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It has been really humid lately and the moisture in the air can also make a room feels hotter. Poste is an upscale place and one can easily spend $100 per person here, therefore, its reasonable for someone to expect at least a certain level of physical comfort while dining here.

I was there yesterday. The microbrews were excellent and only $5 each at regular hours. There were still some kinks to work out for this new restaurant. They ran out of several items on the menu before 8:00 PM on a Friday night. I was told that the wait will be over an hour and I was seated in less than 20 min, not that I am complaining about my short wait, but many potential customers that came in after me decided to leave after they were told that it will be close to 1.5 hours wait. There were also 6 empty tables when I sat down. My only guess was that the hostess was waiting on people to drive back to the restaurant after leaving their cell phone number and being told the wait will be over an hour.

Now on to the food. Our server raved about the mussels. I thought it was only ok, since I am spoiled by mussels from Beck, Blacksalt, and Radius Pizza. The fries were also not as crisp and hot as I would have liked although I liked the alternative house made ketchup and curry dipping sauces instead of the boring old Heinz. The NY pizza was an excellent value, but the crust was too soggy and nothing like the NY pizza I had 2 weeks ago from Artichoke.

I went to the German Gourmet on Baily's Crossroads today for the first time. They had over 15 types of sausages for $7.95 per pound and an impressive array cold cuts, cheeses, and salads. I wanted to try a little bit of everything and was already making a mental list of things I am going to try on second and third trip.

I think Brasserie Beck would fit the category of great food and plenty of choices for libation.

It turned out we only had one big family dinner at the View (don't judge me, I didn't pick it). The rest of the time, I went around the town with a friend who was born and raised in NYC. We sampled various delectables from Ippudoh, Pommes Frites, Katzs, Artichoke Basille's Pizza and Brewery, Yatagan Kebab, Joe's Shanghai, Jade Asian, Xinjiang bbq cart, Grom, Minamoto Kitchoan, Quickly, Sago, Saint's Alp, and a couple of sliders from pop burger before going to FAO Schwartz with my son, who picked out a truck that we named dumpy. Not bad for my first time in NYC, but I still wish I had more room for food.

Thai Cafe

6701 Loisdale Rd

Springfield, VA 22150

I just had an excellent and inexpensive dinner at Thai Cafe. This is a great find in an unassuming strip mall. The interior was simply decorated and very clean. You enter through the back, pass the kitchen area where the delicious smell of stir fried garlic and basil fill your nostrils. Two huge glasses of Thai ice tea, spring rolls, bean thread salad, beef panang, and a bowl of tom yum gai came out to be a little short of $32 before tip. With the exception of the terrible spring rolls that had too much cabbage and reminded me of Americanized egg roll, everything else was delicious and worthy of ordering again. The bean thread salad and tom yum gai were rated 1 pepper while the beef panang was rated 2 peppers on the menu. One pepper was enough spice for me and the two peppers compelled me to take swigs of ice water in between bites. That's saying something since I am the one who thought the hotpot at Uncle Liu's wasn't really that spicy. I am happy to report that they didn't make any of the dish overly sweet and dumb down on the spice level to suit American taste. For those who are truly brave, there is one item on the menu that's rated 3 peppers. They also brought out 3 spice jars filled with dried chili flakes, pickled jalapeno, and spicy fish sauce (very salty and not sweet like nuoc mam). The portion size was also generous and we took about half of the food home.

I will be in NYC during the July 4th weekend for a family get together. My husband and I will probably go out with another foodie friend for some meals, but I also have the daunting task of figuring out where to go for 10 adults, 4 kids, and 2 toddlers. They are not particularly adventurous eaters, hate vegetables, love beef, lobster, and shrimp. I know they would be just as happy eating at Red Lobster, but they are asking for my opinion since they enjoyed every meal I have arranged in the past from Cantonese to Korean bbq to Thai. Our hotel will be near Battery Park and I figure Chinese would be perfect for a big family meal. I know the best places are in Flushing, but for convenience sake, what is your favorite Cantonese and dim sum place in Chinatown? We are also kind of close to Little Italy. Italian is also good served family style. Is there any moderate priced Italian place? What about decent pizza without venture into Brooklyn and wait hours in line?

Thanks.

Some eye candies for those who couldn't make it.

Okay folks, it's time to own up to your contribution to the picnic. There was so much good food I want to know who to beg for seconds. Please identify your item(s). Specifically: the Nutella cake, the marshmallows & graham crackers, the brisket, the wings, the mustard sauce, the tea eggs, the deviled egg crab thingy.

I made the tea eggs and it was ridiculously easy.

Crack a bunch of hard boiled eggs and simmer them in a marinade consist of salt, soy sauce, tea leaves, star anise, cinnamon, cloves, fennel seeds for 30 min. Let it cool and refrigerate. The longer they soak in the liquid, the more flavor the eggs absorb.

I didn't even get to try everything, particularly those dishes from the later comers. Major newbie mistake for not saving room.

To Don - You disappeared before I could thank you for hosting such a wonderful site, so I'll do it here. Great food, great wine, great people!

I still didn't see the elusive Don. This certainly beats any old picnic. Thanks everyone.

I am going to bring Chinese tea eggs and maybe some 5 spice beef coldcuts if I can find the right cut of beef. I'll also throw in some plates and napkins that I found in the pantry.

I was also at Zaytinya this weekend and I saw the black crusty lamb roasting in the kitchen, but nobody ordered it, and it wasn't on the menu. Can you get a small order of this lamb or is it a whole shoulder or nothing kind of deal? How much was the whole shoulder?

I am coming with my husband and one year old. Not sure what I will bring yet.

I only being to Oriental East once and I really liked the food there. It was ridiculously crowded and getting there 15 minutes before the restaurant opened was not good enough since all the people waiting outside can easily fill one and a half Oriental East. In order to get first seating when they open you have to be there 30 min before they open.

I think this place is owned by the same people who operate Mai Thai. Why would anyone open up a second restaurant that close to the first is beyond me. The heat level is low and dumb down for average American, but at least the sauce wasn't watery and they have a spice rack that you can ask for to add more kicks to your food. I was pleasantly surprised by the sushi and maki here. The first time I went, the rice was cooked too soft, and the second time, it was the right texture. Both sweet shrimp and scallop nigiri had succulent sweet flesh, definitely worth the a la cart price. I also really like the use of fresh lump crab meat instead of imitation crab meat in their maki. I also want to add that their Thai ice tea is served in a generous mug, which is the first time I have been satisfied by the portion size of Thai ice tea.

This 24/7 sullungtang joint opened up a second shop in Annandale during the snowpocalypse of 2010. Perfect timing? Now I don't have to drive all the way to Springfield for a good bowl of hot sullungtang. Like Gamasot, you can watch huge vats of soup bubbling away, and at first, I thought it would be a good idea to sit right by the glass window, but that turned out to be a bad idea, unless you are looking to get a sauna at the same time.

I concur on the mussels. A large portion of tender mussels in a bold, galicky, and slightly spicy tomato base. I used those giant croutons to soak up every last bits of the sauce. I didn't think the pizza was as great, but I only ordered a slice instead of a whole pie baked fresh.

I am kind of with jayandstacey on this. Personally, I wouldn't have been offended if the same incident happened to me, and it seems the anonymous diner wasn't offended either. The tone of the post was more like "oh guess what, this weird thing happened to me the other day". The only thing I find disturbing was the over the top decision the owner made in response to post. Who believes everything wrote

This was badly handled by the owner. There is something authoritarian and archaic about dishing out punishment for all suspects rather than the one perpetrator.

Cafe Asia, China Garden, and Sea Pearl are all very different restaurants. China Garden does a lot of Chinese weddings. If he's looking for traditional Chinese round table banquet, China Garden is probably best at handling that.

I didn't like the atmosphere here. It was too trendy and too sterile. Dim sum is suppose to be casual, family friendly, loud, and cheap. I can do without the loud part, I can let the price slide if the food was phenomenal, but dim sum has to be family friendly and casual. Overall, the taste of the dim sum was better than I expected for a chain. The only major problem was the lack of ultimate flavor enhancer, pork fat in their dumplings. The steamed rice parcels suffered from the same problem with dry tasting rice. Traditionally, the meat in steamed rice parcel is suppose to be a fatty cut like the pork belly, so as the parcel steams, the fat melts and gets absorbed into the rice along with the meat juice, resulting in moist and tender rice. I will stick with the dim sum in the suburbs. Something are always better made the traditional way.

We went to Oriental East today. At first, we thought we made great time by getting there at 10:50 AM, but it turns out that there was already a line of about 200 people outside, waiting for the restaurant to open. They ran out of tables before we could get a seat, so we had to wait about 30 min for the first round of people to finish eating. Next time, we will be there 30 min prior to opening. Everything was really good, except for the turnip cake, which was too soggy. Oriental East doesn't have any warming mechanism on their cart to keep the dim sum warm, therefore, you have to get there early to get fresh and hot dim sum.

We had a delicious meal at To Sok Jip with Grover and Escoffier. I got to try Bossam for the first time. I was always reluctant to order this because steamed pork just sounds boring, but it actually tasted really good when all the components came together. We also got the old standby seafood pancake. It was greasier than the ones I ordered in the past, but still tasty. Spicy pork and broiled mackerel completed the meal. The restaurant was full when we got there at 5:20, and by 7:00, there was already a line out the door. My 1.5 year old was really fussy at first, but eventually settled into a small area between the chair, table, and the highchair and enjoyed some seafood pancake, mackerel, and rice mixed with seaweed broth.

They have a bigger selection for the food bar during the weekend. Here is a couple of pictures I took when I went last time.

I always like to get a whole flouder (not the fluke, its too big and therefore tougher) from Grand mart, rub with some cooking wine, and steam until its just flaky. Douse a table spoon of soy sauce onto the fish. Heat a wok with 2 table spoon of vegetable oil and dump in a bunch of scallions and ginger, and pour the oil over the fish. Its almost like the restaurant steamed fish. I also got 4 king oyster mushroom for $1.99 yesterday. Good for soup or stir fry.

I had that same sandwich last week, dcs, and I thought it was great. Most of my experiences at Earl's prior to this one had been pretty average (and always made me wonder why Rocks has it italicized in the Dining Guide), but between the Pork and Fries sandwich and the deliciously hearty Ham and White Bean soup they had on special that day, I saw what this shop was capable of and I look forward to returning soon.

Who needs ham when there is juicy roasted pork loin sliced paper thin? I just love this little gem serving usual sandwiches at a reasonable price.