Kibbee Nayee

No, I'm serious. I want the Cuban sandwich linked by Heather -- This -- and I'm ready to get on a plane to Miami to eat me a few....! Who's with me?

Lunch here today was a good deal. It was the week's special -- a Bauernwurst accompanied by all of sauerkraut, potato salad, two slices of rye bread, a redundant crouton, plenty of senf (mustard) and nice slices of cornichon, tomato and cucumber. For $9 it hit the spot nicely. Lunch counter service here can be a bit on the slow side, all the more so today when a computer problem caused my order to disappear. However, after a few minutes I stuck my head into the service window to inquire, and they did a gracious and apologetic scramble to get my food to me as quickly as possible. No harm, no foul. I had previously misinterpreted the signage to indicate that they were closed on weekends. Turns out they are open during the daytime on weekends, but the kitchen is closed on Sundays....meaning that only the cakes and sweets case, as well as the wrapped sandwich and cheese case, are available. But what the heck, who wouldn't enjoy a good central European beer, a Bavarian ham and Swiss cheese sandwich, a handful of Landjaeger and a bowl of house made ice cream on a Sunday afternoon?

I've eaten at House of Dynasty in the past -- it's 25 years old, and deserves mention in the "Oldest Restaurants" thread. I used to live closer, but I think it's been a good 10 years since I've been there. It hasn't changed much, and that's a good thing. The location is right across from Hayfield High School in the Hayfield Shopping Center at 7550 Telegraph Road. Web site is http://www.houseofdynasty.com/ This is Americanized Chinese fare, with waiters in gold paisley vests and food glistening with MSG. It is a comfortable dining room, with one section raised a bit off to the side. The lighting and decor are very nice for a neighborhood Chinese restaurant, and somewhat upgraded over what I remembered from 10 or 20 years ago. Carry out has it's own section and door on the other side. There is a full bar with all of the "tiki" drinks like Suffering Bastard and the like. The wine and beer list is spare, but you can certainly get a Tsing Tao beer or a bottle of Columbia Crest chardonnay ($18.95) to accompany the meal. I was struck by the quality of the gratis tea, which had a light red color and an incredible perfume. I asked the waitress what it was and she said "oolong" but I've never had a cup of tea this good in any restaurant. And I had three cups tonight. Lady Kibbee and I started with the lettuce-wrapped shrimp for two, a steal at $6.50. First came two warm towels for freshening up, and then out came a fresh cup of iceberg lettuce (times 2) came a large portion of chopped shrimp with veggies and spices. I would have that dish over and over again, or maybe even mix in the lettuce wrapped chicken. Next came a small shot glass filled with lemon sorbet to cleanse the palate, which has now been a tradition for 25 years at this place. Our mains were the Shrimp and Scallop Hunan style for Lady Kibbee and the Crispy Shredded Beef for me. When asked how much spice we wanted on a scale of 1-5, Lady Kibbee said 1 and I said 3, but our dishes came out the reverse. Nonetheless, they were quite good. Her shrimp were the size of small lobster tails and the freshness of the ingredients and the flavor were really good. My beef was crispy and satisfying, with a nice crunch giving way to a tender, beefy interior on each bite. My sauce was a bit sweet, which is typical of the Americanized style, but for about $16, I had a better and more abundant plate of beef than you can get at Morton's for 3-4 times the price. There was way too much food for normal adults to eat, but we soldiered through it and our tummies are full. Out came another plate of hot towels, along with fortune cookies, and our total with a bottle of chardonnay, tax and tip was about $70. I'm sorry that I've wasted time and resources on many other Americanized Chinese restaurants around northern Virginia without having returned to this gem in the past 10+ years. I won't be making that mistake again anytime soon.

Now THAT'S the Cubano I've been looking for...! I have to go to Miami?

Amen. I've searched high and low, and found barely credible versions at Acadiana (as a special only) and Blue Iguana (believe it or not)....please, have this place bring a great Cubano to the DC area!

Thistle tried it (Royal Court) just prior to our $20 Tuesday in Springfield and gave it a middling review. I would like to hear what Grover has to say about it. Whenever I'm in that plaza I get distracted by Juliano's pizzas and subs or Kate's, but it's on my list. Of course, that's a big list. Want to try it together?

My pleasure. I may have left out a few other daytime snack options, like banh mi at Le Bledo Bakery or one of Tippy's burritos, but this is a fairly good eating regimen for the Springfield area, give or take....

I love Sahm Oh Jong. It's actually tucked into my favorite little walking path of food in Springfield, literally next door or two doors down from all of Karahi Kabob, House of Siam, an interesting Halal pizza and sandwich shop, and a great little Asian market. All within steps of each other.

Had lunch at the Falls Church outpost today. The "amuse" was a small cup of very tasty aushak, with noodles and ground meat and yogurt. I thought it was a nice touch. I use Qabili Palow as my comparison dish at Afghan restaurants, and the version here is good. It is sauced with a spicy dark red sauce with tender bits of lamb floating in it, accompanied by the requisite pile of basmati rice with carrots, raisins and slivered almonds. While it was good, I felt the portion size was a bit meager for $11.95. Nonetheless, this is a nicely decorated dining room with a clean and orderly kitchen (which I viewed as I walked in and out of the back door to and from the parking area). But with all of the other dining options in Falls Church, I can't honestly say I would seek out Panjshir for a return visit, but I wouldn't avoid it either.

Not that anyone asked me, but what the heck. If I were to eat my way through a 3-4 mile radius from the middle of Springfield (wherever that is) for one week, I might be inclined to line it up as follows: Sunday -- The dim sum brunch at Canton Cafe down Franconia Road can't be beat. Monday -- Rivera's is the best Central American food around (but note that kids eat free on Monday night at Delia's). Tuesday -- Delia's pizza night....buy one and get a second one for $2.95 (one topping). Wednesday -- Pane e Vino for the best Italian this side of Rafagino's in Burke. Thursday -- Osaka for my sushi fix. Friday -- House of Siam for my Thai (and heat) fix. Saturday -- Gamasot....might as well end the week with a nice bowl of soup at Springfield's best Korean restaurant. Of course, should hunger pangs strike me during the daytime, I would head for the Mediterranean Gourmet Market on Franconia for a mezze fix, or a saltena at El Sabor Boliviano, or a hearty sandwich of Speck at Pane e Vino Deli in Lorton or the German Reuben at Swiss Bakery in Burke. Anyone care to join me?

Hidden gem alert! I have frequently passed by Rivera's without going in, meeting friends at JW's across the street or at Aabshaar right behind it. A colleague of mine, who is frugal and clips coupons, had a coupon for Rivera's and suggested we eat there for lunch today. I was impressed and will be back on numerous occasions to sample my way all over this menu and wash it all down with Central American beers. Rivera's has a spare dining room with about 40 seats, a small bar off in the corner -- which is also where you pay your bill at the end of your meal -- and was about half full throughout a Thursday lunch service. The lunch menu featured about 20 "specials" with half priced at $6.99 and half priced at $7.99. Looking around the dining room at plates in front of other diners I knew that there would be plenty of food at either price. By the way, the dinner menu numbered over 50 dishes, and I will be sampling quite a few of them in the coming months. I ordered the Lomo Saltado ($6.99) with beef and chicken, and what arrived was a pleasure. Nicely flavored chunks of beef and chicken were sauteed with onions and peppers, along with fries, and served next to a liberal pile of rice and beans. Aside from the usual redundant carbs, this was a dish that really caught my attention. Everything worked well together, and for $6.99 this was about as flavorful and hearty (or hardy) a dish as I've had at this price in recent memory. The owner told me the chef was from the Guatemala - El Salvador region, and from my perspective, the cooking was clearly authentic. If anyone asks me for a Central American restaurant recommendation in the general Springfield - Lorton 'burbs, this one would be my choice. About half a mile up Backlick from El Sabor Boliviano, you could cover both Central and South America on a short walk.

You're likely to keep Delia's in your rotation. Glad you enjoyed it. [Tonight for delivery with my kids, in addition to the requisite pizzas for them, I'm having the chicken cacciatore special....]

Had lunch with a business companion today, and we both ordered the steak and arugula salad, medium rare. The steak was fanned out and definitely medium rare, tasted like quality steak, and accompanied by a mound of fresh arugula with fennel and slight vinaigrette. There was absolutely nothing wrong with this dish at all, and as far as lunch goes, this was an excellent dish. The lunch menu had me very tempted all over the place. The rockfish tartare, the smoked trout, the squid ink pasta and few others will have to be tried on future visits.

It was $23 today, and given the amount of lobster in it, plus those really good fries, I consider it money well spent. Of course, my companion picked up the tab today, but I digress.... And yes, the Monday deal is a great deal. I just wasn't in the mood for the Tuesday deal today, shrimp and grits.

Lunch here today had the added benefit of outdoor seating with a pleasant cool breeze. Enjoyed the gumbo, which was as good as ever, and the lobster roll, in which a good pound of lobster presented itself for consumption. An unexpected hit was the nice side of fries, with good crunch on the outside (with a hit of parmesan and parsley) and nicely textured potato flavor on the inside. This same lobster roll is a daily special on Mondays, so it would come with a cup of gumbo or soup for a whopping total of $15. My companion's crawfish etoufee was declared a hit, and he kept comparing it favorably to the rendition he had eaten on the gulf coast of Mississippi a few weeks ago. I consider PassionFish to be the best seafood restaurant in northern Virginia and the best restaurant of any kind in the Reston Town Center.

Dinner last night during the Nils Lofgren concert was almost passable. Don't get me wrong, the food here is barely edible and almost not fit for human consumption (albeit maybe a step up from Mike's), but last night was almost a meal. I should also point out that it's a dark venue and we started drinking out in the lobby area, so there were reasons why we may have been distracted. We ordered an appetizer of chips and salsa, which are remarkably reminiscent of the Austin Grill's similarly forgetful chips and salsa. Lady Kibbee ordered her standard salmon entree, which is distinguished from canned salmon only insofar as it is actually shaped like a salmon filet and slightly, but only slightly, warmer than had it arrived directly out of a can. The dill sauce was actually not horrible, and with enough wine, it went down and stayed down. I ordered off the little sign that was next to the menu -- Roast Beef Dinner -- and I upgraded to the "Del Ray cut" thinking that the standard cut would have 'issues' like the rest of the menu. For $19.99 I got a good quarter inch slab of beef -- glad I ordered the "Del Ray" because the regular cut must have been paper-thin -- cooked to a basic "rare" -- I ordered "medium" knowing they would bring it underdone -- along with a side of twice-baked potato and the same "vegetable medley" that came with girlfriend's salmon. Overall, this was not a remarkable meal, but because it didn't completely and totally suck, it was worthy of a write-up. By the way, Nils Lofgren was outstanding. I'm betting he didn't eat there last night.

I am ready to declare this place the best of the Lorton-Springfield restaurants. Mind you, we're not talking about Old Town or Penn Quarter, where restaurants like this spot every block, but this is Lorton, and it's damn good for Lorton. Some of you may be inclined to gravitate to the wood-burning oven and enjoy the pizzas. They appear to be good from my perspective of watching them pass by my table on the way to other tables occupied by younger patrons. But if wood-burning is how you define good pizza, then Pane e Vino and the Fireside Grill across the street should satisfy all of your needs. I tend to gravitate to the specials, and tonight they were hit with gusto. Lady Kibbee and I both enjoyed the appetizer specials -- rare-seared tuna crusted in sesame seeds, and what may have been the best caprese salad I've ever enjoyed. The tuna was as good as it looked, glistening and red and melt-in-the-mouth wonderful. The caprese was fresh mozzarella, absolutely spectacular and fresh-made, creamy and silken and delicious, topped with shredded basil and a sprinkle of olive oil, over perfectly ripe slices of Roma tomatoes. These two appetizers were out of this world and worth repeating on any future visit. The main courses were also from the specials menu. Lady Kibbee had Chilean Sea Bass, and I enjoyed the beef cutlet that was lightly breaded and pan fried. Both dishes were hits. The sea bass was tender, juicy and full of flavor, accompanied by diced onions, diced tomatoes and capers in a lemon-wine sauce. This was a seafood dish I wouldn't normally expect on (1) a Monday and (2) in Lorton. My beef cutlet arrived sizzling hot with a nice crunch on the outside, and as I worked through it I certainly caught the hints of lemon and rosemary in the recipe. It was quite satisfying, but about half way through I began to notice that the crunch on the crust was holding but the tenderness of the beef was turning a bit tough. Nonetheless, this was a satisfying dish, and with a Clipper Magazine coupon, it was also free with the purchase of the Sea Bass entree. The outside seating on a night like tonight only added to the experience. I don't know what Lorton Station pretends to be, or whether it aspires to a crappy Town Center end state, but this little dining gem will bring me back on fairly frequent occasions. In fact, the "chef's table" may be on my short list of culinary adventures in the next month or two.... I should mention that Pane e Vino acquired the Asian restaurant next door a year or two ago, and converted it into an Italian deli. It wasn't open today, but from the window I noticed a wall of artisanal pastas and sauces, oils and vinegars, about eight bins of fresh house-made gelato, and a sandwich list on the door that included speck and bresaola sandwiches. The deli is only open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Won't keep me from coming there....I used to work a few blocks away and developed a passion for the decidedly non-genuine turkey pastrami sandwich on rye. Now it's even closer to Kaz Sushi Bistro, so I can follow up the turkey pastrami with some tuna sashimi topped with foie gras....

I haven't been to San Antonio in a few years, and while It's not the dining mecca that Austin is, it has always had its share of quality steaks and quality Mexican. Those are usually the two main food groupings I will seek out when I'm in San Antonio, and there aren't too many disappointments. Sentimentally speaking, I always eat at Mi Tierra when I'm there. My parents ate there in the 1940s when my father was stationed nearby, and I ate there in the 1970s when I was stationed at Lackland. And I've eaten there every time I've been back. A good night of drinking should begin and end with a hearty bowl of menudo, and theirs may be the best in town.

Thanks in part to Anthony Bourdain's excellent new episode on Beirut, I have renewed and reinvigorated my search for quality arak from the region. I know that various of the liquor stores downtown carry some of the nicer versions, but I am specifically looking for a good source of al-Massaya, as featured in Bourdain's episode.... http://www.massaya.com/arak.aspx Alas, I found it at www.drinkupny.com and six bottles are on their way. Just wondering if a local source is available to me....also, for all the arak connoisseurs out there, please clue me in on your favorite version that may be locally available....

You are correct, Sir. We did and it was enjoyable. But I don't believe it was made by Rima. [The process from end-to-end takes a good six weeks.] It had the look and feel of the shankleesh purchased from Paterson or Toronto. Not that there is anything wrong with that -- I have two balls in my fridge from Paterson right now -- but I'm looking for the home made delicacy. I remember back in the '80s, when a friend of mine had scored a precious few balls from her mother in Philadelphia, and I had just returned from my mother's house with a few balls from her. I invited my friend over for dinner and we had a nice meal, and then she sprang her surprise of shankleesh on me. I was elated, of course, but then I retrieved a few balls of my mother's shankleesh, and we had a ball comparing the two. Both were out of this world.

Mario Batagli would disagree with you on that pizza assertion. I have gone a number of different directions here and they all ended up pleasant. The salads are fresh and abundant -- the Riviera is almost too much for someone to eat, but the Taverna Greek Salad with souvlaki on top hits the spot every time. My son loves the fried calamari appetizer and the pizza knuckles (if you don't order a regular pizza, here's nice little snack version), and my daughter loves the Fettucini Alfredo with chicken. If there's a special on the board out front, consider it. It's likely to be good. And I saw lamb shanks go to another table recently, and they looked good enough to go over and ask for a bite. On the sandwich side, you can't go wrong with the gyro, but I love club sandwiches and they do it as well as anyone. Depending on when you go, especially during the week for lunch, you will notice the absolute benchmark for quality food in this area -- a table full of Fairfax County police sitting in the back section, enjoying their meal. You won't find that at Bertucci's.

Actually, I would have recommended San Vito, given the general geography you asked for. There's good American grub at Kilroy's, everything from a credible burger to a decent salad to some of my favorite wings. This place is underrated because it's known for the sports bar side, not the dining side. It's in the Ravensworth Plaza, which also has Swiss Bakery, where you can get Grandma some great soup and nicely prepared daily specials and other dishes, followed by some really nice sweets. But grandma will love Delia's, on Backlick in Springfield. The unfortunate DR dining guide lists it under multiple locations because there is apparently another one that nobody ever heard of or goes to out west somewhere, but Delia's has some of the best pizza around, very good Greek food, and even Peruvian chicken by virtue of having bought the chicken place next door a few years ago and expanded into it. On weekends, Delia's offers brunch until 2pm. And yes, she can probably get baked ziti there.

You mean he's sober all the other times....?

My mother used to make her own shankleesh, a Syrian cheese ball that was very labor-intensive. But man oh man, was it worth it. These incredibly flavorful and pungent cheeses were the perfect accompaniment to scrambled eggs, and could stand on their own in a dip made from crumbling them and mixing them with diced onions, olive oil, and maybe some crumbled hard boiled eggs. In my travels around the area, I have found it shrink-wrapped from 'factories' in Paterson NJ or Toronto, or pickled in jars under the Baroody brand, but have yet to find a store-made or home-made version anywhere around here. Although, once, at Al Nakheel in Vienna, I recall a conversation where the proprietor exclaimed "Why you no buy my shankleesh?" but I forget the context. Trust me, once you try it, it will forever reside on your irresistible tastes list....if I had to do my Board Name all over again, it would be Shankleesh.....or Zaatar.....