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SeanMike

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Everything posted by SeanMike

  1. SeanMike
    Every Tuesday night for I've lost track of how long several friends of mine from college and I would get together on Xbox and play (most of all) Borderlands and then Borderlands 2. Shooting bandits in the face, blowing up skags, buying so much ammo from Marcus...we knock back some drinks and hang out for a few hours. Tonight may be the last night so I'll drink to Gearbox and Microsoft, who made it so much fun to get together weekly and hang out with folks in VA and NC that I don't see often enough in person.
  2. SeanMike
    HOW DID I MISS THIS? Oh god. Just thinking about it makes me lust for one...or to go down to C'ville, get hammered, and hit LJ's late night...
  3. SeanMike
    When my brother moved into the area he started ranting about how good Kabob Palace is. As I took various Ubers and taxis, usually noting that I live behind Ravi Kabob, by far the most common refrain was that Kabob Palace was as good or better. So today, needing to pick up my car from my brother's house, I offered him lunch in exchange for a ride, and we went for takeout. First impression: Kind of overwhelming. There's a huge menu with photographs, an area for a line, stickers everywhere with pithy little sayings, an embroidered map of Afghanistan saying "God bless US soldiers"...kind of sensory overload. My brother knew exactly what he wanted, so we walked up to the register and put in our orders - two lamb kabobs, no salad, and one chicken kabob with salad (for his wife), totalling $37 and change. It wasn't until after that I noticed the Coca-Cola coolers, so I had to go back through the line to get my precious (Coke Zero, 2 20 oz for $4.03). When our orders came ready, we went up. My brother had told me to ignore the salad and get double rice and chickpeas, but one of the daily specials was chicken curry, so he got double rice, chickpeas, and goat curry. Due to a bit of confusion, my order already had been given double chickpeas when I wanted the same, but the counterman graciously added a few hunks of chicken curry to it. It came with three large pieces of bread courtesy of the dude sitting there making tons of it, plus we asked for extra sauce (the green sauce, which he said was cucumber but maybe it's the mint?). Damn, that was some good chicken curry and lamb kabobs. The kabobs were a bit tougher than I'm used to with lamb, but extremely flavorful. The chickpeas and rice and bread were all quite good, and the sauce helped kill some of the heat that built up from the lamb - it wasn't overwhelmingly hot, but there was definitely spice there. And now I have at least a pound if not more of leftover rice and chickpeas... I was very impressed with how friendly the service was, especially with one agitated customer who'd called his order in and it wasn't ready when he showed up. (It was ready moments ready, and he managed to completely miss the announcements then, which I thought amusing.) Mmm, kabobs. It'd been a while. They have a goat curry occasionally which I'd love to try, so I'm going to have to get back there occasionally and try more of the menu - especially the chapli, which my brother said came out very spicy when he got it.
  4. SeanMike
    My mom used to steal beer glasses from brewpubs. It always embarrassed me. She finally stopped doing it. I don't understand why more people just don't ask "hey, I like this, how much is it if I want one?" Then again, I remember that many people are either selfish, thoughtless, or inconsiderate.
  5. SeanMike
    I stopped ordering from PJs based off their reaction to the ACA. Honestly, it was the only chain pizza that I liked - especially when it was cold. God, it was so much better cold. I had it last weekend for the first time in ages and...well, I was sick as a dog half the night. I guess now that I'm eating healthier it just doesn't sit well with me. Oh well. I thought that'd make me sad but it really doesn't. I'll save my pizza quota for good pizza.
  6. SeanMike
    Via Twitter, it appears Matt Hill is taking over... https://twitter.com/chefmatthill/status/428624075691667456 ETA: Oh hey: http://www.arlnow.com/2014/01/29/liberty-tavern-group-hires-new-executive-chef/
  7. SeanMike
    Last week the loco moco plate from Hogo showed up on the Passenger's brunch menu. I'm on my way to get one now.
  8. SeanMike
    As for the roof bar, they've had the fireplace going and heaters on every time I've been up there and it's been cold.
  9. SeanMike
    Went again last night. The sushi itself was fine, though the rice was a bit dry. I did like that they used very small portions (compared to many places) of rice, so I didn't get the bloat. I did end up with the spicy crab roll again, but was too full to eat it. The texture on that one is just hard for me to deal with. It looks like shredded cheese! My brain can't process that! I also noticed they had donburi (sp?). I might try that next time.
  10. SeanMike
    What's so dangerous about a ninja-themed New York restaurant?
  11. SeanMike
    I was disappointed today. Well, not completely, but still a bit. They've changed their lunch menu. With the dining room about half-full the wait staff seemed frazzled - they forgot my ice water, took a while to get my order. They've also changed the menu. Some of the items I used to order are gone, and the lunch combos no longer include the egg roll (nor does it show up elsewhere on the menu) which disappointed me. It might be fat boy food, but man, I liked their egg rolls a lot. So I ordered steamed pork dumplings. These were actually pretty great. There are times when I have a craving for just a metric buttload of steamed dumplings and I'll keep these in mind for those times. For lunch, I ordered the kung pao chicken with fried rice. No, I shouldn't be eating fried rice, but with the lack of egg roll I figured what the hell and their fried rice has always been my favorite bar none. No more. It was cold-ish by the time I got to it (it was served when I was halfway through my dumplings and I wasn't eating slowly) and just...meh. Not juicy at all, not fresh tasting. A waste of calories. The kung pao chicken, on the other hand, was quite tasty. And the hot tea was no longer free, but rather $2. Sigh.
  12. SeanMike
    Haven't been in there in a while (according to Foursquare: July, 2013) and when an out-of-town friend said he wanted Thai, I pointed him right here. Fortunately meeting closer to 8 PM meant he had no problem getting a place in the lot out front. Having not been there in six months I was surprised to see it a bit different. They advertise "Thai Curry Express" now, especially for lunch - an interesting idea, as their old lunch specials, while okay, were slow to eat (you'd get spring rolls, and soup, and a main dish). Also, now you order at the counter when you're ready, with only (apparently) one person working the front of the house (including the phones) on this night. She did take my beer order when she stopped by and refilled our water, but my friend put in his order for a Coke at the counter. We started with steamed Thai Dumplings. They were good. Not great, not bad, a little cool perhaps temperature-wise. I was starving from my workout so they were a necessity for me. He got the drunken noodles. I had warned them that they didn't mess around when it comes to the spiciness and he said I was right. On the other hand, he also said while spicy, it never got overwhelming, and that it came out really well. I got a new item on the menu: chicken Bangkok yellow curry. As it says on the website (WARNING: auto-play music!): This classic yellow curry made with chunks of chicken, potatoes, onion and tomatoes, tastes like one of those wonderful curry dishes you can find in the marketplaces and streets of Bangkok. I liked it quite a bit, and it was barely spicy at all. The dumplings, the curry, and two beers cost me $29. EDIT: forgot to mention: if you look at the menus, you'll see they've changed. However, it looks like most everything that was on there before is still there - it's just consolidated from a book to one laminated double-sided page. A VERY GOOD THING in my opinion. And now, belly full, I will pass out.
  13. SeanMike
    My dry cleaner is right across the street so I'm going to have to check it out sometime. My old boss hadn't heard of it, so I'd love to see what he thinks...
  14. SeanMike
    To my coworker trying to fix a fried NetApp. Seems the A/C didn't want to work during the polar vortex, and the lab got a wee bit (errr, very, very) hot.
  15. SeanMike
    I've gotta go with Rose's Luxury as well. My visit there just blew me out of the water. If I lived near there it'd be a struggle not to eat there so much...
  16. SeanMike
    I went to Mussel Bar in Ballston on New Year's Day. Part of my goal for this year is to eat better - not just necessarily nutritionally, though I'm working on that, but also avoiding eating "lazy" food just because. Thus, I skipped eating at somewhere like BW-3 (which has made me kind of queasy anyways lately as I stop eating as much fried food) or World of Beer (which mostly just appears to be stock Sysco products, but can be tasty when you're drunk). I didn't get the name of my male bartender (the other bartender was my usual from Hard Times - Kelly, I think her name is, I *always* forget it and it drives me up the wall) but he was...distracted, mostly. I ended up having two beers over the course of dinner but it would've been at least one more if he'd paid more attention. (It may have been a similar problem as she mentioned - she'd closed New Year's Eve, and then been back to work all day until close New Year's Day. She looked exhausted...) I started off with the caesar salad. I was trying to avoid the bread that came with it (small steps) but while it was good, it was so pungent and strong with both dressing and the whole anchovies that I needed a bite of bread regularly for it. Oh well, small sacrifices. I could've used maybe half as much dressing, or a bit more than that, but it was still good, just strong. I had the special of the day for dinner - a pork shank with blackeyed peas. Both were quite good; the pork was almost falling off the bone, just needing a slight tug to come off in big, delicious pieces, juicy and great. The blackeyed peas were also quite good, but like the french fries, came in a MASSIVE order, that combined with the big hunk of pork meant I had no way of possibly finishing it. All in all it was a good meal, and while a bit pricey worth it. I thought about sticking around for another beer but they looked to be closing down around me, so I went home and pretty much immediately passed out due to fullness.
  17. SeanMike
    I had the peanut soup and the pimento cheese and quite enjoyed both of them. I hadn't had peanut soup that good in ages (and I think that's mostly nostalgia for the Hardware Store's peanut soup down in Charlottesville). As for the drinks, I thought the Blackstrap and Switchel was a really cool drink. I wouldn't want probably more than one in a night, but it was very revitalizing after a long day of drinking (I'd already been to Old Dominion Brewpub and Passenger, and was off to Dodge City afterwards, and it was a Sunday). I loved the fact that it was in a jar ready to go. The smoked Coke and white whiskey tap was probably the best white whiskey drink I've ever had.
  18. SeanMike
    So I've been meaning to post. Took my family to EtR for brunch weekend before last. Other than my mom, the rest of the family was hesitant about going, but they trusted me (well, my brother trusts Derek Brown to have a bar that at least serves good drinks). SPOILER ALERT: I am a hero. My brother and I started with the soft boiled hen egg with toasted points. I'd never had something like that before and oh my goodness, it was perfect. (I'm glad Angie suggested it to me when I had talked to her.) My parents split an order of a dozen oysters, four of each type, and slurped them right down. My brother got his much desired old fashioned, while mom and I started a pitcher of bloody marys and dad and my sister-in-law started a pitcher of mimosas. As a side note: my dad has never liked bloody marys but he ended up finishing the pitcher with me. They were a bit too much for my mom, so she went for the mimosas. My brother and sister-in-law split a Chesapeake boil, as did my parents. They loved everything but the whelks; mostly that was a consistency issue. I got to try one of the coddled eggs and thought it quite good. I got the herring and the Janssen's Temptation. They worked together very well, though each (on its own) was too much overall for me both in size and overall flavor. I could eat one whole rollmop but two ... oof! And the potatoes were so good, but so rich that I couldn't have eaten the whole thing. So, in short, go with friends, eat everything, it's great.
  19. SeanMike
    Didn't we have this scare last year, too? From what I understand, and I could be wrong, the developer is supposed to give them 4 months notice, and that has not been received yet. Last year I seem to remember them having an alternate plan in store in case it happened, but I could be mis-remembering.
  20. SeanMike
    We did a bunch of bottles NYE using the back of a kitchen knife. Only one really broke, but that wasn't one of the ones I did...
  21. SeanMike
    To Martin Miller, always a friendly face at Tales, whatever you thought of his gin.
  22. SeanMike
    Here's a variant: "It's A Christmas Cocktail Miracle" by Virginie Boone on pressdemocrat.com
  23. SeanMike
    ...it's rare that it happens but you've left me speechless at my keyboard as to how to respond. Especially since I'm at work. o_O
  24. SeanMike
    Thanks for everyone who contributed. I decided against crossing the river myself, mostly since I had to work today. I did hit Galaxy Hut and had quite a lovely time there, then wandered over to Ragtime for a Cobb salad and some more fun.
  25. SeanMike
    When I was hosting a group of many out-of-towners, they kept advocating for restaurants like Chili's or Applebee's for our dinner. I pushed and insisted on Old Ebbitt, figuring that if we were going to do that style of food, let's at least do some place local. It was a huge hit and the service was great. The food...it was okay (for me) but for my guests, they were ALL happy. I don't often go there but like Don said, when you do, you know what you're in for. (And I have had some fun there on very late night happy hours, but that's as much the company as anything else...)
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