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dracisk

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  1. dracisk
    I had heard about this elsewhere, but I just clicked on the link in the original post, and the original blog post has now been replaced with: Hmm.
  2. dracisk
    Maybe, although the eggplant wasn't mashed. All I can remember at this point was the smoky flavor. And if you do get a reservation, don't count on the lamb (although, to be fair, I don't know if it was a totally freak thing that they ran out or if it happens regularly). ETA: They handed us a menu without the mesibah printed on it, so I'm guessing they run out of the lamb at least semi-regularly.
  3. dracisk
    I was just there on Saturday. It's only closed on Sundays. Not sure if this changed recently. Four of us split a roast pork and a cheese steak. I think we whiffed on our roast pork ordering because we didn't get the sharp provolone (we got regular provolone) or spinach. I thought the roast pork was OK, but I really enjoyed the cheese steak (American cheese and onions). I'm going to need a do over on that roast pork.
  4. dracisk
    I dined at Zahav for the first time Saturday night with three friends. We couldn't do the lamb tasting menu (mesibah) because they were out of the lamb. We were quite disappointed. Our waiter (whom I really liked -- competent, patient, and friendly -- I believe his name was Chris) was very sympathetic and explained that the lamb takes 3 days to prepare and they'd had a couple of large parties order it. Oh, well. I'm kind of surprised they'd run out of the lamb on a Saturday night, but obviously it can happen. The good news is that all of the non-lamb food we ate was delicious. We ended up getting the other tasting menu (tayim): salatim & hummus with laffa, two mezze, one al ha’esh, dessert. I loved all the salads (some more than others, but they were all good). I particularly remember a fennel salad that for me was marred by cilantro, but I think I would have liked it if not for the cilantro. I think my favorite salad was a beet salad -- nice and earthy and no goat cheese in sight. The hummus was as delicious as advertised. I think because they'd run out of the lamb they gave us a special hummus topped with a small mound of short rib (or maybe not since I now see the daily topping hummus on the menu -- not sure what usually comes with the tasting menu). Anyway, it was delicious. Among the four of us we ordered most of the mezze. The only one we skipped was the duck hearts. The menu currently online is slightly different than our menu since we didn't have grilled asparagus, and I can't remember what we had in its place. I wasn't particularly impressed with the fried cauliflower, which I understand is one of their more popular dishes. It was fine but just not that exciting. I took this opportunity to try kibbe naya for the first time. I found it to be quite salty (not sure if that's how it always is), but I'd definitely try it again. I enjoyed the interplay of the lamb and the bulgur. I love cheese, so the pastilla and haloumi were mezze highlights for me. I also really enjoyed the crispy grape leaves. I'd never had grapes leaves prepared that way before. The meats were probably the least exciting part of the meal for me (so sad we couldn't have the lamb!). We ordered two orders of the brisket kofte (my favorite by far) and one order each of the sirloin shishlik (fine and very steak-y but not that exciting) and the branzino (I'm not a huge fish fan; one of my friends wanted to order this). Also possibly because the lamb was sold out the waiter brought an extra dish of a delicious smoky eggplant during the meat course. I wish I could describe the eggplant better. It wasn't baba ganouj, but it tasted like the base of it. I'm not going to be able to do the desserts justice in terms of descriptions, but they were all delicious. One was a chocolate and coffee concoction (I think coffee custard covered in chocolate). This one didn't excite me too much since it seemed like something one could get anywhere. It was also too rich for me, especially after a big meal. One of the other desserts we tried was a lemon poppy seed (?) cake with a dollop of some kind of frozen labneh (I can't remember the flavor, but it wasn't plain), and the third dessert I think was phyllo dough wrapped around labneh with lots of delicious accompaniments. I particularly enjoyed the two non-chocolate desserts. Throughout most of our meal Michael Solomonov was in and out of the kitchen and chatting with tables (though not with us). Eric Ripert was also dining near our table with three other people, none of whom we recognized. We noted he was eating the lamb.
  5. dracisk
    Oh hell no.
  6. dracisk
    Sorry for the random aside in the kibbeh nayyeh thread, but I had to weigh in about Szechuan. I have no idea where that spelling came from, though I see it frequently. There's an official romanization system for Mandarin Chinese in mainland China called pinyin. The name of the province 四川, which means four rivers, would be written as "Sichuan" using pinyin. I'm guessing that someone somewhere along the line decided that this very exotic locale needed an exotic, complicated name, thus "Szechuan," but it doesn't need to be that complicated. And after reading this thread for the first time I'm intrigued to try kibbeh nayyeh!
  7. dracisk
    Please be good, please be good, please be good.
  8. dracisk
    I Googled this place because my family has been invited by some Pakistani friends to iftar here in a couple of weeks and found this recent glowing review from Tim Carman. Although I see others in this thread were more lukewarm about the place than Tim, I'm now more excited to make an evening trek from Silver Spring to Springfield. :-)
  9. dracisk
    When I went to Plume "The Nest" was occupied by a middle aged man and his much younger scantily clad female companion. My friends and I were quite amused.
  10. dracisk
    Before my 8:45pm reservation at Zahav on June 3 I'm planning to hit up Pizzeria Beddia (if they don't randomly close that day). We're planning to get in line around 4pm for their 5:30pm opening and 40 pizzas for the night. If anyone has been to Beddia and has any advice I'm all ears. (Just so no one thinks I'm too insane, I'll be with three other people, and we'll probably only sample the pizza and take a bunch home. And, yes, I'm planning to do the tasting menu at Zahav.) More appropriate to this thread, I enjoyed my one lunch at Amada, but it was many years ago.
  11. dracisk
    I'll be there June 3rd, so if you do end up going I'd be interested in a report. I have a reservation, so I'd mainly be interested in thoughts about food. Thanks!!
  12. dracisk
    +1 for The Narrows.
  13. dracisk
    Oh, shoot! I haven't watched the current season of "Better Call Saul" yet. I'm sorry to hear it may be going downhill. I've caught bits and pieces of "The Leftovers," and it seems WEIRD. Balki?? I know some people really like it, though.
  14. dracisk
    Once you're done with "Breaking Bad," which I agree is worth it, you can watch "Better Call Saul," which is spun off from "Breaking Bad" and also great!
  15. dracisk
    It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that "Mason Dixie" was a play on "Mason Dixon" and that the restaurant was not simply named after the line.
  16. dracisk
    Any updates on crowds? I'm thinking of trying again Friday morning.
  17. dracisk
    My husband threw me a 40th birthday party a few (!) Augusts ago at Zaytinya, and it was lots of fun and delicious. I don't remember a lot of details at this point, and it was a surprise, so I wasn't involved in planning, but I do remember various small plates (as one would expect) and also a larger portion of either goat or lamb, which was very good. They have a mostly private room overlooking the dining room beyond the host stand and bar (when you enter the restaurant, you're facing it, but it's up a flight of stairs at the far end of the room). We had between 15 and 20 people, and I believe the cost was around your price point -- maybe a little more. I think we had a cash bar. Our party was on a Sunday night -- not sure if Sunday is cheaper than Saturday.
  18. dracisk
    Totally agree. Ugh. I seem to remember some theories about Academy voters skewing old and "Crash" possibly resonating more with them than with a younger crowd.
  19. dracisk
    Silver Spring has Arepas Pues. I haven't been, but it gets mixed reviews here.
  20. dracisk
    After getting foiled at Mason Dixie Biscuit Company, I had biscuits on the brain and ended up at Bayou Bakery for the first time last Saturday. My husband and I had beignets and biscuit sandwiches (we were hungry). My 3-year-old also destroyed a biscuit (but refused to try a beignet -- her loss!!). I very much enjoyed my beignets, but I was underwhelmed with my biscuit sandwich. I did the create your own biscuit with turkey sausage (which I'm pretty sure the menu said was from Stachowski), egg, and cheddar. I was a bit turned off by the egg, which was square-shaped, but I see now on the menu that they say they scramble and bake to fit. Well, OK, but everything was lukewarm as if not microwaved long enough. I was expecting the eggs to be cooked to order at least. The sausage was delicious (nicely seasoned), and I enjoyed the biscuit itself, although it was a bit crumbly. They were quite busy, as I'm sure they always are on Saturday mornings, plus a lot of people seemed to be fueling up for the March for Science. My husband ordered for us at the counter and wasn't impressed with the service. He asked about juice options (for our toddler), and the counter attendant rattled off a bunch of soda options -- so not really paying attention? He also ordered drip coffee and was annoyed that he had to traverse the whole restaurant for cream and sugar. They gave him a token for a free refill on his $3 coffee, but they wanted a dollar to put the refill in a to go cup, plus he would have had to stand in line again to get the refill, so he passed. Given my love for both beignets and biscuits, this place had been on my mental to do list for awhile, but I don't see myself rushing back, especially since they're no longer open on the Hill. (I rarely find myself in Arlington.)
  21. dracisk
    Yes, I just checked and the directions are correct now. I should have thought to let them know about the issue!
  22. dracisk
    I tried to go Saturday morning and was foiled. We'd planned to go Friday morning, but that didn't work out. It was certainly busy, but it didn't look insanely crowded. The line was a few people out the door (not like the photo in the City Paper article). Maybe it was moving slowly. It was raining, we had a toddler with us, and we were en route to drop someone off at DCA, so we didn't stick around. We were disappointed that the drive through wasn't open. A side note: We found the restaurant on Google and plugged it into Google Maps to navigate us there. Google Maps took us to Union Market. I knew the address was Bladensburg Road, but I don't know that part of DC that well, so I assumed Google Maps took us to the right place. Then as we sat outside Union Market I had a vague recollection that they'd done a pop-up there, and I figured something about their Google listing must be out of date. Since we were short on time we tried calling the number in their Google listing, which appears to have been Ayeshah Abuelhiga's cell phone number. Not surprisingly, she didn't answer. (I think the phone was turned off.) Then we found another number, which I think was the phone number for the actual restaurant, and no one answered that, either. Eventually we put the Bladensburg Road address into Google Maps and we made it there ... at which point we pretty quickly left when we realized we weren't going to have enough time. I'm looking forward to trying the biscuits some day!!
  23. dracisk
    The Helmand is also not too far away (a 12- minute walk according to Google Maps). It's been many years since I ate there, but it's generally well regarded.
  24. dracisk
    Brewer's Art and Tapas Teatro are both close by. I've never been to Tapas Teatro, but I've heard vaguely good things. They're next to the Charles Theatre, so maybe they're used to people in a rush? Though they apparently don't take reservations, which may not be an issue on a Tuesday. I believe Brewer's Art takes reservations. It's been a few years since I was there, but I remember generally enjoying my last dinner.
  25. dracisk
    It's not great, but they have a Parking Secrets and Suggestions Page on their website: We were lucky enough to get street parking across from the restaurant when we went.
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