zgast

I got to head back to Vienna for a couple days for work.  I can now say that I've had a bad meal in Vienna, but won't dwell on that place and instead suggest a couple other restaurants that I really did like:

Huth da Mortiz - We had eaten here last year but couldn't remember the name as we walked in off the street.  Reservations this time for lunch before we left town and it did not disappoint.  Great Italian appetizers and pizza.

Gasthaus (Restaurant) Moslinger - This was a great find near the Prater (where I stayed for the conference I was attending).  The menu was traditional Viennese for sure.  I had the goulash.  Wife had a pork dish from the Marchfeld asparagus menu.  We split an asparagus tartare from the appetizer menu as well. I had no idea what Marchfeld asparagus was, but evidently it's a designated origin in Austria for asparagus (think Parma for prosciutto).    Everything paired with a variety of wines - from sparkling Gruner Veltliner (interesting, but probably would not order again) to Gemischter Satz (an Austrian field blend wine).  My goulash was quite good, as was my wife's pork, but what actually blew us away here was an asparagus risotto that came with the pork dish.  Absolutely one of the best risotto dishes I've had in my life with fresh herbs, some subtle cheese, and really well cooked asparagus pieces threaded throughout.  Would not hesitate to return here after eating this dish.

On 5/18/2023 at 8:57 PM, KeithA said:

Anyone been to Rome recently with any recommendations? We are headed there for several days in August. Thanks

I'm partial to cuisine from Emilia Romagna, so Colline Emiliane is one I'll always go back to - it's a trattoria, so you're never going to see a Michelin star here.  But some amazing plates or bowls of tortellini are something you can't go wrong with.

Beware of Ferragosto - 15 August.  Everything shuts down - it's like Italy turns into a ghost town. Even the restaurants and bars. You'll see increasing closures as you get closer to the date as well.

Popville reporting that they're opening up a new location in Chevy Chase.

Ditto - I've actually added this to my 'places I must eat in Dallas' for when I'm there in July.  

On 4/28/2006 at 1:00 AM, Joe H said:

Frankfurt is a wasteland but Heidelberg is one of Germany's most beautiful medium size cities and well worth exploring. There is an excellent "student" restaurant called Hemingway's adjacent to the Rhein with outdoors tables and seriously good prices. Homemade pasta, homemade everything for that matter and good, cheap wine and beer. If you go there my credibility will be intact. I had dinner there 48 hours ago and already miss it.

Thanks for the recommendation - we had dinner here at sunset. They're mostly serving tapas now, but what we had was enjoyable and accompanied by a remarkably good wine for the price point.

On 8/3/2016 at 2:13 AM, DonRocks said:

When I flew into Frankfurt, the first thing I did was drive to Heidelberg (I know that's not much help), but oh, the beer (and it's only an hour).

Any recommendations in Heidelberg?  I'll be there tomorrow.

Just don't move to London - the bagels here simply suck.  Like Lenders bad.  My wife (raised in NY, happy with Bethesda Bagels and Call Your Mother in DC) has had to resort to being a bagel baker.

Amsterdam Falafelshop is closing (HT to Popville).  Was quite sad to see this - although I probably aged out of Adams Morgan before their arrival, I would still go during the daytime with kids in tow.  Just a pleasant experience with simple, good food.

This tribute by Tim Carman to the co-owner after his death from COVID complications is worth reading.

Well, I feel remiss if I don't post a review of this place after seeing @DonRocks commenting on Andy Hayler's Review!

Hawthorn opened in late January 2023 in Kew, which lies just north of Richmond, just past the western edge of London proper.  The owners worked at its predecessor restaurant, The Glasshouse, and its sister restaurant, La Trompette, in nearby Chiswick.  

The menu is three course prix fixe and was £65 for dinner when I went about a month after opening.  Despite the short time open, the service was quite strong - this is clearly an experienced team that's shooting for a high end experience.

We started with two amuse bouche.  The first was a miniature arancini that was, without a doubt, the best one I've ever had.  We were so enamoured of these that I forget what the second one was and my daughter begged for a second round, which the chef obliged her in providing.

Appetizers were quite strong.  I had white onion velouté with aged gruyere rarebit gougéres, pickled pear, three cornered leek oil.  Great first course that wasn't too heavy but still brought quite a bit of intensity, particularly when I turned to the gougeres right after a spoonful.  Kids both went for chalk stream trout sashimi, which came with puffed black rice, white sesame and yuzu dressing, pickled turnip and horseradish granita.  Neither loved the turnip, but both devoured everything else.

Mains

Roasted cep and wild garlic Spätzle: Perigord truffle emulsion, glazed globe artichoke, early foraged leaves

Don't be fooled by the picture, the spaetzle were underneath. I would have preferred a bit more spaetzle relative to artichokes, but still a quite strong dish.

Roast skate wing: Smoked creamed potato, caramelised cauliflower, spinach, semi dried grape and caper beurre noisette, brown shrimp jus gras

No picture - my daughter took it and forgot to send to me.  She really enjoyed this, never having had skate.  

Stuffed Suffolk poussin: Smoked bacon dauphine, malt mustard glazed legs, white asparagus and shitake mushrooms

My son loved this dish - except for the asparagus, but that's a him thing as they were well cooked and tasty (if you like white asparagus).

Desserts were also quite strong.  Kids both had the salted caramel tart as well as some of my cheese plate (when do your children stop eating your food????).  Wine pairing was good, although we were coming off of a long feasting weekend in Portugal, so we kept it to a glass apiece.

Overall, I'd say this is a place that's got solid Michelin potential if they keep things up and bring in some new dishes as the seasons change. If you're visiting Kew Gardens or doing the Ted Lasso tour in Richmond, I'd put it among my recommendations if you're looking for a higher end place.

10 hours ago, DonRocks said:

Here’s my letter of resignation (with names redacted):

——————————

Dear [x] (and [y]),

After having had the honor to serve as a James Beard Awards judge since the 2004-2005 award season, I believe it's a good time for me to proactively offer to step down and be replaced.

With JBA's new emphasis on diversity and inclusivity, I'm hopeful that someone else can have the same opportunities that I've been able to enjoy. I don't "need" to step down per se, but it's important to me that others have a chance, especially if there are a fixed number of judges.

If this offer helps out JBA in any way, please take it and run with it.

Kind regards,
Don Rockwell

Very well framed.  

4 hours ago, DonRocks said:

“Forrest Gump” is the most underrated overrated movie in Hollywood history.

And still one I have never seen.

6 minutes ago, Ericandblueboy said:

I assume it's salt cod.  When rehydrated, it's like fresh cod.  That's their staple food.  I have to really like it.  There's a restaurant in Lisbon that does it 100 ways or something.

Yes - usually salt cod.  Fascinating that a non-local product is so widely eaten there.  Think this is the restaurant - they weren't available when we could go.

https://100maneiras.com/en/

Just got back from 2 1/2 days in Lisbon, where we generally had a wonderful time.  Saturday was the winning weather day (no rain) so we kicked off with a Culinary Backstreets tour of Mouraria and Graca.  It was an eclectic mix of restaurants over the course of a five hour walking tour.  Loved the guide and the views from the hills of Lisbon (did I mention we climbed these hills for five hours?)  At one point the couple paired with my family on the tour asked left or right before the guy said, "It's got to be left, that's uphill, and we only go uphill."  Which felt very true.  Started the tour at a tasca for a cod and root vegetable casserole along with a pork, french fry and pickle dish - the latter was preferred by everyone.  We moved along to sample some pastel de nata at a scenic viewpoint.  Next up was a neighborhood sport association - sort of a community social club that included a bar/short order kitchen that made chorizo cooked over alcohol, which went nicely with a beer.  Another pastry stop included a pastry with an egg and almond custard in a flaky pastry dough - think pain au chocolat but with a bit more filling. We also visited a cervejeria, which is an informal restaurant (usually) that focuses on shellfish.  This one did not disappoint, with clams that converted my daughter from 'I don't like clams' to 'this was my favorite food in Portugal.'  Last stop was a higher end restaurant that served two dishes: first up was a tortilla smoked (under a cloche) with cuttlefish ink and a lupini bean hummus.  Interesting, but was happy with 1/4 the full portion.  The second dish was a sardine nigiri, which was meant to be eaten sardine side down.  Quite good, but maybe could have used a touch of acid to cut the full flavor of the sardine.

After that five hours of eating, we had reservations about an hour later at a restaurant - Boi Cavalo - that was a bit more avant garde in its approach to Portugese dining. I don't remember all the dishes we shared, but I'll reel off those I remember.  The first was an updated version of the cod and root vegetable dish we had earlier in the day.  This version was definitely better, although I still maintain that cod is not the best base for inspired cooking.  There was a gnocchi dish that was the best of the lot - the trick was that they made the gnocchi with a choux pastry dough (unless we had a serious translation issue).  A sourdough cornbread had a cultured butter and sambal accompaniment that was quite good - if not a pairing I would every pick out on my own.  The last dish I remember (out of eight) was cockles, which were good but fell well short of the clams we'd just had a couple hours earlier.  The waiter was lovely and the wine he suggested to pair with the meal was quite good, but this stop definitely felt like it fell a bit short of our other dining experiences.  Being quite full already may have played a part here though.

The next day was a full day tour to Sintra and Caiscais - we had been told to just get a driver and did so, which made the experience much more pleasant.  In Sintra, there are a number of palaces and castles you can visit.  The main one, Pena, was booked up because getting my family to plan anything in advance is impossible.  The Moorish castle, which isn't actually a building you visit but a series of paths along the highest hill in Sintra, looked like it would be amazing in good weather, but was shrouded in low hanging clouds while we were there.  We instead saw the Palaces of Sintra and Quelez - quite enjoyable and took about three hours combined.  There was a bakery in town - Casa Piriquita - that had amazing pastel de nata and mini ham and cheese quiches.  The latter was actually the best quiche I've ever had.  Please tell the French that.

Continuing after a site seeing stop at the western most point of Europe, we stopped for lunch at Mar do Guincho.  Probably the best meal of our time in Portugal - great food and just this amazing view over the ocean, with the waves rolling into the beach below.  Starter was a shellfish bisque that was passed around the table and shared by all.  Kids then shared a 1 kilo grouper. Wife and I shared a shellfish with rice that was one of the better risotto-type dishes I've had.  It wasn't paella - it was served and likely cooked in an earthenware cauldron looking vessel.  The rice was also just long grain rice, not arborio or the Spanish equivalent.  But this thing was covered in shellfish.  Dozens of shrimp, perhaps a dozen clams, a couple whole brown crabs.  50 Euro for 2 people and we didn't finish more than 2/3rds of it.

For dinner, we hit another Cervejeria (Liberdade).  It was in a hotel, but was almost the equal of our earlier lunch.  Appetizers were shrimp, clams (at daughter's request) and a brown crab stuffed with crab dip (essentially).  the first two were excellent. The crab dip was served cold, which threw everyone else off, although I liked it quite a bit.  Kids again shared a whole fish while the wife and I had a rice with duck confit and chorizo.  The fish was quite good but the rice dish was again the big stand out.  It was rich, with the chorizo providing snaps of flavor.  Definitely a dish I'll try to replicate at home.

Overall the food in Lisbon was quite good. I'm not sure I get the cod obsession, but they're clearly passionate about their food.  Would love to try the higher end places if I get to go back without the kids (one is still not very adventurous, so any tasting menu just had to be crossed off the list).  The pastries were really wonderful all over - and not just the pastel de nata.  

20 hours ago, Katya4me said:

Hubby has been trying out Too Good To Go and got a bakery deal the other night.  In the bag was a very nice long baguette, so decided to make molletes with it for dinner last night.  Cracked open a can of spicy refried beans, and I had bag of shredded Mexican cheese blend in the fridge.  Broiled for 5 min and dinner was served.  

Love molletes - I've never had them for dinner, though.  Or made them myself for that matter.

13 hours ago, KeithA said:

Me too. That was great dish.

My mom last ate there 15+ years ago and still talks about the carrot fritters.

Fascinating - they're doing pretty well with maintaining quality as they expand.  I've eaten at the ones in Dallas and (I think) San Francisco.  If they can keep up that level of quality and convert Zoes, which I've never been impressed by, they've got a chance to be more Chipotle than Subway.

A huge congratulations regardless - I first ate at Traville Gateway in maybe 2008.  The food was great and the hospitality was tremendous.  They've done well and are frequently a first lunch stop for my family when we're back in the US.

11 hours ago, Pool Boy said:

A few of my friends get together on a regular basis about every month or two. With folks coming from Frederick, MD, Laurel, Silver Spring and Arlington, we've settled on BEthesda generally being the mutually agreeable central location.

Anyway, it's been about 6 years since I worked in Bethesda. Last time we made it to Black's Bar & Kitchen. It fit the bill because they serve lunch, there's a reasonably wide range of food and price points (one vegetarian in the group), and they have an OK selection for wine, whiskey and other adult beverages. It's a group of 4 so easy enough to find a table generally.

I wanted to try something different but have no current suggested places that fit the bill. So the only requirements are - can handle a 4-top, decent selection of food at a few price points, have at least some vegetarian, and ideally a 'good' selection of whiskeys, wine and beer, but certainly at least average.  No real limit of cuisine or style of food, ideally that should be tasty. We usually hang out for about 3 hours kibbitzing and catching up.

Any suggestions are much appreciated.

Woodmont Grill could be an option, across the street.

Barrel and Crow is local and a better adult beverage selection.

Bacchus has good food but the wine selection is 80's corporate.

Been a rough decade for Bethesda higher end dining.

24 minutes ago, dcs said:

The Impossible Art of Keeping a Restaurant Afloat, by Vivian Howard, January 20, 2023, on nytimes.com.

Very much appreciate you sharing that article - I hadn't seen it.

Just returned from several days in Prague - timed the trip to catch the Christmas markets after Christmas and it was absolutely worth it. The Christmas markets were just an amazingly joyful experience. Not wonderful shopping but an amazing atmosphere and I swear if we went through a fifteenth or sixteenth time we may have been able to not buy some sort of food. Sausages, ham, potato pancakes, chimney cakes. 
 

it’s a gorgeous city and definitely enjoyed exploring and touring. The food was heavy, I must say. By the end, we had to find a Vietnamese place to lighten things up. 
 

Recommendation: If you go to Prague in the week after Christmas, make reservations for every meal. Every place in town was fully booked if you searched same day. No joke - we were turned away at 10:30 on Friday morning for breakfast because we didn’t have a reservation. Which meant we didn’t get to as many restaurants as I would have liked. 
 

Lokal - We had an enjoyable lunch here. It’s as described above- gigantic beer hall with very traditional Czech food. Best was the goulash, which I’d describe as deconstructed stuffed cabbage - it’s braised pork with a sauerkraut and tomato base. Comes with bread dumplings to soak up the sauce.  Schnitzel was good, but fell short of the masterpieces we had in Vienna. Last was a stuffed chicken roll in sauce with mashed potato purée. Serviceable, and the potatoes were quite god. 
 

Nase Maso - someone mentioned taking a tour with a guide who was a butcher in this artisanal butcher shop. Well - they sell grilled meats, sausages and a home blended cheeseburger out of the shop, which was in the same building as our Airbnb. The continuous 40 person line from 11 am to when we failed to find a dinner place at 7:30 suggested we take a flyer. Glad we did. The cheeseburger was top 5 ever - right up there with Palena. Also tried the sausages and steak tartare, both of which were good. 
 

Katr Restaurant- This one was our sixth or seventh attempt at a restaurant on our first night. See reservations note above. It turns out it’s a well known traditional Czech grill and beer house. If we had known this, we would have had the goulash, their signature dish. But I had a sausage (appetizer but big) and pumpkin soup. Other entrees were the gnocchi with pork ragout and the pork tenderloin with Dijon sauce. All good dishes in a boisterous place filled with Czechs celebrating the holidays. 
 

Was a great 3 days in the city. Highly recommend for a winter break. 

China Bistro for dumplings too!

On 12/19/2022 at 5:50 AM, Ericandblueboy said:

Nail biting finish.  I don’t like Kyllan Mbappe - his head is already big and now it’s gargantuan with a hat trick in the final.  Luckily Messi deflated it a little otherwise it would be insufferably big, like Penaldo’s.  Congrats to Messi - the best player that I’ve seen since i started following soccer 8 years ago.

Even watching on an iPhone from my quarantine room, that was an amazing game.  They just completely opened up the field the last few minutes of second half and extended time.  With Mbappe, at a certain point you've earned your ego.  He might be there.

On 3/13/2019 at 6:31 PM, DonRocks said:

What on earth is a Black & White Alfajor? I know what a Black & White is, and I know what an Alfajor is (the last time I had one, I had bruises all over my body), but never have the twain met, at least not before my eyes.

Just seeing this - how does a cookie result in bruising?

52 minutes ago, ElGuapo said:

The owners of Downtown Silver Spring Farmers Market regulars Call Your Mother have launched the One Trick Pony peanut butter brand, according to a report from Eater D.C.

https://www.sourceofthespring.com/silver-spring-news/2801198/call-your-mother-launches-one-trick-pony-peanut-butter/

At $8 a jar - that better be some damn good peanut butter.

On 12/11/2022 at 1:03 AM, Ericandblueboy said:

I believe England outplayed France except for the bottom line.  It didn't help that H. Kane missed a penalty.  So the semis are France v. Morocco and Argentina v. Croatia.  On paper these are mismatches and the winners are obvious but that's not how this WC is playing out.

That was my impression as well.  Looking forward to the matches the next two nights.  Pretty sure everyone here is rooting against France.  And Argentina didn't win many fans with their antics against Netherlands.

11 hours ago, KeithA said:

I couldn't find a thread for this now several year old restaurant so created a new one. Please combine if I missed the old thread.

We did delivery with them many times during the early pandemic and were excited at the addition (particularly because Gringos only did carry out which was an absolute logistical horror at the time).  Glad to hear they've blossomed with the eating space.

Sietsema stays.  Date Lab is out.

https://www.washingtonian.com/2022/11/30/washington-post-ends-print-sunday-magazine/