JPW

I believe Vancouver is the most beautiful city I have ever been in

I agree with Joe 100%.

Lived in Toronto for 10+ years and Montreal is one of my favorite places to visit. Many good times there.

Montreal is the festival capital of Canada. You name it, they have a festival for it. The Montreal Int'l Jazz Festival (FIJM), Just for Laughs Comedy Festival, Osheaga Music Festival, and Pop! Montreal are just some that take me to Montreal. The food choices are good and there are some unique opportunities. Martin Picard's hommage to provincial Quebecois cooking (and over-indulgence) at Au Pied de Cochon are well documented. Old Montreal can't be beat for classic Parisian ambience. Then again, there's something to be said for the 3am trips to La Belle Province for a cheap steam dog, or Le Banquise for their outstanding poutine. You just need to be properly shitfaced before you do either.

Toronto is quieter but there's still plenty to see and do. I love the lakefront and islands in the summer. Head down to wine country in Niagara for some under appreciated wines. Check out a hockey or baseball game. The breadth and depth of food in Toronto beats Montreal. David Chang is opening a new restaurant there. Susur Lee still has his joint (Lee) there. But the authentic ethnic food is what gets me. I've never had hot and sour soup as good as you get in Toronto (deep red colour, shrimp, peas, shiitake mushrooms, strips of pork). Go into the Portuguese, Italian, Indian, Caribbean, Greek, etc parts of town to get outstanding ethnic home cooking. Many say the dim sum in Toronto is the best outside of China (and even Vancouver and SF). The one place where Toronto has failed me is sushi. I've gotten very good, but never over the top excellence there. Oh, and street food. The street food sucks. But Toronto is also the only place I've seen where you can get marine delivery (straight to your boat) from a couple of pizza and chinese fast food places.

Via Rail runs a train line from downtown Mtl to downtown Tor. Why limit yourself to one place?

Otherwise, go to Toronto for food, Montreal for overall culture. There's a broad brush for you.

Ummm... Toronto = Hockey Hall of Fame!!!!

Wow, Tysons as well. Anyone want to wager on how long it takes JoeH to have a cow? :-)

Had a great business dinner at one of the Orlando locations a year or so ago. Can't wait to check out the North Bethesda Rockville location.

Well, my business card says North Bethesda.

Both lists missed Sichuan Pavilion. And it's odd that the "Best of" list mentioned Urban Burger, but not BBQ.

Not odd to me. I don't think it's very good, much less the "Best of".

larb and chicken kaprow

An interesting article on using Groupon. Clickey Here

More realistically, between 60 and 80 percent of Groupon customers will redeem their coupons before the expiration date. Of course, it's possible (though unlikely) that you'll have a 90 percent or even 100 percent redemption rate.

I'd been wondering about the redemption rate. For those in the know, does that (60 - 80 %)seem like a reasonable range?

The main reason that I've never bought into one is that I know that it is more likely than not that I would never use the thing.

Wonder how many times that picture has already been printed out and taped to restaurant walls?

let me know when you resort to explosives

I walked by this place yesterday and noticed that they changed their name to "Kao Thai." Didn't get a chance to eat there, but in reading some comments on Yelp, it sounds like they renovated the space, added more seats, and revised the menu a bit.

Thai Flavor is indeed no more.

Kao Thai is owned by different people.

It's pretty good Thai, but IMO not as good as Thai Flavor was.

Tonight - Dave McKenna.

The 1st Amendment ROCKS!!!

last night was butternut squash soup.

corned beef sandwiches with fries inside and Iron City

This morning, a smoothie in honor of Jack Lalanne.

This evening, another Iron City for the Stillers.

Dan,

Count me in for both.

(A cold day + feeling slightly under the weather) + (shredded pork and szechuan radish soup + shredded bean curd w/celery and carrot.) = happy boy

I was starving, so I knew to order one of the "salads" as it would come out almost instantly. the shredded bean curd did its job as I waited for the soup. The soup was perfect for the day esp. once I added just a small dollop of chili sauce.

Another day that I'm glad that A&J is only a mile or so from my office.

(and OMG - Evan Dando AND Julianna Hatfield playing there on Saturday - holy college flashback!)

:)

The Dolium Malbec is pretty ubiquitous in Monkey Cty.

For a little over $20 you'll find the Ch Larose Trintaudon Bordeaux in most county stores

<snip> that critic's identity is well known to an elite group of restaurant insiders </snip>

Wow, I never knew that I was part of any elite group, much less an elite group of insiders.

Thanks for the validation, Michael.

(why is a candle holder there?)

Is BBCC a Pepco customer?

I propose a rethinking of the whole paradigm. At your average moderately priced restaurant (say Corduroy or New Heights) there are 100+ bottles of wine on the list and 6-10 apps and 6-10 entrees.

Smaller selection = easier choice. Pick the wine you want to drink first and then choose what you want to eat.

OK, so help out the average wine consumer (like myself) and tell me what to look for on the label so I know I'm dealing with a smaller importer.

It's really a matter of personal taste. I love Rhones and Loire Valley reds. A few of my favorite importers are Neal Rosenthal, Peter Weygandt (who now has his own retail store in Cleveland Park), Simon N Cellars.

I imagine that Whole Paycheck will be the first thing to open in that development. They've pretty much finished the HVAC there and are moving on to electrical. I wouldn't expect to see anything on Seasons 52 until summer.

ETA - a quick check of the website shows Summer 2011 as the scheduled opening North Bethesda Market

Sounds good, Dean!

DanielK and xcanuck - any time works for me on Friday.

As always, all are welcome for RPLC outings.

Argh - We have to take Dev for a dr's appt at 1pm. It's in Rockville so we were thinking of having an early lunch at either JNH or A&J. But 12:30 is probably too late for us (and Matchbox not kid friendly). Next time...

Wait, I thought Dean's thing was from last night? Double-checking...

ETA - yup, Dean's invite was dinner yesterday. But Matchbox tomorrow is still fine. I have a call from 11-12 - would 12:30 work?

12:30 works for me. Nothing on my calendar tomorrow.