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Ericandblueboy

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Everything posted by Ericandblueboy

  1. Ericandblueboy
    Many times I've gone to G'town on weekends and only managed to stare at the fabulous kitchen/bath fixtures through glass windows in Cady's Alley. Why aren't stores like Anne Sacks and Waterworks open on weekends? Is it because the working stiff can't afford their products? Anyway, I took yesterday afternoon off so we can check out tubs, sinks, faucets, tiles, etc. that aren't available at your local Home Depot. Afterwards, we had a very early diner at Kafe Leopold. I do like the space at Kafe Leopold - very modern and clean. We started with the olivenpissaladiere (olive, onion & manchego cheese tart), fish platter (cubed salmon, strips of smoked salmon, & smoked trout), and 3 tea sandwiches consisting of chicken salad, tomato basil & mozz., and gruyere with truffle butter. My entree was the branzino fillet and my wife had the steak salad. Everything was good but nothing was particularly exciting. I would definitely get the olive/onion tart again and the tomato basil & mozz tea sandwich. I prefer my branzino with head, tail & skin. The fillets, while nicely cooked, weren't very moist. The smoked fishes weren't very flavorful (had to use creme fraiche to kick it up a notch). I didn't try the steak but the dogs devoured the leftovers heartily. The service definitely wasn't an issue.
  2. Ericandblueboy
    No idea since I am married.
  3. Ericandblueboy
    Wapo chat:
  4. Ericandblueboy
    Being vague doesn't help in this situation at all. Not every question deserves an answer so you might as well be specific if you really want opinions that would make sense. Not only does the question matter, the way you phrased it also matters.
  5. Ericandblueboy
    Todd, if you're reading this, I think your response is silly. If a restaurant is only good for what you recommended, then it ain't much of a restaurant (unless you can recommend everything on their menu).
  6. Ericandblueboy
    That would depend on the question. A question only a chef can answer, would that have something to do with his recipe?
  7. Ericandblueboy
    I've never sent a note to any restaurant. What do you hope to receive when you send these notes? (I grew up in another country and there are many things native-born Americans do that I would never think about doing). Nevertheless, I can't think of any circumstance that I would respond to a thank you note.
  8. Ericandblueboy
    Did they expand their menu recently (seems to have more seafood)? I don't recall seeing fried smelt before and I must have them. Unfortunately these could use more frying because when you're eating fish with bones and all, you want the bones to be crunchy and not get caught in your throat. The other miss were the zucchini fritters, which tasted like super minty veggie pancakes. But the other dishes were really good, hummus with meat (thick and creamy, just the way I like them), falafel, shish taouk (so tender and flavorful), and chicken shwarma (4 mini sandwiches seasoned fantastically). I also ordered the anchovies with roasted red peppers but it never came out (oh well, we had plenty of food already). Will have to go back and try the branzino.
  9. Ericandblueboy
    This over $1? And the wait person said go ahead, just leave, don't pay for the beers and I'll explain to management why there's a walk-out because I'm grossly incompetent and can't take their orders within 30 minutes?
  10. Ericandblueboy
    Have any of you ninjas ever been to Ninja Castle?
  11. Ericandblueboy
    I kid my wife about getting the freshest frozen products but it's true. If you buy them and cook them right away at home, you're less likely to have busted baos. Also be sure to lube your steamer (if you're using a metal steamer) or use napa cabbage leaves. Also, pick them up with spoons so you don't lose the juice!
  12. Ericandblueboy
    Went there for lunch today. In my prior experiences, Natta is no better than its Tysons/Vienna Thai neighbors (Tara, Busara, Pilin, Neisha, etc.) and it still isn't. Two simple dishes ($6.99 each lunch portions) Tofu w/ Chili & Basil and Spicy Garden (mixed vegetable stir-fried with chili and basil) came on big plates but with small portions, neither had the full fragrance of basil and tasted as sweet as they were spicy. How small are the portions? I finished both plates easily with half a bowl of rice.
  13. Ericandblueboy
    Took me alot of googling but I'm pretty sure beef tendons have no fat and no cholesterol so spicy sichuan beef tendon was one of our starters last night (enough ma la to make me sweat last night as I finished the leftover with some iced cold beers). The other was Chengdu Zhong's Spring dumpling - these took a little longer to cook as they were made fresh - same mixture of sauce as the spicy wontons, just as tasty, just a little different in shape. We tried the garlic flavor fried flounder in place of cumin fish. These light and crispy flounder fillets were topped with bits of fried garlic (same consistency as the garlic on top of garlic bagels). The garlic simply garnished the dish, not really an integral part of the dish as the name would have suggested. We still prefer the cumin fish. We also ordered fried chicken with dried chili peppers and some sautéed Chinese watercress. The chicken dish can best be described as cumin chicken, as it's seasoned and accompanied by the same mix of peppers and onions as the cumin fish.
  14. Ericandblueboy
    I'm already in the vortex of bad traffic so it can't get any worse. Before Tysons, I lived in G'town, which has even worse traffic. I have to brave the traffic out of necessity but honestly, it's not so bad on weekends. My point is to encourage people to go to those places they really want to try out and not let traffic stop them. OTOH, if I lived in MD, I'm not sure there are really many restaurants in VA worth driving to - better Vietnamese and Korean?
  15. Ericandblueboy
    This vs. This I just don't recall eating chicken swimming in sauce at home.
  16. Ericandblueboy
    The only reaons I don't go to MD more is the lack of great restaurants but they sure have some good ethnic joints. Living around Tysons, it's a 20 minute drive for decent food no matter which direction I go (DC, MD, or other points in VA). 495 from Tysons to Bethesda and Rockville is generally fine on weekends. I've even crossed the Wilson bridge to eat at National Harbor.
  17. Ericandblueboy
    Kelly really surprised me with her ingenuity. Having never done kung pao before, she used the ingredients listed in a store bought kung pao sauce to create her own kung pao sauce. I didn't know they bottle kung pao sauce (since real kung pao is dry).
  18. Ericandblueboy
    The elimination round is a little more interesting. Last night they sent two contestants home for cooking lousy Chinese food. With the exception of the two Asians on the show, no one else's dish looked any good. Those two Asians' dishes didn't really look all that good either. In the second episode, the losing team has to taste and name the ingredients in chili. That's a new twist to elimination and I enjoyed it. Surprised that the woman from TX lost because she only named 7 ingredients - really, no chili-powder in TX chili?
  19. Ericandblueboy
    May I suggest $20 for all you can eat pizza and dessert for those who want it? You serve a variety of pizzas (none of which would cost more than $18 each) until everyone cries uncle?
  20. Ericandblueboy
    I'm in her camp on that issue - maybe that's just us fastidious Chinese folks.
  21. Ericandblueboy
    This is too funny. First Kliman bitches about not enough VA wines and now we got a diner bitching about too many VA wines. Anyway, $700 on dinner at Eve? It 's $150 for the food per person (9 courses), how much is the wine pairing? ETA: Assuming 20% tip and 10% tax, food and drink cost is about $530, meaning they had about $230 of booze? If wine pairing is $115 pp, then the wines should be really good. Continuing my mental masturbation....assuming restaurants usually sell wine at 3 times retail, and the total pairing is equivalent to 1 bottle of wine pp, the retail cost of the wine is only about $40. So if the wines served at Eve retails btwn $30-$50, that actually sounds about right. Nevertheless, I guess you sort of expect perfection for $700.
  22. Ericandblueboy
    Other than getting carded occasionally, I can't recall a case where I got bad service because I drank from the fountain of youth.
  23. Ericandblueboy
    Are conveyor belt sushi joints all you can eat type of deals? There's Wasabi in Tysons mall but I have no idea how it works.
  24. Ericandblueboy
    I went by for lunch today and tried their special - cuttlefish with chives flowers in Malaysian sauce. Of course I don't know if this is the sauce for the chili crab since I've never been to KL or Singapore but it's a tasty sauce (closest comparison for me would be to sate or XO sauce). I also had a plate of veggie pan-fried noodles. This restaurant is beat-up but the cooking today is pretty good. I didn't want to spend the money on an entire crab not knowing if it was any good. Let me know how it goes.
  25. Ericandblueboy
    Haven't been to Vinh Kee is awhile so I looked up their menu Noticed this: Could this be the chili crab that I really want to try and can't find anywhere within driving distance?
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