shogun

Were you horribly trashed? That stuff is actually pretty good in the early morning when you're horribly trashed. Also, get extra rice, no chickpeas or spinach. I was trying really hard to work up a good indignant, and you're lucky one of my roommates isn't here (Then again, he's usually drunk when he eats there, too...), but you're right...they blow. They wont' nessesarily be on the list of places I miss when I move out of Crystal City at the end of the month.

Yeah, the duck, when it finally came, looked and smelled great. The issue was just that she didn't put the order in, then came back to apologize and say it would be right out, and twenty minutes later we're still going "What about the duck, Fawlty?" and focusing more on splitting up the check. I think there was a large element of 'morbid curiosity' in the bar and main menus. There were a few things on there that we weren't entirely sure if they would work or not. So we did the only sensible thing and ordered them! I went with a duck quesadilla with Camembert (Which were, in fact, really good), and the truffled potato spring roll with lumpfish roe. The spring rolls were light mashed potatos with truffle oil in a fried spring roll skin, presented standing on end and topped with creme fraiche or sour cream and a little mound of roe. I liked this dish, as an app or bar snack, even through the presentation (Which looked pretty cool...think somebody got a picture) means you only get the taste of the roe in the first bite. I would have also liked a bit more truffle flavor, tough it was definitely there. I would happily order both again, if there weren't other things I would also like to try next time around! The wine by the glass program was varied and well priced, I thought. The French chardonnay was a bit cold (Though this wasn't unappreciated following the long walk to Dupont on a warm day!), and the pinot noir was too warm. They also seem to have the same Universal Wine Glass that I have! The only hangups were in the service (Again, new server, understandable), not the food...everything we thought 'might not work' ended up working!

Gummi-Worms?

Think it will be ok if I only just get out of work at 7? Not sure how long it takes to get to Wheaton and then find the place. That's what killed me at Mandalay.

Ouch....just, ouch.

Woohoo! (Unless that really was an mdt-only offer )

Excellent!

Good point about the side dishes. Should we avoid very strong flavors with these, too?

Heh, have class monday through thursday nights. Can still make Happy Hour, though, and in the end, that is the greatest gift of all.

This is the part where I realize that the only $20 Tuesday I'm going to be able to go to for the forseeable future is going to be 17th: the week before summer classes.

Doesn't Charlie Palmer have a $20 lunch special? I know somebody [expense account steak house genre] does...might be Smith and Wollensky.

You say 'explosive' like it's a bad thing!

The 'Spicy Chicken Dhalia' at Breadline* still consistantly rocks my world: The one yesterday was definitely spicier than examples past. * For the purposes of this thread, can one HAVE an 'ethnic' sandwich at an establishment like Breadline?

Works for me, as long as we get to Marcel's eventually!

I had my first fried softshell at Mendocino the other week, and I liked it well enough. The texture was kind of suprising, as was the goo in the middle. Not in a bad way, now, just sort of "Hey check it out...GOO!!". I can see eating more of these things!

Yeah, Marcel's sounds good, but also potentially very expensive. Blast, I knew there was something I was supposed to do today.

Absolutely! I have that if anybody wants it for reference.

Alright, I'm more 'in' now than I was before, since I probably won't be moving until early June (Heck, if I can pull it off, I'm moving like 100 feet down the hall!). What's more, I have the previous week off, so I have several days to obsess over what to make!

Re: Ethiopian Zed's in Georgetown any good?

Tempting. Really...tempting. Too bad it's close only to Corduroy and nothing else.

Marcel's...good point. (Alright, no shots...tasty, respectable wine by the glass?)

Bistrot du Coin? Not 'new', but we haven't had A Happy Hour Event there yet, IIRC. Can't really think of anyplace NEW new...we've covered a lot of ground

Yes, yes, a thousand times YES. (Hell, anybody want to go do shots NOW?)

I'm in, too, and I'd like to (re)nominate El Chalan as a future spot. Peruvian food on 20th and I that I hear is very good. Forget who nominated it first, but it was going to be the inaugural spot the first time we tried to do this.

..........oh. I'm still not very good with these sorts of estimates: A pint of mushrooms will get you pretty far, right? I've really got to get some morels this season. Missed out last year.