Kibbee Nayee

Springfield has so much more to offer than Mike's. Within walking distance alone, there is Manila Cafe, Canton Cafe, Tommy Thai, Saigon Village and Kate's Irish pub, all within about two blocks, and if you stretch your walk another block, there's Aabshaar. That's six places within walking distance of Mike's where the food is better, the atmosphere is better and the prices are better.

Helen Thomas, the incredible dean of the White House press corps, eats here just about every night. Enough said.

Hmmmm....good one.... At the low end, I would probably nail 2 lbs. of kibbee nayee (of course) at Lebanese Butcher in Falls Church, tear into a duck at Mark's Duck House and polish off a decadent burger with marrow topping at Ray's Hell-burger. [somewhere between low and middle, there's the happy hour orca at Clyde's or Old Ebbitt, where a $95 pile of fresh shrimp, crab, lobster and oysters is half price.] In the middle, PassionFish is my first choice, with any of their sushi rolls, or better, all of their sushi rolls. Then I'll take the grilled meatloaf with mashed potatoes at Majestic. After that, tapas at Jaleo or mezze at Zaytinya just about tops it off. At the high end, give me the chef's tasting menus at Komi, Restaurant Eve and CityZen.

I'm surprised at the negative comments, but I can see where there can be some hits or misses. My lunch today was the diver scallop and shrimp salad. Nothing special -- two seared but slightly overdone scallops that tasted like scallops, and three grilled shrimp that could have come from Costco, over a bed of greens that were fresh and clean. I few mandarin oranges here and there were distractions, but overall a nice light salad. My companion had the yellowfin tuna and it looked sashimi fresh. He declared it good. Not a special meal by any means, but not reminiscent of Red Lobster either.

Chef Tunks is now my new second-favorite hero (after Don Rockwell). I noticed him in the kitchen tonight at PassionFish and mentioned to the front of the house that his son and my son played Little League together. there was an immediate "Of course, Mr. (my real name)" and I was treated like an old friend. They remembered me from the last time I was there, and out came the additional morsels -- up front was a complimentary lobster sliders, and at the back end was the chef's treat of little dessert items. Yum. I waved good-bye to Chef Tunks as I was leaving and my party was well fed and quite pleased.

Thank you! That's it! I intend to use them often....

Count me in on Friday. I never, ever eat dessert, but this must be consumed.

Had a great time with all of you, xcanuck, Barbara, Dame Edna, Kmango, Bill Russell, Heather, and ... drum roll ... Don Rockwell himself! The legend actually does exist! I'm in on these HHs....!

I sometimes feel like the Springfield-Burke-Lorton-Franconia stringer for the DR news. In addition to the places covered in this thread so far, I believe we have neglected that fine little strip mall up Backlick Road where Gamasot resides, on Hechinger Road. There is also a mighty fine Hispanic place on the end, a Peruvian chicken place and Vietnamese place, all very good, and all within walking distance of an El Grande. To my earlier posts, we can add another outpost of Ravi Kabob in the Brookfield Plaza farther down Backlick, and we can add Franconia Pizza to the strip mall down Franconia that includes Mediterranean Gourmet Market and Sampan Restaurant. This latter strip mall is right across the road from Rice and Noodle, a credible Thai place that is on my short list of places to try.

Most of us have had the experience where we imbibed a bit too much, and rather than risk the dreaded DUI arrest, we cabbed home and left our car behind. I recently saw on a bathroom wall a poster for a service that provides a ride home in your own car for the cost of a round-trip cab ride. How convenient! If only I could recall the name of the service or the bathroom where I saw it, I could program it into my Blackberry for just such an occasion. Can anyone help?

Reminds me of Thanksgivings past. My parents both passed away this year. Growing up, my Syrian mom had a Thanksgiving feast with a turkey as the centerpiece, but with all Syrian sides, including the most to-die-for rice and lamb and pine nut stuffing imaginable. When I would bring an occasional friend to Thanksgiving at our home, the raves would follow for months. Desert was her home made baklava....thanks for the very sweet memories.

I'm in for HH at Proof next Tuesday. I believe they open at 5:30, so I'll have my nose pressed up against the window at 5:25.

I have often eaten at Argia's and have found it to be credible, especially the daily specials. The Asian woman who runs the kitchen has a good touch with Italian dishes, and the wine list is pretty good. Pilin Thai is also pretty good, and it won something like a Washingtonian Top 100 Cheap Eats award. I have eaten at 4 Ps on St. Patty's Day and both the Shepherd's Pie and the Corned Beef and Cabbage were quite good. Depending on what shoes you're wearing and how the weather is, about 3-4 blocks down Washington St. from the State Theater is Lebanese Butcher, and there is no better Lebanese (or Middle Eastern) cuisine within miles.

I had a happy hour meeting at the Clyde's near the Verizon Center last Thursday, and it was exceptional. Having done happy hour at Old Ebbitt a few months ago, I think Clyde's has a corner on this market, worth a diversion if I can coin a Michelin term. The raw bar items are all half price, and let me tell you, the oxymoronish jumbo shrimp were sublime at about a buck and a half each. Each one was like a small lobster tail, and a half dozen at nine bucks is a very nice snack to accompany a glass of wine. Even the monstrous orca is half priced at happy hour. Oysters too, which the Clyde's chain seems to specialize in. A small group can eat and drink well at a Clyde's happy hour and not spend a full $100.

Dinner last night was OK, not great. It looks like the menu is trying to be a bistro, with a few steaks, including hanger steaks, 3 types of mussels, some sausage plates, including a sampler, and lots and lots of specialty beers. I had the sliders, which were one each of sausage, roast beef and burger -- not enough meat for too much bun -- and the coconut milk and curry mussels. Nothing particularly distinguishing about either dish. My two friends had the diver scallops and the hanger steak, and pronounced both of them good. This is a handsome place and the menu needs to be explored more deeply. I can see this restaurant doing well over time. Last night may have just proven that the kitchen still has some unevenness to work out.

Let me be the first to mention Victor's Pizzeria in Springfield (2 doors down from Whole Foods). The owner told me today it's been in the same spot with the same name for 61 years. That would mean it opened in 1948. I doubt that the Whole Foods was there at the time. [Victor's is one of those homey, family-run and family-friendly pizza places (with Greek food) that are all over Springfield, Burke and Lorton. But the owner has an orchard of a couple of hundred olive trees back in Greece, and he goes back there every year to supervise a pressing and bottling of Karousos olive oil. There is a basket of these bottles next to the cash register, and I just bought a half dozen ($12.95 each) for Christmas presents. Next to my stove are eight bottles of olive oil, each with a wine spout, which I use in my cooking (and dipping and sipping). Karousos is by far the best, followed by Saifan (Lebanon).]

Reasonable Crystal City business crowd for lunch today. I had the wonderful squid-ink tagliatelle with a topping of mostly calamari, but with an occasional clam, shrimp or mussel. It was sublime. Partner had the lasagna which was impeccable. I have to go back for dinner and sample the menu. This place has promise, being on the same street as chains like Ted's Montana Grill and McCormick and Schmick's....

Yes, he did. It was the only DC-specific reference in the entire show, if I recall correctly. It's at least part of the reason I'm signing up for Nov. 16th.

Put me down for Monday the 16th, and if you'll accept kitchen-skills-challenged significant other for some menial duties like clean up, put both of us down.

Count me in next time. This is a good and noble gathering of Rockwellians. On a nice note, I was at the Springsteen concert at the Verizon Center last night. His only reference to anything going on in DC was the DC Central Kitchen. He gave it a nice minute or two of support in the middle of the concert and encouraged all in attendance to show their support.

Had a pre-Springsteen meal at Thai Chili at the Verizon Center last night. Very surprised this place has no write up in the Restaurant Guide. I may not be an expert on Thai cuisine, but I've tried the ubiquitous and Americanized pad kee mau (drunken noodles) at about two dozen restaurants in this area, and this was one of the better versions. I would return for that dish alone. Plenty of meat -- I ordered the combination -- and very nice spice.

Had lunch at Mio today. I wasn't sure what to expect, but given the inviting decor and the quiet and relatively clean location, I felt I was in for a good meal. Our table of eight sampled the menu, and I would declare it OK, maybe even good, but several notches below excellent. There was a $20.09 3-course menu that I take it is a holdover from Restaurant Week. I didn't try it, and instead went for the Cuban Sandwich, which I try at many places to get a baseline comparison. This one was fair, with dried out pork, OK ham and way too much dijon mustard 'bite' on a so-so bun that was barely pressed. It came with fries that looked fresh-cut and had the promise of a dusting of herbs, but turned out to be flaccid, perhaps fried at too low of a temperature. The crab cakes, cheeseburger and salmon over lentils and spinach were immediately around me at the table. The salmon was cooked spot-on, but the crabcake looked like shredded crab and filler. The burger looked overcooked and could have been from Clyde's. The chef is now Puerto Rican, but I forget his name. The menu seems to be a blend of foods from a quadrangle bounded by Charleston, SC to Havana to Mexico and Central America to Phoenix, more or less. There were grits on the menu, sometimes with shrimp, and chipotle, sometimes with chicken thighs, and chimi sauce, sometimes with skirt steak. I'm not quite sure where the chef is taking this menu, but it's sort of southern, sort of southwestern, sort of Caribbean and sort of good. Nonetheless, if I was dropped on the corner of, say, 14th and K, and given about a 4-block radius, I'm not sure Mio would crack the top 10.

Not to belabor the point, but I just received the following email from Blue Iguana. Having eaten there about dozen times, I wouldn't hesitate to order either of these dishes.

You can get on their email list and get the news on weekend specials. There is usually a meat dish and a fish dish for a reasonable price and good quality. During the week -- Sunday through Thursday -- they offer a 3-course menu for $19.95. I've had the corn chowder, grilled bistro steak with sweet potato risotto and creme brulee combination, which for $19.95 was pretty doggone good.

I never leave Wegman's unsatisfied, either with the prices and quality of the goods, or my belly full of samples, or the yummy variety on the olive bar, or the freshest seafood in our area. And I concur with the pasta station. Had one of the best pasta meals in recent memory last week, simple spaghetti with meatballs, lots of parmesan cheese, and a loaf of fresh bread from the bakery about 5 steps away. It went right in my two-tiered basket with a head of purple cauliflower and a tub of sashimi. Mmmmm....