Adam23

Went last night for a quick early dinner. Rolled in around 6:30 and the place was pretty-much empty. I ordered the filet au poivre. My wife had the skillet fried chicken. We shared the fried oysters to start. As mentioned, the oysters are superb. We both enjoyed the cornmeal breading and the oysters were plump and great. The skillet fried chicken was excellent. Smoked, then fried, and served with cole slaw, a piece of cornbread and mac and cheese. The chicken was very juicy. My steak was great as always. It was served with fries (which seemed the same as the ones at Hell Burger) which were crisp and hot. It was also served with a small salad with a garlicy vinegrette dressing and a small piece of bread on the same plate as the fries and steak (which I didn't really get; why it was on the plate? and it was pretty lousy). Overall, like Michael's other places, this was a winner. The price point is less than Rays, almost too cheap. Oddities - No tea or iced tea - soda or water where the only non alcoholic options. Oh, they now validate parking and will be open for lunch soon.

I went yesterday and got the same bowl as you except noodles instead of the rice. The steak was very good. It was spicy, peppery and had a very good char. I really enjoyed it.

Sushi Para will be opening next to Indian Ocean on Connecticut Ave. in Van Ness. They are a chain out of Chicago that is opening their first out of state location. Supposedly it is an all-you-can-eat type place with additional menu items. Hopefully it is decent. Anyone ever been to it in Chi-town?

.At least RJ is nicer than Momofuku. My guest was sick and I was out $300. (Though I did agree to a contract there). Anyhow, I don't think the contract thing is a big deal. Eve has made me do it a number of times and I really didn't think twice about it. That being said, El Bulli and Alinea didn't make me fill out a contract, I didn't need to choose my menu or pairing beforehand and I could take all the photos I wanted.

Was in Baltimore for the weekend and decided to walk to Faidleys. Man, this is a crummy crummy crummy neighborhood. (Note to self, drive, park, get crabcake and leave immediately). I had a lump crab meat crabcake and a side of greens and mac and cheese. The sides were pretty lousy. The greens were bland and the mac and cheese had a very odd consistency and taste - very fake orange color and taste - definately no cheese with that mac. The crabcake on the other hand was delicious. Probably the best one I have ever had. Just tons of lump delicious crab, no shell whatsoever in the meat, and a little bit of a msutard binder. Delicious.

Stopped in last week with the wife and had a nice experience. Easily the best deli in DC/Baltimore, probably a notch or two down from NYs best. I had a Stus special and the wife had a Cloak and Dagger. Both very good with very nice tender corned beef (and very tasty pastrami on my Stus). If you are in Baltimore and craving deli, or are sitting around DC craving very good deli, I recommend a trip.

Dined here on Saturday night. Had a superb meal in every way - food and service were spot on. If you like french bistro food, run here. It is wonderful. Very quick rundown: For appetizers we had baked oysters with hollandaise and the onion soup. Both were delicious. The oysters were fresh, topped with a perfect hollandaise and were rather hearty. The onion soup was great - had a nice rich broth with a heavy ham flavor. I'd rank it in the top three onion soups in town - after Central and Du Parc. For mains my wife had the roasted chicken which was perfectly roasted, juicy and and very nice crisp skin. I had the steak frites which were wonderful. Perfectly crisp fries, a delicious horseradish "flan" which was basically a horseradish sauce and a delicious, tender, perfectly cooked steak topped with a nice wine reduction. I was very surprised how tender the steak was. For dessert we split the bread pudding which was very good. It was served in a ramekin. The bottom being chocolate and the top being the bread pudding. A sauce anglaise was served alongside it. Overall, a very very enjoyable meal. This is definitely going into the regular rotation.

The wife and I decided to give Salt and Pepper a try last night and were pleasantly surprised. When I spoke to Don last week he mentioned to me to save my money I would spend at Graffiato and instead check out S&P. I think he was right on. We dined late so the place was about 25% full. The staff was very friendly and efficient - a bit high-schoolish - but nice for a change. For drinks I ordered the Gotham Project Riesling on tap. This is a finger lakes Riesling served from a keg. The wine was rather delicious - dry, nice fruit - very good. I have to go track down one of those kegs now. For appetizers my wife had the watermelon soup and I had the cod fritters. Both were very good. The watermelon soup was delicious - basically tasted like a fresh, flavorful gazpacho. Very nice. The cod fritters were also very good. Nice breading and fried perfectly. I enjoyed the salt-cod-esque filling. They fritters were served with a sour cream dipping sauce which was good. For main courses my wife had the meatloaf which was served with mashed potatoes and string beans. The meatloaf was very good - nice flavor, juicy and a reasonably good sized portion. The beans were good and the mashed potatoes were creamy and very good. I ordered the fried chicken. It was served with collard greens and mac and cheese (served in a staub container). The chicken was good - juicy and a nice breading. I received two breast halfs on the bone. The mac and cheese was delicious - bubbling hot, crisp exterior and very cheesy. The collared greens were the low point. They were tossed in hot sauce or vinegar which ruined them. Otherwise they would have been great. We passed on dessert. Overall, a great meal and the prices are very reasonable for the quality and portion size. We enjoyed our visit to S&P and will be back again.

Checked out Graffiato on Friday night. I'm rather undecided on the place and won't be rushing back. It seems fake and I don't think it is particularly a good value. Demographic: Clearly this restaurant targets the late-20s/mid-30s lawyer demographic. There wasn't a sole in the place over 40, except for a few tables of early 20s persons with their parents. If you aren't young and bringing your parents out for a "nice" meal while they are in town or if you aren't a mid-30s lawyer/yuppie type, you will likely feel very out of place here. The space: I liked the space. Industrial and clean, but very loud. The first floor was extremely loud - I don't think I could have had a meal down there. It was deafening. Upstairs was loud but a little quieter than the first floor. Service: Service was fine. The server was friendly and pleasant. He told us the story of Graffiato and explained all of their "world famous" dishes. I thought to myself - wow - only open a month or so and already world famous. There were a lot of employees running around the room. It seems liked they had more staff than they should have. My water was filled often and they have free filtered water. I did have a similar experience of getting some cold fill-ups and some warm of the water as others have mentioned. We also didn't get silverware until we asked for it which was odd. Drinks: The wine list looked pretty nice to me. A good selection of various makes - bit heavy on Oregon. Lots of interesting producers, but the prices are sky-high. On average, 3x markup which seems a bit ridiculous - Brickhouse Chardonnay, one of my favorites, for $90 a bottle (I buy it for $20) (or a two-glass minimum at $24 a pop). I ended up ordering a glass of DC Brau. My wife ordered a "Saged and Confused". The DC Brau was good, but the size was a little small. I'm not sure how big it was, but definitely less than a pint. The Saged and Confused was served in the tiny-looking bar glasses as other have mentioned. They are rather hilarious - remind me of having tea time with a child. I'm not sure how big the portion is, but it looks tiny and makes the drink prices seem even more of a rip-off. I tasted the Saged and Confused and didn't like it at all. It had a heavy cucumber taste that overpowered everything else in the drink. My wife said it "grew on her" as she drank it. Food: We ordered all over the menu, as recommended, so we could share in Mikes heritage and upbringing (so our server told us). We started with the bread basket which was a raisin bread, foccacia and a polenta bread. It was served with ricotta and "olive oil jam" which was basically solid olive oil. We both didn't like the olive oil jam but thought the ricotta was good. The polenta bread and raisin bread were both very good. The foccacia was dry. We were also served some roasted spiced pistachios as an amuse. They were tasty. We next ordered the Spiced Red Beets and the Fresh Fennel. The red beets were good - second best dish of the night - matchsticks of beets with a splash of spice (I think cumin) and some almonds. Very nice. The fennel was not very good. It was fennel sliced thin with some small pieces of fruit. The fennel was salted extremely heavy, which ruined the dish. It was our least favorite item of the evening. We next ordered the Octopus. This was easily the best item of the night. It was a good-sized portion of octopus cooked with a little char. It was tender and juicy. It was served with a delicious chickpea sauce. If you like octopus, I highly recommend ordering this. We next ordered a pizza, the Countryman. The pizza was mediocre. Basically crust slathered with truffle butter and some cheese. And then the server cracks an egg on it and mixes the egg around on the pizza. The crust is absolutely tasteless and I found the truffle-butter/sauce they put on the pizza to be overpowering which ruined the rest of the pizza. There were lots of "Jersey Shore" pizzas being served. It is Mike's favorite after all. We maybe should have ordered that. The pizza can't hold a candle to Two Amys, Matchbox, [insert high priced pizza place here]. Lastly, we finished up with the Roasted Potato Gnocchi. The server forgot the gnocchi so we had a reasonably lengthy pause between our pizza being served and the gnocchi being served. The gnocchi was good. The gnocchi were tender and covered with a very tasty braised pork shank - basically BBQ pulled pork. I could have eaten a plate of the pork - it was delicious. By this time, we were stuffed and we didn't order dessert. All in - $100 or so for two. Overall impression is that if the restaurant can keep packing in the young lawyers, it will make it, but if it can't it will be closed within a year. I thought the portions were rather small for the price and the alcohol was rather pricy. Mike was in the kitchen and walking around the room a little, visiting certain tables. I sort of found the whole experience to be fake and overworked, trying to be something it isn't.

GAR, NRG and also Liberty Tavern - have always thought they were well managed.

I had a satisfying meal at America Eats on Friday with the wife. I thought the food was rather good, but the prices seemed high for the small portions. For appetizers I had the peanut soup and the wife had the butter oysters mentioned above. Our oysters were rather delicious - smoky, buttery, warm. It worked well. The peanut soup was very good as well - if you like peanut butter. For mains I had the short ribs with cole slaw and my wife ordered the baby corn and the "fried chicken" appetizers. The short rib was good - it was tender, had a nice smokiness and came with a nice spicy sauce. The cole slaw served served with it was excellent - vinegary, crisp cabbage - it was very good. My wife enjoyed her corn, but the portion was tiny for $12- 5 little baby corns, grilled. (But they were "from the best farming co-op near the nation's capital" according to the menu, so I guess that explains the miniscule portion of the highly prized veges). The fried chicken was good, but unexpected. It was thigh meat (we think) compressed into nuggets and fried. The chicken was very juicy and the breading was very good and crisp - so it was enjoyable, but certainly not traditional. We also had some of their early American cocktails which were tasty. For dessert my wife had the pineapple upside down cake which was good and I had the strawberry shortcake which was fine but unremarkable. I had wanted to get the cheese plate, but at $21 for a couple reasonably garden variety cheeses, I couldn't get myself to order it. Service was friendly and efficient. The restaurant was packed. Overall, I won't be running back but it was good and something different than the norm.

The speeding tickets go through the interstate compact which most states are members of. Parking tickets don't, but if you are in a state that has a law where a lot of parking tickets can cause your license to get revoked, then it would filter through.

I have been to Shake Shack a few times since my co-workers like it. The burgers are basically non-greasy five guys, but there is no comparison to BGR or Hell Burger. This is a thin patty with minimal taste. I actually like their fries - mine were crisp and hot and had some seasoned salt on them. I thought they were rather enjoyable and far superior to the ball of grease five guys serves. (But I could be biased since I grew up eating krinkle cut fries since that was what my local fast food place served). One item I really really enjoy is the Shroom Burger. This may possibly be the best thing I have eaten in quite some time. A portobello mushroom stuffed with cheese and then deep fried until crisp. So good. My co-workers thought I was crazy to order it, but then they saw me eat it and were jealous. If you like fried molten cheese, this is for you.

Casa Camper - Amazing. Great location. Very hip and artsy but quite possibly my favorite hotel anywhere. It is worth the splurge. If you want to potentially cheap it, the Nunez Navarro chain hotels are very nice. They range from 5* 1898 Hotel right on the Ramblas to the Hotel Jazz 3* a few blocks off Placa Catalunya.

Had a great dinner here on Saturday night. We note there were quite a few empty tables. Hopefully an anomoly. For starters, we had the slow roasted veal with a tuna sauce and apples - It was superb and a large portion. The veal was extremely tender (it was sliced paper thin) and it had a wonderful rich tuna sauce. We also had the mozzarella fritters which were served on top of an eggplant and tomato sauce. The fritters were outstanding - the batter was crispy and thin, the mozzarella runny and the sauce was great. I would order multiple orders of these. We also had the spicy tuna on crostinis. This was the only weak dish of the night. The tuna was very bland and had little spiciness. The portion was large though and a great value at $8. For mains, I had the vincisgrassi which has been discussed many times. It was great. My guest had pasta with octopus in a tomato sauce. This was great as well, though we note that the octopus was rather salty, but once mixed into the sauce, it was ok. For dessert, (I forget the names of what we ordered specifically) but we had the Fiola version of the Kit Kat Bar which was outstanding. We also had a chocolate and pistachio cake served with some pistachio gelato. Also was outstanding. The desserts were some of the best we have had in a long time in any DC restaurant. Overall, great meal. Service was very pleasant. I do note that it looks like they are tinkering with prices. The veal chop is now $36 and a few other items are a buck or two more.

Does anyone have any leads on 3000 - 4000 sq ft of restaurant space for lease in NW? Thanks

Agreed. I have eaten at them dozens of times in Paris and thought the same thing. The product is good quality but certainly not the best - It's no Poilane or [insert favorite Paris bakery/pastry shop]. But it is still a lot better than Panera, Corner Bakery, etc. and most any pastry/bake shop in DC.

Hadn't been to Elis in a while but went to their take out space yesterday. Had a very flavorful, tasty Shawarma sandwich and a tasty cup of mushroom barley soup. One of the better shawarma sandwiches I have had in a while. I'll be adding this into the lunch rotation.

Wegmans make pretty decent ones if you are near one. But honestly, I would just make them yourself. It is rather easy to do.

Been to the friendship heights location a few times. Basically a more tea-heavy starbucks and a more modern decor.

The owner presented the proposed menus at a recent ANC meeting - I can't remember exactly what was on it, but it was fairly typical bar-like fare - burgers, chicken fingers, crab cake, etc. Supposedly they are planning to add a Jazz Brunch on weekends. It is the same owner as the Ugly Mug on Cap Hill, if that is useful from a food comparison standpoint.

Got back from a few days in SLC. Had superb food while there. Of note, Copper Onion was excellent. Had a very nice beef stroganoff and my friend had a very nice tri-tip steak. Very good service, wonderful drinks and reasonable prices (particularly as compared to DC). Also hit up Takashi for Sushi. Probably the best sushi I have had in a long time. Very very fresh. Very nice Wagyu Negimaki and great toro/scallion roll.

Jims is good. Had a great one at Cosmis a few weeks ago.

Wow this place is crazy good. Had a meatball sandwich and some empandas. Both were excellent. The meatball sandwich was on their homemade bread. Not sure how to describe the bread - sort of like potato bread and very very good. Meatballs were flavorful, tomato sauce was nice and garlicy and the panini grilling added a nice crisp crust to the sandwich. Out of fries today - so potato chips were offered. The empanadas were great too. The corn ones are particularly fabulous - filled with creamed corn and chunks of ham. Thanks for this find!

When my former roomate used to wait tables there, she said coors and bud were always the best sellers. People get intimidated and go for an old standby.