DanielK

I have tickets to a movie sneak preview (Tim Burton's Corpse Bride) tonight at the 4000 Wisconsin Cinemas. Not wanting to eat popcorn or Taco Bell for dinner, I will be at the bar at Cafe Ole from about 5:45 to 6:45 grabbing a couple of mezze and a glass of something red. If anyone wants to swing by, I do have an extra ticket for the movie! I'll be wearing a blue polo with my company's logo, RWD Technologies.

I'm posting here, just so this pops back to the top, and people remember to RSVP to hillvalley. We didn't say in this thread - are we still shooting for 1pm for the meeting? Good Fortune is at 2646 University Blvd. in Wheaton. I will be there, probably with my 5-year-old daughter in tow. Mom has a prior engagement, and big brother is at a laser tag birthday party.

Just pushing my response to the top, from much earlier in the thread. Still bringing the <deleted> from Scotland. Food-wise, we're still undecided - maybe something with all of these apples we have from our recent trip to Larriland. (edited to please the lawyers)

I think we said that the first meeting was going to be Good Fortune, right? China Garden is in NoVa somewhere, and I think we decided to knock off the Mont. Co. places first... (edited to add) Oh, and count me in.

I wonder if they're still getting the hang of being so busy. They had a much bigger crowd today than I've seen ever before. I'm going to wait a couple of weeks, and go again at an off hour. I definitely agree that the pulled pork was not the revelation that it was the last time I was there. FWIW the BBQ beans and corn bread were still first class.

I got em steamed, rather than pan-fried. Steamed lose something in the trip, but pan-fried for take-out are a waste of time. I would have eaten the entire order right there, but I was bringing dinner home for the family! Far too messy to eat while driving, else I would have had myself a taste sooner...

That's definitely a higher rave than I thought it was worth. Maybe they lost more in the drive home than I thought. I'll have to try dine-in next time...

Done. I'll be wearing my telecommuting uniform - shorts, t-shirt, and a Nats cap.

Three stars from Tom! Charleston

Both winners in my book. Haven't been to Urban since it reopened, so that could be a fine choice.

Sorry to digress from the whole Eve love-fest... I have convinced my boss to let me telecommute once a week or so , so I figure I should treat myself to lunch tomorrow (Friday) in central-southern Montgomery County (let's call it Germantown to Bethesda - basically anywhere along the 355/270 corridor). Anyone open? Sushi, pho, cuban, dim sum, etc. - I'm game.

I swung by today after picking up the 8-year-old from football practice. It's in the shop where the Chinese bakery existed a couple of years ago, in the same shopping plaza as Pho 75. Small place, just four 4-tops. I placed an order to go - Mama's Dumplings, Beef Dumplings, Sesame Balls, and Chicken Lo Mein for the kids. They said it would take 15-20 minutes for the order, so we ordered a couple of soups to eat while they made the food. They said those would come out quickly. The order took closer to 25 minutes, but strangely enough, it took almost 20 for the soups to arrive! There was only one other table, which already had their food, and 2 other takeout orders in the queue, but there seemed to be quite a few people puttering around in the kitchen. The friendly girl behind the counter said they had been swamped today, because of the Post blurb. In fact, while we were there, 3 other parties came in, all clutching a ripped piece of newspaper... The boy had Egg Drop, and I had Hot & Sour. The Egg Drop was actually quite good - lots of egg, not too much cornstarch, and a reasonably rich broth. The Hot & Sour was decent - no red pepper flakes to be found, still reasonably spicy, and full of veggies and tofu. I thought it actually could have used a bit more thickener, as it was pretty thin. Dumplings to go are never at their best, but these survived the 10 minute drive home reasonably well. The outsides weren't too gummy, and the fillings were still piping hot. They were a decent size, and came 12 to an order. The Mama's Dumplings had shrimp, pork, and chive - I expected something like the inside of shu mai, but this was like a pork meatball with tiny shrimp thrown in. Had the shrimp not tasted vaguely of iodine, these would have been better, as the pork meatball was very tasty. The beef and celery were better - minced beef with cilantro and celery. Very good flavor, if a little bit greasy. Note that all of the dumplings (there are about 10 varieties) all have the same potsticker-style wrappers - this is not like dim sum dining where there are many different styles to choose from. They will prepare them steamed (the way we got them), pan fried (which I think never do well for takeout), or will sell them to you uncooked for freezing or cooking at home. The lo mein was average - clearly this is not the reason to dine here. Kids were thrilled that we could get sesame balls, one of their favorites, and not have to wait for a trip to New Fortune for dim sum. Total was $30, which was for 2 adults, 2 kids, and leftovers. Bottom line - quite nice addition to the neighborhood, but not worth going out of the way for. Does make me kinda miss Chef Lau's - his most recent home by the FreshGo Giant off Seven Locks was a mile from my house.

Anyone have info about what Tom's "change" is going to be?

That's why you bring children with you. They eat their weight in fruit while at the farm, so you know instantly if the produce is worth taking home.

Well said - I was out of the country, and by the time I read the announcement the waiting list was longer than the attendee list...

See, and I'm just the opposite - it's 10 minutes from my house, so whenever people want to go for dinner, I can swing by on the way home from work...

If we had 4 people in our group, I'd agree with you wholeheartedly. However, my guess is we're going to have 10+ people, maybe even 20, and in all of the places we've named (including the absolutely cavernous New Fortune) we could easily wait 30-45 minutes for a table at 11:30 or 12. The 1pm is simply a nod to the size of our group.

OK, definitely sounds like enough interest for the Monkey County dim sum comparo. What we need to decide: Day of the week (I propose Sundays) Time (I suggest 1pm - after the lunch rush, but before the kitchen is winding down) Frequency (bi-weekly?) Start date (we should give at least a couple of weeks notice before we start - maybe 9/25?) Which places to hit, and which order (sounded like New Fortune, Oriental East, Hollywood East, and Good Fortune are definitely in, with Silver Fountain as a possibility)

We got to Upstream last week. Moderate selection of what seemed to be very very fresh goods. We walked out with some swordfish and squid. The swordfish was very good, but the squid was perfect. We made fried calamari at home for the first time, and it came out so good, we couldn't wait for it to get to the table. We kept burning our fingers eating it just as it came out of the fryer. It was so tender, it was almost creamy.

A group from one of those other online boards did a trip to New Fortune about a year ago, but perhaps it's time to do it again. Maybe a Montgomery County dim sum comparo, and do NF, GF, and HE on consecutive visits?

I'm with you on the buffet - decent, but nothing special. You should go there for dinner some time after work. They really do a far better job on dinner than they do on the buffet.

NF always has chicken feet on the steam table, but they usually don't offer it to non-Chinese. You have to ask for it when the steam table goes by. I agree that duck feet are hit-and-miss. However, whenever I have a particular jonesing for something that I know they've made in the past, I just tell the waiter, and 90% of the time they bring me a fresh order in minutes.

We've been regulars at all 3 at various points in time, but currently I think New Fortune in Gaithersburg is superior to Good Fortune and Hollywood East. The restaurant is substantially larger than the other two COMBINED, and there may be twice as many items, or more, to choose from, on carts, seven days a week. That's right - they serve from carts on weekdays, too, though the selection is reduced from what you see on weekends. There are probably individual items that are better at GF or HE. Pan-fried dumplings, inexplicably, are nothing more than mediocre at NF. But for most items, you'd be hard pressed to beat the NF standard.

Oh, I couldn't afford the good stuff - I was always in search of quarter beers. I was just explaining why Red Lion wasn't the dive that Mr. Henry's was - because they actually had Bass on tap! DC switched to 21 for beer and wine the year before I arrived, so IDs were always a consideration. And there was no live music at Mr. Henry's, other than intoxicated freshmen.

Red Lion (usually) and 21st Amendment (always) checked IDs, which Mr. Henry's did not. Which made them slightly less dive-ish, since there weren't a bunch of 18 year olds abusing their livers. Red Lion also had decent beers on tap. Mr. Henry's had Bud, Budder, and Buddest...