turbogrrl

Its about time someone appreciated my taste in music. Haha!

I have been appreciating your taste in music every time I go!! But invariably I get distracted by the food...

Honestly, do you really think that anything that comes after this statement can possibly be fair to the restaurant?

I have been amazed and delighted by restaurants while having a migraine, even loud and bustling ones. (see: Rose's Luxury, on multiple occasions). So, given that there is about 50% odds of me having a migraine while dining out, I judge it slightly material (which is why I mentioned it) but not hugely so. It's also possible much of the kitchen/service weirdness was due to Biden showing up (also why I mentioned it), but at $80+ per person, there are much better dinners to be had. Or even, french bistros with actual french people, if that's your thing.

But I do give them props for understanding that rare means rare, and delivering perfectly rare steak frites.

Hana market now has fresh sushi delivered to them tues-fri, I believe. Fresh vegetables are delivered weekly on Thursdays. Thursday is also the japanese bread delivery from a bakery in Chicago, I believe.

When I was in this morning, the sushi hadn't yet arrived, but I kept smelling something wonderful. And then I found it... spam musubi, at the checkout counter, $1.95 each. So tasty.

I can't believe they have been open for 5 years already. I love this place.

Last night was the first time I'd made it out to LD. I don't really like crowds, I'm rarely in the mood for heavy proteins, and loud places bug me. But the inlaws made the reservation, and off we went. (Full disclosure, I had a migraine last night. But I suspect I probably would have ended up with one regardless.)

We showed up a few minutes early for our reservation, and were directed to the bar despite a few empty tables around. Having no interest in the bar, we stood in the vestibule for about 10 minutes, until someone led us to an area in the back where there were several more empty tables. We had to stand around a bit more, as another party had apparently decided to relocate themselves on their own to our designated table, and discussions were had with the hostess.

Apparently the decor works for many; I watched one couple exclaim over a strategically-placed, silvery radiator. "This building must be very old!"

The bread basket was fantastic, though we didn't ask for a second. The cocktails were fine but unremarkable; they contained alcohol in appropriate proportions. The onion soup was decent, but I couldn't finish it. There was a miscommunication with the kitchen; half of the entrees were mis-prepared, so came ~10 minutes after the first half. I'd nearly finished my duck confit by the time Nick's steak frites arrived. The steak came truly rare (yay), and the frites were generally crispy, although the later frites were much better than the ones that arrived first; clearly the frites cannot handle much delay in serving. Since I had finished my duck, I helpfully ate half of nick's frites. The side of green beans we got were slightly soggy.

A manager come over and apologized for the kitchen mix-up, and asked if he could get us anything. Two of us ordered another round of drinks; I didn't see the detailed bill so I have no idea what, if anything, was comped.

Dessert was the profiteroles and the dark chocolate napoleon. The profiteroles were tasty, but not up to the MIL's standards. I have no idea what was going on with the dark chocolate napoleon, but it did nothing for me.  We didn't finish it.

Our server was attentive, but strangely intense. I might have said he was flirting with me, but I'm pretty certain he was young enough to be my child. Maybe he was trying to telepathically convey that there was a VIP in the restaurant, and I just missed the message. (see: migraine.) Or maybe it was that the people around us were pretty uniformly awful, and we were the only table that was easy-going? I don't know. I do know that the restaurant was pretty unbearably loud (as in, everyone was shouting to be heard, such that I could hear the conversations at other tables better than our own, since we were not shouting), and the conversations were not worth overhearing.

By the time we were done, I just wanted out of there. On the way to the door, I accidentally made eye contact with a young man in a nondescript suit, and thought "hrmm, he looks like secret service." Sure enough, the street outside was blocked off, and a limo and a couple of black SUVs were idling.

Hopefully Biden had a better dinner than we did. Not that our dinner was bad; it was perfectly fine. It just really didn't do anything for me, nor did it  justify the $80-something per person we spent. I suspect, like Vegas, I just don't have the requisite suspension of disbelief to immerse myself, and so I just find it too overdone and expensive and flat, rather than an "experience."

when I was at Rose's a week ago, both of these pastas were available at the tables.  The pasta with truffles was a special described to us by our server, and the linguettine with pesto was on the menu.   I don't think there are specials limited to the bar, but I could be wrong.

Interesting. The bartender had *said* the truffles weren't available downstairs, but he could have been pulling our leg ;-) But, OMG. dreamy.

so, wednesday eve, the in-laws suggested Rose's, and I didn't have the heart to veto based on the fact that TS's review had just landed. I got there a bit before 7, was quoted an hour and 45 mins wait. I started standing in the crowds around the bar, hoping to score the corner. In the end, I had a panic-inducing 10 mins where I was afraid I wouldn't be able to hold all of the seats I managed to get"”but we landed three seats around the corner, someone helpfully grabbed me one of the floating stools for the edge,  we settled in, and I canceled my downstairs table.

Fair warning, it seems the bar has specials that the tables don't have, and on wednesday, they were *amazing*. The menu had a linguettine with with pesto that was really good. But the bar had a linguettine with a butter/garlic sauce and liberally sprinkled with truffles. The only mistake was trying to share it amongst four people, despite all the food we had eaten and were going to eat. (we also had the pate, lobster soup, the pork and lychee salad, the sprouts, the brisket, and the fried chicken.)  Rather than trying to do that again, the men just requested two more orders of the truffled pasta. I'd argued for just one, but I regret nothing. At $30 a plate, that was the most delicious and unrepentant indulgence I can remember in a very long time. That pasta was made of the softest, dreamiest noodles I have ever put in my mouth. And somewhere just before this point, Brian let on that he had a nearly full bottle of Pappy van Winkle 20 year.

truffled linguettine and pappy van winkle. damn. just, damn. it was fucking amazing.

I think that the dynamics of large groups are always going to be difficult, especially when it's a mix of people who may or may not know each other well. Either the focus is going to be on the act of being together, or the focus is going to be on the food, in which case there needs to be fewer people. We're experienced. We know this. I assumed, due to the size of the group, that the focus was on the group; if we had wanted the focus to truly be on the food then we should have made the dinner size much smaller.

I know that some people arrived almost 40 minutes early"” I arrived about 5 minutes before 7, and was one of the last to arrive; they began taking drink orders pretty much promptly at 7. I'm not sure how quickly a rational person can expect 30+ cocktails and wine servings to arrive, when there is one bartender. I think in general that if someone has arrived 20+ minutes early for a reservation, the polite thing to do if they want a drink is to order it at the bar, and not hold that 20 minutes against the restaurant for not getting drinks out "quickly".

I had a lovely time. Service was great. The food was good, for me, as it was a departure from anything I might usually order. I got to try some different dishes, talk to good people, drink some tasty drinks, and go home at the end of the night well-satisfied.

If I still had your credit card info, I'd be on vacation in Italy!

i called it in with the really low limit credit card. ;-)

aieee! will call later today with cc info for the 4th, don't want to hit y'all at brunch. or dean, you could probably dig it up from my wedding reservation ;-)

I can't believe I've not eaten everything on the menu yet. When we went with our neighbor, we ended up having the new-to-us tongue and the slow-braised pork (both delicious)-- and then we had the spinach the other night and then promptly had to have a second order because of delicious reasons.

I really just need to go and make an evening of everything I *haven't* had yet, except I can't quite bring myself to do it. Baby steps.

The cupcakes do not live up to the ice cream. Get the ice cream. My standby is the oreo. Shutup, I love it. The salted caramel is also great, but needs something a bit more bitter to balance it. For years, I would order the Libido (pistachio and.... baileys, I think?). They do use significant amounts of alcohol in the ones that have alcohol listed; keep that in mind if serving to children or people choosing to not drink.

Larry still runs the shop at night; his wife runs it during the day. There was a genial armenian guy that worked there for a while, but haven't seen him in several years.

Larry can be loud, and some days will flirt with every female that comes into the shop, whether she is 7 or 79. But he makes some damn good ice cream.

When I worked down in chinatown last year, Nick would talk me into getting takeout a couple of times a month. we always get the same thing: beef chow fun, dry, and the spicy fried seafood combo- fish, shrimp, and scallops dredged in a mildly spicy batter and fried with garlic and chile peppers. (Bob's 66 has a salt-and-pepper fish version that is close, but still not as good.) Nick loves the wonton soup but I've never liked wonton soup and the funkier it smells to me, the more he likes it. If we're going for leftovers then we will also get either spinach or snow-pea leaves sauteed with garlic.

I've bought homeless guys some food here before but try not to do it too often because I suspect that eventually the owners would complain about it to Nick's mom; we've had commentary about our ordering practices come back that way. Some mystery cantonese telepathy, I guess, or maybe the in-laws are sneaking down and having dinner at Full Kee without us. They know who we are when we go in, and yet they still bring us forks. But the food is comfort food, and it's rarely disappointed us.

Nick got home at 7, and we have a houseguest, and I thought to myself, what food will my guest absolutely not be able to get in Alaska? So at the last minute we piled in the car and drove over to shaw. Sitting at the bar, we indulged in pepyoke, pork salad, samosa salad (yes, you read that right, and it was awesome, and we got a second one, and a second pepyoke), long beans, spicy peanuts, and great conversation. Aung brought us a couple of tastes of what we were missing out on by not being upstairs; the bite of chili-and-lime steak was incredible. It all was really lovely.

Starting tuesday, the downstairs menu will be expanded to include at least one main dish. We made a pretty kick-ass meal out of what they are currently serving downstairs. So don't shy away from stopping in downstairs if the concept of the tasting menu is putting you off.

mixtec was closed for several weeks a few years ago due to a water main break on Columbia; I think it flooded their basement and they used the time to revamp some of the kitchen area. Memory is a bit hazy.

I was wondering how De Pue was going to cope with opening two restaurants at once. I guess this answers my question, somewhat...

Went to Table this week. Made a reservation on OpenTable, but when we arrived the only seating available was in the sunken picnic-bench area on the upstairs deck; if we wanted a table we were going to have to wait for "a while".  Picnic bench seating can be hard on anyone with joint issues, fyi.

Service was erratic.  We were left to peruse the menus for 15 minutes; only when the waiter came back to take our orders did we find out that they were out of everything I'd *wanted* to order. (Mozzarella app, Guinea Hen, and something else which was my runner-up.) I asked if anything on the menu had dill, since I've been burned a couple times where it wasn't marked on the menu; the waiter took the menu out of my hand and read the ingredient list of each item, aloud. Um, yes, I *can* read. When asked about the preparation of a dish, he once again proceeded to just recite the menu. Someone needs to remind them that being a human interface to the menu requires *additional* information that isn't on the menu, or else it's just the dining equivalent of reading the powerpoint presentation verbatim.

They forgot to bring bread out until after appetizers were done. (Someone asked what the small plates were for. "Oh, did you want bread?" Yes, if bread is a thing, we'd like it.)  The pacing was erratic, with long waits between courses.

The scallops were fantastic. The tomatoes were good. The bread, when it came, was a terribly bland waste of calories"” but the olive oil it came with was wonderful. The duck confit was delicious, the porchetta was ok. The desserts were really good but I've completely forgotten what they were because by that time I was tired and a bit cranky. It should have been a great meal, but instead it was really uneven.

I will be looking very carefully for these unjapaneseities when I visit this establis-ment next. I undertook to go to many japanese places in japan during my adult life, so I will have very excellent idea of what should be happening with my raw fish and will take immediate umbrage if there is any HOT AIR.

pita chips and homemade labneh. mozzarella + farmers market tomatoes, with olive oil and salt + pepper. spinach with garlic and olive oil. roast chicken + potatoes. watermelon for dessert.

Just as a general fyi, if for whatever reason you ever drive to this place, do *not* park on V street between 14th and 15th if you care about your car. I can't tell you how many footballs I've seen hit cars. Also, the crowd of bored loiterers in front of the church/soup kitchen *will* sit on cars, as well. And frequently street harass anyone who walks by.

Nowadays, when I am craving a burger, there is only one burger I am thinking of: Dino's. And so we went there two nights ago to perch at the bar, and had some fantastic burgers, preceded by some incredible pancetta-wrapped apricots topped with mascarpone. I also had a very nice "shrub-groni". Burger craving: fixed!

L'Enfant attempts to represent the cuisine of France ... And they could do worse. It would take much effort, but they could.

This. Though, to be fair, I haven't gone in at least 5 years, because, well, why? They are frequently packed due to the expansive patio. The gracious leaving-a-bottle-of-water at the table ceases to be gracious once you realize you aren't going to see your server again for 40 minutes... and that's just to place your order. Brunch was invariably a 3-hour affair, despite inhaling the slightly-small main courses in about 5 minutes at the 2-hour mark. I found that if you are good at record-keeping and bring plenty of small bills for exact change, well, you can shave an hour off right there by just leaving cash and fleeing.

not recently. The strip mall Udupi Palace used to be in was demolished for new construction in 2011, so they moved Udupi in with Tiffin. I haven't worked in CP since 2011, so no idea how things are now.

Adams Morgan is much more difficult lately due to all of the construction; a 100+ cars from the dorchester were all displaced, plus about 20 spaces on 17th, another 10 on ontario... etc. Adams Morgan and U street have also phased in the residential-parking-permint-only until 8:30 pm for half of the remaining parking.

For both of these places, it's really best to take transit; circulator from woodley park/columbia heights, or green line to U street. Otherwise, it's as others have said: plan on parking before 6:30. Welcome to the city. But Izakaya Seki is worth the hassle. (Or, in my case, the 1.5 mile walk).

In the last six+ months, whenever I have been craving a hamburger, we point the car north and sit at the bar at Dino. Maybe dean is using crack on his burger, I don't know, but it's been consistently my favorite burger in DC ever since trying it.

I get mine rare, nick gets his blue- they're juicy, delicious, finger-licking-messy burgers. Since I only crave a burger once every month or two, that means we haven't been to Rays in a while, which we should rectify. Hrmm. Maybe I'll get a cheesesteak.

I am wondering if they have the same person making the dumplings all of the time. I say that because the dumplings that we had today had very thin skins.

They do not. Went back this week, there were two women making them, and neither of them appeared to be particularly deft or speedy while filling the steamers, and about 65% of the dumplings we had lost their soupy goodness. All were thin-skinned, and it looked like they were overfilling them. But the pork blend was tastier, so I remain conflicted.