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sandynva

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Everything posted by sandynva

  1. sandynva
    ooh-will they have cupcakes from baked and wired available at this location too?
  2. sandynva
    and totally agree. i'd consider bangkok golden's lao menu an example of this. and just to throw out examples--what about woodlands? and tiffin and udupi were around for quite a long time as well. if you argue that they didn't last i'd say--how many restaurants last 40 years? and i'd say hole in the wall ethnic places are less likely to survive for 40 years unchanges just because what is originally an odd ethnic food becomes pretty mainstream and appeals to many tastes, so it's no longer an "ethnic hole in the wall." and what about la sirenita in hyattsville. and when you say the only place such places can prosper is nyc, are you including new jersey? because if not, there are at least a dozen examples of little indian hole in the walls in new jersey that have been there for decades, and i've never seen a non-indian person at. in chicago, there were similar places on devon avenue--indian joints my family went to for at least 20 years--but devon is not what it was. but still 20 years is a long time.
  3. sandynva
    the study/comments on how much the mind impacts the taste of wine reminded me of this http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/10/23/mcdonald_s_organic_prank_for_foodies_two_dutch_pranksters_play_trick_at.html I think it's clear that with expensive wine, organic, and even local foods, for at least some people, some of the improved taste is due to their expectation or belief that it will taste better. for me the interesting q is--doesn't that point, in some ways, moot the studies? after all, for those people, if they drink the expensive wine, they really do think it tastes better and are happier about their experience, so then does the fact that it was all in their head matter?
  4. sandynva
    don't give up on your lavender yet--mine, which is in a pot no less, just started showing new leaves last week, even though my rosemary had clearly gone to that great compost bin in the sky. a few tragically thin asparagus came up last week too, which was great. but sadly, my broccoli (which i was trying for the first time because i heard it is mildly shade tolerant) has "buttoned" due to the cold snap, and i think this means i won't get any nice heads from it. i plan to trim the tiny florets and hope for either side shoots or lots of broccoli leaves, which are supposedly tasty. btw, if you're looking for another thing to do witht he galic chives, i sautee them with a decent amount of butter, add a bit of cream, and then put over polenta, so delicious. i bet you could use them in many of the ways you use leeks. no leaves from my fig yet, but the twigs are green when i scratch a bit of bark off, so i'm keeping my fingers crossed....
  5. sandynva
    i like the veggie burger at plan b because you can get it so many ways, but the patty itself isn't anything special. If you like indian flavors, you should try the penn quarter burger from grand trunk. It's not really a burger, it's more like a very loosely bound slab of samosa filling on a bun, but it's quite tasty.
  6. sandynva
    last year i planted asparagus and a pomegranate tree. so far no asparagus pushing up, and no buds or signs of leaves on the pomegranate. or my 2 year old hardy kiwi, or 2 year old fig tree (though i scraped a branch and saw green under the bark). has anyone else had any signs of life from these plants? i'm trying to figure out if they're dead and i should start shopping for replacements, or if they're just late because of the bad winter.
  7. sandynva
    Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but the penn quarter farmers' market was open yesterday! multiple people had lettuce plants and herbs, one vendor had tomato plants. Toigo was there with apples and tomatoes.
  8. sandynva
    I thought the paragraph below was pretty interesting. what do other people think of it? Also, what did people think of Sietsema's review? i frankly was dissapointed, I think the place deserves higher than 2 stars. This next generation has undeniably produced better, more exciting food than its predecessors, but an air of self-congratulation, of Westerners taking a humble cuisine and upgrading it, lingers. Contrary to the breathless blog posts, the ethno-culinarians haven't invented a new form; they've taken an old form and reconceived it for the masses, serving mysterious and spicy dishes in low-affect settings where, in the case of Little Serow, you can nod along to twangy roots music as young servers in hipster glasses talk about how awesome the larb is. The Thai joint down the street also makes a pretty mean larb, but you don't get the retro-cool music and no one waits an hour to get in.
  9. sandynva
    i can confirm they're doing carry out. I know that on sundays they open at 11:30.
  10. sandynva
    i thought the smithsonian cafe was mitsam native foods cafe for a long time. i'm pretty sure that at one point it was named that.
  11. sandynva
    are we sure there wasn't some issue with the dish already being partially made/soaked in milk, etc? as a vegetarian who loves trying new things and new places, i'm often asking if dishes can be modified (i.e., leave out the fish sauce, leave out the bacon, etc) and i probably get turned down as often as not, and in many of those cases it's because the dish already has the meat/fish in it.
  12. sandynva
    went again yesterday and were very happy. as a note, we were there from 11:30-1, and the place didn't seem that packed, there was a very small line. Overall, everything improved and i can't wait to be back. The dry fried eggplant was much better than last time, well seasoned, the meal was well paced, (when we ordered, we emphasized that we didn't want all the food to come out at once) and they will now do any dish with tofu substituted in for meat. The favorite non-vegetarian dishes were the crispy pork belly and the seafood hotpot, which arrived dramatically bubbling and steaming. some people thought the shrimp in the hot pot a bit overcooked but apparently the flounder was fantastic. the vegetarian fave was the grandma noodles, which were just fantastic, and two orders dissapeared in a flash.
  13. sandynva
    other issues to consider with tomatoes--if you have persistent wild tomato-loving critters, and are too lazy/softhearted to do anything to screen them away from your plants, you might want to make sure you plant some cherry tomatoes. take it from me-there are few things more dissapointing than watching scrumptious large tomatoes grow and ripen slowly (they take weeks), waiting for them to get dead ripe, and then waking up to find some critter has taken a bunch of bites from it so you can't eat it. it's less painful when they eat the cherries, because there are so many more of them you're bound to get enough for you, and because they start fruiting (for me at least) 6 weeks earlier, so there's less anticipation.
  14. sandynva
    We went last night and it was great, but as the only other times i've had his food were from the charlottesville location when he'd left, i don't know how it compares to other places where he's in residence. logistical notes--the shopping center wasn't as bad as I feared, and at 5 pm there was no line for a table, the place was only half-full. when we left at 7 there was a line about 15 people long. They take reservations, which is nice.Its' still definitely a soft opening--no drinks, the wait staff while super nice and enthusiastic, are still learning the menu (they couldnt answer questions about many dishes, or weren't really sure which dish they were bringing to the table). the food comes out really fast, all at the same time, so next time we'll order apps, wait til lthey come, then order mains. portions of fried eggplant are much smaller than they are in charlottesville, but now they're actually an appetizer size. The eggplant was of course great, especially when you added a bit of salt to it. other highlights--grandma noodles were delicious--cumin, chili, scallions and the most schezuan pepper of any dish we ordered. mapo tofu was comforting, complex, and delicious, and not very hot at all, despite the many peppers by its menu listing. I didn't have any, but the cumin lambchops and twice fried pork belly recieved rave reviews. They said the chef was in the kitchen and indeed the food was different than i'd had before--a lot more cumin, more floral aspects that almost tasted like cardamom, more numbing spices and both the numbing and the heat expertly managed so that while they were definitely present, they never overwhelmed or even dominated. i'm excited to go again, soon. they start carrry-out on 3/18. The charlottesville location was great about substituting tofu for meat in any of their dishes, which i really appreciated. They said they aren't doing that here yet (because it's still so new) but they will eventually.
  15. sandynva
    ooh, i might not be able to go till sunday evening. do we think the man himself will be cooking then? or is going monday night a safer bet? i am really, really excited--i've had the food in charlottesville a number of times, and thought it was great, so i can't wait to have it when he himself is in the kitchen. And i do think a DR outing or $20 tuesday would be awesome.
  16. sandynva
    Tom S hinted at a 2 Amy's decline in a chat not too long ago, but i'm very happy to hear that's not the case! btw, the woman who answered the phone at Ghibellina said the reason they couldn't do call-ahead carryout was that the phone was answered by the host stand, and they couldn't get the orders to the kitchen. which still seems odd to me.
  17. sandynva
    i was looking forward to trying the pizza after hearing so many raves (and the reports of the decline of my beloved two amys), but for various logistical reasons, i find it easiest to get carryout from restaurants. i know the food suffers, but i'll take diminished rasika over no rasika any day. however, i was sad to learn that at Ghibellina you can't call ahead for carry-out. they will do carry out, but you have to go in to the bar, order it, and wait about 15-20 min to get the pizza (at least that's the time frame i was told). Which is all just so cumbersome it doesn't seem worth doing. between that and the prices, i'm a bit put off the place. $16 for an individual margharita, or $17 for an individual sausage seems quite high to me. has anyone come up with an explaination for why the pizzas are so expensive here, and on 14th st generally? for example, at doi moi, just across the street and probably with similar rents, that $17 will get you a sablefish with dill and tumeric or fried rice with crab, or for $19, less than the price of a clam pizza at ghibellina, you can have a lemongrass roasted half chicken. at posto, which also probably has similar rents, that $19 gets you tortelli with robbiola and porcinis.
  18. sandynva
    if you pass a south asian or asian grocery store, it may be worth a quick stop to get some of the frozen parathas (i think the ones you want, with lots and lots of layers, are often referred to as malaysian style or something like that). i've never had roti canai, but these breads are delicious, almost like soft puff pastry, and i can't imagine that a dish made of them condensed or coconut milk and carmelized bananas could be a bad thing.
  19. sandynva
    If you have a craving, there's still by brazil off georgia near wheaton.
  20. sandynva
    Is there any news on if/when he's opening in Rockville? i'm very excited about this! (I'm sorry if this is in the wrong thread, i tried to find the thread on the rockville opening but couldnt)
  21. sandynva
    Thanks for posting that article, but what it confirms is that paella and biryani are both connected to islamic/persian rice dishes. So biryani and paella are related in the sense that they share the persian rice dishes as an ancestor (so they are cousins, if you will) but biryani wasn't influenced by or brought over by the portugese.
  22. sandynva
    i can attest that i too have always heard that some of the best mughal food, particularly biryani, is from hydrabad. indeed, in india the chefs who specialize in biryani will often tout connections to hydrabad. and i too heard that biryani came over from persia. And if you think about it, the hydrabad thing makes sense--mughalai food is a bit of a hybrid cuisine, that probably developed to cater to the rulers and those close to them. so, wherever the court went would become a source of mughalai food. and also in france, didn't some of the most refined cuisine develop from the courts, and the chefs catering to the aristocrats? it would make sense if it did there, and if the same happened in india--where the court went also went some of the most refined, formal foods. i also have some quibbles with the statement that the portugese heavily influenced southern indian food. first, when i think of south indian food i think of pongal, idli, dosa, avial, etc. and i don't think that segment of food was that portugese influenced. there's the famous vindaloo, but im trying to think of other dishes that seem portugese and failing, and also i'm not sure how many people actually make vindaloo at home. maybe many do, but i don't know that it was a staple for any of my friends. my husband's family is from goa, and their food seems to have portugese influence, though mostly in the desserts--they actually bake breads and cakes for desserts (many flavored with rose water), which, in my experience, is atypical for indians.
  23. sandynva
    Hi there! I would appreciate your help in planning a family event in april. As part of the lead-up to a wedding, we wanted to have a lunch on friday for about 40 people, most of whom are vegetarian. The engaged couple like La Sandia in Tyson's, so that's the default option, but, because everyone is staying in hotels at the courthouse metro, i'm hoping for something more convenient. it by no means has to be as formal a place as you'd have for a wedding brunch--it's just a casual family lunch--but it should be reasonably nice. people do have cars and can drive, but the place would need to have convenient parking. I thought of Me Jana, which is right by the hotel, and the last time i went the food was good and the decor appropriate, but i haven't been there in like 3 years so things might have changed. from the post website i found fireworks pizza and cafe asia, but i've never been to the former and don't know if it's nice enough, and i've only been to the latter for dinner, when it was too loud, but i don't know how it is at lunch. I also thought of sawatdee, but there are apparently some people in the party who really don't like thai, so that's won't work. Do any of you have any other suggestions? thank you!
  24. sandynva
    it's nice to hear that the review might have been unduly harsh. after i read it it sounded like it was so bad that i was wondering if i should try to find out if they could do a bread plate to go (those popovers sound amazing!)
  25. sandynva
    i ordered ahead by telephone.
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