LolaDC

Went there for lunch last week. I started with the roasted beet salad with fennel, arugula and gorgonzola, and my friend had the wild mushroom baklava, which the waiter was pushing very hard. Both were very good, and the portions were big. For entrees, we both had the crab ravioli with brown butter and sage - also very good, but a bit heavy on the sage. I will definitely go back, and look forward to the wait staff ironing out the kinks in timing. I had barely dug into my salad when the ravioli arrived. Otherwise, the service was good, the atmosphere was nice, although not that much different from Jimmy's. Overall, I am considering this a keeper, and the perfect place to take clients for lunch.

Hi, all. The last post on 15 Ria was quite some time ago, and I'm wondering if anyone has been there recently. Going tonight and, thanks to some of the reviews I've seen elsewhere, starting to get a little nervous. Anyone??? Thanks!

Hmmmm....the blog isn't working at the moment.

Hi, everyone. Just found out that Fabio Trabocchi will be holding a wine dinner/book signing at the National Press Club on Monday, October 16. I'm guessing tickets will sell out pretty quickly -- if you want more info, go to the Press Club website or shoot me a message.

Just returned from a trip to Scotland, and thought you all might be interested to know the culinary landscape is pretty impressive. While breakfast was the same every day (eggs, sausage, bacon, haggis, potatoes, etc) and lunch was usually a baguette with some sort of meat, lots of cheese and a side of chips (fries), dinner was always an adventure. We started in Stirling (home to the famous battle, castle and the Wallace Monument), at a lovely hotel about 5 minutes walking distance from the town centre. The Parklodge Hotel and restaurant is run by the Marquetty's, an incredibly friendly couple (she's Scottish, he's French). It turned out the husband, Georges Marquetty, is a celebrated chef who was voted one of the best chefs in American when he was working in Cincinnati. The night we were there, we were the only ones in the restaurant so Georges cooked especially for us. I had a fantastic, spicy gazpacho, a luxuriously rich Coquilles St. Jacques and I honestly can't even remember what I had for dessert, but I remember being very happy with it. The service and the food were both unbelievably good, but the atmosphere was kind of funny. The restaurant has a player piano that seemed to be playing in honor of the visiting Americans -- When You're Happy and You Know It, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Old McDonald Had a Farm and others served as the hilarious soundtrack to our otherwise very nice dinner. After Stirling, we spent two days in St. Andrews at the Inn on North Street, which also has a very good restaurant called the Oak Rooms. There, I had a wild mushroom, leek and stilton penne that was out of this world. If you're keen to get drunk and tell stories with caddies from St. Andrews, we discovered a number of them at the bar in the Dunvegan Hotel also on North Street. They have an interesting drink called the Blackbeard - a combo of Morgan's spiced rum, coke and Guinness - which was surprisingly good. It's great fun to people-watch from one of the few outdoor tables. In Inverness, if you're looking for something modern, Rocpool Rendezvous is very good. I had a really wonderful little salad of fresh crab, avocado, tomato and crème fraiche with a sweet ginger and chilli dressing and for an entree, grilled sea bream with curried prawn rissotto. Yum, yum, yum. Now, for the Star of the Show -- the Three Chimneys on the Isle of Skye. I had been obsessing about this place after reading about it several years ago and it turned out to be everything I imagined. The Isle of Skye is the most remote and beautiful place I have ever seen in my life. We literally drove out to the middle of nowhere, then proceeded to drive for another hour and a half to get to the Three Chimneys. The final 5 miles of our trip was on a one-lane road, which we had to share with other cars. And sheep. It was great. I don't have the menu in front of me now (but I do have a signed copy at home!) but I can give you a general overview. The starter was roasted trout, which was fresh and roasted to perfection. The second course was a superb fish soup (not Cullen Skink) with a gorgeous tomato base and a ton of fresh herbs. The entree was turbot and scallops with potatoes and peas. The turbot was just OK, a bit fishy for my taste, but the scallops were delicious. For dessert, I had the restaurant's famous hot marmalade pudding with Drambuie custard which was so yummily comforting. I struggled to choose between that and the sampler of Scottish cheeses, and was happy with my decision the next morning when the same cheeses were served in our breakfast spread, which also included a peat smoked salmon that ruined me for any other smoked salmon in the future (see next paragraph). If you get out to the Three Chimneys, spring for a room at the House Over-By. It's pricey, but worth every penny. And take bug spray. The midges are pesky. After Skye, it was back to Glasgow. We had a great dinner at 78 St. Vincent, a modern French/Scottish restaurant. Had smoked salmon, potato blinis and caper butter to start, roasted monkfish in Parma ham with a chorizo and mixed bean casserole for an entree (not a huge fan of that combo) and a delightful iced cranachan parfait with summer berries and apricot coulis. The other meals in Glasgow were Italian and Chinese because we needed a little variety. The Italian was really good, the Chinese was just like Chinese food anywhere else. I wanted to go to the Ubiquitous Chip, which is a popular restaurant in the west side of the city, but we didn't get to it. That will be something to look forward to next time. Throughout the trip, I took liberal bites of my husband's dinners, which tended to be Scottish beef. Needless to say, they know how to do their beef in Scotland. Sorry for the length of this post -- but hope this information is useful to someone!

For you Maryland Suburbanites out there, there's a place on Route 198 between Ft. Meade and Laurel called Casey's Crabs that makes HUGE crabcakes and boxes of hush puppies to go. I honestly cannot tell you how they measure up to others because I am always so deliriously happy to have a hot box of puppies that they taste like the Best in the World. But if you're in that area, stop in and try them.

Plus, he's dreamy.

Got to the grill today right at noon, and it was very quiet. Chicken sandwich w/ everything was delicious, and I'm happy to report that they've doubled the amount of lettuce in the grilled caesar. Yay!

Had a glorious dinner at Dino on Saturday, made even better by Dean's company. Our party of six started with the classic antipasto plate, chef's selection of cheeses, grilled calamari, fried calamari, saltimbocca and crostini selection. Everything was top-notch, as we have come to expect, but I particularly liked the crostini. The celery root & roasted garlic was perfectly balanced, and the mushroom & prosciutto was wonderfully rich. After the misticana salad, which was again perfectly balanced, I had the wild boar pasta, which everyone rightfully raves about. The boar was so tender and flavorful, the noodles nice and thin. Others at the table ordered the gorgonzola pasta, the lasagnette, the sausage polenta and the potato and pesto pasta. Everyone was thrilled with their choices. I do have to say that while I loved the pasta, I look forward to going back and concentrating more on the small dishes. I love the variation of several smaller plates. Kudos to Chef Amaya and thank you to Dean for a great night!

The salad is good (the Parm is especially tasty) but it's SO SMALL. I just finished one and am still starving. Don't think I'll be doing this again -- my $5 will go much further on one of the sandwiches.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for suggesting this place. I am happily polishing off a chicken tikka wrap with mango sauce (and homemade chips, of course). Everything is absolutely superb. Lola

Happy to report a pleasant experience last night at Kolumbia. Started off with Clos le Vigneau Vouvray, which I was pleased to see was an option on the by-the-glass list. With the wine, our server brought a wonderful little fried ravioli of salt cod with a saffron sauce, followed by a basket of fresh bread with a nicely spiced eggplant spread and butter. For an appetizer, we split an order of clam and cuttlefish fritters. The crunchy fritters were absolutely lovely paired with a tangy diakon slaw and a tart dipping sauce. I could have eaten a whole plate of those things. Wish we had ordered two appetizers, as I really wanted to try the Yukon gold gnocchi. For the main course, I opted for the truffle and parsnip perogies with golden raisin sauce. These little guys were absolutely decadent, and so filling that I had to give two of the five or six perogies to my companion. The dish was definitely on the sweet side and not the best match to the Pierre Lauverjat Cote de Fruite Sancerre I was drinking, but wonderful nonetheless. My friend ordered the "Cod on Cod" (described in the previous post), which would have been wonderful but for the "Black Knight" sauce. The squid ink was overpowering, and just too rich for my palate. We finished with a cheese plate, the specifics of which I can't remember. But it was good, and paired well with the fruit compote served with it. The service was excellent until the latter part of our meal, when the dining room began to fill. We had to wait an unacceptably long time for our check, but I'll take that versus having to wait a long time for food. Definitely recommend Restaurant Kolumbia, and look forward to going back.

So happy to hear the positive reviews! Trying it for the first time tomorrow night, and was frankly worried that the lack of Rockwell discussion meant there was something wrong with it. Yippee!

Right on, sister! I can't figure out why people eat at this place. It's just. Plain. Awful.

I agree wholeheartedly! Pachanga is a great stand-by for good local fare. If you're lucky enough to be there on a night they're serving chicken mole enchiladas, get them. They're fantastic. Also in Crofton is the Big Fish Grille, which is the little brother of Yellowfin in Annapolis. Lively bar scene, good seafood, and half-price wine on Tuesdays.

Had dinner there for the first time two nights ago and was sadly unimpressed, more by the service than the food. Service was atrocious from the minute I walked in the door. The hostess ignored my friend and me, then she practically hung up on someone who called (I assumed so she could deal with us) and then continued to ignore us. Our server was completely detached and not at all friendly or helpful. The food was wonderful, but the cheese plate (which tasted fantastic) was sparse and the list of white wines by the glass was a bit short. Bottom line -- my expectations were perhaps overblown, as I have heard a lot of positive feedback from a number of people. Willing to give it another try, though. Maybe I just cought them on a bad night.

GULP. I am having lunch there tomorrow, and as it is Friday on a slow holiday week, I was planning to wear jeans (very cute and fashionable jeans, but jeans nonetheless) and a nice blazer. Am I going to get the TGI Fridays treatment?

Ended up sitting at the bar and had a series of splendid dishes selected by Chris and my pal Justin. And Chris did an awesome job pairing wine with our food. Lovely evening all around -- just sorry we missed you, Dean!

You are going to have so much fun!!! I can recommend two places in Hong Kong that I tried earlier this year and absolutely adored. The first is an Italian place in Lan Kwai Fong called Va Bene (58-62 D'Aguilar Street; Va Bene's Website). The food is incredible (Chef Tony Tonetto earned a few Michelin stars in Italy) and the wine list impressive. Highly, highly recommend this place. Also suggest trying Petrus, which is the very fine French restaurant in the Island Shangri-La hotel. Not cheap, but what the heck -- you'll be in Hong Kong where everything else IS cheap. I realize neither of these places serves Hong Kong's regional cuisine. Perhaps one of the others can help in that department? Enjoy, and be sure to report back! Lola

Was thinking about stopping by Dino, but with all the recent publicity, I'm worried I won't be able to get a seat.

Just got a note from Lee at the Westlawn -- the website is finally live. Westlawn Inn. I wish they had included more photos to show the place off, as it really is lovely. The menu changes a lot, but the one on the site is a very good representation of John's cooking. Lola

I agree with you, Jennifer. Had a similar experience with a generious, wine-buying host. Really wanted to enjoy the meal, but it was...eh. Okay. And the service was over-the-top snooty, which knocked the okay dining experience down a few pegs. I don't plan on ever going back.

You guys are the greatest -- please keep the advice coming!!! The Minibar idea is great -- reminds me that he asked me about it once and said it looked interesting. I agree that he needs a companion (me) for that one.

Hi, everyone. Your creativity and unparalleled knowledge of the DC food scene are being called upon. Can you help a fellow Rockwellian come up with a blockbuster Christmas gift for her big brother? This year, my family decided that, rather than dividing our respective holiday budgets to buy gifts for everyone, we will each blow our entire wad on one lucky person. I picked my big brother, who lives in the area, and is very interested in exploring the food scene. I'd like to spend my budget helping him do so. So far, I've found that some of the more notable chefs in the area give group instruction and all of the good restaurants sell gift certificates. These options are fine, but what I would really like to do is present my bro with an absolutely personal, personalized experience that he'll never forget. Does anyone have suggestions or ideas? I'd like to keep it at or under $500 if possible. If I'm out of my mind or off-topic, please feel free to call me names. Thanks in advance, Lola

I'm a huge fan of Equinox. Have eaten there several times for lunch and dinner, and have never had a bad experience. Although it's a bit early, if you're looking for ways to really impress someone on Valentine's Day, Equinox does a wonderful multi-course dinner with wine pairings. If you can't get some action after THAT meal, you may want to throw in the towel altogether.