mdjordy

The amount of money recently lost by restaurants in this mall is incredible... Naples, Met, Blaze, Lobster Place, Jamaican Place, Dumpling Place, and I'm sure there are many more. Crazy rent- too much food in mall- bad concepts -or a combination?

40$

Went Friday evening...

Kind of a shame to see a huge coal or wood fired oven sitting unused----with conveyor ovens cooking the pizza.  Yes a chain, but....

Pizza- was what I would expect from a conveyor belt, nothing memorable in anyway,

Yes, they do take credit cards.

Quick report on dinner tonight, think they are still trying to figure out what they're all about- bakery, cafe, diner, restaurant?  Pretty quiet Sunday at 6PM.  We were seated at a table, they almost seemed surprised that we wanted to eat there.

Wish the menu had descriptions...or they had images on the walls, signs or something to help us out.

Nightmarket steak and noodles-  Thinly sliced short ribs on top of yellow (very very soft/overcooked) noodles with a few snow peas and a fried egg.  All floating in a extremely peppery black pepper sauce.  Very spicy, but not in the usual red pepper way.  Will I remember this dish a week from now- probably not.

Served on a sizzling platter- that wasn't sizzling.

Brisket soup-  Large portion of tender brisket pieces in a rich beef broths with white (rice?) noodles.  Similar flavors to Pho, but stock was much deeper.  Some pickled cabbage on top.

Fried rice balls- ?  No idea of what we were getting.  2 softball sized rice balls fried and sitting on top of a very light yellow curry sauce.  Perfectly crispy and fried- no oil.  Break into these balls and---------ham and american cheese.  Huh? What? with curry?  But as odd as it sounds, pretty good.  The crispy rice...the curry...the ham...the cheese???

I love getting lunch here...

Sometimes language leads to pointing and guessing, but its an adventure.  Incredible amount of food for 4.99$  The Germantown location is 5.99, I think their selection/quality is better...soups are also a bit more exciting.

any idea of when this opens in Rockville?

Shady Grove Center

Went last night...quite a disappointment.  

The space is the opposite of cozy and comfortable, rather like sitting in an airport terminal.  

We had eaten at Brasserie Daniel a few months ago and had a GREAT meal...service, atmosphere, food....so excited to try DBGB.  The tart Flambe...gooey creamy floury mess of under seasoned onions and some bacon on a crisp flat bread.  No need to waste any calories on this.  The bread served was dry, bland and tasteless.  Good warm butter though.

Smoked eggplant was a hit.  Coq au Vin was ok, nothing bad...but nothing amazing.  Not served hot enough, once again under seasoned. 

Fresh cooked made lines were very good, light fluffy with a crispy edge.  Not greasy.  Really good.

17$ for a grey goose martini?   

Service was good to start, then a large table came in and he was gone.  gone. gone gone.  really had to work to get a check.

Go to vegas if you want food from Daniel.

Saturday and Sunday mornings, their steam tables are full of small plates... I guess another style of dim sum.  Great selection and dishes are between 2$-6$.  The pork, with peppers and dried bean curd is always great.  The problem is everyone goes down the "cafeteria" line and it can be painfully slow- the hang up is the owner working the register.  He tries (not well) to multi task, lately I just beg him to take my money so I can go eat.

The place used to be Fu-Shing Cafe

similar concepts operate in Brazil

Was there for lunch on Wednesday and had the lunch special for EIGHT dollars.  2 toppings on a pizza with a drink.  There is no better value, despite the fact that the pizza's are amazing.  Can't understand why the place isn't jammed.  This is less expensive than most fast "food".

Will made us 2 pizza's.  One traditional margarita and the second a white.  The white had mushrooms and truffle oil...along with sausage.  The truffle oil and the sausage is too good for words.  The crusts were slightly charred with great structure and flavor.  I describe the edge as pillow like.  Also had shaved sprouts.  Like chips

After lunch we chatted with Will.  Great passion.

not cabin john shopping center at Tuckerman and Seven Locks... On McArthur

$1.49 per pound at Great Wall in Rockville. Amazing flavor. Ask them to remove the dark skin, quite hard to pull off. the white skin (other side) is fine to cook with.

door is on, granite in place.

Went last night with a big group. Mostly very good.

Soup dumplings broke as we served them, but full of pork and very juicy. The chive dumplings and shrimp shu mei were the stars.

Salt and Pepper fried flounder was terrific. Not greasy, very crispy and the fish was perfectly cooked- still moist. Rice cakes stir fried with chicken was also good, smoky from the wok.

I wish the menu was organized a little better with categories, at first we couldn't find the dumplings. Also surprised at the size of the menu...dumplings are only a very small part. Noodle soups, etc.

Bob came over and was his usual gracious host. He appears much happier these days.

Thanks, so far pretty easy. I brush everything forward and then pull it out with the pizza peel.

Getting quite close to being done...oven door will be put on tomorrow. To the left is a tandoori oven I built...

Was not picture worthy yet...didn't get hot enough. Still concerned about over heating the oven before its ready. We did cook a few pizza's but the oven only got up to about 600 degree's.

I saw a demo at Sutton Place gourmet (remember that) by Francesco Ricchi. He did not constantly stir, rather everything in at once with a lid. STill have the handout recipe and it does work.

after 7 days of curing the oven...first pizzas hit the bricks tonight.

There is a big..."for lease" sign on the front of North China Inn

nope, it will be a barrel shape oven. Brick hearth and Brick walls/arch. Using a foam form for the oven itself.

Building a wood fried brick oven in my backyard...

Project starting this week. Anybody else built one? Think of the parties...

Not sure if there is/was a thread for the original Bobs 66...

Bob is back. Had a huge bowl of noodle soup today and he was working the front. He said that he spent 3 years in China---and is now back. A long story that he said he would share when they aren't so busy.

Looking forward to the story and getting back into the menu soon.

A joint venture between Cava and Mama Lucias in Park Potomac. Was at a preview party tonight.... 800 degree oven,good pizza's.- not quite orso or pupatello...but much better thah matchbox. And no corporate board driving the food. Had some spicy pork sliders, among other tastes.

Should do great and a welcome addition to the wasteland of food in Potomac!