mxyzptlk

My wife and I have been to one in London, and it's a pretty nice place. I would think along the lines of Wagamamas, but with dim sum instead of noodles. And without the communal, picnic-bench-type seating. Decent (and freshly made) small food in a modern decor. Definitely a good addition to DC.

The thing that kills me about Bistro d'Oc, aside from everything else that's already been mentioned, is that if you walk one block further south, and one block west, you can eat at Central and get a meal that is 10^6 times better AND you would spend the same amount of money, if not less. I imagine with the Zagat sticker in the window and the semi-rustic looking decor, it probably draws in the more discriminating tourists walking down 10th Street, or people who don't know Central is right around the corner.

Rice crackers, huh? Thanks for the info... As for the shortage of accompanying crackers, I have to agree. I usually have some of the pre-meal bread left over so I eat it with that. Although I have no issues of shoveling spoonfuls of tartare alone in my mouth, I am always a little leary of what it would mean for digestion later, if I were to eat it completely by itself.

Maybe this is too common a response, but I am always a fan of the tartare at Central. It's nothing particularly fancy or inventive, but it always does it for me. Every time I get it, I am amazed at the tiny little croutons that are in it and wonder how they make them so small. I find that the appetizer portion is plenty big enough as an entree, especially with the accompanying frites. I've had Cafe du Parc's version as well and didn't care for it.

My office mate and I went to Pho 75 for lunch and were caught up in this whole craziness. It was mass chaos outside the entire time they were there. President Obama and entourage were in and out in 30 minutes.

I thought I would just add my bit to this topic... I have bought cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcake, Hello Cupcake, and Red Velvet all within the last two weeks (at least 3 from each place). In order of preference, I rank them: 1. Georgetown Cupcake-- very moist cake and the frosting wasn't too thick or too sweet. I am wondering though if they actually soak their cupcakes in simple syrup after they cook them. If not, their moist cake is a pretty good feat of physics. This is definitely not something I could replicate at home and the flavors were really good. A bit on the smaller side, but that's probably a good thing and what contributes to making it a great cupcake. 2. Red Velvet-- cake isn't as moist as the Georgetown Cupcake, but the flavors are good. Frosting is definitely fresh and made from scratch. Looks like something I could probably make at home. 3. Hello Cupcake-- cake is a bit dry and lacking in flavor (but not Love Cafe-flavorless) and there was way too much oversweet frosting for me. The only good one my wife and I had was the carrot cake one. My sister made cupcakes for my wife and I the week before (from scratch), and I would say her cupcakes were better than the ones from here. As a frame of reference, I rank Love Cafe well below Hello Cupcake.

Confused for coffee

My wife and I went here tonight. I guess we arrived during a relative lull as the line outside was only 2 people deep when we showed up. On the continuum of burgers, here is how they stack up with me....(100 being best and 1 being worst): 99.98--Ray's Hell-Burger | | | | | 52.00--Good Stuff 51.25--Johnny Rockets | 45.00--Five Guys | | 32.00--Ben's Chili Burger Sub | | 15.00--Checkers 14.75--White Castle 14.50--Sonic 13.00--Wendy's 12.50--Burger King | 5.10--McDonalds 4.50--Old-school original MRE dehydrated beef patty

My wife and I (along with both sets of parents) went to Co Co Sala tonight. Of all the new places in PQ, I think this was the one that we were anticipating the most. The menu is quite unique in my experience. Obviously, everything revolves around chocolate and coffee, and we were told that everything on the menu has either chocolate or coffee in it in one form or another. The savory part of the menu are different flavor combinations of appetizers: mac & cheese, mini burgers, crabcakes(?), and one other thing I can't remember. And of course the sweet part of the menu is pretty extensive. What I found really interesting is that they have four different chocolate tasting menus of five courses each. Each menu is reflective of a different chocolate region of the world, and includes an amusé, intermezzo, and cheese course. There is a pretty long hot chocolate menu where you can get a different type of hot chocolate flavor and you can even get it in frozen/coffeeccino form. They also do have a full-service bar with your favorite cocktails, et al. But from our first visit there, the most striking thing is the interior. The place is appointed like a lounge that you could easily find in Manhattan or London. It's really obvious they spared no expense in decorating this place. It is a really inviting space and, although theoretically sounds like a pretentious type of place, is actually very warm. To top it off, while you would expect London prices, it's actually pretty reasonable. I think the 5-course chocolate tasting menu was $30 and a hot chocolate was $5-$6. You can't even get a $5 hot chocolate at Mariebelle in Soho in NY. Hell, you can't even get a $5 hot chocolate at Starbucks these days, can you? I think that what they have in Coco Sala is a real winner. I definitely see this place getting real crowded really soon, and will be a destination place for the area. My advice is to get in there while it's still relatively easy to get in. I think it's going to become the next Proof.... lucky for us, my wife and I live only a block away.

Seeing as my wife and I live upstairs from this place, we went tonight more to see what it was like inside after watching it being built for the last year. Bottom line up front: Good. Not pan-asian, but Thai. The menu is 75% Thai, 15% Japanese (sushi, yakisoba, miso soup), 10% Chinese and/or Chinese influence. The only Korean on their menu was the OB beer. So here is what we ordered: ~ Spicy scallop roll: I am a real fiend for spicy scallop rolls. I haven't had one, I don't think, since I left Chicago in 2004. The surprising thing about these scallop rolls was they put tempura bits around the outside and inside the roll. Fresh, raw scallops have a very subtle flavor and texture and the tempura bits kind of distract a little from that. Not a deal-breaker though. The spicy sauce is like the way I am used to--made with Kewpie mayo. I'm not sure what the spicy sauce normally is here on the East coast, but it's different somehow. ~ Spring rolls: Spring rolls. They were good. ~ Penang Curry: Curry was good, wasn't bad, but definitely wasn't anything unusual. It was a fairly large portion size too. ~ Kapow on rice: Let's talk about this for a minute. I really like a traditional ka prow (I think it's traditional anyway) which is made with ground chicken. I actively search this out and the only places I've found it anywhere near DC is at this little place outside Fort Belvoir (Rice and Spice Thai, I think) and Bangkok Joe's down on the waterfront in Georgetown. The one I had here at Asia 9 is by far the best I've had in a really, really long time. It was a really large portion, and I told me wife that I would be hard pressed not to order this every time we go there. I like this place just for this dish alone. Service was actually really good, prompt, no problems. I'm really happy to have a place like this in my building. It will definitely save some money from getting delivery from Thai Chili. Is it a ground-breaking place? No. But it's a nice little place to have downstairs. Next time we go, I am going to order the chirashi...

Cityzen isn't all that cozy, but if you tell them that it's a special occasion, they will make a little effort to make it memorable, to include a little less-exposed table. There are some corners of the dining room that are pretty private. I can almost guarantee that you will have at least one or two "holy shit" moments. That would be my recommendation.

I'm a big fan of their battered burgher, but I've noticed that it, also, is a hit-or-miss thing. Some nights it's really good, other nights, it comes out as a rock-hard orb of discoloured protein. It would be nice if they had a bottle of HP sauce on the tables as well for it.

I don't remember it word-for-word, but I think it's something like: "Break off a square, push it up to the roof of your mouth to let the chocolate melt and enjoy the flavor of the bacon and the salt." Surprisingly, it actually made a little bit of difference to eat it that way.

My wife and I love this chocolate bar... it's not as obnoxious as you would think. The bacon is cooked really crisp so you just get a smoky, salty flavor with no big fat chunks. It pairs really well with the chocolate. There is even a suggested eating method which actually does make a difference in getting all the different flavors out of the bar.

Having lived in Chicago, I've gotten delivery from and eaten at Wildfire many times. I would place it a tiny step above Outback Steakhouse than anywhere near a proper steakhouse. All of the "Lettuce Entertain You" restaurants in Chicago (with the possible exceptions of Everest and Tru) are all about faux atmosphere and ok food, but not really worth the price. It will do in a pinch, but I'm not sure I'd rather go there than an Outback. Maybe this one will be different though... once I hear the "Lettuce" name associated with a restaurant, I pretty much write it off.

Espresso generally has less caffeine than coffee because the water does not spend as much time in contact with the grounds to leech it out, and you drink a lesser volume of espresso than coffee. Of course, this varies depending on the volumes of coffee and espresso you are talking about.

Also, check out foodler.com. It's not an exhaustive list, but once you log in and give them your address, it brings up a list of available restaurants that will deliver to that address. My wife and I live in Penn Quarter and there aren't many delivery options down here that I am aware of, aside from Thai Chili and Sushi-Go-Round. I think Chop't salad also delivers. That's what they say on their menus anyway, and it might only be during the week/business day. As an aside, I got the best chirashi I've had in a long time, from Sushi-Go-Round surprisingly. It had real crab meat, uni, good shrimp and was a shockingly large portion.

My wife and I are huge fans of Le Paradou. So much so, we had our wedding reception/meal there last year in their private room. Anyways, we went this past weekend to celebrate the anniversary of when we first met and were really disappointed by the service. There were a couple of things that stood out: 1. Wait staff were actually kind of rude, which took my wife and I by complete surprise. 2. The clearing of the table wasn't done like it normally was. Usually when we go, the staff somehow magically know when we are done and as soon as we finish they come by and take our plates and replace our silverware. Not this time. We didn't get replacement silverware until the entrees came and the only reason we did get fresh silverware is because the waiter saw we had no silverware on our table. 3. We started with a glass of champagne, and my wife ordered a glass of wine. She wanted the wine with the entree, and it didn't show up with the entree. Long story short, after asking twice, waiting 15 minutes, the sommelier finally came over and asked her if she was ready for her wine. She literally had two bites of food left on the plate. 4. In a very strange twist, during our dessert course, a staff member brought over a plate with a candle on it, and written in chocolate on the plate was, "Happy Birthday!" It was neither of our birthdays, nor did we ever indicate to them that we were there celebrating anything. This isn't a complaint so much as it was just the coup de grace of a unusual evening at Le Paradou. With all this complaining, I should add that the food was superb as it always is. The food is never an issue for us there, but unfortunately the service was, which was a huge letdown. The service is one of the main reasons why my wife and I return to Le Paradou. I'm sure we'll be back though and I hope it's just a funny story for us to look back on.

It's too bad we don't have a White Castle nearby.... Make your Valentine’s day STEAMY! Take your Valentine to White Castle on Wednesday, February 14 between 5 and 8 p.m. and enjoy hostess seating, candlelit dining and your own server. Reservations are required, so check the list below for participating Castles near you! Special this year, you can also treat your honey to a romantic White Castle dinner in your home! Cupid’s Crave Kits include eight cheeseburgers, one sack of fries, two regular soft drinks, coupons and keepsake items to heat up your homespun romance. Now, ain’t that sweet? For more information or to make a Cupid’s Crave Kit reservation, call the phone number listed for the your city of choice below.* * Cupid’s Crave Kits are not available at all locations. Reservations are required.

I searched but I didn't find a thread about Weenie Beenie.... which is surprising, but it may very well be that I am search-stupid. Living right next to Ben's Chili Bowl and now having tried Weenie Beenie, I can say that Ben's Chili Bowl comes out as the clear victor in the "who-makes-the-best-half-smoke" contest in my mind. While Weenie Beenie also splits and fries the half-smokes like Ben's, it's not the same. WB's half-smokes still lack the flavor of Ben's (although they are probably cooking the same sausage). The chili, even though it's of questionable origin and content at Ben's, is much better than WB's. The fries were ok at WB's- they are battered steak fries straight out of a plastic bag. I've only had the half-smokes at Weenie Beenie, so can't comment on any of the other sandwiches. Anyone else? Is there something else I should eat there? ETA: added link to location

I have to admit that I haven't found a restaurant in DC that doesn't serve yuk-gae-jang, but there are ones in Chicago, where I grew up, that didn't serve it at all. In fact, the first time I saw it was when I was 14 when I went BACK to Korea to visit relatives. Now if we could get them all to serve sol-long-tang and soon-dae (not necessarily together), that would be a real accomplishment....

It's right next door to Jaleo and isn't more than a 10-minute walk from the Crystal City Metro stop.

Got the email this morning that Bebo would start serving sandwiches at lunch. As soon as I read that, I was going to walk down there for sure and be in line early. So I got there at 11:25am with a couple of officemates and got our sandwiches. Chef Donna came out and talked to us for quite a bit while we were waiting for the cash register to get fixed. One of my friends asked him when he was going to be a guest chef on Top Chef and he said not until they invite him like on Iron Chef... then he mumbled that he didn't even want to be on Iron Chef. Anyhow, the sandwiches lived up to their name and I will probably be going back every day until I've had every single sandwich. I'm very pleased Chef Donna is in Crystal City.

My wife and I decided to go to brunch this past Sunday with my sister and her boyfriend. We hadn't been back to Viridian in quite a while because we went a few times over the last year and it just wasn't a good experience. After the last time, I vowed not to go back. Happily, brunch was really good. The menu and the food were beyond expectation, and the service was nice, too. My wife and I finally feel like we have a neighborhood place to go get a nice breakfast without spending $70 per person. We'll definitely be back for dinner now...

You know, I have to admit that I was a bit leery of posting last night, or at all really, as I had only been there one time and it was their opening night. I have to agree that only two banchan is a bit strange for a Korean place, but it might well have been that they are going to have more, but it was just bad timing or unusual availability or something. I didn't want to judge Mr. Lee, et al., without giving them opportunities to fix shortcomings that shook out on the first night's service. But for it's worth, at the end of the day, there were only two banchan.