Genevieve

Going through this thread, I have more questions . . . Can the K-Paul's coconut cake be ordered in advance for lunch? Is it still amazing and worth a trip? Has anyone been to August for brunch instead of dinner? (l see lunch is only on Fridays now.) Is John Besh cooking at August, or is he likely to be at one of his other restaurants instead? Thank you for all your suggestions and help, kind Rockwellians!

Hi all! Thanks so much for your help so far. Another request: any suggestions for lunches on the lighter side (or with some good options on the lighter side - the whole menu doesn't have to tend that way)? With some heavier meals planned, we will want some lighter meals on those days. Not looking for a vegan place (the kiddo will not eat that), but it'd be great to know of some places where we can get tasty salads, or other lighter options (vegetables that aren't fried, vegetable-heavy dishes or light protein dishes). But since we're in New Orleans, I'd rather not just get basic salads or deli turkey sandwiches if there are more delicious but still lightish choices. Strong preference for the CBD and/or French Quarter - could go to Frenchman Street or maybe Garden District or riverfront if there's good sightseeing nearby. And similarly, while I know we will have a couple breakfasts of Café du Monde beignets and probably pain perdu somewhere, anywhere with options for delicious breakfasts on the lighter side? Some of our dinners are likely to feature non-fried seafood, but then again if something on the menu looks amazing and is richer, we may well get it. We are skipping the jazz brunch (eating a big meal that night and husband would like to keep it to one big meal a day and have the others be smaller). We have dinner reservations at: Little Gem Saloon (so we can have table seating for Kermit Ruffins, not especially for the food) August Peche Herbsaint Brennan's We will likely have a lunch at Bon Ton and/or L'il Dizzy's.

They looked terrific (lively rather than staid brunch music, and good review), but fully booked for brunch. On a future visit I'll be sure to book it in advance.

I booked us for dinner our first night there since he is playing! If we go for dinner, we get a table and don't have to stand during his set.

Thanks for the number!! My mom went at lunch today (without a reservation) and enjoyed it very much. She said the hot and sour soup was terrific (especially the mushrooms) and she loved the eggplant she had.

Sorry, I should've said other than Commander's Palace. Couldn't get a reservation. If there are any other good places to check out, I'd love a recommendation - thank you! Preferably not jacket required. The Little Gem Saloon sounds appealing - sounds like really good jazz, and plenty on the menu my son and husband would like. Crawfish cheesecake for me! Has anyone eaten there?

Does anyone have the restaurant's phone number or other way to make a reservation? the site is down, they're not on opentable, and I didn't find reservation info anywhere else. Thanks!

Think I will cancel the Brennan's brunch and keep the dinner (the more interesting food seems to be on the dinner menu - have to try the sugar roasted duck with rutabaga cake). Any recommendations for a Sunday Jazz brunch, preferably in the CBD, Garden District, or Quarter? (Or a reasonable distance to the Smoothie King Stadium, where husband and son will be going to the Pelicans game that afternoon - but we should have 2-3 hours in between.)

Bon Ton looks like a great idea, thank you so much! The kiddo would either go for steak or fish there, and I'd try to talk him into fish - do you know whether "fresh gulf fish" on their menu is a particular kind of fish, or if that means whatever is fresh? He's a big fan of rockfish here on the East Coast, and I'm not sure what a similarly flavored fish would be from the gulf. He may be iffy about trying an unknown fish unless he has an idea what it tastes like. And he loves fried chicken, so I will definitely put L'il Dizzy's on our list, thank you! And we will definitely go to Peche, I have heard from so many people how good it is. I appreciate the Cochon advice. I don't want to bring him somewhere with only a couple things on the menu he would eat (and my husband's not eating much pork these days either). But their dessert menu has one of my favorite things (butterscotch pudding)...

Oh! and I really like crawfish - anywhere where it's especially good? (handy to CBD, French Quarter, or Frenchman Street preferably - I'm the only one of the three of us who will eat it, so we won't trek out for it) Anywhere where it should be avoided? I see NOLA Po'boys has a crawfish po'boy, so that might be where I go first. Any recommendations for crawfish etoufee?

Heading to New Orleans in a couple of weeks and this thread has been invaluable - thanks all! We're staying in the CBD and won't have a car. We're not likely to want to go out far (and I've heard that you can get cabs in the Quarter, but may have trouble elsewhere getting cabs to take you back). Right now, we have reservations at Herbsaint, August, and Brennan's (twice - Sunday brunch and weeknight dinner - though I may cancel one of those). I would like us to get to Peche (which has plenty of reservations available, and we might go for lunch) and maybe to Mr. B's Bistro. I'd like to give our teen, who will be a first-time-visitor, one or two meals that will be an iconic New Orleans experience. We'll definitely have beignets at Café du Monde. He doesn't eat pork, so no muffulettas for him (we'll have them though), and Cochon may not be worth it for us since it's such a pork-centric menu, but he'd enjoy a beef po'boy (will try NOLA Po'boys). If we can't get a reservation at Commander's Palace, is there anything similarly classic New Orleans we should do, or does our Brennan's reservation cover that so I don't need to look for another? I love turtle soup - is there someplace where that is so good it would be the right place to order it? I see it on Brennan's menu, but there are so many things I want on that menu . . . and I don't want to order it everywhere since there are so many great dishes in town. (Edited because I realized I repeated questions I posted a few months ago)

Actually, Faccia Luna in Clarendon had nice casual Italian the last time I was there, and we used to go a lot when the kiddo was little, though it's been a long time. We should go back there and try it out again.

Not just a smaller menu, but a much less interesting one. The mains are all burger, panino, chicken parm, fairly straightforward pastas, etc. Some of the apps are a little bit interesting, but overall Will's inventive cooking has been lost from the menu, and I no longer see a reason to go to Falls Church for this food. However, the straightforward-not-fancy-but-solid Italian place we used to go to in Arlington is gone. I'd love to find another place - even better if it does delivery. Pupatella is marvelous and definitely the place for pizza and fritti, but for straightforward pasta dishes (shrimp fra diavolo, etc.), I'm looking for a new place in Arlington.

Cava Mezze is big enough for your group - I'd stick with Me Jana, but if they can't do it on that date, try Cava Mezze, and it's also a good place to recommend to people for meals that aren't covered by the festivities planned. Fuego is also a good place you could send people for meals on their own, but with the caveat that there are only a few vegetarian options (I think there's one main dish that's vegetarian - they're pretty meat-centric - and a couple appetizers - but the veggie empanada appetizer is terrific and unusual).

Me Jana would be great, no reason to Metro or drive to Water and Wall or Willow (though both are also excellent choices if people were in those neighborhoods - but your group can walk to Me Jana, so why do that?). Food is still lovely, tons of vegetarian choices (among many other things, get the cheese rolls, and the salad with really nice goat cheese and dates and oranges and nigella seeds, and the lentil soup unless it turns out to have a meat-based broth, I'm not sure), the space is pretty and comfortable, and the manager is so warm and welcoming. Service has always been good. Set this up early, since you'd be nearly or entirely filling the restaurant, I think. While Fireworks Pizza is tasty and has pretty good service, it's loud and wouldn't have the same casual-yet-attractive-and-a-little-festive feel you'll get at Me Jana. If hotel guests ask for a recommendation for a meal that isn't planned as part of the weekend, it's a good option - but can be very busy Friday and Saturday nights. Takeout from them is usually super-quick (10 or 15 minutes after you call, your pizza is ready). If as part of the wedding weekend, you do anything that would involve gathering at the hotels in Court House and wanted to bring in food (i.e. Sunday morning breakfast), I highly recommend Brooklyn Bagel Bakery. You can place an order in advance (note: if you do this, DON'T call during breakfast or lunch - call at a slow time like 2 or 3 p.m. and place an order) and pick up and bring back to wherever you are. It's a small place and gets crowded weekend mornings, so I wouldn't tell your 40 guests to go eat breakfast there, but if any small groups ask you where to go eat, it's a good option. Excellent bagels, several types of cream cheese, very good rugelach, pickles, whitefish salad for the non-vegetarians, etc. If wedding guests ask you where to get lunch at Court House when no events are on (again, this is for a small group, not all 40 people), Earl's is great for a single party (better for the non-vegetarians, though) or people doing takeout and bringing lunch back to the hotel -- terrific sandwiches (a couple veggie options, but best on the meats - fresh roasted turkey etc.). Good breakfast food too.

According to Arlnow, when Toscana Grill closes, Pho Deluxe is going into that space. While I welcome a pho place, I'm surprised that a Vietnamese restaurant that serves more than pho is moving so close to Minh's (I would have been less surprised by something like the pho place in Rosslyn that only serves pho and is amazing at it). Pho is not Minh's specialty, but everything else there is so good.

We've been for a dinner a couple times in the last month or so, and a couple times in November. The food has been great. I love the wild mushroom soup with orzo and sage, which is in a broth rather than a cream soup, and had wonderful depth of flavor. The fried cauliflower appetizer with apple mostarda and chili breadcrumbs was delicious and perfectly browned. The fried calamari with sudacha aoli, fresno chili and cilantro was flavorful, non-greasy, and tender, and was quite a large serving for an appetizer. I'm not a pate fan, but my mom loved the country pate with orange marmalade and pickled mustard seed. Main dishes: I really like the farro risotto with winter squash, hazelnuts, charred leeks and ricotta. Lovely and warming and wintry. My mom was a fan of the lamb shank with Indian spices, though it's not on the current dinner menu. One of our party had the half chicken with johnnycake and hot link, and the hot link sausage (chicken sausage, I think) was especially delicious, and the whole dish was excellent. I have not been wowed by the desserts, but that's partly because I can't have chocolate anymore and the best-looking ones have chocolate. The one with peanut butter mousse and ganache was pronounced amazing by my husband. I look forward to seeing what they have for spring, as I'm not big into apple (wish more places would have coconut desserts in the winter). One negative: food that needs slicing up has been served in bowl/plates with rounded sides that made it quite difficult to cut the food. Flatter plates would be much better for these. Several of us had this issue, with food messily splashing over the side because of the difficulty cutting on a rounded surface. I mentioned it to the hostess (as well as the fact that we loved all the food), but since Tim Ma said above that he'd like to know what doesn't work, this is one of those things. Edit: we went for brunch in November, and I found the omelet with hen-of-the-woods mushrooms disappointing - well done as an omelet, but not enough flavor of those mushrooms I'd been looking forward to. Maybe an omelet isn't the best vehicle for those wonderful mushrooms.

We had lunch at Kapnos Taverna today - delicious. The servings were considerably larger than expected, so while my husband ordered 2 dishes and I ordered 3 (thinking they'd be Zaytinya size), we would have had plenty to eat if we'd had two each, or two each plus one shared. I thought I might be over-ordering but wanted to try a few different things. My son was not very hungry, and had one dish (aleppo marinated short rib souvlaki), which was about four or five large pieces of short rib (which he said were excellent), on top of shredded vegetables (radicchio, several types of cabbage, and some interesting spices). I ordered the melitzanosalata spread (eggplant, feta, crushed walnut, roasted red pepper, and some spices) which came with a large folded flatbread and was lovely. A fairly large serving of a rich flavored, well balanced spread. The feta was particularly tasty. My husband and I shared the spread. We ordered an additional flatbread (my son wanted some but not the spread), and the second one was hot from the oven and softer than the first one (which was a bit crisp). We preferred that one, but they were both good. Next came the cauliflower with olives and feta and red peppers (which turned out to be small circles of somewhat spicy red peppers rather than bell peppers - I ate one or two but otherwise we avoided them) - this was twice as big as I had expected, nearly as big as an entree, and was delicious. Luckily, we were sharing it. The cauliflower was roasted and nicely browned, there was a slightly creamy sauce I could not identify (maybe it had tahini in it?), and bits of mint, and everything went together beautifully. Finally, I had the charred octopus with skordalia, radish, caper, and red pepper. Very tender and very tasty. Not for the squeamish, since all the suckers were visible and the little circles on the suckers came off while slicing the tentacle (I'm squeamish about some things, but not octopus). It wasn't overly charred, just the right amount, and was seasoned beautifully, and the skordalia (garlicky yellow smashed potatoes, more than a smear but less than a pile of potatoes) complemented the octopus very well. My husband had the dolmades and the felafel gyro, and said both were very good. The gyro was huge, with I think 4 large pieces of felafel). We barely left a bite of any of our meals. As a downside, though, he said afterwards that everything had peppers or pepper in it (for the dolmades, he had asked them to hold the hot pepper labne that would have been spread underneath, but the dolmades themselves were spicy for him), and as someone who doesn't react well to heat in food, he is not likely to go back. I will go back with friends or other family. The desserts didn't appeal to us that much and we were pretty full - my son had the Greek sundae with chocolate and vanilla ice cream, crumbled baklava, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream, and he liked it (what's not to like?). One fyi - the upstairs seating is on a narrow balcony with a wrought-iron railing, and one of our party had vertigo so that did not work for him, but they were happy to re-seat us downstairs when we asked. We each had a house soda (five-spice ginger beer, apple cider with cinnamon and orange (which was red), and sarsparilla ginger beer), and my husband and I had tea. The total bill was on the high side (especially for lunch, but it was our big meal of the day), but I would order less next time and be perfectly happy. The quality of all the food was extremely good.

Thanks, all! I think we're stuck with Circa for today (no availability at District Commons and our time is a little tight to walk to Bayou on Penn) but will definitely go to District Commons or Rasika West End next time.

Ah, I didn't realize oyster prices were high, since I don't eat them and therefore didn't know what they usually go for per oyster. Got it.

Any new thoughts? Marcel's is too expensive, Notti Bianchi was booked (I assume that's what we should do next time if we plan more in advance) and Ancora is closed for renovation (with the place next door providing pizza and subs). I made us a reservation at Circa, which looks decent (it's new in Foggy Bottom, but the one in Arlington was decent last time I tried it). Not expecting a great culinary experience there, but decent is OK when we don't have a lot of other options. Would love recs for next time.

Are the prices at Kapnos Taverna, other than the crazy expensive seafood platter and tower, and the whole lamb shoulder, more than at Kapnos downtown? We would definitely pay Kapnos downtown prices in Ballston (assuming equivalent quality), and the mezze didn't look that pricey to me. Edit: I pulled up Kapnos DC's menu, and the prices look very similar, other than those crazy towers (2 items on the Ballston menu). The whole lamb shoulder is also super-expensive ($75), but it's the same in DC. Am I missing something? The mezze prices look comparable to Zaytinya, and not that far off from Me Jana's in Arlington (a few dollars more per item). I wish the wood-roasted suckling pig and lamb mezze were on the Ballston menu, but otherwise, I'm not seeing the problem, if the food is as good. We'll probably go try it this weekend. Edit again: the phyllo pies, I've been wanting to try those so I'm sorry they're also not on the Ballston menu.

That menu looks really dull compared to what Orso used to have. Will probably not return there.

We went to Fiola Mare for a special anniversary, and the service was stellar and the food outrageously delicious. The room was lovely, not too loud and tables well-spaced. And if you go before sunset, you can walk by the water, or ask to sit by the window with water views. (You can sit there at night, but I don't see the point of water views in the dark. But walking by the water at night was still nice.) It's my top recommendation for sure, as long as your mostly-vegetarian likes seafood. There were some good vegetarian dishes as well, and the chef did beautiful things with vegetables.

Thanks!! I hadn't realized ZPizza delivered (we've never had their pizza, but I see them when we get pupusas next door at El Charrito Caminante), and have never had Paisano's or Café Pizzaiolo, but we'll try them next time we do delivery. Also, my kiddo prefers pizza light on the tomatoes. If you happen to know which if any of these are light on the tomatoes, I'd appreciate it! (He could order white pizza, but he likes tomatoes, just in light moderation.)