Mark Dedrick
-
Posts
861 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
30
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Articles
Dining Guide
Everything posted by Mark Dedrick
-
Welcome David (I think?). I'm very anxious to try this place, I'll make an effort to do so soon. -
By the White House Farmers Market
Mark Dedrick replied to zoramargolis's topic in Farms and Farmers' Markets
Today was the first day of the season for the White House Farmer's Market, and the first time I'd stopped by since they moved to the mid-day rather than late afternoon time slot. The vegetable tacos I had from a vendor who's name I can't recall were ridiculously good. They were not traditional in any way, shape or form, but they were delicious. The line moves slowly, but I'm glad I stuck with it. On the produce side, the traditional spring items were all there in abundance, including morels, ramps and asparagus. -
Yeah, I could have sworn I saw something that said last Saturday was the last day, and then Tuesday (the last day of the month). My guess is that they had the next cook fall through or something, and needed more time to get the menu and such ready. Also, thanks for the recommendation, the DC Dram was fantastic.
-
You beat me to it. I have to say, I've quite disagreed with Seitsema recently, and definitely on this place. I think it is fantastic.
-
Based on the erroneous idea that it was the last night for this menu, we made it to Hogo last night. I think it is the best of the pop-up menu's that they've had so far. We really enjoyed it. That uni sandwich was ridiculous, and passes the spam musubi as the single best item I've eaten at Hogo. The chicken fried quail was also fantastic. Anyhow, RJ Cooper will be there until Saturday, then it's turning over again. Our waitress said that the chef next month will again be Javier from the Passenger, but that it won't be Hawaiian food this time.
-
The place came up in Kliman's chat today, FWIW. Mentioned the fact that he's reviewed it positively, and that they even put it on the cover a few years ago (which I was angry about at the time as I didn't want long lines), and that despite that the patrons haven't changed. Which I have noticed as well.
-
Agree on carnitas, that's really the only menu item I've been disappointed in. Cecina is my go-to, although lengua, cabeza and al pastor are also all fantastic.
-
Asparagus made an appearance on Saturday, and quite a bit of it as well. The kale shoots were fantastic, and there's green garlic galore.
-
Well, that didn't last long. Michael Bonk out at the Queen Vic, in at the Pig. http://dc.eater.com/archives/2013/04/25/michael-bonk-is-in-as-chef-of-the-pig.php
-
I drove by this the other day, but this post on Prince of Petworth reminded me to post something here. There's been a lot of work going on at Chupacabra, and they look as if they're relatively close to opening.
-
I talked to the guy for a while yesterday, but for the life of me I can't remember his name.
-
Just a quick note, even post Anthony the pizza here is really good. I haven't noticed a big change in the crust, and the specials remain top notch. There are few places I'd rather spend time on a Sunday afternoon, sitting at the bar, enjoying a glass of beer and a great pizza.
-
We're with RJ Cooper through the end of this month I believe. Not sure what's coming after that. Which does remind me that I need to make a point of dropping back in this next week.
-
I just wanted to quickly weigh in and say that this place is really, really good. Fantastic drinks, consistently good food, great service. Only complaints are that the seating at the bar looking into the kitchen can be really tight. But that's a small quibble. This place is fantastic.
-
I was there a couple of weeks ago. Looking at the menu right now to try to figure out what we had. I think we went with at least a few of the specials, which were all great, but I can't really remember what they were. There was definitely squid, and some vegetables. That's not helpful. Off of the menu that's posted, the broccolini was quite good, as were the chicken thighs with the pepperoni sauce. And the scallops. The agnolotti was good, but not nearly as good as the sweet corn version that appears in the summer.
- 134 replies
-
- 1
-
-
- Chinatown
- Modern Italian
- (and 4 more)
-
This makes sense to me. There was a couple there ahead of us waiting when we arrived, they had just rang once and nobody had come to the door. We rang the required (suggested?) five times and somebody answered immediately. For what it's worth, the host recommended that in the future if we don't want to plan so far in advance we either check the website (City Eats) the day of for last minute cancellations, or just stop in and see if something might be available.
-
I wish. This, actually, was the only off thing about the evening from my perspective. Unlike some faux speakeasy places they do have a sign (understated though it may be). But the door is locked, and our instructions were to ring five times. To be fair, we didn't test things out by only ringing the buzzer one, two or three times (or six!).
-
A few thoughts on my visit last night to barmini: The price issue is a bit overblown. I believe that every drink ordered by anyone in our party last night (group of four) was $14 or $15. This is certainly expensive, but also very much in line with Fiola, Bourbon Steak, the Willard's Round Robin Bar, and many other "high end" spots. They are in the process of transitioning from "reservations required" to a "reservations recommended" policy. I believe this is because they've found that going on reservations alone they're not keeping the place as consistently filled as they'd like. Last night, for example, the place was full (you must have a seat to be there, so the place was certainly not crowded or overwhelmingly full) when we arrived at 7 pm, but by the time we left a little after 9 pm it was at most half full. Our host indicated that, similarly, later in the evening on weekends it was also very possible to secure a seat for a post-dinner drink. You're supposed to ring the buzzer five times for them to let you in. I have no idea why. The menu, at 100 drinks in total, encompassing about half classic cocktails and about half inventions or riffs that they are working on, is way too big. Our bartender admitted as much, and said that he wished they would cut it down substantially, but this is what the owners wanted. Mitigating this somewhat, however, is the fact that the bartenders wait on you, whether or not you're sitting at the bar (seemed to be limited to groups of two or three). And they really know their stuff, helping you to navigate through the many choices, or to take you off menu if you so desire. While this was certainly helpful, I know that at least one of our party of four was so overwhelmed by the sheer size of the menu that it took away from the overall experience. barmini makes really great drinks. Among the best in the entire city. They use great ingredients, including great ice. every drink that came to our table was perfectly balanced, and the bartenders are really fantastic. The bar snacks available are good, although I don't believe you can put together a full meal out of them (or at least we weren't able, YMMV). The grilled cheese sandwich, which was bread stuffed with blue cheese, Cowgirl Creamery's Mt. Tam and truffles was ridiculously good. The "bagels and cream cheese," which is the tiny ice cream cone filled with cream cheese and salmon roe that anybody who's been to minibar would recognize is good, but probably not worth the price tag. The pork rinds are pretty fantastic. Anyhow, I'd definitely stop back in for a drink.
- 66 replies
-
- 1
-
-
- Penn Quarter
- Cocktail Lounge
- (and 3 more)
-
Even after telling others that Sol was opening, I'd completely forgotten about its existence when I stumbled across it last night when considering dinner options. A couple of notes. One, they're not fully open. The upstairs area, which serves a much more extensive menu than downstairs, won't open for another couple of weeks, until after they secure their liquor license. Related, they don't currently serve booze downstairs. The downstairs menu seems to basically have two parts. One menu, which resides on a big board right above where you order, is essentially their version of the Chipotle menu. You pick your meat (barbacoa, chicken, carnitas, etc), you pick your delivery vehicle (burrito, tacos, bowl), and you then instruct the server on what toppings and such you want. There's a second menu, however, on the opposite wall featuring "Authentic Mexican Tacos" which have Chorizo, ground beef, lengua, Al Pastor, and fish taco options, We went with two each of the chorizo, lengua and al pastor. In a word, solid. The standouts were the al pastor and the chorizo. The meats were nice and flavorful, the toppings were fresh (and traditional, radish, cilantro, onion). The tortillas were ok, not great, which was the biggest failing in my opinion. The lengua was oddly flavorless, and had an odd texture to it, which was unfortunate since this is typically my favorite taco. Prices are between $2.50 and $3 per taco. While not great, they're at least decent to good, and given my love for tacos and the current lack of decent options near my house I'll definitely be back. The two menus are handled very differently. If you order off of the Chipotle-style menu your meat and toppings are loaded in out of the plastic bins in front of you while you watch. If you order off of the Authentic Taco menu your tortillas are griddled, your meat is also tossed onto the griddle, and they are topped according to the specific taco you ordered. Anyhow, this is probably far too many words on a neighborhood taco joint that nobody should travel across the city to eat at, but I did want to report on my first impression of the place. I'm interested to try their larger Mexican menu once the upstairs is open.
- 5 replies
-
- 1
-
-
- H Street Corridor
- Tex-Mex
- (and 1 more)
-
Well, they didn't open last weekend, but they now appear to be scheduled to open this Friday. Here are some additional photos and such. They'll have what looks like a nice second floor deck. This is the space right next door to Smith Common. http://www.popville.com/2013/04/pop-preview-sol-mexican-grill-opening-friday-on-h-street/
-
I've been to Joe's in Vegas a couple of times. It was totally fine. And it bears very little resemblance to the South Beach original. I'm sure it will do big business in that space on 15th and H.
-
I discovered that I have a bottle of the 2006 Octagon in my cellar right now. Any idea how this is drinking, and what I should expect when I do open it? While I've been drinking more and more Virginia wine recently, it is not a region where I have a ton of knowledge.
-
Just saw a notice, the H Street Farmer's Market will be opening for the season on April 20, with the same hours of 9 to noon. They'll run later in the year, however, not closing until December 21.
-
One of the many things I have always appreciated about Cafe Montmartre, for all of the reasons listed above, is that they always recite the specials relatively slowly, and 100% of the time they list the price.
-
So, per Fritz Hahn, apparently one drink that came off the menu at Hogo is the Singapore Sling. Which has always been a drink that I like more in theory than in reality.
