Marty L.

1 hour ago, dslee said:

Green Almond Pantry is one of Equire's 22 Best New Restaurants in America 2019

Wishing for all the support for the successful future of Green Almond Pantry! 

Don't be deterred by the 8-seat counter.  Minimal wait time, if any.  Also, take-away is so convenient.  Green Almond Pantry is my top favorite lunch spot in all of DC/MD/VA.

I haven't yet had a bad or even mediocre dish here.

I agree that the original Chang restaurant was the best--and that he, like Chef Li, remains capable of hitting those highs on occasion.

The fridge is almost cleaned out, so tomorrow night (Tuesday) is the last dance for Grace Garden--the most unusual, and most nights the best, Chinese restaurant in the DMV for the past 14 years.  Very sad to be losing such an idiosyncratic, family-run place with a master at the helm.  (The meal we had tonight might have been the best ever.)  

Thought folks following this thread might be interested:  Tomorrow night is the last dance for Grace Garden in Odenton--the most unusual, and most nights the best, Chinese restaurant in the DMV for the past 14 years.  Very sad to be losing such an idiosyncratic, family-run place with a master at the helm.  (The meal we had tonight might have been the best ever.)  Not everything will be available tomorrow -- they're trying to clean out the fridge -- but there's probably enough to make for a great, varied, meal.

14 hours ago, Rhone1998 said:

Rooster and Owl?

Bad Saint?

13 hours ago, SilverBullitt said:

"food is wildly superior".  Why do you think that is?  Do franchisees in S. Louisiana have leeway on the recipes or what they offer?  thanks

Because it's a social embarrassment to serve crappy food in New Orleans.

Anyone have a place they swear by in the District itself that's roughly comparable, in price and quality, to Takumi?  The sushi version of Seki, say?  (I know some of you think the omakase at Ogawa is excellent, but because of the $$, I'd only go there for special occasions.  Same w/Taro's omakase.)

Happy hour at Taro fits the bill, obviously, but that requires advance planning and a wait in line. 

How's the new, Chinatown location of Sushi Capitol?  I haven't been to Nama or Kaz in a long time.  Recent reports?  Gakyu?  Perry's, even?  Others?

15 hours ago, nelumbo said:

I have heard from some Baltimore folks that Chef Li is retiring and they are not renewing the lease. The last day open will be early next week (Nov 4 or 5).

I just called and they confirmed that Thursday is their last day!  This is so, so sad (but I'm happy for Chef Li and his wife, who've been working very hard for many years).

9 hours ago, dslee said:

Yes, Emilie's.  Insanely fun and delicious!

The granite (bar countertop) was a giveaway.  The patrons sitting next to us concurred that the pork was delicious -- but head's up: it's $48.  (All the dishes we ate were at least good, and the branzino was great (mostly, like the pork, because of accompaniments that put it over the top).  The cocktails -- not so much.)

21 hours ago, Pat said:

This is a cool article on Los Hermanos by Jorge Castillo, who was one of the Nats' beat reporters at the Post before moving to the LA Times. Love the photo of Soto, Robles, and Suero.

Unfortunately there's a paywall --- can't read it.

5 hours ago, cuisine soignee said:

Going tonight w HS baseball player son. Seats are Section 108. What are the recommended options for food and both adult and young-adult bevs. Thanks!

I'm still in the pupusa/tamale camp.  One order of each is a *lot* of (good) food, and a much better deal than virtually anything else in the park.

Yes, it warrants a Bib Gourmand.  Didn't get one last year because it was closed due to the flood, but now it's reopened and better than ever.  Seki, too, might be BG-worthy, but a star wouldn't be crazy, either.

The omission of Little Serow, 2 Amys and Bad Saint is absurd.

https://guide.michelin.com/us/en/washington/washington-dc/article/news-and-views/michelin-guide-washington-dc-2020-results

1 hour ago, Tweaked said:

Enjoyable night at the bar last week.  I would say the panino of the day should be given serious consideration.  It's been an overlooked part of our ordering and now cursing myself that it was not ordered when they were doing soft shells crabs.  Lately they have been serving sourdough with 2 Amy's mortadella, mustard, pickled onions, frisee, and hard boiled egg.

Also enjoyed the rabbit done in the style of porchetta.

Why on earth anyone would choose (other than for religious or medical reasons) not to order the soft-shell sandwich is inexplicable.

Quick report: ZZQ brisket *very* good (but the brisket I had at Hill Country a couple years back was its equal).  Hot guts sausage also tasty. Turkey nothing special.  Very fine place to hit if you're in Richmond (very friendly staff), but certainly not worth a special trip.

On 9/26/2019 at 6:55 PM, DaRiv18 said:

Sad news. Trickling Springs, my favorite local ice cream is shutting down. Link

That's devastating.  Their $10 gallon of Grape Nut flavor is one of my favorite vices.

2 hours ago, TheMatt said:

Wanted to make a post for Taiwan Cafe (Yelp) in Manassas as I went there for lunch today with my parents and didn't see one here on the site.

While they have an American Chinese menu, we wisely avoided that and stuck to the Taiwanese menu. And it was good! We had the Taiwanese fried chicken, the amusingly named "Flash Tomato w. Scrambled Eggs", and the cabbage with garlic. The chicken was a fine example of Taiwanese fried chicken with the weird breading, fried basil, and moist dark meat. The tomato and eggs were the quite good. Not sure what the sauce was, but yum! And the cabbage with garlic was, well, cabbage with garlic, but a good refreshing vegetable on the side.

They did have a specials board which we didn't look too closely at when going in, but I think we will next time. A couple of the dishes sounded good! (Though, to me, not the oyster omelette. I know it's classic, but *shudder*)

Don't expect any atmosphere or anything. Small storefront in a strip mall, but the neon signs in the windows--"EAT GOOD FOOD"--give a good indication of what you'll do inside. I haven't been to many restaurants in Manassas, but this is by far the best I've been to so far. I honestly can't wait to go back and explore more of the menu.

https://www.northernvirginiamag.com/food/food-features/2017/04/11/best-asian-restaurants-no-14-taiwan-cafe/

1 hour ago, Mark Slater said:

New Big Wong has a special white fried rice with dried scallops and peas that is out of this world. We went once and got to "fishing" in the tanks with the waitress and had some incredible food. Lobster, crab, they had LIVE SHRIMP in one of the tanks that was simply steamed, it was outstanding. 

The dried scallop fried rice is my stand-by.  It's addictive.  But only occasionally sublime.

14 minutes ago, Mark Dedrick said:

Definitely! I "discovered" Full Kee for myself when we were kicked out of our office on the Hill because of Anthrax and were temporarily located in the GAO offices. After that I would also often hit this during jury duty. Or pre-some of the delivery service apps we would get carryout from here when it was late and we didn't want to cook. It was among the first "good" Chinese food I ever had. 

With Full Kee's closure, New Big Wong is probably the best remaining Cantonese restaurant on Chinablock.  No one has written a substantive post on it here for over a decade, but my experience is that it's the same it's always been: inconsistent but with occasional flashes of brilliance.

On 9/5/2019 at 9:42 PM, astrid said:

Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything is good for covering the basics.  It's unfussy and recipes have few ingredients, so it's easy for a new cook to follow.  If he is scientifically minded, Kenji Lopez Alt's book and Cook's Illustrated Cookbook are good at explaining why in a rigorous way.

I've used the Bittman and Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking more than all other cookbooks combined.  They could easily get him through many years of good cooking.

11 hours ago, Marty L. said:

This is truly, truly, sad, although I hardly begrudge them their retirement after many decades of hard work.  Wish I had known so that I could have had one last meal.

My very first food-blog post was about Full Kee--the beginning of soft-shell season on May 19, 2000.  My family and I had many wonderful meals there--as did my students and I several times a semester; I made countless reservations "for 11 at 1" over the years.  

P.S.  The Full Key in Wheaton hasn't been related to this one in many, many years.

Ray of hope? (although, frankly, that's probably no different than simply the opening of a new Cantonese restaurant--could be better or worse than FK). 

This is truly, truly, sad, although I hardly begrudge them their retirement after many decades of hard work.  Wish I had known so that I could have had one last meal.

My very first food-blog post was about Full Kee--the beginning of soft-shell season on May 19, 2000.  My family and I had many wonderful meals there--as did my students and I several times a semester; I made countless reservations "for 11 at 1" over the years.  

P.S.  The Full Key in Wheaton hasn't been related to this one in many, many years.

This just might be the most important post on this site in years.  Can't wait to try it.  (UPDATE:  Just glanced at the Yelp reviews -- no, I don't trust them in general, but boy there are a bunch of awful ones in recent months.  I'm sure Brian is right that his meal was fantastic, so there's no doubt it has great potential--I hope several of us can check it out to assess whether there's a consistency issue and/or better days than others to stop by.)

15 minutes ago, mtureck said:

Too bad the menu on the website is pretty much unreadable. 

FWIW

If you travel through Cork, don't miss Miyazaki (very small).