hopsing

There used to be a Cici's near Bailey's Crossroads that I would frequent about once a month.  Most of their pizza was bad but I did like their rectangular Sicilian-style pizza.  I guess we won't see any buffets in our future.

I look forward to a Tracy O'Grady Green Pig Bistro.  I miss Willow so much!  I hope she resurrects the Willow flatbread.

35 minutes ago, deangold said:

Not to cast aspersions, but something else may have changed since the late 60's

I may have changed a lot since then but I can still remember and taste Avenue J pizza!😋

15 hours ago, Kibbee Nayee said:

Later today, I'm expecting a package of two pizzas from Di Farra Pizza. I'll report when I taste it.

Have you ever had it fresh at the store?  The reason I ask is that I grew up eating their pizza (circa late 60s) and it tastes nothing now like the pizza I had as a kid.  I'm not saying the current pizza is bad (although I tried a slice maybe 10 years ago and it wasn't great), it's different.  I used to have a slice and a coke before enjoying a movie at the Midwood Theater.  Maybe there was a different pizza place nearby and I'm thinking of that place.  We always called it Avenue J pizza and then it was the best pizza.  I didn't even know its name until my sister said it was showing up in the Zagat's guide.

On 5/5/2020 at 9:40 AM, hopsing said:

• Greek Taverna - just as good as dining in.  We ordered the Taverna Specials.  A little bit far but worth it.

Takeout from Greek Taverna again last night.  Two Taverna Specials, which are samplers of grape leaves, spanakopita, moussaka, pastitio.  Meal comes with olive bread and side salad.  Also ordered fried calamari.  Meal traveled well for the 11-minute trip back home.  They also gave us a free dessert.  Highly recommend!

On 3/27/2020 at 4:22 PM, Ericandblueboy said:

Thought it might give each other ideas based on where and what you're ordering for take-out or delivery.  

We picked up from Maya Bistro Wednesday night. Excellent food. We had moussaka, fried calamari, grape leaves, and the mezze platter. They provided bread. Easy contactless curbside pickup, just drive into the alley on the left side of the restaurant.  We called in our order, gave CC info over the phone, and picked up the meals to avoid 3rd-party delivery cut of revenue. 

I'm late to this thread.  I've been ordering takeout/delivery about 2x a week.  I'm trying to do takeout when I can to avoid GrubHub, etc. taking their big commission from the restaurant.  Even if you use the phone number from GrubHub site to phone in an order, GrubHub gets a cut, so you must go to the phone number on the restaurant website.  Even Google might yield just the GrubHub phone number.  When I say GrubHub, I mean GH, DoorDash, Uber Eats, etc.  Check out this article:  

"It's Time To Order Directly from Restaurants Again" by Elizabeth Yuko on lifehacker.com

Since the lockdown we've tried to stick with mom-and-pops mostly.  I've been to:

• Stone Hot Pizza - Clarendon.  I really like their pizza and I want them to stay in business.  Went there 2x.  Mushrooms and peppers.
• Big Buns Ballston - Went there 2x.  First time burgers were great as usual.  2nd time not as great.  Love their wine offerings - served in a soda cup.  Good value.
• Lost Dog North Arlington - Husband doesn't like Stone Hot so he orders pizza here.  Nice thing about carryout is we don't have to eat from the same place.
• TNR Cafe - beef with broccoli good as usual.  Sweet and sour pork - not so great.  Their sweet and sour is hit or miss.
• Crystal Thai - goong pad eggplant, fried calamari, drunken spaghetti.  Picked up, traveled well but we live only 5 minutes away
• Ted's Bulletin Ballston - chicken parmesan is great.  Two patties of chicken parm plus fettucine, garlic toast and side salad.  Big hit with us!  Went there 2x.  If you order pickup from their website, you get a free pop tart.  Their instructions for getting free pop tart doesn't work, but when you pick up the order, tell them and they will give you the pop tart.  I had the blueberry cheesecake version and wow, like a big shortbread sandwich cookie.
• La Union - just as good as dining in.  Trio enchiladas and combo enchilada/taco/burrito.
• Greek Taverna - just as good as dining in.  We ordered the Taverna Specials.  A little bit far but worth it.

Future takeouts include Maya Bistro, Tupelo Honey, Hunan Gate, XO Taste, Masala Express.

Big Buns!!!

This was the first takeout I've done since the quarantine. I've missed the burgers here (I was a once a week regular) so it was good to indulge again. It's nicely organized where you order online, then when you arrive and park in the alleyway, you call them and they bring it out to you. They also have glasses of wine to go for $2 and they gave me a ginormous glass of cabernet (Hidden Crush) in a soda cup.  The wine changes depending on inventory.  Tomorrow probably pizza (me-Stone Hot pizza, husband-Lost Dog).  

https://www.orderbigbuns.com/s/order

Saturday brunch, we went to Tupelo Honey.  My friend said it is normally packed.  All the occupied tables were spaced far from each other.

Saturday dinner we went to Carlyle.  Again spacing distance was maximized.  I noticed a staffer scrubbing a table real hard after it was vacated.  Gave me more confidence.

Sunday dinner - delivery pizza from Stone Hot Pizza.  Guess I'm not dining out for a while. 😪

The crowds are all at the supermarkets and pharmacies stocking up on stuff.  Shelves are empty they say.  I'm going to brunch at Tupelo Honey tomorrow and Carlyle for dinner -- I haven't given up on restaurants yet!

I got carryout from Hunan Gate yesterday.  Granted it was 3pm so completely empty which is probably normal.  While waiting for my meal, I asked the manager how business was.  She looked sad and said not very good.  I didn't get a chance to ask if it were due to the virus because new customers walked in.  BTW, the beef with broccoli was excellent, better than the version at TNR that I usually get.  Stop with the eyerolls -- even my mother made beef with broccoli when I was a kid (after I put pressure on her).

I'll say the lack of attendance at the Convention Center is hurting Chinese restaurants considering "Chinatown" is steps away.  Sorry, I need to put that in quotes for the DC version.  I was at the Travel Show on Sunday and it was pretty empty.  You never had to wait to talk to any of the booths.  At Rudy Maxa's talk there were about 50 people with seating for hundreds.  Good talk though.  The convention center workers were setting up for Satellite 2020 which started on Monday.  My old colleague told me Satellite 2020 was "virtually empty."  😟

I went to the travel show and afterwards ended up at New Big Wong.  Tried to practice my Mandarin with the waitresses.  At the end of the meal discovered they were all from my parents' part of China.  I could have been practicing my own dialect with them.  Doh!😝

I'm eating Chinese once a week from now on.  Last Saturday, China Wok.  Thursday I went to Golden Buffet and Grill for lunch.  This coming week, probably Hunan Gate.  Week after that, XO Taste....

We went to China Wok last night, partly because I hadn't had Peking duck in a while, partly to support Chinese restaurants.  They are taking a beating from the coronavirus scare and business is off.  Sure enough the place was half empty when normally, on a Saturday night, it would be jammed.  Nonetheless, Peking duck was excellent as were our other 2 dishes, eggplant tofu casserole (not soggy - the eggplant and tofu held their structure and taste) and salt and pepper shrimp (big jumbo shrimp with light batter with American broccoli).

Please support your local Chinese restaurants during the coronavirus crisis.

It's a favorite of Tom Sietsema.

I'm feeling bad for all the local Chinese restaurants losing business because of the coronavirus.  I did carryout last week and will go for Peking duck this weekend.  I have to show support for my peeps.

23 hours ago, DonRocks said:

All the way at the bottom, eh?

Exactly right!

They must be pretty popular because I went to Greek Taverna for dinner on Saturday, Jan 25 and the usually empty parking lot was almost completely full.  I asked the Greek Taverna owner why and she said due to the new restaurant on the 2nd floor.  I was at the Taverna again yesterday (we are regulars there) and we got the only parking spot left in the garage arriving at 6:30pm.

I bought this Travelzoo deal on a whim.  It's basically gives you a free glass of bubbly with the afternoon tea.  As time went on, I kept being too lazy to go but since the coupon was expiring soon, I had to get off my butt and use it.  I'm glad I did.  It's good for me to get out of my Northern VA rut and see what is going on elsewhere, especially in the world of trendy gourmet food. 

I don't think I got as much food as guanabana, but it was pretty filling.  My favorite parts were the milk bread and the slice of orange pound cake (wow!).  I was too full to eat the cookies (took them home)  so can't weigh in on those yet.  The pastry chef Pichet Ong is very inventive and, from Googling,  turns out he is well-known in the food world.   I also got veggie eggroll (pretty good), some mushroom thing (blah),  good quality brie, apple slices, gravlax (tasty), prosciutto (yawn), some avocado veggie thing (ok),  large crispy thing (good), fruit cup.

I was eating solo and the service from the waiter, the host, and another guy who was lighting the candles on the table, couldn't be nicer.  I felt very welcomed in this "hip" environment and I am the opposite of hip.  It is located in a hotel converted from a church in Adams Morgan.  Here is the Travelzoo deal if you are interested:

https://www.travelzoo.com/local-deals/Washington-DC/Restaurant/330437/

15 hours ago, deangold said:

Someone at the table could't stop spooning up the last of the XO!

Was that "someone" indeed you? 😉

Gee, that is too bad.  The restaurant was hit or miss, but when it was good, it was very good.  It was a good lunch place to meet with ex-colleagues whose office is now located at Tysons.  Even my husband liked my leftover palak paneer and he doesn't even like Indian food.  I also had a butter chicken dosa at the Street Kitchen part and that was delish and cheap and big.  It looks like I could book a table for tonight on OpenTable so perhaps they didn't shut everything down yet.

When this place opened in the spring, I had no interest whatsoever in trying it out even though I'm a pizzaholic.  It just looked like a place that would serve canned toppings.  However, they had a special $7 for a solo pizza with one topping and $1 for a can of soda.  I couldn't resist plus knowing that Pete's A Pizza was gone.  Well, this place is actually pretty good.  The sauce and cheese tastes good and my fresh mushroom topping hit the spot.  The crust was just okay -- a sauce and cheese delivery mechanism.  I've been there twice and it has been pretty empty.  I just hope they are getting the post-bar closing weekend crowds.  I also treasure this place because I know my pizza will always be freshly made.  I don't have to worry about getting a dried up reheated slice like I did at Pete's and at Bronx Pizza.  Please try it out before they close for good.  I'm plan on going once a week for lunch.

I was there a week ago Saturday (pre-RW) and was disappointed with my go-to dish, rigatoni with meatballs.  Way too much celery, both in the meatballs and the sauce, overwhelmed the dish.  Other dishes were pretty good: butternut squash soup, kale salad, and lobster diavolo.  Stay away from the Cotes du Rhone, one of the worst I've ever drunk.

I've had a love/hate relationship with Mussel Bar (Arlington branch) for the last few years.  I've had great meals and poor meals, so I would say they are inconsistent.  Not to mention, I got ripped off twice when their validated parking didn't work.

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