acevedo81

BTW. this place is getting grilled on chowhound, I think the people over there have made it their job to ensure this place goes through chowhound initiation.

I think you raise a valid point as does Waitman. But this issue could be solved by capping the amount of money per person, per day to a dollar amount allowing the chef to cook tasty meals with a budget in mind. I remember when I was growing up in Spain Karlos Arguinano (I mention his name b/c he's quite famous and has a 2 or 3 michelin star restaurant in San Sebastian) had a cooking show where he capped himself at 10 dollars (1000 pesetas back then) and had to make a meal for 2, it was a great show and lasted a while until he got the ax in favor of Jose Andres' show

hehehehehe

Went today and ordered the Shwarma, which is made with chicken, lamb sausage, tahini, lettuce, tomato and onion on pita. It cost $7 and included a bag of chips. It had nice consistency and plenty of lamb and chicken, however I would have liked the lamb and chicken to have a touch more seasoning. I will definately be back and next time I would like to try the Doner Kebab.

They are now offering baklava (lebanese style) for $2.

I'm a sucker for people starting their own business and putting themselves out there with all the competition in the city so I will be going there more frequently.

Cant you do Cleveland park too?

have you tried Breadline's baguette? It's really good and it doesnt hurt to have more options, since there seems to be a lack of quality bread around here.

I dont think the "new" chef has been there for a year but almost and I haven't been there since the switch. Pesce is a restaurant that I always want to go back to but always loses to someone else, the eternal second place loser.

The Chef is still Bernard Marchive (with a French pronunciation of the name), who replaced Tom Meyer about a year ago.

Cheers,

Rocks.

How's the food these days

I don´t think the wine list sucks, that´s pretty harsh. It´s comprised of moderate spanish wines from the Grapes of Spain guys, who always have a solid spanish wine portfolio. They may not have the high end wines, but definately not a list that sucks

yea they are, but they keep pushing back on the date of entry for the hams. Orginally set for fall 2007, then pushed into 2008 and now that everyone has pulled the chorizo, lomo and jamon off their inventories I wouldnt bet on a date

yea he did for a while. But if you notice their menu now, they pulled off all the iberico products and if you go to latienda.com they can't sell them anymore. I have no idea what happened but they are back to being ilegal

I'm off to Spain over the xmas holidays, so as a little warm up, I thought we'd find some Spanish cuisine. After consulting the handy-dandy DR.com Restuarant Guide I decided on Sol de Espana which I've driven by a few times and made mental notes to try.

I found it to be a bit of a mixed bag. The lightly fried sardines were very fresh and delicious. The roasted peppers with garlic seemed like they came out of a jar or perhaps roasted two weeks ago. The Serrano ham with fresh figs was good, but I question whether or not that was truly Serrano. The meat seemed too pink and uniformly grained. We shared a Valencian paella with overcooked mussels, clams, shrimp, bay scallops, chicken, pork?, veal?, monkfish?, snapper?, kitchen sink?... It became hard to tell what some of that protein was. I know paella originates as a way to make the most of leftovers, but seemed a bit much. The rice was good though.

I might go back, then again maybe not. I wasn't unhappy with the experience, I guess I just thought it could have been a lot better.

I think you need to measure your expectations here and at other spanish restaurants in the area. Your peppers may have been piquillos, if they were piquillos (D.O) which are a pepper variety from Piquillo, they will be canned anywhere you eat them, including Spain and they will finish them off in a mud bowl with hot olive oil and garlic still sizzling to the table. You can get better or worse quality but they will always be canned. The jamon serrano will never be good, b/c its not iberico, which is a variety of jamon serrano that comes from Extremadura that the FDA will not allow into the US, therefore what you get isn't as good as the prosciutto you can get here. It is very hard to get a good paella at any restaurant you go to (even Spain), b/c its not a dish fit for restaurants. They usually take 3 hours to make and making it in 30 minutes like many restaurants pull off is just cutting too many corners for a good paella. I don't know if this is just me or I'm just being a snob about the food...

Star Deli on 12 Mile and Telegraph has the best rye bread and corned beef sandwiches i've ever had.

Can't knock the hunter house in birmingham (on woodward) for sliders.

What about that olive burger they serve up in Flint by the outlet mall

Athens Coney Island at the edge of birmingham on woodward (south) is the best of them (ducking)

Beverly Hills Grille is pretty good too (Corner of Southfield and 14 mile?) they have their menu on a chalk board but always have good choices and it has some of the best brunch in the area.

Vit Goel Lighthouse Tofu (Rockville location)

Super Chicken

Byblos Deli

Vace

Breadline

Sushi Ko

Central

Pesce

Taberna del Alabardero

Perfect Pita (or something like that) on 19th (I believe) between K and L Streets -- sorry for the vague description. Go for the Veggie Pita.

Perfect Pita is closed

I almost forgot to mention CF Folks. Menu changes daily with ethnic themes (mexican, morrocan, indian, etc), but also has regular items on the menu, such as the crabcake and assorted sandwiches (pastrami, corned beef, roast beef...).

I like the crabcake and the morrocan chicken with rice and salad they serve on fridays. I haven't tried their ice cream, but I hear its possibly the best in DC and others have been bold enough to compare it to the ice cream served at 2 Amys

Where is the Greek Deli?

Its on 19 street b/w L and M next to Nooshi. They are open weekdays 9-4 and I still can't find a better gyro in dc

I think the food at Zaytinya has improved vastly with chef isabella in the kitchen. I never believed the hype equalled to the quality of the food, but a couple recent trips have me back to zaytinya. The Manti, kibbe nayeh, falafel and tzatziki are very good

Breadline

Greek Deli

Restaurant Kolumbia (9$ lunch)

Teatro Goldoni (11$ Lunch at the bar) - I'm not a fan of this restaurant but for the money it does the job

Best Sandwich place (18th and L, next to the borders on L), It is not the best sandwich place (just the name of the place) but the sandwiches are pretty good

What CSA is recommended for those who live in DC for pick up?

FYI, the Annual Buffalo Nite will be held in September 26th, 6 - 9 PM at the Dirksen Senate Building.

The real food from Buffalo will be served.

How can one get tickets for such event

This place is awesome. First time at central and I left very happy. We ate at the bar yesterday and just ordered a dish at a time along with a bottle of the malbec they serve by the glass. We arrived at 6:30 and the place was packed already, so once we found room at the bar we ordered the food:

- half a dozen oysters - very good selection of west coast oysters (cant remember names) served at the right temperature. A lot of places where I eat oysters serve them so cold that you can barely taste them, but not at Central. The temperature was just right and gave us the opportunity to taste the different flavors of the different oysters.

- Charcuterie - Haven't had the charcuterie at Palena, but this plate was perfect for me. We got the prosciutto, faux gras and 2 varieties of cured sausages, all excellent especially the prosciutto. The only problem I had was that our wine couldn't handle this dish and almost felt like water to wash down the food, but if I return to Central for one thing it will be for the charcuterie.

- Soft Shell Crab - The crab flavor was delicious, we split a crab cut in half that came with 2 dollops of cole slaw (some of the best slaw i've ever had). Maybe a little less batter would have been better, but that's just me b/c my girlfriend loved it the way it was.

- Kit Kat - we destroyed this dish in record time, there were no manners on the table after we took a bite from this desert.

I really enjoyed Central. The manager asked us how everything was we didn't even think about it - amazing. We will be back as soon as the budget allows.

I would try calling the guys at A+H Seafood (Bethesda) first thing in the mornings to see what came in that day before the embassies take it all. Another option in Bethesda would be Daruma (sp?), its a Japanese market tucked in the corner of Arlington Rd and Bradley Blvd behind the CVS. My other recommendation would be Black Salt, which is good but I find a little pricy.

Has anyone come across Pacharan (or patxaran) in the DC area? I dont go to Spain enough to stock for myself and would like to get some

I'm not trying to discourage others from going, in fact the steaks are great but I just needed to vent b/c I was made to feel like I didn't deserve to be there and I have never felt like that before. I am not one to complain about service or even care about it. As long as the food is good i will be back, but this time was different.

I'm a big fan of the rockville location (out of convenience) and have become a creature of habit here. I usually get the mushroon tofu (spicy) and the kalbi. Next item to try has to be the octopus dish.