sandynva

We had some wonderful carry-out from here last night. the place is lovely, the servers really nice, and there werent many people there at 5:45 last night. they packed up the dishes beautifully, artfully arranged with pretty garnishes. it was a nice touch. I tried 3 dishes i'd ordered often at bangkok golden and some new ones. the tofu larb was just like BG, but if anything, the crispy rice salad was better than the BG version, noticably more herbs and the portion was larger. Tofu orm was tasty, but a bit different than the BG version, less dill and herbs and more tomatoesand eggplant. The sakoo Yadsai were new to me. they are translucent balls of tapioca stuffed with peanuts and possibly coconut. the texture was great but i didn't taste much of the radish or cilantro, and they were much sweeter than expected. they were tasty, just not what i was expecting, which was more savory. the soob pak is a large portion of mixed veg in a surprisingly spicy sauce. the sauce was red, and i'm not sure if it was from tomatoes or chili or both. even though i ordered mild-medium hot i could only take one bite of this, so i can't really comment on the taste. mee kathi was delicious. they kindly packed the soup separate from the noodles, bean sprouts and cabbage and this was a very comforting tasty dish for a cold evening. it tasted almost like a mild red thai curry, but tastier than any red curry i've had recently. lovely coconut flavor. will definitely get this often this winter. a great great meal with a ton of leftovers. i'm so happy this place opened!

I had carry-out from there earlier this week,and while i agree it's a welcome addition, i think i still prefer la sirenita. admittedly, i only had the vegetarian versions of things, so the relative lack of flavor might be due to the fact that the dishes are supposed to have meat. and the green salsa did help a lot, but overall, i just wished there was more flavor, and i wasnt overwhelmed by the tortillas. If i have craving for huaraches and don't want to go to riverdale i'll stop by, but i dont see myself visiting too much otherwise. As people have noted, the huaraches are very good--lots of nice toppings (though i didn't notice any cactus), and made even better by the very tasty green cilantro-lime salsa they have. the quesadilla was surprising, it was more like a block of cheese in a taco shell than what i had expected. instead of the usual tortillas, it's made with a hard corn shell with a thick slab of cheese in it. i wished the cheese had a bit more flavor. the lentil soup was surprisingly good. at first it tasted like a standard lentil soup, good if a bit salty. but there was something else in there that made it more interesting than the standard version, maybe a hint of tomato or something we never figured out. at the last minute i asked for a side of 3-4 tortillas and a side of beans. at first i was displeased because each was $4, which i thought a bit steep, particularly for 4 small tortillas. but the taco i made with the tortillas, crema, beans, and green salsa was really delicious.

got some huge pomegranates (pom brand) there this weekend and they were great. i haven't had pom brand in a while (mostly been getting mine at asian markets) but either these are a great batch or they've made some real advances in breeding. quite sweet and easier than usual to get the seeds out. they're about $2.50 each, but they really are at least 50% larger than the usual size.

i may have gone a little overboard on the holiday stuff yesterday. I haven't tried much yet, but the coconut cupcakes are delicious. i bought them for the inch of ganache on top and was pleasantly surprised by how good the cake itself was. The coconut flavor isn't that strong, so even people who don't like coconut might like these. from the flyer description i thought the salted caramel gelato might have been made by talenti, so we got some. it's good, but not talenti, it has a more milky carmel flavor, and is less salty. Sadly i didn't see any of the awesome peppermint/candy cane truffles from last year and i fear they might not have returned this year. but the ganache pastry ring is back at least. not holiday but also good--the arugula ravioli actually have that distinct nutty arugula flavor.

whenever i've asked about fish sauce/vegetarian options, i've been told that all of the curries are non-veg, only the vinaigrette is free of fish sauce.

I've been going back and forth on whether to try the inn, and found this review extremely helpful. do you have any additional comments on your wife's meal? As a vegetarian i was interested to read that you weren't as impressed by her meal.

does anyone have any feelings on vitamix vs blendtec, or is the best strategy just to get whichever one you can get cheaper? if it matters, i think i'd use it most for soups, purees, and turning frozen fruit into sorbets, and think it'd just stay out on the counter, so weight/portability should not be a big issue. thanks!

i had a good first visit to le diplomate saturday, and am eager to go back. arrived a bit after 6 and immediately recieved seating in the enclosure area. I thought the bread and butter were good, but not amazing (unlike, say, volt's cheddar biscuits) but happily finished it anyway. perhaps because i'd eaten so much bread we ordered lightly--split a side of potatoes gratin to start with, i had the mushroom tart and my companion had the scallops. he said the scallops were good, but not amazing, and he'd have prefered them to be cooked a touch more. on the other hand we both loooved the potato gratin. so simple--good cheese, potatoes, garlic and a ton of butter and cream, but so good. the filling of the mushroom tart was excellent, cheesy and with deep mushroom flavor, but as others have noted the puff pastry crust is only ok. the gratin was rich enough that after eating only half of it, i couldn't eat more than half the tart. it reheated excellently. for dessert we split the pot de creme which, like the potato gratin, was simple, so rich, and so delicious. service was somewhat abrupt but reasonably attentive. i think having a side of potato gratin followed by a pot de creme would be an amazingly decadent and reasonably priced meal, and more than enough food for me at least.

thank you all! so far they've been to the district fishwife and liked the fish (though they were unimpressed by the service). i think their plan is to try each of the other places you all mentioned, in turn! also, i looked up the market in jessup--it seems they have at least one retail store, franks, so hopefully even if the market is business-only, they can get fish from there. and thanks for the tip on the waterfront not being great, you saved them a trip.

i find that cauliflower is a decent potato substitute in many things --i really like it steamed, mashed, and mixed with pesto. multiple people have told me that the fake pizza crust/garlic bread made of cauliflower and cheese is delicious but i've never tried it. i've made basic aloo gobi with just cauliflower (so, gobi) and it was good. green beans steamed and tossed with hummus or tahini is also good and for me at least quells carb cravings a bit (maybe it reminds me of pita and hummus?) could you do palak paneer or creamed spinach? what about larb? i cant usually do a salad for dinner (just doesn't feel like a full meal) but i am very happy with some of bangkok golden's tofu larb with lots and lots of lettuce, which is think is a carb free meal, if you use the non-veg larb.

My mom partially grew up in burma and she fondly remembers a dish called Khao Soi, said it was very popular, A server at mandalay confirmed this--the first time i went there, i asked if they had this, and he told me that many, many indians who spent time in burma came in and asked the same thing (and were sadly told mandalay doesn't make it). does anyone know if any of the places listed above do a vegetarian version? till now all i've been able to give her is the trader joe's version....

My inlaws are visiting and would love to buy good fresh fish, which they can't get in their small town. any reccomendations on where to go for really excellent fresh seafood? bonus points if its near silver spring. also, i was wondering if i should take them to the SW waterfront fish market and if so, which were the best stalls to visit. any thoughts? thanks!

I second or third the suggestion of shaved fennel with chunks of orange slices, dressed with juice from some of the orange pieces, salt, and lots of cracked pepper. i don't add olive oil, but you can. a few kalmata olives are surprisingly good in this, something about how the bitterness of them plays with the oranges. And i just use the tops in regular salads, they taste exactly the same as the bulb, so never knew why people didn't eat them.

i'm not sure what you're getting at here. do you mean because he has so many places, they're not great or worthy of particular comment? or that because he has so many places, there's no need to have a thread on finding him? if the former, i definitely disagree, as even though he hasn't cooked there in a while i'm always qite happy to eat at his place in charlottesville, but if the latter, that makes sense.

i can't wait!! $20 tuesday ?!

looking at my squash plants, it looks like all of them have exclusively male flowers (or i'm really bad at telling male from female). does anyone know why this would happen, and if there's anything i can do to encourage female flowers. i read that sometimes the first blooms are male, but for at least half the plants this is their second round of flowers. Also, all my lettuce has gone bitter, and there's lots of it so i think the only thing to do is cook it. for next year, does anyone have any tips for keeping it from going bitter, or is it just a given in our heat? thanks!

has anyone gotten zucchini yet? i've had cherry tomatoes and hot peppers for a while now, and even the full size tomatoes are almost ripe, but my zukes haven't done anything yet but send up what appear to be male flowers.

i love zucchini and am always surprised when people say it has no flavor. to me it tastes strongly green. i too make a dish will well-browned zucchini slices, cooked with lots of garlic and chili flakes, over pasta and it's one of my weeknight faves. (anna--i'll have to try adding mint!). lately i've been doing a brothy soup with shredded zucchini (browned briefly) a bit of garlic and chili, orzo, and lots of lemon, and you can brown some onions in there too if you'd like. and zucchini cooked by first tempering mustard and cumin seeds, then adding tumeric, coriander powder, and a bit of chili powder is so good.

fresh, or frozen and thawed? also, do you have any idea how long the season usually lasts? i'm trying to figure out if i need to run over this weekend or if it can wait till next. thanks!

had a great brunch at Volt on saturday and was wondering--does anyone know if they've ever published their recipe for their cheddar-scallion biscuits? those were so freakin good. everything was lovely--the service was friendly and attentitve, yet respectful. the biscuits amazing, and the rest of the breads we tried were also very good. i had the jerusalem artichokes--diced and served with a rich sunchoke sauce as well, and brightened with sweet kumquat slices. the sauce was so good, and the kumquat really was a nice counterpoint to the earthiness of the vegetable. for my entree i had corn dumplings with fish pepper sauce and favas. again the sauce was so good, and the corn dumplings were browned in a way that reminded you of pancakes and brunch, and yet kept in line with the savoriness of the dish. for desserts we had the myer lemon curd with merangues and celery sorbet--the sorbet was unexpectedly delicious, and the Ash goat cheese with vanilla brioche--unusual and very delicious, like a really excellent, deconstructed cheesecake. a delicious meal, with great service, we'll definitely be back.

they sell them at by brazil on georgia ave, though i don't like th ready made ones as much as the frozen flor de minas brand. they also have what appear to be ones with cheese and guava jelly inside that i haven't tried (also frozen).

the list of pastries and desserts is almost identical to those at By Brazil in silver spring ( which does have acai and juice), but the soups sound intriguing and the atmosphere looks a bit nicer than By Brazil.

Seriously? As an attorney, i'm used to gratuitious slams, but to see this on a board which prides itself on having comments based on evidence, and having opinions expressed that are well thought out rather than knee-jerk, this is surprising. this is of course the topic of another thread, and frankly probably another website, but this is the deal--if lawyers are taking a cut of the profits, it generally means that the client paid none, or a very small percentage of the fees for the attorneys to take a case. i'm not an employment lawyer, but in my field (intellectual property) this can mean fronting literally $3-5 million in work, with at least $1 million in associated fees for electronic document vendors, experts, etc., and if you're lucky, you get paid 2 years after you first started working, but often it means carrying that debt for 3-5 years. and, because there's really no such thing as a guaranteed case, the law firm eats that if they don't win, which is often the case. further, it is entirely possible to win, and actually not to make any money because the case ends up taking much more time than expected. what's the interest rate on a $3 million loan, over 4 years with a 40% likelihood of default leaving you $1million in debt? Given that many of us on this board refrain from commenting on the ludicrous nature of many restaurant industry markups--$14 cocktails, $10 plates of roasted broccoli, 350% markups on wine (that's not rare or unusual so you're not paying curatorial fees) crazy markups on cheese, i could go on but won't--out of politeness to the many industry people on board, and respect for their professions, it would be nice if others were similarly polite. Also, that grossly overpaid doctor? the general practicioner or pediatrician that treats your child for pneumonia or treats their ear infection probably gets the princely sum of like $40 from the insurance company for your 20 minute visit, and then, from that $40 has to pay their nurses, receptionists, etc, and then spend 10 minutes personally filling out your chart for your visit, and their staff will spend at least 30 minutes dealing with the insurance forms, etc. and that's on top of the crushing debt you accrue in medical school and then residency and possibly fellowship.

wow, thank you both! my sis will be delighted!

my sister lived in Charlottesville for a while and became addicted to the peter chang's there, and would always ask for an extra container of the spicy oil they served on top of many of their dishes. it's a red oil whose main component seems to be these Szechuan peppercorns. does anyone know how to make this oil? we actually have some peppercorns, just not sure how to turn them into that tasty oil.....