Kibbee Nayee

20 minutes ago, dcs said:

D.C. Is Flavortown Now, Thanks to a Guy Fieri Ghost Kitchen in Dupont Circle, by Gabe Hiatt, February 11, 2021, on dc.eater.com.

This might work if there is a pop-up cardiology clinic next door. Let's hear it, who's grabbing that Weird Spaghetti or Big Bud's Beer Can Chicken?

I'm not typically a fan of the pan-Asian concept, but in these times of social distancing, we find that a dependable option for sushi and sashimi in the Springfield area is Kumo. Delivery doesn't detract from the flavor and freshness profiles, and the quality of the sushi and sashimi is surprisingly nice.

We have tried Kumo a few times in the past year, and the chirashi sashimi is quite good. Throw in some sushi rolls and miso soup, plus some wings for later in the evening or tomorrow's lunch, and it's an overall dependable meal. I'm not saying it's a destination stop, but helping to keep a local business afloat while enjoying a pleasant meal is not a bad way to spend a Friday evening.

15 hours ago, Bob Wells said:

WOW. I think if I ate nothing but food from the mediterranean region for the rest of my life, I would live long and die happy.

I would agree with you, although I am more of a fan of the Eastern Mediterranean. 

For those who haven't seen my write-up on Middle Eastern food, click HERE.

I am more than mildly excited about the opening of Shababi, a takeout-only "ghost restaurant" operating out of Roro's Modern Lebanese Cuisine at 5655 General Washington Drive, Unit A, in Alexandria.

Musakhan is more or less the national dish of Palestine, and when executed well, it is among the best of the world's chicken meals. And I have a feeling to believe it will be executed well, because Marcelle Afram was the former executive chef at Michelin-starred Maydan in DC, and is teamed up with Roro Asmar, who own's Roro's.

If you've never had musakhan, it's a real treat for chicken lovers. It's a rotisserie-style halal chicken with amazingly crispy skin, coated with allspice, sumac, cumin, fenugreek, and cardamom, and cooked in a special oven imported from Lebanon. And as if that wasn't enough, za'atar fries and onion flatbread, followed by funnel cake-like zalabia for dessert, shoudl make for delectable meal. And for you vegetarians, I'm betting the mushroom shawarma will hit the spot.

They will start taking pre-orders on January 18 and will go live on January 22.

Tim Carmen and I are in agreement. No thanks.

I never really got the concept of a vegan burger.

If I were a vegan, there are many things other than a burger that I would opt for. If I were a burger eater, the last thing on the planet I would want is a vegan burger.

16 hours ago, DonRocks said:

So, Buz, when are you going to open a Paella restaurant? 🤩

Do I count about 2 dozen lobster tails in that pan? Wow, count me in!

Just looking at the menu, I would be happy to give it a try. I noticed the egg options on the Breakfast menu, but no mention of shanklish, which is neck-and-neck with kibbeh nayyeh as my favorite Middle Eastern menu item. Eggs with shanklish, accompanied by strong Middle Eastern coffee and warm pita bread, is my final breakfast meal.

My dear old friend Richard McCooey founded 1789 and The Tombs for the purpose of providing a gathering place for the students and the faculty of Georgetown. He later opened F. Scott's on the same block, and he lived in a townhouse up the street. His vision was to provide the students and faculty a safe place to congregate, and he made sure 1789 was the higher end establishment that the parents would frequent when they came to town to visit their children.

He sold his restaurants to the Clyde's Group but remained a designer and decorator. He collected expensive prints -- the basement of his Georgetown townhouse was dug deeper to hold the flat files he used to store his prints. They decorate the walls of all the Clyde's restaurants, at least the ones still remaining. I have a nice baseball print from Richard in my man cave.

Parking and seating has always been my problem with this venue.

2 hours ago, reedm said:

My wife works at a well-known kitchen wares store in in Tyson's Galleria, and last night I learned Andy's Pizza recently reopened. We have enjoyed Andy's on a few occasions, and it's always been quite good (and much better than anything around Ashburn), so she brought a pizza home for dinner.

I'm glad to report their New York style pizza is better than ever. We ordered a half margherita and half sausage and jalapeno pizza. The 18 inch pie was perfectly cooked.. The crust was relatively thin, a bit crispy, and a bit chewy. Andy's uses a relatively light hand with the sauce, cheese, and toppings, which is to my liking, and the ingredients are top notch. Highly recommended!

 

Big fan of Andy's here. I'm sorry that the pandemic has ripped through the Galleria, and I thoroughly enjoy the Lebanese Taverna outpost there. But Andy's is my go-to for pizza in that area. Good to hear they're back into action.

(Your wife must be working at Williams-Sonoma? I heard that Sur-la-Table was closing stores. Good online bargains right now at both.)

9 hours ago, DonRocks said:

"Napa Destination Restaurant Meadowood [3 Michelin Stars] Lost in Glass Fire" by Dustin Gardiner on sfchronicle.com

"Meadowood Restaurant Sustains Damage from Glass Fire" by Tessa McLean on sfgate.com

This is a tragedy, to be sure. I'm sure they'll recover the insurance and rebuild, but there will be a lot of heartache until then.

2 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

This is my recollection also, although I have a preference for Duck Chang's (for BYOB purposes). I've never *not* had Peking Duck here because I used to come here when I was craving Peking Duck - does anyone have any other experience with the menu?

In this carry-out or delivery world, I had my eye on the duck livers -- I figure a place that specializes in duck should have livers in good supply with plenty of turnover -- the duck meat with chili peppers main dish, and maybe some dumplings. 

Anyone else have suggestions for what might travel well for 20-30 minutes?

I am posting this not because I ate here recently, but mostly because I can't find a single mention of this restaurant on this site. That has to be rectified, so let's start with this post.

A second reason is because I'm researching some Peking Duck delivery options, and Duck Chang's covers that base. So I expect I'll be trying it soon and commenting on it here.

A third reason is that Tim Carman recently tucked into the Peking Duck there, and was positive about the experience.

1 hour ago, wristband said:

Thank you so very much for the suggestions!  Just told Claire & Don's next to the State Theater in FC is a possibility.  Any thoughts on that one?

If I was in the vicinity of Claire & Don's, I would opt for the fried oysters, or better yet, the grilled oysters, at Chasin' Tails, and even the fried calamari at Pizzeria Orso. Much better options.

15 hours ago, DonRocks said:

Microsoft had some loose change in their pocket when TikTok went to Oracle and WalMart.

A few things catch my eye here....

Cartless dim sum is the new normal during the pandemic. I'm not sure how easy it will be to get used to ordering off a checklist instead of seeing it passing by on a cart.

Chris Zhu, who owns China Garden in Rockville, and previously in Rosslyn, is the owner of Han Palace. That gives it some good cred, because I became a fan of China Garden in Rosslyn. It was unexpectedly good when I tried it, and every time I came back it was full of Chinese people, which is always a good sign. 

I'm not sure what's open in the current environment, but the Wharf in Old Town and RT's across from the Birchmere in Alexandria are also good bets.

RT's offers fried oysters as both an appetizer and a main course, plus it has Oysters Nezpique listed as a specialty.

It might look more like this.....

5 hours ago, Count Bobulescu said:

I had read that part of the motivation for UAE & Bahrain was access to updated US military equipment. You seem to be suggesting otherwise, Israeli tech only?

That makes sense insofar as Israel does not appear to have conceded much else. I believe Israel only agreed to a postponement, not cancellation, of some settlement proposals. Can you clarify the US tech issue?

Given that Anal Dump has been popular in Israel since day one, new properties in the region would be no surprise.

US military equipment is usually dumbed down for export. It still helps Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Boeing, and the rest to keep people employed and make a lot of money with Foreign Military Sales, but the exports aren't our top-of-the-line. Most of our advanced weapons systems also have special capabilities that are removed for foreign sales. So yes, the Emirates and Bahrain will have access to these platforms. But take Saudi Arabia, for example. We have up-gunned the Kingdom beyond any capability to operate the inventory effectively. But, the current administration wants plenty of jobs and profits for our defense industry, because they donate lots of money to political campaigns. Unfortunately, Saudi Arabia being armed to the teeth doesn't result in much in the way of effective outcome.

For more then 50 years, the U.S. has been investing heavily in Israel's Defense Industrial Base -- autoclaves, advanced real-aperture and synthetic-aperture radar technologies, low-observable technologies -- and Israel has purpose-built many systems specifically for operations in the Middle East. Israeli "drones" (the inaccurate word for Unmanned Aerial Systems) are among the best, and the U.A.E. will avail itself of these for intelligence and surveillance operations against Iran. Israel's "Iron Dome" technology, basically an ultra-modern air defense system against missiles and rockets, will also be added to the U.A.E shopping cart. Shared intelligence collection against Iran and other "enemies of my enemies" will also be added to the cart. And Israel's ability to enhance U.S. export materiel with advanced capabilities will also be for sale, maybe at a premium.

Israel will get *a ton* of oil money in exchange for its technology. Israel will also get a foreign base of operations for intelligence collection against Iran. This deal couldn't have worked out any better for Israel, which kind of explains Jared's role and motivation.

The twin realities of Syria being close to a failed state, manipulated by Putin, and Iraq being one of the United States' worst military blunders since Vietnam, also contributed to this arrangement. It's unlikely that a viable Syria and Iraq would have enabled such an arrangement to become a reality.

Back to the Palestinians....(crickets)

[Editor's Note: I asked Bruce to write this. He posted it in the Current Events Forum, but I moved it here for now because I want you to read it, and to discuss it if you wish. Cheers, Rocks]

---

First, I come in peace, and many of you know I have a Middle Eastern background. I also have a degree in Middle Eastern studies, and I spent a significant amount of time in the national security community as a Middle Eastern area specialist.

The agreement reached  between Israel and the U.A.E., and now Bahrain, is historic by its nature. It's probably long overdue. But it's important to understand that this is not a "peace" deal. It is first and foremost an economic deal. That's an important perspective for us to keep in mind. There was no war between Israel and the oil states, nor was there likely to be one.

Israel craves Arab oil money. The common joke from my Israeli friends asks why they wandered in the desert for 40 years, and didn't settle on any land that had oil. Israel gets a sizable influx of capital from the oil states, and Israel also gets a forward operating base to use in any future contingencies with respect to Iran. The oil states get Israel's technology, some of which is helpful in defending against Iran, but also, some of it is helpful in collecting intelligence on Iran. That's what an economic deal is, more or less.

Meanwhile, I hear from my inside friends that the Trumps and Kushners will cash in, probably with new properties in Tel Aviv and Dubai. There is no altruism here. This deal probably wouldn't have involved the U.S. at all unless the "what's in it for me?" litmus test was passed in Washington.

For this to have been a peace deal, it would have had to include the Palestinians. The Arab-Israeli conflict is largely an Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Because the Palestinians were left out of it, this was not a peace deal. There are many fingers to be pointed here, chief among them the current administration in Washington and its over-the-top support for anything Netanyahu wants, but history will judge whether or not a deal that excludes the Palestinians will move the needle at all on peace.

So, let's applaud what happened as a possible step in the right direction, but let's be careful about what's really at the heart of this deal.

14 hours ago, curiouskitkatt said:

Indeed it is!! Amazing restaurant choices too!

I used to roam that area of town in the 1960s, in my teens, when a good bowl of tomato soup was a quarter.

Then I worked at Hess's on the corner of Queen and Orange Sts in the 1970s.

The Lancaster I left in 1977 is not the Lancaster of today.

On 6/14/2020 at 6:14 AM, curiouskitkatt said:

 

 

Isn't that right outside Central Market?

My standard is a western omelet accompanied by a slab of country ham.

5 minutes ago, lion said:

Where is this "true bucolic heaven" closer to DC? 🤪

There's a fun exercise. Maybe Ashburn? Great Falls?

I would push for the suburban sprawl that is Lorton, Springfield, Burke, Kingstowne....but that's just me.