Mark Dedrick
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Everything posted by Mark Dedrick
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Looks like the Hawaiian menu is back. Which means I can eat approximately 50 lbs of spam musubi. https://twitter.com/HogoDC/status/364825032020619264/photo/1 -
OK, finally watched the pilots last night. Agree with Choirgirl21, I thought all of the shows were decent. I initially feared I'd need to root/vote against Rodney because of the Guy Fieri factor, only to have him ruin every other segment (for me) as well. Well played Food Network. Rodney's is the one that I could conceive of watching on occasion. I liked the concept in general, it involves some of the better elements of Bobby Flay's Throwdown. I've also eaten a very good meal in the restaurant where he filmed this (and that place is quite nice, and I don't remember even seeing a grilled cheese sandwich on the menu when we went there). I would likely never watch Demaris's show (and I feel that an essential part of that pilot should have been her shaving off that dude's ridiculous mustache). Russell's, eh, maybe.
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I don't know how we went this long without trying this place out, but we finally went this past Friday and absolutely loved it. I don't know if this is typical, but we had no trouble grabbing a seat at the bar, and between about 7:30 and 9 pm the place was never crowded. Excellent sherry selections, and Chantal is the perfect person to steer you through their menu. We only barely experimented with the small plates, but ham tasting and the sardines were both fantastic.
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I can't comment on routinely, but when two of us stopped in on this past Friday night (around 9 pm) we were able to sit down immediately at the bar. We were afraid that we'd end up having to try to or three restaurants before finding space for us in that neighborhood.
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Apparently only some of the space is going to be Frager's. http://www.popville.com/2013/08/il-capo-di-capitol-hill-italian-restaurant-closes-space-being-split-into-temporary-fragers-paint-store-and-vietnamese-corner-anh-dao/
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Sorry, just saw this. Yeah, I usually go about three minutes or so per side (I flip it three times or so) depending on how hot the coals are. It gets more of a charred flavor into the corn, which I enjoy. You basically want to turn it when you have some char, but before you've completely blackened the entire side of the ear.
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I have also pretty much given up on the Food Network, so the likely answer to all of these questions is that no, I would not watch their shows. However, I think Choirgirl21 is right on Rodney, his show would need to feature him traveling around. He could eat pies, pizzas, whatever, and they could throw some music in there as well. I would almost certainly not watch it, but I could see it. Russel appears to be a better cook, at least within the constructs of this competition, but I agree, I have absolutely no idea what his point of view is, and he tends to be a disaster on camera.
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Ate there on Monday and absolutely loved it. Also had no trouble just walking in and getting a table at around 7:30 pm FWIW. My only criticism is that the amount of food that our waiter suggested we order (five to six small plates to start, then an order of pasta per person, then an entree) would led to us ridiculously over-ordering. What we ordered instead (Antipasto Misto, a half order of pasta per person and a single entree to share) proved pretty much right on the money.
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My understanding is that Frager's won't be able to fully re-open for 18 months to three years. So while this is being called "temporary" for right now, at a minimum it will be Frager's for at least the foreseeable future.
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Rodney has a personality, and a hook (the pie thing) to where I could conceivably watch his show, if it were put together properly. The chances of that happening are probably around 5%, but it's something. I couldn't imagine watching Nikki at all.
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Dining in Philadelphia
Mark Dedrick replied to bookluvingbabe's topic in Philadelphia Restaurants and Dining
We were in Philly this past weekend. I'd like to do a more in depth post, which may still happen, but until then here are a few quick thoughts: Fork - Love it. One of the best meals I've had this year anywhere. Amada - We enjoyed it, but have a couple of caveats. One, we went with the tasting menu in part out of ease of ordering. It was quite good, and started off fantastic, but the last couple of dishes (the lamb, for one) were the weakest dishes of the night. Two, service started out wonderful, but go extremely slow as our meal wound down. I believe this was because our server simply had too many tables (this restaurant was absolutely slammed, with new tables being seated after 10 pm). Regardless, not a positive. Franklin Mortgage and Investment - Enjoyed it a great deal. Great drinks, cool space. Hop Sing Laundromat - Also enjoyed it a ton. Drinks were fantastic, the service was wonderful (I like that they have a much bigger bar space than Franklin, allowing you to interact with the bartenders). The whole entrance concept is a bit contrived (ringing the bell, having them "interview" you about how you found out about the place, etc), but we really enjoyed our experience after that fact. I'm curious how well they're doing, however, There were about four other parties seated in a quite large space when we arrived. When we left around 8:30 we were the only people in the whole place. Dinic's - We enjoyed the roast pork sandwich quite a bit, but I'm far from an expert on how it compares to other roast pork sandwiches in Philadelphia. Reading Terminal Market is fun. The Dandelion - Had lunch here and enjoyed it. We then enjoyed it again that afternoon when we were stuck in the absurd amount of rain Philadelphia got on Sunday (most in recorded history). Good beer list, and had the Gold Cup final on the television with sound. Not how we planned on spending our afternoon, but perfectly enjoyable. -
We were at Etto a few weeks ago. We absolutely loved it, but definitely preferred the small plates to the pizza.
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I essentially agree with the last two posts. It isn't as good as it used to be, but it's still quite good, and I should go more often than I do.
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My preferred method is shucked, on the grill. I paint the corn with olive oil (or melted butter) and season with salt and pepper, then grill over high heat. I prefer this method to leaving it in the husk as I like the char on the kernels.
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Agree 100%. Also, while I really, really want to believe that they'll be serving great Mexican food, I won't fully buy in until I eat there.
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Per the Post, they're going to be opening relatively soon. While they've been "opening soon" for a couple of years now, the photos in this piece at least make me believe that this time they may actually be opening this year. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/going-out-guide/wp/2013/07/17/could-h-streets-impala-cantina-y-taqueria-open-soon/
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I pretty much only use Poste for their bar and patio at this point. Great space, at times great drinks (they currently have six different Rickeys available for the month of July), and uninspiring food.
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I believe that I went once right when they were starting to transition from "Reservations Only" to "Reservations Possible." The feeling I got from talking with the manager as he was describing how they were just starting to take walk-ins was twofold. One, that they wanted to be able to control the number of people coming in when they first started to make sure they were putting out the quality of product that they wanted; and two, that they didn't believe that they would be able to keep the room as consistently full as they would like with only reservations.
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He only really has good food at one of his places (Granville's) which is why my expectations were so low. On the other hand, he has many nice bars.
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I had stopped watching this show a few years ago because it drove me absolutely crazy. I started watching this season only because I noticed Rodney from Dangerously Delicious was on, and I wish I'd stuck to my guns. This show remains terrible. I complain at times about Top Chef, but it is exponentially better.
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The meatball sandwich is fantastic. And I've always had great luck with their charcuterie, and the other products from their meat case (in particular, on two different occasions, gigantic, dinosaur bone ribeye steaks which were one of the best things I've ever cooked). Harvey's, on the other side of Union Market, also has very good products, and a much larger variety of regular (non-cured/produced) meat.
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They've been "Coming Soon" for what feels like ten years, but the soon to open Impala on H Street NE has had fantastic tortillas in all of their various pop-up iterations to date. Those tortillas are the main reason I'm so much looking forward to their opening.
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In that case I'm glad I waited before trying. We found the "authentic" pretty much perfect, but then we like spicy food.
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Yes x1000. It is impossible to have great tacos without great tortillas. Period.
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Finally made it in to Vendetta last night. I pretty much agree with the posts above. The space looks great, and we had a great time. The cocktails we ordered were good, and well made. The pastas were ok. Nothing wrong with them, but nothing I'll be craving until my next visit. I had the squid ink, and it was fine, but didn't have the amount of flavor I'd like. I'd say the same about my wife's rabbit ragu. I'm sure I'll be back because it's close to my house and at least decent, but I can't recommend going out of your way to come here to eat. I would recommend the bar, however.
