Ericandblueboy

Jungle fever. And who's Tim gonna sue because he didn't win Top Chef?

No but I'm gonna watch every single episode of Bethany getting married.

True dat, but the options in this case are to eat or not to eat, not to ask the restaurant to lower its prices (and mask it as concern over whether the restaurant would survive - it's this last part that's annoying). I've bitched and moaned plenty about value but I've never publicly (nor privately) asked for lower prices. Maybe you should change your status

I think Louis Vuitton luggage is too expensive. Should I write them and tell them that they should lower their prices? I mean, how are they gonna survive selling man-bags for $3,000? Why should Louis Vuitton sell for $3,000 when Cole Haan only charges $500 for the same size bag? The answer is, while most people need luggage, they don't need a Louis Vuitton. While people need affordable dining options, they don't need to go to Orso. If Orso is sitting empty, then the prices are probably too high. If Orso is selling plenty of pizzas making a nice profit but the chatter can't afford it, then it's just too bad for the chatter. P.S. I understand that times are tough for some people and it's not politically correct to tell people to piss off if they can't afford something. But I don't see pizza as being different from any other types of food. There are cupcakes that sell for $5, coffees that sell for $5, ice-cream that sell for $5. In each case the business can charge whatever the market will bear. If that happens to be higher than what one is willing to pay, then that person can look for a lower priced substitute.

Wait, are they concerned about Orso's ability to survive or are they too cheap to spend $50 on pizza? They seem to couch their price-bitching as concern for the restaurant's ability to survive. The pizzas come only in 1 size, there's no large so there can't be any "small" either. If they want large pizzas for $10, they should call Pizza Hut I live in McLean and I have been to Orso 3 times since it opened. I think Orso, due to its quality, will draw people from all over NOVA, maybe even DC and MD.

Why? I'm curious as to why people try his food? As for burgers and pizzas, I'm 100% sure they're not the best this city has to offer. Patronizing his restaurants is what I call feeding the troll.

We went by Carnegie in the afternoon to pick up a slice of cheesecake for my wife. The place is cash only but it's packed, whereas a block away, Stage accepts credit cards and it wasn't full by any means.

I was supposed to catch a flight to Indiana tonight but due to some bad weather somewhere, my flight was canceled. To salvage my night, I went to Orso around 8. The place is packed, with a long wait. Luckily I found a seat at the bar and was able to put in a pizza order. It took quite a while for my pizza to arrive, at least it was good. Be prepared to wait on a Friday night is all I can say.

After reading KMango's experience at Volt 21, and my personal experience at Morimoto (in Philly, I left after waiting 15 minutes past my reserved time), I wonder how restaurants should compensate patrons who have reservation and can't eat on time? Time is valuable to me, oftentimes my time is worth more than the cost of a meal. If I already spent 1 hr driving to Volt, and I don't get seated for another hr., the opportunity cost to me is already over the cost of Table 21 for 2, and I still have to drive an hour home. In those circumstances, I think the restaurant should remind their patrons of another seating and stop dicking around so the second seating can eat their dinner at a decent time. And offering free drinks to people on empty stomachs hardly solves the problem. I've ate at Volt, the food puts me into a coma already. Add lots of drinks and I'm likely to have an accident.

He also practices making babies. Yes, the guy is nuts!

Lynne totally screwed over Arnold tonight. He wants her to cook the pasta but she insists on doing it in the last minute because she's cooked fresh pasta plenty of times before and knows how to do it properly. Lo and behold, she under-cooks the pasta and their team gets sent home. She's seen later saying she should never let Arnold take the lead. Way to take responsibility!

We also spent the long weekend in NYC. First stop was Katz's - it was not very crowded on a Saturday morning (on July 4 weekend) and we were able to park on the street right next to the restaurant for a measly $2.50 per hour. We ordered a pastrami sandwich, a corned beef sandwich, kishka (stuffed derma), matsoh ball soup, and a Bass ale for me. This totaled just under $50 prior to tax and tip. When Harry next meet Sally, she's gonna fake a heart attack instead of an orgasm. The pastrami sandwich was righteously delicious though, and the kishka went well with the hot gravy. The corn beef sandwich was so so, and the matsoh ball soup we didn't finish even though it was definitely above average. Dinner on Sat night was at DBGB with my cousin. We started with a small seafood platter - with oysters, clams, mussels, shrimps, crab claws and sea snails (two different kinds, mostly small and 1 big one), and there were some tuna tartare as well. At $35, this wasn't a bargain but definitely worth the money (the snails were especially good, as were the tuna tartare). We also had some bone marrows which sucked. My cousin and I both agreed it was the worst bone marrow we ever had - perhaps it needed some salt, and probably some parsley to cut the richness of the fat - for whatever reason, it was not good. We also tried the Boudin Basque (blood and pighead), Berliner (finely grounded pork), Thai (pork, lemongrass & curry) and Beaujolaise. I wasn't particularly fond of any of the sausages. They were possibly too refined for me - I like my sausages hearty. The Thai definitely had lots of curry flavor. The Beaujolaise was my favorite and the Boudin and the Berliner were my least favorites. Sunday we were the 2nd group in line for Ippudo (which opened at 11 a.m. and couldn't serve beer until noon under NY law). We started with some wings (3 for $7), sweet shrimp tempura (4 for $17), a classic with their suggested toppings of mustard greens and stewed pork, and a modern with bamboo shoots and stewed pork. The wings were super crispy, more sweet than spicy. I've never had Bon Chon chicken but I suspect this is similar. The sweet shrimp tempura were equally fantastic (tasted like the rock shrimp tempura that Nobu is famous for). As for the noodles, I preferred the Modern to the Classic, but both are pretty salty and as far as Asian noodle soups are concerned, I think I prefer a bowl of braised beef noodle soup or pho (too many competing flavors in the ramen). There is a ritual shouting as the guests are seated - which I imagine lead to lots of sore throats. $70 for lunch (before tip), Sally might suffer a real heart attack. Sunday dinner was at Esca. The little girl did not cooperate but the staff was very gracious so I thought I give them a shout out. We started with the crudo tastings, I don't recall everything but I remember the most tender diced razor clams and some fat and juicy salmon roe. We also had the Fritti, described as crispy blowfish tail and local steamers. I didn't see any blowfish but I did get some fried steamers which were really salty and overfried. Twice I've been burned at Esca with fried seafood. The last starter was a Pesci Azzuri duo -grilled sardines and bresaola di tonno. The tuna prosciutto were definitely better than expected. We finished the meal with pastas - mine was crab and sea urchin spaghetti sucked down hurriedly and my wife's was gnocchi to go. The fishiness of the crab kind of overwhelmed the flavor of the sea urchin, but the pasta itself was firm and chewy. I'd go back but I would really focus on the crudos. Monday morning we had some salmon and lox with bagels at Stage Deli. I believe it was the lox that was so salty that it was barely edible. The bagels and bialy were pretty bad too. Had Joe's Shanghai been on their regular schedule, we wouldn't have had this poor experience. Another substitution occurred when Chang (or someone else) decided not to open Ma Peche. I'm pretty sure I called ahead and they assured me they would be open as usual but that hardly matters. My cousin (who knows someone....) got us into Marea instead on Monday night. We had to try the Ricci (lardo and sea urchin), and the Zeppole to boot (seaweed, shrimp, chickpea fritter). To be honest, the sea urchin masked the lardo and what I thought sounded fantastic on paper (or TV) is merely good, because I just love sea urchin. The Zeppole was a boring fritter. They did bring two sides of grilled green peppers and egg plant balls. After those palate teasers, we dove into lots of crudos - langostine, lobster, tuna, snapper, geoduck (surprisingly good with chilies), and horse mackerel. My cousin had the Ricciola (smoked yellowtail). Again, the crudos were the best part of the meal. We finished with 5 pastas for 3 people - fusilli of braised octopus and bone marrow, spaghetti of crab and sea urchin, garganelli with sausage ragu, ricotta ravioli, and orrecchiette with prawns, chili, and rosemary. As the case with Esca, the crab fishiness trounced the sea urchin. The octopus was unobtrusive - it wasn't rubbery, it wasn't mealy, thus it was good but it was the only plate of pasta that wasn't finished. My cousin, the one who knows someone and has had everything on the menu, ordered the garganelli and the orrechiette - both were very good. At both Esca and Marea, I wasn't too excited by their seafood entrees. If there's something spectacular that I shouldn't miss, please let me know, otherwise I'll keep eating crudos and pastas.

Are there any Ethiopian restaurants in the area worth 2 stars? Is Ethiopian food worth 2 stars? I don't dislike Ethiopian food (there're few things that I won't eat) but I've never been wowed by it either. Definitely never craved Ethiopian food. If anything, I feel obligated to eat Ethiopian food every once in awhile just to refresh my memory as to why I don't like it.

I have no problem baggin my own leftover. I imagine the leftovers get accidentally thrown out all the time. Some times the kitchen will actually prepare new "leftover" for you to take home, but it's just as likely they pick your leftover out of the trash.

According to the bald, overweight Italian-American judge's blog, they had to edit out their criticism of the food prepared by the overweight alternative lifestyle female chef at the picnic because it was obvious her food was so bad compared to others, so as not to give away who is going home. Said overweight alternative lifestyle female chef also was in the bottom 3 of the quickfire pie-making challenge, which I find shocking since her bio contained:

All I know is now I have no interest in dining at Seablue in MGM Grand. Chilean sea bass wrapped in bacon and cooked on a grill - and he thought he could've been a contendah?

A long time ago we ate there. We didn't think the food was anything special - kind of like Clyde's. The article offers an explaination why the place always seems crowded, and also explains why I see so many Russians in downtown McLean.

Happy Birthday to TheMatt. Thought you were going to eat at Dino?

The menu is small but descriptive. Four available types: miso broth, salt/pork broth, salt/veggie broth, and soy broth. Didn't memorize the toppings but I think they offer eggs, corn, sliced pork and stewed fatty pork (tastes like red braised pork at Chinese joints). We started with an order of gyoza, a bowl of miso (with stewed fatty pork) and a bowl of salt/pork. The noodles had a nice firm texture - both broths were on the salty side but very tasty (much better than the ramen I had earlier this week at Tachibana). I want to like ramen because I love the movie Tampopo but none of my experiences so far (had ramen in NYC back in the 90s when even NYC didn't have really good ramen) have ignited any sort of passion for ramen. Maybe Ippudo will convert me.

V.H. was a great guide last time - maybe she'll do it again. Anyways, there's much more to explore in Eden Center....would like a volunteer guide who's familiar with Eden Center and speaks the lingo (bonus - eats and drinks free!). Looking at last 2 Sundays in July or the first 2 Sundays in August. If you're interested, post your available dates and we'll go from there. Last time we did not split out expenses - we simply took turns paying (some paid more, some paid less but no one bitched). Boozing is a requirement .

Went with a friend to the S. Washington St. location and ordered the cheaper Parillada - short ribs, flank steak, blood sausage, intestines, sausage, chicken, and pork chop - with choice of 2 sides (we had salad and fried yuca) - for $42. The meats were well seasoned - everything but the flank steak was safely overcooked, the flank steak was cooked to medium rare as requested. I didn't like the blood sausage and the intestines but my Korean friend enjoyed the intestines (since he says he's used to eating intestines with that gritty stuff in the middle). There was enough food to feed at least 3 adults, if not 4. Nothing was top quality but it's cheaper than what Chima charges for 1 person.

In my estimation, the red headed ass was better than any of the women, and better than Jason and Salvatore for sure on the men's team. Only Ben, Jay and Ed are potentially better. If he just focused on his own cooking, he probably would've lasted longer. But I'm not shedding any tears because he was such an ass.

My dentist is located across the street from Tachibana so I went there for lunch yesterday. I saw ramen on their menu so I ordered it, along with spanish mackerel, horse mackerel, and sea urchin sushi. The miso ramen was pretty bland, with half of a hard boiled egg, some dry pork, a chunk of fish cake, a ball of spinach, and some bean sprouts. I will hit Ren this weekend to find out how much better they are and then next week I'll try Ippudo.

I have no idea why we were offered a tour. We didn't ask for one, and I thought about declining the offer but that seemed almost rude to decline such offer. P.S. I also don't care about where the Prez and his Russian buddy went to eat.

Shortly after Bert started at 2941, I took my wife and MIL to dinner there. After a $75 per person prix fixe 3 course meal that I wasn't particularly fond of, we were invited to tour the kitchen. Luckily the kitchen is quite spacious so we weren't really obstructing anyone. However, I saw that a family was seated at the chef's table in the kitchen. I can only imagine how annoying it was to pay for that table and have your meal disturbed by the comings and goings of other diners. Recently I thought about booking the chef's table at 2941 (6 courses for $150). I decided not to do it because there's not much bang for the buck and then there's the possiblity of having my meal disturbed by kitchen tours. I'm not much for meeting celebrities. It would interest me to meet someone only if I can have time to have an intelligent conversation - which these silly opportunities do not offer.