turbogrrl

I wouldn't quibble with that. Also-- leaving aside the wonderful food, and the fantastic service, and the really spectacular dining room-- there are quotes from Finnegan's Wake in the menu. It's like they want me there every week.

wandered in and snagged some bar seats; fortunately, you can eat at the bar. We ended up with crispy salt cod, grilled rabbit sausage, grilled quail, maltagliati, and the smoked hen of the woods. The quail took the gold star but it was all amazingly delicious. Was nice to see the place packed, and I didn't really notice any opening-week bobbles-- service was pleasant and smooth and there were happy faces everywhere. I am so happy they are in the neighborhood.

satay sarinah's trucks say Saté Indonesian Food and are bright red.

oh, rats. But I think the two food trucks are still rolling.

triangular pastry with pork inside is usually char siu sao... I didn't know marks had them!! I've been missing them since I was in hong kong last. will ask next time I go.

Ownership has changed twice in the last 8 years. One of the waitstaff took it over a couple of years ago, and has made steady improvements.

Was at Marks for Jewish Christmas dim sum, it was delicious and the best I'd had in a long while. Obviously that's kind of the high-water-mark for turnover/freshness, but there was nothing where I went "enh, this would have been better somewhere else."

So, I amused myself by standing in line today. (Also, ran into an old colleague directly in line in front of me, so it was a pleasant way to spend a Friday lunchbreak.) Staff brought out regular samples of the cereal milk softserve to appease the linestanders, which was super nice of them. The turkey croissants were all gone by the time I made it to the counter, but I was able to snag a meal deal of an Egg & Cheddar bomb + Compost cookie + latte for $8. I also got a pack of pumpkin pie cake truffles and a standalone Bagel Bomb. Really really liked the Egg + Cheddar. I ate more of the cookie than I should have; it was ok. The pumpkin pie cake truffle was too weird for nick, but I liked it better than the cookie. Still too sweet for my daily taste (honestly, I am totally not the target market for the Milk Bar, which is why I have never been in NYC), but I liked the spiciness and the texture. I'm pretty bummed about the croissant. Hopefully I will be able to try it in the coming weeks. The Milk Bar is tiny compared to the rest of the space. That will be one large Momofuku.

Latest article: "DC's Trendiest New Filipino Restaurant Isn't Interested in Being Part of a Trend" by Jessica Sidman on washingtoncitypaper.com We went last night, it was utterly amazing. We had a salad, dried beef, whole branzino, and pork belly. Great atmosphere, wonderful staff/owners. It probably shouldn't have been a surprise to see some Komi staff there. It's tiny, they already have lines every night. I'm already plotting how to get back. In terms of planning- they take your name and number, tell you about how long they think it will be, and will text you when your table is ready; you need to get back within 10 minutes. We were told about an hour; Nick and I took a stroll around, had a drink at Room 11, and then got texted as we were finishing our drinks. There are only two 4-tops, the rest is bar stools. So if you are a party of 4 and can't cope with being in a line on barstools you'll need to be first in line.

This. Today, I walked by shaking my head and had a thoroughly delicious meal from the Sate Truck.

neither of those are on the takeaway menu, just an email address and phone number

There is definitely more of an asian influence going on up on the roof at the moment.

Spotted this last week walking home from my new job, stopped in for lunch today. Apparently they opened a few weeks ago. Lunch was an order of Misir Wat to go, which came with a small helping of collard greens, a small helping tomato/onion/pepper salad, and a second piece of injera. The lentils had a nice flavor with a little bit of heat but nothing searing. There is also a breakfast menu with ful and fir fir and egg sandwiches. Hours are 7-6, maybe 7-7. maybe. It was entirely pleasant and I'll probably hit this once every week or two. No idea if there is any relation to the Bunna in New York, probably not. They also have a full coffee menu and sell beans from Nagadi Coffee in Silver Spring.

also of note, as of jun 1 the shop part is closed for good and the dinners are expanding to also include Tuesday night. :sigh: I liked the shop. Oh, well.

i finally found a reservation that worked for us and the parents, so we went last night. starting out, we had the sea trout carpaccio and the hamachi tatai. we were then complete gluttons and had a second round of sea trout and hamachi because we are also terrible at sharing. In the appetizers, the shawarma (a special) was awesome, and nick pretty carefully guarded his pork pork salad, so i think that was also quite good. For the mains, I had the banh xeo, the parents both had the scallops, and nick had the duck. I didn't find the crepe to be dull at all-- the only quibble I would make is that a few of the greens were slightly woody and hard to disentangle, making it far too easy to accidentally pull half of the contents of the crepe out. I'd probably want them to be cut up a bit rather than put in the crepe whole. But it was delicious, and I say that as a fairly devoted meat eater. Mount Fuji stole the evening, Nick wasn't able to guard it heavily enough. We had a great time. I love the vibe and the space, the warm hospitality and the great food. Now I just have to find another reservation that works for all of our schedules.

one problem I have is that the burger is apparently laced with crack, such that I have to order it almost every time I go. God I love that burger.

Right. Shanghai. We were staying in the Jing'an Temple area, which was fairly centrally located; we were able to walk to a lot of our destinations. Now, the important thing about Shanghai is that Christopher St. Cavish had recently published The Shanghai Soup Dumpling Index, which is a towering testament to OCD. And dumplings. We had four days in Shanghai, and hit many different dumpling shops with varying success. 1. å°Šå®¢æ¥ Zun Ke Lai. St. Cavish's top rated shop, it's underneath the soccer stadium and has the english name "Welcome Revered Guests." We went and asked for xiao long bao, and got yelled at. No idea why, I don't understand enough mandarin. We left sad and hungry. 2. è‹æµ™æ±‡ Jade Garden (Jardin de Jade, 1121 Yan'an Zhong Lu). This restaurant chain is rated third on The List. Sadly, the restaurant was *filled* with smoke despite multiple no smoking signs. The XLB were more in the delicate din tai fung style, but better-executed. Translucent wrappers, better grade of meat, neutral broth but not quite enough of it. The chicken with chili and garlic was tasty, as was the dead simple napa cabbage in broth. Veggie bao were also good. We left in a hurry due to the smoke. 3. 佳家汤包 Jia Jia Tang Bao. As Darkstar said upthread- I think these may have been the best dumpling of the trip, though I wish the vinegar had been sharper. St. Cavish has this as #11. Jia Jia was the only dumpling shop we saw to fully embrace the Index-- they had a giant poster of their analysis hung up outside the restaurant. Like many shops in Shanghai, you queue up, pay for the dumplings, and then find a seat. It's expected that if there is an empty chair you will sit in it-- we shared a table with two strangers. 4. 鼎泰丰 Din Tai Fung. We went here after striking out at Zun Ke Lai because it was on the way home and for science. DTF dumplings always leave me wanting, and this branch was no exception. Thin wrappers, small amount of soup, bland. Good vinegar. Decent greens and a few other dishes. The dining room was filled with americans. Number 7 on the list. 5. 富春å°ç¬¼ Fu Chun. Touted by some articles as the most authentic xiao long bao, we ended up going here twice. Again, pay upfront. Hunt/fight for a table, and then a waitress will take your dumpling receipt and put it into the kitchen. There is an extensive menu and some really tasty-looking dishes coming out of the kitchen, but we had no way of pointing and ordering. I suppose we could have just randomly chosen a few dishes. Maybe next trip. These bao had good soup, good meat, good flavour. The skins were thicker than DTF and jia jia, but I have to say these were probably the most *satisfying* XLB of the trip. St Cavish has rated them as a "Class B" shop, 17th on the list, next to last of the ones worth going to. There is an upstairs, but you can't sit there if you are just doing the dumplings. It may actually be table-service, but the upstairs was full of smoke so I couldn't stay to find out how it worked. One thing to note is that I have seen others say that what jia jia and dtf are making are actually nanjing tangbao, and that what fu chun is making are more authentically shanghai xiao long bao. St. Cavish doesn't address meat quality or broth flavour, because he wanted to focus on things that he could quantify at the table. I think the answer, for me, is that i prefer xiao long bao to tangbao, which is why I don't agree with his rankings and why DTF leaves me perennially disappointed (tokyo, hong kong, shanghai, seattle have all left me equally sad). It wasn't all xiao long bao. I have a well-known weakness for sheng jian bao, the doughy, fried soup dumplings. 1. å°æ¨ç”Ÿç…Ž Yang's Fry-Dumpling is pretty ubiquitous and consistent and wonderful. We went first to the one in the food court in the basement of the Reel Building, right by the Jing'an Temple subway stop. Didn't find it at first because we were looking for their trademark purple signage, but the counters in the center only get to have the shop names in discreet silver characters. These were the mouth-burning pockets of deliciousness I had been looking for. Ah. Perfect. There is also another Yangs across from Jia Jia, if you want to double up on dumplings. And there is also one at the Longyan Road station, where we transferred to take the maglev to the airport. To get to that shop you have to take exit 3, I think, then turn to the left and go up the stairs to the 2nd level of shopping in the station. Once you enter the mall it should be not too far on your left. 2. 大壶春 Da Hu Chun. We tried to go to the Wulumuki Rd branch, only to find it demolished. We dejectedly walked over to the shop on Yunnan South Rd, and had fantastic dumplings. They only had the ones with shrimp and pork, but the shrimp were plump and flavourful and not overcooked. I never would have ordered them if they had had pork only, but OMG they were delicious. We got multiple orders, and then hit up Uncle Milky Tea which was a bit north afterward. Yunnan South Road appears to be fully of tasty food, sadly I only have one stomach. Again, you pay upfront, find a table, and then take the receipt to the kitchen window yourself where they will ask if you are eating here or taking to go. It wasn't even all dumplings, all the time. We had a european breakfast at Mr. Pancake, which was entirely decent, and has a magnificent logo. There appeared to be some tasty scallion pancake action going on a few doors down. Mr. Pancake can only seat about 20, so there is a wait. There is a Beard Papa in Jing'an temple, which nick hit up twice. And finally, chance led us to åšå¤šæ–°è®° Bo Duo Xin Ji, which is in an alley (Baoqing Lane), with outdoor tables along the lane, and some indoor tables. We had some deliciously peppery prawn chips, some tasty leeks and scrambled eggs, delicious eggplant hotpot, and decent whole garlic chicken. A giant beer and free barley tea rounded out the meal, for a total cost of $25 for three of us.

so, any update on the rooftop experience this year? I got a brief call saying the format isn't going to be family-style, like it was last year, and I was wondering how the new style flows. (and, sorry friends-- I had to book this one for the parents and their friends, no seats left over as far as I know.)

Spent the better part of a week in Hong Kong/Kowloon, ate ourselves silly. In no particular order: Tsui Wah- a chain of chinese diners scattered all over Kowloon and the island, we hit the Admiralty, Central, and Jordan locations for mid-afternoon snacks. The Jordan location had the elusive pineapple bun with butter, but the real crack is the toasted bread with condensed milk which is available at all of them. Paired with one of the milk tea options, it's bliss. (Note, if you are ordering the milk tea iced: the Central location uses a glass full of ground ice, which is perfect for giving you delicious brain freeze. I ate my ice and Nick's. The others use ice cubes. You can also order it "champagne style", which is a bottle of the tea served in an ice bucket.) Other snacks included the fish ball (and cake) soup, and a scrambled eggs dish with truffle and okra. A relative says the curries are also good. Picture menus with english make ordering easy. Usually around $160 HKD. Tai Hing- previously a great chain to get crispy roast pork, either the Jordan location is just substandard to the TST location, we hit an off night, or they've gone downhill. (we didn't go back to the TST location to compare.) The roast goose was quite tasty, tho. And their milk tea is also tasty, and served by default with an external cooling pack. (bowl of ice to set the drink in.) Sushi Imamura- back after a remodel, still amazing, but more expensive. (I did not see the bill but think it was around $700 USD a head, though that was also including take-out abalone, many rounds of uni, and vast quantities of sake.) He flies everything in from Japan. It's the best sushi I've ever had, but I don't know if my checkbook could sustain going on my own. (we had bluefish, whelk, uni, uni, yellowtail, octopus, smoked tuna, pike eel, abalone, marinated mackerel with shisho, red snapper, different smoked tuna, uni handroll, tuna cheek, wild tuna aged 10 days then smoked, more smoked tuna, and yuzu sherbert. also vast quantities of sake so i might have missed some courses.) Hoixe cake shop- a chain, we hit both the TST and the Jordan shops. They make these amazing triangles of bliss called char siu sao- bbq pork in a flaky pastry. This was breakfast most days. Bakudanya Causeway Bay (広島ã¤ã‘麺ã°ãã ん屋香港本店)- This was an amazing izakaya. We had fried chicken, chicken tataki, tuna sashimi, spicy dipping noodles, edamame, two bottles of sake, some yamazaki 12 year, and some shochu. I know we had a lot more food but can't recall it due to the aforementioned alcohol. But all of the food was great. Ran into an american chef who had his own bottle of whiskey kept for him at the bar, he said it was really popular with industry folks because they were open late and also full of awesome. Da Domenico- this is an interesting place. The seafood and pastas were very well done, quite fresh, and really tasty. But that's not the point. You can find reviews that go on about just how horrible the service is, how casual the decor, the owner will yell and scream if he feels like it, etc. It's a challenge. For a jaded hong kong palate, a lot of the charm is getting in when others can't, hanging out with the staff, being alternately catered to and reprimanded. If you're reading this board, you aren't traveling to hong kong just to eat italian food. This restaurant, while good, is not geared toward you. We had a great time, I will never try to go on my own. Rainbow Chinese Cuisine 金碧軒 (Wan Chai)- Set in a quiet hotel, this was the most formal chinese restaurant we went to this trip, with two sets of chopsticks and attentive waiter service. A cousin pre-ordered a whole roast pig, and we set out at lunch with a couple of her friends to try and do justice to it. So freaking delicious. Also served were some shrimp dumplings, a delicate seafood broth with rice and aloe, a red bean congee, and I lost track of what else. I really enjoyed this. $2000 HKD for 5 of us. Amuse Bouche- A lot of the staff and the chef came from Petrus, mentioned upthread. We had a set menu. First course was truffled prawns, and caviar pasta. A consomme for me since I don't eat oysters. (the others had oysters and an oyster soup.) Next were some delicately grilled scallops with flowers and root vegetables. Seafood ravioli with saffron foam. Abalone and truffle. Bresse pigeon. Souffle with pomelo sorbet. A lovely and well-paced meal, with very friendly and attentive staff, and several wines paired. No idea of cost but assume it is exceedingly expensive. Somehow I only gained 3 pounds on this trip, I feel like I did something wrong.

So, we also went to the Wanfujing Da Dong, but it was not the best duck of our trip. Touted as a "healthier" duck, too much of the fat is rendered out, leaving the flesh... well, not exactly dry, but it doesn't melt in your mouth like some of the duck we had in beijing. However, In addition to the normal bing, da dong also brings two puffed seasame bing to the table-- those were delicious. Da Dong was not cheap, we spent around 650 yuan overall for the duck, a small beer, bao, and a noodle dish. I will say that the interior design, especially of the raised stage with three ovens and racks of ducks going in and out, was very impressive and attractive. The utterly amazing duck we had in Beijing came from å››å­£æ°‘ç¦ Siji Minfu at 32 Dengshikou. Crispy skin, moist without being overly fatty, this duck was amazing both times we had it, and our first meal was half the price of Da Dong. The second time we went a little (a lot) overboard, and had the duck, a large beer, a carafe of hawthorne juice, an entire broiled "Mandarin fish" on a bed of greens, and zha jiang mian, and it *all* was amazing, and only slightly more than 500 yuan. The fish was a little hard to negotiate ordering-- it was listed as 128 yuan in the menu but I think that was actually a per pound price. they called to the kitchen and gesticulated and eventually a manager came over and showed us something that said 1.8, which I took to mean that the fish they had would be 230 yuan. That was the best cooked fish I have had in a long while. They did an amazing job deboning it, as well. Have I said amazing enough times? So much love for Siji Minfu. There was a wait both times we were there, they have a machine that dispenses numbers for tables. A waitress will bring you a tray with some crackers and vegetables and shrimp chips to much on while you wait, which is cool. A tinny speaker will announce the table that is ready; it turns out my ability to count to 10 in mandarin actually came in handy. (serious eats link about siji minfu: http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/07/where-to-eat-peking-duck-beijing-china-how-peking-duck-is-made-served-how-to-order.html ) We had some tasty sustenance from what I think was the Haihan Food shop- a window of various bing on the east side of Donghuangchenggen street north of Dengshikou W street. There are also a bunch of food places along Qihelou St if you are in the vicinity of the Forbidden City. Speaking of the Forbidden City-- so, if you are in Tienanmen Square and get herded towards the ticket booths for the city, there isn't any way to get back to the fronting street except by paying 2 yuan to get through Zongshan Park. Most people just pay the tax to get back where they want to be, but the park is lovely with a cypress grove, some more buildings including the Imperial Ancestral Temple, rose gardens and winding paths. And it's nearly empty, except for roving bands of tai chi practitioners. I enjoyed the park a lot more than the press of people in the Forbidden City. I also enjoyed Jingshan park, which is directly north of the Forbidden City, and has a buddha on the hill, and extensive rose and peony gardens. (Jingshan is 2 yuan or 10 yuan depending on the day. Worth it either way. There are a couple food/drink vendors in the park, as well as some trinkets.) Breakfast one morning came from the Wedome (or Wei Duo Mei) pastry shop at 14 Dengshikou -- wife cakes and dan tat and sausages in pastry, etc. Another morning we found a delicious jian bing cart near the citibank on Dongdan St, near Meizha Hutong. A handful of freshly-made awesome for 5 yuan. Walking down Chaoyangmen S towards the Beijing Railway Station one morning, we had a plateful of steamed dumplings and two tea eggs for 12 yuan. There was an outpost of A&J in a food court near our hotel, but we didn't make it there when they were open. I'll report on Shanghai and Hong Kong separately.

one thing to do is keep an eye on twitter-- if someone cancels the roof they will post there. we got four seats from a late cancel, and even with a table full of strangers it was awesome.

So for the last 14 years I've been getting sandwiches at the Dupont Market, 18th and Swann. The hot #5 is a perennial favorite with the spouse; I tend to vacillate between the Humberto (turkey, swiss, sprouts, avocado, lemon juice, salt on toasted ciabatta) and the Chicken Burrito. The ciabatta doesn't seem to be quite an authentic ciabatta, but it *is* freaking delicious as a sandwich base. If it's a slow day they might sell you a bag of the bread, but I wouldn't bet on it. No idea who the purveyor is. There are a couple of tables and chairs out front where you can eat if the weather is nice, otherwise it's take-out.

the lead up to mothers day's was full of angst und drang: every place we could get a reservation met with moans from one member of the party or another. I finally threw in the towel and said "let's just meet at the rasika west end bar at 6pm" despite the fact that they were completely booked. I'd been hoping the patio would be open, but it was threatening to storm so they weren't serving out there. We hung out at the bar for a while (basically long enough to get a cocktail) and then the exceedingly nice manager approached and offered us a table if we thought we could vacate it before 8pm. We enthusiastically agreed. Two orders each of the palak chaat and tikka masala and garlic naan, because we're bad at sharing. the black cod. lamb biryani. a bread basket. some lovely cocktails all around. carrot halwa, gulab jamun, and a very pleasant coconut dessert rounded out the meal. parental harmony restored, and we were out at the car by 7:50pm. I really should go more often than once a year.

to be fair, this only easily works when you have a menu of ~15 dishes. I suppose for a larger menu it *could* be a fun software development exercise, if you could have a database of all the ingredients in each dish, then you could just print off a new menu of safe dishes with a simple database query. But in a larger enterprise it would be a lot harder to keep track of one-off requests, and also sub-ingredents-- for example, it turns out people with shellfish allergies should not have worstershire sauce. etc.