lion

It's was a fun experience, very tasty and enjoyable evening. The staff is young and very helping.

Suggestions: Come with a big group at least 4, plan to spend 2 hours and do the split hot pot.

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

Its on ingredient list for the next pizza party as an appetizer and perhaps as a topping as well.

Has anyone ordered a Surryano Ham or slices from Surry Farms?

Thanks!

My favorite Sushi restaurant in the DC area at the moment. Casual and relaxed, good wa environment.

You can read my thoughts HERE.

No, no tripod. If you have the right kind of camera and lens, you can easily take a photo inside komi with no flash or tripod. You just have to have very still hands. If you go on my flickr, many of the photos I have taken in restaurants have been under lighting conditions similar, if not worse than komi. If you saw my photo of the outside of komi, I can assure you that the lighting outside on the sidewalk at 9 p.m. was just as dark, if not darker than inside the restaurant.

Great to see you on DR, I've enjoyed your blog for many years. Your photographs and La Tartine Gourmande's have been some of the most exquisite food photographs taken over the past few years.

As for the topic at hand, I think photographs taken tastefully are not a problem. However these kind of rules are usually written for people who need them and unfortunately they punish everyone uniformly.

Mistakenly, I was able to peak in last weekend, the front door was open, as they were training the wait staff.

The interior looks great and the all day menu looks good. They have duck fat fries so interested in tasting them.

Hinata on St. Elmo Ave. in Bethesda is still open, and has been doing tons of business since Daruma closed. It's a lot smaller than Daruma, but still has a decent selection, and there's a very nice little sushi stand in the back.

Thanks! I didn't know about Hinata. Will check it out soon, since I'm in the mood to cook some fried fish with Japanese rice flour.

Daruma is closed. Drove up today and it was pretty much completely empty aside from some shelving and refrigeration units. ETA: Ren's Ramen is still open.

Naniwa in Mclean is also gone, apparently it closed a few months and the owners 'retired'. Other than the new place on U Street, Hana Japanese Market, the Washington DC metro area has lost its Japanese grocery stores. While Super H Mart and other Korean or Chinese super grocery stores have Japanese products usually they are lacking higher quality ones.

I stopped by a few weeks ago and throughly enjoyed the pizza. It had been a few years since my last trip, but it still is really good pizza

and one of the best 'local' pizza styles in the US.

Does anyone know the size increase of the new restaurant?

I've read that emission laws prohibit coal burning restaurants and that pizza places that still do it have been grandfathered in.

Is this true or even a law for every state? Not sure.

Barring technical difficulties, we will begin serving sweet potato fries as an option on Monday.

The sweet potato fries were good. Just like I imagined them with root beer and burger. Thanks!

Has anyone been to Antico Forno in the North End recently, or can anyone recommend a good, moderately priced ($20-$30 entrees) Italian or seafood restaurant, with some local color, for a group of about 6-8 convention attendees? Any thoughts on B&G Oyster or Neptune Oyster House? Thanks very much.

Visited it last month and overall the experience was decent. The Pollo Arrosto was very tender, but the Rigantoni Salsiccia e Ricotta was a bit lacking. The restaurant itself was extremely loud on a Friday night, so if you want to have a conversation, it's not the place to go. Antico Forno was a second choice since our intended restaurant in the North End was closed for a private party.

If you go, cab it to the North End and visit Mike's Pastries or Modern Pastry after dinner.

Another option closer to the convention center if you're willing to go up a bit in price is Sorellina's. A local friend recommended it, but there wasn't a chance to get to it during the visit.

Finally completed my tour of the three oldest NYC Steakhouses,

Keens 1885

Old Homestead 1868

Peter Luger 1887

Had the porterhouse at all three, medium rare.

Keens had the best atmosphere, it felt and looked like how a +100 year old steakhouse should. One of my friends said we wanted Peter Lugar to look like this instead of the non steakhouse like feeling it exhibited which was off putting. Surprisingly felt the porterhouse at Old Homestead was the best.

French Fries are hard to do. Palena does them pretty damn good especially with the fresh ketchup. Actually they were so good, I didn't mind spending $120 for basically a two burger with fries dinner plus wine.

As previously stated in this thread, I've wanted Ray's to have Sweet potatoes fries for a long time. However, an owner and chef must make decisions in terms of man power and financial considerations. That doesn't always jive with what the top 10% of customers may want. I think Mr.Landrum's success comes from giving people more value for their money than they expect. Personally, I may dine at Palena annually, but the trips to Ray's are much more frequent and at his prices $30, it's a bargain when the experiences are comparable.

I would ask that Mr. Landrum keep in mind a few items for inspiration:

-Sweet potatoes fries or even in the mashed form can be seasonal!

-If you're in Philadelphia, hit Grace Tavern and try the fries and blackened Green Beans. Monk Cafe's famous bourbon mayonnaise for the french fries and the remoulade sauce for the blacken green beans are both incredible dippings sauces. Some sauce like that can really elevate french fries.

Joe, thanks for the update about Ledo's moving from the original location. Haven't been there in a few years, but

now will definitely make a trip soon.

Since my original review of Flippin' when I ordered an entire pie, haven't been back.

Best pizza in DC? Nah.

Good mangoes are going to be hard to find at this point in the season, here in the US.

It seems crazy to recommend going to a pizza place for cheesesteaks, Lorenzo's is that good.

Only problem is they close after lunch on Sundays.

Lorenzo Pizza
900 Christian Street
Philadelphia, PA
215-922-2540

I ate there before a dance performance nearby. While the decor was interesting and beer decent, the sushi was not sushi grade quality.

At the time, my remark was the place would be great if they just made it a yaki-tori place like the ones at St. Mark Place in NYC. Owners of Sticky Rice please visit yakitoritaisho.com

Last summer I use to go Sundays ~4pm and there was barely any wait to order. I've had a craving for a Hell-burger the past month, but last week went to Palena to avoid the lines. I'm guessing lunchtime until closing it's slammed now.

Anyone visited post-POTUS, when the line isn't out the door?

Is there a window of opportunity, a magic time to visit?

Great, now everyone will be going there! Lines out the door! The owner will get a swelled head!

Congratulations Michael.

I stopped reading Tom Sietsema's reviews years ago, though there was a brief period of time after his predecessor left, when his online chats were interesting to me. For the record, I have no beef with Tom nor do I know him in any way other than a reader of his reviews and chats back in those days, but in my opinion, he's just never been a good fit for me as the de facto reviewer, via the WP, of the metro area. And I'll be the first to admit, perhaps I judged him to harshly as I still miss Phyllis Richman's finesse.

Now, I appreciate various posters at Don Rockwell, Chowhound, and even places like yelp.com to get a full range of culinary reviews on a restaurant. Of course, some are experts and others are just regular people who enjoy eating a good meal, yet in the diversity of opinion, you can get a sense if quality arises.

To this degree, the reviews about Inox have all substantiated a high level of food, service and more importantly, foundation for the future. The pieces all seem to be there for good success. At the end of the day, I'm a big believer in word of mouth.

So, even though, I have not visited Inox, personally have mentioned it as the place to check out in Tysons Corner to at least five different people. Soon, one of my friends or I will have a review that I trust.

The crust is average. The toppings mildly better. Did like the old school small circle pepperoni. However, it's over priced.

Church Pizza is much better. And American Flatbread is the best of the lot.

Every President seems to have a DC area favorite restaurant. Does anyone know President Elect Obama's?

Or perhaps we could speculate what it might end up being?

We had very good curry at New Tayyab's a few months back and excellent indian at the Brillian Restaurant. My buddy who lives in London and loves indian swears by La Porte des Indes as well.

I didn't really like New Tayyab, that much. The tandoori meat was kind of dry when it should have been moister. Also, the masala was bland and not complex at all.

Actually Bombay Bistro in Fairfax does a better job!

There are so many curry places in London, don't think it was worth the trip to East London. However, it was a kick to come out of the Churchgate tube stop and feel like you were walking thru India with hawkers selling the latest cheap copy of a Bollywood film.