Kibbee Nayee

I'm sure this is waaaaay off-topic, but I have had good success with California Wine Merchant. Greg is one of the more knowledgeable people in the trade, and he knows the growers and producers in person. His curated wine club is incredible -- six bottles every other month, and none of them are available in shops or stores. Many of them are from a production run of 100 cases or less. Or do as I do and visit about once a year, drink myself into a stupor, and buy about five mixed cases to ship home.

Hmmm....The Birchmere is about a mile away, and the food there is dreadful. How about a pasty shop, so that portable goodies can be had and smuggled into The Birchmere?

This ought to be interesting.....

My next visit to San Francisco is in a few weeks, and my hotel is 350 feet away from Saison....it's also a 2-minute walk to Oracle Park, but the Giants will be in Spring Training.

We're off-topic a bit on Brio. The CEO is Brad Blum, who ran Olive Garden. From the FoodFirst press page: "If anyone has the resume to do it, it might be Blum, who ran Olive Garden for seven years. After that he was CEO at Burger King and Romano's Macaroni Grill before spending three more years back at Darden on its board of directors until he resigned in March (2018) to embark on his new venture." Now, there's a resume for you! Burger King, Romano's Macaroni Grill, and Brio. He definitely knows his fine food.

Well, Brio has closed for unknown reasons, although nobody on this board will miss it....apparently the Fair Oaks location remains open, also for unknown reasons.

The "tower" at Clyde's is half-priced during happy hours. It has a different name at each Clyde's -- Lighthouse at Gallery Place, Ocean Liner at Chevy Chase -- but during happy hours, they are half-priced. Best deal in town.

I only post this because I had lunch today in what was once Kinkead's. If there is a category for how far down a property has fallen in culinary terms, then I nominate 2000 Pennsylvania Ave, NW for that dishonor. The food at Bertucci's is borderline inedible. From a soul-less lentil soup that was barely microwave warm, to the vapid sausage "Menucci" -- or flatbread -- with barely melted cheese and too-soft, almost undercooked crust. It would be hard to imagine a more indifferent kitchen. It was as if nobody in that kitchen cared one bit about the food going out. Bob Kinkead must be spinning in his grave.

Well first, let's start with a website, so we can understand more about this place. Second, the menu doesn't draw me in. I don't think that I would enjoy egg drop soup with Pecorino Romano, with a Gochujang Margarita. But if someone invites me there to have some fun, I'm game. Part of me is thrilled that our area can be culinarily playful enough to accommodate such a concept.

I get together infrequently with friends from "an agency" where we worked together in the 1980s and raised all kinds of hell in the name of national security. We typically gather from our various trajectories at Jackson 20 for a drink, and then head off from there to a nice meal. The last few times, maybe because of the effects of the drinks, or our advancing dotage, we remained at Jackson 20 for the evening. And so it was last night, when 5 of us gathered to reminisce on our glory days. This menu is trying hard to be something....with our first couple of rounds of drinks, we were offered the half-price happy hour libations, although technically we were not actually in the bar. No problem, our happiness was more important to our server than the rules. Next came some delicious biscuits from the kitchen with accompanying apple butter and real butter. We swapped stories, generally caught up on each other's lives, and had a rolling start to the evening. On to the main event, I had the crispy oysters as a starter, and the Autumn Olive Farm Pork Delmonico with a side of autumn roasted squash as my main. It was a delicious meal, although the oysters were on the barely-too-greasy side, and the pork had quite a bit of fat to cut away. But overall, this was a very good meal. Companions had anything from the Brown Butter Chestnut Mac n' Cheese, the J20 Double Burger, and the seafood special of Grouper. Plates were cleaned and all was well. The hostess came to check on us a few times, and playful banter ensued. She comp'd us a round of shots prior to our departure, but urged that we not drive. Most of us took Uber, so that wasn't an issue. Jackson 20 is what it is, a reasonably good restaurant trying to make seasonal dishes for the Old Town crowd. As far as that part of Old Town is concerned, it's one of the better options.

I agree. It won't stop me from going back again and again.

At Wilson Blvd, mouse droppings were found on bags of onions....

Appears to be Turkish mostly, with an occasional foray to Greece. Turkish wines on the Happy Hour menu. The picture of the Adana sub on the menu looks absolutely mouth-watering.

I've enjoyed many meals here in the 1980s, usually heavy dishes with cream-laden sauces....those were the days. If this board ever wants to put together a slightly inadvisable "Spook Hangout" topic, the Alpine would make the list. Many overt gatherings of CIA and DIA heavies were had here, usually on regular occasions. The location was roughly equidistant from Langley and the Pentagon.

I've had similar experiences here. I'm not sure what went into the thought process of choosing this location....Le Bledo was here for a long time, but after Chick-fil-A clobbered the parking lot and the traffic pattern, Le Bledo moved to -- and is thriving in -- another part of Springfield. I can't imagine that someone thought putting a mediocre food concept into a very bad location would be a good idea.

More like 6.5....

Hai Duong still does not appear in the Springfield Dining Guide, and it is notable by its absence. This is pretty good Vietnamese food, probably middlin' by our high standards in northern Virginia, but definitely holding its own among the Springfield outposts of Vietnamese food. The phở is the draw, and of the 15-20 people here for lunch today, almost all were having some version of phở . I opted for the vermicelli bowl with grilled pork and chả giò , and it was good. This place is not fancy, and does a spirited carry-out business. I would give it a solid B- on a scale of 10.

Average? That's actually a compliment.

Whenever I work at my firm's Tyson's offices, my selections begin with Lebanese Taverna for sit-down lunch, Paul or the Ritz-Carlton for sit-down breakfast -- I never voluntarily go to Starbucks -- Andy's Pizza on the 3rd floor for edible pizza, and Sen Kao for a bracing bowl of slurp when I don't have to worry about keeping my shirt clean. I look forward to giving Lady M a try.

Frank Ruta's famed Palena Burger is coming back....

If "energy" equates to noise, as it frequently does, then it lands squarely on my "avoid" list. If, on the other hand, it means joyful bustling, but allows realistic conversation below the shouting level, please clarify.

The Tysons demographic may be changing with the high-rise housing coming in and around the Metro, but for the past couple of decades it's been fairly consistent. The Tech industry (mostly) calls for expense account lunches and steak-and-cigar dinners for the executives, with a healthy mix of inexpensive lunches and happy hours for the junior workforce.

Lady KN and I were puttering about the house and watching college football on and off, so we decided to Door Dash 9 Pad Thai. We hadn't tried it before, so we wanted to give it a try. It took 50 minutes to get our meal. We ordered the chicken wings and the spring rolls, not for authenticity but for general comparison to other similar items in the area. From the seafood menu we ordered the Pad Chad Talay 3-star spicy seafood combination, the Duck Stir-fry with Basil from the original Thai menu, and the Chicken with Cashews from the specialty menu. All three were disappointments. Spice was muted to well below American-spicy, and the Duck was fried to the point where all we could taste was the fry, not the duck. The gloopy sauce on the dishes reminded me of bad Americanized Chinese food. I realize we ordered delivery, so that must be taken into account. Dishes should be enjoyed as soon as they pop out of the kitchen. We also need to sample more dishes on the menu. But if I have a hankering for Thai in Springfield, nothing that we tasted today would divert me from a visit to Thai Ghang Waan.

No, I don’t think he was being flip. He was being bombarded by questions, and I was trying to convey, however weakly, a blind spot for true Lebanese cuisine in our area. I respect his writing a lot.

That was my question in his chat today. His answer was a bit flip. He probably hasn't eaten at Mama Ayesha's in a while -- it has been reviving itself of late. And Lebanese Taverna may have over-expanded, but as I said, the flagship in Westover is a very good restaurant, and so is Tysons Galleria. I'm looking forward to his review of Me Jana. He sort of confirmed my point....earlier in his chat, he was excited about going to a new Turkish restaurant, and his answer to my question indicated he hadn't eaten at a true Lebanese restaurant in quite a while. In Sietsema's defense, he has quite an expansive food scene to cover in the DC metropolitan area, but I think I hit on a blind spot of his.