silentbob

I think this is actually the correct URL for their new website.

https://www.sushiyoshivienna.co/

We learned recently that our unpredictable two year-old daughter loves gnocchi with pesto (De Cecco and Kirkland, respectively).  She rejects around 80 percent of whatever is offered to her, so this was a pleasant surprise!

Frozen pizza from American Flatbread, which was BOGO at Harris Teeter a few weeks ago, has been a hit with our kids too, especially the Twisted 6 Cheese.

16 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

Hamachi/Kampachi/Scallop Crudo is trite.

(Also profitable - there's a reason it's on half the menus in town.)

Great to know -- I love hamachi and am one of the clueless folks who'd order anywhere it's offered, but not anymore if we're getting fleeced.  Is it profitable more because the ingredients aren't too expensive at wholesale, or because restaurants can get away with squeezing out a high volume of small portions while charging regular appetizer prices?  My guess is the latter.

ERA+ already adjusts for whether you pitch in the NL or AL.

ETA: The difference between AL and NL ERAs is quantifiable. On average, pitchers going from AL to NL see their ERAs drop by about .4 runs.  Also, contrary to popular belief, Camden Yards does not rate out as a particularly strong hitters park historically, certainly not in comparison to Coors or Wrigley.

On 1/24/2019 at 11:56 AM, Kibbee Nayee said:

I say again, Mussina is a Greg Maddux who pitched his entire career in the AL East. Maddux was smart enough to realize that working 8-hitter lineups was far easier than trying to pitch in AL East bandboxes in the steroids era against 9-hitter lineups.

For a variety of reasons, Mussina is one of my favorite pitchers of all-time, but he's nowhere near Maddux level.

The AL East argument doesn't hold water with me when Maddux had to pitch during the steroids era at even bigger hitters' parks in Colorado, Arizona, and Wrigley.  Once you factor in league and park, Mussina's best season (164 ERA+ in 1994) doesn't come close to any of Maddux's best (five times ERA+ over 170, including 260 and 271 in 1994-95).

Plus, Maddux was an above-average hitter for pitchers.  He's comfortably top 10 all-time among SPs, whereas Mussina (while clearly deserving of the HOF) is at best top 25.

On 1/25/2019 at 10:31 AM, DPop said:

Is driving 3 hours to Richmond for BBQ really reasonable, though?  If I'm ever down there or driving through, sure, but I can't see making a special trip that far for some brisket and pulled pork..... 

Round trip or one-way?  Depending on where and when you start, ZZQ is totally reachable in 90 minutes.  I've waited 3+ hours for Franklin, though we drive through Richmond enough to/from the in-laws in SC that a special trip isn't likely necessary.

Thanks for the tips!  It's only a few miles from our house but we've never been able to get tickets.

We stopped by here before the Caps game last week.  About a third of our "moist brisket" order was pretty good, the rest was disappointingly dry and excessively charred.  I liked the sides (corn pudding and beet/kale salad) though.  In terms of places within reasonable driving distance of the DC area, ZZQ is best and it's not really close IMO.

We had lunch here on our "work from home" day last week.  The chicken thali platter is certainly a good bargain, but next time we'll simply get a full order of the Chicken Chettinad instead.  Dosa is ginormous and pretty much has to be eaten right away or else it gets cold quickly (or maybe because it was freezing inside the restaurant, my only real complaint about the meal).

Our almost 6 year-old's favorite meal in the whole world is a concoction of his grandmother's -- a 肉鬆 (a.k.a. rousong or "pork floss") and fried egg sandwich, usually with whole wheat bread and a light touch of mayo.  It's a treat that we typically reserve for lunch on weekends, but between the holiday on Monday and staying home from school on Tuesday with a cold, he was going to have it four days in a row.  So I decided to change things up slightly.  Instead of wheat bread and a fried egg, I used King's Hawaiian rolls and scrambled eggs.  He loved it all the same!

Our son had a friend's birthday party nearby last weekend so I took the opportunity to get some of the pork belly to go -- in terms of flavor, it reminded me a lot of Hong Kong/Cantonese-style pork belly, except for the different sauces and crispy skin.  Both styles are equally great IMO.  My only complaint was that the portion size of the garlic fried rice was quite tiny for the price.

Sorry for the somewhat off-topic tangent, but we visited Lopez de Heredia on our honeymoon several years ago and bought some bottles of the 2001 Rioja Reserva Vina Tondonia.  CellarTracker lists the drinking period as 2020-2050.  Am I really making a huge mistake by not waiting another 10-20 more years or longer before opening one?

Unfortunately, a celebratory dinner that my office held here meant ordering from a predetermined list instead of the much more interesting options on the main menu.

That said, I have no complaints about the food itself, and the prime New York strip loin was cooked perfectly -- it looked to be sous-vided at some point, NTTAWWT.

Based on the reviews up-thread, we had brunch and were generally pleased.  Hits for us and the kids included the amazing biscuits with pimento cheese, the salmon collar, and the hash browns that came with the hanger steak.  One of our items came out way under-cooked too, which the manager rectified and comped (also not necessary but was welcome).  It's the kind of place where we'd try to eat if visiting another city.  Too bad nothing remotely like this exists in MD.

Yeah, the Urbanspace food hall in NYC, across the street from Grand Central, has some well-regarded joints (including Roberta's Pizza and Ippudo) that we enjoyed a few years ago.  I expect/hope that the one in Tysons will be of similar quality.

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Sen Khao (reedm)

I don’t get the piece of butter that comes with the rice and chicken drippings. We opted against adding it, but don’t know if that was a mistake.

On 6/14/2016 at 6:34 PM, arldiner said:

Both Parker's and Wilber's are solid and you can't go wrong with either, but at that point you're also pretty close to the best Eastern NC pork bbq period, which is at Grady's. It's a bit farther off 95, probably about a 45-minute total detour, but I would drive 3 hours out of my way for Grady's.

When I first went there, I also tried Wilber's and the Skylight Inn on the same trip. Both were incredible. The first bite I had of Grady's pork bbq, I instantly knew this was a whole other level entirely. I hadn't even thought there was a higher level, but somehow Grady's hits it. Also great fried chicken and solid sides and hush puppies (but you're going for the pork bbq).

We made it to Grady’s on Saturday and this pretty much sums up the place to a tee. The fried chicken really is excellent but the pork, with a bit more crackling mixed in, would be perfect.

We went back to ZZQ for a late lunch the other day. Brisket was the same smoky goodness as always but the big winner was a caramelized onion pie, most likely a daily special that may not be there anymore. It was basically an oversized tart with rich onion filling. Our five year-old nearly finished a whole piece of brisket after not wanting any last time, so that’s gotta be a win.

Holiday gift card that comes with a reservation between January and March is back and on sale!

I don't know when TJ started selling their garlic spread dip, but am mad that we didn't discover it until very recently.  It's seriously one of my favorite condiments of all time.

Some have compared it to the legendary garlic sauce that Zankou (super-popular chain in the Los Angeles area) serves with its roast chicken.

A writer from "Vox" thinks that food halls are on the rise because "we crave authenticity."

On 10/17/2018 at 2:18 PM, bookluvingbabe said:

Mr. BLB and I met in our fantasy baseball league.  We've been taking BL-6th grader to the auction since he was 8 and he's had a team since he was 9.  We're total baseball nerds.

Sigh...I miss the thrill of in-person fantasy baseball auctions.  For several years on a Saturday in March, some law school classmates and I would meet up in NYC for ours.  The trash talking and bidding up other people's favorite players was so enjoyable.  But then everyone started getting married, having kids, etc. and the league died.  I've played fantasy baseball since 1992 and been in online leagues with the same folks from around the world who I still haven't met IRL for 25+ years now.  Things have really changed from the days of scoring by hand after waiting for our copy of USA Today's Baseball Weekly to arrive at the front door.  Now I spend just as much time on daily fantasy, which requires a whole different skill set from season-long and is just as fun if not more.  In some ways, DFS has made me much better at season-long (and, in other ways, worse).

Has anyone here had first-hand experience with how well (or not) the new reservation system has worked in practice?

A semi-homemade dinner from Costco, all in 15 minutes:

2 pound coho salmon fillet, broiled on the top rack using a baking sheet with only some Penzey's spice mix for fish

Mini cucumbers cut into strips, dipped in tzatziki

Pre-made quinoa salad

A new credit card for everyone's consideration -- the AMEX Gold (formerly called the Premier Rewards Gold).

4x Membership Rewards Points on restaurant AND supermarket spend, 3x on airfare.  Annual fee is $250, though you can get up to $100 back on airline fee reimbursement and $120 in dining reimbursement from Shake Shack, GrubHub, Seamless, et al. (up to $10 per month).

The bonus is slightly higher for restaurants and significantly higher for supermarkets than the Chase Sapphire Reserve, though the 3x on airfare is narrower than the Chase's 3x on broader travel categories.  My sense is that this card may be worth getting if you already have MR points through the AMEX Platinum, but not worth it if you're all-in on Ultimate Rewards instead.