jandres374

Headed to Marco Island over July 4th - any recommendations?

Last I checked A&H also has the best pricing - usually under $5. Black Salt was $9 last time I was there.

Coming soon to DC. Best Ciopinno I have ever had anywhere.

"Tadich Grill To Open a Location in Washington, DC" by Paolo Lucchesi on insidescoopsf.sfgate.com.

Original Ray's: The Classics posts are in the Ray's: The Steaks Thread.

Saw this in the Gazette:

It is in Palmetto Dunes. Here is a map.

http://www.palmettodunes.com/pdf/DH_locatorMap.pdf

Yes! How'd you know?

Open Kitchen and (especially) Vaso's Kitchen are underrated restaurants.

Work in Old Town and recently had a meal there - remembered the bread basket.

Number 5 - Vaso's Kitchen.

I have been remiss in reporting back but had some pretty nice meals while on spring break.

Jose Enrique - best meal of trip. great local cuisine. everything is written on a white board which they translate for you. go early - no reservations and it gets crowded. Get the mignon a caballo, churrasco or fried whole red snapper.

Casa Lola - great looking place and food was very good but service was kind of cold. Very good rissotto

Buddatai - create night eating on the outside roof deck. shared a bunch of small plates which were all very good. lost the receipt so I don't recall what we had.

El Jefe Burger Shack - one of the kiosks in Luquillo. stopped here for lunch after hike in rainforest. great burgers but very slow service

Buns - great burgers and shakes (pricey) across the street from Marriott Stellaris.

El Picoteo - great spot for afternoon cocktails and snacks after touring Old San Juan. Sat outside in courtyard and had some sangria, hummus and ceviche. Would return and try full dinner menu.

Aguaviva - great ceviche in Old San Juan. Get the ceviche tasting - 6 large portions of ceviche.

Jam Rum Bar Bistro - very good rum cockstails with homemade juices. Very good red snapper and churrasco. Tuna was just ok. Excellent service.

Mona's - average Mexican if your are in a pinch and need something quick for the kids.

Danny's International - pizza place that was packed on Good Friday as nothing else was open. Don't go here.

Rao's - very friendly owner and great service. Above average italian food.

Union Market or Merrifield? I've only been to the Union Market location but I love that place. Their wild boar pate is out of this world. How did you prepare those?

Union Market. I cooked them on our Big Green Egg. Got the Egg up to about 800 degrees and seared them for about 90 seconds a side (flames shooting everywhere - thought my neighbors were going to call 911) pulled them off and dropped the temperature down to 450 or so and finished them off. Really good stuff.

Red Apron?

Winner.

Stachowski's? Last night we cooked up a duck breast from them that was fantastic, and I think I saw some of those lollipops in the case.

Good guess but nope.

Dined at home but purchased from local establishment.

Your list looks very similar to mine. A few others on our list of possibles:

Casa Lola

Dragonfly

Cafe Manolin

Pirilo Pizza Rustica

Mi Casita

St. Germain

We don't go until last week of March. Would appreciate any feedback before we leave.

Headed here for spring break with the family at the end of the month - we are staying in the Condado area. Any recommendations for some family friendly dining spots in this area or Old San Juan.

Went to dinner here last Saturday with the wife. We had a rather early reservation (6 pm) but the place was already hoping. Food was good to excellent - wish we went with a big group so we could have tried a few more items. Service was a bit slow and disjointed but no major complaints. We studied the menu before going and noticed a few changes and also prices seemed to have increased on most items.

Food:
- Cornbread ($4, up a $1 from on-line menu) - like others have mentioned the bacon jam is addictive. Cornbread was very moist. Huge portion for 2 people - took home the leftovers for the kids who devoured it.
- Striped bass ceviche ($11, up from $9) - pretty small portion for the price but very fresh and delicious.
- Beef cap of ribeye ($17, up from $15) - perfectly cooked to medium-rare, a bit overpriced for the portion size.
- Sunchokes - Ordered but never received. By the time we realized it we were stuffed anyway.
- Kimchi linguini, uni, scallop, nasturtium ($14, same as on-line) - We both really liked this dish. The noodles had very little kimchi flavor and a nice little kick to it. The uni and scallops were delicious. Perfect portion size for sharing.

- Brussel Sprouts ($6, up from $5) - very solid preparation and a large serving.

- Grouper ($26, not on on-line menu) - probably the most disappointing of the dishes, It was a large serving of fish but we both thought it was slightly overcooked and lacking seasoning.
- Salted caramel ice cream, and a few other treats from dessert cart - Highly recommended.

Wine service was very good and we ended up with a nice Pinot Noir in the mid-50's range.

Looking forward to returning soon to try some other items.

Stopped in for lunch last Friday and ordered the 2 meat platter (brisket and pulled chicken) with side of mac and cheese. Also comes with cole slaw and piece of cornbread.

I thought the brisket was a bit dry but had a nice smoke flavor to it. The chicken was perfect. I agree with other on the mac and cheese that it seemed to be missing something.

The cornbread was not good - dry and maybe a few days old.

Service was friendly but for a Friday lunch not very busy (I saw 3 other people while I was there).

So you don't need to reload during the smoke at all?

Nope - no reload.

We went and I agree with DavidO. Good place to get a beer and watch a game. Very loud and mediocre food. My suggestion is grab a beer here and eat at Freddy's.

New place recently opened in the old Bubby's spot on Cordell Ave across the street from Freddy's. Has anyone been here yet? We have friends who want to try it out tonight.

http://bricksidebethesda.com/

We purchased the XL back in December and have experimented with a few different thing - pork butt, standing rib roast, steaks, whole chicken, chicken wings and salmon. So far everything has turned out great. Took the pulled pork and wings to a Super Bowl party and everyone loved it. Been cooking at least one a weekend on it. It's amazing that you can load it up with charcoal and cook a pork butt at 250 for 14 hours and still have charcoal left in it.

If you are interested Village Hardware in Alexandria (Ft Hunt Road) has a great set-up in the lower level. They have every size egg on display as well as every accessory (there seem to be a million of them). There is a Dizzy Pig store out in Manassas that has a large display. We have been using the dizzy pig spices (can find at Whole Foods and a few other places) on a bunch of the meats.

No issues to date with our egg and we have friends who have had them for a couple years with no problems.

The plate setter accessory is a must if you plan on doing long slow cooks.

Looking forward to trying some brisket and pizzas

Say hi next time. Were you wearing a pullover with an evil logo?

Say hi next time. Worked from home today so headed down there to pick-up some meats to grill on the green egg this weekend. Got some of the hangar steaks and sausage. Also picked up the grinder for lunch, which will be lunch for the entire weekend.

Where did I dine?

IMG_0486.jpg

El Paso Cafe

Spreading the secret sauce up I-95:). Great sleuth work ...impressive.

Actually credit goes to my Dad who lives in Philly. We have taken him here a couple times, needless to say he is excited to have one closer to home.

Expanding into the Philadelphia market:

http://philadelphia.foobooz.com/2013/02/07/dcs-medium-rare-opening-on-the-1600-block-of-sansom/

I am becoming a big fan of Bastille. Had the RW lunch there on Friday and it was very good.

Also like Brabo Tasting Room, Lighthorse, Columbia Firehouse and Pita House.