jrichstar

I agree that the food was a step-up in quality. But I'd also say that most of the food that was meant to be hot was either cold or barely warm. This definitely lessened the overall food experience. I understand that when serving massive quantities of food it's a challenge to keep food warm. Is it possible to have warming trays at every station, especially given the great financial success of the event? The Savor Flowers beer was an excellent and unexpected nice touch.

Wanted to share highlights with those who attended SAVOR this weekend and others who might be interested. There were certainly too many good ones to mention. Here a few that I thought were really great and unique as well. What were your favorites? Harpoon Munich Dark: a really drinkable dark. Looks like a stout but sessionable like a pale. Yazoo Rye Saison: a number of good saisons....the rye in this one added an extra dimension that I thought was great. New Holland Envious: listed as a raspberry fruit beer but really more of a touch that really added a lot to the whole package. Rogue Creamery 75th Anniversary: I asked the guy from the brewery what the style was. He said it was a mixture of everything. What do you think? It seemed to be a sweetish brown or black IPA.

This was kind of a surprise to me.....Pure Pasty now has a food truck. It was located today at Wellburn Square in Ballston. They had three kinds of pasties on the truck today and they said they will rotate from time to time. Cost was $6.50 per. Twitter id is @PurePasty. Great to see more quality products out on the trucks!

One of the more curious changes in the rankings was that of Willow, which was rated #39 in the previous survey and has completely fallen out of the top 100. What's also weird is that in the December 2010 issue's monthly "Needle" column, Willow was noted as being "hot," measuring at nearly 425 degrees. Recent comments on the board have been positive. Something does not seem to add up here. I have not eaten at Willow for a couple of years so can't really add any personal observations. Comments?

Not sure what might be the Chinese restaurant of your dreams, but it probably is not one that has the phrase "Americanized Chinese" in its title. There are quite a few places that would come closer to fulfilling your dreams, right here in the DC area if you are willing to drive a bit. Per Don's dining guide, the authentic Hong Kong Palace is in Falls Church, fairly close to you. And two places I can personally vouch for in Rockville which are also highly rated are Joe's Noodle House and Sichuan Pavillion.

Have to put out a shout also for the pretzel variety....just tried 'em this week. Really good.....the crunch and the saltiness really lift the tasting experience. Great for a mass marketed brand.

I saw that as well and did a quick search, seeing a Yelp review from last week. So hoping he's just confusing the closing of Daruma with that of Ren's. Anyone been recently?

And this should make it official, from Sietsema on Twitter: "Sad news: "Tonight is our last night." That's chef Jon Mathieson, telling me that Inox is closing." Good news break from Todd Kliman. Other lesson: the lady who answer's the phone probably is not your best source for restaurant business questions (Carman).

Per Kliman's Twitter feed: "Inox in Tysons will be closing tomorrow, according to a trusted source." And was just rated three stars by Seitsma. Darn shame.

Thanks for all the comments and ideas. Keep 'em coming!

Maybe a couple to try and a couple to make! Any local restaurants you'd recommend to get a few of the treats?

Just saw this survey of the "top 40" foods from Japan. I'm always interested in other ethnic foods. This looks to be a fairly comprehensive survey with a number of nice descriptions. Learned a lot of some foods that I've never heard of before (and would like to try!). Any comments on particular items mentioned? www.cnngo.com/tokyo/eat/40-tokyo-foods-we-cant-live-without-090648

We really like the Pan de Campagne. Can take or leave the rest.

I don't think I've seen reported on the site that Matchbox will be opening another location this year in Rockville in Congressional Plaza. It will be in that cursed spot where the likes of That's Amore, Shelley's Woodroast and PGA have failed. The existing structure will be torn down and a multi-level restaurant with outdoor decks will be built. Seems like good news for MontCo as well as this site that can't seem to work out for some reason.

Definitely a hint of coconut, though it varies for me from piece to piece. Frankly, I'd prefer no coconut flavor but it is fairly mild. Not so surprising, considering it's the 4th ingredient after chocolate, sticky toffee caramel and condensed milk. Higher on the list than even the sea salt.

We've seen many times, including on this board, the "this is my livelihood" excuse by chef/owners to try to water down blog reviews. It all gets to credibility, of which Don's has a ton of and it seems, in reading through the comments on the Marc Sheppard blog, he has as well. In addition, the way JoeDoe responded was extremely crass and unprofessional. The only "little man" in this story is the chef himself.

I was fascinated by the nearly concurrent reviews on Potenza---Sietsma in the Post Magazine today and Kliman in this month's Washingtonian. Since the new Washingtonian just came out, it's not available on line yet. Bottom line: Sietsma gave it a sub-average 1.5 star review; Kliman an above average 2.5 star review. I respect the critiques of both these guys so it seems pretty unusual that they saw the place so differently. Sietsma did like the pizza and a few dishes but pretty much panned the place, comparing it to the Olive Garden at one point. Kliman liked many different dishes including the rigatoni, gnocchi, veal scallopini as well as the pizza and desserts. There was not a lot of overlap in the reviews in regards to dishes. On the gnocchi, Sietsma said that it "grew tiresome a few bites in" and that the Gorgonzola sauce was "restrained." Kliman called the gnocchi "terrific." On the desserts, Sietsma praised them but with just a few afterthought words. Kliman devoted two pictures in the review, calling the panna cotta "marvelous" and the cannoli as "among the best reasons to visit." Kliman noted that Potenza was an important addition to the traditional Italian scene in DC, given there is not much good in that segment currently. In reading the reviews, I found Kliman's to be much more engaging. Of course, he had many more words to work with, which may be part of the difference here. In Sietsma's review, I detected a whiff of elitism, especially with that Olive Garden comment. It may be the length of the reviews or maybe that they just ate different items but I just found the differences to be interesting. Others? Sietsma's review: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/23/AR2009062302342.html

This seemed especially timely given some of the recent activity on the boards. The Code is proposed by the bloggers on SpicySaltySweet.com and FoodWoolf.com (see About Us tab). Also, there is a Reviewer's Guidelines tab for the reviewing of restaurants. Thoughts? http://foodethics.wordpress.com/the-code/

Thank you, Todd, for your excellent reply. It seems that folks sometimes get carried away with speculation and innuendo, though I suppose that's the nature of people, especially in a public forum like this. Unfortunately, guys like you and Tom don't have the time to keep up with all of this stuff so it generally goes undefended. Nice to see you defend.

Tom's reply to the Inox review question was pretty darn good and hopefully will put the nitpicking we've seen on the site to bed.

The Cuban sandwich at Cuba de Ayer in Burtonsville is pretty authentic according to my Miami-born wife.

Since we're in a reminiscent mood, let me throw out a few more from the 70s and 80s. Any memories of these out there? -- S&W Cafeteria---located somewhere in what is now the Executive Blvd area of Rockville. Nothing special but cafeterias were the few places my parents took us when we were younger. Including the Hot Shoppes in Montgomery Mall. -- Burger Chef---I remember it was the first place that had a fixin's bar. My dad loved to overload on the pickles. Remember Jeff? -- Peter Pan Inn, Urbana---this was the fancy-night-out place. I still remember the fried chicken and hush puppies. -- Farrell's, Wheaton Plaza---how could you not like a place with that huge Zoo sundae and those loud horns and lights? As pointed out, Shakey's was the ultimate pizza parlor atmosphere. I fondly remember those fried potato things on the all-you-can-eat buffet.

Did you ask for them to give you a fresh plate of the risotto to take home? This has happened a couple of times to us in our dining lives and the establishments have done this both times.

I've read Tim's column a couple of times and feel that his angle of minimizing the abuses of the owners was done in a half-joking way. As he states, the real point is that these people did some bad things, but they serve good food, and we as consumers need to make our own decision as to whether we should frequent the place. Tim's job is to review food, which is what he did, and he presented the facts fairly so the reader could come to their own conclusions. There are lots of people who've made some pretty bad mistakes out there. I trust that our law enforcement officials give just punishments and when the offenders have served their time or paid their money, they deserve to be considered equals (at least until the next offense). Besides, given the current state of the economy, we can use as much productive work in the economy as possible, ex-con or not! Also would say that calling Waitman self-righteous was unfair. He was expressing his opinion, as we all do here, and did it in a creative and convincing way. No harm in that.

I agree. With the best Thai in the area either in Northern Virginia or Wheaton, it's just not easy for someone living in Lower MontCo to get to these areas on a weeknight. You'd think a steady Thai place like NK would do better given the relative choices nearby.