bimbap

People I know from New Jersey rave about this place as the closest they've gotten to the pies they have at home. I used to work a couple of miles from Valentino's and always had a nice slice. They also do some really good garlic knots.

I've been meaning to try this place and having two Chinese exchange students desperate for some taste of home gave me the perfect excuse. We all ordered the hand-pulled noodles in the soup and everyone was happy with their meals. I had the beef tendon version and it was delicious (noodles were obviously great, but I'll give an extra star for the depth of flavor in the broth). We also had the pan-fried pork buns which were nicely chewy with a golden crust on the bottom. I'll definitely be making a return visit to try the knife-cut noodles.

According to the Washingtonian - BonChon Chicken Is Headed to Arlington

Deli City - Reuben

Joel's coffee is what we drink at home. Thankfully, we can buy Qualia beans from the Brookland Farmers Market. As someone who is not a born coffee drinker (but has been driven to it from having two young kids), I appreciate the complex flavor and it is basically the only coffee I can drink black.

We got Spanish pine nuts at the Whole Foods in Rockville this weekend for $25.99/lb.

Is it sick or twisted that I watched every single episode of this on Netflix in about two weeks when I was home on maternity leave earlier this year? I really enjoyed it, not so much for the eating challenges, but for the coverage of the local specialties in the various cities. Adam is a good host, but I inevitably skipped to the next episode before the challenge.

Any sightings of Seville oranges locally now? My husband has recipe that calls for them.

Marja Vongerichten is Korean. If you heard my name before you met me, you might also assume that I'm not Korean as well. I am so looking forward to this series.

One of the key reasons Cooks Illustrated gave for precooking the apples was to prevent the top crust from setting on apples that will cook down and leave a large gap between crust and filling when cut. I've tried this method and quite like it myself.

I did a direct comparison of Pinkberry and Red Mango the last time I was in NYC. I found the taste similar, but Red Mango had a more luscious mouthfeel compared to Pinkberry's more icy texture. I'll jet over to Clarendon sometime this week to see if RM is as creamy here.

Having needed to trek out to Behnke's to get some plants, the family decided to get lunch at Da Rae Won. We got an order of yakimandu and the inevitable bowls of jajang myun. The mandu were excellent and put me right back to my childhood when my mother would spend a day making her mandu from scratch (yes, they were that good). Also, I don't know that I've enjoyed an order of jajang myun as much as I did this time and I've eaten at Da Rae Won before. The sauce seemed more flavorful this time around (perhaps more porky?) and the noodles never fail to impress with their texture (the benefit of handmade noodles on-site).

The Cake Wrecks book tour is coming to the Bethesda Barnes & Noble on Nov. 5th at 7:00.

This past Saturday, I had the kimchi jigae and my husband had the dol sot bibimbap. We also ordered the haemul pajun and the jap chae which was a hit with my son. The food was uniformly excellent and the panchan were good except for the kimchi being a little too fresh (but that's my personal taste). My soup had a really good depth of flavor and tasted almost as good as my mother's! As Angelo noted above, the bibimbap pot was very hot and crisped the rice very well. The only blip was that the service seemed really slow for us. The other patrons were getting their food much more quickly.

The Brookland Yes! just started selling Trickling Springs milk and cream. As we had been going over to the Glut co-op in Mt. Rainier to get it, I am very excited to have it available in our neighborhood. This is seriously good dairy.

Thanks GE! It was nice to see you too! Mike has been the linchpin of the Tuesday Brookland Market for years now. It's amazing how much he gets around the area. Friends who live way up in Laytonsville know him because he also sells at NIST's market. The produce is always good and though Mike is cranky, he's never boring.

How horrible that everyone's meal was bad! I find that Franklin's is fairly consistent, but I've had at least one "ick" meal there myself. I tried the meatloaf platter and there was some really odd, off flavor to it, as if the meat had turned. I refuse to order it again, even if it may be improved.

We've since returned twice with the Bimbapino and Dino's has always been great with him. They've expanded the children's menu to include fried calamari and a nice grilled cheese sandwich (with real cheese and sliced Italian bread) that was another hit with my son. Since he can still sit in a high chair, I can't say whether or not they have boosters.

Just got back from the Iron City and found the eating to be much more pleasant than I expected. Dinners were provided at the home of local friends, so our meals out were breakfast and lunch. The Strip was a short walk from our hotel, so we headed there early Saturday morning. The Strip is usually busy on weekend mornings due to the traffic at the amazing selection of ethnic grocers along Penn Ave, but this was also St. Patrick's Day weekend, so revelers in green Steelers paraphernalia were out in full force. We got to Deluca's at 9:00 and were seated within 5 minutes. After that the wait would have been over an hour. Deluca's is a typical greasy spoon diner with an exhaustive breakfast menu. I got corned beef hash which was nicely done. I especially liked the home fries which came with it as they had a fresh potato flavor, not frozen. Mr. Bimbap got the mixed grill with Italian sausage which he enjoyed. The waffle for the Bimbapino was rather flabby. During my son's afternoon nap, I walked back into the Strip to pick up pastrami sandwiches at Primanti Brothers. In theory, this sandwich shouldn't work as the french fries and coleslaw included seem gimmicky, but in practice it was delicious. I think the factor is the coleslaw since it's dressed with vinegar rather than mayo. Sunday morning breakfast was at Pamela's Diner, around the corner from Deluca's. This is more upscale than Deluca's, and the food reflected that. They are known for their "hotcakes" which are actually crepes. I had a short stack of them which consisted of two dinner plated-sized hotcakes. They were very light with nice crispy edges. My husband had his with strawberries and whipped cream and greatly enjoyed them. Our final stop was at the La Prima Espresso Bar. My husband is a harsh judge of coffee, but this place did not disappoint him. He enjoyed his macchiato quite a bit. Do I seem like a rube because I was impressed that the place was being patronized by actual Italians? There was very little English spoken there. I want to give a final shout-out to the very nice people of Pittsburgh. At every place we ate, there was someone at the next table who was so nice (especially since we had our rambunctious toddler) and one couple even gave us their name and number in case we needed some help around the city. Thank you, Pittsburgh!

Wow. I'm going to Pittsburgh this weekend with my husband and toddler. The above thread makes the dining scene seem pretty dire. If anyone knows of any decent places where a 19-month old won't be a problem (and is in or within striking distance of the Strip District), I would be grateful!

What is the actual address on this place? That area is such a clusterfuck to me that I loath navigating it. However, that whole area is heavy with dining options especially for us in food-starved Ward 5.

Had thick cut pork belly and kalbi last night. The meat was top-notch, but I found the kimchi was a little too fresh for me (it's all a matter of personal taste really). I especially enjoyed the two "dipping sauces" that came with the meat. One was a sesame oil sauce with salt, the other was a sweeter sauce rather reminiscent of a bulgogi marinade. The wait staff was very nice, especially since we had a very boisterous toddler, so we never had to work the grill at all except to eat from it. They put us at one of their small two top tables which made the panchan, spoons and chopsticks way too accessible for my son. I spent most of my meal trying to keep him from flinging things onto the floor. We were right up against a large table occupied by a group of twentysomethings who greatly endeared themselves to us by playing with/distracting our son. After we left, my husband regretted not buying them a bottle of soju!

I went to Peregrine on Saturday and was very impressed with the interior. Everything looked clean and bright compared with the old Murky digs (Murky being an apt name). My latte was the most balanced (that's the only word I can think of) I've ever had. The flavor proportion of milk and coffee was perfect. The beverage temperature (as mentioned above) was also really good. The husband and I noted that they are using Trickling Springs milk in the glass bottles. I didn't try any of the pastries (tarts, napoleons, baguettes), but I will in the future.

Question: Is it sheer lunacy to take a 15 month old to Pesce on a Friday or Saturday night or should we hire a babysitter? We've been invited out by family from out-of-town and it's their favorite local place.

There has been a Uncle Brutha's table at the Sunday Brookland Farmer's Market for the last few weeks. We picked up a bottle of the No. 9 there.