Bart

Thanks for the info Jim! And thanks to everyone else in this discussion. The menu on their website is quite sparse and there's no mention of different levels of heat or a Code Blue waiver or a anything that would suggest there's anything weird/special going on here.

If you go onto Yelp there are photos of the menu with prices shown. And on an unrelated note, we're doing an all Asian Thanksgiving this year. Originally I was going to try to cook all sorts of dumplings and stir fries, but I quickly came my senses and decided to do carry out. If anyone has any "must order" items here, lay them on me! I generally stick to dumplings/buns/pancakes and am looking to broaden my horizons. Thanks!

Thanks for posting this Kat!! I only wish I clicked on the link when I had fresh tomatoes!!!! Only eight and half months to go!!! I also found it interesting that when he added all the ingredients to the pot, he didn't stir them up as he brought it to a boil. He just let everything sit where it landed when he added it as the soup simmered. I would have thought mixing it all up would have been better, but I'm going to try it the other way just for kicks.

As I’ve said in other recent posts, NOW IS THE TIME TO GO TO RESTAURANTS! I went to Moon Rabbit on the DC Wharf last night (in the former Kith and Kin space) and had a wonderful meal with some service issues, but since they’re only a few weeks old I’ll give them a pass (meaning, I’m going to write about what happened to me, but none of it would prevent me from returning). All the staff wore masks the entire time and the tables were well spaced, and I felt completely safe and conformable there. There’s probably more of a risk and more exposure to people at the local grocery store or Target. We ate early (6pm) and ended up with a killer table right in front of one of the big windows. In another time, the Wharf would have been packed with people strolling by, but the view didn’t suffer! The food was very good and very pretty. I’m no expert on Vietnamese food, but to me, this could have been served at any number of DC places like Roses or Reverie, etc. That’s not intended to be a knock, but more of a reflection of what food looks like in 2020. The menu itself was very appealing and I could have literally ordered anything on it and would have been happy. When presented with the menus, the server immediately went into upsell mode by strongly and repeatedly recommending the two most expensive cocktails on the menu ($25 and $32 each!!!). He really pushed the $32 VSOP Sazerac! I’m not a cocktail drinker and rarely look at that portion of the menu, but these prices strike me as ridiculous and prohibitive. We got a bottle of wine instead. The upsell continued with the food portion of the menu. The menu is broken up into four groups going from small plates to large dishes suitable for “one and one half people”. In each category, the highest priced option was recommended. It took me a second to notice this, but when he got down to the final category, I KNEW his recommendation would be for the $67 ribeye over the $48 pork blade dish. He didn’t disappoint and pushed the most expensive item on the menu. I wrote into Tom’s chat earlier in the day to see if he’d been in yet. He said his review is coming out tomorrow (Nov 20) but made some recommendations, all of which we took. We placed our order for three items and asked the server if that was enough, and shocker!, he recommended we order TWO more items. We sort of humored him and ordered the Pineapple Milk Bun with Hoisin butter for $9. This was not one of Tom’s recommendations but it was pretty good: two types of sweet dough merged into something that looked a bit like a cupcake. The first real course was the Scallop Crudo with pickled pearl onion, shisho, and crispy pieces of kelp ($16). It was a very good and very pretty dish with lots of layers of colors and flavors. I wish they supplied some bread or something to sop up the broth though! The next course was recommended by Tom and was the highlight of the meal for flavor and uniqueness. It’s called Charred Caraflex Cabbage with romesco, pineapple and herbs, for $16. It was a layer of pineapple on top of a layer of charred cabbage on top of a layer of romesco. Somewhere in the dish was some very nice spice/heat that was countered wonderfully by the sweetness of the pineapple. The heat may have come from the sauce or the stuff (peppers/spices?) sprinkled on top (see the photo below). It doesn’t really matter where it came from, the important thing was that it was there!!!! If you get this dish, make sure each bite contains a good slice from the top layer to the bottom. Mine sort of fell over on the plate and I ended up eating the layers separately for the first few bites. This wasn’t bad, but the entire dish came together to become extraordinary when all of the layers were contained in one bite. The service issues continued during these courses. At one point we were deep in the midst of an animated conversation (in other words, it was quite obvious that we were in the middle of something and not just sitting there silent) and a manager barged right in and asked how everything was and if he could do anything for us…….yeah, how about rewind the clock by 30 seconds and stay wherever you were!! This type of interruption never bothered me in the past but this was so blatant and flagrant that it really broke the mood, ended the conversation and ruined the moment. There was also a lot of unnecessary fussing and “help” from the staff. Lots of water refills of mostly full glasses, lots of questions if everything is ok when we had mouths full and lots of hovering and near hovering while waiting to clear plates. At one point the serving dish was empty, but I was still eating the last bites on my plate and I noticed a guy out of the corner of my eye waiting to clear the table. The event was half annoying and half comical and tailor made for a movie script. He came in to clear the plate, but then paused at the table while waiting for me to finish my plate which had a couple more bites on it. He hung there tableside for a few seconds, and then kind of took a half step back to wait for me to finish which made me feel weird and under pressure to please him, so I just set my fork down. He then came in and cleared the serving plate and left me (finally) in peace to finish my dish. A minute or two later, he returned to clear my plate. First world problems for sure, but also a mood killer. It almost seemed as servers and managers spent more time at the table than away from it! The main course was another Tom recommendation and the cheaper of the two large plates: Lemongrass Pork Blade Steak with coconut rice, lettuce and herbs for $47. This was a dish of sliced up pork that you added to the “wrap” of lettuce and added rice, a sauce (there were two to choose from) and fresh herbs. You sort of built your own pork “taco” inside the lettuce wrap. One sauce was spicy the other was sweet. Both were good and both were used! This was a fun and yummy dish, but I only wish they supplied some moist towels for clean up after the meal. Maybe my lettuce wrapping skills are not up to par, but I ended up with some very sticky hands at the end of the meal and had to hit the bathroom to do a clean-up. They only had one dessert on the menu and we go it: Banh Flan Caphe with condensed milk flan, coffee caramel and chocolate pearls for $10. It was very tasty but I’m not qualified to deem it a Vietnamese dish. Like I mentioned above, this would have felt right at home at dozens of DC places……..not a knock! The photos below are of the Scallop Crudo, the Charred Cabbage and Pineapple, and the Pork Blade dish.

I don't think this was your point, but I read post your in the link and my first thought was "Oh, so you wine experts can only judge the greatness of the wine by looking at the label?!?!!? That's how I do it too, but my palate sucks." Or maybe you're saying that if you knew it was a knock off that was assembled to mimic some great old vintage, it wouldn't taste as good? That's probably more of what you were going for, but it's still the same issue. You're essentially saying that you can't enjoy the wine/food/view unless some expert has deemed it extraordinary. Or did I totally misread everything?!?!

In the article linked above there's a line about Rudy: "He stockpiled empty bottles, and, with the care of a chemist, refilled them with mixtures of lesser wines to taste like the real thing." If this guy could do this in his basement and fool the greatest palate's in the world, why isn't there a company or industry that does this openly and intentionally? It would be no different than hanging a copy of great painting on your wall at home. You know it's not the real thing, but it's close enough to bring you joy and pleasure.

Here's the first line of the article contrasted with one of the final lines: "Onetime “Top Chef” contestant Mike Isabella’... " ".. through appearances on “Top Chef” and “Top Chef: All-Stars,..." Hummmm.........😀

The $48 price Don quoted above was for four courses plus dessert without tip included. (the $47 price in the quote was a typo from an earlier post) I just checked their current menu and now it's 6 courses plus dessert for $95 but includes tip. I have to say I'm not thrilled about this. I'm going to assume the total amount of food served is about the same as before, as it was always a very filling meal that never left me feeling hungry. In other words, there was no reason to need to add two more courses to ensure the diners were properly fed, because they were properly fed with the original 4 course meal. An apples to apples comparison between the two pricing scenarios looks like this: (For calculation purposes, I'm using a straight 20% tip on both). 4 course + dessert = $48 + 20% tip = $57 6 course + dessert = $95 - 20% tip included = $76 So if my assumption about the total amount of food being the same is correct, we're essentially paying $19 more for the "same" meal. Like I said above, I'm not thrilled about this.

I'd also add that if you do a tasting menu and there are any supplemental items offered, GET THEM! Yes they will be expensive, but I think worth it. Wow! As to my original comment..........what's an extra 20 or 30 bucks on top of a $1000 tab?!?!?! 😨

Hey Tweaked - it looks like the Jaleo link actually takes you to the ChiKo story.

Does anyone have any ideas for a brunch type of meal after an interment ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery? The interment is Monday, November 9th at 9:00 am, which means it will finish up around 9:30. That would put us at a restaurant at 10:00 am or so. I'm looking at about 25 people, possibly a few more. Any ideas in the area close to the cemetery or Old Town? (or anywhere else that's semi local?) Thanks! Bart

Ta-da! https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/restaurants/peking-duck-restaurants/2020/10/06/0a7c809c-04fc-11eb-a2db-417cddf4816a_story.html

As citizens, we all must pray for his full recovery. He needs to be in good health so he can spend a long, long time rotting in prison after he leaves the Safe House, er, I mean White House.

Funny! In our house we call it "Changers", is in "Do you want to get Changers tonight". I'm really missing the Route 1 restaurant especially in the time of Covid.

As I said above, I love their dumplings and always get at least one order of steamed and one order of fried. Another favorite dish that doesn't seem to be listed on this menu is Velvet Chicken or Chicken with Velvet Sauce. It's chicken and eggplant in a brown sauce. Sometimes the eggplant is better than others, at least that's the way it was at the Alexandria place. Both will travel well. ETA - I've ordered the Velvet Chicken from here even though it's not on the menu

I was a big fan of their sister restaurant, Peking Duck, on Rt 1 in Alexandria (near Ft. Belvoir) but they closed a year or two ago due to heath reasons (of the chef). To comment on Eric's comment above, I'd just add that the thing I prefer about their duck vs. Peking Gourmet Inn is the speed at which they carve the duck. At PGI, they remove the skin, fat and meat very slowly, so by the time you eat it, everything is cold (or at least not hot). At Peking Duck (RIP) and Duck Changs, they do the carving at top speed so everything is nice and hot when you eat it. Their dumplings are great as well!

I wonder if it was a COVID related negotiation or just "your lease is up and you're successful, so it's time jack up the rent" negotiation? Probably the former, but I hate the latter. I know "it's only business" but these landlords must be sitting on some major bucks, because I see sometimes buildings sitting vacant for years! Who can afford that?!?! Plenty of people apparently.

This sucks. And from the article: Owner Ruth Gresser cites the reason to close permanently as unsuccessful lease negotiations. This sucks, even worse.

I enjoyed the hell of it from the Annandale location last night, along with an orgy of dumplings and buns! Any chance you can post the recipe?

South of Zion is the little town of LaVerkin and they have a nice, local coffee shop that also serves smoothies, bagels, pastries, sandwiches, salads, pizza, etc. They have a great view on their back deck too. It's called River Rock Roasters. https://riverrockroasters.com/

NOW IS THE TIME TO GO TO DC RESTAURANTS! I took my son here in early August for my birthday and there were parking spots everywhere, so we literally parked right in front of the restaurant! Traffic is also extremely light, so driving in during "rush hour" is a breeze. We were the only ones in the place when we arrived at 6pm, and over the course of the evening only two other tables arrived in my part of the restaurant, and we were well spaced. We ended up with one of the best tables in the place in the front corner with windows on two sides. The servers all wore gloves and masks and they had a touchless menu. Eating here felt no less safe than walking down the street or grocery shopping. We got the Omakase menu again and it was wonderful. Completely different from my only other visit in the Before Times in early March. The only difference in the two meals was they didn't give a card with the description of the dishes this time, but I completely understand them trying to save a couple nickles here and there with a 90% empty restaurant. ;-( The photos below show some, but not all of the dishes. Everything was from the Omakase menu except the Patatas Bravas, which is on their Tapas menu. 1. Don't remember the name, but it's obviously tomatoes and Jamon 2. Patatas Bravas 3. Hamachi. That may have been a fig paste, but I'm no longer sure. It was not squash! 4. Red Snapper 5. and 6. Egg souffle over rice and chorizo 6. One of the (half eaten) desserts.

NOW IS THE TIME TO GO TO DC RESTAURANTS! Parking is plentiful, restaurants are nearly empty (aka major social distancing is happening) and they need the business (there were more staff than patrons on Wednesday night). Anyhow, I had a wonderful dish here out the covered balcony overlooking the water on a warm rainy night. A year ago, I'm sure I would have needed a reservation, but I just walked up and got one of the best seats in the place, and in spite of the rain, it was a wonderful scene. The photo below is their braised lamb ravioli with Hen of the Woods mushroom and Summer Truffles. It was a great dish with a wonderfully rich yet thin sauce. What I mean is that sauce had the depth of flavor like thick gravy or something, but it was much more thin and liquidy. As far as COVID concerns go, all staff were wearing masks, and they had a little "instructions" card on the table requesting guests wear masks when the staff approached the table, and when you left the table. As is the new (ab)normal, they had the touchless, QR code, menu. There were only two groups out on the balcony separated by a couple of tables and two groups inside, separated by 50 feet! Service was relaxed and cool and fun and knowledgeable. The only "complaint" I had was they never mentioned that they added a 23% service charge to the bill.

Hahahahah! I'm heading up there next week to go birding (in case you didn't know Cape May is one the best places in the world to watch the fall migration), and I'm rereading the book, Season At The Point, which chronicles the birders, hawk watcher and bird branders at Cape May in the mid 80s. Anyhow, apparently the C-View Inn was the bar of choice for these bird nerds. I'm only 70 pages in, and the C-View has been mentioned a bunch of times, as a cheap hangout for tragically poor birders. Thanks for the tip!

Bring on the VP debate!!

I always try to have Waze on in the car even when I know where I'm going just to warn me of speed traps, red light cameras, etc.