schulju

While I haven't had the opportunity to do a formal study of NYC pizza, I did get a chance to try Grimaldi's the last time I was up there. I must say, that was some mighty fine pizza! So much better than anything I have found locally. And the salads were wonderful too. (I've been dreaming of that pizza ever since we had it!)

Thanks Leleboo. I did find that thread AFTER I posted my question. But, since there's only one actual suggestion on that thread and lots of traffic laments, I'll still ask for additional recommendations...

I'm sure this is probably covered somewhere else, but I couldn't locate it. I will be attending the PSU game at FedEx field on Saturday, November 20th! (Go State!) I would like to have diner afterwards with several other couples. We are all going to be in separate cars. Since most of these folks are not from the area, it would be nice to pick somethign that's within a 10-minute drive. These are old friends I haven't seen in a while, so I'm looking for someplace with a noise level that allows for conversation where we would be welcome to occupy the table for a while on a Saturday night. Any ideas?

While I grew up about 100 miles east of Lancaster, my parents loved the area and I have spent many hours in Shady Maple. I haven't been there in years, but they use to carry not just grocery items (many in "Costco" sizes) they also carried household items, small tools, fabric and sewing needs, and even some hand made furniture. We would often go up on Tuesdays when the Roots famer's market and auction was running. I remember coming home with tons of fruits and veggies that Mom would can, or use to make jam. Your post brought back great memories!

All this focus on an $8.95 frozen hot chocolate and no mention of the $1,000.00 gold sundae?

First trip to Palena last evening. No corn ravioli (sigh). As it was Monday, we ate in the cafe. We had the cheese plate, to which I can just say "eh". while there were 6 cheeses on the plate, three of them were soft goat cheeses and tasted very similar. There was a really outstanding bleu and a very nice gouda. The chestnut honey was frankly weird, and so strong in flavor that it took away from the cheese. The cafe salad was very nicely dressed and the roasted beets were super sweet. Couldn't go to Palena for the first time and not order the chicken. Having never heard of Palena before last night, my companion with whom I was splitting dishes, couldn't understand why I wanted to order chicken at a restaurant. That was some juicy, crunchy, tasty chicken! We finished up with the hazelnut chocolate cake, which was a great finish to a really wonderful meal. Great service and a beautiful room to top it off! Can't believe I waited so long to go..can't wait till I can go again!

I would be very interested in volunteering, but I wouldn't be able to get there until 6:30 or so...would that matter?

I can't do Mussel Bar today, but how expensive is it? If you had a group, could it be a candidate for a $20 dinner?

~ducks~ Don't laugh! But the frozen croissants at Trader Joe's are really really good. You do have to have some foresight, because you need to let them rise overnight (7-9 hours) before you can bake them. They bake up wonderfully flakey. A hot croissant that you can have without having to change out of your jammies is definitely worth something in my book!

If by Bethesda, you really mean South Rockville, I'm probabaly in!

Which sucks, because now we won't be able to get near the G-SPOT for brunch! (Although, of course, we are always happy to see our beloved chefs achieve fame and recognition for that which they do so well.)

Hubby and I had lunch at Againn Rockville on Saturday afternoon. We arrived a little after 2 pm; it was close to 4 when we left. Not because we were having a delightful time and felt like lingering over our lunch....but because this is how long one salad and two entrees take on a Saturday afternon with exactly 4 tables in the restaurant and 2 servers on duty! It started well, we were met immediately upon entering the restaurant by a pleasant hostess and shown to our table. Waiter #1 came over quickly to take our drink order. A moment later, Waiter #2 came over to take our drink order....well as you might guess, both asked us what we wanted, but neither one brought our drinks! It seems they each thought the other would get it handled. Hubby had asked for a beer and I had asked for a tall glass of ice water with "extra" lemon. After 10 minutes, and three "your drinks will be right out", Hubby finally got his beer. My water was another 10 minutes behind. Between Hubby's beer and my water, Waiter #1 brought out the salad special we ordered, a duck confit salad that was really quite nice. A large portion and plenty to share if you're having something else. Things were looking up... Waiter #1, upon clearing our salad plates announced "your food will be right up". Great! Or so we thought...we proceeded to watch for the next 20 minutes both waiters clean up the wait staff line, discuss the hanging of a new clock, chit chat with each of the other three tables while carefully avoiding eye contact with us. The tables that were seated when we arrived finished their meals and left. The table that arrived after us had been served appetizers and entrees and were moving on to dessert...but still our food wasn't making a showing and no one would even speak to us! Finally, a manager came over to tell us my sandwhich had been burned and they were making a new one (it was a grilled cheese folks...they could have made 10 of them in this time). We asked that Hubby's meal be brought out since we assumed it was getting cold while it awaited my sandwhich, but we were told it was "still in the oven". Eventually, our food did arrive...It was okay, nothing to write home about. Hubby got the shepard's pie. It looked good, but he didn't like the topping. He was expecting a mashed potato topping and this had more of a baked custard topping on it. The grilled ham and cheese sadwhich was okay, but seemed overly salty. I tasted a piece of the ham alone, thinking that's where all the salt was coming from...but really, it was the cheese that was overly salty. Needless to say, we probably won't be gracing the doors of Againn again.

Wish I could, but getting an early start on the holiday weekend. Maybe I can catch up with everyone next time. My office just relocated to the Shady Grove Road area, but we're on the north side, so actually a Gaithersburg address. Hope you won't hold that against me

I know of exactly one plate of nachos that I would be willing to leave the house for. Unfortunately, these nachos live in Pikesville. However, if you're up that way, and you're looking for some great, casual mexican food, I recommend you try out Mari Luna Mexican Grill. The grilled chicken nachos here are of the "pile" variety, but the cheesey/chickeny goodness is layerd in the pile. To Scott's point, there's still kind of a greasy soggy mess when you get to the bottom of the plate...but this plate is so huge, few folks actually get to the bottom. More info here

Never mind...he beat me to it

My husband and I visited the Caverns in Luray a few years ago. On a tip from our guide, we left the main gate, crossed over Hwy. 211 and took a left when the street ended at Main. Within a block or two on the left was a little cafe. I can't recall the name, but it was before you got anywhere near the "downtown" area. I had the best grilled cheese sandwhich there! Hubby had a turkey or meatloaf speacial..something like that. It was pleasant, casual, "country-style" food. I can't locate a name and it doesn't pop up on Google when I look in the area so I don't even know if it's still there. If it is, it may be the best food in Luray based on previous comments.

Although it's been about three years, I wouldn't wast the time or the gas on the Bavarian Inn. Everything we had was dried out and tasteless. Very dissappointing. What about Cafe Berlin? I've generally had a really enjoyable meal there. We often go with friends who were stationed in Germany and they say it's very authentic. Click

Spent the weekend in Long Island and had lunch at Grimaldi's. I've seen the arguments on both sides as to how Grimaldi's stacks up to other NY pizza parlors, but it definitely took the edge off of the pizza jones I've been on for a while. As good as the pizza was, the very simple chopped salad was phenomenal. The salad was exceedingly fresh, and was topped with a ton of fresh mozzarella and I'm wondering if there's any place to purchase really good FRESH mozzarella like that around here. The stuff at the grocery store, even the stuff that you can buy packed in water these days, has more in common with silly putty than with the cheese I had this weekend.

Okay friends, looking for some suggestions for a late lunch on Sunday, close to Penn Station would be great, but we could jump into a cab. We're coming back from a family party in Long Island and have a 4pm train out of Penn Station. I expect we'll get tossed out of our hotel around 11am, so we have about 3.5 hours to kill once we get back to manhattan. We'll have our luggage with us...always fun dine with a suitcase stuffed under the table

I agree with sb, the chao fun always seems a little "off" here, for one reason or another. I'm almost ashamed to admit that my favorite Gaithersburg chao fun is from Mama Wok, though I'm not sure I would order anything else there. I do love the Singapore noodles at Michael's, definitely the best Gaithersburg has to offer.

You MUST post a live action photo of the bobblehead at the scene. Oh, and bring me some of that popcorn too, please!

Goodeats, I'll join you at Silver Fountain. I never had the opportunity to try HEOTB when it was still OTB, but my experience at the new location was lacking compared to the meal I had a few weeks earlier at Silver Fountain. The company at both meals was, of course, outstanding!

While in SF last month I happened by the Ferry Terminal Building to visit Chris Cosentino's Boccalone Salumeria. The next day, I happened by again...and again the following day. The "cone" of meat changes daily, but the mortadella with pistachio was outstanding. It was a revelation to someone who's only source of cold cuts is the deli counter at the Giant. I will look forward to a visit to Arrowine this month...

Thaiphoon! I've never been to the Pentagon City location, but the Dupont Circle location is my 'go-to' staple in the District.