Mark Dedrick

We bookended our time in Key West with short stays in Miami. Here are a few spots we sampled: 27 – Wonderful meal and experience. Stubborn Seed – For me this is the best restaurant I’ve been to in Miami, and consistently so. This time was no exception. Everything was excellent, as was the service after a bit of a hiccup at the beginning when we had to wait a long time for our table to become available. A thing I don’t normally consider, but which was an issue with my father, is that this place is quite loud. Yardbird – A real crowd pleaser. Living in Oregon my parents don’t get southern food often at all, and this got the job done. NIU Kitchen – My wife and I ate here our first night in Miami and it was great. We’re not normally downtown, but I would happily return. Puerto Sagua – My folks had never had Cuban food before, and this spot was a good introduction for them. Bazaar – We had lunch here, outside. The menu is substantially smaller than it used to be, likely due to COVID. Taquiza – I remain a huge fan of this place. And the new location has more indoor seating, which came in handy when a rainstorm popped up. Great tacos, great beer selection. Lost Boy – We grabbed cocktails here before our dinner at NIU Kitchen. Cocktails were very good, although I doubt you’ll have the same experience we did as the bar was packed with Chileans watching soccer.

Back in the early part of the summer when I was convinced that this whole COVID thing was behind us, we went to Miami and Key West with my parents, who are currently trying to visit all the National Parks (they have about 14 to go). While thanks to tropical storm Elsa we were not able to make it to Dry Tortugas, we did have a nice time. Elsa also messed up our dining plans rather substantially as well, as many places closed on one or both of Monday and Tuesday nights. Here are a few restaurants we visited: Blue Heaven – This place remains wonderful. We had another great meal here. Bagatelle and Grand Café – I’m lumping these two together as they’re very similar restaurants. Perfectly fine, but nothing special. I wouldn’t actively advise against eating at either one, but at the same time I wouldn’t recommend either. Both are overpriced for what they are. Alonzo’s Oyster Bar – We chose this spot because it was one of a small number of spots that was actually open on Tuesday after Elsa swept through, and it was great. We got a seafood tower, which was wonderful, and I had some great steamer clams in butter and garlic. Sitting on the water topped off the whole experience. Eaton Street Seafood Market – My favorite lunch spot in Key West on this trip. I had awesome shrimp tacos, and some great conch salad. First Flight Island Restaurant – This is the original headquarters of Pan Am airlines, and it has a nice vibe. The food was good. I wouldn’t make a point of going here, but it’s close to a lot of stuff, and I’d happily return. Keys Fisheries – We stopped here on our drive from Key West to Miami. This place is known for their lobster reuben, which my wife ordered. I had fish tacos and conch chowder, and both were very good. Key Largo Conch House – We stopped here on our drive down. Very good conch fritters, and fish tacos. Would happily return. A few other establishments we visited: Papa’s Pilar Rum Distillery – Very nice distillery tour. Rum Bar – I love this place. Incredible rum selection, and very knowledgeable bartender.

I've now been to Portland twice this summer. The downtown feels like a ghost town right now, but I wouldn't say any more so than other cities I've been to recently. Some of my favorite restaurants (Imperial, Little Bird, Andina, Red Star, Pok Pok) have closed permanently, and it can be really hard to find restaurants that are open depending on what day of the week you're looking, and what neighborhood you're looking in. Last week I had a wonderful meal at Mediterranean Exploration Company, followed by outstanding cocktails at Teardrop Lounge in the Pearl District. And last month we had exceptional drinks at the Scotch Lodge followed by a great dinner at Normandie, both new spots for me. I'd happy return to either.

We'll be traveling to Puerto Rico in November, over Thanksgiving. I've been twice before, but all told for no more than 36 hours. We'll be splitting our time between San Juan and Rincon. Any hotel or food recommendations from anyone who has been recently?

We ate at Moon Rabbit in like May or June and had a wonderful meal. The only negative is that the wine list is terrible, and overpriced. As in, with the exception of Krug, you could purchase every single wine on their list at a Safeway. This is a problem that Kith and Kin also had, so is likely related to the InterContinental. But I really hope they can fix this. Apparently corkage is $30, and I'll be taking advantage of this next time I eat there.

I'll post more in depth later, but we've just spent a week in San Diego. Much of that was to watch the Padres (booked the trip before they went into the tank), but had some good restaurant meals as well. By far the best one was Fort Oak. Incredible meal. Herb & Wood was also solid. Juniper and Ivy was much worse than either. Horribly slow, and just not as good. I doubt I'd return. Fort Oak is a definite re-visit for us however. On the bar side, J & Tony's Discount Cured Meats and Negroni Emporium was wonderful. Everthing I want in a bar. The Neighborhood, from the same restaurant group, was also great. Open late, with food, and wonderful. They had a late night steak tartare when I needed it.

Yeah, we basically decided we were going to need to limit our travel to domestic only for 2021. We've been to Oregon now twice since May to see family, and did a trip to Key West before Delta really picked up. Our "big" trip on the schedule now is Puerto Rico over Thanksgiving.

I've been here once, and I thought the tacos were quite good. If anything I thought they were overstuffed, which made them a bit of a challenge to eat. I'm looking forward to going back.

After spending more than a year away from eating at restaurants in person, my wife and I ventured out for the first time late last month for dinner for my birthday at Tail Up Goat. It was a fantastic meal, and I'm so happy that they made it through to the other side. At that time, they had switched to a tasting menu only format, which for our purposes was fine. Service was impeccable, the wine pairings were wonderful, and it was just across the board a fantastic experience.

It's sad to see this club close. It had great sound, and I saw some very memorable shows there over the years. Hoping the rest of DC's live music venues can hang in there.

Cap Lounge closing is really rough. It's the first place I ever went in DC, and was a big part of my life for many years after. Here's a fitting obituary by Tony T, who managed the Lounge for a long time before opening up the Pug on H Street. https://barredindc.com/2020/09/11/guest-post-tony-t-remembers-capitol-lounge/

This really sucks, Poca Madre was one of my favorite restaurants in the city.

Last night we got delivery from Red Hen for the second time, and both times it was a good experience, and a good splurge meal (last night was my wife's birthday). We got charred octopus with potatoes, Sardinian Fregola Salad, Maloreddus, and cacio e pepe. Delivery was very smooth, and everything was delicious, including the wine pairing.

I made a peach cobbler a couple of days ago. Once I finish eating it I'm going to make this. https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1021204-peach-pound-cake?campaign_id=58&emc=edit_ck_20200708&instance_id=20089&nl=cooking&regi_id=58112818&segment_id=32906&te=1&user_id=83a355ce4c8af55f250a7bd9218362f3

Obviously to each their own, but I think this most recent season was the best ever. The quality of the contestants was absurdly high. They seemed to get along really, really well. The one chef, Malarkey, who was kind of cast as the "heel" for this season seems to have been universally loved by the other chefs on the show. And I thought the finale in Italy was very well done.