Adam23

Marvelous Market on Conn Ave in Chevy Chase is now closed. A good source says the space has been re-rented already to a member of the Carr family who will be opening a high-end food store.

Same people in Tenleytown and Friendship Heights. WF attracts that type of customer. Honestly, lately I have not been liking WF all that much. Lines are long. Customer service is eh. The product varies in quality. As they have expanded it has become far too pedestrian for my tastes. The products are a small step over a Safeway or Giant these days, when previously shopping at WF was something a bit more special.

Closed and empty of furniture. Not surprising. Now I can dream about Mark Furstenberg opening a place in that spot...

Quick weekend in KC. Jack Stack - Wonderful brisket. Tender, smokey, wonderful. Dry ribs and burnt ends. If you want brisket, this is excellent, and the place is nicely decorated. Oklahoma Joes - Wife had a very nice smoke salmon salad. I had burnt ends. Still amazing. Salt, crispy, tender, fatty, so good. Roscoe's - Found this mentioned on a few places. Located in Edwardsville, KS about 20 min from KC downtown. If you like ribs, you absolutely must stop here. Probably the best ribs I have ever had. Smokey, tender, fall off the bone and a wonderful sweet and spicy sauce. So good. Much better than the other ribs I had on this trip. So good. And the sides are excellent - perfect BBQ beans and delicious cole slaw. Highly recommend this place.

I have experienced exactly what Don experienced there many many times at Ravi I. Often my order would be sitting on top of the counter waiting to be called. An attempt of grabbing it (my number being clearly on the styrofoam container) met with a "that isn't yours" until it magically becomes mine 10 minutes later. I call in my orders now and it solves the issue for me. I haven't noticed this problem at Ravi II.

Was in Provo for a few days. Some decent food, but wicked expensive (rarely an entree under $35 anywhere). Everything is flown in from the US except the local lobster. If you are thinking of a foodie destination in the Caribbean skip this. If you want a perfect beach, consider it. The places we hit up: Coco Bistro - Supposedly this is the best restaurant on the island. I'll rank it third of our trip. The decor is nice - all outside, under the palm trees, etc. Service was good. My wife had conch lobster tails with a salad and I had some sort of local fish similar to swordfish with a nice wine sauce. The food was fine but no real strong flavors, somewhat bland. Beach Deck at Seven Stars Resort - We stayed here and at on the side of the beach. Food was pretty poor - pre-grilled fish and chicken, reheated as needed. The view was great though. Seven Restaurant - This was the high-end restaurant in our hotel. This was probably the best food on the trip. Excellent service. My wife had some seared scallops which were nice. I had a poached lobster tail on top of risotto. It had a vanilla flavored sauce which was a bit different but overall it worked well. Bay Bistro - Located in the Sabonne Hotel, which is a bizarre 50s motel on the side of the beach, this was quite good. We were given a private table next to the beach. Service was gruff, but the food was quite good. We had a conch egg roll and a conch crepe to start. These are items they supposedly won awards for. While both were good, they were nothing particularly special. The eggsrolls were typical Chinese far with conch instead of shrimp. For mains I had a very nice seared tuna and my wife had lobster. Both quite good. Lupo Restaurant - This is a brand new restaurant. I think it has been open for 2-3 weeks before we got there. I had high hopes based on what I read. The service was quite good and the food was solidly mediocre. Nothing bad, nothing great. I had a grilled romaine caesar which was nice. My lasagna was ok - unclear if it was made in house or came from a Stouffers box. I would skip this place on the next trip. Turks Kebab - Near our hotel was a run down shack serving turkish food (country of Turkey, not Turks and Caicos). This was surprisingly good. I had a nice doner plate with a salad and french fries and it was quite delicious, and at $14 it was very cheap compared to most food on the island.

In the DC area? I've dined at their restaurants here probably 20 times in total over the past few years. Mon Ami Gabi is pretty decent up in Bethesda. I've had a few good meals and go up there from time to time. I like their fries quite a bit. Wildfire in Tysons is ok for what it is. Their restaurants are not places I would go to on a whim, but for meeting friends who don't want anything adventurous they serve a purpose and are better than some of their competitors. Big Bowl is nasty though. Worst "thai" food i've had in a long time.

If you are willing to wait, BF Saul's new building in Van Ness (where they are knocking down the Office Depot and Pier One) could be perfect. 250+ upscale apartments, UDC and Howard Law students; lots of parking, and lots of rich neighbors. About 2 years away though.

Joes Stone Crab? Or Joes Crab Shack? Former is good Miami restaurant. Latter is just Red Lobster with different decor. I seriously hope not the latter. I went once with my in laws, in suburban Rochester because they had a gift certificate. It was ok but I would never pay my own money to go. I did get a sweet crown made of balloons made by the waitress.

I hope it's a Bonefish Grill. They tease me with their ads on WTOP but make me drive into the burbs to get it. But really, if I had to guess, Cameron Mitchell is opening a location of one of their seafood/steak concepts, which I have always liked. He is in process of opening in Philly, so it seems reasonable that DC is on the radar.

This isn't that surprising though the Pittsford flagship Wegmans is superior to the Fairfax. The amount of care they take at the flagship store is unreal. Everything is perfect - every pile, every vegetable; I love that store. One of the few reasons to go to Rochester if you are nearby.

You should check out Croyden House matzah ball mix (which they pretty much only sell in Cleveland off the shelf or online). It makes consistent and quite possibly the most perfect matzah balls (if you like soft, tender floaters). It must be Croyden House's proprietary mixture of MSG and other chemicals that makes it better than others, but this stuff it is light years better than any mix, and in my opinion, better than many many matzo balls made scratch. (Though, I will note that Dean's matzah balls last night on his passover menu were quite delicious.)

Lots of possibilities. Are you using oil or schmaltz? Covering the pot? Allowing enough time to rest? Too much crowding? What brand of mix are you using? Was the water at a full boil?

Back from a quick trip to SLC and Park City. Highlights as follows: Chungo's- A newer cheap mexican place in not the best part of town. Excellent spicy al pastor enchiladas. Great guacamole. Highly recommended. Settebello - Now an expanding chain with locations in Vegas and other areas. Had a very nice pizza with roasted fennel and sausage. Had a blah caprese salad (not sure why I ordered it. Great fresh mozerella, refrigerated tasteless tomato). Mazza - Very enjoyable lebanese restaurant in the "9th and 9th" neighborhood which is rather nice and upscale. Had a great baked kafta dish with roasted potatoes, rice and yogurt sauce. Takashi - Still one of my favorite sushi restaurants anywhere. Hit it up for a pre-departure lunch. Restaurant is constantly packed. Had a delightful spicy tuna roll, sweet shrimp sashimi, uni sashimi and a rice-less roll of tuna and crab and avacado held together by thinly sliced cucumber. Highly recommended.

Wife and I wanted to grab a quick lunch before the Hoyas/Cuse game so we though we would stop by Wiseguys. However as we walked by we say that the Carving Room was open (apparently for about 2 weeks now). We stopped in and decided to try it for lunch. The menu is basically sandwiches with their in-house roasted meats, a couple salads and soups. The restaurant uses Lyon Bakery breads, so the breads are quite good. We ordered a salad to start and a cup of matzo ball soup. The salad was good, fresh, no real comments on it. The matzo ball soup was good - a nice broth, lots of chicken, carrots and a sizeable matazo ball (hard for those that care). The broth was very good, though some dill would step it up a bit. Overall, not as good as what DGS is making, but rather tasty. For our main, we had the "Carving Room Plate" where you get some rye bread, bacon jam, tomato jam, mustard and pickles (cucumber, onion, carrot and cualiflower) served with your choice of three meats. The corned beef was not ready so we went with the pastrami, smoked pork and roast beef. All of the meats were quite good. The pastrami was chewier than I like it and not as spicy as I like it, but they cut it rather thinly, so it makes it pretty easy to eat. The smoked pork and roast beef were quite good. Both juicy, tender and full of flavor. The prices are reasonable in my opinion. Cup of soup was $5, salad was large and $8 and the carving board was $25 (though sandwiches are like $11 and under). Overall, enjoyable lunch and a good value at half the price of other delis in town (Stakowskis excluded). I'm sure this will be packed at lunch and other times.

I'm in.

Yes 100% positive. Firelake Grill is owned by Bob Slade - here is a link to an article about his ownership (may have been partial) in PGA Tour Grill. http://ww2.gazette.net/stories/042606/entedin162636_31954.shtml He was also the owner of "Slades" in Bethesda among other restaurants. Last time I spoke with him it was opening before the New Year 2013. Looks like that isn't happening.

Here was our menu with quick comments: Pizzetta - Taleggio Cheese - Black Truffles - Small pizza with some taleggio cheese in the center, topped with a quail egg and truffles. Served in a small pizza box. Rather tasty way to start. San Daniele Prosciutto - Gnocco Fritto - Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale - Served on a wood for, this was a fried dough ball covered in prosciutto slices and drizzled with balsamic. Very good. Crocchetta Black Cerignola Olives - Mortadella Mayo - A delicious, airy, olive croquette, fried crisp and then served with mortadella "toothpaste" to top it. Excellent. Diver Sea Scallop Crudo - Caviar - Ligurian Olive Oil - A beautiful slice of scallop drizzled with olive oil and caviar. Wonderful flavor and saltiness. Excellent. Salmon cured in house - blood orange - Great presentation - Smoke in house and served on a plate covered with a glass bowl with smoke in it. Excellent - wonderful smoky flavor in the salmon. Oysters - Passion Fruit - Olive Oil - Wonderful oyster in a passion fruit sauce - served in a shot-glass of sorts. Fried head-on Shrimp and Shrimp Sauce - A large shrimp perfectly fried. Wonderful. One of my favorites. I could have eaten a plate of these. Frascatelli - Manila Clams - Pancetta - Frascatelli is this tiny crumbly pasta - what Roberto called "Italian Couscous". Hand made my him and then cooked with clams and pancetta. This was wonderful. Loved the noodle's texture. Chitarra Spaghetti - Sea Urchin - Pomodorini - I loved this. Sea urchin, pasta, red sauce - I got seconds. So good (I love sea urchin) Gnocchi - Lobster - Red Pepper - Wonderful soft gnocchi with pieces of lobster tail - Had a nice kick from the red pepper. The lobster was slightly overcooked but the gnocchi were wonderful. Duck raviolo - Pioppini Mushrooms - Wonderful duck filled ravioli topped with a mushroom sauce - Very good - I think this must have been a special - I saw several similar plates going out that night. Risotto - La Tur Cheese - Hazelnuts - So good. Rick, creamy, stinky, cheese with risotto - Loved it. Squab - Chestnuts - Duck Liver - This is how it was described on our menu. I don't think it was actually squad - I think we had a wonderful duck breast and a piece of foie. Also a grilled duck liver. Very good. I don't like duck but the foie was perfectly cooked and the duck was nice, tender and not gamey. Venison - Sour Cherries - Sunchokes - The miss of the evening. Had hints of chocolate but the sauce was very salty. Pecorino Di Fossa and Saba - Nice piece of cheese with some lettuces. Vanilla Gelato - Spices - Clementine - Nice gelato with cardamom and other spices. Good creaminess but the gelato did have ice crystals. Gianduia Jar - So good. Basically chocolate mousse in a jar. I could eat 5 of these. Bicerin - Basically hot chocolate. Delicious. Bombolini - Wonderful little doughnuts that somehow found their way into the Bicerin. Overall, as noted before, great meal. We didn't get wine pairings - it was offered at $45. Our friends brought wine along. The set up is interesting. It isn't high end particularly. The plating and such is cute but this isn't like Minibar or something that is designed around a tasting menu. The plating was no where like the plating at Suna we had last weekend, for instance, which was intricate and perfect. This is in the back of a neighborhood restaurant, it is loud. But it is very enjoyable. I agree with JoeH - seeing the food coming out and watching the line cooks make it, it is great to see and made us want to come back again to try things in their normal menu. As compared to Fiola - it is different. I like Fiola very much and have been there a half dozen or so times but it is a different style of food and is hard to compare. I've eaten at a lot of Italian restaurants around DC and elsewhere and this was really really quite good and a fun experience to see Roberto cook the entire meal. At $85 this is a steal - best tasting menu value in DC, no question.

We were the second group to dine at "Robertos 4" with our friends this evening. Like JoeH and no1uno, we emailed the address to make our reservation. Talking to Roberto, he is planning to do this on Tuesdays and Wednesday's (sometimes Thursdays) only. No weekends. He is already booked through April. Our courses were more or less the same as no1uno's. Roberto says he isn't going to re-do the entire menu each night but will modify it a bit with significantly different menus each month. We had 18-19 courses - all very good to excellent, other than a Venison course, which had a very salty sauce. Highlights were the proscuitto wrapped around a donut of sorts with balsalmic; a sea urchin pasta (which I asked for seconds of and Roberto happily provided); a risotto with a stinky, strong norther italian cheese which was delicious; and the dessert a "pot of gianduja" which was a rich, delicious mousse of sorts. The sea scallop couse was excellent as was the duck/foies gras course (and I don't really like duck at all). Roberto cooks every single course in front of you. You leave stuffed. At $85 this is a steal. The space isn't ideal (it is a counter in a loud restaurant), but the service is good and the opportunity to watch Roberto cook is easily worth it (as is the opportunity to watch the line cooks make 5 entrees at a time - there is some seriously good looking food coming out of there - massive lamb shanks, lobster risotto and seafood pasta). There is no question Robertos 4 will increase in price in the future. This was probably the best food I have had in DC in quite a while.

Had a nice dinner here on Saturday evening. The restaurant shows great potential but we didn't think it could compete with the best of DC yet. Here is a very quick review: Space - I like the space a lot. Brick, hardwoods, comfortable chairs. Only issue is that the room is freezing. Every time the front door opened (which was down a flight of stairs and down a long hallway) the warmth of the room was drawn out, making the room rather cold and uncomfortable. I hope they can fix this issue with some draperies or something. Service - Serivce was quite good. Waiters were attentive, water refilled often and quickly, servers friendly and gave good explanations of the food and wine. Our only issue was that the tables are close together, and when the server was pouring wine at the table next to us, we always got a face full of butt. Clientele - Clearly this is where the young professionals go for a nice night out. Nearly everyone was in their 20s and 30s. Food - The presentations are beautiful. These were among the nicest plates of food i've seen in a long time (probably since my wineing and dining Michelin starred places in Spain). Beautiful presentations with nice plates. Standouts were the dashi custard with delicious sweet scallops and the "root vegetable" which was a salad with beets, some candied, some roasted. The deserts were rather good - we both particularly enjoyed the hibiscus dessert which was primarily a sesame bark/hardened foam/candy type concotion which was rather delicious. Overall, the food was good, though we both noted that portions were rather small and not particularly filling. Wine - We had the pairings with out dinner. We had the four course meals so the pairing was we though was a reasonable $28 per person. It included three glasses of wine/beer. Overall, this restaurant has potential. We will probably revisit later in the year to see how it has matured.

Agreed. I actually wrote them and they told me something to the effect of "they constantly modify their recipes and are sorry for the chewy beef". I stick with the meatballs now. The other proteins have gone downhill.

We went a few weeks ago. Excellent pizza. Agree it is very expensive. The closest thing to NY style pizza i've been able to find in DC.

Quick trip to vegas and had some great food. Two highlights: 1. Pastrami at Todd English P.U.B. - Tender, juicy, spicy - delicious - beats any pastrami i've had in the DC area and up there with the best in NY. 2. Nearly perfect meal at Wolfgang Puck CUT - Wicked expensive but the service was perfect. The tasting of sirloin was quite delicious. Three different sirloins - one prime, one dry aged US wagyu and one Japanese kobe. All three delicious, perfectly cooked and so tender. If all sirloin was this tender and delicious, I would eat it all the time. One lowlight - Central - We stopped here since it was late, it is open 24 hours and we were in Caesers. Menu is similar to the DC restaurant but the food is clearly toned down for simplified palates and lots of random options - I think there were wings for instance on the meny. I had an onion soup which was bland and a watery broth. Much different than the rich, hearty DC version. Wife had the faux-gras which was the same as DC though.

Went to dinner here on Saturday. Thought the food was quite good but the service was abysmal. Food: - We started with the bay scallops - They were served raw with some finely chopped mango and a small thing of pickled cabbage. Very nice. Very fresh. At $19, didn't seem horribly expensive given the quality. - We had the cornbread and bacon jam. Bacon jam was great - so good. The cornbread was good, moist, not crumbly as some other reviews I read noted. For $3 seemed like a good value. - Potted Foie Gras - A gorgeous, very substantial portion of potted foie gras. Served with some very nice brioche. WOW this was good. Smooth, creamy, foie-y. And a very good value. If you like foie, get this. So good. - Beef cap of ribeye - Nicely cooked, a little oversalted but tasty and cooked perfectly as requested. - Oven roasted sunchokes - These were very nice. I honestly have never had sunchokes so I was thinking these would be like artichokes - wrong - pretty much like potatoes. Very nice roasting, great flavor and the lemon zest lightened it up. - Kimchi linguini with uni and scallop - I loved this dish. The noodles had very little kimchi flavor and were quite al dente but overall the disch worked well. The uni was delicious, as were the wonderful tiny bay scallops. - Chocolate sorbet; espresso ice cream; caramel ice cream - The ice creams at Range are wonderful. Among the better ones I have had recently. Perfect consistency and mouth feel - very creamy, no ice crystals; delicious. Highly recommended. - Banana bread pudding and milk stout ice cream - The banana pudding was a huge let down. The most tasteless excuse for a bread pudding I have eaten. Blah. But that milk stout ice cream - so freakin good. Creamy, wonderful stout flavor and a wonderful alcohol aftertaste. I really liked this ice cream a lot. Service: - Absolutely terrible. Got in at 8:30. Left at 11. So slow. And our waitress was aloof. We ordered one drink each, water was rarely refilled, never asked if we wanted other drinks, etc. The worst service in DC in a long time. This was surprising given how many people are working here. - They don't validate for parking. I think the restaurant will be successful, but service needs to improve quite a lot. Food was great.

Yes, stopped in today to take a look. Takeout starts in a week or so. Dinner, next few days. Serving lunch only at the moment. Haven't had a chance to stop by for a sandwich, but menu looks good and the sandwiches coming out look good as well.