Kibbee Nayee

I've written to Sietsema and told him that I find flaws in his lists, but his usual gracious responses disarm me enough that I won't bash the lists too much. It's just that his two lists this year included Artie's, a food truck, a few restaurants that closed, and in his latest one, did not include CityZen at all. Washingtonian almost gets a pass because it has so many top restaurant lists that eventually every one gets a mention, more or less. But I have compiled a list of restaurants that provide great cooking, great value and no love in the northern Virginia area, but are worth being in all of our rotations (if you live and eat in northern Virginia). These are places worthy of at least two of Sietsema's stars. I would love to see a similar version from the Maryland Rockwellians as well.... And none of these will be in my Springfield backyard, just to emphasize my impartiality.... Layalina should get a lot of love. The food is really good if you understand Syrian food, and the decor is intensely warm, as is the graciousness of the host. My death row meal could come from this kitchen. Thai Basil in Chantilly, even though it received a bump from the Bobby Flay throwdown episode, has the best Pad Thai in the area. Sakoontra is also in my Thai rotation. Mikaku Sushi Taro and Tachibana are underrated Japanese restaurants, and I'll even throw Blue Ocean into this mix. Zeffirelli's in Herndon is some of the most soul-satisfying Italian in the area. In fact, when I'm in the general Reston-Herndon area, I will avoid the chains and aim for Zeffirelli's or El Manatial or PassionFish. In fact, PassionFish is the best seafood restaurant in northern Virginia and the best restaurant of any kind in the Reston Town Center. Blue Iguana gets no love, but Chef Eric Robinson is turning out some of the most consistent food in the Fairfax area. His special food pairings with wine (or beer) about every other month are some of the culinary highlights of northern Virginia for an unbeatable price. Cafe Renaissance in Vienna is and always will be my Valentine's Day destination, and as many other days as I can make it. Chef Ocean Joseph would make Anthony Bourdain happy, with his throwback menu of organ meats and Steak Diane and all the dishes that we loved in the '60s and '70s. I'll stop with these 11 because, thanks to the movie Spinal Tap, my list goes to 11. These restaurants are generally unhyped, with honest and quality food made by honest and quality staffs. I prefer many of these places to the ones that make anyone's "top" lists.

Yep. One of the best in northern Virginia is Mikaku Sushi Taro in McLearan Square. The exact address is 3065 Centreville Rd, Herndon, VA 20171 for your GPS. I eat here often -- it is distantly related to Sushi Taro downtown, and has received great reviews. In fact, if you had asked "what's the best restaurant of any kind in the Dulles area" I would have mentioned Mikaku Sushi Taro in my top three, at least.

If distance is not an object, then PassionFish in Reston is as good as it gets in northern Virginia. Otherwise, I agree with B.A.R. with the possible addition of Old Ebbitt Grill's half-priced happy hour raw bar. The orca (or whatever they call it) is the best deal in town when it's half-priced, the oysters are fresh and plentiful and the shrimp cocktail is like eating small lobster tails at half price.

Get thee immediately and post-haste to Mediterranean Gourmet Market on Franconia Road, roughly between Springfield Mall and Kingstowne. You will tuck into the best manakish in the metro area. By a long shot. My favorite happens to be the manakish bel zaatar, and if your girlfriend is vegetarian, she will love it. There is also a spinach manakish that you will love, but your meat pizza is the lahmeh b'ajeen. Try them all, and be happy. A distant second is the Mediterranean Bakery on Pickett in Alexandria. Not bad if you're in the neighborhood, and one of the best places to score olive oils and hot sauces in the area.

Sam's and Rima's daughter handles the web site in a very, very part-time manner. They could probably use a little upgrade there.... But here's what you get at Layalina that you can't get anywhere else in the DC metropolitan area.... The most gracious host of any dining room in our area. Plush and warm dining room decor that puts you in the mood for a Middle Eastern feast. Genuine Syrian cooking. A mezze selection that other Middle Eastern restaurants would be hard-pressed to beat, especially with seven different versions of hummus. When you order ahead, the best kibbee nayeh, stuffed grape leaves and stuffed chicken in our area. Even if you don't order ahead, lamb shanks that are blow-you-away good. No rush....eat all night if you want to....Sam will join your party after closing time too.... Layalina is solidly in my rotation. When I look at Sietsema's or Washingtonian's various lists and see Artie's or a food cart, or even places that are now closed, I'm thinking Layalina isn't getting its appropriate share of love.

I have been going to Akasaka for some 20 years, and I can't believe there is no listing in the dining guide. This is as good as sushi gets in that part of Alexandria and for a quite a few miles in any direction. It's in the same plaza as Savio's and about a dozen other food places like Thai Lemongrass and Kabul Kabob. Of all the restaurants in this little plaza, it's clearly the best. Specials are on the wall, including fatty tuna and many specialty rolls. We began with the yellow tail collar, which was absolutely top notch. It was the equal of the version at Blue Ocean in Fairfax. What a taste treat. Next came two huge platters of sushi and rolls, all of which were fresh and flavorful. We had tuna, salmon, eel, yellowtail, shrimp and white tuna among the nigiri, and we strolled through the rolls with spicy tuna, dragon, rainbow, shrimp tempura, eel and avocado, one or two specials....a lot of food. Everything was absolutely perfect, and I would rate this place at least a toss-up with Blue Ocean. Towards the end, I ordered a good bottle of cold sake and sent one to the sushi chef as well. My gesture was awarded with meaty grilled squid tentacles, which was quite a treat. As I said, I've been going here on and off for a good 20 years, and it looks like it will continue to draw me in.

Hooray for Tysons....but which is the single most popular restaurant that it will take over for at Tysons? I can't think of one that's still open....?

Is Penn Quarter about the greatest concentration of high-end fare this side of New York? I can't think of another 'neighborhood' that can top Penn Quarter for close-by quality eating, with maybe Old Town a distant second....

I'm surprised that Illy coffee hasn't caught on like wildfire. I've had it at the Mandarin Oriental and a few other places, and once you drink it you'll never set foot in another Starbucks.

OK, here's the plan.... You and your date arrive at 6:00pm to score a good pair of seats. You duck out at 6:15 and run across the street to RT's for some good Louisiana fare. Your date hangs back at the Birchmere to protect your seats. You start with the Crawfish and Shrimp Beignet, followed by the Death by Gumbo, or something like that. About the time your food arrives, and after about your second Dixie Beer, you order your date's meal. She'll want the House Salad with Shrimp Diane, or something like that. As her meal arrives, say 7:00pm, you run across the street to save your excellent seats and send her over to RT's to enjoy her meal. By 7:30, the two of you are sitting together for the warm-up act, with bellies full of good food and drink. You have also deftly cached a plastic flask of bourbon in your jacket's breast pocket, so that you can order a few glasses of Coke throughout the performance and lay on a nice buzz for the cost of a few Cokes. After the show, you head back to RT's and go to the bar to await your cab, ordering some drinks and Cajun Popcorn to finish off the evening. It's all about teamwork.

OK, now we're getting somewhere. The best Cuban I've had in the District was at Acadiana, Ceiba's sister, but it was only a special. I notice Ceiba has it on its bar menu. Acadiana's was a doggone good Cuban and I'll have to check out Ceiba's. The best in northern Virginia was one that I had at Blue Iguana in Fairfax. For $10 this is a darned good sandwich. The overlooked work of Chef Eric Robinson needs better treatment from the Rockwell community. His special wine (or beer) pairing dinners are not to be missed. I don't yet have a "best" candidate for Maryland, but I suspect from everything I hear about Cuba de Ayer, it's going to be in the mix.

Considering how many beers I've consumed there, I must own a partial stake in the place. True story, back in the '80s, I took a Navy SEAL there for some beers. With hundreds to choose from, he asked for a "silver bullet" aka Coors Light. I was embarrassed for him, but he had no idea that he was completely out of whack with the concept of the place. Thankfully, his job was to kill terrorists, and not be a beer snob.

I'm still in, +3 or +4 and maybe +5 or +6. I will definitely have a few small tins of bacon-flavored jelly beans, as well as a bottle of Anthony Bourdain's favorite Al-Massaya arak in hand, but I'm also thinking about a main course or two.... I also have two MREs available, but they should be part of a door prize kind of thing....for another door prize, I can offer the cork from a 2000 Nigl that our fearless leader brought in the spring.

I was attracted by the "Grand Opening" sign, and stopped in today to check it out. I'm glad I did. Backlick Rd. is my favorite street name in Virginia, primarily because there is no Frontlick Rd. But in the region south of the Korean places that begin with Gamasot and run north into Annandale, Backlick Rd. is becoming a sort of running competition between very good Indo-Pak kabob houses and very good Central and South American restaurants. Veronica's Bakery and Cafe is a worthy addition to the latter group. First, allow me to lobby to keep this little jewel out of the "Multiple Locations" dining guide category, where sense of place and neighborhood is entirely lost. Veronica's has two other locations, on Mount Vernon Ave. in Alexandria and on Piney Branch Rd. in Silver Spring. Please, DR, for the sake of all that is good and decent, allow the dining guide to include the little local chainettes that contribute greatly to "flavor" and character of the geographic locations we frequently consult. Veronica's is a lunch counter type of restaurant, with a lovely display case of sweets and pastries right up front. The menu is extensive and Salvadorean, and it includes quite a few breakfast items, a large assortment of lunch items -- to include soups and Mexican foods alongside Costilla Salvadorena and Sandwich Salvadorena -- and a full dinner menu. I would recommend saving room for dessert, because this place has a nice assortment of sweets and pastries. Website -- www.veronicasbakery.com

Layalina on a Friday night was fairly packed. Four of us arrived at 7:00 and were greeted like family. Of course, I am familiar with Sam and RIma, but everyone is greeted graciously here. I also arrived with an 'offering' of Al Massaya arak, to be enjoyed throughout dinner. Ordering ahead is a good idea for some dishes. I ordered a double portion of Kibbee Nayee, which didn't last very long, and we also feasted on grape leaves stuffed with rice and meat, as well as Rima's Chicken, stuffed with rice and meat. These are all comfort dishes, but only available when you order ahead. I'm glad we did. For the four of us, these dishes would have been enough, but then we were enticed by roasted cauliflower, along with a mezze of pomegranate hommus, baba ghanouj, tabbouli, fried kibbee and pickled eggplant. Then came some more mains, like spicy beef kabobs and flounder stuffed with spinach and feta, along with stuffed peppers. All washed down with Al Massaya arak. Oh yeah, then came coffee and pastries. This restaurant remains the best representative of Middle Eastern cooking in the Washington DC area. Looking around tonight, at a crowd that filled the dining space and kept the staff hopping, I know many other people agree with me.

Just for the sake of comparison, let me offer the Lazy Susan Dinner Theater down Rt. 1 in Alexandria. It's smaller than the Birchmere, and has not-very-good entertainment like "Greater Tuna" but the food is not too shabby. It is made in-house, and served up buffet style, with tables being called in groups. The salad bar items were not bad, and the general fare was a cut above Old Country Buffet. In fact, the carved beef was pretty doggone good. It could work at the Birchmere -- heck, the Carpenter's Shelter benefit earlier this year had about 30 restaurants set up buffet-style at the Birchmere, but the concept of assigned seating is something the Birchmere has not gotten its hands around, for whatever reasons. Point is, if the Lazy Susan Dinner Theater can do it, so can the Birchmere.

My complaint has always been that it's simply not possible, nor practical, to score a decent meal along with the great show that the Birchmere offers. If you get to RT's or Del Merei (sadly now closed) in time for a decent meal, you arrive at the Birchmere too late to get anything other than seating in a far off corner. So if you want a good seat, you are forced to get to the Birchmere by 6:00 or 6:15, eat one of their bad meals, hopefully consume enough alcohol to compensate for it, and settle back for the warm-up show at 7:30 and the main event at 8:30. And on the other end of the evening, at say 10:00 or 10:30, there is not a good kitchen still open for anything other than a bar snack. So....if you want good music and good seats, the Birchmere experience denies you the opportunity for a good meal. And if you want a good meal, you will end up with crappy seating at the Birchmere. The simple solution would seem to encourage the Birchmere to upgrade its food offerings, or outsource it to a decent catering source, but they seem to be indifferent with respect to their food offerings, the captive audience, the seating or the showtimes. This rant is all about making what could be a really good experience that much better by offering restaurant quality food. That is all.

I had not eaten here in a good 20 years, but I had it on my list of places to reconnect with and hopefully rave about. Looks like I'll have to wait until it reopens. I used to be able to walk to this place nearly 30 years ago when I lived in Arlington. Same with the recently closed Alpine. Ruffino's was kid-friendly, in the sense that my son, who is now 27, could be strapped into a high chair and be allowed to cover himself with spaghetti and red sauce top-to-bottom. The meal here was good, hearty and inexpensive, and I suspect it hasn't changed much over the years.

The smart ones who have been there before can send a runner across the street to RT's and have a right fine meal.

I've never tried a restaurant simply because of its urinals, but now I must.

Just caught a Facebook post that says Lebanese Butcher had a fire. That would be a devastating loss to my culinary repertoire. Oh my...! http://fallschurchtimes.com/24255/fire-guts-building-on-annandale-road/

What a difference two months makes. I gave Celadon Thai another try last night, and it was worth it. This nicely appointed restaurant in a strip mall now has a full liquor license, with an interesting menu of drinks and a so-so wine list. We had a bottle of Lindeman's chardonnay for $22. The restaurant was two-thirds full on a Tuesday evening around the 8:00 hour, and service was friendly and responsive. Lady Kibbee had what she declared to be a very good seafood yum, or salad, as he main, while I went with the pad kee mau, or drunken noodles, with a combination of chicken, beef and shrimp. The flavors were good, the ingredients were fresh, the portions were ample and the overall experience was far above the first sampling about two months ago. My only complaint about the meal was the muted spiciness. There was subtle spice detected, certainly not even as hot as "American spicy", so next time I'll have to specify more heat. That is rare in Thai restaurants.

Well, inconsistency is the hallmark of dining in most of the northern Virginia 'burbs, and Pane e Vino was suffering from it last night. Beautiful weather had us sitting outside, but unfortunately we waited a good 10 minutes until a waiter, not ours, noticed us and asked if we had been taken care of. Realizing we had not, he at least saw to it that water was brought to us. Our waitress finally appeared, wearing way too much perfume (yuk!), and we ordered wine to take off the rough edge from being ignored for so long. Note to all waitstaff -- if you wear a fragrance that interferes with the supposed subtle flavors and aromas that the kitchen wishes your patrons to enjoy, you should be fired on the spot! On to the food....the fried calamari appetizer was just another fried calamari appetizer, no better or no worse or no different from the thousands of others out there. My order of veal parmigiana was ordinary, and the veal itself was fairly lifeless. This could have been a far better dish. Girlfriend's Fettucini Malafemmina (clams, mussels, scallops, shrimp and crab in a white sauce) was surprisingly not served with fettucini but with some broader noodle. Nonetheless, she declared it good enough for her tastes. This was not a good early evening for the kitchen. Maybe it got better later or the next day, but the kitchen and waitstaff were not in any kind of rhythm on this night.

Lady Kibbee and I were looking for something quick on the way home tonight. Cedar Cafe never disappoints. Cedar Cafe is a spare lunch (or dinner) counter on the corner of the Rolling Valley strip mall where Shopper's and Staples occupy the larger spaces. It offers a medium-sized Lebanese menu, along with a few related grocery items and packaged goods. Dinnerware is plastic, but the place is clean and nicely appointed. The special tonight was the stuffed cabbage (also called "malfoof"), five cigar-shaped cabbage rolls stuffed with rice and meat, which came with a nice fresh iceberg lettuce salad dressed with oil and lemon juice, a yogurt-mint-cucumber sauce for the stuffed cabbage and a half pita, for $11.99. I liked it very much and would order it again. We also ordered the mixed mezze, your choice of six of the items in the display case for $9.50. We had a kibbee football (really good), tabouli (fresh and refreshing), baba ghanouj (good), hummos (very good), lubieh (green beans in tomato sauce, and very good), tomato and avocado salad (not sure it's actually Lebanese, but it was good), artichoke salad (good), and Lebanese-Syrian potato salad (dressed with lemon and parsley, and exceptional). OK, that's eight items, so I paid a little extra. The ingredients were fresh, the flavors were very good and the food was actually quite remarkable for a lunch counter. As I said, Cedar Cafe never disappoints. http://cedarcafeonline.com/ We went home and ate to our fill and satisfaction for about $24. Not bad.

With all due respect, this isn't easy to make at home....