LaShanta

Definitely, most certainly go for Timothy Dean Bistro over Pazo. I LOOOOVE Pazo, but it is about as far from "romantic" as a restaurant can get. I went there with my boyfriend on a Saturday night at about 8:30 and by 10 we were shouting at each other. It felt like it had turned into a club right at out table. And we WERE upstairs. Also, the tables are kind of close together and it is a renovated warehouse for goodness sake, so it is very cavernous. No little alcoves or places that over any semblance of privacy. It is a very trendy see-and-be-seen kind of place. It is great, great, great for a fun, lively night out with friends. But romantic? Not even close. (unless the only thing you need is low lighting).

I'm going there for dinner tonight. Anyone been there recently and can reccommend anything?

So yesterday, I finally had the pleasure of figuring out what this Lickity Split thing was that you all rave about so much. (Actually, it was my first time at Restaurant Eve EVER and I will be making a return trip as soon as humanly possible. Read on….) OMIGOD!!!!! It was the absolutely best meal I have ever had for $25!!! In my entire life! (Granted, I haven’t had a boatload of $25 meals, but still……..you get my point.) I had the sandwich of the day which was a pulled barbeque pork sandwich with a few field greens and homemade potato chips. I also got a side of mushroom risotto. Now, I am NOT a risotto fan. It’s too heavy and starchy and sticky for me. But I figured the price was low, I HAD to try it. I was not disappointed. It was fabulous!!!!! And that is HIGH praise for someone who does not like risotto. If I had not been so worried about looking refined, I would have taken some bread to the empty bowl and done some serious sopping!! Now, I’m not sure if it has turned me into a risotto fan yet though. From what I have heard , this a VERY high bar for an average restaurant to meet. So maybe I’ll save my risotto consumption for Mr. Armstrong. Then for dessert I had the fresh gingerbread cake with a small scoop of rich, decedent vanilla ice cream and a spoonful of orange rind/marmalade stuff. It was freshly made (still warm… from the OVEN, NOT the microwave) and divine!!! And the absolutely best part of this meal was that while I was there from 3:30 – 5:00, Cathal Armstrong was actually there!! Cooking the food… chatting to regulars at the bar area with me….. running a neighborhood restaurant like he was in his very own home. I mean, a restaurant where the star chef ACTUALLY cooked my food. MY food! Who woulda thunk it?? And to make it even better, it was done even during that weird in-between lunch and dinner time too. Absolutely amazing!!! Oh and yes, the bartender Tammy is still there and she is fabulous!! She is warm, friendly but not overbearing and chatty and genuine. She made me feel like I was actually a part of the community. (A great feat when I am surrounded by people who ALL know each other on a first name basis.) OK, I can go on and on about this place (obviously), but I’ll stop here. (Sorry this is so long.) Suffice it to say that it well lived up to the hype and it totally exceeded my expectations!!! If you haven't been yet, go. Now. No, right now. This and Dairy Godmother AND Cheetique may be my official go-to spots whenever I take an excursion across the Wilson Bridge! Peace & Many Blessings, LaShanta

After much work and explaining everything to my dining companions (partially the restaurant's fault because the RW menu does not have ANY explanations, so we had to play match-the-menu-name from the regula menu to figure out what the heck things were), we finally ordered the spinach appetizer (which was fabulous--highly recommended) and the black cod and the fish curry. We hated the black cod. It had waaaayyyy too much vinegar in it and the vinegar totally overpowered the fish. The fish curry dish (with rockfish) however, was perfect. Perfect lightly spicy red sauce to dip naan bread into and really good, solid fish. I was sooooooo mad that I had gotten the black cod instead of the fish curry. Be sure to give us a full report. Peace & Blessings, LaShanta

Yes, they usually do. It is usually on their website. OR our hard-working Rockwellian Jason (of www.dcfoodies.com fame) does a pretty good job of posting on his site whether a place is offering their full menu or a limited one and he will mention whether the RW menu is posted on their website.

I agree with the other posters... Avoid Taberna del Alabardero (during RW) at ALL costs!!! I went there last January and the RW items were terrible. I was with 2 other people and they both got different things for each course and we all hated everything except maybe one thing that was a RW offering. I ordered from the regular menu (It was Friday and I just I couldn't stomach 3 more courses of anybody's food) and it was fabulous. Steak tips in some kind of mushroom sauce. We all LOVED it!! But it was clear that for RW, they just threw together whatever was in the fridge and about to expire and then served it to the people looking for bargins. The service was great and they even exchanges 4 out of the 6 courses that my friends had. But every single thing we had was all terrible. That was when I developed my RW rules (see below). I would do weither Kinkead's or Oceanaire. Both have really good foor and offer RW courses from the regular menu. THAT is the key!! I never do RW at restaurants that create special menus for the week. It's not a good representation of what the food from the restaurant is like and the portions are usually much smaller. It usually us NOT worth even the RW price. So if you still can't make a final decision, then call the restaurants and ask which ones 1) are offering items that are on the regular menu and 2) are offering more than 2 or 3 choices for each course. Happy eating!!!!

As background, this actually started in the Bebo thread. I said that I passed up dessert at Bebo for CSC ice cream. People have been outraged and trying to recover from their shock and awe ever since.... Thank you so much Bonaire for the words of support in my defense. I really appreciate it. And I have actually never in my whole life had homemade ice cream (I'm assuming that Bryer's doesn't count ). So maybe it will be "orgasmic"...but there definitely seems to be a cost-benefit analysis that I would do either way....especially if I was the one doing the cranking. But Joe, I do appreciate your passion and excitement about homamde ice cream. Maybe you can share some of your creations at the next picnic? That would be fun! I used to be a skeptic about the Dairy Godmother as well, but now I am a believer. So who knows.....? Maybe I'll change my mind about CSC too. Anything's possible. Peace & Many Blessings, LaShanta

Now THAT may be worth a try. I do love strawberries. But strawberries in November????? That sounds kind of fishy.

No, not at all..... I LOVE Cold Stone. And yes, I even love the singing. A CSC fan and darn proud of it!! Don't get me wrong, I like my fou-fou desserts as much as the next foodie.... But every now and then you want some "substance" to your desserts. And they EVEN had pumpkin ice cream. YUMMY!!! Also, I am not a huge fan of traditional Italian desserts anyway. They are never sweet enough for me. So there! I've said it. And I stick by it! OK, fine......so maybe I'm a fake, no-count, wanna-be foodie. Sue me! Me and my chain ice cream mix can be banished to a restaurant-less location in the Arctic. I'll end up being 200 pounds, but darn it, I'll be HAPPY!

My boyfriend and I went here on Saturday. APPETIZER – We split the Penne all'Arrabbiata. They brought it out on separate plates, which is a small service touch that I always adore in restaurants. The sauce was a bit too saucy for me, but the taste had just the right amount of kick without being overwhelming. The pasta was cooked perfectly!!! ENTREES - For our mains, I had the rockfish with sautéed onions and cherry tomatoes in a white wine broth. I didn’t like this dish very much. It was very bland. I had to add a lot of salt to make it edible. The sweetness of the onions was nice, but not enough to compensate for the blandness of the fish. My BF got the bronzino (which we were surprised to learn is the same thing as sea bass. Who knew??) with some kind of yummy green sauce. It was served with grilled vegetables. It was really, really a good dish. The waiter took the time to de-bone the entire fish for us (it is grilled and served whole) so we appreciated that special attention. SIDE DISHES - For side orders, we had the sautéed potatoes which were absolutely perfect. Perfectly cooked and well-seasoned. and the broccoli rabe. Rabe is a bit bitter for my tastes, but it was prepared very, very well. SERVICE - Or server did a pretty good job. He knew very little about what wines to suggest, but knowing that we were not pleased with his suggestions, he smartly went to fetch the sommelier. He talked to us about what we would probably like and even said that if we didn’t like his recommendation, he would not charge us for it. Of course we would not make a restaurant comp us an entire bottle of wine, but the gesture was appreciated. The waiter warned us that their computer system us a bit wacky and our pasta would probably come out at the same time as our entrees. He gave us the option of having him hold the entrees until we were finished with our pasta or bringing it out tether. I thought that was a very nice option to give us. So he was a winner in my book Dessert. Who could have dessert when there is a Cold Stone Creamery a mere 30 feet away! OVERALL – I was happy with the space and the service (the hostess seemed a bit frazzled, which was strange at 5:05 on a Saturday… but hey, what do I know?) and the food. I will just order a bit better next time. I would definitely go back. In a heartbeat!! Peace & Many Blessings, LaShanta

I went to Oceanaire on Sunday night and was very excited to see that they had scallops with pumpkin risotto. Unfortunately, I don’t think the chef got the memo…. The aforementioned “pumpkin” was actually squash. It was just little pieces of it mixed into the risotto. It wasn’t pureed and seasoned or anything. And it was a very bland and uncooked squash (i.e. crunchy) at that. I was extremely disappointed. So far, I’m 0 for 1 with the pumpkin dishes this season.

Gosh, I hope this place does well. I am starting to think that that location is actually cursed.

I've never had Afghan food before. What is Kadu? Yes, I did just hear about that. It's $60 for 6 courses without wine. $80 with wine. If anyone is interested in checking it out with me, let me know either by post or by PM. That may be a fun DR outing! Any takers?

Being the pumpkin-obsessed person that I am..... The crisp in the air and the beautiful changing leaves (and recent posts on the Dairy Godmother thread) has inspired me to attempt to gather a list of place that have pumpkin items on their menu this season. This should include food AND drink items. (I used to LOVE Poste's pumpkin martinis and I still love McDonald's pumpkin milkshake. I know, I know, obsession is a terrible thing.) So my humble request is for everyone to post on this thread any pumpkin menu items they see and a review of the item if you were so inclined to try it out. Then we'll compare notes. Hey, if there are enough pumpkin lovers on the board, maybe we can even do a pumpkin themed Dine Around!! Ready..... ? Go!

You all will be happy to know that after much confusion and skepticism about the raves of Dairy Godmother (see post #83), I am officially a believer. Every time I am going home to fort Washington from National Airport (which lately has been about once a week) I always, always make a detour to go to the DG. I even keep the calendar in my car so I can prepare to go no matter what day I’m getting off the plane. It has now become the highlight of my work-related traveling. So thank you once again oh great Rockwellians for encouraging me to venture out of my geographic comfort zone and try something fun and new. Because player hatin (creating an unfounded aversion for something purely because it’s popular (I also call it the Thaitanic Phenomenon)) on famous random places in non-frequented locations is totally uncool. And yes Cooter, the pepita was to DIE for!!! Peace & Many Blessings, LaShanta

Yummy!! I love Dine Arounds (as coined by DC Taste) I am SO in!!!! Places that are within walking distance of each other would be best. And if they are actual restaurants, then I really do like the idea of doing appetizers at one, pasta or a main course at another and desserts and/or drinks at another. Just tell me when and where and I'm there!! Peace & Many Blessings, LaShanta

Funny you should ask.... I actually have tried A Taste of Carolina. I was very excited when I heard on Metrocurean (see, if I was more technologically literate, here is where I would attach a handy-dandy hyperlink to that site) that there was going to be a Battle of The Soul Food Places on U street. I went to A Taste of Carolina and I loved it! The space was a bit tired, but the food was yummy and the owner was very personable and responsive to complaints I had shared about inaccuracies on the website. However…… They have been closed for several weeks now and there is a sign on the window that says “closed for relocating”. Now, how you could be relocating after only being open about 5 months is beyond me. And THEN I heard that Brown Sugar closed down too. *sigh* So alas, we are stuck with breaded, fried, boneless chicken breast on U street. So, so sad……

Oh yeah, NPCinDC..... I actually forgot about the cornbread....! That was terrible too. Now, I do understand that it would be hard to give everyone hot cornbread..... because it is cooked in one big pan at one time. But old, cold, dry cornbread cannot be good to anyone. Maybe they should try to do smaller, individual pieces and heat them up for a few minutes after people order..... I may not be a professional cook, but there must be SOME way for them to work this out. This place was an embarrassment to every soul food place in the city (past and present) and especially to the places and people on U street that could really use a “taste” of what U street used to be. They have GOT to do better.

Uhh……. did I go to the same restaurant that you all did??? (My apologies now for the long post... but I had to vent SOMEWHERE) I went there on Friday night and it was horrible! I mean, so horrible that I had to ask them if I was in the right place because I KNEW that this could not have been the same place that my dear, trusted Rockwellians rave about. First of all, I ordered fried chicken…but the owner made some reference to chicken wings. I said, no, I would like the chicken breast piece. He said “OK, that will take 20 minutes to cook.” I said “no problem” as my mouth began to salivate at the mere thought of fried chicken that would dare come close to my favorite Flavors in VA. 20 minutes later, to my shock and horror, I received 3 pieces of battered, perfectly fried….get this…… SKINLESS, BONELESS chicken breast, cut into pieces about 4 pieces. RUKM???!!!!??? Who ever orders fried chicken and gets boneless chicken breast???? I was appalled and disgusted. When I returned it, he said that that’s all they have and that he never buys chicken parks with the bone except the wings because he uses the boneless breast for more dishes so it is more convenient to just buy one type of chicken. So my options were…chicken wings or boneless, skinless chicken breast Again…. RUFKM???!!!! But I knew that at some point they DID do the chicken breast in the bone because it is very clearly in the picture that LoganCirle submitted, there was a big old breast! I’m sure of it. So I exchanged it for the turkey wings (because friend catfish would have taken ANOTHER 20 minutes. The turkey wings were bland. And both the collard greens AND the potato salad had waaaaaayyy too much pepper in them. I could actually SEE the pepper in the potato salad. It was almost like someone had accidentily dumped the shaker into the salad and just didn’t bother to add any more salad to cover it up. What a colossal disappointment!! There were some stars however… I loved the lemonade and the super-sweet iced tea. I also loved the yams. just sweet enough and a nice hint of cinnamon. So I don’t know what has happened since you all have been there, but apparently something has gone terribly, terribly wrong……. Has anyone been there in the last month and had this experience?? Or am I officially crazy?

I just found out that I have to go out of town on Sunday. So I will NOT make it to the picnic. Try to have as much fun as you can manage in my absence. So it looks like you'll only have one red velvet cake. Make sure you share. Peace & Many Blessings, LaShanta

I will definitely be there, but it is my very first wine festival so I have no idea what to expect. Anyone have any tips I can use to make the experience more pleasurable? If there will be some other Rockwellians there, I would love to meet up. My boyfriend and I are going on Saturday and then staying at the Lansdowne Resort that night so that we don't have to drive after drinking so much wine. Let me know.... Peace & Many Blessings, LaShanta

That works for me! Sign me up for Red Velvet Cake!! We can have our very own red velvet cake tasting!

I'm coming and bringing a +1! And I'm totally open to suggestions of a type of dessert to bring.

I have one that I swear by!! I have brought it to work multiple times and my co-workers love it! I don't know how to do all that fancy hyperlink stuff, so I just have to cut and paste. Oh, and don't be intimidated by having to make the frosting from scratch. It is soooooo easy--is basiclly idiot-proof (I know, because I did it!). Southern Red Velvet Cake courtesy Cakeman Raven, Cakeman Raven Confectionery, NYC Vegetable oil for the pans 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/2 cups sugar 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon fine salt 1 teaspoon cocoa powder 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil 1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature 2 large eggs, at room temperature 2 tablespoons red food coloring (1 ounce) 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Cream Cheese Frosting, recipe follows Crushed pecans, for garnish Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil and flour 3 (9 by 1 1/2-inch round) cake pans. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In another large bowl, whisk together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla. Using a standing mixer, mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined and a smooth batter is formed. Divide the cake batter evenly among the prepared cake pans. Place the pans in the oven evenly spaced apart. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through the cooking, until the cake pulls away from the side of the pans, and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Remove the cakes from the oven and run a knife around the edges to loosen them from the sides of the pans. One at a time, invert the cakes onto a plate and then re-invert them onto a cooling rack, rounded-sides up. Let cool completely. Frost the cake. Place 1 layer, rounded-side down, in the middle of a rotating cake stand. Using a palette knife or offset spatula spread some of the cream cheese frosting over the top of the cake. (Spread enough frosting to make a 1/4 to 1/2-inch layer.) Carefully set another layer on top, rounded-side down, and repeat. Top with the remaining layer and cover the entire cake with the remaining frosting. Sprinkle the top with the pecans. Cream Cheese Frosting: 1 pound cream cheese, softened 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar 2 sticks unsalted butter (1 cup), softened 1 teaspoon vanilla extract In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand-held electric mixer in a large bowl, mix the cream cheese, sugar, and butter on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to high, and mix until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. (Occasionally turn the mixer off, and scrape the down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.) Reduce the speed of the mixer to low. Add the vanilla, raise the speed to high and mix briefly until fluffy (scrape down the bowl occasionally). Store in the refrigerator until somewhat stiff, before using. May be stored in the refrigerator for 3 days. Yield: enough to frost a 3 layer (9-inch) cake

I went there today for lunch. The place is HUGE and looks very much like the old location. The bar area is very nice and they have a couple of seperate rooms that are a bit dressier than the old location. Also, they have a LOT of tables outside, so please put this on your list of spring/summer eateries. I had the soft shell crabs (are they STILL in season??) with corn pudding. The crabs were yummy, but the sauce it came with was a bit overwhelming. The corn pudding was good, but only room temperature. My co-workers had crab cakes. They liked them but said that they had been broiled just a little bit too much. Both of them are big fans of the CC at Oceanaire, so these didn't even come close--in their opinion. I would have to agree. The dessert menu was uninspiring. I had a apple crumb pie that I will not be racing back to order again. My co-worker had the passion fruit layer cake which was rather dry and didn't taste like it had been done in house. The service was amazing, as always. Our server was very prompt and gracious when I changed my dessert order. She was friendly and patient but still attentive. All in all, I would go back, but not in the near future. I was not as blown away asI had been when visiting the Dupont Circle location. Maybe they need a bit more time to get the kinks out. Peace & Many Blessings,