KeithA

Went to Meiwah downtown for the first time last week in a large group that was duck crazy. For 10 folks we had 3 "Beijing Ducks" which were rather tasty at this otherwise pretty normal chinese place. The ducks were expensive around $30, but carved nicely (I didn't try to get the carcass in this big a group though so can't answer that question) and juicy with crisp skin like one wants. The plum sauce was nothing special - unlike the my favorite at Spices, but the nice change of pace was the pancakes which were larger (almost double in size) and slightly thicker than usual. Having a bigger, thicker pancake was great to avoid the typical rips and tears and made it easier to eat more of the duck wrapped in pancakes without having to order extra. So while I wouldn't go out of my way to get this duck, if you are in the area, I'd recommend it.

I similarly had an underwhelming dinner there about 2 weeks ago. The waitress and staff were very friendly with good service in the cozy environs, but the food was only so so. I started with their salad St. Tropez which was probably the best part - but was a pretty simple preparation of grilled and raw vegetables. For entree, my hanger steak was very bland even with the sauce they serve on the side. The accompaning fries were better. My wife's salmon was basic and bland. I didn't try it but the only stand out entree seemed to be the mussels which were rather large in total portion and big individual mussels (think jumbo shrimp vs babies). Desserts were also merely adequate. The special crepe with nutella and grand marnier came flambe which looked pretty but was drenched in so much liquor that it had no other flavor. The crepe was not what we expected either the nutella wasn't spread on the crepe but mixed in with the batter so you didn't taste the chocolate at all. Better was the creme brulee which in my father-in-law's expert (one of his fav desserts) was good, but not great. It was a shame because the I used to really like this place in my neighborhood, but it was not worth the high price at all that night. Maybe we chose dishes badly - but 2 out of 10 dishes that were only good but no standouts probably isn't luck.

So who does have good veggie dumplings? Every time we get them from Chinese restaurants lately they stink.

I concur. I was there about 2 weeks ago and the noodles were as good as ever.

That is a shame, because Nooshi's sister restaurant, Spices in Cleveland Park has one of the best peking ducks as a holdover from its now-gone upscale sister Yanyu. Give it a try it is listed as the "Big Duck" - $15 for half or $30 for whole and I think worth it.

I haven't been yet, but from what I read in some articles on the place, I thought Hill just developed the recipes. I don't think he is supposed to be cooking them himself.

I desperately need to find a fresh pomegranate or at least pomegranate seeds (not juice, molasses, yogurt, etc) - please let me know if you've seen them for sale anywhere recently? Preferably in DC, but anywhere within the metro area will do. Thanks.

That is awful. I hope they relocate somewhere. They are fresh and great and yes cheap! I guess downtown folks will have to travel up to Dupont to get their fix.

How is the fried chicken different? Please describe. Thanks.

To follow up on the comments about being rushed through dinner during RW, I had the opposite experiences too. Monday night at Circle Bistro at 7:30pm lasted till 10:30pm, partly due to slow service in a half empty dining room. I already complained about that though in the CB thread. Tuesday night at a packed Oval Room at 8:15pm lasted till almost 11:00pm. This time the service was nicely paced and we were chatting alot. Around 10ish when we were served desserts, the waitress even said take your time. So I guess it comes down to whether the restaurant overbooked and its attitude toward dining pace.

Oval Room last night - very good. First time there and we were impressed. They have a special RW menu - different than regular menu, but still with about 4-5 options per course and no upcharges. It is under the events section of their website. The arugula salad with crumbled bits of goat cheese and mango was nice. The app winner was the cauliflower soup with blue cheese, coconut milk, and other strong flavors - something good and different. Mains - taking the host's suggestions we had the short rib and the salmon. Heard the salmon was good, nothing to amazing though. I had the the short rib and it was very nice tender meat accented by a citrus gremolata on a cushion of creamy polenta. My first time eating short rib and it was enjoyable but a few of the outer charred pieces were stringy - not sure if this is normal or not for this cut. Good dish though. Desserts - I went with the chocolate mousse which was two scoops surrounded by candied hazelnuts - which you could taste in the mousse two and various berries. Rich and good. The pumpkin bread pudding was more like a mini pumpkin cake surrounded by creme anglaise - pretty good. I only had a bite, but I'd say the winner was the sauteed pineapple with banana ice cream. It was delicate and the flavors blended so well. Definitely something different that is more creative than desserts you usually find. Service was great. The two rooms are both very nice too, although some of the tables are packed in tight.

I'd skip Previous - sounds like you died.

Last night, RW dinner at Circle Bistro was very good with a few complaints. Overall the food was an A-. Pretty much the whole menu on the their website and a few additions are available. Some items have upcharges ($2-5), but many do not. First, the chef sent out an amuse of crostini with duck liver mousse and a bit of diced fruit. I don't usually eat liver and thought it wasn't that great. There were four of us and 3 had the special, goat cheese, beet, and pistachio salad. It was nice and different than other similar dishes I've enjoyed (like an excellent one at Ardeo). The cheese was lightly battered and fried and serves as 2-3 rounds on a bed of mache. The beets were unusual to me. Small quartered chunks that were paler in color, but sweeter in flavor than I'm used to. I thought the beets were so so like this, but my companions raved about them. The pistachios were crushed and more really of a light dusting that I didn't think added much flavor. The cheese, mache, and beets as a combo were a winner though. The fourth person had the simple organic lettuces salad which looked like a nice size, but wasn't anything special. For entrees, I had the clear winner. The glazed duckling which was wondeful. I highly recommend this dish. It comes pre-sliced in an ample portion. The meat is rare and very moist with some crispy skin and just the right amount of fat attached. The plating is dramatic with duck jus and swirls and swaths of a creamy, yellow sauce of apples and sweet potato. Everyone else who tried it, said they wish they had ordered it too. The other entrees were also good. The lemon trout was very buttery tasting accompanied with nicely seasoned green beans (or haricot vert if you want to be fancy). Two people ordered this dish. Everyone tried it and liked it. One complaint was that one of the pieces was not filleted well and contained lots of bones. The other minor complaint was that the dauphine potatos that looked pretty as puffs from pastry bag lacked flavor and could have used from salt or other seasoning. The least favorite was the monkfish which while looked nice, the person who ate it (I didn't try it) said it was only so so and definitely lacked in compare to the other two dishes. He was still happy though, because I was a nice guy and gave him some duck slices. Out of the 4-5 desserts listed on the menu only one is found on the any of the restaurant's website menus - Warm Wildflower Honey Madeleines - with Lavender honey (on the all-day dining menu for this hotel restaurant). We opted for 3 chocolate bourbon cakes with cinnamon hot chocolate shooters and 1 caramel apple bread pudding with caramel ice cream. This time the majority was the loser. The bread pudding was a home run. Chunks of cooked apples and soft bread topped with caramel and the great ice cream. Whereas the chocolate cake was probably the worst dish I had (still ok though). The cake itself is small, chocolate muffin-shape and tasted kind of like a dry muffin. The hot chocolate was nice, alittle heavily spiced for my taste and included what we took to calling a marshmallow "worm" - a long thin, curvy marshmallow. The three of us with the cake all thought it was kind of dry and lacked any hint of bourbon. It was better when we spilled some of the hot chocolate on it to moisten it. The service was less stellar, I'd say a B. Now even though it was RW, the small place was half empty all night and most parties lingered. The biggest service snafus were twice bringing dishes (entrees, then desserts) to the table without silverware to each them. Both time we had to ask the servers - who then were pretty unobservant and gave the silverware out to whoever - not the person who needed. Second, there was a significant, but not huge lag in time between courses (and being served bread - which we had to ask for). The lag in time wouldn't be bad, except the server seemed completely unaware of it. The server asked if we wanted our check, when we hadn't been served dessert yet despite requiring us to order dessert when we placed our initial orders. Overall I think the servers were inexperienced and uncoordinated. We had two different people introduce themselves as our waiter and then one tried to give us the wine for the next table over. Hopefully, the front of the house can fix these problems as RW goes on, otherwise come this weekend when RW becomes a real rush, a lot of people will be annoyed.

This might be too late, but check out my post in the Circle Bistro thread with a review from last night.

Thanks for the details. I'm going tomorrow night and will report back.

Notti Bianche Reservation is available on Opentable Wed 12/10 at 7:30pm for 4. I had to cancel (the menu is so small and not too friendly to fish, but not shellfish eating folks). I know people like this place, so go grab the res while it is still there. As for me, this RW looks like Circle Bistro tonight and the Oval Room tomorrow.

Any thoughts on Circle Bistro or Notti Bianche's RW performances? Lots of menu options? or special menus? These are my two picks so far (plus Dino later in the month now that I know about there great deal - thanks Dean).

I haven't been to this place in a few years since moving to DC, but I used to go here all the time. Always had great pho - very meaty and very flavorful broth. Lots of meat options too.

The license reads that it is for Divino Lounge, a Latin American bar with Argentine food in the restaurant. It looks like an expansion from the Divino Lounge in Bethesda: http://www.divinolounge.com/I have very happy that something is finally going to be in that space. Also, it'll be nice to have a new addition to the restaurant scene, especially something new Argentine food. Much better than the other recent addition FreshMed, bringing the neighborhood total of Greek places to 3.

He should have gotten the duck. I was lucky on friday to convince friends to take me there for lunch on my birthday and was able to thoroughly enjoy a half big duck. Hmm hmm good as always. We also had some sushi which was pretty good (yellow tail roll and tuna and avocado rolls). My friend liked her tofu with mixed veggies too.

Anyone ever try the Pho place in downtown DC on L street between 19th (or maybe 18th) and 20th street? It is a little place with Pho sign in the window and is around the corner from Nooshi. I've never been but was excited the other day when I saw a chance to get pho downtown for lunch. Any thoughts on its quality?

My birthday is next week and I'm going to Grapeseed for the first time. Any recommendations on dishes that shouldn't be missed?

Last night, we went to Raku in Bethesda again. My wife and I always seem to enjoy their cooking. I've heard not so great things about the Dupont Circule location so we always trek up to Bethesda. Anyone have opinions on the Dupont outlet? As for our meal, we started off with their Tuna Tartare which blew us away. It is an amble size portion of tuna, a very nice green, citrusy accompanying sauce and a few slices of perfectly crisped, but not toasted, baguette. They also include a small green leaf salad with a nice vingarette that has a bit of a zing. This was the first time I tried this dish and I wish I had ordered it all for myself as an entree. We also had a yellowtail and scallion roll for appetizer. It was very good. We usually find their sushi to be good quality. My wife had their Tokyo Dashi soup for an entree. She chose to have it with udon (big white wheat) noodles and vegetables and tofu. My wife loves this soup and I'm a big fan too. You can pick what types of noodles or meat or fish you want in them. It doesn't matter though because the broth is the same and it is the best part. It is a medium brown color that has a rich flavor that manages to feel light in your mouth too. It is also a steal at around $6-8 for a big bowl. I wasn't super hungry so I had their "healthy tofu" salad which is actually quite large and it was very good. It has lots of cubes of soft, silken tofu that is very fresh and then a melange of different salads veggies. Some western: lettuce and shaved carrot and peanuts and some eastern: seaweed salad. It has a citrus vinagrette too which may be yuzu flavored. A nice dish which would probably be a good appetizer to share. Overall, another nice visit. The only two downside to Raku is that it is often busy with waits and it can get loud when full, but it is much more bearable than some other places.

I've noticed that a ton of restaurants now offer pre-theater/event menus which typically offer a three course meal at a discount price albeit with limited options for each course. Kind of a poor man's restaurant week. Anyways, I'm always looking for a good bargain. So who out there has a good pre-theater menu? I'm less concerned with service problems about not getting the food in time for the theater or other evening event. Focus on the food. Are the options good? Is it worth the typical $30 value? Specifically, I'd love to hear people's thoughts on the early bird menu at any of the following places: Zola, Tosca, Butterfield 9, and the Oval Room. But share your thoughts on any place. Thanks.

I'll add in my two cents and say that the Big Duck at Spices is the best in DC. You can get it as a half order - perfect for one or a whole. It is the same recipe as Yanyu. Also, they will happily give you the carcass if you ask. I also think they have the best plum sauce around to go with it. As for the Peking Cheers in Gaithersburg, I have been many times with family that lives nearby. It is ok, definitely worth the discount price, but not worth a trip just to get cheaper duck. Read - Spice's Big Duck kicks its ass. I guess I'll have to get myself to Virgina and try Mark's sometime. I still have trouble getting over the river though. I guess it is my Marylander bias ;-)