Pool Boy

On 4/4/2015 at 1:39 PM, Pool Boy said:

When it comes to classical music involving pieces highlighting the Violin, a favorite performer of mine is Gil Shaham. One of the pieces I have listened to many times and seen live with him playing (I think twice) is Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E Minor (#64).

Here are each of the movements--

1. Allegro

2. Andante

3. Allegro molto vivace

A treat.

We saw him do this piece again at Strathmore recently and it was just great.

On 2/7/2020 at 10:21 AM, Toogs said:

I visited Kogi Underground last night.  I love Honey Pig more than I love most of my family, but I was hoping this would be good enough, since it's much closer to my house.  And indeed it was.  In some ways it was better (being able to hear your dining companions, for one), although i think overall HP will remain supreme. Spicy pork belly was the star, chadol a close second, mussels were a little weird, and everything else was very good.  It's all you can eat with a choice of 2 menus (20 dollars, or 24 for premium, which includes all of the 20 dollar and a handful of other things).  The main difference I noticed on the 24 dollar menu was the premium steak (literally a nice piece of steak) and shrimp options.  While those were both good, I think I would do the 20 dollar in the future, there are so many choices.   That said if you had a hankering for eating a shitton of steak, it would be a good way to go.

I will have to check it out. Thanks for the details.

10 hours ago, eatruneat said:

We've been depending on A. Literri at Union Market for our wine supply. They usually taste a few bottles on the weekends including one higher end one. The wine selection is mostly Italian wines but they have wines from other regions as well, across all price ranges. Max is great and we really trust his opinions. 

That is not a bad choice of late. They have upped their wine game for sure - I scored a couple of bottles there a month or two ago that are more or less impossible to find.

As for trying new things, it helps to connect with someone who has actually tasted the wine, knows your palate and can suggest some options. It means building a relationship with a person at a wine shop and seeing how things evolve. Same goes for buying wine for dinner at restaurants. I loved the guy at the Grill Room when Frank was there, but lost the connection when Frank moved on and I had no idea how to find the wine guy - he was remarkable in zeroing in on what you liked and how to help you expand your envelope just a tad.

Additional options I am sure are coming - my guess is they are still finding their service rhythm before they do that. Nice write up.

A great, but all too short piece.
 

On 2/2/2020 at 9:35 AM, LorenzoF said:

We had thoroughly enjoyed Chef Ruta’s culinary mastery in his previous digs, Palena and Mirabelle. Thus, we were anxious to try his new restaurant near Dupont Circle and went there last weekend, just one week after Annabelle’s opening.

For main courses, we chose the smoked olive-oil -poached Chatham cod, the home-dry-aged rib eye beef steak and the roasted free-range half-chicken with tarragon jus, oca root boulangere and wilted spinach. The entrees were all excellently executed (meaning that we liked them a lot, lest somebody might think we possess superior technical knowledge…). Though we also agreed that the succulent chicken (crispy on the outside, moist inside, super tasty throughout) stood out as the top pf the pack, in terms of cost-benefit analysis (aka bang for the buck). The most committed meat eater among us (that would be me) thought that the rib eye steak at 9oz was a bit on the smallish side. That is certainly good for the cows, probably beneficial to the environment, perhaps helpful for human health, but it certainly does little to improve my mood.

Before the main courses, we had the “Carbonara” (a riff on the typical Roman dish with duck confit replacing the guanciale or pancetta and egg sabayon replacing the fresh egg dictated by eternal city tradition). We also tried three different salads, namely the beet, Caesar-esque, and Boston Lettuce salads, all scrumptious, with the Caesar-esque perhaps being the most notable.

Annabelle is located in the building that once hosted the famous Nora, well known for being the first farm-to-table/organic restaurant in the DC area. Although the general arrangement and resulting atmosphere of Annabelle are very pleasant, we felt that there are some minor quirks in the architecture of the place following its renovation. The entrance leads you straight to the bar area and the space between host and door is quite narrow and feels crammed. Moreover, the restrooms are located in a tight corridor in front of a fairly noisy servers’ desk, which takes away from the desirable privacy in bathroom practice. Finally, our table was in the back area, a sort of patio with a lot of green and interesting artwork, but quite cold compared to the rest of the restaurant, maybe because of the glass roof.

The waiters all were very professional and indeed charming.

In sum, an excellent gastronomic experience which we will repeat. 

Yeah I think after we have been back a few times, we will have to make sure the staff know our preferences for where we prefer to be seated and so on. In the room we were in I have already spotted my desired two-top as well as my desired 4-top if we go with friends. I am already plotting on when we can book whatever the smallest private room they have for a wine dinner.

On 1/31/2020 at 4:29 PM, Drew Trautmann said:

Hey Rockwellers

I recently returned here as Executive Chef after a long hiatus. It is good to return to the neighborhood. Anyway, I wanted to let people know about an event that we are doing that is near & dear to my heart as my mother just recently passed away due to complications from Alzheimer's. Any support for this cause from the food community would be greatly appreciated.

http://act.alz.org/goto/Sonoma_Alzheimers_Fundraiser

Thanks

Drew Trautmann

Sorry to hear about your loss of your mother. Losing a mother is never, ever easy. You are in my thoughts.

That's also good to know you're back, too.

The last I heard or knew of what happened to Daniel Singhofen, formerly of Eola and other places, ws at Macon Bostro & Larder. But I am pretty sure he's not been involved there for a while.

Does anyone know what he's been up to? I miss his cooking.

On 1/28/2020 at 10:35 AM, Toogs said:

Anyone tried the new KBBQ in the newish laurel center where Thai is?

I wonder if the KBBQ is related to the defunct KBQ?

We've ordered stuff from Whole Foods/Amazon now a few times and it's been easy, great, and free delivery for orders I think $35+.  Since then, my wife has discovered Instacart for other stores outside of Whole Foods and have had decent success with that, too. And in all cases, we basically do not order proteins or produce because we are toopicky to let someone else pick that stuff. But I have to admit we've purchased more from Whole Foods/Amazon since their implementation of free delivery than we have in the last several years purely due to this feature (free delivery).

Thanks for this - I have been meaning to get up there and check it out as well.

On 1/22/2020 at 1:09 AM, DonRocks said:

Pool Boy, if you can remember, can you list some of you favorites? It's clear you loved the restaurant, so just a run-down of some suggestions would be very helpful.

We opted to not take photos since it was Christmas Eve. But my wife started with the Trevisana salad (always great), while I had a soup special. She moved on to a pasta with a lot of seafood in it (it might have been squid ink pasta) - which was great. I believe I had a risotto special they had on the menu for that night which was simple but so full of flavor - amazing.  My wife then had a skate wing special (there was a lot of seafood on the a la carte menu & specials because of their special feast of the seven fishes which we did not order). I ended up with an octopus dish which I think is on their regular menu where the accoutrements not only augmented the very well prepared octopus, but in some cases outshone the octopus. So good.

On 1/22/2020 at 9:45 AM, Josh Radigan said:

sweetgreen always tosses the salads that I order. 

Yeah they do not do that for delivered ones

We're going this upcoming weekend and very much looking forward to it.

Does anyone knowwho is bartending? Sous cheffing?

We kept meaning to go but never got around to it.

Dammit.

Mango's has good central american food - better as dine in than carryout. They are local and great hosts.

Definitely hit up Amber Spice, very much recommended.

Grace Garden up in Odenton recently sold when the owner retired - I loved it so, but cannot recommend or non-recommend the new place - no idea. 

Thai at Laurel is pretty solid, worth a look. Been mostly for carry out instead of dine in. See what you think.

The kabob place is one of a few -have not tried that one to be honest but looks busy whenever I drive by.

I assume you know about Yia Yia's in Beltsville.

I work in Ballston. I was a happy sometimes consumer of salads fro Sweetleaf, a short two and a half or so blocks from my office. A nice reason for a stroll. In good or even half good weather. 

Then, Sweetgreen entered and offred free delivery to a common area in our building by noon. All you have to do is remember to order before 11. It's been my go to because of the convenience alone.

The other day, I forgot to gt my order in on time. I wanted salad. I walked to Sweetleaf. And then I was reminded about how much more I prefer sweetleaf. Customization is more in your face and in person, but they toss the salad for you and their stuff seems fresher to me if only slightly. I walked back to my office with a bigger and more delicious salad and devoured it. It hit the spot.

Sweetgreen will unfortunately win more than not because of delivery, but when I gotstahaveit, I will get me sweetleaf.

You?

We went again for Thanksgiving once more and had a delicious, relaxing and satisfying meal and experience. We'll be back.

My wife and I went again for Christmas Eve dinner and very much enjoyed ourselves. Delicious everything and so damn civilized. We'll be back. But, well you know, Annabelle beckons.

We were there just after Christmas and had a nice lunch. It is good to note that they DO take reservations of parties as long as they can take up one of their circular 8-top tables. Good to know for the future.

My wife and I fell in love with Disoom, a rather sall chain of restaurants in London a couple of years ago. I got her their cookbook for Christmas and the other night we made a dish out of the book - Minced chicken and chicken livers fried until crispy and topped with potato salli and a fried egg and Mumbai pav on the side. It was great.

But it would have been impossible without a fory to Indian Big Bazaar in Laurel - they have so much great stuff there. If you are hunting for things to make various Indian dishes, this is a good resource.

https://www.facebook.com/bigbazaarusa/

We went here prior to seeing a screening of the movie Amadeus, accompanied by a live orchestra and choral singers (it was great!)

We started with the octopus  and also braised lamb meatballs dish - both were very good - but rather large portions for appetizers. I'd order both again in the future.  One interesting sidenote was that, when we asked for a cocktail list the server responded that 'they were between seasons' so we could just ask for anything we wanted and they could make it. Odd - I like ordering from a curated list. And honestly, if I asked for the things I wanted and know well, they probably would not and I'd end up going to the bar with my phone for the recipe to show them and just didn't want the hassle. Only minor nit of the night.

For mains. my wife had the grilled hanger steak while I had the chicken - both were very good, but the chicken was the clearly better dish. It is rare to have such a perfectly prepared chicken dish while dining out. It was something I will remember for sure. I would order it again.

We had some good wine as well. The dessert we shared was interesting a yogurty/custardy thing that was a nice way to finish without something overly sweet, Nice.

17 hours ago, squidsdc said:

Annabelle's website showed that it was "open" at 5:30 today. Must be the soft opening, as official opening is Friday 17th.  Popville has the bar, dessert, and wine menus as well. It reads very much like Palena, to me (and I don't see that as a bad thing.😁) If we hadn't already had plans today for Mr. S' birthday, we would seriously have considered popping in to the bar. Plan is to celebrate when we go on the 21st!

We will be going soon as well, but not opening weekend. Looking forward to it.

Well, it is largely random I am sorry to say. Sometimes it is hopping and sometimes....not. But largely, the early dinner crew is all checking out at 6:30pm and so there is a decent chance you can thread the needle. And always listen to the specials. Always.