hm212

Excited about this!!!

I was there as well. I will say it was pretty staggering the difference between the store-bought brands (Thomas, et al) and the actual bagel places.

The store bought brands were really terrible, I usually keep Thomas in the house but only use toasted and while still cardboardy it will do in a pinch, but I think I will get a much better experience getting a dozen from a real bagel place freezing and toasting.

I was in Brooklyn Deli last night and they definitely get their bagels daily from What's a Bagel (Wholesale and catering arm of Bethesda Bagel).

This is where I think you might be wrong - I think that window is actually less than an hour, not 2 hours. Past an hour the crumb is starting to settle and get dense, and the crust is quickly softening.

I agree with Dan, the places that I consider my top go to's were all middle of the road to low by both totals and my judging. I think reheating (or toasting) and you have a very different taste (I am sure there is some scientific ingredient reaction reason why - similar to why I do not a lot of vinagrettes just from the bottle but when they are used in stir fry and heated the flavors are very enjoyable and a very different product).

I had gotten the first batch at Royal Bakery at 10am, then Bagel City and Izzy's closer to 10:30 - That extra half hour seemed to make a shocking difference. I normally consider Royal my favorite but it is the furthest away (so maybe they are my favorite for eating on site but not for takeout).

my plus one and me are in for the 11am but would prefer to switch to the 2pm if you have someone looking to switch times.

Thanks.

I would have an issue with a restaurant calling me out for taking a picture. It is their restaurant, so their rules apply but I probably would not go back to any restaurant that would call me out for taking a photo.

February Saturday afternoons are wide open, My daughter thinks this machine is the coolest.

I took takeout from here last night and would call it a mixed bag with some hits and misses.

The brisket was extremely tender and flavorful, would go back for the brisket. The riibs were definitely above average and had the pink tell tale of smoke but my preference is still Urban BBQ. They are head and shoulders against Rocklands.

Sides are where they need some work - mashed potatoes tasted very off and (flakes or instant?) not creamy or enjoyable. Mac and cheese was missing something.

There is a full bar available, but getting take out have not tried.

Price wise they are not cheap, but market price for the area and food type (Dinner for two came out to about $35).

Service wise, this seems like a small family business and were very nice. Nice family service

A restaurant is a marathon not a sprint, I hope they can improve their sides, kick the ribs up a notch and give us a reason to make this a destination stop.

Please count me in with a plus one.

Any recommendations for some good flavorful hot chocolate - Montgomery County preferred

We should do a DR.com MoCo bagel-off. I propose Saturday 1/26 for brunch at my house in Potomac. If you want in, send a PM.

Dan, thank you for putting this together. You are definitely the man!!!!

As far as I am aware, all of the local delis [broadway, Chutzpah, Parkway, Woodside, etc.] get their bagels from somewhere else. The only exception that I am aware of is Royal Deli in Germantown, and I have heard mixed things (I haven't been).

I am a fan of Bethesda Bagels, Ize's and Royal Deli.

Royal Deli is my favorite as their bakery goods are all made fresh and reminds of old school New York bakery. Other than their out of the way location, I am surprised they don't have more fans on here.

http://www.royalbagelbakery.com/Home/tabid/192/Default.aspx

I'm sorry to answer so late, but the answer is no.

I went about a month ago, and a Burrata ($8.50) was pleasant, but refigerator cold, and nothing special albeit quite large.

Definitely not worth the calories, this was a work event so we took over the entire restaurant and they were trying to serve (buffet style) about 200 people at once so it would not be the regular restaurant experience, definitely not worth the carbs and calories.

Pizza was soft bland and floppy, baked rigatoni had temperature issues (half the tray was cold and the other part hot) also very bland. The meatballs were forgettable and not enjoyable, the meatballs were swimming and covered in a boring bland red sauce (so swimming that when I looked at the tray I thought it was just sauce then the servers reached in and looked for the meatballs.

They have a very nice large space in a good location but the kitchen needs some major help.

Definitely ahead of Five Guys, but I still think their patties are too thin to beat out BGR, because they won't make a medium rare burger. And the fries are still soggy more often than not.

I have to agree with Dan, although the girls agree with Heather and prefer the thin burgers.

I have a work function here tonight, can I get my hopes up for something really good that will be worth the calories?

A goose now sounds tempting me - I have never had one before. Rather than spend that much on a dinner, does anyone know any restaurants that have goose on their menu (I know I may have just missed the season).

They are sometimes in front of my office and I have tried both the corned beef and pastrami, since Brooklyn Deli is my standard for comparison they do not match up. Brooklyn is five minutes from my house so I am spoiled when it comes to deli.

It's odd, though, because an excess of sodium affects the way yeast works. Bread is ratios.

Be sure to order a cocktail here - I have been here three times and each time Giancarlo was behind the bar and he is a genius. He is working on having his own infused vodkas which will be ready for drinking in a month or so. He knows the perfect amount of sweet vs. sour vs. flavorings to keep the drink popping and everyone happy.

The Washington Post did say that the bar is not the same when he is not behind the bar (and each time I was there he was there so I cannot comment on his backups).

About twenty five years ago, I was dating a girl who had a roomate that was a manager at the Old Town Hard Times - I remember having what I thought was the best chili ever when I had gotten the five way.

A few months ago, I took the girls up to the Rockville HT's and all I had gotten was a greasy yuck mess - All I could think of was wow how the mighty has fallen.

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 have to agree on the service - Tonight I felt like an afterthought of a staff that really did not want to work. There was nothing comfortable about dinner. No one wanted to spend any time at the table, When the waiter found out we were not ordering wine by the bottle they very quickly lost interest in serving the table. I have been very turned off - Which is a shame because I was excited to come in tonight.

There's Seasons 52 for a restaurant that specializes in having a lower calorie menu, though it has mixed reviews and questionable healthiness (click for donrockwell thread.)

I was at Seasons 52 once last year, I thought it was very good (not overly memorable but I do remember being happy with the service and food but not much else specifically) - The one thing I very much remember are the small desserts, these were perfect to allow a taste of the dessert but not big so you don't have to worry about the calories

Did I just pick bad timing or has NF lost a step?

Yesterday afternoon was running some errands right up in there areas. It was about 1:30 so lunch rush was over but they still bring out carts until 3pm so I was thinking great - let's have some chinese carts for lunch...

When we walked in it was not crowded at all maybe ten or so tables being used, I was not concerned as it was the back end of the service and they were probably busy earlier and everything would still be fresh.

The Shui Mai was excellent and up to their normal high standards. Unfortunately, everything else went downhill after that...

Chinese Pork with vegetables was so overcooked and dry no one would touch it - they wouldn't just take it off but insisted on bringing something else out. The replacement was a shrimp dish that was sweet - like a dessert? The shrimps were very overcooked and the sweet was sicky sweet, it was almost like it was shrimp and broccoli in a sweet custard sauce (no idea what it really was).

We also had the crispy pig off the main menu - It was okay but felt like it was missing something, I think the crispiness has been much better in the past with the fat melting in my mouth - this wasn't happening today.

The duck had a very oversalted hand and needed something to bring it back.

Can anyone tell me that this was a one time bad day for them (chef sick, on vacation etc) vs a top restaurant moving down to the once was catagory?

I don't want to beat up a restaurant for a one time true issue, and tried to find out but with the language barriers here that wasn't going to work.

Bumping on account of today's Washingtonian blog post. Brisketheads: are these the places you pick up your product? Is $5/lb at Wegman's as good as I can get? I want to play with smoking briskets (and not the lean cut obviously) but it would be easier to justify if I'm not making a $50 mistake every time...

With a menu like this is it even possible to do all of this well? This seems like a major undertaking and the only way to do this efficiently is going to become mass production assembly line without any feeling.

I will be in town and just made an open table reservation for Christmas Eve but I have some doubts here.

Someone please tell me I am wrong...