dracisk

I went there in the summer of 2014 for my husband's birthday. I won't pretend to be a connoisseur of German food (and I have to admit at this point I don't even remember what I had -- maybe schnitzel?), but I enjoyed myself. The patio was a great place for a meal on a temperate summer night -- they had an oompah band.

I went to law school with Alan Yang's sister. She's been promoting this quite a bit on Facebook (appropriately). I enjoyed the Times article, which she posted yesterday. I'm looking forward to checking out the show!

Fascinating. Sounds like I'm falling right into their clutches. :-)

Thank you all for the helpful information! I was thinking to avoid Foti's on this trip since our toddler will be with us and her behavior in restaurants varies. :-) But everywhere else sounds like contenders. My husband especially likes donuts and barbecue (I like both, too), and I'm excited about the goats at Yoder's. :-) We may even try an early dinner at It's About Thyme. Thanks again!

I'll be spending November 13-15 at a cottage on a farm in Brightwood, VA, which is about 20 minutes southwest of Culpeper, with my (non-foodie) husband and toddler. I looked at the Virginia - Small Cities and Towns thread but am a bit overwhelmed because I'm not familiar with many of the small cities and towns and don't know how far they are from Brightwood. I started looking the cities and towns up in Google Maps but can't keep them all straight! I'm thinking it's unlikely I'll get my husband to drive more than 45 minutes or so to get anywhere -- maybe an hour. Does anyone know of anyplace tasty within about that length of drive from Culpeper (or 20 minutes southwest of Culpeper)? The only place I remember visiting in the area is Foti's many years ago, and as I recall that's probably a little too fancy for our purposes this time. Needless to say, with our toddler in tow, we're not looking for fine dining. Just some solid options for a couple of lunches and dinners would be great. Also, if anyone knows of any fun toddler-appropriate activities near Culpeper, I would appreciate knowing about those as well. We're planning to help feed the animals on the farm early Saturday morning, but I'm starting to feel like we'll have a long day ahead of us after that. :-) Thanks in advance!

Interesting -- thank you! I'll keep looking for the Kirkland detergent and some of my other favorite products that I hope they'll stock some day (Woolite for delicates, Deer Park sparkling water, etc.).

I'm a recent Costco devotee, having moved last year to within 2 miles of one (Wheaton) and become a member for the first time in my life. I have a general non-food question: On one of my first visits I bought Kirkland dishwasher detergent, which I thought was fine, and when I went to buy it again several weeks or possibly months later, I couldn't find it again. They only had Cascade. I don't remember the price of the Kirkland stuff, but I assume it was cheaper than Cascade. It's been several months now that I haven't been able to find the Kirkland stuff. Does this mean they stopped making it, or do they sometimes stop carrying something and bring it back (like Trader Joe's does, I think)? I haven't checked other stores, but I haven't been able to find the Kirkland stuff at my store.

I live a couple of miles from there, have never been, and would love to check it out, but I can't do the 22nd, and the rest of my November weekends are all pretty much full already. Nonetheless, thank you for organizing this!

Holy cow -- stuffing flavored chips?? Those look amazing. I love stuffing, even the crappy Stove Top kind.

Yes, that Jasper's was at the corner of Routes 3 and 450 in Crofton, a stone's throw from where my husband grew up. It's now Poncho n Pepe's, which is always mobbed. I only ate at Poncho n Pepe's once a few years ago -- all I remember is that they charged DC prices for glop. I believe they're owned by the same people who own The Big Fish Grille a little farther up Route 3. I never tried The Big Fish Grille when I lived in Crofton, but that was always mobbed, too. Anyway, I was sad that Jasper's closed before I started spending time in Crofton. I would have liked to have tried it for the nostalgia factor. (Although they apparently still have a location in Largo with "free, well-lit parking." They also have a "national and international expansion plan." (I assume this is the same Jasper's.))

I used to feel the same way for the 13 years I lived in Dupont Circle. In my neighborhood in Silver Spring near the Forest Glen metro we had a huge turnout for the Halloween parade, but at our house we've had maybe 10-15 visitors. A couple of groups were made up of five or so middle schoolers. So maybe 20-25 kids total? We don't live in the heart of the neighborhood -- I bet a lot of people just never make it to our street. Fine with me although we don't need all this leftover candy!! I can't imagine handing candy out to 200-300 kids!

Yes! One of my favorites!

I love that it takes place in Rhode Island, my native state. (MacFarlane went to RISD.) Also, it's hilarious.

I went once years ago, long before I was a DR member, maybe in October 2011. I really enjoyed myself. I don't remember many details, but I think I did the maximum number of courses with wine/spirits pairings. I remember being happily toasted when I left (and stuffed!). :-) I also remember that Chef Cooper came and spoke to my friend and I at our table, possibly multiple times over the course of the night -- we both thought that was really cool. I'd love to go back, but life is more complicated and expensive now with a non-foodie husband (the horror!), a baby and her daycare costs, etc. I could probably recruit my friend from my last visit to join me again, but I'm not sure when that will be.

I ate recently at Tiffin in Takoma Park. The food was tasty and the service was generally more than competent, but they were so amazingly nice to my toddler. When we fed her a pakora that we thought was a green bean and turned out to be a hot pepper (oops) they brought her a scoop of vanilla ice cream to cool off her mouth. After her shoe fell off during the meal two members of the wait staff came over separately and asked her in a really cute way whether she lost her shoe and if the shoe on the floor might be hers. We've never had anyone be less than pleasant to her in a restaurant, but they were so extra nice I had to give them a shout out.

I used to work with Victoria, the owner, at DHS (http://www.dhs.gov/). I haven't had a chance to try the ice cream yet, but I'm very happy for her success!

Aw, man, I used to work at Skyline. I'm so jealous. I miss all the "ethnic" eats that surrounded my office and now I never get out that way (although I may need to plan an excursion one of these days).

Yes, I realized long after I posted that I forgot to mention the Awe Shack! --- Old Stein Inn (caboosew)

Wow. I lived in China (Beijing and Nanjing) in 1993 and there were way, way more bikes than cars. How times have changed.

Thank you! I'm leaving on the 14th and would love to know if you acquire any additional information before then. Enjoy your trip!

I posted a plea for help in the San Juan thread and thought I'd try again here since I haven't had any responses and my trip is imminent: I just read through the thread and I wondered if anyone had any updates since most of the reviews are at least 2 years old. I'm going to be in San Juan for the first time in mid-October with a group of five other women (and, most importantly from the eating in restaurants perspective, without my toddler!). I'm not sure how much say I'll have over where we eat (I already know one meal is spoken for -- a birthday dinner at La Madre, which I don't see mentioned in the thread). I'm hoping we won't eat every meal all together and I'll be able to herd smaller groups in certain directions, but I'm not sure how this will play out and don't want to be a food dictator at every mealtime. I know one other person very well and the others only a little bit or not at all. I'm also hoping I may be able to have a meal or two on my own, but I don't want to be or seem anti-social. (The others aren't necessarily willing to go to great lengths for great food.) Anyway, we're staying in Isla Verde and won't have a car. We'll be there for four full days. I know about Jose Enrique and would like to try it even if I have to go solo, and I saw El Jibarito mentioned several times above (and recently). Does anyone have any recent insights? Thanks in advance!

I found a thread from 2008 in which someone said Mare e Monte closed 3-4 years before then, so it seems it's been a while. I'm very ashamed to say I've never had the crab-stuffed rockfish at Crisfield. I've never even been to Crisfield. I've been aware of it for awhile and knew it had been around forever, but I wasn't sure if it was still worth visiting until I started poking around here and saw that you recommended some dishes. It's now been on my to-do list for a couple of months, but I haven't made it there yet. Very sorry about your friend.

Looks like the sister restaurant to Pasta Plus, Mare e Monte, closed awhile ago. When I lived in Crofton (just over the Anne Arundel County line from Bowie) I used to go to TJ Elliott's, which is owned by the same people who own the original Ledo's in College Park (the Marcos family). They make pizza using the original Ledo's recipe. I don't think I ever had anything there other than pizza, but I used to enjoy it. The rest of the menu looked like standard Italian fare. I heard about a bakery in Bowie that was supposed to be excellent, The Cakery, but I never had an opportunity to try it. Other than those two places I can't think of anywhere else notable in Bowie. Elsewhere in PG County I used to go to the Italian Inn in Landover Hills (I'm not finding a good site to link to). Again, I mainly went for the pizza, also Ledo's-style, which I used to enjoy. Again, the rest of the menu looked like standard Italian fare. I'm from Rhode Island, and both TJ Elliott's and the Italian Inn reminded me of the mom and pop Italian joints that are legion there. ETA: I can't believe I never went to Jerry's during the 2 years I lived in Crofton! I live in Silver Spring now, so I can still go, but it used to be right down the street.

A little more backstory on this from a neighborhood listserv (I haven't independently verified): The previous owner sold it to the man who was actually making the ice cream all along and his niece is working in the store.

Having been born and raised in Rhode Island (and with my parents and the vast majority of my extended family born and raised there), I at least nominally root for all the New England/Boston teams. Having lived in DC or the DC area since 1998, I also root for the Washington teams, except that I waver about the Redskins due to Daniel Snyder, the name, and the fact that they're big rivals of the Giants, which is my father's NFL team (despite having been born and raised in New England, he started life as a Giants fan (the Patriots didn't come into existence until he was a teenager), and he HATES the Patriots). Probably of all the major sports I pay the most attention to and know the most about baseball, and of course I'm a Red Sox fan. Most of this comes from geography and family history, but the 1986 World Series (game six, Bill Buckner) also played a huge role. I was 13 and following every development of the season and the post-season. I was a paper girl, and every day as I delivered the paper I'd note the Red Sox "magic number" to clinch the pennant (I think that's what the magic number was?) as the regular season wound down -- this was on the front page of the Evening Edition (long since obsolete) of the Providence Journal. Then I kept tallies of the playoff series on the front of one of my school notebooks. I distinctly remember that game six and the ball dribbling through Buckner's legs and how heartbreaking it all was. From 1986 until 2004 I was a rabid fan and watched as many games as I could, even when I moved away from New England. Those playoff series against the Yankees in 2003 and 2004 were AMAZING (in 2003 in a terrible way and in 2004 in a wonderful way). Oddly enough, once the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004 for the first time since 1918 my rabid fandom waned. I'm still certainly a fan, but I don't follow them like I used to, despite being married to a quite dedicated Red Sox fan. One of my friends described me as a foul weather fan. :-) In 2013 I got married in Vegas, and my husband and I watched playoff and World Series games in Vegas and all up the Califormia coast from LA to SF as we drove the Pacific Coast Highway for our honeymoon. We considered the World Series Championship that year to be the Red Sox's wedding gift to us. Funnily enough about the Orioles, they used to be a non-entity to me, despite them being the Red Sox's AL East rivals. But then I think partially because the Nats came on the scene (I consider them my NL team and am glad there's not much conflict between rooting for them and rooting for the Red Sox) and partially because the Orioles celebrated like they won the World Series when they eliminated the Red Sox from the postseason in either 2011 or 2012 (even though the Orioles didn't make the postseason that year either) I can't stand the Orioles. Makes for some fun trash talking with some of my fellow Marylanders.