lion

Recently I've been drinking Jamun juice, but wanted to find the fruit. Has anyone found it being sold in the area?

Here is the website for arguably the most beautiful winery in the state of Virgina, Hillsborough, which is about three or four miles west of Hillsboro off Route 9 in Loudoun county.

Do you have any recommendations in terms of when to make a visit?

Stopped by at lunch today for my first try. I'm sorry, but in my opinion this pizza doesn't approach the best of what NYC has to offer (and unfortunately I haven't been to Mozza, so i can't comment on that comparison).

Ordering slices, both the "plain" and the clam, I found the crust on these two varieties to be quite tough, and pizza is all about the crust, isn't it?

I will say that my Caesar salad, topped by a nice frico, was quite good. I look forward to trying a few of the others listed above...have already tried Two Amy's, and thought that it was better than this.

DC has very few places to get a good slice and coming from one of the slice capitals of the world, it's hard. Currently, I like Vace's in Bethesda.

I read your blog postings on pizza. Good stuff. Thanks for the link to Jeff Varasano's NY Pizza Recipe, equally good stuff. I use to read SliceNY, but this site slipped by.

I'm not taking my kids to Ray's or Bistrot du Coin these days either, except for special occasions like birthdays. I simply don't have the money to drop $100 on a dinner out once a week. That money can go to bills, therefore spending it on pizza is, for me, a poor investment. I would rather make it at home, even though it's not as "good" as buying it from a restaurant.

I am saying this not to criticize the restaurants, or the prices they charge. I'm merely pointing out that some people are not trying to decide whether or not to spend $100 on dinner on steak, pizza, or vichyssoise, but making the decision whether to spend $20 on a mass produced takeout pizza, or spend $10 and make their pizza at home. That may be where the original poster to Tom's chat is coming from.

As a teenager, Thursday nights in the 1980s was pizza night made at home by my mom and we would watch Magnum, pi and later on the Cosby show. Getting Pizza Hut was at that time still a special occasion thing, though by the time I was working in Tysons a few years later at the mall going to Shakey's or some place like that was more regular.

The original poster, from Tom's chat, being a long time resident of Falls Church has obviously seen the community change over decades most likely. From their point of view, the experience of paying for pizza a similar amount as going to a 'real restaurant' is probably a shock since this is a 'neighborhood' restaurant.

As for the cost per pizza, Pizzeria Orso is using high quality ingredients which if used at home which cost more than $12 per pie. For many years, I use to host a pizza party at home for about 12-14 friends. Friends were asked to bring any toppings they wanted, the more unusual the better. Everyone would get dough to make their own pizza with some basic ingredients that I had already prepared. Having this party, it was always surprising by how much the individual ingredients totaled up especially getting the best quality.

Can Orso survive in that location in these economic times? Again the original poster asked the question to query their view of 'higher' prices. Personally, I agree with a lot of others in this thread have said about Orso's prices are within the variance of other similar quality pizza restaurants. I think it's got the potential to be one of the best places on the East Coast. Regardless, right now, Orso is a destination restaurant, people are willing to drive there within the DC Metro area and because of that it should do well.

I was there a few weekends ago with the GF and an out of town friend. We tried the pasta sampler which gave us an idea of what the kitchen was capable of and priced at $13 was pretty good bargain. The restaurant was operating at or near full capacity on that Saturday night, but the wait staff did a good job of servicing our table. Acoustics for the restaurant was fairly bad at that capacity, but the atmosphere was jovial and the interior design was cute especially with the painted out scenes outside of the window.

Food-wise at that price point, I felt it was ok. Basically mirroring previous comments in the thread nothing great, nothing bad. I think it's a good restaurant for that area and would eat there again if in the mood and nearby. As a destination place, would skip. That being said, at their prices and the looking at the neighborhood, think it will be a popular place.

I have eaten at 15 east., while a great experience, I would rate it about a 9/10 maybe 8.5. Yasuda, Matsuhisa, Nobu London, Im not trying to proclaim Im an expert, again Im simply expressing my personal opinion. There are few sushi places in DC that I feel are worth my money on a consistant basis and the ones I listed are ranked accordingly.

Have you been to Kuruma Zushi in NYC? If so, how would you rate the experience on your scale?

Stopped by the Vace in Bethesda for a few cheese slices at lunch time for the first time. Two slices of cheese pizza were good, the sauce was outstanding, but the crust was not as enjoyable as I remembered my times at the Cleveland Park location.

I did check out Hinata last March like my plan earlier constructed in this thread. It's a fairly small Japanese grocery store with a small sushi counter. The cooking ingredients I purchased were reasonable in price, however there was less variety that expected. The few pieces of sushi that I tried at the counter during my visit were ok.

Definitely agree it's a representation of a 'small' sushi place like in Japan when you're sitting at the counter and in that sense, enjoyable to experience.

Technique does make a difference, but honestly if you get a chance visit Japan.

Not considering other reasons, just In terms of food travel, it's an incredible trip.

With sushi, it's important to consider where you've had your best meal. If it's here in the US, most likely your standard isn't as high as someone who ate sushi in Japan.

Personally, I look at a relative scale. When I'm eating sushi in the DC metro area, my sense of relative scale comes from the seafood quality from local restaurants, and if I enjoy the restaurant and the atmosphere the owners and chefs create.

In some ways, talking about sushi is like discussing how any other foreign cuisine can be replicated outside of it's native country.

Pish tosh. I gave up on caring about such things when spinach started killing people. I figure there's no winning at this point so just eat what you want, you know?

I hear ya, but I kind of like the Japanese approach to eating sushi in that it's a special occasion meal.

A humorous take on the Japanese Tradition.

Medvedev's assessment--typically American. Not so healthy, but tasty. Is that a perfect, succinct take on Mikhail Landrumsky, or what?

I heard that as Mikael Blomkvist.

We eat sushi 3-5 times a week and regularly debate the best place. Last night, we went to the "new" Sushi Taro", with great anticipation. However, while it was a good meal, we were frankly disappointed. It led me to wonder what is the best sushi place in DC area right now. Thoughts?

3-5 times a week is a lot. You may want to cut back some for health reasons as previously noted in the thread.

However, why were you disappointed in the new Sushi Taro?

Had lunch today - our experience comported with Joe H. and DrX's criticisms above. Margherita was, yup, soupy and bland.

But the pies today were mediocre. Orso has a ways to go. I'm in the Joe & Dr.X column. But I want to return in six weeks to see how today was an off day.

Made a second pass at the tail end of lunch. Came with my GF this time and we both enjoyed a Margherita. Her comments were the crust was great: buttery, salty, and flavorful.

Pie was good today.

I am not sure about that; I fondly remember in the Chicago suburbs having similar experiences, although, it was the trend to have them float on boats rather than conveyor belts, yet they were often packed and the sushi was good. However, this was about 20yrs ago.

20 years ago in Chicago I fondly remember the Jazz Bulls in North Lincoln Park, Giordano's stuffed pizza in Greek Town, and polishes & greasy fries on Maxell Street.

I think it's just difficult to replicate the feeling and everyday quality of some of specialty cuisines outside of their culture. For example, most kaiten sushi places in Japan have a higher 'average' quality that would correspond with medium to upper level sushi restaurants here in the states.

I am sad to report that gelittleman was lured like a good Grecian sailor by the sirens and entranced by the sushi conveyor belt going round-n-round-n-round like Thomas the Tank Engine might on a terrible day, hauling freight on the Island of Sodor, with no end in sight. Try as I might, I could not talk him out of it--so, in we went.

I remembering being drawn to it my last trip to Tysons Corner Mall and spent some time watching. However, past experiences looking for a decent kaiten sushi experience in the US have definitely stopped that and any future attempt. I don't think non Japanese communities can't support that kind of establishment. Even in NYC, which has decent yakitori and other Japanese cuisines, they don't have good kaiten sushi.

This you-tube video shows a good large size kaiten restaurant. Check out the number of sushi (colored dishes on the counters and tatami) people are eating, the hygiene of the kitchen staff, and the volume of customers.

Sergio Ristorante Italiano

I just need to try a few more but the puffy edges to the Margherita were surprising for their lack of crunch. (Many will say there should NOT be a crunch.) Sausage by the way was probably the most flavorful that I have ever had on a pie.

I was looking for the 'crunch' myself and found it on opening Tuesday with my Margherita. It's such a slight thing that it can be easily overlooked or in the heat of pushing out pizzas every two minutes be lost as well. In terms of the 'soupiness', yes there was a little of that, but the favors of the toppings were so distinct, definitely a caliber higher than other places. Really want to go again and see how it is, before commenting more since think it will take six weeks to get everything 'firing up' correctly. However, for the DC area it's one of the best already. I'm curious to see if it becomes a national level destination. It definitely has the potential.

Thanks for all the replies!

I completely forgot about Pizzeria Paradiso in Georgetown. Was trying to get them to come out to VA, so we could make the trip to Pizzeria Orso,

however coordinating that was proving to be difficult with the number of adults and kids (+car seats) in one.

I think I was blinded by my desire to try Orso again with a large group.

My girlfriend has some friends with kids visiting from out of town next Friday. We're looking for a kid friendly vegatarian restaurant that is non Indian. With the absense of car seats we're stuck near the GW/Georgetown area.

I'm stumped. Any place a 2 year old and 6 old might find fun?

Thanks in advance!

Well I hope everyone is having better luck than I am trying to phone in a carryout order from Pizzeria Orso and Pupatella tonight - both are rolling over to voice mails.

Damn, just when I thought Pie-tanza no longer served a useful purpose.

If Pizzeria Orso becomes our own local Pizzeria Blanco, I'll be mildly irritated since only have been once!

The leftover slices were crispy the following day.

One of the best pizzas in the DC area. The room was nicely designed and can see it being packed in the future.

Waitstaff was getting into the groove which will happen once the word gets out about the quality of place.

The size/cost ratio...I think that it's maybe a $1 or $2 difference compared to other similar places for the size.

Regardless, the most important thing was the pie itself. Great char and crust. Subtle flavors. I was impressed.

Congratulations!

Reading this thread led me down memory lane on an old Hong Kong movie about a chef competition to cook the Manchu Imperial Feast. Called The Chinese Feast, it featured some deft knife skills from recollection, but I would have to rewatch it again to really confirm. I can just remember being really in awe of the cooking skills, but still, probably lacks in comparison to Eat, Drink, Man, Woman only due its cheesy plotline.

Another movie I want to watch, but haven't seen yet is Rice Rhapsody or Hainan Chicken Rice. Although it's based in Singapore and apparently does not have a lot of cooking scenes, it does have Sylvia Chang and Martin Yan in it.

One that isn't quite a movie, but rather a Japanese soap drama, is my favorite regarding sushi apprenticeship: Shota no Sushi. It was based on a popular manga series by the same name. Click for some sample frames...

 
Shota no Sushi was an excellent drama! Thankfully it was online with English translations. I would like to seen Oishinbo, either the manga or live series, with translations as well. Unfortunately, haven't found it.

Last year, I enjoyed the Korean series Shikgaek or Gourmet. I learned a lot about Korean food and the story was interesting. The production values were quite high for a food based show and it was enjoyable to see.

Dumb question, but how does a soft opening work? It's invited guests only?

A soft opening allows the front of the house, waitstaff, and in this case, pizza maker to operate at near or close to full capacity

before the restaurant opens. Usually it's invited guests, however sometimes if there are 'openings' because people don't attend

restaurants will allow 'walk-ins', but that's pretty rare for a non chain place.

Not to be snarky, but I'd say it's bad form to mention the soft opening date on a public forum.

Has anyone been to Bluegrass Grill and Bakery? Stopping in Charlottesville for lunch as the way to NC this week and looking for a good, quick place.