zgast

13 hours ago, DonRocks said:

Has anyone gotten software errors with Pokégyms in the past few days?

I've just been guillotined by one!

They're rebuilding the gyms with a new feature.  Scuttlebutt is that the next biweekly update will include the feature and restore the gyms.

Ah - the benefits of having an eight year old boy.

1 hour ago, mr food said:

In London this week-staying in Kensington. Any recs appreciated!

Kensington Wine Room (just off Notting Hill tube stop) is good and just up the street.

Churchill Arms is a traditional pub with Thai food in the back room restaurant - it's a few doors down from Kensington Wine Room.  Was one of the first gastro-pubs years ago.  Spicy means spicy here though.

Mazi is Greek in the Notting Hill neighborhood.  Mezze portions for most items.

Hansom Cab is a good upscale pub just down Earls Court Rd from Kensington High Street.

Dragon Palace in Earls Court has some very good Chinese food.  The Mapo tofu is the best I've ever had.  

The other item that I'd throw into the mix is that wine prices are a decent barometer of what's going to do well there.  Ripple's wine list had a few reasonably priced wines, but by and large it skewed quite expensive.  You're just not going to get late 20-early 30s charging that kind of freight except for special occasions.  And I say that as a big fan of the restaurant.  Really sorry to see Ripple go, but it was firmly in the 1-2X a year category, partly because of the wine.

The shifting neighborhood demographics are undeniably an issue as well, but Ripple is a block from the red line.  With good food (that box was checked based on my meals there) and a more modestly priced wine list, I do think they could have done better.  

1 hour ago, DonRocks said:

Lipton?

What about McCormick?!

Ramen, my eye. This is *America's* ramen. Just add ... I don't know ... everything of nutritional value, I guess.

Hell, just add it to the ramen.

(Complete with government-subsidized *corn* gluten!)

And now we know why we have corn fields growing on the slopes of the Appalachian Mountains.

Like I said, Midwest staple.  In Lipton's defense, there's not hydrolyzed corn gluten. They've replaced it with salt!

31 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

zgast, I read this comment as a compliment - am I reading it correctly?

Yes - it was intended as a compliment.  Count me as having a sore spot for Midwestern French Onion Dip (hello, Lipton!), but this was quite good.  it's under bar food and I have to say I'd order it again in a heartbeat.

One more meal review to add. Ate at the Riggsby for Saturday dinner with a few friends.  Started with drinks, which were tasty.  The bartender was clearly trying to keep pace though, because it looked like a decent amount of good stuff ended up on the bar as she tried to work quickly.  Moved onto dinner.  Appetizers were the homemade chips (American) with green onions, goat cheese fritters, and deviled eggs.  All were good, but the first was actually the big surprise.  The comment at the table was, "So this is what happens when a chef makes French Onion Dip."

Dinner was Seared Tuna, Roasted Rack of Lamb, Lobster Fra Diavolo, and the special of Monkfish wrapped in prosciutto.  The seared tuna was probably the best of the lot (I'm told), while the Rack of Lamb and Fra Diavolo were also good.  The special was just not good - prosciutto was overcooked and the whole thing had enough grit that you wondered if this is where they put the soaking liquid for their clams and mussels.  Overall a good experience with just one big whiff.  Portion sizes were good - I'm guessing they corrected this after earlier complaints seen above.

12 hours ago, DonRocks said:

I have a friend temporarily moving to the area this summer, and will need to rent a house for a year - are there any Northern Virginia realtors out there who work the rental market? 

This renter is way overqualified to rent a house in this price range, so the realtor will have the ultimate tenant.

Executive Housing specializes in rentals - typically houses in MD, but looks like they predominately have apartments in VA. They might be worth a call.   

Executivehousing.com

Houses tended to be higher end - think $4,000-$12,000 per month.

On 1/10/2014 at 9:40 AM, hmmboy said:

Inspired by Tom Sietsema's rave about the gabure soup in Wednesday's chat, my wife, brother and I stopped by last night for dinner. I was impressed. The 3 starters - the gabure, salmon tartare and a particularly luscious cauliflower soup - were all strong. Similarly, the main courses - a well seasoned, simple, moist, grilled half chicken, a melt in your mouth steak frites, and my delicious, homey, wintery beef daube - all really hit the mark. Similarly, the apple tart and homemade vanilla ice cream were excellent. We also shared a perfectly fine, though uninspired, Ceasar salad and chocolate fondant. When We are eating close to home we go to Palena, 2 Amys or Et Voila 90+% of the time, but last night's meal will definitely warrant further exploration of La Piquette - a very welcome neighborhood addition.

Ate at La Piquette for the first time last night.  Wasn't too busy and got to try:

Salmon Tartare: good, with a faint spicy kick at the end.  Fairly chunky avocado.

Foie Gras: This was paired with roasted apples. The liver was a touch overcooked and I didn't think the apple paired very well.

Veal T-bone: Well cooked piece of meat with a good sauce.  Asked for spinach in lieu of kate.  The spinach was sauteed lightly in garlic.  Paired with Pommes Anna.  Good entree, but a bit on the small side.

Black Sea Bass: Again, well cooked piece of fish with a good sauce, but the fish was about a 4 oz portion. Quite small given the $30 price tag.

Chocolate Mousse & Creme Brulee: Ordinarily don't order desert, but were still hungry at the end of the meal.  Both were good.

Probably won't break into the heavy rotation - Et Voila and Les Vieux Logis both seem to do French/Belgian a bit better at the same price point.

Had my evening at Mirabelle last week.  In summary, it was a wonderful evening with great service and truly delicious food.  My only complaint is that without hailing the bread plate a couple extra times, my and my dining companion would have left hungry - after eating our way through the tasting menu.  I totally get the quality over quantity concept, but this was a tad too far.  Just a couple extra bites in the early dishes and I wouldn't have raised it at all.  Still, I left very happy with the meal, but offer this only as a caveat to those thinking they need to skip lunch before the tasting menu.

Here were the dishes (no photos, sorry):

Tasmanian Sea Trout - You're hearing about this dish a lot because it's really great.  A slice of the trout was wrapped around greens and creme fraiche with a fried dauphine potato side topped with more of the creme fraiche.  Both were excellent bites.  The latter made me want to order the fried goodness from Palena Cafe just one more time.

Tart w/ White Asparagus - This was a bit of a deconstructed dish as the asparagus was separate and between layers of the separately baked tart. I'm not a huge fan of white asparagus, but really liked the dish.  What made it standout was the green almond oil on the bottom. Bottle that stuff - I'm a buyer.

Turbot - This was presented with two fried mussels, Sauce Americaine, mushrooms and a sauce/custard in an egg.  To be honest, I started the dish was just ok until I figured out that one needs to use the contents of the egg with the rest of the dish, which raised it to a whole different level.  What was it? Who knows - it was green and delectable.  Also to note - the Burgundy that was paired with this course was really wonderful. If there was one wine to go back to, I would choose this one.  Saint-Aubin 1er cru, 2011 for reference.

Duck Breast - Was served with a nettle and mint emulsion, pickled green strawberries, and glazed vegetables.  The most substantial plate of the evening and another winning dish. 

Willoughby Cheese Course - Twas cheese, gooey, stinky cheese.  Heaven.

Snickeresque Souffle - A semifreddo roll accompanying a dark chocolate souffle onto which a peanut butter caramel sauce was poured.  You're not going for subtle with Snickers as your model, but this dish was really great, in my view.  Really enjoyed the desert fortified wine they poured with this one as well - was a Grenache from the southwest of France that drank like a port (which they were shooting for, but will only feature wines with French grapes). This course also featured what made the service so wonderful throughout our dinner.  We lingered a bit too long on the cheese course and noticed two waiters walking past our table carrying deserts - an odd fact since based on our placement they really only could have been coming to our table.  The lead waiter had noticed that a few dishes hadn't been cleared, silently led her partner past our table, informed the hostess who sent over runners to the table to clear, then continued their loop back to the table as soon as it was clear.  Probably a mistake on their end to have come out before the table was clear, but the level of training implicit in the way they handled it was impressive.  At almost any other table in the restaurant I'm certain it would have gone entirely unnoticed.

We finished with some of the usual candies - all enjoyed at our table.

A great meal for us.  Would definitely go back, although I might opt for an appetizer and entree rather than the tasting menu next time.  The foie gras in consomme, in particular, is calling out to me to try.

2 hours ago, Pool Boy said:

Any local hot dog joints that can approach what Hot Doug's in Chicago used to be? I know about Bold Bite in Bethesda but I feel they have scaled back their hot dog specials and sausage specials to make way for other menu items. Anyway, TIA.

Try Great American Hot Dog in Gaithersburg if you're ever nearby.  Tons of varieties and their basic hot dog is the same type used at the Gray's Papaya joints.  The number of combinations is actually over the top.

29 minutes ago, Kev29 said:

I think they do a pretty decent carry out business. If I was running the place I'd replace the aluminum stools and make the bar a more inviting place. Though there's suddenly a lot of competition for places on the stuffier side of Bethesda to post up for a good beer -- with World of Beer off to a popular start down the street. 

I'd settle for a decent glass of wine - Persimmon is the only place that carries non 'stock' wines now - and their bar is completely packed during most Happy Hours.  Haven't been to World of Beer yet - perhaps they can begin the migration eastward of people actually going out and being social.

26 minutes ago, Tweaked said:

District of Pi sucks*.  99.9% positive posts.

*Actually the couple times I've been to the F street location I've liked their deep dish style pizza. Plus they have vegan cheese, so the vegan Sister-in-law can eat there too.

I like the place - so now we're at 99.91%.  Worried the Bethesda location won't make it, though.  That place is never very full.

11 minutes ago, Pool Boy said:

I know you cannot beg, grovel, or bribe your way to a la carte any of the items on tha proposed meal menu (yet).

Here's what was on the list when we went a few weeks ago - 
 

1. House Smoked Tasmanian Sea Trout with Dauphine potato, lemon creme fraiche, and smoked trout roe
2. tart of warm white asparagus with ora king salmon, toasted seeds and green almond oil
3. Wild caught john dory 'Dieppoise'with bouchot mussel royale, sauce Americainem and Kennet Square Mushrooms
4. Stuffed breast and confit shoulder of Shenandoah Spring Lamb with spring nettle and mint emulsion, baby leeks and carrots
5. cheese from the cart
6. snickeresque souffle with dark milk chocolate souffle, peanut butter caramel sauce, candied peanuts and vanilla nougat glace.

I cannot speak for any of them as we ordered off of the regular menu. And, as you  probably know, what's on the menu will likely change with great frequency.

Thanks!  Sounds so tempting.  Hoping the white asparagus shuffles off the menu.  As cool as it may be to grow asparagus in the dark, I've just never warmed to the stuff.

I have a reservation for tomorrow night (made before the WaPo piece came out, thankfully).  I couldn't find anything on the menu about the 'proposed menu'.  Anyone have additional details?

Bethesda Beat now indicates July. Special preview of the menu tomorrow night at Blacksalt.  More information at Bethesda Beat.

On 10/9/2014 at 11:31 PM, DonRocks said:

Yeah, *you* try and watch the ending without tearing up.

A friend asked me what one word would I use to describe what this movie was about - I didn't have an answer. We watched it together, and she correctly replied, "friendship." Yes, perfect.

Friendship - beautiful, untainted, pure friendship.

I'm pretty sure that I've only seen two of Tornatore's films in my life: "Cinema Paradiso," (his second) and "Everybody's Fine,"  (his third) - both fantastic pictures (the latter starring the misty-eyed Marcello Mastroianni).

I'm not going to summarize the plot because I think the whole concept of that (in this day and age) is silly; suffice it to say, it's just a great movie that merits all accolades heaped onto it.

"Cinema Paradiso" is a movie I love, and a movie that will bring tears to your eyes unless you have no heart. It's beautifully realized, directed, filmed, and acted, and I recommend it highly to those of you who wish to watch an intelligent film that will have you choking up at the end.

How beautiful can a movie be? Well, it can be - if it's extremely well-done - *this* beautiful. Please do yourselves a favor and watch it. I believe you'll thank me, and I relish your upcoming comments about this film.

It's just ... beautiful. I recently saw it for the second time, and I would love to see it again for a third.

Beautiful.

Totally agree with all this - I can't even watch the opening credits without tearing up (think it's that the scoring is the same as the end) after watching the movie several times.

Actually, the passengers may not have been required to deplane - the legal standard for getting kicked off is different once a passenger has been boarded.

Referencing the true experts here.

7 hours ago, Pool Boy said:

Thanks for the tips! When is Addie's 'returning soon'?

This summer according to Washingtonian. The Black restaurants website has a page up for it already. Will be in Park Potomac. 

Addie's had a great oyster po boy - and since it's returning soon I thought it worth a mention. 

On 4/3/2017 at 9:13 AM, Pool Boy said:

Went here tonight after catching a screening of Tampopo at the AFI.

Dumplings were decent with the Year of the Ox being the best out of the bunch with Year of the Rabbit acting as runner up of the 4 total they have on offer.

The baos were all superior to the dumplings. I'd say my favorites were the Ni Hao Bao and Thou Shalt Not Bao edging the others (they were out of the mango salsa for the Luau bao, which we ordered anyway and was still good,but I think the mango would have been a nice touch to that).

The Crouching Tiger Hidden Noodle soup was pretty disappointing. The size was huge, which was fine, because we were sharing. The vegetables were pretty good in it, but they clearly need to train the staff on how to properly wash the vegetables as there was grit both in some of the vegetables as well as at the bottom of the bowl. The pork and bamboo shoots were tasty but not evident in sufficient quantities. The broth was OK, but missing flavor and in desperate need of doctoring with soy sauce and even a little sriracha. But the noodles were quite disappointing. Clumped together, no body or structure whatsoever they were completely falling apart in the broth.

If I come back, it'll be for the baos mainly, and some of the dumplings. Focus on those and you'll be fine IMHO.

Thanks for this. They were just added to uber eats, but since the better items wouldn't travel well, I now know to skip this one for delivery. 

I've never done butternut squash noodles, but I've generally found that more robust sauces do better.  I'll saute zucchini ribbons (made with a mandoline at home) and then make a carbonara sauce or spicy arrabiatta sauce.  Store-bought (or tomato sauces in general) can get watered down as the noodles release some liquid - a problem you wouldn't have with regular pasta.  For the Carbonara, I use pasteurized yolks (4), grated parmesan and crumbled bacon - season with pepper at the table.  

Got to enjoy Bindaas for the second night of my birthday week extravaganza.  Have to say that overall, I was very favorably impressed.  Very good food, service, and really liked the feel of the place.  Was a group dinner, so got to try bites of a lot of different dishes:

Avocado Golgappa - I was definitely a fan here.  Creamy avocado in a crispy shell with chutney.  Not sure what's not to like here.  It's not elegant, but I'm not expecting that with a street food theme.

Bhel Puri - One of my favorite dishes of the night.  We ordered more and I could have gone back to the kitchen again.  To the point where we were all transcribing recipes from the Indian guy at our table.

Crab Idiyappam - Enjoyed this dish, but I have to say it's dense.  Was the one thing on the table that didn't go back completely devoured.

Cauliflower Pakora - Really good pakora.

Pao Bhaji - Another one of the favorite dishes of the night.  Just a phenomenal veggie stew.  I'd probably eat far more veggies if they tasted like this.  I'm also guessing that they wouldn't be so healthy.

Pork/Chicken/Lamb rolls - Yes, we had them all.  Don't judge.  Favorites were the pork and chicken.  

I believe there were also deserts, but I think I had hit my limit at that point and bowed out.

It's been awhile, but I finally made it to Le Diplomate Thursday evening.  Started birthday week (we string a few in a row in our house) a weekend early with Komi and Bindaas (thoughts to come), so thought Le Diplomate might be a good closing event.  Overall, the place didn't disappoint.  Reminded me of Artisinal (pre-going down the toilet) in terms of volume and atmosphere.  What I found most impressive was that Le Diplomate was able to produce the quality it did when the place was jam-packed at 9 pm with people still waiting in line.

Started the meal with the fois gras parfait.  A very good call, if I do say so.  Came with brioche (we asked for more) and was shared between two of us.  It's hard to go wrong with fois gras, but this was really quite right.

Entrees were the trout almandine and the Bouef Bourgignon.  The former was probably the better of the two dishes.  Just classic trout and green beans, but the sauce just took it to another level.  Very good bistro fare.  The Bouef was good as well.  Could have used quite a bit more sauce, but the whipped potatoes made up for any shortcomings.  Skipped desert as it was the end of a very long week of eating and drinking too much.

Speaking of which, we had the La Moussière rose Sancerre.  Trying to find something that worked across those three dishes challenged my limited Old World knowledge.  This one worked, though, so was relatively happy with the choice.

11 hours ago, Ericandblueboy said:

I think Obamacare was based on sound economic principals.  If insurance has to be provided to everyone, then it makes sense that everyone must buy insurance.  Obamacare didn't go far enough to require participation of the young and healthy.  The young would rather pay the penalty than buy insurance, so the insurance companies had no choice but to raise premiums on the old and the sick.

I think this is probably correct.  The premiums going up are due almost entirely to the well:less well ratio in the current pools being too low.  I do think the current plan is likely to hit a downward spiral as the administration has already announced that they won't enforce the current penalties against going uninsured.  That's only going to make the problem worse.

The larger problem is that we as a whole still pay (and pay more) for those without insurance.  Emergency rooms are required to provide care regardless of ability to pay - the cost of which is absorbed by those of us that can pay - either on our own or through insurance.  Neither party has any interest in removing that requirement.  In the end, paying for primary health care at urgent care and primary health care providers is just a much better use of money.

Barrel and Crow has a room that's a bit larger, but on a slow night might be had.  Definitely agree with Passage to India.  Love Grapeseed, but it's a bit north of moderate, while well worth it.