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Bacon wrapped dates - they are attention getting and addictive... and avoid most allergies folks may be avoiding! To step it up a notch, you can get some jalapeño bacon or savory bacon at Whole Foods or do your own with a hot honey or bbq glaze, balsamic fig, etc... but just the base of a bacon wrapped date is killer... you can also stuff them with a nut (pecan, Marcona almond, etc.) and/or goat cheese (herbed?) or manchego, and you can throw in a little rosemary or something too... at the least - pile them all on the plate and decorate the border of the plate with long rosemary springs... this is a go to app that always leaves an empty platter to take home! 😎 My other go to, but a little harder to eat at a picnic type situation - better for entertaining at a home is burratta piled in the center of a pretty platter and then lots of sliced varied colored/sized heirloom tomatoes around it... dressed with a drizzle of good olive oil, balsamic glaze drizzle, salt and pepper and a bunch of chiffonade basil... serve with toasted garlic baguette slices. This one screams summer and a real treat! 😎 My last easy one is just cantaloupe cubes wrapped in procuitto with a basil leaf and a pretty toothpick - balsamic glaze! Those are my easy go to - kind of unique- crowd pleasers! Great post - I’m excited to see what others have up their sleeves (cause I get bored of my stuff! 🤪)

Has anyone been to the King Street bistro location lately? (Side note - it took me a while to find this as it wasn't listed in the Dining Guide under Old Town... rather here under multiple locations. My understanding is that these are actually 2 different restaurants with 2 different menus/styles, etc.? The bistro on King more upscale and the old location more "homestyle"? Shouldn't they then be listed as 2 separate places - Vaso's Kitchen on Powhatan and Vaso's Mediterranean Bistro on King? Their website for the latter doesn't even mention the "kitchen" location? http://www.vasosonking.com ) :-)

Anything new to report here? We'll be staying downtown for 3 nights - will have a car and want to sightsee outside of downtown anyhow. Want to try Loveless Cafe and Pancake Pantry sounds like a winner despite its popularity too. :-). Walking to something downtown is nice and convenient too. We do have our 18 month old with us, but she's great in restaurants as we take her out all the time (not "kiddie" restaurants) at home and we dine at 6:30, so she's in and out before 8. ;-) Probably just don't want to plan on any "fine dining". :-) also, are many of the music spots family friendly - early evening or afternoons? Thanks guys! :-)

The Egyptian is pretty spicy with the jalapeños... Sometimes we say "light on the hot peppers" or I often pick them off partially when eating as I find they've "done their job" spice wise while just sitting on the pizza while baking, etc... :-). Another note - Astor has vegan cheese. - so if you're dairy intolerant, they can put that on any of their pies. I had to give up dairy close to a year while nursing my dairy intolerant daughter and it was awesome to still get pizza from Astor with the vegan cheese! :-) but I am glad to be back to full on dairy now so I can enjoy the feta too! ;-)

Going to keep pushing it.... Egyptian Pizza! ;-) we've never tried the Kufta that is getting them the praise on the top 40 eats list.... I'm guessing the Post "testers" didn't try the Egyptian Pizza, right Don? Ha ha! ;-) regardless, its a good spot and I'm happy to see them getting the business! By the way, they used to deliver when they first opened the Arlington location - making it that much easier to choose Astor for pizza night... That's how we got to know the owner, Sam... Apparently the owner driving around Arlington delivering pizzas turned out to be a less than stellar use of his time.. ;-). Thus no more delivery... Wish they'd bring that back, but its still worth the drive. :-) Oh, the "Greek salad" is a great salad - it's your typical greens but then topped with several items from the case - the beet salad, cucumber salad, a stuffed grape leaf roll, some olives... So it's a nice way to "sample" a bit more. :-)

I don't recall if it was charred or not, but we had an absolutely delicious octopus small plate at Pizzeria Orso in Falls Church recently... I'm not usually the biggest octopus fan, but this was so good I'd gladly reorder it again.... and again. :-)

This thread hasn't had any updates in a while... Anybody been to Berkely Springs lately and impressed/unimpressed with anywhere in particular? My husband and I are Thinking of doing a quick jaunt there for a night soon... Unfortunately Lot 12 is closed in January and only open on the weekends... :-/. For Bonus points - where to stay? Looking at Highlawn Inn or Manor House? Seems like most everything is in this vein... Any other Berkely Springs tie bits? Thanks! :-)

Speaking of accommodating various "dietary" needs...Food aside, I want to give Chef Geoff's props for something I found particularly cool... when I was pregnant last year - Chef Geoff's was a great spot for "mocktails"... they have quite a few made with fresh ingredients listed on their drink menu... made it a little easier to "happy hour" when I couldn't imbibe as usual! I found this section of their "drink menu" pretty thoughtful... I was only off the sauce for 9 months, but I'm sure others who either don't drink or perhaps aren't drinking while out for one reason or another also appreciate the gesture! Of course, many bartenders at our better restaurants that serve "craft cocktails" were always more than helpful in crafting something creative and non-alcoholic - i.e. Palena, Eventide, etc. They even seemed to have fun doing so! But there were a lot of spots we went that I'd either have the non-alcoholic beers or just "juice"... kind of boring - especially for someone who isn't a big "sweets" person. Interestingly enough, we were at a birthday party last summer and La Tasca served non-alcoholic sangria... very exciting to me at the time! Oh - and if you're ever looking for a non-alcoholic beer that's "better" than the others (still not as good as say some of the not so great "real beers")... my NA taste tests yielded "Buckler" n/a King of the non-alcoholic beers! Incidentally - the restaurants that served Buckler as their NA beer tended to have the better beer menus and better food... clearly - someone was actually trying the stuff they were buying before offering it to the public! ha ha! Oh - and the loser of the NA group - Kaliber - which is a "Guiness product"... too malty and sooo disappointing... So, now you know... you're welcome!

Hi Monavano! Go for the 36" if you have the room! We renovate and build homes (on spec) professionally (I've done the kitchen design myself the last several years and have become a high-end cabinet distributor to further "do it myself" ) and I ALWAYS put in a 36" range/cooktop if I can - particularly if you're looking at the quality of appliances that you are - such as Wolf. Also - a 36" cook top gives a more "luxury"/"gourmet" feel... From a resale/value perspective - buyers always love to see a 36" cooktop (especially if they are used to a 30" lower grade range and they are "buying up" to their "dream" kitchen)... even if they don't cook - they want the fancy kitchen! 30" is typical "minimum" range size whereas 36" says "bonus" (and $$)! From a personal perspective, we have a Wolf 36" rangetop - and love it... and always find that cooking at friends' or families' stoves that are 30" take a bit of getting used to... that said I would think if you're used to the 36" - you'll probably really miss it... That said - as others have pointed out - if you're using a lot of burners - you're probably using at least 1 large pan - and I would say using all 5 or 6 burners of a 36" would be tight... I find the extra "burners" really just give me extra space to allow a good size pot and a few other active burners to work. Lastly, gaining only the 6" in counter space doesn't really help that much... Particularly if you're going to need to plug in an extra counter top burner here and there! If you were gaining an extra 12" or so that would be more debatable as then you're talking an extra or much larger cabinet, etc. Another 36" cooktop/rangetop to look into is the Jenn-Air - we've used almost all Jenn-Air appliances in our renovations/new builds in Arlington for the last 6-8 years (used Viking and Wolf/Subzero before that) and have had good luck. The Jenn-Air price point is much less than Viking/Subzero - and just a bit more expensive than Kitchen Aid on an apples to apples comparison. Not sure where you're buying from but, just a bit of info on the online sites - I've had mostly good luck ordering online - for one - you save sales tax and also the prices are very competitive... even better than my local "builder discount" often and most offer free delivery. Hoever - the link you posted for AJ Madison - I've ordered from them a couple times - then had one VERY bad experience with a dishwasher that was delivered with a hole (from a forklift?) in its rear tub - we didn't find out until after it was installed & tested... AJ Madison fought us on a replacement because we didn't report the damage on delivery - but after going above the various reps' heads and contacting the owner/CEO a couple times - he finally made it right... so I'll give them props for that - but again - their initial response was awful - basically said "too bad". Anyhow - that's my take on them... US-Appliance.com I ordered from much more often and they are great... Then mostly though, I comparison shop and then try to get my local Bray and Scarf in Arlington to give me their best deal/price match, etc. Check into rebates that various manufacturers are running as well! Some of those are big - like $750-1500 for a suite! Another spot I found with good prices is ABW appliances in Maryland, though I've never ordered from them because B&S always came through - ABW seemed fair and their service was good. Ok - hope that helps in addition to all the great advice from others on this board! Being that I not only love to cook, but have renovated/built a ton of "luxury" kitchens over the last 11 years, thought I'd weigh in! (Feel free to PM me if you have any random renovation questions or want a good local or online resource). Best of luck - I'm sure your new kitchen is going to be awesome whatever you decide!

Yippee!! Thanks Michael - you just made my week - and I've had a pretty fantastic week! We'll definitely be in soon to check it out - if not this weekend! We went to Retro Rays the other night and everything, as usual, was top notch. Our waiter was a real class act too! Got a chance to briefly chat with Mark and he recommended a bottle of the Ball Buster which was excellent. Then we each had the heart of the ribeye which was really good - I'd never noticed this cut before (I'm boring and almost always get the hanger) - but the highlight was the pairing with the porcini puree option - that puree is now going to be a new habit! My favorite cut, when available, is still the ribeye's "top cap" - the Calotte... which they didn't have at "Retro" the other night - but I.have had before at the Third and RTS. All in all - a wonderful meal and even when you feel like you're going all out and splurging (3 courses + wine - lots of wine!) - you still don't break the bank! Thanks again for providing such a dependably great experience! See you again soon!

As someone who lives in Clarendon, we're fortunate enough to be pretty much within walking distance to the bulk of the "Ray's Empire"! That said, we're certainly regulars - particularly of the original RTS and now the Bistro (and find ourselves most often opting for a Rays when dining out for a guaranteed great meal regardless of what new or trending restaurant is doing up the street). We love the concept of Rays^3 and have been several times - however the thing that keeps us from choosing Rays^3 over the others (even if it means longer wait times for a table) is mostly the lack of a "healthy-ish" vegetable side dish. Minor thing, yes, but it'd make a big difference for us. The double salad option with your steak or seafood is a nice option, but not as much variety as say the option for a steamed broccoli crown (like RTS/Bistro) or some other green veg... perhaps even some spinach/other greens saute or a green bean side? I'd even be willing to pay the up-charge for this over the fries. Nothing fancy - but just as an option for those of us who adore the fries, mac and cheese, onion "fries" (yum!) etc. yet can't indulge in those as often as we'd like - but of course always leave room for the indulgence of the great steaks/seafood entrees! So, Michael, have you ever or would you consider adding something like this? Pretty please?

My husband's parents live in Hilton Head so we get to dine out at some of the more "local flavor" spots when we visit - the ones that are busy "off season" tend to remain good bets. Another restaurant that is quite good and we've been to multiple times is Kenny B's French Quarter Cafe - 70 Pope Ave. Suite A, Hilton Head, SC 29928. It's a good spot for "New Orleans" Cajun style cuisine. The owner is a huge U of Georgia fan - plenty of Uga flair abounds! Like most places in Hilton Head, it's tucked away in a non descript strip mall. Not a large restaurant - it's an order at the counter then take a seat type of spot. Very hearty and you won't walk away hungry - a ton of very good food for the money! I can't seem to find a website - but Googling yields a few pics on TripAdvisor and the recent traveler reviews are very highly rated... for what that's worth! The Sea Shack is fun and good for straight up seafood... definitely nothing glamorous and not a place to hang out for long - there's a line waiting to get in so they expect you to eat and move it! If I recall, I don't think they serve alcohol - probably to discourage any lingering... The Skull Creek Boathouse - used to be The Boathouse II which was a fun spot on the Northern end of the island - fantastic location on the water to have oysters. Definitely a good low country experience. The Jazz Corner is a good spot for live jazz - we usually just go for dessert and drinks after dinner. A little dressier than some other spots. I wish we got out to eat more when visiting - but since we're visiting family, we tend to stay in most nights and eat at home. We're visiting the end of this month and we plan to get out more to try some of the above thread recommendations!

Funny this just popped up again - I noticed Brgr:Shack was on yesterday's Living Social "Instant Deals"... have only used the "instant deals" once - but suppose it's a good idea to keep an eye out!

I agree with hopsing. We just tried brgr:shack this last weekend. The burgers aren't as charred as BGR and there isn't alot going on in the patty other than the grassfed beef - but grass fed in itself I find has a more "meaty" taste... these burgers remind me of a homemade sirloin cast iron skillet type burger (both in terms of composition and flavor)... which is one of my favorites - it's nice to have this type of option out there - and it does seem healthier than say a Five Guys where there's a lot more grease, which makes brgr:shack more of a frequent stop versus a "I'm gonna treat myself" type of burger. My husband got the burger with the gruyere, mushrooms and caramelized onion on a nice whole wheat bun. I went more traditional for our initial "test" and just did their standard "house" burger with american cheese, pickles, lettuce, tomato and onion - but did add caramelized onions as well. We liked both of ours and we'll definitely reorder. I will say that these burgers did not seem "6 oz" as their menu states - at least the ones they were turning out Sunday afternoon appeared much thicker and larger... a nice surprise. Also - they were actually cooked as ordered - which gives brgr:shack an extra point. I'm often reminded of a joke my husband's grandfather used to make "I'm going to ask everyone how they want their meat cooked, and then I'll cook them all the same." I'd like to add that oddly enough, our orders were take out and we got one order of regular fries and one order of sweet potato fries... the regular fries were limp once we got home but the sweet potato still crispy? Sweet potato fries are usually the limpy culprits. Maybe they are double frying the sweet potato to remedy this, in which case, perhaps they should consider doing the same for the regular ones. One quibble I do have with brgr:shack is their website is still Under Construction... how long have they been open? Please at least put up a menu.

Frat it up Clarendon... We live a few blocks behind Sette Bello/Eventide and are seriously losing the spots we can walk up the street and dine out at a nice grown-up bar sans Frat Party... we're in our early/mid 30's so not far removed from the "frat"... it has its place - please just not in every place!