bettyjoan

I'm assuming that the pain of last year's playoffs is the reason why this thread has gone dark, but I'm also interested in folks' thoughts about this year's team...

Of course, "this year's team" is essentially the same as last year's team, but the results thus far have been pretty different.  At this relatively early point in the season, I'm inclined to be perfectly satisfied - after all, being the winningest team in hockey last year did bupkis for us - but I know some people who are already worried.  I'm concerned about the power play (lack of) production, but otherwise still thinking things will be okay in the long run...

Go Caps!

We've decided to clear out during inauguration weekend and are heading to Dallas to watch the Caps take on the Stars.  My husband has spent lots of time in Texas, but none in Dallas (and I've never been either) - but I'm sure Tex-Mex and BBQ will be high on his list.  Any recommendations for places near American Airlines Arena (I think we're going to stay at the Hyatt House nearby) would be much appreciated - we could Uber/cab to other locations as well.  Thanks!

Any more recent Dublin eating experiences?  We will be there January 5-12, and while we are doing a bunch of day trips, we'll be staying/sleeping in Dublin city center for the whole time.  Thanks!

22 hours ago, DonRocks said:

If Lazy Bear wins (and it's fine if it does), it will probably be the only restaurant I review - they require ticketed reservations, and only sell the tickets once a month, so I'm not even sure I can get in - this will be a $600 dinner.

How will it be $600?  Food is generally around $185, beverage pairings are around $85, and even when you add in 20% for gratuity and 10% for tax (which I think is a smidge high) you don't even hit $400.  Not saying it's cheap, but I have always felt that it was a good value for the overall experience.

Of course, here is the disclaimer - the chef/owner of Lazy Bear is my brother-in-law, so there is some implicit bias.  However, that also means that I might be able to help you get in.  :-)  Let me know when you're going and I can see what I can do...

I don't remember any of the restaurants, but we had a great time doing two of these food tours:  http://www.eatingamsterdamtours.com/

We just really didn't know anything about the Amsterdam food scene, so it was a great way to taste a little of everything.  There are a lot of diverse (and delicious!) food cultures representing in Amsterdam, so we were pleasantly surprised (and stuffed).

So sorry to hear this.  Sending thoughts of peace to his many friends and family.

Any notable places in Dewey that are also dog-friendly?  We will be going in a few weeks, and on the day we arrive, we will have the pup in the car but can't get into our rental until 3 pm.  Would be nice to have a leisurely lunch somewhere close to Dewey town hall (where I have to get the doggie's beach license).

Anyone have any recent experience in Frankfurt?  Hubby spends tons of time there for work, and I am going to visit in a couple of weeks.  He basically doesn't leave the office when he's there, so he's no help in terms of restaurants/bars or fun things to do.  We'll be together for basically 3 full days.

So, I'm trying to get into Nats baseball (the Braves have just made too many bad decisions, and it's clear that they don't value their in-town fans, let alone those of us who reside elsewhere), but I am just NOT a fan of the TV broadcasting crew.  I feel like half the time they aren't even talking baseball.  Am I just spoiled after years of award-winning Atlanta folks?  Or is there something that might help me appreciate them more?

Hopefully this Benedict Arnold feeling will subside eventually...

On 5/16/2016 at 3:31 PM, Sundae in the Park said:

I also went to Bi-Rite for the first time during this trip, and I while I think it was worth the wait (in SO much wind!!), both to finally try it and for the ice cream itself, it's actually not my favorite salted caramel. It's a pretty darkly caramelized flavor, very intense, and doesn't have any crunchy bits in it, so for salted caramel I favor McConnells in Santa Barbara or Salt & Straw up in Portland.I liked the malted vanilla and coffee flavors better, (both have bits! Peanut brittle and milk chocolate pieces in the former and alfieri almonds and chocolate chips in the latter), but both were also very intense flavors. Great ice cream texture, though, creamy with lots of "tooth."

Funny - the reasons Bi-Rite's salted caramel is not your favorite are the reasons why it IS mine!    I usually get two scoops, one of salted caramel and one of roasted banana (they go so well together).  Glad you got to try it - I think, in the 8 years my sister has lived in SF, there has only been one visit when we did not go get ice cream at Bi-Rite.  Though, I have also come to love Three Twins (favorite flavor: lemon cookie) and Humphrey Slocomb (favorite flavor: After School Special).

4 hours ago, Simul Parikh said:

Going to San Francisco at the end of June for a conference, and one day we want to spend in Sonoma County.

 

Looking for... 

 

1) One great Chinese meal, open to region - heard Terra Cotta Warrior was good

2) One great "SF" dinner, not over the top, but considered great for the area and not super $$$ - considering Zuni Cafe and State Board Provisions. Zuni I can't book until 30 days before. SBP I heard the lines can be tremendous. There are 930p reservations available, but I don't think we can handle eating that late.

3) A great burrito place for lunch - I know there are many - La Taqueria being most famous, any contrarian recommendations? 

4) Breakfast places - heard Plow is great and Zazie's.

5) Coffee - I had Philz a few years back, and it was the best coffee I ever had. Any other recs?

6) For Sonoma, will have dinner at Russian River Brewery in Santa Rosa. Would like to get to Bear Republic. Not wine people, but any solid 1-2 recs for wineries, maybe something low key in Healdsburg? And a nice lunch option?

I asked my sister (who has lived in SF for a long time now), and she said...

Re: Chinese, if you want dim sum, go for Yank Sing or Hong Kong Lounge II.  If not, either Koi Palace (a bit outside the city) or Z&Y.  Re: burritos, Taqueria Cancun in the Mission is our favorite.  Re: breakfast, she recommends St. Francis Soda Fountain, and she said that Plow was definitely healthier fare but well-regarded.

She really loves Blue Bottle coffee, but frankly, I think just about any smaller/local place in SF is going to be great.

She is not a fan of either place you mentioned for great "SF" dinners, but to be fair, she and my chefly brother-in-law have eaten at all of SF's best restaurants, so the standards are pretty high.  She recommended considering Nopa - I have been as well, and it was great.

Hope that helps!  I'll be there Memorial Day weekend, so I'm looking forward to good eats as well...

Thinking about maybe trying this place for date night tonight.  Does anyone recall if they have desserts on the menu (wasn't able to tell from the website)?  Just want to know whether to stick around or go someplace nearby, if my sweet tooth shows up.

Grilled chicken thighs in a marinade of chives, tarragon, sage (all herbs from the garden), olive oil, mustard, garlic, and some preserved lemons that I made a few weeks ago.  Turned out awesome.

Served with a cold lentil, beet, cucumber, and goat cheese salad.  Nice and light!

Funniest response to the incidents was on Twitter...someone said something to the effect of, "Hey Beagle, playing hockey is supposed to make you a CHICK magnet, not a STICK magnet!" 

GO CAPS!!!

Doesn't look like we've split the thread yet, so...

Hubby (and doggie) and I walked to P&P on Friday afternoon to grab lunch.  We were thrilled to see and catch up with Jeff F. - it had been a long time.  The place was doing a very steady business - seemed like more people were going in for coffee/pastry than for sandwiches, but it was on the earlier side.

We got the fried chicken sandwich and the falafel sandwich, both of which were $9.  If I had to choose a favorite, the falafel would win by a nose - it was really fresh and tasty, and I thought it was huge for the price.  The chicken sandwich was a nice mix of sweet and salty, but it was very hard to eat without utensils - I went back in to see if they had a plastic fork or something, and no dice.  Maybe they would have had cutlery if I'd asked, but I was in a bit of a hurry, and I think it's a little weird for a 100% take-out place not to have that kind of thing out for customers to grab.

We wolfed everything down - very, very good.  Not someplace we'll go every week, but it's a nice, quick option that also is a high-quality product.

Roasted chicken, rosemary roasted tomatoes, and cheesy grits.  Yum.

Roasted a second chicken for meals for the remainder of the week.  There's something very satisfying about doing it myself rather than buying a (smaller and drier) rotisserie bird from the supermarket.

So, I was a little off in my prediction - turns out we'll get the Pens in the 2nd round instead.  Who's stoked?!?!  (Hint: ME)

Took the family to DGS for brunch while they were in town - the Benedictburg is still my favorite thing on the menu, and the chopped liver and matzoh ball soup continue to impress my parents.  My mother requests a trip here every time she visits.  Great service as well.

On 4/13/2016 at 9:26 PM, Ericandblueboy said:

The fried donut stick and soy milk aren't desserts. What they're doing on the dessert menu is beyond me. Mr. Bruner-Yang is peddling Taiwanese cooking at fine dining prices to uninitiated diners. Sadly, there are Taiwanese restaurants in the DC area but not in hipster neighborhoods. So I'd discount somewhat anything said about anything done by Mr. Bruner-Yang.

EDITED to clarify my post.

I'll certainly cop to being uninitiated (to Taiwanese cooking, not to food in general), but I don't really understand why you would automatically discount others' opinions in the way you indicate above.  Sure, if someone makes a statement about authenticity and you have expertise/knowledge to argue the point, go right on ahead - I feel like that would at least be an interesting, productive conversation.  But I was just saying that I thought just about everything was delicious.

Or, in other words:

Thank you for pointing this out, Betty - it's always easiest to search the Dining Guide (if you have 10 posts); absent that, if you use the Invision search feature and type in the name of the restaurant, curiously, it appears at the *bottom* of the first page of search results, regardless of how many pages of hits there are. I've noticed this consistently, perhaps even every single time I've tried it.

saxdrop didn't have 10 posts yet, so she didn't have access to the Dining Guide (saxdrop, now you do - please write me and give me some feedback about that piece of hyperbole), and of course, the restaurants are no longer on Google (can you tell how little I care about fame?)

Ah, but there's a difference between fame and reputation ...

I always forget your tip about the Dining Guide - thanks for reminding me.  I have also noticed the thing about the Invision search and the restaurant showing up at the bottom of the list.  However, this time when I searched "Red Hen," it came back with zero results.  Weird.

saxdrop, we love the bar at Red Hen as well.     Maybe we'll see you there sometime!

For his last meal in DC, my chefly brother-in-law suggested Daikaya or Thip Khao; however, I was working from home in SE and couldn't take enough time off for lunch that far away.  So, I suggested that we check out Maketto - shockingly, it was my first time there as well.  I think the clothing store and the laid-back, order-at-the-counter lunch vibe confused my guests a bit at first, but they wound up loving everything, and so did I.  We sat out in the courtyard and let the kiddo run around, and we ordered a bunch of stuff: the pork and leek bao (the former was the winner), the Cambodian pork noodle soup (pho-like and very light and comforting), the Cambodian num pang sandwich (tied for my favorite item - great flavors and textures), the spicy beef rice bowl with fried egg and pickles (yum), and the lo mein (my other favorite).  The weakest item was the dessert from the menu, the fried donut sticks with soy milk - the donuts were super greasy, and the soy milk just didn't seem sweet enough.  However, there were some baked goods out at the counter that were delicious - pecan/toffee/chocolate chip cookies and coconut lemon whoopie pies definitely hit the spot.

Mr. Bruner-Yang was there hanging out and was super friendly to all - he and my brother-in-law, unsurprisingly, knew a bunch of the same people and had a quick chat.  I can't believe I waited this long to get to Maketto, but I can assure you I won't wait like that before returning.

Also, I brought a bunch of stuff (many of the same items we ordered) back for hubby and I to eat later/the next day, and everything was really tasty leftover.  Win!

What happened to the other (previously existing) Red Hen thread?  When I search the forum, the site tells me there is nothing.  Don, any ideas?

The upstairs bar is the one that you should aim for, and that is where they keep the bar waiting list.  The chef's counter is definitely something different.

There IS a smaller downstairs bar (we sat there for New Year's Eve one year), and sometimes they'll use those seats to help get through the upstairs bar wait list - I guess it all depends on where they are more crowded on a given night.

Yes, if you tell the bartender you have a party of two, they will make sure they have two stools together.  They manage the wait list pretty well, and it avoids the whole anxious/awkward process of hovering over someone who is going to leave and potentially fighting with others who thought they were there first.  I think once people figured out they could eat at the bar, they had to find a way to get people seated in a fair and orderly fashion.  Only really works for small parties though...

I believe the barstools have backs, but I can't be 100% sure.  Google "Rose's Luxury upstairs bar pictures" and I think you can check it out - I would have copied and pasted the link, but my computer is being obstinate today.

If you are willing to sit at the bar, you could try to do that.  The upstairs bar has a separate wait list; you just go up and give the bartender your name.  My husband and I have showed up anywhere from 5:30 to 7:30 pm, and we just go upstairs and have a cocktail or two while we wait.  I think the longest we've had to wait was about 60-75 minutes, but we were seated and happily drinking for the whole time (they have a little lounge-ish area upstairs with a loveseat and a few chairs).

I don't think P&P opening has had much of an impact, if any at all - they seem to be targeting two distinct audiences.  Also, P&P is closed on Saturdays.

Hope that helps...