soapy

I was in Colorado for two (!) weeks visiting familiy members. Some culinary highlights were:

Tres Margaritas: the portions were so big that you could make about three meals out of any the dishes they served. Their margaritas, especially their "Cadillac Margarita" was divine. They served all their dishes with a vinegary coleslaw which was a nice contrast of flavors from the heavy meat and cheese and carb dishes we ordered.

We also went to A taste of Colarado:

PULCINELLA RISTORANTE: The meatballs were amazing, perfectly seasoned, light and delicious.

TRAIL DUST STEAK HOUSE: now normally I pride myself as someone who is no longer a wimp about spicy and hot food but thier bacon wrapped cream cheese stuffed jalapenos nearly did me in. I had to make a beeline for the drink vendor, got a huge bottle of water and it still burned through my mouth. But it was very very good.

Tropical Grill:

Their banana Lumpia was excellent. I wish I had tried more of their food.

You are thinking of Kefa Cafe, which has a bit Gelato! sign

963 Bonifant St

Silver Spring, MD 20910

(301) 589-9337

there is also Moorenko's, but I have never been:

Moorenko's Ice Cream

8030 Georgia Ave

Silver Spring,MD 20910

(301) 588-5656

I have been to moorenko and their ice cream is really good, very heavy though.

RIP E Pollo Rico?

Immigrants Shy From Md. Shops After Bust

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...7071302005.html

Restaurateurs Arrested for Illegal Workers

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...71201963_2.html

I went there last night, it was the first time I'd ever had Ethopian food. We had Duro Wat, Zizil Tibs and the veggie sampler of Yatakilt Wat, Mesir Wat , Kik Alich, Gomen, Timatim Salata. Our server was very nice and I couldn't tell if she had the cooks dumb the flavors down becuase we're americans. In any case the food was delicious and I look foward to trying more Ethopian food in the future.

Death to the blue knight! A pox on the yellow knight! It's all about the BLACK KNIGHT!

We'll call it a draw.

Indeed! The black knight always wins!

And the food at MT is awful.

And actually there is the Piratz Tavern in Silver Spring. http://www.piratztavern.com/

I introduced a whole bunch of in-laws to Dino's last night and they were very accomodating to last minute reservation changes. I had the polenta for the first time with grilled sausages and it was amazingly good. I might have order just that for dinner next time I go. That or the mushroom pasta which also delicious.

It's in my neck of the woods as well.

I got takeout from them once (pulled pork sandwitch and my parter got the bbq wings) and it was okay but nothing outstanding. I was pretty underwhelmed by them on the whole.

I used to work at a Cold Stone out here in California, and I gotta tell you, singing is GREAT for us, and I'm sad that some of you don't appreciate it. On a good weekend, each crew member can earn an extra $40 cash just in tips. It's a great bonus for us, and MOST of the customers seem to like it. However, our store was FANTASTIC in that we had great crew members who sang, danced, and gave all-around great customer service. I have been to some Cold Stones where I felt like I was being treated like cattle, and their singing was HORRENDOUS. Hopefully you guys will be able to have a Cold Stone experience at a superb store one day, and your opinion will change.

Ehh I worked for Coldstone one year when I was in college (actually worked two jobs that summer) and having to sing all the time got tiresome after a while. Strangely getting free ice cream every shift didn't (although I'd take mine home and share it with my family) My favorite to this day is penut butter cup perfection.

They have them at the Rennfest although I think they do them as sticks rather than slices.

I've been a Ben and Jerry's fan from the womb. When my dad was in medical school in Vermont in the late 70's Ben and Jerry opened up their first ice cream store across the street from the lawfirm where my mother worked. My parents have all these stories about it being 30 below or something crazy and still going out for Ben and Jerry's becuase they wanted to keep them in buisness for the summer.

I had a Five Guys burger the other day and for it being well cooked I thought it wasn't too bad. I had mine with bacon, cheese, mayo, tomatoes and fried onions and it was a delicious combo. The fries were light and crispy.

can't wait to see flay kick his butt.

I'm sort of hoping for the other way around.

I moby dick's twice last week in Arlington (just started a new job last week) and I thought they were pretty good. I'm stuck on kubidah, some day I'll get the guts to branch out more.

The kubideh sandwitch with lettuce, tomato, feta cheese and a bit of yougurt sauce is very tasty and it's only 6 dollars.

I am pretty sure Charlotte as a barbecue place that'll do in a pinch. THey make fried pickles.

CLT

Huzzah! Last night my fiancee and decided to go to Mandalay for dinner since we hadn't been there in months. This time we got it right. I ordered the ginger salad with garlic chips, yum and Nanjee Thoke (noodles with curried chicken tossed in burmese dressing) I was cocnered it might taste like a clone of the salad but the flavors were very different. Financee got the coconut egg noodle soup and sour tofu (which was delicous but he likes things hotter then me so I had trouble tasting all the flavors admist the spice)

I stopped by while visiting with friends today. I tried the megajolt and the salted caramel. The caramel was so good I was sorry I got two flavors of ice cream instead of one. Nice swirl of caramel and occasional lumps of salty burnt sugar in a creamy, rich base. Highly recommended.

I considered getting the brioche ice cream sandwich, but decided on just ice cream today. Has anybody tried it?

I love the salted caramel. I got that last time I went with dark chocolate and it was a home run for me. I asked them about the flavor and they said a patron had gotten salt caramel ice cream in France and came back to the US and asked them to make it.

I would recomend the Nam Kao Tod, very intesting interplay of texture and flavor (fermented pork, ginger and onion with spicy lime dressing over fried curry rice.) yum!

I live in Takoma and I share your laments for lack of places to eat around here. However if you like Indian cuisine then try Tiffins and Updupi Palace on University Blvd. They are owned by the same people, Tiffin's is for ominvores, Upupi Palace is strictly vegetarian. Both serve really delicous food, especially vegetables.

They both do a very very very nice buffet for lunch (my fiancee and I go there about once a month and stuff ourselves silly) The service is very nice there, very attentive and polite.

http://www.tiffinrestaurant.com/

http://www.udupipalace.com/

Very Silly Question but is the "e pollo rico" in Alexandria owned by the same people who own the Wheaton "E Pollo Rico" or is it just a coincidence that they have the same name?

My favorite is "E Pollo Rico" in Wheaton MD. The only thing on the menu is the chicken (well plus drinks, three choices of sides and dipping sauces) and the chicken is what dreams are made of, moist, delcious, perfectly done. There is almost always a line out the door for it.

What did you order? The best non-salad items on the menu are pork with pickled mango, tofu with hot pepper, tofu with sour mustard.

I usually order a curry dish but I find the curry to be lacking a bit. I will try some of the noddle dishes or tofu.

I find that this with the exception of their salads, nothing on the menu really blows me away. Maybe I'm ordering the wrong things? the salads have this amazing complex flavor and the rest of the food doesn't quite measure up.

Here, here! A big reason we didn't go to Palena for my wife's birthday is b/c the menu is from 2003! I couldn't tell her what to expect, so we happily tried Corduroy instead. It also didn't help that I tried emailing someone at the restaurant for an overview of the menu and never received a reply.

Pax,

Brian

I agree. I've heard great things about Palena but it just puts me off that they can't be bothered to update their website from 2003. I really like to look up menus to help me decide if I want to eat there. I understand that menus change all the time but put up a sample soI can get an idea of what your food is like.

And the disapearing Colorado kitchen website is also annoying.

Dino's has to be one of my favorite places in the DC area. My fiancee and I went there last friday for an early Valentine's Day meal. We decided to only order antipasti/small plates and share them since there was a lot of dishes on the menu we really wanted to try.

Cheese Plate: La Tur, Fontina Guffanti Blu with raspberry jam and candied nuts.

Not quite enough cheese for two people to share, next time we might for the 5 cheese platter. I really liked the Blue and the La tur, the fontina wasn't as great as the other two.

We also ordered a pile of prociutto which was also delcious and I quickly discovered that La tur + procuitto + jam + bread is awesome together. My one complaint about the prociutto was that the first time we ordered it in the summer it was sliced thinly and was really airy. This time it wasn't nearly as light and airy.

Second course of appetizers

Croquette di Patate : Crunchy, had a little bit of pancetta in there that wasn't needed but was still good. Call me plebian but it needed some kind of tangy sauce to go with it, there was this herby puree that was served on top but it didn't really contrast enough to do the job.

Crespelle di Pollo e Carciofi : I really liked this and my fiancee was more meh about it. It's funny becuase the menu makes it seem like you are getting individual crepes: one artichoke, one chicken, one tomato etc but it's all the flavors mixed together. It was still really good in my opinion.

(I came very close to ordering my favorite dish at Dino's the Aglio which is roasted garlic, blue cheese and tomato mostrada served with some bread. I still want to try the polenta as well but that's for annother time.)

For desert he had the Affogato which is gelato dunked in expresso. Delcious. Also insanely good is the gelato dunked in aged balsamic vinegar. Last time we were there we ordered it and my sister thought we were certifiably insane but the contrast of flavors is awesome.

I had this super cute coffee mouse that was served in a tiny demitasse cup with biscotti. Too precious.