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silentbob

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Everything posted by silentbob

  1. silentbob
    Another Global Entry data point -- when I originally applied for our six month-old last month, the first available appointment at IAD wasn't until January. But after a few days of checking the GOES system daily, I secured a time slot for yesterday afternoon. Due to her age, there was no real interview -- the CBP agent took her passport, my driver's license, a quick photo of her (still strapped in the car seat), and we were out in under 2 minutes.
  2. silentbob
    So true. Between the DC area and SC, we don't go to MM more three or four times a year -- otherwise, we'd try to explore the menu further -- and always end up ordering this. Except with full aioli. It was the first thing that erin79 ate two hours after giving birth to our daughter in May.
  3. silentbob
    LOVED the oxtail croqueta special that I had at lunch in Crystal City the other day -- rich and creamy but not overwhelmingly so. The tortilla del dia with "seasonal" asparagus was not their best effort though. I avoid ordering any of their sandwich or rice dishes because the olive oil that they provide with bread is sooooo tasty (albeit quite salty for most palates, if not mine).
  4. silentbob
    FWIW, erin79 swears by the Gaggia MDF burr grinder that we got five years ago. We can't speak to how it grinds for coffee but she loves it for espresso.
  5. silentbob
    Delfina - we always try to eat here while in town, still really tough to get a table. Ad Hoc - same as above, if you make it up to Napa? State Bird Provisions - never been, would love to know if it's all that.
  6. silentbob
    I tend to get my information from FlyerTalk and travel blogs first, but am also much more inclined to post and help folks out on this board.
  7. silentbob
    Il Pizzico is more Rockville than Gaithersburg but definitely good. You might also want to consider places in Downtown Crown, which include chains that tend to bridge the gap between adventurous and not so much. I've personally been to Coastal Flats only and it was fine. Paladar sounds the most intriguing, though the reviews here seemed mixed.
  8. silentbob
    Toro Bravo in Portland is better IMO, but I agree with your broader point.
  9. silentbob
    By "formality" do you mean that, on quality of food alone, Etxebarri should have more stars, but because the atmosphere and service are more casual (relatively speaking), it got only one? We ate there, Mugaritz (two stars), and Akelare (three stars) in the same week, and that's the only explanation that comes to mind because the food was about equally good at all of them. FWIW, Etxebarri would be one of the best restaurants in DC and it's not particularly close IMO.
  10. silentbob
    A head's up for those thinking about booking at Pineapple and Pearls -- do not charge the pre-paid portion of the meal price on your Chase Sapphire Reserve with the expectation of receiving 3x UR points. Because you will only get 1x. I spoke to Chase just now, and apparently the pre-paid charges are coded as Miscellaneous and not Dining. Only the drinks we ordered for our dinner at the bar ended up getting 3x points. This is of course the most first-world of first-world problems, but an unpleasant surprise nonetheless. As a one-time courtesy, the Chase representative was willing to give me 3x points for the remaining 50% of the meal price that was pre-paid the day before our reservation (but not the original 50% charged when booking). I accepted this service recovery as better than nothing. But be forewarned. I have no idea if it costs P&P more one way or the other, but don't really feel like taking this up with them given that our dining experience overall was quite positive.
  11. silentbob
    I would not get this card if you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve already (except for those who travel frequently through SFO, DFW, MIA, IAH, LGA, or SEA), but for those who own the personal AMEX Platinum too, they will be giving 5x Membership Rewards points per dollar spent on airfare booked directly from airlines or AMEX starting tomorrow. That's likely enough for me to shift my airfare spend given that MR has more airline transfer partners, including some of the same ones we currently use for our Ultimate Rewards points.
  12. silentbob
    This is more a variant than the real thing, but we loved the Spicy Cuban at Moody's Deli in Waltham, MA. Takes the basic Cubano, adds some pulled pork and chipotle aioli.
  13. silentbob
    Thanks -- all my searches for "Singer" yielded hits that were more musical in nature!
  14. silentbob
    Anyone had the sandwiches yet from the every other Wednesday "pop up" here from Singer's Significant Meats? I looked for a Singer's thread but couldn't find one, no idea how they stack up to Stachowski's, Deli City, et al.
  15. silentbob
    How many drinks are there in the non-alcoholic pairing?
  16. silentbob
    The only comment I would add is that the airlines and hotel chains continue to realize quickly how widely their so-called loyalty programs have been/are being gamed, and are slowly taking away some of the best redemption opportunities (i.e., loopholes) or otherwise eroding their fantastic value proposition. So unless there's some crazy aspirational award requiring hundreds of thousands of points, I recommend earning and burning as quickly as one's schedule and vacation days will allow. Because points/miles don't earn interest and will devalue sharply at unpredictable moments. Believe it or not, the game of miles/points used to be much, much more lucrative before airline/hotel consolidation and shortly after the financial crisis/subsequent recession when the promotions were AMAZING. Like one free night per two stays, where two times at an IAD hotel ($60/night), done several times, netted us free suites in Venice and Florence for a week in the fall of 2010. Or when having mid/high-tier elite status in a legacy airline meant a 80 to 90+ percent chance of a complimentary upgrade clearing. I only caught the tail end of these golden days, but they are long gone.
  17. silentbob
    If you have any other trips across the pond planned, 25% off points redemptions!
  18. silentbob
    Congratulations! We stayed there for a few years ago. Nothing in the Princeville area really rises to must-have levels. The closest would be the kalua pork tacos at the Pat's Taqueria truck in Hanalei and the ice cream at Lappert's. The kalua pork pizza at Hanalei Pizza was good too. The burgers at the North Shore General Store, a few minutes from the St. Regis, are decent as far as what's most convenient.
  19. silentbob
    For what it's worth, the Michelin Guide has good things to say about O Lavrador and Spicy Lanka.
  20. silentbob
    So I went last night. Yeah, the selection is actually quite good for the popular name brands, and there's definitely some high-end stuff. The Kirkland brand prices are insane. I didn't find much by way of small batch gins though, and ended up making a quick trip to MacArthur this morning (grabbing the last two bottles of St. Germain on sale for $25 each as well).
  21. silentbob
    Not true in my experience -- if your phone has the Priority Pass app, the digital card therein has always sufficed.
  22. silentbob
    Yes, the 15% discount is specific to the KrisFlyer program, not Chase. It's been around for years and most travel blog articles on KrisFlyer redemptions will mention it. Basically it went like this, assuming you have a KrisFlyer account already: (1) Book Singapore Airlines ticket, (2) Go the manage bookings section, pick the flight you're looking to upgrade, select upgrade with miles. Generally, I don't like to book tickets where upgrade space isn't already known, so one way to ascertain upgrade space is that it seems to correlate with saver award availability. So even before (1) above you should first find out if there are enough business saver seats available for the flight you're looking to book (basically, make a dummy saver award booking for the same dates), and if availability exists then transfer the necessary miles on Chase to your KrisFlyer account. It took between 12-18 hours after I made the transfer on Chase for the miles to appear in my wife's KrisFlyer account. In our case, for whatever reason the option to upgrade with miles online was grayed out so I called in to request the upgrade but for whatever reason they gave me the 15% discount anyway. I don't know if that's consistent with policy or YMMV but I went in expecting to pay 45K miles per upgrade so it was a pleasant surprise.
  23. silentbob
    Very recent example of a great redemption made possible by our family's stash of Ultimate Rewards points -- Singapore Airlines allows you to upgrade a premium economy seat to their award-winning business class using KrisFlyer miles. For our trip to Southeast Asia next year, there was a rare sale on premium economy tickets for the SFO-SIN nonstop flight, now $1150 RT. A JFK-FRA-SIN ticket that typically costs closer to $1800 is currently $1150 too. The cost to upgrade one way for a flight between Singapore and the U.S. west coast is 45000 miles. After a 15% online award booking discount, it came out to 38,250 miles. We're waitlisted for upgrade on the return flight. The difference between a premium economy and business class ticket for SFO-SIN is just over $3000, so assuming our return flight upgrade clears, this will come out to 4 cents/UR point of value in our redemption. For a 17+ hour flight in lie-flat business class on the west-bound trip (and 14+ hours on the return), it will be priceless to us! P.S. In addition to the Chase Sapphire Reserve, those with a business may also want to consider getting the Chase Ink Plus card. In addition to the signup bonus, they offer 5 points per dollar spent at office supply stores (e.g., Staples or Office Depot, where you can buy Amazon gift cards thus effectively getting 5 points for dollar spent at Amazon) and on internet/cable/cell phone bills.
  24. silentbob
    Sorry my point was unclear, I should have added "for Momofuku DC" after the parenthetical. Assuming of course that where its ramen prices are set is as dependent on location as employee payroll.
  25. silentbob
    Nor bakeries, caterers, or dairy product stores.
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