pidgey

My husband got a Groupon for Brightwood Bistro a few months ago, so we decided to pop in on Thursday night for dinner. We walked in around 6:30, and the dining room was empty, but there were a couple of people at the bar. Unfortunately, it stayed pretty quiet there for the duration of our visit, which is really a shame since the food was very good, if a bit pricey.

I started with the buffalo frog legs and my husband had the fried oysters. The fried oysters were easily the better of the two appetizers--lightly fried, not too greasy, although the sauce was a little heavy on the Old Bay. The flavor of the frog legs was lost in the buffalo sauce, but this was a large appetizer. There were about 8 or 10 legs--a shareable portion, but given that many people are suspicious of frog legs, it probably would have worked better at half the size (with a lower price).

Our entrees were excellent. My shrimp and grits featured a fried grit cake--grits that were formed into a loaf, sliced, then lightly battered and fried. The shrimp were succulent, and the sauce was tasty. My husband had the lemon chicken, which was so flavor and juicy. My only complaint on both of those dishes was that were a little on the salty side (even my husband thought so, and he loves salt).

There were only two desserts on the menu--a coconut cake and a pound cake. The coconut cake was phenomenal, and was easily one of the best I've ever had (and I love the one at Ray's). The cake was dense, the icing was not too sweet and the homemade whipped cream had brandy in it. Plus the portion was so big that we ate half of it, and then brought the rest of it home to enjoy later that night.

The wines by the glass list and the beer list seemed a little light, and their cocktails seemed geared toward those who like fruity, neon colors.

I want this place to succeed, but in this economy and in that location, I can see how it might be hard to sustain that particular restaurant with those prices. Dinner came out to almost a $100 before the $35 coupon. They seem to have a pretty good deal on Tuesday nights (a 2 person, 3 course meal for $25), so that might be a good way to try it out on a budget.

We decided to stop in at Blue Ridge yesterday for their new brunch menu. Some of their regular entrees are on the brunch menu, but there were a lot of egg dishes on there as well. Unfortunately, they seemed to be having a really bad morning, both service and food-wise. The hostess greeted us cheerily with a smile, but then said nothing. I had to ask if we were meant to seat ourselves. She ended up seating us in the dining room, where we saw lots of wait staff rushing around without any particular purpose. It soon became clear that not too many people knew which tables were assigned to whom. Also, it turned out that the hostess had given one of us a brunch menu, and one of us a dinner menu. Our waitress was friendly enough, but it did take her a while to get to us (despite a relatively empty dining room). We ordered a burger, medium rare, and a fried green tomato BLT. While we waited for our food, we observed two other tables get seated without being waited on for almost 10 minutes, another waiter go to another table to apologize for the long delay in the food, drink orders taking almost 20 minutes to fill, and food being delivered to tables that did not order them (including to one of the tables that had not been waited on). When our food came out, my BLT was missing the T, and my husband's burger was overcooked. The waitress apologized profusely for both of those issues, and she did correct the lack of fried green tomatoes on my sandwich (my husband did not request a new burger, but as the beef was grass-fed, he does think the overcooking affected the flavor). She also ended up giving us half off our bill. The sandwich was pretty good, but instead of mayo they used a pimento spread, which was a little strange, as I think I would have preferred a homemade garlic mayo type spread.

I'm not saying any of these things to be spiteful, but more as a reminder that this place is brand new, and there are a lot of issues that they are working through. We'll probably go there again in about three to six months or so to give it a second shot.

Just returned from trip to Belgium, and although we spent only one day in Brussels, we did hit up this amazing beer bar called L'Atelier in Ixelles (77 Rue Elise), near the two universities. About 200 beers were available, and even though we popped in for one beer, we stayed for three. Or maybe four. I can't quite remember.

One of the On The Fly SmartKarts is located at the corner of 7th and F, NW weekdays. They used to offer Rockland's Barbecue, but they're currently doing Julia's Empanadas and tacos.

Another is at 8th and H, NW on weekdays. They've got Teaism entrees and their mint iced tea.

I found an ad on the floor at work today that said free burgers on April 2, I think from 5 to 7. Can't find the ad now, and they don't appear to have a website, so any other details can probably be found in the restaurants.

From the Washington Business Journal, February 11 2009

Pizza Autentica has signed a lease to occupy a restaurant space at 1331 L St. NW.

The restaurant will occupy 1,841 square feet within the building. Pizza Autentica will serve Italian gelato, expresso and pizza, according to Alex Walker of Transwestern Retail, which represented landlord Mortgage Bankers Association in the transaction.

The restaurant comes from Hakan Ilhan, who founded the Cafe Cantina franchise in D.C. It is set to open this spring.

The landlord is still trying to lease between 7,500 and 9,300 square feet of space, ideally for a full-service restaurant, Walker said.

I'm wondering if this place is a chain. There is also a Pizza Autentica sign on Wisconsin Ave., near the Ruby Tuesday's and Armands in upper NW.

ETA citation

I had never experienced Whataburger, and I really enjoyed it--it was fresh, tasty, cooked when ordered, and topped with, basically, whatever I wanted. The bun was particularly noteworthy, as far as fast food goes. I've never had In 'N Out, but I thought that Whataburger definitely beat Five Guys and Zesto (which are the best fast food burger options we have in ATL).

San Antonio's expansion continues to the north, and if you are ever in San Antonio and happen to have access to a car, I would recommend trying some of the new finer-dining restaurants in the Stone Oak area, off Loop 1604 . We had the opportunity last week to try Roaring Fork. Although the name is kind of dumb, this is one of several restaurants owned by the Eddie V.'s Restaurant Inc. group, based out of Arizona (http://www.eddiev.com/). The food at Roaring Fork seemed to be Tex-Mex in inspiration, with grilling the primary focus.

We started with the appetizer special, a quartered avocado covered in panko and fried. It was served with crab meat and romoulade, and was quite good. For my entree, I had the pork carnitas, which were very good, but unfortunately, they served them with really awful flour tortillas. I know this wasn't a Mexican restaurant, but in San Antonio, a bad tortilla just doesn't fly, so I asked our server for some corn tortillas instead, which were marginally better, but not great. My husband ordered the duck special, medium rare, and even though it came out closer to medium well, he said that the duck was so moist and flavorful that he didn't mind. Our other companion ordered one of the house specialties, the roasted and smoked long bone beef rib, served in a Dr Pepper sauce. It was comically large--kind of reminded me of something that Fred Flintstone would order--but it was really good as well.

Dessert was a banana pudding, and it really hit the spot. Overall, I would say the food is really good to excellent. The setting was stylish, and the bar was prominently featured in the middle of the room. It looked like a fun place to hang out. Not too bad for a chain restaurant.

Went to Enology during the soft opening when items were 50% off. It was a pretty serious disappointment, largely due to the price. For the two of us, my wife and I ordered two glasses of wine, charcuterie (two meats), and three pieces of chocolate. The total (with tax and tip) was $47. Mind you, that was the 50% off price. You can figure how much it would've cost any other day. To add insult to injury, the wine pours appeared in the 2.5-3 oz. range. If the pours were small to reflect the discounted price, the strategy kinda backfired. I was left thinking, if I returned on a normal night, I'd end up with 3 oz. of wine for $12-22. Ouch.

We live walking distance and were hoping for a local spot where we could spend low-key evenings out of the house without schleping too far. Needless to say, the soft opening visit didn't reel us in.

Sorry my first post isn't more upbeat. I've been harboring my disappointment with Enology for a long time. Seeing it on the Board this afternoon prompted me to join the fray.

JFW

(Edited to fix time table of restaurant opening)

We had a terrific lunch at Vic's on the River, in a very classy renovated cotton warehouse space overlooking the Savannah harbor.

We're bringing cole slaw, pumpkin bread, and maybe another side.

In Charleston last week, and went to McCrady's. It was pretty quiet, but then again, it was a Monday night, and apparently that's the way things are there. Dinner was great...my pork dish consisted of pork belly, pork loin, and with a nice, freshly fried piece of pork rind right on top. I chuckled a bit when the waiter referred to the pork rind as "quite lovely". I'm used to eating those things straight out of fryer, from a brown paper bag that's turned translucent from the grease (go to San Antonio if you want to experience that). We headed over to Social wine bar across the street afterwards--also quiet, but the wine selection was good, and they had plenty of flights to chose from. The bartenders were young, and quite friendly, but were also enthusiastic and knowledgable about the wine.

Also ate at Jestine's kitchen, which really hit the spot for good southern food. My husband had the fried chicken, but I totally went one step further and had the fried chicken livers. It was my first time eating livers, and being presented with a giant plate of them was a little overwhelming, but delicious nonetheless, although, maybe I wouldn't order a whole plate of them next time.

On a whim, we went over to Henry's on the Market. Very good seafood, and we sat at the community table, so the conversation was flowing.

One thing--the prices of wine bottles at nicer places were much higher than we expected. It was quite difficult, both in Charleston and in Savannah, to find a nice bottle of wine for under $50, and at Henry's it was easier just to go by the glass.

I'm in +2. Have no idea yet what to bring.

I've eaten at the Cleveland Park location several times because it is in my neighborhood and its cheap.

This location is now called Paragon Thai, and all mention of it on the Sala Thai website is gone.

Any recommendations for a Brooklyn restaurant? We'll be celebrating a friend's 30th birthday, but our price limit is about $40-$50/per person.

I can't believe I'm telling everyone this secret, but I discovered recently that there is a "real" Five Guys about a block away from the Navy Yard metro station. My husband and I ate there before a game recently and paid less than $20 for two cheeseburgers, large fries and sodas. It was not crowded at all. I think its located at 11th and New Jersey.

On a related note, has anyone recently brought food into the park? I was carrying a footlong Subway sandwich recently, and the lady at the ticket window told me that I probably couldn't bring it in. We were waiting for some friends for about 20 minutes so we ended up eating it outside the park, but the website says that "all [outside] food items must be contained in single serving bags within a soft-sided container or cooler."

The Clydes in Friendship Heights still offers this on Thursday night when classes are in session(the crab cake sandwich is also on the "Afternoon Delight" menu offered at various times throughout the week for 6 bucks).

The Clyde's on the Walk at Gallery Place also has an afternoon delight menu from 3-5 pm. I ordered a $5 crab cake sandwich on Monday around 4 pm, and I was surprised to open it up and see two crab cakes in my sandwich. I also like the fact that you can get a pretty cheap breakfast here--eggs, bacon, sausage--until around 11 am.

We had a thoroughly mediocre meal here last night. I started with the shrimp and crab soup (served with egg and cream), which turned out to be a bowl full of cream with whole shrimp and large hunks of crab and egg. It was very strange, as I was expecting more of a cream of crab soup, but the soup/cream was largely unseasoned, and there didn't seem to be any harmony between the hunks of seafood and the actual soup. My husband also ordered the serrano ham, which was a little dry and lacked flavor. For our entrees, my friend had the ropa vieja (shredded beef) which she mostly liked. I had the milanesa de carne, which was served with god-awful french fries (they tasted like they were frozen out of the bag). The beef itself was pretty good, but it was such a large portion of flattened beef that it took up more than half of the plate. My husband had the beef empanadas, which he found tasteless, but he enjoyed the patatas bravas, which were crispy and flavorful.

We won't be in hurry to rush back here, despite the wonderful little patio. Even our drinks--a capariniha, a margarita, and a mojito--were a little on the boring side.

Ah, this sandwich menu is what I was hoping for at Sandwish up the street! Now I know I'll just have to go the other direction down Wisconsin Ave. to get my grilled cheese with bacon sandwich. I can't wait to try it soon!

Had an early dinner at Corduroy on Friday. At 6 pm, we sat in the bar and had cocktails. At 6:30, we asked for our reservation and were given a lovely table at the front. We were in fact the first guests seated that evening.

Everything about the meal was fantastic. I was a little disappointed that the soft-shell crab no longer comes as an entree, but I was more than happy to make it my appetizer so that my husband and I could share the most delicious rack of lamb that either one of us has ever tasted. We kept sneaking looks at our waitress to make sure she couldn't see us gnawing on the bone (alas, she was ever attentive but was polite enough not crack up laughing at us and even offered a Tide stick when my husband got sauce on his shirt )

Sitting near the front, as we were, we noticed that this restaurant seemed to attract a certain group of people. At present, the clientele seems to be those who were familiar with the old Corduroy. Several groups came in escorting a silver-haired lady (not the same woman, mind you, but different silvered-haired ladies). With precious little foot-traffic to begin with, Corduroy will have to work hard to promote itself outside of this circle. Word of mouth will certainly help, but maybe bar specials will bring in some of those who find themselves in the neighborhood, but think the regular menu is out of their price range. This neighborhood is certainly changing. A lot of young professionals are moving into those condos, and there are a still some of those older residents that currently own the townhouses.

Our meal was pricy, but we certainly weren't making an effort to keep the bill down. I can't wait to return, and try some other items on the menu. If you have a silver-haired woman in your life, I think this would be the perfect place to bring her.

She wanted Chinese food, and we ended up at Tony Cheng's--which she enjoyed and insisted on paying for. Hearing was a little but of an issue, but not too much.Go figure.

I have to try out the cafe at the Art Museum though. It sounds like a lovely place. Ooh, I bet Teaism would have been nice too.

I am absolutely not trying to be flip - make sure that seafood is OK.

Definitely. Thanks for the reminder.

Hi,

I'll be hosting a Holocaust survivor for lunch on Thursday following a presentation that she will be giving at the MLK library. I'm looking at my options around here--myriad!--and then I realize that she might be a little bit more particular about cuisine than I am. Safe bets are Clyde's Gallery Place, McCormick and Schmick's and Legal Seafood. Anything else I'm forgetting?

My husband and I ate here on Thursday night. I had the Maine meal with fried calamari, coleslaw and macaroni and cheese. My husband had the lobster roll, which came with fries. The calamari was delicious, perfectly golden fried but light at the same time. I felt that the coleslaw needed a little extra oomph, and the macaroni and cheese had a not-unpleasant but unusual taste. Perhaps there was nutmeg in there? I couldn't figure it out. My husband enjoyed his lobster roll, and we both thought his fries were tasty. The portion size on both of our meals was perfect.

There were a lot of Georgetown students in there, and we overhead one guy say they he goes there "all the time". I predict it will be very popular with students looking for a less-expensive option, and it will probably be slammed in the summer. Thank goodness for take-out.

What was strange was that the original server that helped us disappeared completely after he took our order, then another server appeared to ask us if we had any questions about the menu (after we had placed our order with the first guy), and then he disappeared, and another server helped us. There was a period of about ten minutes at the end of the meal that no servers were around, and we had to flag down the third server to get our check, and he seemed to be handling all of the tables out on the patio at that point. Not what I would consider tag-teaming. Otherwise though, all of the waiters were friendly and knowledgable about the menu. It seemed disorganized.

After a few drinks at the bar, my husband and I were lured by the outdoor seating, which was amazingly easy to get at 6:30 pm on a Friday night. It had been more than a year since we dined here, and I was a little disappointed that the menu was no longer "tasting menu" oriented. I started with the artichoke ravioli, and my husband had the lonzino carpaccio--which turned out to be slivers of pork loin decorated with papaya and pineapple. And when I say slivers, I mean more like shavings. It was incredibly thin and not much more than a taste. I then had the halibut, which was fantastic--potato crust and served with morels, and wonderful combination. My husband had the sirloin au poivre, medium rare, with onion crisps. He raved about the meat, but I thought the onion rings were superb. In my opinion, they would make an excellent addition to the bar menu (actually, so would an order of frites, which you can't order individually but are only served with the hot dogs). The service was really strange. We had one waiter take our drink order orders, explain the menu, give recommendations and take our order. After we had placed our orders, another waiter came out to ask if we had any other questions. He and yet another waiter checked-up on us periodically, and it was finally the third waiter that handled our check. With desserts (which were both fantastic--pineapple upside down cake and a wonderfully smoky pecan pie) and alcohol, our bill came out to about $150 plus tip. Now to me, that's an often lot for a meal where the service was slightly slapdash. Probably won't rush to go back there for dinner, but will definitely hang out in the lounge again.