abramer

Very little that was truly memorable this year. We didn't get out much, and most of it was pretty pedestrian.

Local:

The passionfruit dessert (creme brulee?) at Panino in Manassas

- the house made raviolis in curry sauce were pretty good too

Out of town

Everything at the Green Zebra, Chicago

Thanks again, everyone, for your ideas. We ended up going to Brasserie Beck, as we'd never been before and mussels sounded good. The dining room was closed for dinner prep, but the bar was open with the full menu. We split the lamb, roasted pepper and goat cheese sandwich, which was good but not great, and the mussels with chorizo and fennel which was outstanding. The service in the bar was warm and welcoming. Definitely a stop we would make again.

Thanks, too, Porcupine, for pointing out that the brunch guide could have helped. I generally only think of brunch as being a Sunday affair, so I blanked out on that one.

Ann-Marie

Thanks for the great ideas, everyone! Looks like there are many worthy options. I'll report back on how we did.

We're getting some unexpected baby-free downtown time on Saturday. My husband has an appointment at 1:00 in Dupont Circle, and we want to be back at Verizon Center early for the game that night (around 5-5:30). We'll have time to catch an off-peak meal sometime around 3-3:30. We like just about everything, cuisine-wise, but the budget requires a moderate bill. The food is more important to us than the atmosphere, but good service is always appreciated. I'd welcome any suggestions of places that would be open between lunch and dinner on a Saturday, and aren't going to hit the wallet too hard. There are just too many restaurants in both areas to pick from, so I'm hoping you all can tell me what's the best bang for the buck right now that's also open in the mid-afternoon.

We don't get many chances these days to eat downtown. Generally we're lucky if we can hit someplace mediocre around the Phonebooth before a game. Otherwise, most of our DC dining has been inside the arena. Looking forward to something delicious!

Thanks,

Ann-Marie

The one year old scarfed down every last piece of Piave in front of him before touching the strawberries that were offered at the same time (which he also loves).

It wasn't our best food year. New baby and new house seriously curtailed the food budget. A few standouts, though:

Fried brussel sprout leaves with cumin, orange zest and sea salt - crispy, savory and the perfect bar snack (Farley Bar, Cavallo Point, Sausalito CA)

Reuben - hand cured corned beef and utter deliciousness (Restaurant Eve bar)

Mother in law's potato salad - sometimes the simple things are the best

A perfect mango from Trader Joes

This year, the goal is going to be to find some hidden gems in the virtual culinary wasteland of Manassas.

Haven't stopped here in too long, thanks for the reminder. Have to agree with Hannah about the duck dishes. Haven't tried anything else on the menu, the duck keeps calling me back.

Kingstowne is pretty iffy in the restaurant department, I have to admit. Most options are chains. Other places may have a dish or two worth returning to, but aren't exactly "destination" restaurants. We've lived in Kingstowne for almost ten years, and I still can't get the plaza names right, so please bare with me.

In the plaza with Shoppers:

Johnny's New York Pizza - The pizza is not bad, but not really what I think of as "New York style." Obviously, avoid the slices that have been sitting under the heat lamps for too long, though made to order pies are okay. The real jems here, if you like red sauce, are the manicotti and the garlic knots. Still, comfort food, and not much else.

Lucky's Sports Bar & Grill - Better food than I expected at a sports bar. Most of the food has been pretty decent (ahi tuna appetizer, most salads, marsala pork chops) a the price point, but a "fried chicken" salad was so soaked in oil it was inedible. Yeah, probably my error for ordering it.

We've never tried Bungalow Billiards, so no comments on that.

In Kingstowne Towne Center (plaza with Safeway)

Mostly chains. Moby Dick's (kebabs) isn't bad at all.

Pasara Thai - Not bad Thai food, but not my favorite.

In the plaza with Giant

There's a King Street Blues that some swear by. We had a terrible meal there, once, years ago and haven't been back though.

We've been underwhelmed by the sushi/hibachi place, whose name I can't think of.

The local farmer's market was here last year (previously it had been in the Towne Center parking lot), and I expect it will be back here this year. Not sure on the opening date, probably sometime in May, but it's been held Friday evenings from 4-7. It's not huge, but has a good assortment of vendors.

A bit further than Kingstowne Proper...

There are a number of places on Franconia, though not many that we've returned to. Burrito Joynte was great for a quick, inexpensive meal for a while, but changed hands. We've only been once under the new management, and didn't like it. There's a nice little Mediterranean store in the plaza on the right headed towards Springfield mall that serves sandwiches and the like out of the back. It's nowheres near as big as the shop down on Pickett, but it's nice.

As Franconia turns into Old Keene Mill, there's a plaza with a Hard Times Cafe. Back behind that plaza, around Mike's Grill, are many Asian restaurants (a Vietnamese soup-not just pho - one stands out in my mind, but I can't recall the name). There's also a working butcher back there. In the streets to the other side of Old Keene Mill, there are other ethnic options that we've barely sampled, and a Five Guys that we've found to be decent.

Landsdowne Center, down Beulah, has a number of non-chain choices. Matsui Sushi is one of the better local options (along with Akasaka further down Van Dorn). There's an Indian restaurant that recently changed hands; we liked it under the old management, but haven't been enough to form an opinion under the new management. There's a Thai restaurant that has killer appetizers, but the dinners have felt a bit flat. This plaza also houses the local library, hidden on the far side of the plaza.

So, that's it in a nutshell. Lots of options for "I don't want to cook tonight," but not a stellar restaurant scene. Generally we travel to Old Town, Arlington, or DC for our planned nicer dinners.

Feel free to PM me if anything here doesn't make sense, or if you have additional questions.

Ann-Marie

We were lucky enough to go to the dress rehersal before they opened. It was lovely.

We've enjoyed Mango's Grill Restaurant on Rt. 1 in Laurel. Excellent tres leches cake. (Everything else was good too, but I don't recall specifics.)

January was a blur. The month consisted of the end of the holidays, my birthday, attending a destination wedding, and a family visit where restaurants were preferred over home cooking. With all of the challenges of the month, I'm happy to report that I'm down three pounds. Hopefully I'll be able to increase on my slow start during February.

As a side note... Walking in sand is hard work!

[Edited because I should read what I write before I post!]

Okay, so it's a bit of a good news/bad news scenario at the end of the holidays. I didn't lose the three pounds for the challenge, nor did I stay even. I did, however, only gain one pound as of yesterday. Considering the indulgences of the holiday season, and the standard flux in my day to day weight, I won't consider this a complete loss. On to the real challenge!

Hello all!

I've been holding pretty steady at my current weight for five years or so (and have a very similar body shape to all the female relatives on my maternal side). I go up a few pounds, or down a few, but no real consistent change. For the December challenge, I'm only aiming for three pounds, as the holidays are not an ideal time for me to focus on significant change. (Kudos to those of you that can!)

About six months ago, I cut soda almost completely out of my diet. I'll have one every now and again (one or two a month), but no more. I've been replacing it mostly with unsweetened or very lightly sweetened iced tea. Soda was generally my beverage of choice, so I'm a bit disappointed that after cutting this major source of calories, my weight hasn't really changed at all. I didn't really do much else, dietarily, and I'm pretty sure I haven't been eating enough extra calories to equalize the lost soda calories. So, obviously more dietary changes are needed. (No, I wasn't expecting much, but maybe a little... Especially since I was holding steady with my existing habits.)

My husband and I started taking ice skating lessons a couple of months ago, so we've added skating once or twice a week to our physical regimen. There doesn't seem to be enough time in the week to do much concentrated exercise, so that's another puzzle I'll need to work on.

Well that's my introduction, I guess. Wish me luck!

I'd like to join in, please! I'm generally a lurker, and watched you all with great respect and a bit of envy last year. Time to jump on the bandwagon.

We called two or three weeks ahead, and still had to be pretty flexible with which day and time we were able to get during the selected weekend.

In real life I play the role of a tv producer, and I've been looking for a butcher to come on the program I work on and talk about the various cuts of meat and how best to prepare them.

Does anyone know of a good local butcher who might be willing to make a TV appearance?

You may want to try the Springfield Butcher - 703-245-0111.

Friends in the Williamsburg area took us to A Chef's Kitchen a few months ago. We'd never seen a restaurant being run this way before, and had a great time.

As the Chef explained, he and his wife happened upon an episode of Emeril on a bar tv when they were out one evening. (Strange, no?) He noticed that only the "special" people in the front got to sample what was being prepared during the show, and felt bad for the rest of the audience. Thus, he decided to create a resaurant where the cooking was done in front of the guests, similar to the live tv format, and everyone gets to eat.

Dinner consists of hors d'oeuvres & champaign when you walk in, followed by five courses with matching wine. There is only one seating per evening, Wednesday through Saturday. Guests walk away with recipes for everything that was served that night.

The food was consitently good, sometimes very good. The format of "dinner as a show" does lead to some limitations, but it's pretty unique for the area (if not unique overall), and may be just the break you need from the historic triangle & Busch Gardens.

Due to limited seating, this is definitely something to plan ahead if you want to go. The FAQ on the restaurant site suggests that parents use their best judgement about whether to include kids in the reservation. To paraphrase, dinners last about three hours, and might be a trial for many kids.

We liked it enough we've already been back for a second visit.

It's probably out of the way, but the Springfield Butcher may be able to supply this.

I asked them about being able to buy leaf lard from them a while back. The person on the counter didn't recognize the phrase "leaf lard," but said that they could sell kidney fat. I never followed up with them, so I'm not sure if it's something they still sell. Probably best to give them a call before going. 703-245-0111

This was my reply to a similar question about Great Country Farms on eG -

My husband and I split shares with another couple for two years. While we enjoyed the service, we found that we were overwhelmed with the amount of produce, and ended up not using too much of what we got. If I were more organized and had more room, I probably would have frozen and/or canned a lot of what we received.

The two years we participated also had less-than-stellar weather. The first year had a mild draught, and the second year they had flooded or nearly-flooded fields. While we did receive a LOT of produce, we found that we kept getting the same things in our bins, sometimes they were things we don't use a lot. As a member of the farm, you take a similar, though obviously much smaller, gamble to what the farmer does. You just don't know what will grow well each year.

We did go out to the farm a few times for u-pick, especially for berries, asparagus and later in the year, pumpkins. They generally don't put the more perishable (squashable) produce into the bins that go out. They do supply smaller pumpkins in the bins, but to get the big ones you have to go to them. Being able to pick what we wanted, within the designated limits, was a great benefit but we didn't get out there very much.

I loved coming home once a week to find out what was on our doorstep. It was like opening up a weekly present. I miss that.

The people who own Great Country Farms are very enthusiastic about what they do, and are very friendly. I would highly recommend them for a family that goes through a lot of produce. For us, the farmers market works better.

If you join, make sure you don't miss u-pick asparagus. There's nothing like eating it the day it was picked!

Hope this is useful. The thread I included this in is at: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=63382&hl=

Ann-Marie

Thanks everybody! Sounds like there are some good eats to be had in Fredericksburg. I'm looking forward to sampling at as many of the places you've recommended as we can fit in this weekend.

I'll report on where we end up sometime next week... I'm happy to keep adding to the list, if anyone has more suggestions.

Hello all!

I've been lurking here for some time, but I've been a bit shy about posting.

My husband and I, and another couple are taking the short trip to Fredericksburg for the long weekend next week. We've heard that we can't miss Carl's for ice cream, but know little else about the dining scene.

We are most likely looking to do one "nice" dinner, and several less expenisve meals. All cuisines are up for grabs. Does anyone have any suggestions for places that shouldn't be missed? Or places that should be avoided? We are staying in the historical district, but can/will travel a bit for a good meal.

Thanks for any advice you can give!

Ann-Marie

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[The following posts have been split into separate threads:

Allman's Pit Cooked Bar-B-Q (Joe H)
Poppy Hill Tuscan Kitchen (darkstar965)]