treznor

I went to Colvin Run last RW and didn't think it was all that I thought it was going to be cracked up to be. It was good, just not great on the night I went. It's the only time I've been and with so many other wonderful restaurants around haven't really had a reason to go back.

Most games I go to I end up at Dominc's for a Sausage. I've been very impressed everytime. I had the pulled BBQ from Red, Hot, and Blue the last time I went and wasn't impressed at all as I thought it was very dry.

Again we went to La Tasca, though this time at the Old Town location. After 12 hours of roaming the touristy parts of DC as my parents were in town, we took the boat from Georgetown to Old Town and were walking towards the Metro and decided to have dinner at La Tasca. Again the chicken croquetes were pretty good, the mixed fried seafood was okay, and the fried potatoes bravada (sp?) was good as well with lightly crispy potato cubes. The fried shrimp had too much batter on them for their own good and and it seemed like every dish came with the garlic mayo (which isn't bad though). My primary complaint with the place though (as we weren't really looking for culinary nirvana, just somewhere we could rest our feet and have some dinner) is that the music was turned up much too loud. Which of course caused everyone in the place to talk that much louder to be heard over the music. The end result was that it was almost impossible to communicate with the people at your own table.

I may ask him to do it next time then. I figured the first time I tried it I could handle something that I only marginally dislike in the hope that it ended up being tolerable, which it definitely was. I do think I'd probably enjoy the sandwhiches better though without the peppers and onions.

I don't have anything specific to Leblon as I've rarely eaten in Winston, but the whole Churrascaria concept is a bit interesting and I guess it becoming popular (or did it become popular a while ago and I just missed it?). Basically all-you-care-to-eat meat along with typically a good salad bar. Unfortunately the meat at most of them is cooked more in the medium to medium-well range though on some of the cuts it can be possible to get a more rare bit as the cooking can be uneven across the piece of meat. I've eaten at one in Raleigh and heard reviews from friends of two others in the Raleigh/Durham area and overall it wasn't bad but not particularly impressive, which seemed about par for the course for the other places as well. If you go to Leblon (which you probably should as it's an interesting idea I guess) don't go with high hopes... but you may be surprised and it be really good for all I know.

Went today as well (for the first time) and was surprised by how quick the lined moved. The line wasn't all that long when I got there at around 11:50 or so but was getting long by the time I left around 12:10 or so (I work at L'enfant which means if I do go to lunch in the Foggy Bottom area it has to be pretty quick :-( ). I thought about asking them to hold the peppers and onions on the pork shoulder sandwhich I ordered since I'm not a huge fan but decided against it since the peppers and onions are added around the corner of the grill where Chef Donna and his helper can't really get to them. Wasn't sorry that I held off on asking them to hold them as the peppers and onions had a light taste that was a bit sweet so I thought it matched quite well. It certainly wasn't the best sandwhich I've ever had, but I'm not certain that's what he's going for. The bread was very good ciabatta, light and just a bit tough on the outside as it should be, not tough throughout as alot of ciabatta ends up being. The pork shoulder could have been seasoned a tad more, but it was quite good.

And evidently half priced wine on Monday nights. We went in on Monday night to the Clarendon location as we happened to be around. Had a glass of Sangria at the bar and a pitcher at the table. May have taken them up on the half price wine special, but we wanted Sangria. Of the 8 dishes we tried, each seemed to have one (usually minor) thing wrong with them it other than the calamari which I thought was quite good. Shrimp with garlic, olive oil, and chiles - The sauce was pretty tasty with the chiles giving it a bit of a zing. The shrimp were a bit overcooked though making them a bit tough. Mushrooms with garlic and olive oil - Good, but it didn't taste like the mushrooms had really been allowed to soak up the garlic and olive oil flavor. Calamari - The favorite of the night. Tender and not very chewy, very lightly fried, with a nice garlic mayo sauce. Pork loin with garlic and tomatoes on toast - Was also quite good, though I'm not a big fan at all of tomatoes and thus didn't enjoy the dish all that well. This was more my fault than the kitchen though as the taste of the tomato was a bit stronger than I thought it'd be (which I didn't ask the waitress about) and thus ended up making it not quite as good for me as I'd hoped. Gazpacho - I can't stand the stuff as it's tomato based, but my GF ordered it. Was served in a glass pureed and my GF likes it chunkier. It was pretty cheap though so she wanted to try it regardless of how it came. Smoked Salmon and cream cheese on toast - The toast was very tough, which made eating this difficult. The salmon itself was very good, a bit softer than the Nova I'm used to getting on my bagels. Garlic Bread - Way to crusty and not enough garlic. The texture of the bread was both hard and at the same time crumbly, neither of which I particularly liked. Chicken Croquettes - Wonderfully mushy on the inside and lightly crispy on the outside. Along with the calamari, these two were easily our favorite dishes. Overall, we enjoyed the place. The food was good, just not great. The sangria was tasty and they have a number of different types. I believe it was similarly priced to Jaleo. I'd probably prefer Jaleo a bit more, but my GF preferred La Tasca, as she thought she liked the Sangria better and she wasn't overly impressed with Jaleo's food to start with.

I've not been wowed by Kyoto either but haven't been since only a bit after they opened so there's a good chance it's gotten better. It's right down the road from me so I'm sure I'll end up going back as when I was there it certainly wasn't bad at all. Until Kyoto opened we'd usually end up at Sushi-Zen or Tokyo Japanese Steakhouse just north of Old Town for sushi. We still end up at TJSH most of the time we want sushi since we seem to be in the area when we want sushi for some reason.

Wow, not sure if you've gotten unlucky, I've gotten lucky, or what. I won't claim the seafood is the greatest thing in the world when I've gotten it, but it's typically been fine and the sushi has been pretty decent, though we typically stick to maki and a little nigiri, as my GF rarely want's to venture over to sashimi. I definitely wouldn't go out of my way to go there but since it's just around the corner from me I go every couple months or so.

So I just noticed as we were driving down to Fish Market in Old Town that La Tasca has opened in the old Founder's spot (which surprised us as we didn't think Founder's had been closed all that long, but if I'd read the Founder's thread I would have seen that the permit has been up since January).

This should give you a start. Also in the Mark Center itself is Finn & Porter which I've found to be quite good, though I've really only had sushi and other seafood dishes there, I've never really tried the Porter side of the menu.

The grilled muffins at Bob & Ediths are pretty good as well. I'd never really heard of them, don't think they are on the menu really. Basically they take on of the fairly largish muffins they have, slice it in half (top to bottom), put on some butter, then grill it on the grill to warm it up and make the buttered part just a bit crispy. I'd never really thought to do it and the waitress the last time I was there just asked if we wanted them like that. Never had in the other 5 or so times I've been.

Could you expand on this a bit? I'm guessing that you're saying that if the water is too warm then you could end up damaging the wine. Is that what you're getting at? Does water too cold run a problem as well? Considering that the water is more than likely rainwater in this case I'd guess it'd be around 60-75F, would you expect that to pose a problem? I didn't have any problems this time, but you never can tell about the next time, so I'd like to know beforehand...

It also didn't seem as if the real issue was with withholding the Spielgau glasses, but more the woeful inadequecy of the "standard" glass they use. If the glass the wine was poured in wasn't so small I doubt the question of using the "good" glasses would have even come up...

I believe the place you are thinking of is El Pollo Rico, which is supposed to be one of the best Peruvian chicken places in the area. I also haven't made it over there, but mean to sometime or another.

The thing that I hate about search is that it just shows threads, not posts. Sure, if I'm searching on a restaurant name and it has it's own thread there's not a problem. But if, for instance, I'm just recalling that I remember saying something about a restaurant in the "So what are you doing" thread or someone made a passing reference to some restaurant in another thread, etc. then I have a hard time finding the post. Or if I remember someone saying something interesting about the risi bisi at Palena, searching on risi bisi only pulls up the Palena thread, but I don't want to have to go through all 26 pages to find the posts I'm thinking of... Am I missing something? It's about the only thing I've found that I don't like about the software that the forum uses.

Bradlee definitely still has a Chicken Out, unless it was closed in the last week. There's always a decent number of people in there, so I don't see how it would close though. One restaurant we do miss is Tacuba Cantina. I doubt that it was authentic at all (I honestly don't know what authentic Mexican food is so I can't really comment), but it was pretty tasty. It closed pretty quickly though, which is a bit disturbing. The place across from Edy's is called "The Chicken Place" I'm pretty certain. It's the chicken place I go if I can convince my GF she doesn't need mashed potatoes and/or mac & cheese with her chicken :-) Is Edy's decent? I've never been in since I just go to The Chicken Place if I'm over there, or Chicken Out if I can't convince my GF to go to The Chicken Place. This is definitely starting to stray away from T.H.A.I. and towards "eating in Alexandria" :-)

Went to Majestic for dinner for the first time last night. We were coming back from the International Wine and Food Festival so were "wined-out" for the day and ended up not getting wine. This pushed us to the non-wine drinks though, which was great. Both the sparkling peach and the lemonade were top-notch. The lemonade was among the tartest I've had, which I really liked. We had wanted to go to Palena since we were only 1 metro stop away, but I remembered they were closed on Sunday. Then Ray's, but remembered they were also closed on Sunday. Finally I called Majestic and found them open :-) Having not read this thread all that closely I didn't know of the Linden wine dinner they had so was pleasantly surprised when I noticed that the suggested wine pairing for the Rabbit Leg was Linden Cabernet Franc. I'm a big supporter of Virginia wines and like Linden quite well (and it's a gorgeous winery) so was very happy to see that. The entrees were quite tasty. I had the grilled salmon with a blood orange sauce that was both creamy and delicious. It didn't overpower with the blood orange taste, but it was there. My GF had the Mahi-Mahi, of which I'm not a huge fan as I find it to not have a very distinctive taste. Her's was very lightly friend and she enjoyed it quite a bit, though predictably I didn't find it all that wonderful. The hush puppies we got were overcooked to my taste, though again my GF liked them very much. I'm the Southern boy of the two of us and just used to hush puppies that are lighter in color and texture. These weren't bad at all, but not something I'm craving (unlike the grilled salmon, which I am craving right now!). Dessert was the coconut and chocolate pudding pie. Very good. The cake of the day was chocolate and fudge which we actually had the night before in our first time to Majestic (as opposed to the first dinner at Majestic). We had gone to Malaysia Kapitiam for dinner and were extremely full and didn't get dessert there, but after a movie at the Old Town Theator ("Thank You For Smoking!", very funny), we decided to pop into Majestic about 20 minutes before it was closing for a glass of wine and a slice of the cake. I had hoped for the Red Velvet as well as I haven't had one in forever, maybe next time.

I get where you're coming from with the wow factor, but even still I don't know that I need it every meal. I've eaten at Chicken Out (which is unfortunate as we're close to a Peruvian chicken place that's pretty good in Alexandria but my GF thinks it's a bit sketchy, which it is, and it doesn't have the side items she likes such as Mac & Cheese) and Panera more times that I can count because they're convenient. At this point I doubt there's anything on either menu that could wow me as I've had the entire menu a number of times. But I still go back because the food is decent and not horribly priced. No wow, doubt there ever was for either place, but suitably done, quick, and easy.

A "DR.com darling", if there is such a thing, is only such because a number of the people on the board do indeed like the place. If you stood up after a movie that most of the people in the theator loved and said to them "This movie sucked" you'd probably get a number of peope that disagree with you. Frankly I think the level of conversation was very cordial and appropriate. Both sides were treated with nothing but respect. Pappy stated some things he didn't like about the place (thank you btw, it's always good to hear these viewpoints, especially for those of us that haven't been to the place in question) and others stated why they liked the things that Pappy disliked. Just because someone disagrees with your statements doesn't mean you're wrong, just that the two of you have different tastes. That's fine and I don't think anyone would fault you for that. Now if you had said that the steaks at RTS were awful, or the roast chicken at Palena were bland and dry, or something else along those lines then people would probably have disagreed much more vigorously as it's difficult to back up opinions such as those. But I think you'll everyone here stipulated the facts that Pappy stated (that the space is a bit empty). Pappy thinks the space could use some sprucing up, others think it's fine the way it is. Just an opinion, everyone's got them... I don't see any reason from this exchange why anyone would hesitate to say something bad about a "DR.com darling". Though of course, anytime you say something, particularly if it runs counter to the publicly perceived concensus, you should be willing to back up what you're saying so other people can try and see where you're coming from, which I think Pappy did quite well.

I certainly don't need to be wowed at every meal, as over time my taste buds would tend to get a bit wowed out (and it would only depress me further when I do cook and don't get the wow...), but if a meal isn't a wow I do like for it to be priced appropriately, which isn't to say I don't think T.H.A.I. isn't as I certainly don't remember it being all that spicy. The coconut milk is indeed what I was thinking of that made the sauces too creamy. I'm not saying Cap city is wonderful, but we do like the pretzels they give you and they have some decent beer and it's a relaxed, laid back kind of place. I definitely don't go because I think they have great food, it's about the pretzels and the beer. I think T.H.A.I. fits in pretty well with the whole "feel" of Shirlington. I'm not quite certain how to describe it other than "neighboorhoody", which includes outside seating. For the most part I think all of the restaurants in Shirlington manage to fit in, with the possible exception of Extra Virgin, which seems to be trying too trendy or something. Haven't been into Extra Virgin since our first visit about a month after it opened and really have no intention on going back. Really wanted it to work as a restaurant, but I think it went for more of the trendy wine bar motif instead of the laid back wine bar motif that I think would have fit into the feel at Shirlington.

Pleasant but not memorable is about how I'd sum up my experience there. We've been once, which seems odd considering we go to Shirlington fairly often and thought T.H.A.I. Shirlington was decent. I guess usually when we're in the area it's to go to Carlyle or Cap City Brewery or possibly Aladdin for lunch. It's probably been a year since we were there and I don't remember what I had other than I thought it was quite tasty, my girlfriend thought it was ok, and we both thought the sauces were too creamy.

Am I the only one that called the new number just to listen to the message, even though Michael had already told us the info? I guess that makes me a groupie or something :-)

$30/person is definitely doable if you skip the alcohol. Each item on the cafe menu is $10 except the chicken which is $12. There might be one other non-$10 item, but I don't remember. The chicken is absolutely wonderful with crisp but not tough skin, very juice, and wonderful flavors. Of course the burger is great as well, but if you're trying to stay away from the burger go with the chicken. If there's more than one of you, split a fry plate between two of you. It'd keep the cost down and frankly the fry plate is a bit big for just one person I think. I mean, I definitely could eat an entire one because it's wonderful, but I know I probably shouldn't. The only bad thing about splitting is that there's an odd number of fried lemons and fried (mashed potato?) so you have to fight over them :-) Man those fried Meyer lemons were good. Who'd a thought? The patry chef (Ann Amernick) is everybit as talented as the Executive Chef (Frank Ruta) so passing on dessert could be difficult. To keep within that $30 (including tax and tip) you may have to split a dessert... Which would be a damn shame. However, not splitting dessert you'd probably come out to around $36-$38 or so after tax (what is DC tax now, 45%?) and a decent tip which is pretty close to $30/person. The one time I was there I believe the bill was $180-$200 I believe after tax and tip, including 4 entrees (2 burgers, 2 chickens), 4 desserts, 2 fry plates, a bottle of the Gigondas and 2 beers. Not bad at all. One thing to keep in mind is that the chicken does require 45 minutes to prepare.

However, to get a table for 6 without too much of a wait on Saturday night... I'd get there early, the earlier the better. I'm a glutton for punishment so the two times I've eaten there I showed up around 630 or 700 on a Saturday night... I've never gotten there at the opening time so don't know what the wait would be like around the but I have to expect that it's the only time you'd have a reasonable chance of getting in with a smallish wait.