Ericandblueboy

This place has many flavors of dumplings to choose from. Best bets are the typical pork dumplings, either with chives or napa cabbage. The more esoteric includes fish dumplings and pork with dill. The dumpling wrapper is home made but a little on the thick side. They're tasty but not elegant or delicate (far from the best dumplings in the world but maybe as good as it gets in DC, A+ for variety and a B for actual quality). This time we tried 10 out of 12 flavors. Next time I'll try some of their hand made noodles.

Nobody else in? You can't beat this deal! And since we're eating late, you can still catch the inauguration speech and zip over to China Bistro!

I'll blow up to $100 on lunch. I think I'm going to over-order anyway so I'll have some leftovers to take home.

The floorers just got laid last week. I wouldn't plan on getting in until at least the last weekend of the month.

Really?

If no one else makes another suggestion, then I'll see you at China Bistro at 1 p.m. on Tuesday. I'm gonna be in Vegas this weekend and I think I'm wagering on the Cards plus whatever points. If I win the bet, I'll pick up lunch. I don't care if the Eagles win the game or not, I'm happy if they don't cover.

I'm buying lunch. See you tomorrow.

We went looking for Pink's hot dogs in Planet Hollywood and couldn't find it. Finally we checked one of their computer directories and found it's "coming soon." Bloody website said coming in 2008!

So we went to Noodles in Bellagio for lunch. They now serve dim sum but nothing was particularly good. Beef noodle soup ($15), stir-fried pea shoots ($15), potstickers ($8 for 5 pieces), juicy buns ($7 for 3 pieces), and chicken feet ($4). The soup lacked flavor and the beef was dried out. Why do I keep trying Chinese on the strip?

Dinner was at Diego inside MGM. We've been there before and the food is generally good, better than the Mexican fare we can find in DC, and the price is relatively inexpensive. We were disappointed by the guacamole, however, which was prepared tableside. Rosa Mexicana definitely does it better. My tasting platter consisted of roasted chicken with mole (tender and juicy), pork enchilada (one of the best I've had), shrimp diable salad (shrimp were tiny but good dressing), and ceviche (I think they left the fish out by accident, I dug around and couldn't find any). My wife wanted to try a taco sampler but they do not offer it. Instead, she ordered steak tacos and a side of garlic lime marinated chicken (for $5). Needless to say, that's more food than she can eat. It didn't help we had a late lunch and an early dinner.

Brunch the following day was at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill (inside Caesar's). They opened at 10:30 and it got crowded quickly. The bacon and hashbrown quesadilla was a delicious starter. The scrambled eggs chilaquiles was also very good (crispy tortilla sandwiched with creme fraiche and topped with with a thick layer of scrambed eggs and cheese). My wife's burger was huge, undercooked, and flavorless.

Dinner was a Batali's B&B in the Venetian. The simple dishes were excellent (vegetable fritto misto - the fried leeks were terrific, pappardelle bolognese - firm pasta with the best bolognese sauce I've had, linquine with clams - flavorful but a tad salty). The fancy dishes were less successful. The beef cheek ravioli with crushed duck liver tasted only of liver. The spaghettini came with some tough and chewy lobster. Overall, not thrilled with our 2nd encounter with Batali.

Have any DR folks been?

I went shortly after they opened. They decorated the place like it's an upscale restaurant but many diners brought their young children who ran around the restaurant like a MickeyD's playground. Is this still the case? The menu was very small for an Asian restaurant and I didn't see any lobster dish but the flyer we received had a lobster prominently pictured.

Do they accept reservation? Or am I gonna have to show up at 4 p.m. on a weekend (like going to Ray's).

I've seen references to authentic ramen on Chowhound. Some place that does it only on Sunday afternoons or something to that effect.

How about China Bistro at 1pm?

If no one else makes another suggestion, then I'll see you at China Bistro at 1 p.m. on Tuesday. I'm gonna be in Vegas this weekend and I think I'm wagering on the Cards plus whatever points. If I win the bet, I'll pick up lunch. I don't care if the Eagles win the game or not, I'm happy if they don't cover.

X

Y

Can you get blue test tickle?

Nevermind on RPLC Monday. I need to be downtown for a pre-Inaugural networking reception at lunchtime.

But I am still teleworking on Tuesday - anyone up for something then?

I'm up for something.

This is my to do list for MD:

La Canela

North China (Bethesda)

Bob's Shabu Shabu

Joe's Noodle

China Bistro

Sorry, noob here, looking at my posts I think you may be talking to me.

Click

Thanks,

Jo mama.

Is traffic on the beltway going to be bad for Tuesday? I was thinking about schlepping either to Bethesda or Rockville to eat some Chinese.

Had lunch there today. I ordered ramen noodles, uni, and saba. I don't know why I expect real ramen (at $8 a bowl) but these were just some instant noodles. I had a choice of regular or spicy broth. The spicy broth is definitely from a Korean recipe, if not directly from the soup base of Korean instant noodles. The uni and saba was fine. The pieces weren't overly generous in size. With a soda, tax and tip, $25. Miso soup and salad were provided gratis. Today, the salad had a sesame seed based dressing which I'm not a fan of. The chef and staff were very friendly. I think the chef greets most people in Japanse, Korean and English.

You mean the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, or two-thousand, eight-hundred, seventy-seventh tunafish sandwich within the cloister of the White House?

Although I do seem to remember a bit about a pretzel.

So W's a big fan to tunafish sandwich?

Was there equal fascination with W's first meals in DC?

The attitude, additionally, sounds just like Philly. So maybe it was more authentic than you thought!

I can take the shitty attitude but I've never had slow service in Philly.

I would've left if they told me there's no pizza.

Komi is all thought and not much flavor

Wow....that is a real diss. Who is Marian Burress?

I think the criticisms here have only focused on pastrami (machine sliced and industrial) and matzoh ball soup (engh).

I tend to judge it by the chopped liver, which this place doesn't do a good job of. I think it's too sweet and not chunky enough. The slaw and chicken noodle soup was terrific though. I'll go back to try out more stuff. How's the tongue? I noticed their tongue sandwich is much more expensive than other meats (such as corned beef, pastrami, brisket, etc.). I don't recall having a tongue surcharge in NYC but I haven't been to a deli in NYC in years.

It is a type of cabbage. Flowering cabbage if I remember correctly.

Good call. I had to google it to find out what it is. I wish there weren't so many Chinese dialects....

The choi sam was superb, garlicky and crispy and served pipping hot.

Dean, I'm glad you speak cantonese but I can't make out what choi sam is.

According to today's New York Times, DC is No. 2, in part because of our "suddenly lively" food scene.

And the restaurants suggested are:

Central Michel Richard

CityZen

Café Atlantico

Johnny's Half Shell

Bombay Club

Where is Nam Viet? The one in Clarendon?

There's one in Cleveland Park. I've read mixed reviews and my personal experience from years ago didn't warrant me going back, but things change all the time. Has anyone been recently?