zgast

12 hours ago, DonRocks said:

Does anyone know if having a Chase Sapphire Reserve can alleviate this situation, and how?

I have a ridiculous amount of points on my card, but does that even matter?

Agree that this doesn't really matter.  You can use the points for stuff, but they don't have any value to Hilton or Marriott or whomever until you transfer the points to their particular program.  Even then, they care about your status (which transfers don't help with) as that indicates ongoing spend with them.

Do ask about a day room rate though.

On 7/7/2017 at 11:50 PM, arleneivana said:

At the risk of sounding overly fawning I just have to rave about our tour guide last week. We just returned from a trip to Italy, the highlights being our five days in the Emilia-Romagna region. For 3 days of that period we enlisted the services of Helena of Yummy Italy http://www.yummy-italy.com/ to take us on tours of producers, lunches, and a walking tour of Bologna. Helena prefers to have a conversation with her about what you're interested in and she makes a suggested itinerary based on your interests plus logistical matters (what's open, etc.). Tours are just with Helena and it's such a wonderful, intimate experience compared to larger tour groups we've done in the past. We had two wonderful sessions on the local wine, first learning about lambrusco, a style I vastly underappreciated until now, and another where she introduced us to pignoletto, our new favorite grape. 

I lived in Bologna and had never tried Pignoletto. I’m here now and did a vineyard tour at a local producer called Manaresi - I’m a convert. The price to value on this thing is a fraction of the industrial production Prosecco we can get in the states (clearly I’m most partial to the Frizzante). 

15 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

And the other one is "Brown-Eyed Girl" (which I have no idea why is on the list).

Africa, actually.  But the cover.

Tom Sietsema didn't seem to be a big fan.

On 8/6/2019 at 6:47 PM, DonRocks said:

I don't agree with all of these, but at least it's topical (and mostly correct):

"All Songs Rewind: The Worst Songs of All-Time" on npr.org

And it hints at something people don't like to admit: The Beatles were largely fine and all, but Paul McCartney on his own was often horrific, even by the relaxed standards of popular music (and they don't even mention the cringe-worthy "Coming Up").

I have at least two of those songs downloaded to my phone.  In my defense, I use one (I'm Blue) to annoy my family.  Totally works.

On 8/6/2019 at 5:09 PM, mongo jones said:

this is definitely not the right place for this question but any advice on subway passes would be welcomed. family of four (kids 10, 8), arriving monday night, leaving friday afternoon. does it make more sense to purchase tickets as we go or to get some kind of pass?

and best way to get from dulles to convention center: cab of some species or public transit?

Uber or Lyft.  Washington Flyer is the only cab company at Dulles and they run about 50% more than Uber whenever I fly into Dulles, which is 1-2x per month.

7 hours ago, DaveO said:

On the other side of the coin......

Possibly the GREATEST SONG EVER   (if you were a budding young skinny sex starved shy boy, at the Jersey Shore, in the early 1960's.......

Can't relate - never been skinny.

24 minutes ago, Keithstg said:

Oh my God - 30 separate checks and notoriously cheap coworkers!?!?!? Best of luck.

No - but seriously - please take one check and split it yourselves.  At a low price point, 30 separate checks are going to take this from low-margin to near money losing for a restaurant given the private room.  Credit cards charge a flat fee plus a percentage. 

If you're still looking for a last place, I'd put Zaytinya up there.  Huge variety of food and a great atmosphere for adults and kids.  Respectfully disagree with Eric on the food - it's not Michelin caliber but always a very good meal.  It's where all our out of town guests ask to go back to.

1 hour ago, DonRocks said:

Did she not get to anything out there today?  It's like the Energizer Bunny developed a wicked backhand all of a sudden.

5 hours ago, DonRocks said:

Have you heard her speak? This young lady has a very mature, seemingly well-grounded head on her shoulders - very impressive.

Nope - unfortunately my too short workout needed to end - work beckoned.

On 7/1/2019 at 4:35 PM, DonRocks said:

"Cori Gauff, 15, Stuns Venus Williams with Commanding Performance at Wimbledon" by Ben Coles on telegraph.co.uk

I got to watch the second set at the gym in my office and Cori Gauff was amazing.  Still young - you never know - but can't wait to see what else she can do.

18 hours ago, Ericandblueboy said:

I wanted to order the ax-handle rib eye but the smallest came at 48 oz (with 12 oz of bone & other nonedibles).  At $3 per oz., it's a $150 steak and I didn't want to spend that kind of dough and not be able to finish it all.  So we went with the prime ribeye.  Chef Majorie was there (on a Saturday morning) and the steak came out perfectly - great sear, nicely seasoned, and cooked medium rare as requested.  The sides were grilled broccoli and hash browns (I told our server they were super salty and were thus taken off the bill).  I think the only reason this place isn't packed all the time is that it's listed as located in Mt. Vernon, VA on Open Table.  

That and Union Market is a PITA for MoCo residents to get too.

7 hours ago, DonRocks said:

This isn't related to the Ogawa situation, but it's interesting that this hit my inbox at 2:34 this afternoon:

Don, Did you know that when a customer pays the tip with a credit card, the money doesn’t always go to the server? We're collecting stories and data about tip theft and where it happens — you can help by filling in this quick survey. Many restaurants allow customers to pay the bill and the tip with their credit card instead of cash. Credit card companies charge separate fees to process both of these transactions. Because the tip has to be processed through the restaurant, the restaurant can legally take a percentage of each tip to pay the transaction fee. In short, restaurants are taking the tip you gave to the employee to pay a business expense. To help us better understand tip theft, tell us your story. In Solidarity, ROC United

Is this theft??  If I pay $10.00 but the restaurant receives $9.00 and gives the server the $9.00, what are they stealing?  They're not paying the processing fee out of their own pocket to make the server whole.  I just really struggle to see that as theft - it's magical thinking to say that no one should bear the price for payment convenience.

On 6/8/2019 at 2:31 PM, DanielK said:

FYI - click through from the Eater story to the AP wire story - the damning details are there.

The link just goes back to this page.

19 hours ago, Tweaked said:

Vace!

Even though I haven't tried them yet, I'd have to say Wiseguy Pizza would need consideration.

The soon to be open Tino's Pizza is Cleveland Park look like they are aiming for big things, they recently installed a Marra Forni pizza oven.

@DonRocks - Have you still not tried Vace?  It's our go-to since we live a few blocks away and it's really cheap relative to the alternatives.

I'll avoid commenting on other favorites since they're all in MD rather than DC.

28 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

This just popped into my head; I'm not sure why.

"OPS" (On-Base Percentage plus Slugging Percentage) is often thought of as "the ultimate offensive statistic," and if you look at the career OPS leaders, you can see why, but I think this statistic is terribly flawed.

* It assumes (via its simple addition) that On-Base Percentage is essentially equal in value to Slugging Percentage.

* It accounts for "Batting Average" twice in the same statistic (Batting Average is included as a component in both figures).

It seems to me that "the ultimate offensive statistic" should consider Batting Average + Walks + Extra Base Hits (with a multiplier for doubles, triples, and home runs) + Other ("Other" being sacrifice bunts, sacrifice flies, bases reached on error, etc.), with each of these weighted accordingly.

This way, each individual statistic is only accounted for once. As to how each of these components should be weighted, I don't know. 

There are other factors that would need to be considered - for example, if a speedster changes the way a play transpires, that needs to be considered somehow.

Also, defense is just as important as offense. It just is. Maybe more so.

It accounts for singles twice.  Perhaps adding walks to the numerator and denominator would do the same thing (but I think they actually value the dispersion that results from the current method).  As for the 'Other', I think these have fallen out of favor not because they're not valuable but because they rely as much on someone else's work (getting on base ahead of you) as your own.  That external effort is not available equally across the batting order and would influence the stats.

And I'll be sure to tell every kid that gets put in right field that defense is just as important as batting.😉

That being said, I'm sure that none of this is what they're actually measuring players on today, rather I'm guessing there are machine-learning algorithms that are directly interpreting video footage of the hits somehow.  Maybe I'm wrong, though.

12 minutes ago, ktmoomau said:

  BUT the party was pretty carb/cheese heavy and there was little dessert.  So I think next time baked good that is sweet, or something vegetable focused.  

Is it wrong that this makes me think that the next party is guaranteed to be dessert heavy with few carbs and cheese?

They all ended up going in here.  For casual seafood (maybe semi-casual), try Awful Arthur's.  I can also second the Ava's recommendation.

---

Awful Arthur's (yeah)

5 hours ago, dracisk said:

Indeed. And a lovely patio. I don't know why I didn't spend more time there as a cash-strapped student.

Didn't they used to serve their gin and tonics (for example) as a glass of gin with a small bottle of tonic on the side?

My hazy recollection is that yes - this is how they served me too much. It was their fault, really. 

I’ve enjoyed the first few. Tried showing Singapore to someone and had to switch after five minutes. It started dreadfully slow. 

18 minutes ago, DanielK said:

Query Mill Farm CSA, in Montgomery County, has a few openings for the season. Inquire at querymillfarm@hotmail.com.

They do require pay upfront for the season (30 weeks x $20/week, plus a small delivery fee if you choose delivery rather than pickup), checks preferred (no plastic).

They produce a newsletter every week detailing what is coming the following week, and you have (some) ability to substitute if there's an item you don't want. I am not connected with the farm, other than having been a CSA subscriber for almost a decade. I get a grocery cloth bag full of produce every week, way more produce than my $20 would get at a farmers market or grocery store. And it's turned me on to some greens that I never would have bought on my own.

The season runs from May-November (they just started this week).

Query Mill Farm has been in operation in Montgomery County for nearly 40 years. They grow organically on 1 1/2 acres, but are not certified. They emphasize American heirlooms and special European and Asian varieties. They feature heirloom tomatoes, season-long lettuce, and multitude of greens. No tree fruits. While they used to sell at local farmers markets, they have recently switched to CSA-only.

Is pickup only on the farm?

On 4/17/2019 at 8:50 AM, cheezepowder said:

Downtown DC location is closing on May 14 (Washingtonian).

Worth reading for the backstory on Larry La.  My relatives are huge fans of Meiwah and Larry's from the City Lights/Dupont days and I've eaten there (mostly the Chevy Chase branch) a lot as a result.  My take would be that it serves the market that wants what it serves - and that place is never empty or even half full.  It's packe - and the delivery/takeout area is constantly humming as well. 

About a year ago, I sat next to Larry at a Peter Chang/ChiKo Chinese New Years dinner and heard his backstory for the first time.  Pretty amazing.  What was even more interesting was the conversations between Peter Chang and Larry, who seemed to really respect each other despite the very real contrast between their restaurants.

4 minutes ago, MarkS said:

St Michaels is always good, Cracked Claw for Crabs and I know there is a good pizza place on the main street.

Ava's is the pizza place.  I'm a fan.  Also really like Awful Arthur's for seafood in St. Michaels.