pidgey
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Everything posted by pidgey
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Come to Tenleytown! We need you here. There's any number of vacant buildings there now.
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I had tonight what might possibly be my last soft-shell crab of the season. Of course it was wonderful. I commented to my husband that the sauce reminds me of nacho cheese, but infinitely better than any other nacho cheese I've ever had. Can you imagine an appetizer of gourmet nachos with that sauce? -
DR.com Sneak Peek Dinner @ Ray's The Classics
pidgey replied to hillvalley's topic in Events and Gatherings
Is this valid for Friday and Saturday too, or just for the Thursday night dinner? -
No, of course not! I can definitely see how picking crabs is not the most enjoyable activity in the world, with all the guts and organs and stuff. Although it makes me feel manly, like I've really accomplished something. Laura (not a man)
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Unfortunately they are Salvadoran. Los Tios is pretty good, but I wish they (and other restaurants) would stop it with Tex-Mex.
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Oh, Komi. Halfway through the meal, we were already lamenting that it all had to end. For the record, Chef Monis said that they are expecting to have soft-shell crab through July. That seems a little late to me, but who am I to argue with Chef? Some highlights for us were the bufala with sardines and the papardelle with mushrooms and goat ragu. The bufala: so creamy, so rich! The lamb chops made me swoon. The marscapone-stuffed dates were savory and sweet, and could have been served for dessert instead of an appetizer. We decided on the dinner and wine pairings to help us celebrate our anniversary. So much wine! Although it was all very good, I felt that the white wine was just a little on the cold side and deserved to be served at a warmer temperature to do it justice. Our service was leisurely and knowledgeable, non-intrusive but always welcome. We appreciated the glass of champagne they brought us in honor of our anniversary (they asked when we made our reservation, always a plus). Komi is like a roller coaster. It happens too fast while you're on it, and when you're done, you want to go again.
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My husband and I were recently in Houston and made our second trip to Da Marco with his parents. This is exceptional non-traditional Italian. I started with the artichoke alla giudia, a whole roasted artichoke. I was a little surprised because basically its presented whole, with a sweet sauce (maybe pineapple? its been a while). I think I would have preferred a more savory sauce. My husband had the very tasty mozzarella di bufala with roasted cherry tomatoes, drizzled with a wonderful extra virgin olive oil. My father-in-law had the oyster special, basically a plate of three oysters, which he said he wasn't the best he's ever had, since it was kind of late in year for Houston. We also split an order of corn ravioli served with bits of lobster on the side. The ravioli was good, but quite frankly, I think I would have preferred a lobster-stuffed ravioli. For our entrees, my mother-in-law chose the garganelli mmmmmm. I can't remember what it was, unfortunately, but she enjoyed it very much. My husband and his dad split the 48 oz porterhouse, which they loved (I think they actually got this a previous time). I got the chianti-braised short ribs with gremolata. At the first bite, I swooned. And I finished it all, without sharing. Well, maybe my husband stole a few bites, but I didn't really offer any. We also had a side of polenta for the table. Very rich and creamy. We were too full to have dessert, but they looked delicious. Da Marco only serves wine, no hard alcohol or even beer as far I could discern. We split two bottles of wine, both in the $50 range. I would highly recommend this restaurant for anyone visiting Houston.
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Dining in Napa, Sonoma, North Bay, and Sacramento
pidgey replied to brr's topic in San Francisco Restaurants and Dining
I love Frank Family Vineyards in Napa. Their tasting room isn't much, but their wines are really great. However, Sonoma wineries often have less expensive tasting fees, and their wineries aren't nearly as crowded. You can pick up a gourmet picnic lunch at Oakville Grocery. Marvelous! -
Speaking of Old Bay, I had the soft-shell crab on Saturday night. They were sauteed instead of fried, which was a nice change, in an Old Bay and basil buerre blanc. Delicious! I had only ever been to Johnny's for lunch, and I was never really all that impressed with their lunch menu. This dinner turned me around, and I'm sad that they'll be moving to Capitol Hill since Dupont is more convenient for me. Oh, and the lemon chess pie. Oh, yeah, that lemon chess pie.
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As I'm sure Michael Landrum can tell you, niceness goes a long way. And its certainly a 2 way street. Edited to correct my bad grammar!
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You're right, the prices were unbelievably low. I was incredibly surprised to see 2 crabs on my plate, when the menus we had implied "crab" in the singular. Yes, but don't you think its odd that neither myself, my husband, nor the server noticed that it was the lunch menu (and the server did look at our menu several times while we were ordering)? I'm wondering if it was clearly labeled as such.
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Also late to the party here, but me and the husband will be attending as well. I'm thinking along the lines of a dessert (cake?) and non-alcoholic beverages.
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I hate to do this.... On a whim, my husband and I decided to dine at Corduroy this evening, without a reservation. We decided to eat in the lounge rather than wait an hour for a table in the dining room. We chose a table, and the waitress promptly handed us 2 menus--the bar menu and the regular menu. We glanced at the menus and noticed that there were some price discrepancies on the different menus, only about a dollar or so per item. No problem. We ended up ordering off the regular menu. I chose the spring roll appetizer, and the soft shell crab, and my husband got a salad and the halibut. The soft-shell was listed at $15 and the halibut at $15. The food was delicious. The extra-long spring rolls were perfectly fried. But then we had to wait for a while for our entree. Finally, our entree came out, and I was surprised to see 2 soft-shelled crabs on my plate. "That's a great deal for 2 crabs," I told my husband, and he agreed. Forgoing dessert, we got the check, and my husband placed his card in the bill-holder. The waitress took the card, but I noticed my husband frowning. How did we spend $100? When the waitress returned with the slip for us to sign, we asked to see the menu again. On the bill, we were charged $30 for the soft-shell and $24 for the halibut. The menu that the waitress had given us (and she later verified) clearly stated that the crab and the halibut were $15 each. She took our bill away and spoke with the bar manager(?). After several minutes, he came over to speak with us, and told us that we had been given lunch menus and the prices were different for dinner portions. And then he waited for us to respond. "Well, that's not the price that we had on the menus that we were given," we said. He walked away, and came back several minutes later. "Well, I took it off your bill," he said. "I had to pay for the difference. We want to you to be happy. Return customers." This was delivered very unenthusiastically. You could almost hear him saying "blah blah blah" as he delivered that little speech. We thanked him, signed the bill and walked off. What put us off the most was that never once did we hear him apologize for what was very much their mistake. In fact, he almost seemed to be accusing us for not getting the right menus, and clearly was not happy about having to comp us the difference. Plus, the first time he came over, it almost felt like he was trying to intimidate us into paying the higher price. Menus are like contracts. The price that listed is the price you pay. Sorry about the long post. I've never had anything but an exemplary experience at Corduroy, but this experience kind of put a bad taste in my mouth.
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I live pretty near the AU location, and the only time we go to Chef Geoff's these days is in nice weather when the patio's open. Why? Because the wait is insane otherwise. An hour and a half to eat mediocre food? I don't think so. I have to say, the burger is pretty tasty, especially for $5 during happy hours, although I would pay regular price since burgers in that neighborhood are few and far between. But do you know what the strange thing is? They don't serve the burger for Sunday brunch, which goes until 3 pm. (Actually, the time we went I think it was a Saturday, this was late last fall, so I don't know if they changed their Saturday menu, but I don't see the burger on their Sunday brunch menu now). Haven't been there in several months now, and don't know when we'll go again....
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No. All Tex-Mex restaurants in DC suck-diddly-uck. Not sure about traditional Mexican.
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Taco Cabana has really gone downhill is the last several years. A good local (family-owned) chain of taco restaurants is Las Palapas, but most of them are closed on Sundays for family and worship. Hmm, now I'm thinking about breakfast tacos with a Big Red soda.
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Definitely. We probably won't be back.
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We stopped in at B. Smith's, early on a Sunday evening (no later than 6 pm) a few weeks ago. The place was almost empty, with the exception of a few large parties, and they seated us right away. After almost 10 minutes, our server had not come to greet us, and when she finally did, we noticed that she was only 1 of 2 servers in the restaurant. She took our order, we received our appetizers in a timely manner (maybe within 10 mins.), but then we waited about 30 minutes for our entrees, most of the time not seeing our waitress during that time. We were disheartened to see that other tables had not received food either. When we finally received our food, we were glad to see that it was hot and tasty, but because we had been there for too long and had other things to do, when our waitress came back to check on us, we asked for the check. So the food was pretty good, but the service was terrible (although our waitress was nice when we saw her). I blame management for insufficiently scheduling enough staff in both the kitchen and dining room.
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We visit Houston and San Antonio several times a year. Good beef is more pricey, definitely, but there are lots more places that are low on "ambiance" and big on quality beef. That's what we especially liked about Ray's.
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Tried Ray's tonight for the first time. Food was great, service was awesome! I had the hangar steak and caeser salad, husband had the bisque and filet. We're originally from Texas, and grew up eating good, cheap beef in no-nonsense diners. Ray's reminded us of home (albeit just a little more expensive,and maybe--just maybe--better quality meat). What's always frustrated us about DC was the seeming inability to have a nice steak dinner without breaking the bank, along with seeming out of place in steakhouses frequested by the old money set. I'm glad Ray's is around to keep it real. I love that I saw children eating large chunks of beef off their parents plates. I never felt rushed, but we still managed to enjoy our meal in under an hour. While it was frustrating to have to wait almost an hour for a table even though we arrived at 5:50, and we were rewarded for our patience. Next time we'll try to come on a weeknight instead of a Saturday (probably a mistake, yeah, but we really needed some beef!).
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Thanks for the welcome, y'all! We ended up going to Corduroy on Friday night. This was only my second time at Corduroy, but my husband has gone several times. The lentil egg drop soup was delicious but way too much! I would have loved a half portion of the soup. The roasted lamb sirloin was very tender and flavorful, but the creamed spinach accompaniment was just a tad on the salty side. My husband had the baby chicken, which he also admitted was a little salty for his taste as well, and he loves salt! No room for dessert though (see if that lentil soup wasn't so big, I probably would have got something). Overall, though, a very positive second trip for me. Next time we will probably try sitting in the bar for a more casual atmosphere.
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Thanks!
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Hello! I'm new to dr.com! Does anyone know the URL for the Corduroy website? Thx!