tentimesodds

When Chuy's opened in Richmond, a few co-workers down here were so excited that they went the first day, and the second, and the third...I've never been to Austin, but I can tell you from the opinion of the biggest Chuy's (original) fan I know, and my own experience, it's just okay.  Per his review the chain-ified Chuy's is nothing like the Austin original.  I enjoyed my enchiladas, but don't believe the hype.

I would give so much for them to open a location in Charlottesville.  One of the few places (along with Ragtime and RTS) that my plebeian palate truly misses.

Wir fahr'n fahr'n fahr'n auf der Autobahn

Cheers,

Sonny Fairweather

Amazing how quiet this thread has been over the past six weeks until the Nats took the lead last night.  I guess that's the Natitude referred to in the thread title.

Perhaps your frustration with the Nats is less that the inherent parity of baseball reduces their talent advantage, and more that the Nats are just not as good as you thought they would be?

Also, it's April.

Reportedly going in to the Stonefield development in Charlottesville, per the developer's site plan: http://www.edens.com/centers/VA/Charlottesville/The-Shops-at-Stonefield

But only the 19th and L Street branch downtown.

The website seems to show others are plugging right along, including one in Richmond.

That's in Capital One's corporate campus, I don't think you can just drive up and eat there.  Also, their menu is a 51MB PDF download, which is insane. I've seen 10MB before (still nuts) but never anything like this.

Edit: And the 51MB download is one page! Completely bonkers!

Any recs on dog-friendly lodging for a weekend in Charlottesville wine country?

It is pretty spartan, but the Red Roof Inn on the UVA Corner allows dogs.  But you have to stay with them in the room, and not go to bars leaving them in the room to bark and wake up other guests. (Sorry about that, whoever you are...)

If you need a doggie day care so you can go to wineries, I highly recommend Pampered Pets on Concord Avenue behind Preston.  Great folks and our dachshund is always super excited to go to the back and play.

Pulled pork shoulder was nicely moist; smoke flavor was on the light side, as was the smoke ring.  On the table are your choice of five 'que sauces: two spicy, two sweet, one Carolina vinegar-pepper style.  I thought they were all good, particularly the spicy "Colonel Bacon", a bacon-mustard sauce (and I don't usually like mustard sauces) and the "Hog Fire" which was a mild-medium hot pepper sauce.

I was less excited about the smoked sausage (served with a dusting of paprika-based dry rub), which was pleasant but more akin to a snappy kielbasa, than the loosely packed coarse-ground Texas style I was hoping for.

Sides were good: spherical dark-brown hushpuppies, a nice crisp cole slaw, decent mac 'n cheese.  I enjoyed their cornbread too, although it was more like the sweet and moist New England style than the dry and savory Southern vernacular.

Is it the best 'que in VA?  I'm not convinced yet, but more sampling is in order.

I am far from an expert on barbecue but I've found that between this place and Deep Run Roadhouse in Richmond you could splice together a damn-near perfect selection of meats and sides.  By this I mean that I thought the pulled pork at the Exchange was excellent, while the pork at Deep Run was merely good, but the sliced brisket at Deep Run was outstanding whereas the Exchange version is merely good--they seemed to excel in alternating menu items, at least from what I have tried.  Pork (pulled or belly), sauces, hush puppies, beans (by God the beans are amazing there) and pumpkin muffins from the Exchange are fantastic--thus far the brisket and mac and cheese at Deep Run is superior.  Still a great, great place in sleepy Gordonsville, and a beautiful drive up Route 231 from Charlottesville if you are in the area.

Has anyone eaten at Mastro's Ocean Club in the CityCenter's Crystals shopping center? I'm trying to find a good spot for a one-on-one business dinner when I'm out there for a conference at Aria. Welcome any suggestions...thanks

None of the above - ribs are what you want here.

It was actually a couple months ago when I went to the new location (it's huge, clean, and very well-designed). Lunch (a splurge out on the patio) cost me something close to $20 for a half-rack and a couple of sides, but I remember it being worth it.

Last question, I swear--baby backs or "jumbo" beef ribs?

The new Buz & Ned's location has the single largest ceiling fan I've ever seen, anywhere, in my life.

Don, what did you have? Since the rest of the posts on the thread are old, I'm trying to determine whether to get the pork or brisket (I doubt the chicken is the best option...)

Hey, speaking of which I just noticed a new Chick-fil-A in the same shopping center as X.O. Taste yesterday!

I'll happily give them their devout Christianity; I struggle with the MSG ...

Was it open? I'd only seen it being built. I can't bear to walk into Ballston Mall anymore, although the Crystal City location is convenient.

I've never ventured in here, but how does the atmosphere and food compare to a place like Crystal City Sports Pub or Mister Days?

MUCH less crowded than CCSP. It's kind of like the first floor of CCSP, only without the LED boards and with some more light during the day. Food is about the same (I don't like CCSP's food whatsoever, and I am pretty lowbrow).

I'll still go to Summers to watch the Ducks (for which they're typically packed), and it is a great place to go if you want to watch a specific game (particularly a game in any other sport during an NFL Sunday) because they have tons of televisions and they'll always put your game on if you ask. But otherwise there is no reason to go here.

 
I still think it's a good place to watch NFL, because they will post on each TV what games will be on for that day (at least, they used to when I went there two years ago). So if you are a fan of anyone but the Skins and Ravens, you can get your game without threat of somebody changing it to the damn Cowboys game. They've had two or three really nice bartenders/waiters over the years, but generally I agree that the service is poor. Obviously the owner also owns the building as they could never get away with their shenanigans while paying market rent.

Yeah, I've hit their happy hour before (actually, I quite enjoyed their General Tso's Wings). I'm just glad I won't have to fight those crowds to get said beers on Saturday!

Hunan's always been an enigma to me--when I first started going in 2009, there was never ANYONE there. Just me, the wife, and our liters of beer. Then suddenly it got incredibly crowded, since the secret was out. But since then, it's either one or the other, and never in between. Really weird.

They do have excellent steak fries though. They are definitely frozen, not ACTUALLY good, but after a couple liters a huge bowl of salty steak fries is pretty much perfect.

I had the $20 hanger steak here once. Let's just be polite and I'll say it was "chewy." I moved on to other things that were better. Emphasis on "were." But to each his own. If you like it, $20 is a good price for a steak.

If you hated it so much, why did you go back? What else have you tried there? I just find it interesting that half of your 10 posts here are slamming one place.

Going off the top of my head here, deviled eggs $7, steak $44, dessert $6, 2 glasses of decent cheap wine $16, plus tax and tip, about $90. Think it was a touch less. 90 bucks is a lot for this place. I can get a much better quality steak at BLT for about the same price.

Unless you order a pink slime steak there's no way to order an entree here plus 3/4 of a bottle of wine and leave here for under $50.

The hanger steak is $20 and is one of the finest pieces of meat I've had the pleasure of consuming (a few dozen times, since I can't seem to ever convince myself to order anything else). I don't know what kind of wine you're having, but I challenge you to eat a steak and three glasses of wine at Outback Steakhouse and get out under $50 including tax and tip. A $44 steak at Ray's must be a dry-aged special, anyway.

I just read about a new taqueria called "El Ray" opening.

Can anyone help me? Is this one of my new restaurants?

If so, does anyone know its location, menu, hours of operation, and how badly the wine list sucks so I can post the information on my "web-site"?

And, most importantly, will it have its own thread here or just be mixed in together with the rest?

Any information will be greatly appreciated.

I laughed. And then I wept because for a moment I dreamed about an actual Ray's taqueria and how amazing that would be.

Thinking about heading to Ray's to the Third tonight. Can anyone who's been tell me what the wait situation is like? The bar looks small and while I'm all about having a drink while waiting, I'm not sure an hour plus will do.

Thanks in advance

I highly recommend Virgin America's first class, and there are multiple IAD-SFO runs per day. They have become our go-to cross country carrier, and I think are best from a service and amenity perspective. Unfortunately their first class tickets have jumped in price since they debuted - it used to be possible to fly from IAD-SFO for ~$1200 first class. Now it's right around $2k...

Here's a menu sample: Click

One trick on Virgin America is that you can upgrade from economy to premium economy exactly 24 hours before your flight, and from either class to first class exactly 6 hours before your flight. For the IAD-SFO route it's $130 to go from coach to premium, and $300 to go from coach to first. Of course, it's subject to availability, though my experience is that the first class seats are generally available exactly 6 hours in advance. So, if you get a roundtrip coach ticket for about $400 roundtrip, you can fly first class for $1000, or about half of the advance first class fare.

Had a fantastic meal at the Slanted Door in the Ferry Building on Friday night. The oft-mentioned cellophane noodles with dungeness crab was very good, but the other entrees (we were in a private room with a family style set menu) composed of the shaking beef (really really good) and the pork chop (fantastic, and I hate pork chops) were even better. You also need to get the spare ribs here as an app, they were amazing.

Got a burrito at about 2am at Taqueria el Farolito in the Mission. So good. Carne Asada super burrito.

Ended up at Farmerbrown for brunch on Sunday. Decent brunch buffet (good sausage gravy) but, as has been described elsewhere, the Tenderloin (even just a block into it) is like an outdoor insane asylum. Stick to cleaner neighborhoods.

Some of the best sandwiches I've had are from the Carving Board Cafe (http://www.thecarvingboardcafe.com/), a small place in a strip mall just north of Charlottesville. Try the crab melt if you have the opportunity for a nap afterward.

How many Ray's Hell-Burger joints can fit on the head of a pin? At least three?

Dying to know what is going to happen here...Michael, give us the scoop? I promise to patronize all three if you do. (or if you don't...)

Have some family coming in town in a couple weeks and would like to take them to Ray's one night for their 1st time. Can someone refresh me as to when and if the Bistro special is still available and is it for walk-ins only or also in the reservation area.

When I was there a couple of months ago I inquired about it in the reservation area and was told that it was only in the walk-in area. Of course, then the server gave it to us anyway, because she was a really nice person. (She got a 45% tip) Not sure about the days, though.

My wife and I barely beat the buzzer last night as we walked in at about 8:59pm (and I felt like a jackass for doing so, but sometimes you need tacos) and were the last order of the night. Saw several potential orders (including a very disappointed little baseball player and his dad, I hope they had a good Plan B...) turned away by the locked door. My point in saying this is twofold: (1) District Taco is completely awesome and (2) they need to extend their hours to 10pm on weeknights. The place was PACKED at 8:59, at least 30-40 people enjoying their food. For too long, I've seen great little restaurants fail soon after opening due to lack of interest...it's refreshing to see one doing so well in a tough economy. They deserve it.