Kibbee Nayee

Nice, our community is back to life.

Rule of thumb -- if you're looking for prepared foods, and even if the interior resembles more of a quick-mart than a restaurant, Mediterranean Gourmet Bakery is my go-to. It is also the very best of the best for order-ahead foods like stuffed grape leaves or kibbeh nayyeh. It also has a nice selection of Lebanese beers and wines. For spices, olives, baked desserts, and fresh-out-of-the-oven pita bread, head to Mediterranean Bakery. I rarely hit one without hitting the other, usually on a weekend provisions run.

I haven't been to Ashburn in a while, but the grilled octopus appetizer and hanger steak at AhSo would do me a world of good right about now.

Under the general heading of "I told you so" even Trump questions whether or not Kushner actually brokered a peace deal. https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-questioned-kushner-peace-middle-east-israel-hamas-violence-2021-6 TL;DL -- there was no peace deal.

Some pretty harsh comments about this place in the preceding posts. No, it's not fine dining, but I've definitely had worse BBQ. I've also had better. With a house full of 20 coming over for a Father's Day-eve celebration, including 8 children, I decided I wasn't going to cook. With about 48 hours to order some catering, and knowing that the Mission BBQ catering kitchen was only a mile away, I went for it. The meal for 20 people came to just about $20 a head all in. With the added benefit of not having to cook anything, and just tossing the plates and utensils in the trash afterwards, easy-peasy. The meats were all good -- not great, but not bad at all -- ribs, brisket, pulled chicken, and regular sausage. While I might have overall higher standards, the crowd was very happy. The meats got thumbs up all around. The sides were garden salad, baked beans, macaroni and cheese, cole slaw, and corn bread. The kiddies ate to their heart's content. I was told by the assemblage to do this again sometime. Like I said, I have had better BBQ on many occasions, but I've also had far worse, and the crowd was very happy with the spread.

From the Ask Tom chat yesterday: Old Ebbitt Grill (Kibbee Nayee) 11:25 a.m. My wife and I enjoyed my birthday oyster feast at OEG last Saturday during their raw bar happy hour, and it remains the best deal in the city on oysters. However, the classic wine pairing for oysters is musacadet, and it cannot be found on the OEG wine list. Why would a restaurant that sells so many oysters not have a muscadet to accompany? Tom Sietsema Food Critic Beats me. You should inquire! Or register a request. (I like sancerre or chablis with my bivaves. )

A note from Roberto Donna regarding Kibbeh Nayyeh: "That is one of the best dishes in the world!!!!!! Very few things are better then this. Buon appetito!"

What is there to say? George and Lily are still bringing it. Another year, another birthday, and another of my favorite meals, all the more so this year because my kids surprised me with a feast. "Dad, don't cook this time, we'll take care of everything." And wow, they did. Here is the kibbeh nayyeh, wrapped in plastic, and it was divine. Accompaniments included stuffed grape leaves, fried kibbeh meatballs, the best baba ghanoush in the DC metropolitan area, hummus, shanklish dip, assorted sfeehah and ftayer, tzatziki, and so on and so forth. What a feast. George and Lily might be inching ever so slowly to retirement, and I will be a sad camper when this place eventually closes. But it's still the best at what they do. (And they topped it off with a cameo happy birthday video from Rick Harrison of Pawn Stars, so this is a happy dad today.)

These drop-ins will be good for business in general across the downtown restaurant scene.

Someone with some stature (hint) should point it out to them.

For my birthday, Lady KN and I decided that an oyster attack was an appropriate celebration, and Old Ebbitt Grill during raw bar happy hour is still the best deal in town. And so it was today, as we dove into a dozen each of their four oysters on the menu -- Duxbury Select, Model T, Standish Shore, and Osprey. I tried to find a muscadet on the menu, and none was to be found, so I selected a moscato from Italy. It's not the perfect match for an oyster like muscadet, but it worked. It provided a slight effervescence with some mild sweetness, which went nicely with the shiny, briny bivalves. I also note that the shucking was top-notch, as there wasn't a trace of shell fragment anywhere on the massive platter. I tend to be a minimalist, with the first oyster of each type tasted without anything on it, and then a few drops of lemon and Tabasco on the others, followed by a full slurp. Lady KN tends to go with a spare seafood fork dipped in cocktail sauce and horseradish, and then stabbed into the oyster, with no slurping. Raw bar happy hour used to be half-priced, but now it's just heavily discounted. It's still the best price in town, but the happy price of $24/dozen (regular $38/dozen) is still the best deal in town. We followed the oysters with Maine Blue Mussels for Lady KN and a single crabcake for me. We hadn't intended to eat anything but oysters at OEG, but in our post-oyster glow we went with the mussels and crabcake. I'll admit that the crabcake was good enough to order again, and the accompanying fries were freshly cut and fried to a nice crisp. The crabcake was mostly lump crab, and although I've had better in Baltimore and Annapolis, I've had many, many, many that were far worse. Even with about 50% capacity, with intentional empty tables here and there, the wait for people to get in the door was an hour and a half on a Memorial Day Saturday afternoon. Definitely score a reservation, and definitely go for raw bar happy hour.

This is major news. Talk about a shockwave hitting the Washington DC restaurant scene.

I'm rooting for the Freddie Lynn comparison. In 1975, the thought of winning ROY and MVP in the same season was amazing, and his fall-off was a good decade away. Ichiro was an other-worldly superstar in Japan prior to 2001, so his ROY was a technicality. Jason Giambi, despite enhancements, and Bret Boone both had better OPS and WAR that year, but Ichiro was the shiny new object.

Speaking of "Back to the Palestinians"....if the events of this past week have taught us anything, it's that there will never be "peace" between Israel and the Palestinians unless a two-state solution is on the table. The Palestinians have a right to a state called Palestine, and without it, they have no incentive to acquiesce to any peace imposed on them by Israel, by Jared Kushner, or by anyone else. The point is that victory laps for "peace agreements" between Israel and countries that Israel already had relations with is nonsense. Any "peace agreement that doesn't include a path to statehood for Palestine is is not. a "peace agreement."

Lady KN and I were inclined to enjoy a visit to Old Town to celebrate her second vaccine this morning, so we stopped in at Hank's for a nice lunch. The outside patio was full, so we took a socially-distanced seat inside. Appropriate measures were in place -- hand sanitizer here and there, paper menus that would be tossed after out meal, and contactless payment. We started with two dozen oysters -- 8 each of Jack's Point Maine, Sea Stone Virginia, and Salty Wolfe Virginia. Nice and plump and briny, a very good selection, and nary a shell fragment anywhere. Top notch. We almost repeated the course, but instead we went for the small seafood plateau -- $59 worth of oysters, clams, shrimp, 1/2 lobster, seafood seviche, and mussels escabeche. I'm not a fan of the littleneck clams, but that's just me, and everything else was very good. With two glasses of wine, plus tax and a $30 tip, the total tab was under $200. It was a nice celebration of being fully vaccinated, and it thoroughly rang our seafood bell for the day.

Slowly emerging from more than a year of lockdown and take-out or delivery, a friend and I decided to meet at PassionFish for lunch today. It was probably my first inside restaurant meal of the past year. About 4-5 tables inside were occupied, and maybe the same number of tables outside were occupied. Foot traffic around the Reston Town Center also appeared to be reduced, but across the street at Bartaco the sidewalk dining had a few more people than PassionFish. We settled in, and out came the amuse. It used to be a whitefish rillette with toasted baguette rounds, but today it was two semi-warm bread buns with a still-frozen spot on the corner, accompanied by a small cup of what appeared to be salmon pieces mixed with cream cheese. Meh. The Tuesday special was half-priced oysters, and we shared two dozen for $34. Half of them were small Pacific oysters and the other half were supposedly from Virginia, which might have been Tidewater oysters. They were all nicely briny and fresh. Both of us ordered the charred Mediterranean octopus, which seemed like a good deal for $18, but only consisted of one tentacle cut into pieces. It was served on a redundant bedding of roasted eggplant slices with baba ghanouj -- why not roast some potato slices instead of eggplant slices for a nice contrast? -- and some alternating dots of red pepper aioli and balsamic reduction, with some crumbles of feta cheese. Somehow the tastes came together appropriately, but I would plan on ordering a double portion next time. However, there might not be a next time. The best way to describe this restaurant is tired and past its prime.

Pro tip. Get your fresh pita bread, and most of your olives and spices at Mediterranean Bakery. And it might have the best desserts, like baklava and ma'amoul, in the entire DC metropolitan area. Then go to Mediterranean Gourmet Market for the prepared foods -- sfeehah, ftayer, kibbeh, baba ghanouj, hummus, tabbouli, and so forth. You can also get Lebanese beer and wine at Mediterranean Gourmet Market. Pro tip #2: Freeze whatever you don't eat right away of your fresh pita bread as soon as you get home. Then, over time, bring out one or two frozen loaves, wrap in damp towel or paper towel, and microwave at 40% power for about 35 seconds. It will be the same as fresh-out-of-the-oven.

Goong Gleur defines Thai Ghang Waan, which is Springfield's Thai gem.

Yamazato is no less impressive when received from UberEats. A perfectly packed order of Edamame, Octopus Salad, Torio Sushi, and Chirashi Special arrived at our doorstep and was happily devoured. The combination of the quality of the food with the convenience of delivery is a greatly under-appreciated consequence of the COVID times. Added to that is our own wine selection to accompany the meal. When we think of all the things that won't change after the pandemic, like washing hands and working from home more often, add high-quality food delivery such as from Yamazato.

Northern Virginia Magazine reports that the koshary at Fava Pot in the Shoppes of West Falls church has received rave reviews. They also have a location at Union Market and they have a food truck. The menu is packed with Egyptian specialties. Looks like a must-try.

Mediterranean Gourmet Market is on Franconia Road, in the Franconia area of Springfield. Don Rocks has it listed first in the Franconia section of the Dining Guide.

Imagine if a chef from Michelin one-star Maydan decided to pursue a dream and open a "ghost" or "virtual kitchen" inside the little known restaurant of a friend in Alexandria, and he decided to specialize in a Palestinian chicken concept, and then he nailed it to perfection. He named it Shababi, which means "my people" in Arabic. Dinner tonight was the Chicken Musakhan dinner from Shababi Chicken. It's located behind Marlo Furniture on General Washington Drive in Alexandria, right off Edsall Rd. If you're looking for it, look for "Asmar" sign, and with Roro's Asmar Deli on on the entrance door (Asmar Roro is his fellow Lebanese friend). The process is to order and pay for your meal online, arrive at the location at the scheduled time, and call their number to have them bring it out to a table outside the front door. It was an entirely painless and efficient process. The food traveled well from Shababi to my home in Springfield, about 15 minutes. At home, the chicken was piping hot, the pita and the Taboon flatbread were still fresh, but the za'atar fries tended to be a little flaccid. This was a really nice meal and a special treat. Here's the breakdown: Whole Chicken Musakhan Dinner with za'atar fries, Aleppo crisp cucumbers, hummus, mazarea sauce and Taboon flatbread, to which we added an extra order of pita and an order of baba ghanouj. Zalabia was added as gratis treat. Chicken Musakhan -- As mentioned before, it traveled well and was quite hot on arrival. The meat was tender and juicy, although it toughened up a bit over time. The skin was delectable, caked with allspice and sumac, and was very crisp. Very delicious on my Middle Eastern trained palate, but I can see where it might be a bit assertive for someone else. But I have to say, as soon as I started tearing into it, still very hot, that meat was as tender and juicy as a quality rotisserie chicken should be. Mazarea sauce -- This was outstanding, a perfect accompaniment to the chicken. It's tinged red, probably with sumac, and creamy with a whipped garlic and cashew base. I've never dipped any chicken in anything better. Za'atar fries -- Too bad they faded in travel, because they were otherwise delicious. I can see where these would be incredible right out of the fryer. Aleppo crisp cukes -- Outstanding. One of the hits of the meal. I'm not sure what the spices were, but definitely pepper, maybe even Aleppo pepper, and other spices. Hummus -- Extremely good, topped with sumac, and creamy-smooth. Excellent texture and flavor. Baba ghanouj -- As good as Mediterranean Gourmet Market, which has always been my standard. The flavor of the charred eggplant was really coaxed out of this dish. Taboon flatbread -- Pita topped with olive oil, sumac, and za'atar. It was good, not great, but I would order it again. Zalabia -- Picture Palestinian funnel cake, only better, with turmeric and orange blossom water. The Middle East is known for its desserts, and add this one to the list of all-stars. We ordered enough food to feed a few NFL linemen, and there will be leftovers aplenty tomorrow. For me, the surprises were the highlights -- Aleppo crisp cukes, mazarea sauce, baba ghanouj, and zalabia. Overall, I'll be coming back for more of these meals, and I'm glad it's close enough for me to enjoy.

I still haven't tried it yet, but I'm bumping this with a comment from Tom Sietsema's chat today (March 3): Hi Tom! Wanted to highlight an amazing dinner we had from Shababi last night. It's the Palestinian 'ghost restaurant' located by Landmark with rotisserie chicken. My husband and I got the half chicken portion and was one of the best take-out meals we've had all lockdown! The place is tricky to find (with a letter-sized paper on the door), but well worth the trip. Recommend ordering more pita or having some extra veggies because they have so many fun dips to try (or probably should have saved more for leftovers...but the food was too good to put down). Honestly, was a little skeptical about za'atar fries, but they were delicious! Whatever rub they put on the chicken I want to buy a bottle and put it on everything. It was about a 15 min. drive home and everything was packaged perfectly and traveled well. A: Tom Sietsema Thanks for the prompt to try the dining draw in Alexandria . One of the two chefs in the project is Marcelle Afram, late of the wildly popular Maydan in Washington.

Tom Sietsema gives some serious love to Springfield in his "8 Favorite Places to Eat Right Now." Marib, the Yemeni restaurant on Hechinger Drive in north Springfield, makes his Top 8. Aracosia, the Afghan restaurant in McLean, also makes his Top 8, but I'm giving Springfield some credit here. Afghan Bistro in Springfield is basically the older sibling of Aracosia, with the same family and the same menu. As far as I'm concerned, 25% of Tom's Top 8 are in Springfield.

I can safely assert that the Cubano at Ethel's Deli in Haymarket is worth avoiding. It's a too-salty mashup of come kind of citrus-infused pulled pork, scant deli slices of ham, and served on a bun that could have been Army surplus. The description on the menu gave me hope, only to be dashed by the final product.