alexandria1
-
Posts
58 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
2
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Articles
Dining Guide
Everything posted by alexandria1
-
Planning a second location near the Waterfront: "Misha's Coffee Looks To Open at Olde Town Gemstones Location" by Emily Leayman on patch.com
-
Closed about a month ago.
-
Coming to Alexandria: Jan 3, 2018 - "Casa Tequila Bar and Grill Coming to Alexandria" by Mary Ann Barton on alexandrialivingmagazine.com The address is Duke Street but the actual location is more like the corner of Reinekers Lane and Prince Street, so not the highest-visibility spot.
-
My brother went to college in DC in a different restaurant era and this was his favorite place, so we went here whenever he was in town. Food was generally decent, although not up to the level of the newer BBQ places in the area. We saw Jared Jeffries and what was presumably his mother here a couple days after he signed his big contract with the Knicks and look what happened to his career after he could no longer come to Old Glory regularly.
- 24 replies
-
- 1
-
-
- Georgetown
- BBQ
- (and 2 more)
-
Old Town location closed a few weeks ago. I guess Five Guys has won the local burger wars.
-
They have some "Japanese" flavors on at the moment. The black sesame was very sweet and the frosting quite messy. Blackout donut was excellent.
-
Old Town location closed at the end of September: http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/news/2017/oct/05/burgerfi-closes-shop/ In my experience the burgers were fine but ordering was very slow if there was any sort of line.
-
Made my first Skylight Inn visit recently and it lived up to the hype. I even liked the much-maligned cornbread. Visited a few other places as well. Even when I am critical, I enjoyed all these places: Sam Jones BBQ--this is the place that one of the Skylight Inn owners opened on the outskirts of Greenville a few years ago. They serve beer but I stuck with the sweet tea. They also serve BBQ meats other than the traditional Eastern Carolina pork. The pork here had decent flavor but was drier than the Skylight Inn version and lacked the crunchy bits. The ribs were quite good, better than the pork IMO. Cornbread was a same recipe as Skylight Inn but seemed less fresh, giving it a really unappealing texture. Baked beans were much too sweet, Mac and cheese was Mac and cheese. Wilber's, Goldsboro--Pork was sauced a little more aggressively than I would have preferred. I am not a slaw person but I liked the tangy version here. The Pit, Raleigh--I went with the fried chicken and it was good. Even though this is a "fancy" place in downtown Raleigh a quarter chicken with two sides and a basket of hush puppies and a biscuit cost $8.59, and a half chicken would have been just $9.99.
-
When did the Pattison disappear from the menu? I always thought of that as their signature sandwich.
-
Old Town location opened recently.
-
While glancing into Ma Poule Mouillée last Friday, a random woman walked past me on the street, paused for a moment, and then turned around to tell me in several languages that this place had le meilleur poulet. That she had even been to Portugal, and this was the best. Naturally I insisted to my local friends that we eat there the following night, even though they guaranteed me there would be a long line and wait. Sure enough, we arrived about 6:00 and did not get food until almost 7:30. Despite the crowds, we were able to get table easily as most people were getting carryout. I got the "Louis Cyr" plate, which is a half chicken, a big mound of fries, and a big salad. The chicken comes sauced and you can get extra "sauce piquante" on the side; as far as I could tell there was just one type of sauce available. The sauce is not all that spicy but is flavorful. The chicken was very good, the fries pretty good, and the salad...well, you don't come here to eat salad but part of it sat under the chicken in a way that caused the dressing to mix with the chicken sauce in an unpleasing way. Next time I would get the "Tony Alves". which is just a whole chicken. Also, I would get there ten minutes before opening. Brigade down in the shopping area near Rue Sainte-Catherine had decent fast-casual pizza with actual non-conveyor ovens.
-
I've had the (buffet-style) brunch here a few times. Not too recently, but I can't imagine that the rate of change is very fast. IIRC the breakfasty items are okay, while the lunchy items are ultra-bland. Highlights were usually the popovers and desserts. The clientele is indeed really really old and I have no idea how places like this survive in the long run.
-
Had a few meals in Zurich last week: Sternen Grill--popular sausage place on the Bellevueplatz. There is a downstairs where you order at the counter, and an upstairs sit-down restaurant which serves the same sausages for a few francs extra and also has a broader menu. Downstairs is probably the way to go, but it was mobbed at lunchtime and I wanted to sit down, so I ate upstairs, which was also crowded, but I was able to get seated immediately. The St. Galler bratwurst is the "famous" item here, and it was good, but the crusty "Bürli" bread and the spicy mustard were the actual standouts. Their own-branded beer was a standard light lager. While this didn't seem like a "lingering" kind of place, the diners on either side of me (it is a mix of tables and communal counter-style seating upstairs) each spent my entire meal nursing pinot noirs and staring into the distance. Zeughauskeller--Right off the Bahnhofstrasse, this is the Swiss version of the touristy Bavarian beer hall. Around 5:00 it was pretty empty, but lots of the tables had signs indicating later reservations. The sausages looked appealing, but as this was already a sausage-heavy trip I opted for the kalbsgeschnetzeltes, which the menu helpfully noted was "A must when in Zurich", and perhaps not coincidentally one of the most expensive things on the menu at CHF 36.50. This is one of those touristy places with friendly waiters who assure you that you've made an outstanding choice. I have no frame of reference for this dish but it didn't do a whole lot for me--not that much veal, and the sauce was reminiscent of the one that comes with the swedish meatballs at the office cafeteria. Guess I'll stick to touristy beer halls that serve schweinshaxe from now on. I'd forgotten to research tipping etiquette in Switzerland, and didn't realize that there is a service charge baked into the menu price there. When it came time to pay, I didn't see a service charge on the bill, and started to enter a slightly less than 10% tip on the credit card machine--the waiter said it was too much, and cut it in half. Don't expect that to happen again in this lifetime! The self-service restaurant on the top floor of the Manor department store--Slice of cheese quiche made for a decent value quick lunch. Got a small box of Luxemburgerli from Sprungli, no exotic flavors here, I think the salted caramel was my favorite.
-
Count me as another vote in favor of the goat curry. Also tried the Lamb Chana Chops, which are the other item listed in the "Chef's Specials" section of their menu. This had 3-4 lamb chops buried under a sea of chana masala--sea isn't quite the right word, as it was relatively "dry", but there were a lot of chickpeas--the lamb was nicely tender but the dish was a little underflavored overall. Portions here are generous. Unfortunately, it's looked almost empty every time I've stopped in or walked past. It's a pretty big space too.
-
King Street location is open.
-
Ate at the "PGA Tour Grill" restaurant in Terminal B at BOS Sunday night because I could get a seat with a good view of the Patriots game. Against my better judgement I ordered the "Boston Roast Beef" sandwich and it was even worse than I expected--gray school cafeteria-grade meat, barely any barbecue sauce (and it was the wrong kind anyway), and the roll was some overly toasted brown thing rather than the "soft onion roll" promised on the menu. Back to clam chowder at Legal next time. The beef shawarma bowl from Lebanese Taverna Express at DCA was pretty good and sufficiently filling. My first choice would have been Taylor Gourmet, but judging from the line, the number of people impatiently waiting for their sandwiches, and my own past experiences, it might have been half an hour before I actually got my sandwich. Love the new food options at DCA in recent years but they need to find a way to speed things up at some of these places.
-
I-79 - map Introduction to pepperoni rolls while driving down I-79 on Monday: Country Club Bakery, Fairmont--this is apparently where pepperoni rolls were invented. Friendly older woman behind the counter called me "sweetie". Room temperature rolls at mid-morning. Tomaro's, Clarksburg--located in a particularly depressing section of Clarksburg, brusque service, but warm rolls. Unsurprisingly, warm beats room temperature. Saved one of each for when I got home so I could warm them up and do a fair comparison--the Tomaro's roll seemed a little denser, which I preferred, but not a major difference. I wouldn't turn these down, but I'm not addicted. Five pepperoni rolls + one Tudor's bacon biscuit = $10.25 One trip on 495 Express lanes between Dulles Toll Road and 395 at 4:30 on Columbus Day = $10.05 Had a decent meal at the bar at Pies and Pints in Morgantown the previous night. Chicken Gouda pizza was at least better than what you get at CPK, although not a bargan at $15 for a 10-inch pie. Sampled the Snake Hill Saison from Morgantown's Chestnut Brew Works, which was pretty peppercorn-forward, and two Country Boy beers--Cougar Bait Blonde (plain but easy drinking) and Shotgun Wedding (not bad, but too sweet and vanilla-y to want more than one).
- 51 replies
-
- 1
-
-
- West Virginia
- Shepherdstown
- (and 8 more)
-
Going by the theory that an uncrowded lounge is a good lounge, my current favorite is the Admirals Club near gate B4 at BOS, which I've only ever used on Sunday evenings and on several occasions I've been the only guest. For food/drink/comfort the Cathay lounges at HKG are hard to beat. After the DFW Admirals Club wanted $7.50 for a "premium" Dos Equis I had an enhanced appreciation for the non-BMC offering that usually exists at the DCA clubs. Last time I used one of the JFK clubs someone had thrown up on the floor. Got to experience the "Concorde Room Dining" in the British Airways Lounge at IAD this summer and while the "Seared Polenta Crusted Monkfish with Cockle Marinière Broth, Pistou, and Samphire" was sufficiently pretentious, the people eating at Chipotle or Five Guys in the terminal don't have anything to be envious of.
-
Tried the new Old Town location a couple days ago. Pretty big place, wasn't very crowded at dinner time. The big sign near the drink machines states "LESS BURGER JOINT. MORE GOURMET RESTAURANT.", which I gather is a corporate slogan but is funny with BGR a couple blocks away. Double bacon cheeseburger, regular fries, and a soda was $16.50. All these thin smashed-type burgers taste kind of equally okay to me, so it beats waiting in line at Shake Shack. With Five Guys taking over the former Bertucci's space there's going to be a lot of burger restaurant capacity in a three-block area.
-
A cocktail that's too avant-garde for a "vintage pizza bistro", but too folksy for an "american kitchen + spirit"?
- 39 replies
-
- 1
-
-
- Alexandria
- American
- (and 2 more)
-
Tried the Hen Quarter special here. Fried chicken was was quite good and went well with the hot honey, Collards (on the "meaty" side of the meaty/tangy divide) were ordinary. As noted the above the biscuit is an herby thing and was served with a heroic amount of butter on the side. Beer selection was somewhat Virginia-focused; I had the Devils Backbone Schwarzbier. Certainly an upgrade over late-period Austin Grill but the question with these types of places is always how long they continue to give a crap.
-
Stopped in 50/50 Taphouse recently. Large place near the south end of the pedestrian mall, bar area was doing decent business at a Saturday lunchtime. The deal here is that they have 50 taps (more than 50 now, actually), and 50 burgers. The beer list tended towards high-ABV stuff that I wasn't in a position to drink at the time, so I went with an Avery White Rascal, which I'm not sure I'd ever had on tap before and had a noticeable alcohol character that I don't remember from the canned version, and a Civil Life American Brown, which I liked. Both were about $1 cheaper than standard DC-area prices. The "50 burgers" thing sounded gimmicky given that any place with a standard list of toppings will have more than 50 permutations, but they do in fact have 50 burgers that aren't just combinations of the same small group of toppings. The 50/50 Burger ($11) was a little busy (cheese and cheese sauce together?) but an okay bar burger. They have a few "extreme" burgers on their menu that get up to $20. Friendly bartenders. Not knowledgeable about the Winchester dining scene at all, but I'd rate this a solid beer and burger joint. Speaking of beer, the Wal-Mart in Winchester had a nice display featuring Virginia craft beers--I never go to Wal-Mart locally, is this a standard thing? Picked up a six-pack of Brothers Good Adweiss (Hefeweizen) for the hot days to come.
-
A sign on the former Bistro du Soleil space on King Street indicates that Namaste Indian and Nepalese Cuisine is coming. Same place?
-
The Five Guys in Old Town is reportedly moving into the just-closed Bertucci's space.
-
The Old Town Whole Foods seems to have cut back on their cashiers during peak periods--lines during lunchtime and evening (especially between 6:00 and 7:30) have gotten very long the last few months, with the "express" checkout lines often extending all the way to the salad bar.
