ladle

I've recently moved out this way and can recommend Shalimar, a great Indian restaurant on Main St. I miss DC restaurants a lot but finding good Indian eases the pain quite a bit. Now, to find good Thai...

I'm shopping for my first microwave right now and am confused by the range of wattage that is available. What is normal? I've seen everything from 600 to 1100 watts. I just want normal - something that will make popcorn and the occasional frozen dinner.

Our appetizer actually came out pretty quickly; it was our main course that took over a half hour to show. I think we were there for about hour and 15 minutes in all, starting at 1:45. Hopefully service will even out as RW continues.

Yes, the tomato dishes are available at lunch. I had the chilled tomato soup yesterday, which was as delightful as everyone has said. I skipped the bluefish in favor of the soft shelled crab, which was nicely crunchy and well complimented by the greens. The chocolate tart with caramelized banana was a rich, delicious end to the meal.

They seemed pretty overwhelmed by the lunch traffic, as should be expected during RW (especially Day 1), so be prepared for a more leisurely lunch.

Very excited for my first Dino dinner tonight. I'm looking forward to the boar pasta and the red pepper soup (unless something else on the menu steals away my attention!)

Great dinner at Sushi-Ko. It was no problem to sit at the bar with a non-sushi eater. I especially oved the flounder appetizer, sushi, and lobster tail! Great mix of flavors and so fresh.

If you think Thai is romantic, I'd add Bangkok 54 to your list. For Afghan, can't go wrong with Bamian. Also, if you split an appetizer and/or dessert, you might be able to do Circle Bistro, especially if you grab a table during their happy hour.

From scanning other threads, it looks like Dino's Menu della Sera would also be a good option. I have yet to eat there but plan to remedy that soon!

The bar treated us very well last night! I sampled the fish tempura, which was a nice taste of salmon, and the pea shoot gnocchi, which was a perfect summer dish - lots of green and freshness, tender gnocchi, and delicious sauce. My +1 had the burger and fully enjoyed it. Really a nice experience!

Can you order items off of the regular dinner menu when sitting at the bar? The gnocchi is calling my name, but I think we are bar-bound tonight.

I'd been reading about Eleventh Street on here for a while and finally made it there for dinner last night. The raves about the sweet potato fries are certainly an understatement - they were some of the best I've ever had. I also had the crab and cucumber dish, which was light and fresh and perfect for a summer night. When I was eating it, I kept trying to figure out the other element of the dish was because it went perfectly with the rest. A trip to the website this morning shows that it was tiny pieces of green apple. My +1 had the gorgonzola burger and was a happy man.

Our waitress Stephanie was very nice and helpful - she suggested a great wine to complement the crab and recommended the scallops for next time. All around, it was a great meal and I can't wait to come back. Next time though, I think I'll try to make it for happy hour. The deals look great!

We went the Cheesetique route this weekend, picking up 3 cheeses to try to go with the Cotes du Rhone and White Burgandy that we picked up at Planet Wine. The plan was to wait until tonight but once you have such good cheese and wine in the house, plans often go out the window, as they did last night...

I just picked up a bag of the dried lychees and was actually pretty disgusted. The smell was quite pungent and the taste reminds me of sour milk. There is a slight lychee-like after taste but it doesn't make up for how awful the original taste and smell are. Did I just get a bum bag?

I haven't had a chance yet to rave about my first visit to the bistro this past week at Eve. We started with cocktails, my husband had a lemon-based one (wish I remembered the names of the drinks) and I had one with lemonade. Both tasty as you'd expect. We started with a shared appetizer of the pouched mussels, which was thoughtfully split into two dishes. The sauce and the style of cooking were great. For main courses, I had the special, which was a pan-seared rockfish with a number of different side tastes, including pureed cauliflower, celery root, and mushrooms, and probably more. The dish was incredible - I started out just liking it but about midway through the complexity of the tastes really came together and made it amazing. My husband had the ribeye, which was very flavorful and juicy. It was his first free-range experience. For dessert, he had the birthday cake, which he devoured, and I had apple donuts with cinnamon ice cream and apple butter. All in all, one of our favorite meals in a long time!

When you were there tonight, was the smores tart on the menu? A group of co-workers had it for dessert a few weeks back and still haven't stopped talking about it.

No, I haven't, but will add it to my list! Any particular recommendations of what to try?

Ate at Full Kee in Bailey's with 2 friends over the weekend. I've been now twice and haven't been disappointed. Service was great, even at 3:30 in the afternoon. We ordered three dishes to share - the beef and broccoli, schezwan chicken, and orange chicken. Two of us also ordered wonton soup and the waitress recommended that we share a large bowl of shrimp wonton instead - great rec by her. Everything was great, very flavorful with a good amount of spiciness. I think Full Kee may be my favorite Chinese place in NoVA. It's the closest I've had to date to what I actually ate when in China!

Thai Square = good. It was hard to drive by Bangkok 54 on the way and not stop, since we had a great dinner there not too long ago, but we really wanted to try Thai Square. I had the Tom Yum Kai to start, which strangely enough reminded my husband of buffalo wings! Main dishes were the Green Shrimp Curry and the Chicken Pad Kraprao. The amount of spiciness was great and the food was as good as we expected. I noticed a lot of people ordering the crispy whole flounder - that will be what I get when we go back! Does a whole fish work well as a delivery item?

Speaking of info about RTC, I got the chance to go on Sat with the fam. Dress wasn't an issue - thanks to all who offered advice! I normally fill up completely on steak and sides at RTS so it was a treat to finally try the lobster bisque. It didn't disappoint! Another first time treat was the mac & cheese. We had the mozzarella version and I get hungry just thinking about it. The rest of the meal was good as always. My +1 loved his strip steak, my father-in-law blissed out on the filet and others sampled the salmon and eggplant. They seemed pretty happy with it, though I'm still at the point where if I'm at a Ray's, I can't imagine not wanting steak. Hoping to get past that soon though to try out the fried chicken!

The hot chocolate was the perfect end to the meal...I definitely want to get back there soon!

I am finally getting to RTC on Saturday and can't wait! Going with the +1, his brother and sister-in-law and his parents. We are the only "experienced" Ray's fans...the rest are fans in the making. I'm definitely excited to introduce them to some great food!

One question having not been to RTC before and having not seen a mention amongst all the raves about the food...is the general dress similar to RTS or a bit nicer? My father-in-law will probably wear sneakers either way, but thought I'd find out for the rest...

My guess was Citronelle, based on the "juicy" comment...I guess we shall see.

Ended up here last night and have second that the pizza is good. I had a pizza with peppidew and sun-dried tomatos, among other toppings, which was nice. The +1 had the basil, tomato, mozzarella pizza, which was amazing! Fresh ingredients and the crust was done just right. We will have to add this to our takeout pizza list in the future!

Tried out Bombay Curry Co on Saturday night and had a great meal. I had the Butter Chicken and the +1 had the Chicken Kadai. The sauces were fantastic, especially when swiped up by the light, tasty naan. We also had an order of samosas which were also wonderful! Only regret is that we waited so long to try this place!

You're making a value judgment that you prefer pizza that isn't cooked to order. By definition authentic Chicago deep dish is cooked to order and takes 50 minutes or so. What you want to "stick to" is going to be a lesser pizza. Perhaps one sitting around left to warm. Just don't expect it to taste anywhere near as good. And, there's no need to eat it in Chicago. This kind of pizza will taste the same in Birmingham/Omaha/Denver as it will in Chicago. Sorry for my attitude by the best takes time...and patience. Gino's East, at it's best, is exemplery Chicago deep dish pizza. It just takes time to bake.

Joe H - I definitely understand that deep dish takes time! I just think that as far as pizza goes, I'm okay with a thinner crust and a shorter waiting time. But that isn't a comment on the quality of Gino's East - it was a great deep dish!

Reporting late on my trip, but better late than never. We ended up having an incredible dinner at Spiaggia for our anniversary. The staff was attentive and helpful the whole night. I had the most amazing appetizer that I've had in ages - a mix of raw and marinated fish including tuna with caviar, sea bass with radish and fennel, and yellowtail with a tomato basil sauce. It was divine. My husband had the scallop which was also fantastic. For the pasta course, we split two amazing dishes - gnocchi with a truffle cream sauce and ravioli with a brown sugar sauce. The main/meat course we split a beef dish, which was nice. Desert was a dark chocolate crepe with caramel gelato for me, sorbets/gelato for the husband, and delicious petit fours, the best of which was a chocolate bon bon with a fresh mint ice cream center. All in all, an experience I'd recommend to anyone for a special occasion!

Our other big meal was a trip to Gino's for deep dish...it was a good deep dish pizza though I think I'll stick to pizzas that don't require a 50 min wait!

Thanks again to all who offered suggestions!

Not a fan. Between the loud music, blinding decor, and mediocre pizza, I won't be returning anytime soon. As a table we ordered four different thin crust pizzas - the four cheese (which included brie), a tomato, mozzarella, and gorgonzola mix, a eggplant, sweet pepper mix, and an anchovies, olive, herbs and more mix. Of the four, I liked the four cheese the best, as the brie was a welcome topping. The second suffered from being too cheesy (and not in a good way) and the eggplant came off as bland. The last pizza was difficult to separate from the taste of the anchovies, but aside from them might have been decent. I did like the crust, but it wasn't anything special. Certainly not comparable to 2 Amys or Pizza Paradiso.

The wine list is surprisingly expensive and quite limited as well. I guess it could be an okay happy hour destination, if you like that sort of scene, but when in Rosslyn, I'll stick to the tried and true like Ray's or Pho 75.