acevedo81

Ok so I went on thursday and ate off the restaurant week menu. I'll start off with the food. There were 2 choices per course. 1st course there was a choice b/w Gazpacho and panzanella, I got the panzanella. It was good, not amazing but good, it had very clean flavors and the cheese went very well with the dish. The 2nd course offered cod/hangar steak. I ordered the hangar steak rare and it was excellent. I used to think why go to a steakhouse when you can make your own steak at home, but I see that the difference in the quality of meats that the steakhouses (or at least BLT) find is superior to what we can get at grocery stores. Unfortunately the steak did not come with sides, so I ordered french fries which were very good in flavor and came with a mayo based dipping sauce on the side. For desert there were 2 options as well but they were out of one of them, the original choices were berry tart w/ icecream/passion fruit creme brulee, but they were out of the tart. Creme Brulee was creme brulee nothing that you wouldnt get elsewhere, which I believe is a good thing since if it was bad i'd be bitching about it. I guess its one of those overplayed dishes, but since i had to get a desert and only had a choice..... Got a bottle of wine, nothing remarkable it was a 2004 chianti, just wanted something to cheap to go with my food. Service: Now I am not a difficult guest at a restaurant and have worked at jaleo for many years (not anymore), so I always tip over 20% and don't like to complain. But the service left much to be desired, the way they talked down to me is just not right and the way they dropped the plates on our table unacceptable. We were not done with our first course and they were putting our steaks on the table but not only that. They were moving my plate while I was eating and putting it to the side and b/c I was too passive they took my plate away w/o finishing. I wish I could have talked to a manager, but it wouldnt have made a difference b/c they were encouraging this behavior by acting the same way with us. I am obviously not part of their regular clientelle but the food is good and I would have gone back there but the treatment i got sucked and really made me feel like i was not welcome. I still gave 20%, can't bring myself to give less yet but this type of service was ridiculous.

I'm sure barcelona is up there, but San Sebastian is the city that has the largest number of Michelin star restaurants in Spain if not the world (I read this somewhere, but I'm backing off the world part b/c it sounds pretty extreme) and its not even mentioned on the list.

I'm going on Thursday for lunch and due to budget constraints keeping myself to restaurant week options. I keep looking but can't find them anywhere. I wouldn't like to show up there and not get a taste of their daily menu as restaurant week was meant to be treated. Has anyone been here for restaurant week?

They definately have to be pre made (but not prefried) and prefrozen croquetas, b/c the bechamel needs time to set and solidify in order to be breaded for frying.

Same here, also add Nick Warren and Satoshi Tomie

or Manzanilla sherry + Seven Up or just a very cold manzanilla sherry

beer (Estrella for example) + Seven Up + Lemon juice = Clara de verano

Thank you so much, this is amazing information. I will hope to add on a few places when i get back

I am going to Greece in July, I will be spending 2 days in Athens but I rented a sail boat and will be going wherever the wind takes me. I was wondering if anyone can help me with good food options anywhere in Greece as well as travel suggestions as I WILL travel for good food. Thanks in advance for any response.

I pretty much hand picked them and benefit being from the same country as the guys that work/own the place. I forgot to mention i made a really good tapa, since people were getting impatient with the squid ink stew. basically took the tentacles of the squid and sauteed them, made a vinagrete (the best olive oil I have, some sherry vinagre, a little bit of garlic, some good rock salt) and poured it over the tentacles, really good and very simple

I went to Jaleo in Bethesda on Saturday night and it was not good at all unfortunately. It seems as though they have tweaked some recipees for the bad. I ordered: pulpo a la gallega - octopus was hard and bland (this dish is always hit or miss). Patatas cabrales - They went cheap on this one and now they dont serve cabrales cheese over the potatoes, just the sauce Chipirones en tinta - it was fine, its been better before Setas al ajillo - I can't believe how bad this was, it tasted of lemon and very strong thyme flavor. This dish used to be good, now its soaked in lemon juice, whole soggy stems and leaves of parsley, thyme and bay leaf. A little too much here for what used to be a good dish Mejillones en escabeche - another dissapointment, the sauce was not escabeche it was a grated tomato sauce. Other than the food, service was great and drinks were good. But I'm sad to say that Jaleo is definately out of my list of go to (cant go wrong) restaurants. Maybe it was a bad day in the kitchen but i doubt it, my issue had more to do with the recipee than the cooking involved.

squid in its own ink with a side of white rice. Bought some fresh squid on friday from A+H seafood, with the ink sacks intact and decided to make it on a whim, it turned out great.

I was just wondering about this place. Has anyone tried it? if so, Whats the price range looking like

I second Andy Nelson's in cockeysville MD

I just enojyed Vit Goel (Twinbrook Pkway), passed el patio. I have to say my first Korean experience was to die for. I had the Oyster/clam/shrimp tofu soup, which i really enjoyed at medium spice +1 ordered the mushroom tofu soup and really enjoyed it as well. We split the bbq ribs and ended happily paying 32+8(tip)=40. Good place for 20$ tuesday outings.

Having worked with Jose Andres' restaurants before (I don't anymore), I just wanted to add some perspective to your description of the service as you see it. At all the restaurants in the company (jaleo, zaytinya, oyamel... cafe atlantico is differently managed), management insists on a description of the menu and how it works, regarding the small plates and insisting on sharing all the plates. I know it sounds tedious and it is in fact very tedious and boring to listen to, but these servers get graded (by shoppers) on that introduction with horrible consequences if they skip any part of the service steps (the intro being huge part of it). As far as the intro goes i would say your server was new and inexperienced, but this is an issue you could take to the restaurant, b/c it's part of their jobs to give you that intro (whether they do it or not). The margarita, I don't know what to say... yea that was bad. On the food getting to your table with some people getting food and others not getting it, well that is the nature of tapas or antojitos, where the restaurant assumes that the tables' food is everyone's food (a philosophy that jaleo, zaytinya and oyamel work with). It is up to the server to course your meal, when i worked at jaleo i had my own way of coursing which may or may not work (cold items, then seafood, then meats, along with meat friendly vegetables), I see it probably would not have worked out with your table, but that's what makes these restaurants casual, where people share their food and try new things. On another note, I don't think there is an excuse for having to wait 1 hour for your food.

the slow cooker saves you some money on your gas bill, but i like you prefer to braise either in the over at 200/225, never quite sure or the lowest heat possible on the stove top.

You can buy 4 bags of rock salt and mix salt with some water to help the salt stick. In a big baking pan, the size of the fish, put a layer of the rock salt/water mix. Place the fish over the salt and once again cover the whole fish with more salt, leaving only the eye uncovered and covering the tail in foil. Put in the oven at 425 for 25/30 minutes or until eye turns white. Remove the salt, which should come off easily thanks to the water (helps the salt stick). Portion the fish, drizzle your best olive oil and sherry vinegar (or lemon, like vinegar better) and voila. If you're serving don't share the cheeks, thats a chefs privilege

Confirmed- they are opening tomorrow at 11, got a chance to look at the menu and it seems like you get a choice of hot dog/sausage and tunr it into whatever you want via the fixin bar. My mouth is watering, I will be there tomorrow, snow permitting

hahaha... good choice thats where i took my girlfriend when we had to wait for our table at Komi and it was great. Good choice, makes a great contrast to what your dinner will be

I personally prefer super chicken on the same strip as pollo rico in Wheaton. The chicken has better flavour, smokier if you may. Plus you get a choice of a wider variety of sides: rice, beans, fried yuca, french fries, salad and cole slaw. You get 2 sauces on the side: the mustard/mayo mix and the green sauce (my favorite). You can distinguish this place from the hundred others on that strip (other than by its name), by the music thats playing outside.

I went last week and it was 45 pp. I really just can't get enough of this place

sopa de calabasa. Just incase this is a typo just wanted to let you know that pumpkin is spelled calabaza. Not trying to be a dick or anything, I just wanted to save you the problem of reprinting the menus

After being a member for over 4 months i think this might be my first post. I love checking this site out for reviewing restaurants and thought that I would take this opportunity to put my 0.02$ on what i think to be one of the best bargains in the city. Bar Pilar is delicious. i am not a picky person about service, i'm all about the food, but i find both to be well above average. I've been there twice now eating having tasted the following: - Chorizo with beans - its a nice take on the traditional spanish dish with very tasty chorizo (which tastes, i might dare to say the same as the chorizo from jaleo - but they do a better job of it) - Fried Potatoes in Olive Oil with alioli they were excellent, perfectly fried the first time, but the alioli was runny. The second time the potatoes weer still a bit hard, but the alioli was on point. - Roasted olives - This is really good, it is what it is, good ingredients. - I had a walu served over bok choi delicious. I love the way they prepare fish here, its so simple and it tastes like very fresh and thoughtful food, also had Seared tuna, mahi, basically any fish here tastes great to me - Pork Belly with Kiwis in a habanero cilantro green sauce, really good stuff. It was nice to eat the mild spicy sauce paired with the halfed little kiwis, kind of the difference maker from the ever so trendy pork belly dishes every restaurant in DC does now. Since the menu changes daily its hard to recomend dishes, but i just wanted to share a great experience i've had so far at Bar Pilar. Now, since i'm not posting with my real name i wanted to let everyone know that I worked at Jaleo for 3 years and have recently moved onto being a slave to my cubicle, so I do know Josh (the chef at Bar Pilar) and Bart (over at Saint Ex). Cheers, Manuel

131-rare 135-medium rare 141- medium 150 -medium well 161-well-done What temp is the best in the oven to get to the desired temperature. If so, do the vegetables go in at the same time as the lamb?