yeah

Pho Duong in the shopping strip at Pickett Rd and Main St in Fairfax City was excellent on a rainy, cool Sunday afternoon. Had it with skirt flank and added little else. Broth was wonderfully aromatic, skirt flank pieces were a perfect balance of fat and lean. Can't speak to the rest of the menu but this was strong pho.

Was in town last week and thought we'd give this a try. General comment: the plating and presentation, not something I usually care about or notice, is very strong here. A few highlights: Mole Sampler: All four were complex, smokey, with fairly subdued but still present heat. The serving size is also fairly large, we needed as second helping of tortillas, which were fresh and very tasty as well, just to eat half of it. Pulpo: Perfectly tender, smoky, and served atop a "pancake" stuffed with black bean. Somewhat reminiscent of your favorite Mt. Pleasant pupusa but lighter and much more subtle. Excellent dish, kind of amazing at $17 for those keeping score at home. Bacon wrapped quail: This, also stuffed with chorizo, ventured into "turducken" territory, but was served with the most incredible "pan de elote" I've ever had. Moist, with all sorts of savory and sweet interplay with a distinctively corn flavor overall. Might recommend trying to get an order of just that. Seriously. Pastel de queso fresco: Cheesecake, but the queso fresco gave a very light tang, offset well with the blackberry sorbet. It worked.

Thought I'd pop in here to note that Westover Market: The Market, is anything but Closed, per the heading on this thread, and remains a great asset to the neighborhood. After talking up Stachowski's half smokes to some friends and then inviting them over for lunch, I thought I'd be able to casually pick up a package from Harris Teeter Saturday AM. No such luck as they appeared sold out. Returning to Westover as a fall-back option, I see they were sold out of them as well. Must be lots of demand for them, or some kind of production issue at Stachowski. So, a bit desperate and wanting to vent a bit, I walked up to the butcher and asked if they had any half smokes. "No problem, have a box back here from Baltimore, how many ya need..." Long story short, these smokes lacked a bit of the snap and spice of Stachowski's, but they remained excellent after some time on the grill (they came raw), every bit as good as what Ben's serves, and arguably better due to the higher heat of my outdoor grill, vs the flattop. Potato salad and slaw both well exceeded what you'd pay $7.99/lb for at HT as well. So I go from total disaster (I was considering just hot dogs for all...) to something interesting and delicious, all thanks to the excellent butcher that operates next to the Beer Garden. If, as has been implied, or even stated directly during the various debates about zoning, the Beer Garden subsidizes the existence of the Market, by all means, go have a pint outside this week.

Recent good bites/sips here: ACME Bread Company's cranberry walnut loaf. Will not discuss what % of this immense hunk of bread I consumed in under 24 hours. Blue Bottle's "New Orleans" Iced Coffee Farmer's Market Salad from Cowgirl Creamery Yeawife loved everything from Delica's bento boxes, I enjoyed the salmon chowder.

"Thomcord" grapes--imagine Concord grapes with edible skin and less chewy center. $2.99 for a clamshell, I think it's a lb. Excellent.

We loved Shark on the Harbor last week. Had never been to West OC but enjoyed the lively harbor atmosphere of the place; hard to describe but very different feel from the main island. Server was very accomodating to two and four-yeah old's various food allergies, even serving us the peanut-infected amuse bouche away from the table so we could enjoy it without fear of exposing the kiddos. Bread service with pimento cheese, garden salad, crab cake, 2.75 can of Natty Boh, wins all around. Rosenfeld's continued to cook perfect eggs over easy, serve real bagels, and graciously provided two band-aids when two-yeah-old wiped out and skinned her knees on the outdoor patio. Loyal customer for life. If you end up at Fish Tales (as many do) the Red Snapper tacos were surprisingly delicious. Finally, just go to the boardwalk and let your 3 year old do some rides at Trimper's. Indoor, out of the sun, great retro feel.

Dropped in just last week for the first time in more than a year. Forgot how good just the straight up "Italian Sub I" is. Bread is excellent, as are the hot peppers, and everything is proportioned just right.

I find the both the body and flavor of the iced coffee here superior to most alternatives, including Compass.

Heading over in a couple weeks. Any updates, or should I just eat at Rosenfeld's Jewish Deli all week? Could do a lot worse!

I noticed the more pronounced Old Bay too, and different aspects of the seasoning come out this year as well. Last year there was more of a celery/vegetable thing versus more peppery/smokey this year. Still good, just different.

Picked up a six at Westover Market last night. BTW--Flying Dog also has a very handy widget on their website for locating specific product lines. Will report soon.

Does anyone know if they're bringing it back this year? If so, and if someone spots it, can you please let us know? Thanks.

Milam St.

Les Grival's has very good bread and the grilled pork is better cut/less grisly than what I'm typically getting in the DMV. But don't miss the spring rolls either, there's something going on in there that seems different or maybe just atypically well-executed.

Excellent as ever. Only gripe was the cucumbers on the Szechuan dry noodles were not quite matchstick thin, a little wider and that threw something off texture-wise. Fried tofu had that excellent salt and pepper tang accompanying its light crisp. My little ones split the beef noodle soup, which put two-yeah old into slurping carb-zen for the duration of the meal and had four-yeah-old asking, totally unprompted, to return the next day. About 80% of the tables were full on a Friday at lunch, in a just world the line would be out the door.