disappeared again to another table. He reappeared at our table, wrote down our order at a feverish pace and bolted for the terminal to put in our order. Soon after we received the our order of shiitake spring rolls appeared along with the waiter and his inquiries of how the food was. Since we hadn't had a chance to sample anything I said 'great'. The waiter smiled and took off. The spring rolls actually were great and @eatruneat's favorite dish of the evening. Next came the iceberg salad which has a wonderfully savory bacon jam and the Everything Lox, my favorite, and a little reminiscent of getting bagels and lox in NYC. While waiting on the next I remarked to @eatruneat that the waiter seemed like his was bouncing between tables like a high velocity pinball considering he only had a booth, a four-top, and our two-top in his section. He appeared again, refilled our water and then took off to do the same for his other tables. After our three appetizers, we were pretty full, but ventured on as our next two items then arrived at the table: stir fried okra and broccolini and the meatloaf. The okra and broccolini were cooked well and had nice heat to them, but the sauce was overwhelming and the dish had way more rice than the description alludes to. The meatloaf had a sriracha glaze that could have used more sriracha. The morel gravy that was served with the mashed potatoes was great. We ended up packing most of this dish to go, but looking back, I'm unsure if it was worth the $25 price tag. The waiter then appeared out of nowhere again and asked if we were done. We said we were and he scrambled to get our check as fast as he could. I gave him my card and he darted for the terminal once more. Returning our check, he thanked us for dining with them and sped off to one of his other tables. In all, the food was good and the service was okay. Not our favorite place in the neighborhood, so we are unlikely to go back unless we can't get a seat elsewhere.
  9. I would also like to add that our server, whose name I believe is John and can be identified by his hibiscus adorned shirt - was a delight.
  10. Daylight Savings Time dinner was a brined and roasted pork tenderloin from Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home served with lemon oregano potatoes (a favorite of mine) and braised red cabbage (butter, chicken stock, red wine, and red wine vinegar). A great meal for daylight savings time as it was not a lot of work yet resulted in an amazing dinner.
  11. Maybe I just hadn't had proper dan dan noodles, but the ones from Panda Gourmet blew me away. Amazing! Glad @eatruneat made the suggestion
  12. So long, Table. @eatruneat and I had one our first and most memorable dates there. Thank you for the memory. I hope the staff all land on their feet.
  13. It truly was a great time with @eatruneat. @CanY and his staff are at the top of their game and there wasn't a moment that we wanted for anything. As always, the fish was fresh and amazing. Especially the amberjack. I would have eaten the entire fish if I had any room after the wonderful variety of sushi that came before and after it. I know there are other, more expensive sushi restaurants in town, but I can't imagine what they could possibly do better than the team at Sushi Ogawa. We'll be back soon
  14. I saw the tweet come across a few hours ago and it looks like they're almost full...if not completely full by now... Osteria Morini, D.C. @OsteriaMoriniDC 2h Thanks for spreading the word @Eater_DC ! We just opened the last 20 reservations! Hope to see you there! dc.eater.com/2016/12/7/1386…
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