lion

2 hours ago, NolaCaine said:

That's a little harsh. I was building off Don's comment upthread. I love Indian food but just think Rasika is overrated or takes itself for granted having built up a clientele and reputation.  I know many people who love it and have dined with them there often.

Also, the sentence should read "masses of ignorant fools WHO don't understand".

Rasika is overrated and I prefer Indigo by far in DC. Looking forward to trying Simul's silent partner involved new Indian restaurant, so that might change. 

28 minutes ago, Ericandblueboy said:

Why does he post there and not here?  I guess DC Urban Moms are more important?

Clearly you are not aware of the real power brokers in DC. 

Watch out for the Beltway Bambinos, too! 

Wow, Tom was getting hammered in that thread but he handled the anonymus comments well. 

47 minutes ago, TedE said:

Nanny's in Cleveland Park is hosting a tap takeover for DFH tonight (2/1) and according to the announcement they will have 120 Minute.

Ah man, unfortunately have a friend visiting from out of town at the moment so can't make it. Thanks for the info! 

3 hours ago, DonRocks said:

Have you seen the Wagyu sirloin cuts? ($39.99 a pound, so ouch, but wow.)

I just dropped $160 on a Wagyu tri-tip, two Fluke filets, a huge Berkshire pork tenderloin, a half-pound of thick-cut English bacon, a bottle of Sake ("Whispering Poet" - it's really good!), and a tiny thing of chocolates (for $10.99)

First-world problems.

I cut back on my beef intake a while back but really enjoy their pork chops. Super easy to put them in a brine for 3-4 hours, pre-heat a skillet in the oven, and cook them on the stove and oven. During the summer time, I've pickup the pork tenderloin many times for the grill, they have a couple of in-house marinades that are pretty tasty. We've had their chicken and seafood as staples for a majority of our purchases. It is a good idea to ask sometimes as some products have difficult levels of being organic, etc...but again my favorite are their pork chops which are  cut steak size. Perfect! 

Bad move, Chef Andres should never have been treated in this manner and of course no one should.

The Daily Beast reports that Chef Andres was already inside the event and was taken outside and asked to leave. 

Just started reading my Christmas present cookbook, Salt Fat Acid Heat written by Samin Nosrat and illustrated by Wendy McNaughton. It is quite different from other cookbooks that I've read as Samin strives to create broad foundation , her context for viewing cooking instead of going from a recipe point of view. Really enjoying it so far.

On 1/19/2018 at 10:35 AM, Genevieve said:

My son's favorite is this one, which I freely admit is not the healthiest thing we cook. I have modified it lately by adding a little rice vinegar and a little toasted sesame oil, but I'm sure the amount of ketchup could be cut down, or tomato paste could be used.

3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs 
1/2 teaspoon dried minced garlic (we use bottled chopped garlic)
3/4 cup soy sauce
3/4 cup ketchup
3/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil (optional)
Directions

Add garlic, sauce, soy sauce, ketchup and honey to pressure cooking pot. Stir to combine. Add chicken to the pot. Cover pot and lock lid in place.
Select High Pressure and 9 minutes cook time. (It will take about 10 minutes to reach high pressure.)
After 9 minutes cook time, turn off pressure cooker and use a quick pressure release.
In a small bowl, dissolve cornstarch in 2 tablespoons water. Add cornstarch mixture to the sauce in the pot stirring constantly. Select Simmer and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. After sauce thickens, add fresh basil to the sauce.
Serve over rice.

As discussed in a previous post, for this and the previous recipe, we've found that using the Poultry setting instead of Manual has been better - when we were using Manual, some of the chicken would stick and burn. This might be because of the honey in the recipes?

Hugh Acheson has an IP cookbook which I will get from the library when my number comes up on the waitlist.

We made hard-boiled eggs in it this weekend and they peeled much more easily than when we make them on the stovetop.

I have a number of recipes we haven't tried yet (including something for wild rice that supposedly gets creamy like risotto?).

I've made this one, too and it is addictive how sweet it tastes. My wife gave me an eye roll when I made it a weeks in a row.

Interesting list to be sure as some of the flag bears for DC are not there as others above have pointed out. Seeing Field and Main makes me think that the list is spread around geographically as well. 

Can't believe it's only been five years since I've been going there! I would have guess ten years if the proof wasn't earlier in this thread. We go there almost weekly. 

Havn't been recently but still think it's quite good. Asian Origin and HKP have been more in our rotation the past year. 

There simply isn't the infrastructure, roads being the main reason, for all of the new condos and office buildings going up in Reston. 

39 minutes ago, Kibbee Nayee said:

I have to admit, with the arrival of the Hamilton just across the street, I frequent OEG less often than I have in the past. My most recent dining experience there was with Lady KN, and we enjoyed a lovely half-priced orca platter and a bottle of wine prior to a concert at DAR Constitution Hall, a mere 3 blocks away. No complaints.

Same boat. After frequenting OEG as a late night dining option in DC, completely switched to the Hamilton. The main dining room at the Hamilton is much more pleasing and conducive for conversation with others versus the OEG. Though I do miss the Orca platter after 11pm on Sundays for half price, too. Great deal! 

Happy New Year Don and thanks for all the hard work!

5 hours ago, Ferris Bueller said:

Another longtime RTC Business is closing in January.

That's a real shame. I've frequented Appalachian Spring a little bit even going there this year on Christmas Eve, searching for a last minute present for my wife. Last year, I bought a lovely wooden jewelry box which is quite beautiful and hand made.  Very good attentive service and always helpful. 

Real Estate development pretty much guarantees in this area any mom & pop stores are not going to have 'street' presence in these new quasi downtown areas. 

My 3 1/2 year old also insists on helping us out in the kitchen and in the past few months has become quite vocal in which restaurants he wants to eat at outside the house. Last month we ended up at Bindaas and we're surprised that he was able to make it almost thru the entire meal there before one of us having to take him for a walk...which ended up being to Vace for a slice of cheese! 

Ōath Pizza, a Nantucket based pizza restaurant opened their first franchise in the metro area at Mosaic. They have seven locations in the Boston area and plan to open a couple more in DC proper over the next year. 

We stopped by for a quick lunch and had half a simple salad ($4), half a cheese pizza ($6) and a 11 inch pepperoni pizza ($9.5). They hand stretch and grill their pizza in avocado oil. We throughly enjoyed the good amount of char on the thin crust pizza. Additionally, the 11 inch size was perfect for an adult and the half size was good for a kid. Ingredient quality and taste was flavorful and filling. 

It's a welcome addition to the pizza scene in DC and definitely jumps into the top ten for the area especially considering that it is fast food. 

2 hours ago, Ericandblueboy said:

I took the kids to Kapnos Marketa last Tuesday.  The only other place open was the round bar of Graffiato, which was packed.  We had a chicken and a lamb gyro.  The wraps came with warm meat but cold veggies and sauce - so the meat became cold quickly. 

My association with gyros are that they are like a pocket of warm tasty bread and meat on a chilly outing since I spent a year in Chicago near Greek town and would frequently eat there.  The Parthenon use to give out shots of ouzo to people waiting in line on the cold windy nights! 

Tastes and memories form expectations I guess. 

AO has a larger (and more extravagant) menu than HKP but in our experience the quality is very similar. Recently we've been to HKP more frequently as some shopping has taken us to that area and the Chinese vegetables have been pretty good this fall/winter. Still haven't made it to the flagship PC in MD so can't really compare amongst the three of them but agree with Ericandblueboy that all three (PC in Ballston) are pretty consistent. 

We stopped by for lunch today after a great puppet show of "The Nutcracker" at Glen Echo with our son. Taking the escalator up from the parking lot does create a sense of not going to mall food court, but unfortunately the eateries are separated by being on both sides of the mall and the regular food traffic makes it feel awkward. Walking around we ended up getting food from Pepita and Kapnos Marketa. 

 At Pepita our order was chips & guacamole ($12), crazy corn ($6), crispy Baja fish tacos ($4.5) and cheese quesdilla ($10). To my surprise, my wife liked the flavors of our order where for myself the food was cold and that diminished my enjoyment. At Kapnos Marketa, our order was a marinated lamb gyro (~$14). Ingredients were good and combination flavorful but again it was cold. 

Our lunch bill was around $60 with tip which for a seat down restaurant for 3 people wouldn't be extremely outrageous however since effectively you order and pick it up yourself does seem a little much. 

To keep things in perspective, normally going to lunch we may spend at Sweet Green ($30) for good level of organic quality food, at Nordstorm Cafe which is similar quasi restaurant and food hall but our gold standard for decent quality of food that is very kid friendly, our bill is usually ($40) with a tip, and at HKP ($50) with tip. 

The operation does seem to still be finding their operational way as several times saw managers and waiters congregating to keep things moving smoothly. In the future would try the Arroz as well as Retro Creamery.  People seemed confuse where it was sit down restaurant or take out sit-down which is all over their area. 

Overall, right now it just seems like a mixed bag. 

We drove by and went to Nordstrom Cafe since we had some Christmas shopping at Tysons 1. My wife wasn't interested in trying it out today but asked if there was chatter on DR. May have to give it a go for breakfast later in the week. 

bdoughnut.com

Portuguese style malasadas & doughnuts by Brian and Pin Chanthapanya at the Mosaic in Merrifield. I stopped by for the first time and enjoyed a quick treat with crab dip bagel doughnut and chocolate creme malasadas. Very tasty!

On 12/5/2017 at 8:54 AM, Simul Parikh said:

I've never had this type of food before, so it was a lot of fun - the spheres, foams, gels, etc. It's not "Indian" in the way Rasika still has completely Indian roots. It borrows from Indian cooking / spices, but it's it's own thing, and there are definitely some Thai influences. Without going into each specific dish (there are far too many and I don't think it's that valuable), but the ones I really enjoyed - "chili bon bons" - a take on pani puri, a chaat masala yogurt "explosion", a deconstructed green curry served on dehydrated chicken skin, shrimp foam in shrimp shell as a sort of "tom yum" (yeah, doesn't make much sense, but it's pretty amazing), baingan bartha "biscuits", idli foam, banana / chicken liver mousse, Indian fatty tuna sushi, pork vindaloo croquettes. They have an "audio/visual" dish, fun desserts, lamb "chorizo" with a tamarind fruit roll-up to eat it with, fish with indian green chili (similar to something served at Rasika but they use chicken as protein) made in banana leaf served flaming on the table, deep fried taro "charcoal", lobster taco made with a soft dosa shell. 

I've been curious about this place since seeing the Netflix show on Chef Anand. The way he talks about Indian cuisine and the issues involved with modernizing it and refining it to bring it to a higher level seems to be a perennial obstacle as more places try to create a bridge to the haute cuisine level of dining.  

Great writeup and nice photographs. 

6 hours ago, iolaire said:

The river photo is on the walk to the restaurant. The trees were ideal and then there is a simple temple shot from the gardens.

Nice writeup and beautiful photographs!

Prices due seem to be high but my wife has reduced her gluten consumption and apparently they have some gluten free options. Rise Bakery is another such bakery and these prices seem comparable to theirs. 

Thanks for the review funkyfood!