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cgarden

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Everything posted by cgarden

  1. cgarden
    Nope - and not poutine either (though poutine probably wouldn't travel very well). Though occasionally another Canadian delicacy - ketchup flavored potato chips.
  2. cgarden
    I never knew there were so many upstate-NYers on the board! I last visited my parents (near Schenectady) over Labor Day weekend - on our last day there, at about 11:00 am, we had more or less packed up the car, gotten the oil changed and were ready to go, when we discovered that my Italian-born mother had started making homemade pasta and pesto. Not wanting to be rude, , we stuck around until the end of the process - then took the sum total of the results home in two large plastic containers (along with all the farm-stand tomatoes available within a 20 mile radius, since Mom's own tomatoes were largely washed out this year). We ate nothing but pasta, lunch and dinner, for a week (there are definitely worse things). When I lived in Montreal during college, we had a reverse care-package system - if I visted home during the summer, I was encouraged to bring with me -- not cheese, not pastries, not Montreal bagels -- leeks from Atwater market.
  3. cgarden
    Until I discovered Kotobuki, I ate at Kyoto sushi fairly regularly - it's not the best sushi I've ever had, but it's also not overly expensive.
  4. cgarden
    We went here last night for my fiance's birthday (which happened to coincide nicely with the last day of the extended restaurant week promotion), and had a great experience. We were seated upstairs in a smaller room, which made it feel more like you were eating at somebody's house, and the professional-but-not-snooty waitstaff added to this impression. I started with the bluefin tuna appetizer - a fairly straightforward preparation (big block of tuna, seared, sliced, and salted, served with a cherry-tomato, pearl onion, and parsely salad), which really showcased the top-notch ingredients. Then I had the scallops which were nicely caramelized, and served with corn puree, chanterelle mushrooms, and some sort of microgreenery - I was glad of the salty mushrooms to cut the corn's sweetness, and the whole dish worked well together. My fiance had the steak tartare appetizer, which he thought was too salty, and the lamb, which he seemed to think was delicious (he didn't gnaw on the bones though!). For dessert, I had the peach gallete, which featured fresh peaches treated with (I would guess) spiced brandy, and my fiance had the bread pudding, which was tasty as advertised on this board. I had a glass of wine, and the whole thing came to under $100. Also, although the restaurant week promotion is now over, the $35 three-course menu is still available pre- and post-theatre.
  5. cgarden
    I've been a few times, and agree that the service can be inconsistent. The food, though, has been consistently very good to excellent, making it my favorite Hill dinner and brunch destination. If you do decide to give it another shot, maybe try to chat with the owner (at least the person I assume is the owner - a middle-aged Frenchman who often helps out serving tables and seating people) - on our visits, he has been very happy to answer questions about the food and make recommendations.
  6. cgarden
    OOh, I've actually seen curdled Bailey's. I'm not sure how long it took to get that way, but my grandmother, to whom the offending bottle belonged, never drank it herself, and just kept it around for visitors.
  7. cgarden
    What do you recommend at the Eden Center (in terms of specific dishes, as well as restaurants)? We sometimes get bahn mi from the sandwich shop/grocery store that is in the back left corner, and have found them to be very tasty, almost all the time (occasionally, the bread is stale or ingredients show signs of having sat around for a while, but at $2.50 a sandwich, the risk isn't too great). We've also been to Four Sisters, but with mixed results -- I think the problem is with our ordering, not the restaurant. Since it's a long way out for us, I'd love some more reliable choices!
  8. cgarden
    Speaking of souped-up cutting boards, I was visiting my parents last weekend, and my mother, who is a very good baker, now swears by this, a pastry board with removable icepacks inside. Particularly good for making pies in the middle of summer.
  9. cgarden
    Ginger/fried garlic salad at Mandalay
  10. cgarden
    They do, but I'm not sure how far they're willing to go --> link
  11. cgarden
    They do have a liquor license, although I have no idea about the wine situation (I will say that the restaurant strikes me as having more of a beer sensibility). I love the crispy squid with chili and basil, and also the tofu and eggplant with chili and basil (sense a theme?). The noodle dishes are fine, but the non-noodle things I've tried have been exceptional. It's at 3217 Columbia Pike, just up from the Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse.
  12. cgarden
  13. cgarden
    I'm stuck working tonight...very sorry about the late notice. Have fun!
  14. cgarden
    On the other hand, I discovered last night that there is nothing in the world that is more filling than a deep-fried snickers bar. Isn't there some kind of health plan that involves eating one of those a day and nothing else?
  15. cgarden
    Make that 4 - my fiance has decided he'd rather go to Cape Cod for the weekend than eat Chinese food.
  16. cgarden
    From this past Sunday's LA Times: "In Buenos Aires, the Living's Easy" by Molly Malone on articles.latimes.com
  17. cgarden
    We also have tickets to go back (just under a year since our first trip). Any and all restaurant recommendations are welcome! And, should anyone else be looking to take a steaky vacation over the next 3 months, LAN (Latam Airlines Group) has a $399 round-trip fare (from Miami) if you book by Sunday.
  18. cgarden
    Tried this place out yesterday based on previous posters' recommendations - I knew I joined this board for a reason... I'm a non-meat-eater, so most of the Mexican food I've had within the District has been a bland, greasy mess. Not so with the simple, tasty vegetarian (well, the beans may not have really been vegetarian, but I wasn't going to look too closely) tacos at Taqueria Distrito Federal - the ingredients were fresh and well-seasoned, the salsas out on the table were nice and spicy, and the corn tortillas did not appear to come from an industrial supplier. I wasn't crazy about the mango drink that came from a big vat - I can't speak to its authenticity, but to me it tasted like Mango kool-aid. Just when I was about to give up hope of finding a reasonable Mexican restaurant in DC. Now, if only I could find a Chinese place that does good seafood or vegetarian dumplings.
  19. cgarden
    The +1 and I are in (but we could probably make it another weekend as well if you end up rescheduling)
  20. cgarden
    During winter restaurant week, the server told us that the 3-course lunch was served "tapas-style," code for "we'll bring two main courses out 15 minutes before the other three." I think serving inappropriate foods "tapas style" should be added to the list of trends we've seen enough of (oddly enough, mini-burgers served tapas-style would actually make some sense)
  21. cgarden
    Also, the air conditioning situation (which was less-than-ideal in July) seemed to be fixed as of my visit on Tuesday night.
  22. cgarden
    I am extremely sorry to say that if someone wants a reservation for 2 people at 8:30 tonight, one may be available (I say "may" because I didn't think to ask the person who answered the phone if there was already a waitlist for tonight).
  23. cgarden
    I've got reservations for tomorrow - if anyone has had a chance to form any, I'd love recommendations!
  24. cgarden
    We did fine with little-to-no Spanish (I had previously spent a month attempting to learn Spanish in Guatemala, but have such a bad ear for languages that it didn't make much difference). In most places we visited, we found that there was at least one staff member who spoke some English, and people were fairly patient with sign language, pointing, etc. Also, the bilingual staff at our bed-and-breakfast was always happy to help out by calling taxis, making reservations, and the like. Otherwise, we could usually manage to puzzle out signs and menus based solely on English cognates and guesswork (though there was one occasion where we guessed incorrectly at the meaning of a word on a menu that turned out to mean "covered in a blanket of ham.").
  25. cgarden
    And try heading over to Rue St. Denis, which is a main drag for the Francophone part of the city. Also, especially in spring a summer, it's worth your time to visit Atwater Market.
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