Biscuit Girl

Has anyone been lately?  We're planning a trip to PR in November and think we'll spend some time in Fejardo, Ponce and Old San Juan.

Really like the cevapcici and Bosnia Burgers at Cosmopolitan. Also the fresh breads. Both are excellent at Balkan Grill as well, but that's more carryout. They also do a killer doner kebab which is pretty hard to find around here.

We live in walking distance to the Balkan Grill which was the original Cosmopolitan location.  Great food all around.  I'm a fan of the chicken sandwich which can feed a family of four.

When a friend asked for a Bushmill's at Restaurant Eve's bar the other night, the barman loudly responded "We don't serve that Protestant whiskey". A few minutes later, chef/owner Cathal Armstrong walked through the bar and when told that a customer had requested Bushmill's, repeated the same thing.  While I recognize that religion and politics are volatile issues, and the establishment has every right to serve or not serve whatever products it chooses, I don't think it's appropriate to treat any customer (especially one who happens to be Catholic and born a few miles from the Bushmill's distillery) so offensively.

Interestingly, Bushmill's, one of the oldest distillers in Ireland, had been owned for many years by Diageo, a large British-based international company which owns dozens of brands worldwide. Bushmill's is now owned by Casa Cuervo.  I doubt that either Diageo or Cuervo consider themselves "Protestant owners".

For a restaurant of this caliber, this should never have happened, especially from the owner!

According to their Facebook page, they will be hosting Firken Friday on  April 3rd at 4PM.

Any good food trucks out front? They've been a weekend attraction the first couple of weekends, Very cool you made it down!

We were there on Friday night, but there was a truck scheduled to be there on Saturday night.

We stopped by Fair Winds yesterday after work.  It's a nice, bright, inviting space.  The staff were super friendly and very happy to take time and talk about their beers with you.  We tried a flight of the five currently on tap.  MY favorites, and polar opposites on the beer spectrum were the Quayside Kolsch and the Flemish Stout.  The Kolsch was bight, malty and a perfect summer beer.  The Flemish Stout was a nice balance of roast, chocolate with a mild amount of hop.

I'm not an IPA fan but thought the Following C's was unique.  The hops hovered around then swung back to knock you over. The other IPA, Howling Gale was a more balanced IPA.

The Running Light Red had a little bit of fruit, chocolate and spice.  It reminded me of a Christmas beer.

On a side note, if you're a train buff, the brewery is next to the train tracks.  We watched an Amtrak and a VRE train rumble by while we were there.

Wegmans in Kingstowne, via the newly constructed Jeff Todd Way, is 10 minutes for me, so I am eagerly awaiting the opening. Despite living on the south end of Rt. 1, I can't complain about grocery choices- within a 5? Mile radius, I have the Ft. Belvoir commissary, Safeway, Bestway, Aldi, Costco, & now, Wegmans- I'm pretty spoiled for choices. Shout out for Alexandria 22309 (whatever you want to call it).

I work across the street from the new shopping center and have been in touch with Wegmans regarding their opening date.  As of mid Feb. the planned opening date for Wegmans and most of the shops is mid June.

This will be the largest Wegmans in the DC area and will include a sit-down restaurant called The Pub.  I foresee many happy hours after work in my future.

Here is a link to the shopping center tenants.

Ok, Dr Evil reference aside:

Born in Kingston NY and lived in Saugerties until I was 9. My father worked for IBM (I've Been Moved) so we moved to Winchester England for about a year and then back to NY. Then we were transferred to Madison WI where we lived in the town of Middleton. At 12, my folks split up and I moved with my mother down to Raleigh NC where I lived until I graduated from High School. Then I moved to Salisbury MD and lived there for about 4 years despite hating that hick town, but I have family there and also I went to Salisbury University (at the time Salisbury State College). Then I transferred to Ohio State University (now THE Ohio State University) and lived in Columbus for a year and a half. Then I moved back to Salisbury for the opportunity to work for the company my dad ran (not IBM). Did that for 6 years, saved some $$$, and took off for Europe where I traveled through 18 countries in a year. When I returned I moved to Alexandria. Over the next 10 years I lived in Old Town, Shirlington, back to Old Town, over to Del Ray, back to Old Town, then Capitol Hill, and Rockville. Over the past two years I've lived in Fairfax. I haven't lived in the same house for more than 3 years my whole life.

I'm considering Madagascar as my next move where I'll pursue my dream of being a lemur.

Ha!  My dad worked for IBM too and know all about the I've Been Moved  stuff.   He worked in NYC starting out on typewriters then copiers.

I have a small Keurig in my office while there is a larger one in the staff break room.  I agree the waste is bad and it's been made even worse for those who purchase the 2.0 brewers.  You cannot use a cup in the brewer unless it has a coded top cover so the refillable cups and some off brands cannot be used you hack the system.

I have been saving my used cups since January and am currently re-using them to start my herb garden seedlings indoors.  Pull off the top, dump out the grounds and you have a seedling cup.  The filter helps retain the soil and the hole punched in the bottom allows for draining.  I know this is a limited re-use of the cups so I will look at the Grounds to Grow On program once I transplant things outdoors.

I was born in Hartford, CT but only stayed there a short time.  My parents moved back to Elmont, NY to help out my grandmother who lost her husband, my grandfather, two weeks before I was born.  After a few years in Elmont, my parents bought a house on Primrose Lane in Levittown, NY.  Lots of fond memories of growing up there with all the neighborhood friends we had.  When I was a teenager, my dad got a transfer to Knoxville, TN.  Being a brooding teenager my first thought was Oh My Gawd, we're moving where???!!  The first few years had their ups and downs but it turned out to be a wonderful move for my family.  After graduating HS, I went to East TN State Univ. followed by graduate school at the Univ. of TN - Knoxville where I got my Masters degree in Library Science.

After graduate school, I got a job in Nashville, TN where I lived for 8 years while working for UT.  When my job was downgraded from a librarian to nothing more than a gopher for the dept. I chose to find something better.  That move was a mixed bag of good and bad.  I became the Director for a county library system in upper east TN.  I basically moved to Mayberry which included an Otis (my boss).  The town knew who I was before I even got there.  Being young and single, this was not the town for me.  For one, a catch was someone who had all their own teeth.  It was also a *gasp* dry county! If someone had told me that I'd meet the man I would marry while living there, I would have laughed at them.  But that's just what happened.

I met Jim, who was living in Knoxville at the time.  We hit it off immedately.  Meanwhile, small town living was turning sour for me.  When Jim got a job in DC, I turned in my notice and moved with him.  We were married a year later.

We've now been up here in Alexandria for nearly 17 years.

I'm glad to read that, because the night I had it, the noodles were undercooked to the point of being doughy.  Otherwise it was a nice soup.

Where did I dine?

It it Mitsitam Cafe?

Heading to Eden Center for lunch with friends Sunday, no particular destination in mind. What are folks liking these days?

Rice Paper is always a good bet.

A few weeks ago we decided to go out somewhere near home for Happy Hour.  Jackson 20 had been on our radar for a while so we decided to give it a try.  We easily found seats at the bar and ordered drinks, the fried green tomatoes and the pork sliders.   The tomatoes were perfectly cooked and had a nice crispy coating.  The pork sliders were phenomenal.  Three nice sized buns heaped with pork barbeque.  I opted to use a fork and knife to eat mine so I didn't risk it landing on my shirt.  They could easily make for a light dinner on their own.  A cursory look at the dinner menu piqued our interest for future visits.

Having satisfied our thirst and curiosity, we talked about coming back in a couple of weeks for my birthday.

Fast forward two weeks later.  I would recommend making reservations if you go on a weekend.  We had one for 6:30 and shortly after we got there, most of the tables were full.  I was seated facing the front (towards King St).  While I enjoyed looking at Jim across the table from me, I was greatly amused by the large bronze pig on the end of the bank of seats behind him.  When you come in, the pig is facing you.  However, when seated on the back side of the banquette looking towards King St, you have a view of the business end of the pig which I should point out, I discovered was a sow.

We each ordered a cocktail while we mulled over the appetizers before deciding on the Charcuterie Board consisting of six different meats, house made pickles and onions, whipped pig butter and crispy butter toast.  The meats were Salami Cotto, Porchetta, Brescola, Soppressato and Country Pate.   Everything was good with the porchetta being my favorite.  A bread basket also arrived at the table with decadent buttery, flaky biscuits and slightly sweet corn muffins.

For entrees, I ordered the Bison Hanger steak served with scarlet Runner Beans, Hunter Sausage, Baby Spinach, and Mole de Colorado.  The steak, done medium-rare, was very tender and full of flavor.  The runner beans were the biggest I've ever seen and very creamy.  The hunter sausage has a nice texture and smoky flavor.  The spinach was simple and what you'd expect from spinach.  The mole sauce had a deep, dark taste with a nice kick of heat.    I had a piece of steak leftover for lunch today and it was just as good reheated the next day.

Jim got the Charcoal Slow Roasted Goat with Cream Corn, Pimento Cheese Ravioli, Sweet Potato Puree.  The goat was falling apart on the fork and had a nice smoked flavor.  Jim said the smoke masked the gaminess of the goat and unless you knew it was goat, you might think you were eating pork.  Still, it was very good and paired superbly with the merlot we ordered.  Jim felt the pimento cheese ravioli was a little gimmicky (gimmicky or not, I loved them).   The sweet corn played very nicely with the goat and ravioli.

One of things I really liked was the 20 for $20 wine list. Ten reds, 8 whites and 2 sparkling wines to choose from all $20 each.  We chose one of the La Puerta, Malbec from Argentina.  While it was very nice with the steak, it was damned near perfect with the goat.

I should also mention our server for the evening.  She was very attentive and polished.  She earned points with us when we discussed what wine to have with dinner.  We mentioned the merlot on the $20 list and one from the other wine list that was $40.  She knew her wines and said for the price she said she'd go with the $20 bottle.

We were surprised at the end of the meal when the server told us dessert was complimentary for my birthday.  It arrived at the table while I was in the restroom.  Another example of how good our server was, she came back to the table after I got back to tell me about the dessert we'd chosen, an apple cake with bourbon caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream.

Our bill came to just over $135 (pre-tip) which was a great value for the quality of both the food and the service we received.

We will be going back to explore more of the menu.

We made our way to Space Bar on Saturday.  It's one of the places we've been meaning to get to but haven't until now.  I contemplated several sandwiches, included the tuna that Don had.  I settled on the Turkey, Avocado and Havarti, a very comforting sandwich.  Jim got the roast beef with sharp cheddar and horseradish mayo.  He added banana peppers to the sandwich which helped cut the richness of the sandwich while adding another layer of zing.

I agree with Don that the tap selection was pretty darn good.  We opted for several smaller glasses of beer to let us get more variety.  Jim went mostly with the hoppy varieties while I stuck with the dark beers.  Had you told me a year ago that not only would I like dark beer but would order it more often than any other, I'd have laughed at you. Honest, just ask Jim.

Would we go back?  Probably, especially the next time we get a hankering for a solidly made sandwich, tots and a cold beer.

"FishNet To Launch Four-Seat Chef's Table FishNook" by Maura Judkis in washingtonpost.com

I've been thinkging about where I want to go for my birthday this year and got excited when I saw this.  Then  I noticed the date it starts, three days after my birthday.  Dang it.

Rabieng in Baileys Crossroads does a nice job with this dish.  They call it Provincial Chicken on the menu but it's Khao Soi.  I also have a recipe for it.

We had been only ordering the legs at the Annandale location (Chi Mc) but about 2 months ago while my brother in law was in town, we took him to Chi Mc and got an order of the wings as well as an order of the legs. It had been several years since we got the wings but I must say I liked them much better than the legs.  The other posters are right.  The legs have gotten bigger and IMHO are not as flavorful.  The meat to crispy skin ratio is better with the smaller wings and little drumsticks. 

I'd second Keys Fisheries.  We don't get down to the Keys as much as we like but when we do several meals are at this place. 

There's also one going in at the new Hilltop Village Center at the intersection of Beulah St and Telegraph Road in the Kingstowne area.  This is the same shopping center that will have Wegman's as is anchor store.  Last I heard the businesses may not open until early 2015.  Things were supposed to open this Fall but building permits took longer than expected, at least for Wegman's.  I'm not sure if it's affecting the smaller businesses or not.

Here is a link to the site and what's planned so far.  Lots of good choices for lunch and shopping.

Barbara and I have been in twice, once for drinks and snacks, and then tonight for dinner.  I had planned on fixing a steak at home for dinner, but the damn thing hadn't thawed, so we went out.  I found a parking spot in old town directly across for Daniel O'Connell's, so that was dinner.  I had the 16 oz Cowgirl Ribeye, a bone-in ribeye steak.  It was properly cooked and damn tasty, served with a whiskey peppercorn cream sauce.  The so-called au gratin potatoes were a thin layer of potato slices over mashed potatoes, but since the mashed potatoes were tasty I'm willing to give them a pass. Barbara had the shepherds pie with a reasonable (not thick) layer of potato over meat and veg.

Previously, we've had the scotch eggs which were excellent.  Overall the quality of food is good and provides a reasonable value. It's worthwhile if you want good pub dining in Old Town Alexandria.

Not the best picture quality.

  Jim's Ribeye

  My Shepherds Pie

We stopped in tonight for dinner tonight and were not disappointed.  We started out with the Kukhura ko sekuwa - grilled chicken marinated with mustard oil and Nepalese spices.  A squeeze of lemon was a nice addition to the very succulent tender chicken.  (forgot to get a picture of it)  Like Simul Parikh, we got the goat curry and agree it was the best dish on the table.  Tender chunks of goat (some still on the bone) in a rich tomato based sauce (?) that has a slowly building heat. The sauce was my favorite part of the dish. Fragrant basmati rice and naan were good sources for conveying the sauce to my belly.  We also got the chicken momo.  We thought the dumpling wrapper wasn't thick at all.  They were tasty but not a stand out like the goat.

The staff were very helpful and friendly.  They told us we could order dishes to be prepared in varying degrees of heat from mild to hot to HOT.  The menu is big enough to offer lots of future visit for further exploration.  A take out menu is tucked into the glove compartment of my car for easy access for take home dinners.  And restaurant is conveniently on my way home from work, even better.

Naan

Momo

Goat curry

Here is the menu from their website.

Very cool, Barbara, and nicely done, Jim!

No glass is broken, right?

Only if you do it badly.

We tried to saber a bottle of Aria but manged to mangle it.  We brought the bottle inside to see why Jim couldn't open it and noticed the neck was chipped and cracked.  When he grabbed the cork, it fell off the bottle and spewed all over the backsplash over the sink.  With the amount of chipped glass around the neck, we just tossed the contents down the drain.

Thankfully we had put three bottles of champagne in the fridge, you know, just in case we got really thirsty, so he got to saber the last bottle which is the one in the video.

One of the keys is to keep the sabering tool (he used the flat edge of a large kitchen knife) at a low angle, slightly raised from the side of the bottle.

This is the first bottle he sabered.

And a word of caution, the neck of the bottle can be extremely sharp.  How do I know?  I reached into our recycle bin last night and just barely touched one of the bottles and cut my finger.

Details!

Jim actually sabered two bottles on NYE. The first bottle took a few attempts before he got the blade at just the right angle. A nice *pop* and off went the top of the bottle with the cork. I took a video but the lighting wasn't very good. This was corrected with the next attempt. Using a headlamp, I was able to illuminate Jim and the bottle a little better. On the very first pass, he did it! The video is still a little dark but you can distinctly hear the pop as he cleanly sabers a nice bottle of Gruet.

Jim made an absolutely delicious, if not decadent, pork belly on Sunday night.  A while back I bought some pork belly (skinless) but didn't have any immediate plans for it so I popped it into the freezer.  It was just too pretty a piece to not buy.

Jim got the recipe from a food blog in Singapore called The MeatMen.  He had to slightly adapt the recipe as it called for using belly with the skin but nonetheless, it turned out fabulous.  Even the Sophie dog was going nuts over it practically climbing in my lap for bits.

However, I am warning you, if you start looking at this website, you'll be sucked in for hours.  It's a carnivores heaven.

While we don't have any of his picks at home, Jim is threatening to saber a bottle of bubbly tonight.  I don't know whether to be excited or ready to spend the night in the ER.