captcourt

Lots of the new condo/rental developments in the corridor have yet to fully stock up with residents, so I'm guessing that the Ballston Quarter establishments are hinging their fortunes on the not-quite-finished buildings.  Though that potentially may not help with the lunch crowd.  Also, the failure of the Rixby building next to the new Marymount buildings may be a harbinger of things to come (or of poor building management, or...who knows?).  

OK, enough rambling.

5 years later: we drove down this way to test drive a car (it was way out of our way, but a nice day for a little road trip).  Afterwards, we stopped in here, and the food is still delicious.  They had shrimp on the ceviche tostada, which was the highlight along with the bean & cheese pupusa, with some crispy bits of cheese.  The tacos were also flavorful and filling - I got a carnitas, an al pastor, and a carne asada (which was somewhat tough, but these tacos are $2-3 each, so I'm not complaining).  We got two orders of posole intending to provide one to the gentleman hanging out in the parking lot with no particular place to go, but he disappeared by the time we were leaving, so we have two orders to try out for lunch tomorrow.

The road into this strip mall is horrific, as is the parking situation.  Brace yourselves.

Our favorite so far has been the cherry pie.  And their breakfast pastries are quite good, too.

Excellent dinner here last night.  We had an early reservation (5:15) before the show, and made remarkable time getting there from DC, so we walked in the door at 5, they seated us shortly after that in the beautiful bar with a fire going in the fireplace.  We had views of the Sagamore distillery on one side, and the harbor on another.  Our server was an old-school sort of guy, started out a little formal and gruff, and by midway he was smiling at us and our enjoyment of the food.  Cocktails were a Penicillin for me (Sagamore Spirit Rye, ginger, lemon, honey, jasmine, McCarthy’s Single Malt, and a garnish of candied ginger, yum) and a Winter Crush for Yoyogrrrl (Sagamore Spirit Rye, passion fruit, orange, lemon, club soda), which she liked but switched to get the Penicillin for a second drink).   Starters were the wood-grilled choptank oysters (the topping was a bit granita-like and the Hatch chilies were not discernible in taste), with a small squeeze of lime over them, and tuna poke with macadamia nuts and nori, which doesn't seem to be on their online menu.  We loved both of these, and the portions were just enough to make us want more of each.  The poke benefited from the nori, surprisingly, as nori usually seems like just a textural add in non-sushi dishes. 

The fried chicken and rockfish have already been written up, so I'll keep it short.  The crust was pretty thick for our chicken, too (maybe for people who like to eat some skin, but not all of it?) but my goodness, that chicken was well-cooked.  Super moist inside.  The rockfish was also beautiful.  The grits were creamy, the smoked cherry (?) tomatoes had a satisfying pop, and I ate nearly all of it, figuring we could - and did - take the chicken with us.

We didn't have time for dessert before the show, so no report on that.  It took forever to get out of the garage attached to the Hippodrome so we called it a night after the show, rather than returning for dessert.

I'll post our Woodberry brunch writeup in that thread, and we do still give WK the edge, but I don't think anyone could go wildly wrong with either restaurant right now.       

Yoyogrrrl and I are going here for dinner tonight before the Jonathan Van Ness show at the Hippodrome.  Really looking forward to the fried chicken!  And we'll probably hit Woodberry Kitchen for brunch tomorrow.

Met up with a friend last night and went here - it's still in a holding pattern (so I think it's time to remove the italics in the dining guide).  I got the sampler special, so I got to try the ropa vieja, a pork dish (it was shredded pork), and a shredded chicken dish, along with yellow rice and black beans.  Solid, but not excellent.  Very kind service.  I live in Arlington (my friend lives much closer to Rockville) so I generally won't be making that drive just for CC.  I'd go back, and maybe get the Cubano or just the pork, which was my favorite.  Sorry I'm missing some details, but we were immersed in conversation...

On 1/18/2018 at 11:39 AM, ktmoomau said:

... Miriam is our normal server there

Miriam, who is a joy, has been our normal server since TP was only in Del Ray.  We were so excited to see her at the then-"new" location on Harrison St., since we live about a 6-minute drive away.    

On 1/25/2019 at 11:02 PM, DaveO said:

Were there not 4 Vietnamese restaurants;  the 2 you mentioned plus Nam Viet and Little Viet Garden?  I ate there a healthy amt with a variety of folks with Cafe Dalat and Queen Bee often being favorites of others.  My fave was Nam Viet 

I-was there a bit ago and chatted with Richard, son of the founders, as we have a mutual friend.  His parents purchased the property in the 90’s.  I wouldn’t blame CF for pushing out those other wonderful restaurants.  Big big money bought up a lot of the properties, built the retail center and pushed up the rents to unaffordable rates.  

Hmmm.  I’d also like to know if the folks that owned Cafe Dalat opened up elsewhere.

Yes, there were 4.  Like others, CD and QB were the ones we liked most and went to, with Cafe Dalat being our favorite - we loved chatting with the family.  CF was the first interloper, so I completely, and irrationally, blame them.

Smart move for the Nam Viet folks to buy their property.  Glad they're still sticking it out.    

On 12/6/2018 at 8:48 AM, B.A.R. said:

I find the breadth of the CF Menu and portion sizes to be appalling. That being said, I have always been pleased with the quality and freshness of the food I have received. It is light years above any other high-volume chain. The "Thai" lettuce wraps are by no means Thai food, but they are flavorful, fresh, and the appetizer fills me up (far more than my recent $190 bill at O-Ku). I have enjoyed every meal I have had at CF and have no qualms about going back, again and again.

I went to USC for grad school in the early 90s, when Cheesecake Factory was still starting out, with a location in Marina Del Rey and, I think, somewhere else.  It was quite good and was considered a nice night out, though not for the Wolfgang Puck Spago crowd (one that I could neither afford to keep up with, nor dress appropriately for).  Now, there are too many restaurant choices around here for me to eat there, and I'm still bitter about how it precipitated/portended the fall of Clarendon's Little Saigon (ah, for the days of Cafe Dalat - does anyone know where that family ended up?  They were terrific - and Queen Bee).  But I can completely relate to DaveO and B.A.R.'s views above.  Sometimes, you just want a reasonable amount of totally edible food, which it is.

Years ago, Old Overholt was a standby of the Corduroy bar - that's where I first tried it, and then promptly picked up a bottle for home use (i.e., when not at Corduroy) from the then-barred-window liquor store on the next block.  It blends nicely with mixers and is still a great price, if not exactly "a bargain" anymore.

On 9/4/2018 at 1:02 PM, dcs said:

New Gym Hoping to Move into American Tap Room Space in Clarendon, by Alex Koma, September 4, 2018, on ARLnow.com.

My office faces that space, and while there's been some buildout activity over the last several weeks, it's not at all clear what it's going to be or when we're going to see it populated.

I spent 15 minutes thinking about how to make the topic creatively/amusingly alliterative and then gave up.

"Andrew Zimmern's Hommage to Chef Peter Chang Is Not Winning Over Diners - or Chang's Business Partner" by Tim Carman on washingtonpost.com

Any recent thoughts, especially in light of the Xi'an opening?  We haven't been in quite a while and were wondering about overall quality, anything specifically better/not quite as good, etc. 

Not sure if this is the right/best thread, so please feel free to move my post.

I was prepared to be irritated by this story (which popped up on my msn.com start page 😲) but I actually enjoyed it and respected the author by the end.

https://www.thrillist.com/eat/portland/stanichs-closed-will-it-reopen-burger-quest/food-and-drink

1 hour ago, DonRocks said:

This is becoming national news.

"Sandwich Chain Closes Because Customers Can't Stomach that Owner Met Donald Trump" by Glenn Fleishman on fortune.com

I'm sad about the closure, because while they were inconsistent, I enjoyed having them as an option because when they were good, they were good. 

On the national news front, though, this feels like they're hopping on a BS clickbait train.  I've been consistently disappointed in Fortune's articles for a while now, along with most of the Big Media. Yesterday, I saw the word "We" in a NY Times headline, as in "We Unearthed the Trail" or something like that.  There are generations of NYT publishers and journalists flinging themselves in their graves.  (And my position has nothing to do with who's POTUS.)

Maybe I should move this to another forum and continue my cane-waving, rocking-chair rant there...

Note the Groupon references in here: 

"Three Theories on Why MoviePass Failed" by Megan McArdle on washingtonpost.com

We snagged a 7 PM reservation this Friday.  Looking forward to one more meal in this lovely spot and then see what's behind the next door!

Got it. Thank you, Don.

On 1/9/2018 at 10:08 PM, DonRocks said:

Having talked with the Proof refugees, you have *no* idea how big a deal this post is. Thanks for letting us know, youngfood - this will be unfathomably big news to some in the industry.

My wife and I have enjoyed Proof every time we've gone, and I'm not so clued in to industry news, so could you elaborate a bit on your (or others') thoughts/expectations? Just trying to figure out whether it's a good thing or a "let's wait and see" thing...

Minor edit: Flynn was the national security advisor, not the attorney general.

Paying homage right now with a lunch of cod, hushpuppies, a carnitas taco, and baseball and food talk with Wes. Just stellar all the way around.

Al's apparently reopened at the end of July. We saw the lights on a couple of weeks ago, and then decided to stop in over this past weekend. Bright, clean, freshly painted, and the cheesesteaks are the cheesesteaks. Two huge Romans, filled with steak and lots of stuff, jar of cherry peppers, tasty fries (though they're best when hot), pleasant people who repeat your order at least once to make sure they got it right. Result = food coma.

ETA: this is my 99th post, and I am now a Bottle of Beer on the Wall. I may never post again. 

Ate here last night and got stuff from our usual picks: fried bean curd, laab gai, crispy duck with basil and chili peppers, and pad kee mao with chicken.  All of it was spot on - in particular, the laab gai had good, flavorful heat and the pad kee mao had a deep wok/pan flavor.  Good end to an eventful day, and before they go on break.

I think the $32 cauliflower steak is a result of the restaurant' location.  Both scream that they're focusing their efforts on the expense-account types, some of whom might not eat meat, and area residents who don't look at prices on a menu.

So, with the Harris-Teeter buy-one get-one-free sale (= 2 for $5.79), I bought four: salted caramel peanut, vanilla blueberry crumble (?), southern butter pecan, and black raspberry chocolate.  The last one has always been the show-stopper for me, because I adore good raspberry anything.  Thus far, the salted caramel peanut is okay - not great, but certainly decent - and the black raspberry chocolate is only slightly sweeter than it used to be - i.e., still good, any definitely better than the rest of the few raspberry items out there.  I'll stick with the NYT recipe and my Cuisinart ice cream maker for salted caramel ice cream (if you haven't tried that, DO IT NOW).  Will report back on the other two flavors.