cajcaj

It's not the Source is it?

Jesus.

Super impressive, I didn't even narrow it down by location - which was gonna be my next step.

Your clues are leading me to The Source, but I don't see it so I'm not going to say it.

But you did say it - and good thing, you're right! This was their Turnip Cakes from the dim sum brunch menu. Extra tricky because it's normally only available on Saturdays, but this weekend they have it today and tomorrow as well. Very good guess!

Curry Chicken with Potatoes at Yuan Fu?

No. The photo probably doesn't really show it enough, except the bit of plate and place mat you can see, but the place is definitely more $$$ than $.

Crikey. I give up.

All I'll say is that the large chunk near the top-right looks like it could be a potato (but the others don't).

You're onto something. I have to say this one is tricky because it's basically a spin on/reinterpretation of a traditional dish.

This looks like a Vietnamese Caramelized Fish in a Clay Pot, except it's not in a clay pot.

Not Vietnamese and also not fish.

ding ding ding!

Yay! Ok, here I go: where did I have lunch?

Porcupine: Birch & Barley?

在哪里我吃饭?

(Literal: "At where I did dine? :-) )

No fair peeking at my FB page.

As per the rules: Salad of shaved fennel and endive, Gulf shrimp, sherry vinaigrette, grated ricotta salata.

IMG_20130117_121645.0641.jpg

Another bar-related guess - the bar top and placemats look to me like Ardeo+Bardeo. But the dish gives me pause. It seems like a bigger serving than you'd normally get there and plated a bit more artistically as well.

After a date of drinks at Off the Record and the Round Robin bar, with a stop at the National Christmas tree in between, my boyfriend and I stopped at Fiola on Thursday 12/13 for dinner. I have to admit that despite reading all the fabulous things posted here about the food, I was intimidated by the prices. However, considering this was a date night before we head our separate ways for Christmas and we both needed a break from the rigors of moving, I thought this would be a great opportunity to try a place that I've been wanting to go to for a long time. The hostess must have misheard me when I told her that we wished to sit at the bar because she grabbed menus and started to lead us back to the dining room. After a small panic (see above mentioned worries re price) I let her know that we really just wanted seats at the bar.

Seeing Jeff at the bar was nice as I remember him well from the bar at Palena (I didn't "say hi", thinking he wouldn't remember me, but later on Ferhat stopped by and said he thought he knew me from somewhere - what a lovely surprise to find 2 former Palena staff members working here) - for cocktails I ordered the Alexandra and my boyfriend had the Deer in the Headlights (which contained venison infused whiskey) - both were way better than anything we'd had at the previous two bars. From the bar menu we ordered the Venetian Fried Calamari ($15) and the Mozzarella ($12). The calamari came in rather large pieces that were perfectly fried - accompanied by a tomato sauce that I could have eaten like soup. The Mozzarella were fried fritters - both came with fried pieces of basil. Still feeling a bit hungry and wanting to try something off the dining room menu, we decided on the Piemontese Beef Tenderloin Tartar (I think this was $18, but not sure and the online menu does not list the price). Our server Amy was fantastic and asked if we'd like to have the kitchen split the order for us - when it came in the 2 separate bowls, each had a sunny side egg on top. This tartar preparation was a bit different from the normal as it had a base of cheese/cream and was runnier than your average tartar (Amy also thoughtfully asked if we'd like spoons) - but it was delicious and incredibly rich. We were absolutely stuffed. In the end I'm really glad that we finally made it to the restaurant and discovered that despite the generally high price point, a very, very good meal can be had for a reasonable amount, considering the quality you are getting. With the familiar faces from Palena and the offer to split dishes in half, I walked away with a feeling that this was the "new" Palena, reminiscent of the pre-cafe days when I'd walk in and wait for a seat at the bar and enjoy ordering off both menus (and also splitting dishes). We look forward to going back!

Something's going to have to change. If I broke all the news I knew about people and the restaurants they run, people would hate me, fear me, respect me, and maybe, just maybe, would stop treating me like dirt because they'd be afraid of what I could do to them.

I'm tempted to come out and say what I know because quite frankly, the public is interested, and what the hell do I have to lose at this point? It's not like I'm making a dime off of these cheap pieces of shit who turn around and insult my members behind my back.

I think you're on to something..

So now it's been broken by someone else. Unless your rumor is something else?

I can speak from experience that the time to start throwing things away is *before* the move! I have shit sitting in boxes from *three houses ago*.

To keep:

pictures

letters

cards

precious receipts

trinkets from trips

To discard:

phone bills from 1987

empty prescriptions that are 7 years old

books you couldn't care less about

junk

At the end of the day, what do you really want to reminisce about at the end of your life?

Yes, Don - I'm trying desperately to lose the junk before the move, otherwise I feel I'll be saddled with it as you indicate... I have thought about your last sentence above - there are some things that I wanted to throw away but in the end decided to keep because I wanted to be reminded of at least some aspect they represented, if that makes sense.

That's a good mom

I'm moving next Saturday, so I'm with you Don. Last night I came upon things that were over 10 years old - and I hadn't looked at them once since that time.

I haven't been yet, but having been to Potenza I think the space has a lot of potential and I like the idea of them having a separate area for take out. Looking at the menu, a lot of things sounds good - but I have to mention something that struck me. Does $8 for a side of fries sound like a lot to anyone else??

http://woodwardtable.com/menus/wt/menus/lunch

In Clarendon, open:

Hard Times

Rien Tong

Kabob Bazzar

Goody's

Trader Joe's - and very well stocked

Looked to be closed:

BGR

Delhi Club

Rabbit

Minibar is going into a different space, not the one vacated by Zola, but Zola Wine and Kitchen which is at 855 E Street (as opposed to above the Spy museum).

Zola is closing on June 30th, to be taken over by Think Food Group (and its sibling restaurant Potenza is closing on August 18th, to be taken over by Jeff Buben).

I think the space that Minibar is taking over is the former Zola Wine & Kitchen, not Zola itself.

Not sure it really counts, but the National Place food court for sure.

or here April 22 at the Liaison Hotel on Capitol Hill.

Thanks! That's a better link anyway

Did anyone attend last year's event? Just wondering if it's worth the ticket price ($125). List of participants and some info is here (participants are Ed Witt, Nicholas Stefanelli, Mike Isabella and Wes Morton)

PoP has a sample menu.

Magnets are almost surely too expensive; we need nice stickers for the front windows, but we can go super downscale for the underground stuff.

What are we talking quantity and price-wise?

What about magnets? That would solve the removability problem and there should be some type of surface in most bathrooms that they'd adhere to; mirror parts, stall doors, etc... Haven't researched, but a quick google search brought up this