Ericandblueboy

With Peter Prime (fomerly of Spark and Cane) now at Bammy's, I was eager to go back. Unfortunately the experience was not fantastic. We ordered (i) saltfish fritters, (ii) grilled oxtail, (iii) doubles, (iv) jerk chicken wings, and (v) collards with coconut milk. They didn't ask and we didn't request the dishes be coursed out, so everything arrived at the same time. The fritters were hot but nothing else was...so some dishes were just sitting around in the back. The wings were truly terrible - we tasted nothing but cloves and cinnamon. The doubles were also poorly executed - the fried dough was soggy and didn't hold up so they whole thing had to be eaten with knife and fork. The collards were actually very good. I haven't had collards cooked with coconut milk before and combination worked for me. The saltfish fritters were good but definitely on the salty side. The grilled oxtail was just one medium sized piece served with 2 pieces of fried bread. So the cost of the oxtail is probably around $3 (or less) but they sold this app for $18. I guess I'm still shocked by post pandemic pricing.

I assume it's salt cod. When rehydrated, it's like fresh cod. That's their staple food. I happen to really like it. There's a restaurant in Lisbon that does it 100 ways or something. https://culinarybackstreets.com/cities-category/lisbon/2018/a-casa-do-bacalhau/

I'm pretty sure Mark's Duck House does as well.

Yoshi was acclaimed until this guy Mark Liu took it over and it's been shit ever since.

Unbelievable

Even with the full tally it's still ludicrous for a one pot meal, or maybe I'm misinterpreting what family meal is. 😄

I just made a reservation on Tock for Le Clou. In addition to a $25 pp deposit, I was also charged a $2.25 order fee. I wasn't paying close attention when I made the reservation but now that I know, I probably won't go to any restaurant that wants me to pay a fee in addition to a deposit to make a reservation.

I've always wanted to go to Jose Andre's Spanish Diner because they have tripe stew.

Apparently closing in G'town on 1/29 and moving to DuPont (not sure when).

He's got 2 places in Frederick and the steakhouse in MGM casino in Nat'l Harbor.

The Voltaggio bros are no longer affiliated with Estuary. The menu looked interesting so we went back. For some reason, most of the food arrived at our table lukewarm and suffered as a result. We had pigs ears, hush puppies, eggplant, squash dan dan noodles, lamb cassoulet, foie gras mousse, and roasted oysters. Maybe they'll work out the kinks and this could be a nice place for interesting local food.

Several restaurants that use to be affordable have become tasting menu only and now priced in the special occasion category but I'm not sure that many restaurants are really worth the money. The number of tasting menu restaurants in DC seems pretty high. Have business entertainment finally moved on from steakhouses to these showboat restaurants?

We went on the night before New Years Eve. The food we had was vaguely Chinese-like - I suppose one can call it modern Chinese but it's not something I've ever had before. Most dishes seems more fusion or western with an Asian twist. We started with 3 small plates: (i) dry-fry vegetables, (ii) XO scallop, and (iii) candied sesame eel. At least half the bowl of eel was super fishy and not at all pleasant to eat. The other half was edible but hard to enjoy because you don't know if the next bite is going to be okay or a shit bomb in your mouth. Seared scallop was good as were the dry fried veggies except I don't like to eat squash in just about any form. The 3 entrees were even more bizarre. (i) Knife cut clam noodles, (ii) stuffed money pockets, and (iii)whole striped branzino. The pasta dish and the fish tasted more Italian than Chinese. The stuffed money pocket had no mala and I would not said it's mapo tofu taken to new heights. Mapo tofu is a fantastic dish - making it weird is not taking it to new heights. The flavors of all 3 dishes do not remind me of Chinese food. Fusion food is fusion food, no matter whose name is on the restaurant.

Bob's Shanghai, Xian Gourmet, Peter Chang - all good. Haven't been to Joe's in ages.

I had the 8 course tasting menu at Bouillon Bilk. It was delicious and reasonably priced ($130 Canadian). My only whine is that the portions were really really small. Probably should've had some bread. The tasting menu are items from the a la carte menu, you just get to sample more of them. Joe Beef's Lobster Spaghetti ($75 Canadian) is awesome, not because of the lobster but the lobster flavor they extracted from the tomalley/shell into the pasta sauce. I had a rabbit terrine as a starter that I thought was just okay. As a single, the only time I can make a reservation is at 5 p.m. Au Pied de Cochon has unofficially been passed down to the next generation. Martin Picard is almost never at the restaurant anymore. The menu seems to have more of an Asian influence. For example, a popular dish is foie gras nigiri - what appears to be slices of foie gras on top of sushi rice served on a spoon. I did not really enjoy the things I ordered: clams with pig intestines, foie gras on a pastry shell with blood pudding. L'Express is putting out classics. I enjoyed my foie gras terrine and roasted quail but there's nothing inventive there. So every day I went to Chinatown to see if I can score some Chinese brunch (dim sum or other small plates) or even a bowl of bun bo hue. Nothing except one dim sum joint is open (Kim Fung opens at 8 am) and it wasn't particularly good. I ended up at Maggie Oakes one day for salmon and bagel that was okay.

From Sietsema. Didn’t know Sudhir has passed. RIP.

Nail biting finish. I don’t like Kyllan Mbappe - his head is already big and now it’s gargantuan with a hat trick in the final. Luckily Messi deflated it a little otherwise it would be insufferably big, like Penaldo’s. Congrats to Messi - the best player that I’ve seen since i started following soccer 8 years ago.

Spending the night there tomorrow on my way to Montreal. Any must sees?

Two lawyers came up with this name 🤮

There was no in-your-face celebration yesterday from Argentina against Croatia. Makes me think Van Gaal and the Dutch team must've really pissed off Messi. The reffing has been rather bad at times in this World Cup, how that is possible with VAR is beyond me. As for the French, they won but looked shaky against Morocco - a team not know for offensive prowess. As a Barcelona and Messi fan, I'll be rooting for Argentina's victory that will cement Messi legacy as the GOAT.

I believe England outplayed France except for the bottom line. It didn't help that H. Kane missed a penalty. So the semis are France v. Morocco and Argentina v. Croatia. On paper these are mismatches and the winners are obvious but that's not how this WC is playing out.

Never heard of this guy but I listen to mostly European broadcasts. As for this WC - there are players that I dislike and I hope they all lose. Neymar and Vinicious Jr. are out - awesome. Now just cheering for Mbappe and Penaldo to get knocked out. They're all narcissistic divers.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2022/12/06/metzger-restaurant-family-foundation/ Metzger refused to serve a Christian group that's anti-same sex marriage and anti-abortion. I personally don't think 2 wrongs make a right. Also, make a list of those types of people you don't serve so those people won't accidentally make a reservation.

There use to be one in Fairfax that I've been to. They made good (no hominy) menudo and tacos.

In that area I tend to look for Mexican food, especially some place that serves tongue taco and menudo. El Paso is a local chain that you can find with a large menu. There are others if you google map menudo.