funkyfood
-
Posts
329 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
8
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Articles
Dining Guide
Everything posted by funkyfood
-
Finally got here Saturday for our anniversary. Got there at 4:45 before the 5 p.m. opening and was about 20th in line. At 4:55, the hostess asked if we wanted first seating or later, and I asked for third seating, around 7:30. Went home and changed, then came back when we got the text. We were seated at the bar, which is my favorite place to sit at these places. I had told the hostess it was our anniversary, so we were greeted by two delicious glasses of Champagne ($15--Don, apologies, but I don't remember which it was, only that I don't usually like Champagne and I loved this). We had had a late lunch at Shouk, so we ended up getting only smaller plates and none of the larger ones. We started off with three crudos, described below. We loved each of them, and the Kanpachi reminded us a lot of a very similar dish we'd had and enjoyed at Canosci. The tempura with the Kurodai was perfect. We then had the oyster kimchi, which was delicious kimchi with 4 fresh oysters at the bottom. These flavors worked absolutely perfectly, and we loved this so much we ordered it again. We were then brought a gratis order of the eggplant with yuzu-miso sauce. My girlfriend doesn't normally like eggplant, but we both raved at how tender and flavorful the spears were. I thought it would have worked even better with zucchini spears, but that was just a personal preference. It was very nice of the chef (who also served as our waiter at times) to give that to us. The charred carrots that came next may have been our favorite dish. These were some of the best carrots i'd ever had, with phenomenal garlic robiolina cheese. The chili-garlic, sweet carrots, and sweet/zesty cheese worked perfectly. The chef then gave us a free half order of the "gnocchi" made of rice cakes. While we really appreciated the free dish and the texture of the creative faux gnocchi was delightful, we found that this lacked the flavor of the other dishes. Finally we had the decadent uni toast, which is about as good as buttered brioche with a quail egg and unis sounds: outstanding. To drink, I had a fantastic "ambidextrous" which mimicked a drink I've been making at home often with rum, sweet vermouth and amaro--this was better though. My girlfriend had two of the my pal mezcals, which was deliciously smokey with a nice sweetness (I would have swapped the oloroso for a drier sherry, but that's just my aversion to even semisweet drinks). Overall, it was one of the best meals we've had in a while. Interestingly, there was no dessert/coffee menu that we were offered, but the sesame toffee brought with the check was a nice end to a lovely night.
-
Breaking from Tom Sietsema: Food flash: Massimo Fabbri, late of @RistoranteTOSCA, today purchased Thally and plans to turn the Shaw storefront into San Lorenzo by April. “We want people feel as if they’ve stepped into Tuscany,” says the chef. On the menu: rabbit, ribolita, steak Florentine.
- 13 replies
-
- 1
-
-
- Shaw
- Logan Circle
- (and 9 more)
-
"Glamorous Cocktail Bar Morris Is Ready To Shine" by Tierny Plumb on dc.eater.com I suspect this will quickly become one of the best bars in the city. btw this is Mt Vernon Triangle, not Penn Quarter
- 19 replies
-
- 1
-
-
- Mount Vernon Square
- Cocktail Lounge
- (and 3 more)
-
It is a bummer, but unfortunately not surprising.
-
Just got back from DC's first Wawa. At first blush, I was underwhelmed by what appeared to be a cleaner, brighter 7-11. But after drinking their $1 coffee and eating a freshly toasted turkey sub loaded with fresh veggies, I left impressed. The coffee isn't nearly specialty-shop quality, but it's much much much much better than its competitors (7-11, McDonald's, Dunkin, etc.) and the price is right.
-
Not to derail the thread, but I had a pretty underwhelming experience at Grace Street Coffee too.
-
Just stopped by to pick up some bread for a dinner tonight. They have a lot of really interesting stuff there that look delicious and unique. Their "full" loaves are the equivalent of two most places'. And their listed prices include tax. So, yes, this is expensive, fancy (some might say pretentious) bread, but I also think you can really tell they're doing things to separate themselves from your average run of the mill (no pun intended) bakery.
-
btw this bakery isn't really in Blagden Alley. It's next to it, but the entrance is on N Street proper.
-
I've never been to Fiola Mare, but was thinking of going there next weekend for our anniversary. Is it still great? Washingtonian suggests it slipped as attention is on Del Mar and Sfoglina
-
I went to this place last summer with a friend and was blown away by the food and drinks. It's like Espita but way better.
-
First of all, I disagree and think the name is a bit misleading. "Unconventional" could mean anything. If I told you to describe to me an "Unconventional Diner", would you describe this restaurant every time? I think an honest answer would be "no". Second of all, they may "deserve whatever they get" but that will be cold comfort to the restaurant's bottom line.
-
I don't know. Sorry.
-
My girlfriend, friend and I checked out Unconventional Diner last Friday. They plan on serving breakfast and lunch soon, but for now are just serving dinner. The space itself was modern looking and bright--not "cozy" but more "clean" and "trendy". At 6:30, the place was only half-full (more on that later), but it filled up by the time we left. We were seated near the semi-open kitchen. The cocktail menu was okay. Like a lot of places, it leans toward the sweeter side, which is not my favorite taste. I don't remember which drink I ended up ordering, but it was good and fairly priced. As for starters, we ordered the following: chicken pot pie poppers -- the kitchen seemed to be churning these out. Think rillettes, but with chicken pot pie ingredients. Fun presentation and tasty (though not incredible). everything lox -- this is basically a deconstructed everything bagel with cream cheese and lox, which is one of my favorite foods. Unsurprisingly, I liked this a lot. The lox was tasty and a good portion, and I enjoyed the bagel bites that it came with. Chef Deshaies, who was expediting not too far from us, noticed us looking around for a serving spoon after this was dropped at our table and had a waiter grab one for us, without us having to ask. Then, he noticed us still having a bit of trouble serving it, he grabbed us another spoon himself to make it easier for us. We were impressed by his ability to do so many things at once. wheat berry & butternut squash salad -- none of us cared much for this. its dressing was too close to mayo. For entrees, I ordered the crab linguini with squid ink pasta in and crab bisque. This was decadent, with a good portion of crab and well-cooked pasta. My friend ordered the steak and eggs, medium rare, with chimichurri and sunny side up eggs. This was beautifully presented on a large plate (picture from the restaurant's website below) and tasted as good as it looks. My girlfriend ordered the fried chicken, which was a half-bird that came with a biscuit, gravy, cole slaw and homemade hot sauce. Even though it was only a half-chicken, this was a TON of food because the breading makes it look bigger. We loved this as well. Our only complaint was that the food came out too fast. We had all our appetizers within 10 minutes of ordering, and our entrees not too long after that. Next time, i'll ask them to pace it better. The GM and chef came to our table to ask how everything was during our meal, which was nice. On another note, I worry about how this place will do long term. I think many people will go thinking it's diner food at diner prices, which it is definitely not. Those looking for higher-end food probably are not interested in elevated diner food. Those interested in diner food don't want to pay $25+ an entrée for it. I hope they find an audience, because the food is good and Chef Deshaies is clearly quite a talent.
- 28 replies
-
- 7
-
-
- Convention Center
- Modern American
- (and 3 more)
-
David Strauss is one of the best bartenders and nicest guys in the city. $12 per drinks for these drinks is way under market too. I'll be there all the time.
-
Based on these reviews, I've made a reservation for Valentine's Day!
-
Despite living a block and a half away for more than two years, my girlfriend and I had never been here until last weekend. It was a refreshing change of pace from the cramped, boisterous, self-conscious, small plate places to which we've grown accustomed. Nothing groundbreaking on the menu but we enjoyed what we had. The service was attentive without being overbearing. Not in a huge rush to go back but it's a great neighborhood option.
-
Still love this place. They've changed their mushroom supplier, and their mushroom pita is now an absolute deadringer for a cheesesteak--even if there's no cheese or meat involved. Umami off the charts.
- 81 replies
-
- 1
-
-
- Mount Vernon Square
- Convention Center
- (and 5 more)
-
Pretty excited to try this place. What's your favorite item on the menu?
-
I had the orca platter during happy hour this weekend. Pretty incredible deal still. $70 (half off from $140 regularly), plus tax and tip (so comes out to about $110) for the following: 1# lobster (two claws and a split tail), 6 Jonah crab claws, 6 clams, 24 oysters, 12 shrimp. Everything was fresh and delicious and the barstaff was friendly and accommodating. Washed down well with a well-poured Guinness.
-
I just walked by this place in times square, looking very much open
-
Hope someone here bought in 2015...
-
they have some fantastic mustard too
-
I like Potbelly too. Pro-tip: this time of year, they offer a deal where they give you a free sandwich coupon if you buy a $25 gift card. Given that I go there frequently, and that the gift cards don't expire, I usually buy $100 or $125 worth of gift cards, and get 4 or 5 free sandwiches from it.
