KeithA

I've been to OC a lot again this summer. Mostly the same places with similar experiences (see my earlier posts in this thread) - Dumser's Dairyland, OC Kabob, Best Donuts on the Beach, the Hobbit, Matt's Fish Camp, Thrashers' Fries, Fisher's Popcorn, Candy Kitchen. A few updates: 1. Matt's fish camp in Bethany is as popular as ever so DO NOT try to go there with a party larger than 4 unless you want to wait or go at an off time. Food and drinks still rather good. Although I still think it is a shame that their "market" fish shows how almost all of the fish is from farm away and not local. It is the same at most of the restaurants in OC. Wish I could find more decent restaurants that serve fish from the MD. 2. Bluefish - sushi and Pan-Asian at 94th street. Had some pretty good sushi there again after a few year hiatus. Worth checking out for something different. 3. Ropewalk (the one several blocks below 100 st) - went late night on a weeknight for drinks and snacks. The place has huge decks and sand seating with a nice view of the bay. Some ok live music acts (although they shut the doors so you can only hear them inside at the bar which is a shame if you want to sit out on a deck). Drinks were nothing special - just low alcohol big sizes like crushes, etc that you find at a lot of the beach bars. Also have a big playground area in front that serves as a waiting area for anxious kids. We only had fries (which were ok) and a slice of awful, still slightly frozen cheesecake. I'd recommend going for music and a beer or non-mixed drink late or come for the kids to play - but avoid most of the menu.

Went today for lunch and really enjoyed my Lampri with lamb. It is a large portion of saffron rice, topped with a variety of toppings - spicy, sauteed onions, cashews, stewed vegetables, a hard boiled egg, a fried fish ball (kind of a cross between falafel and a salt cod croquette but with tuna), and your choice of protein. I got the tender, saucy lamb. Really wonderful and reasonable at $13-16 for a large meal or easy a mid-size entree to share. They also have a lunch buffet for $10-11 with about 5 options that I overheard other diners say was good. Worth checking out. Also the food has similarities to Indian cuisine, but it is distinctly different.

Like others who responded, this is a lame generalization. It may be a shame you have to search out for good sandwiches, but DC has them plenty. I mean read through this thread - some really good stuff. Last week had excellent falafel at Yafa Grille on 19th st downtown (now moved up better in my opinion than Amsterdam Falafel since the former has fresh pillowly baked in house pita and the latter has dreck pita these days) and wonderful lamb gyro at G Sandwich. G Sandwich is really a stand out stuff - great breads, fresh meat, nice blend of flavors and often a nice herbal touch - my other go to hear besides the lamb is the goat sandwich.

Does anyone know any places (preferably in or close in to DC) to get really good halva? I was never much of fan of the stuff you find in the candy checkout aisle, but recently when I had some excellent stuff at a party and can't stop thinking about getting some more. By halva I'm referring to the sesame/tahini based dessert that is typically sesame, sugar, and other added flavors like vanilla, chocolate, pistacio, etc. Thanks.

We went for an early-ish dinner on a mid-week night and it was about 3/4 full. There is also another branch in Pigeon Forge, the next town over. The sauce is rather good - worked great on some grilled steak over the weekend.

Last week we were in Asheville for 24 hours staying downtown, but we managed to eat well! This town has great eats. I second French Broad Chocolates - kids had delicious dark chocolate ice cream, wife enjoyed her salted caramel hot chocolate, but I chose best with the Liquid Truffle (think thicker, richer hot chocolate) wih smoked salt. Hmm so good and indulgent. I'll also second Early Girl Eatery for a wonderful breakfast (we went earlyish on Friday morning with no wait) - the Early Girl Benny (poached eggs, light tomato juice/salsa, veggies on top of fried grit cake and topped with slice avocado) was unusual and awesome. The grit cake was really good and the whole thing melded flavors nicely. The pancakes were good (not too special) but got better with a douse of the fresh berry jam in squeeze bottles on the table. Even better baked good was the banana bread with the same jam. Wife loved her special of morning salad - spinach, blackberries, strawberries, and granola with balsamic dressing. Also a pretty good biscuit too. One new one to add to the thread which is really worth going to is Salsas. All of these places were recommended by a cousin who used to live there and visits each year so the consistency seems to be good too. At Salsas we over-ordered tremendously. The portions are huge and easily shareable by 2-3 people for any entree or even an app. Great fresh made corn tortilla chips slicked with green herb oil and come with your choice of about 7 different salsas. For entrees, kids had chicken fajitas which were good but not special. Grownups had some good eats. I had the Mocolajete (which is the typcial lava stone bowl but filled with a hominy sauced, tons of sauted vegetables, and choice of protein - I went with salmon- and then topped with some raw vegetables for crunch). It comes out bubbling and stays hot the whole meat for a great stew like dish. Also had their _____(can't remember the unusual name) which is a tall wooden vessel with similar mix of vegetables and food but not the extra broth so it is more like a hearty salad. Different sauce though and chicken. Both of these were great and huge. On the way out we happened on a bakery more north in town called Dough. Excellent grilled vegetable/cheese melt sandwich and buttery challah. I highly recommend all of these places!

Recently in Gatlinburg, TN visiting the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We stayed at the great Lodge at Buckberry Creek (highly recommended for nice lodging, great location in the more serene hills above town, but still only 5 minute drive to town and park entrance). Lodge puts delicious fresh baked cookies on your bed each night that vary every day. Breakfast is included and is a nice buffet of bagels, eggs, meats, great scones and biscuits, etc. The Lodge also is known for its tasty dinner menu, but apparently it books up quick so we never got to eat there. In town, one great place was Bennet's BBQ. Excellent smoky, moist, but not overly fatty brisket with really good choice of 4 sauces - I liked the original Rowdy the best (I even bought a jar to bring home). The coleslaw which is diced and sweet, the way I like it and good onion rings and drop biscuit. The half smoked chicken dipped in the honey BBQ sauce was pretty good too. Kids did great with super fresh chicken tenders (not frozen stuff you usually get). One place to skip is Best Italian unless you love tons of bland melted mozzarella - the place is very popular and quality of ingredients were decent, but everything lacked seasoning and wasn't cooked well (soft crust pizza, flavorless stuffed shells) and there famous garlic knots are bread twist rolls covered in diced garlic from a jar and average oil.

Why has no one reviewed this restaurant in almost a year? Recently went for the first time and it was wonderful!!! It was Valentine's Day dinner and we had a great meal. Started at the bar with some great cocktails based on the friendly bartender's recommendations - Jungle Punch for the lady (rum punch drink with grapefruit juice that made it nice for winter, vs. your typical summer rum cocktail) and Aviator for me (I like my cocktails smooth and a bit on the sweeter side which this was). Then, off to a nice table near the open kitchen - nicely spaced for some privacy and not too noisy to easily have a conversation, but still some background hum to not feel like a museum). The bread was really good - biggish parker house rolls with coarse salt and good butter. We started with a 3 cheese plate. I think we chose the milder cheeses so they were good quality, but lacked a bit of flavor - but the accompaniments made up for it. The cheese plate had 3 different types of toasted bread or cracker - all good and 3 tasty toppers - roasted hazelnuts, cranberry compote, and apricot mostarda (our favorite). Then we shared the wonderfully varied House Salad - apricot, beet, cauliflower, radish, goat cheese, champagne vinaigrette - a real nice blend of crunchy, sweet, peppery. It was hard to choose as all of their salads have interesting compositions. For mains we had the atlantic snapper with gnocci, veggies, and saffron broth - very good (albiet the snapper piece was a tad on the small size). I had the gnocci main which was great - larger quarter size gnocci that were like little pillow of deliciousness. The gnocci comes with earthy mushrooms, apples, butternut squash and a lighter but creamy sauce. Our waitresss also steered us to the different, but good roasted cauliflower side. Simple nice roasted cauliflower but with the added sweetness of ver jus and tiny grapes - good if you like sweet. For dessert, we shared the Apple Tart which was huge. It is about a 5-6 pie and rich - could easily be shared by 2-3 people. It was pretty good - might have been better if the caramel sauce was thinner and easier to pour over the tart. I really did like it with the vanilla creme fraiche - a bit more tangy than normal whipped cream to balance the apple sweetness. We also had some very nice glasses of wine which I don't remember the names. Most of the main entrees seemed to be on the larger size (especially some of the steaks we saw which were humongous) so a relatively good value for a higher end restaurant.

This is a very interesting discussion on the history of the dish. But I'll ask the more immediate questions: 1. anyone have a really good biryani recipe? 2. which restaurant in DC (nearby suburbs) serves the best biryani? Personally, I've always enjoyed Indique's lamb biryani.

I went today for the first time and enjoyed the miso ramen. A big caveat though that I came from the dentist and my upper teeth and lip were rather numb - but that is why I went for soup for lunch ;-) I don't eat pork so I asked which of the ramen soups didn't have pork in the base and he said the only one was the miso ramen and they'd swap the pork belly for their nippon tofu (2 big pieces of soft tofus that is lightly fried - agedashi tofu-style). I thought the portion was large and ample with lots of good quality noodles, fresh tasting broth. I'm an onion lover with a sweet tooth so the combo of the fresh sweet corn and the scallions was spot on for me. Worth a trip again - even for the same dish. I saw a bunch of rice bowls and they looked good, but a little less interesting than the soups.

Processor vs. grater - I vote processor if you have a ribbon shredder grater insert. So depending on how you like your latkes - a pile of shredded crispy strips or crispy on the edges but more of thick patty you need to adjust your grating. I grew up on the pile of crispy shredded strips that are found in many recipes and it is very good - essentially fried hashbrowns. However, I married into a family with a very particular focus on making thicker latkes from an almost completely grated to bits mixture. They had always done this by grating potatos on a box grater on the smallest holes and then adding egg, vinegar, salt, and matzah meal (and some grated onion depending on who in the family was cooking). This year, I finally got the approval from my mother-in-law that you could get the same result by using a processor - step 1: shred potatos in processor with grating insert and step 2: pulse chop shreds with standard processor blade till mostly, but not completely blitzed to bits. It is much faster, less tiring and same result. I even had the chance to compare because we had processor assisted latkes at my house and then a few nights later hand grated latkes at my brother in laws (they don't have a processor) - same exact taste. BTW - we don't strained the water or reuse the potato starch. Just cut/grate/mix in other ingredients and fry. As long as the oil is lot enough - they come out crispy and great. Happy belated chanukkah!

I don't usually reheat wood-burning oven pizza (it is usually all eaten when served :-) However, I think for pizza cooked in a regular oven that the skillet method is a good way to approximate that same high heat experience.

I totally agree with this method. I started using it awhile ago for reheating all pizzas and it works great. Just watch out you don't burn the bottom of the pizza if you leave it on to long on too high a heat setting. I think Pete's Apizza actually has these instructions on their boxes. Not sure where I learned it.

Channa masala, warmed pita bread, and clementies for dessert.

I saw Tim Carman's great review for this place and so checked it out yesterday for lunch. A pretty big, very clean/new-ish space with friendly servers. I wholeheartedly agree with the Post review and posters above, great tacos here on fresh made tortillas ($2.50 each). I had the chicken tinga, bistec, and lengua and all 3 were very good. I also liked the green tomatillo/avocado salsa, smoky red poblano (medium heat), and pickled onion condiments. I've eaten my fair share of DC tacos, but never having been to Mexico and since most other places use store-bought tortillas, I thought I needed to compare. So after Habernero, I headed several blocks down the street to Taqueria Distrito Federal for comparison. I had a chicken and barbacoa (my original order at TH, but they said they were out) ($3 each). You could taste and see the difference right away. The meats were more flavorful, but smaller quantity at TH and the tortillas were much much better with fresh corn accent to them at TH. My vote is definitely for the new kid, TH over TDF. Not to say that TDF wasn't ok, but TH was great.

It's a great place. I go every few weeks for my fix - you can't go wrong with soft fried egg, good rice, donburi sauce and onions, pickles (not to mention the toppings) And apparently they've expanded the menu a bit - http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/youngandhungry/2014/11/20/donburi-offers-half-off-everything-today/ Hopefully the new additions will be as good as the original stuff.

Went last week for the first time and had a great Brisket Champ sandwich (Sliced Brisket with Crispy Fried Onions and House Made pickles on Texas Toast) - really succulent meat on heavily buttered bread. Good eats. I was less impressed with the hush puppies - tasted very doughy and too salty and IMHO I didn't think dipping them in the maple syrup that came with them added anything but stickiness. I will definitely go back for more meat, but next time try some other sides. I should have listened to the counterguy who recommened the crispy brussel sprouts.

I am so glad a new restaurant opened in my neighborhood, as always. What is really good at Coppi's that shouldn't be missed?

thanks for sharing. Great list of hacks! Definitely plan on using 1. on help getting rid of eggshell bits.

This is a coincidence, I haven't been to this place in months and I just happened to go for lunch yesterday in Adams Morgan. Similar report to the Doctor - pita bread was crap - not stale, but lacks flavor and even worse it split all of the way open and all of the fillings fell into the bottom of the bag. The fillings were still pretty good though. I also had a small fries which are still good and crispy. Recently, I ate another low country restaurant who had similar very good (even better) crisp tatters - St. Arnolds in Cleveland Park.

Stopped by yesterday and had a great time chatting with the owner about different spices. She is very friendly, down to earth and knowledgable. One thing that is a bit quirky is all of the spices are only labeled with their Indian names -requiring you to ask so what is cardamon or fenugreek, etc which are the anglicized names one usually sees in Indian recipes for western audiences. But like I said, if you can catch the time of the owner she is happy to explain everything. I was very happy to finally get my hands on amchur (sour dried and ground mango powder which you can't find outside of indian groceries). They also have a really big selection of spices and grains including many varieties of spice blends. At their bar, they are now serving several chais and other teas and drinks and some small snack foods. I tried the cardmon kulfi ice milk (she explained it is only whole milk, no cream, cooked with spices for 5 hours and then frozen) - it was well-spiced and tasty, but the texture wasn't my favorite (I missed the cream ;-) ) Definitely worth checking out.

Real mixed bag experience on Saturday. Went again for Crafty Bastards - always a fun fair and this time it looks like they doubled down on the food trucks and had a better layout. Afterwards we went to the Market for dinner. DC Dosas closed right before I tried to place an order around 6pm even though the market is open till 8 and the place was packed with people. Shame because they looked good. Buffalo and Bergen root beer was very good but pricey - not sure if it was worth $5 for a soda - maybe one of the special concoctions would be. DC Mediterranean - oh my - this sucked all around! Line took forever, wait for pre-made food took forever, and then the food was pretty awful (meat pie - gross, spinach pie - bleh, cheese pie - so so, baba ganoush - passable, tabbouli - meh, falafel - tasteless) except the pita was good. Run from this place - clueless people running it poorly and food is crap. Redemption then came with Neopol - friendly, quick service even with offering tastes of pretty much whatever I was interested in (next time smoked spicy hummus as the taste was good). Took home and quickly finished off peppercorn smoked salmon filet and herbes de provence smoke salmon fillet - really really really high quality and great deep taste. Sad they didn't have the carmalized onion left, but the herbes de provence was almost as good. The peppercorn was good, but not as good as the other 2. Further redemption with excellent, very rich and creamy Trickling Springs ice cream for dessert. I had tastes of good chocolate and better mint chip, but I chose wisest in the family with the chocolate peanut butter (where they mix the PB into the cream so it is fully integrated) and it was awesome. Normally I'm not much of a cone fan, but I picked the waffle cone and it was fresh and great.

I second Capital Teas for being worth a visit. My wife is really into tea and so I went earlier this summer to their Dupont store to buy her some as a gift. While they did have 2 brews for tasting, unfortunately it is only retail at this location. That being said, I got a tea education from their very helpful salesman who took lots of time to explain to me about the various teas and point me to some blends based on my comments on what my wife likes. In the store they have tons of jars of tea so you can see, smell, and read a bit about the many options. I ended up getting 3 tins of loose tea: Cherry Blossom, Caramel Toffee, and Talk of the Town blends - which have had rave reviews from everyone whose tried them. These are very high quality teas but like Pat said more expensive.

Ok as a former sushi chef, please clarify what may be my misconception. Here is my understanding - typically, fish comes into the sushi restaurant either whole or in huge blocks, and the chefs during the off-hours typically break it down in small pieces. The small pieces are then placed in the refrigerator cases on the sushi bar. Then for each order, then chef takes the small block (say about the size of a deck of cards or smaller) and cuts it down further to the proper size for the roll or piece ordered. So when I said it is I thought it was pre-cut I meant to the more manageable small block, not to a super thin nigri slice. Ami I wrong about this? In some higher end sushi places, do chefs really cut a whole fish or huge loin piece down to nigri per order?

The white onion pizza this part is their standard offerings by the slice. However if you want to get a whole pizza of any type you need to order that in advance. It usually takes about 30 minutes.