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DaRiv18

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Everything posted by DaRiv18

  1. My daughter really loves calamari, and I wonder what places serves decent versions of it. So far, Pete's Pizza has the strongest version, but then I am stuck eating pizza which is getting pretty old for me.
  2. I've picked up a couple bags of Small Planes at the Made in DC shop on the south side of Dupont Circle, and have really been impressed. I've had both the Hunapu (a Guatemalan bean) and also the Arboretum seasonal blend. I am no doubt biased, as I got to know Evan when he pulled shots at the Union Market peregrine location, but still I think these coffees are in that upper echelon of local coffees, like Qualia and Ceremony. I understand peregrine features the beans as well, along with Counter Culture.
  3. The Cucina is mostly a food stand, there is a table next to its booth and it is not clear to me it is for their exclusive use (I doubt it). I wouldn't characterize it as pre-made meals, usually you have to wait for about 10 minutes for them to prepare your pasta. I would say Takorean or Chipotle are closer to pre-made meals then what they do. They do sell jars of pesto and other sauces for take-home, as well as fresh pasta. I'd be surprised if those items makes up more than 15% of their sales. I actually have never been to the Osteria, so maybe I should temper my enthusiasm! But these are hearty meals for under $20/plate, as compared to Sfoglina which is the closest credible pasta shop.
  4. Maketto serves their fried chicken on top of white bread, too. Is this an Asian thang? I think they do it so the juices don't go to waste, my guess.
  5. Took the fam there last night for the first time, a last minute 8pm Saturday reservation for four. We were given the option of sitting deep in the dining room, or at a less sparsely populated area that turned out to be the bar area. We chose the latter, and the hostess said that if it didn't work out due to being so close to the front door, that she would move us. We had about three different servers approach us in the first 3 minutes, bringing either menus, water, or a description of today's soup. With the last one, we were still getting situated, but I ordered two apps to start, my kids were pretty hungry. Soon, they were delivered, the fried calamari and the crab beignets. They were both fine, the calamari a little bit more interesting with a green aoili side. The crab tasted more like a tuna salad to me, was not so much lump crab than something that much denser. I much prefer a pan fried than this battered deep fried version. We tore thru the apps, and then sat around for another ten minutes or so. Two of our servers seemed to be busy slinging drinks behind the bar, and the other server was doing other things. At this point, we had no check-up on our apps, no offer for an informed drink decision, no further order for entrees. Kids were getting restless, I was getting irritated that I didn't have a cocktail order in, so I took the hostess up on her previous offer, settled up our check in the bar, and moved to the dining area. Experience improved vastly from thereon. The entrees were straightforward yet delicious. My daughter loved her lamb bolognese, the son and spouse shared a steak frites with a wonderful red wine reduction, and I followed our new server's suggestion and went for the pan fried trout. On point. This is some of the better upscale comfort food I've had in awhile, and one of the few places where the entrees outshined the apps by a wide margin. My blood orange margarita was delicious too.
  6. The night before, my five year old had demanded Chick-Fil-A (please bear with me) and for reasons only she understands, my spouse acquiesced. Ended up it was a thirty minute wait to get their meal there (not sure why), during which my child and my spouse went thru various stages of their relationship with each other as they waited impatiently. Cut to: last night as I headed home, I made the last-minute executive decision that the family meal would be at Sfloglina, just around 6:30pm. I walked in, found that there was an outside table available (inside tables were spoken for), was seated. The fam was across the street, getting a loaf of bread, and were about 5 minutes away. Still in executive decision mode, when our lovely Italian server promptly came over just to greet me, I ordered for the kids off the kids menu: pappardelle in tomato sauce and beef ribs over polenta. She returned a minute later to pour water, and I, feeling flush wielding all this executive power left and right, decided to order the rigatoni and the brazino for the parents. And an Aperol Spritz just for me, I clearly deserved it. Probably about three minutes later, the kids entrees arrive, followed by my cocktail a minute later, and the adult entrees 5 minutes after that, just as my family were arriving (later than I thought they would). Everything was delicious, I know fresh pasta cooks quicker than dried pasta, and the proteins were either cooked for 72 hours or were thin enough to not be cooked extensively. The kids drilled thru their noodles and "steak", thus avoiding making a hangry scene in public, and we enjoyed the rigatoni in an heirloom tomato arrabblata and the fish filet with faro. We did not do the dishes justice in terms of savoring every bite, but really just gratefully demolished it all. The humidity was a bit uncomfortable for us, so we opted against dessert, the family left for the car and I settled up. By my watch, my wife and kids were seated there for 25 minutes, thus beating their time at Chick-Fil-A the night before! I tried to share my story with our server, but due to my in-artful delivery as well as a slight language/cultural barrier, she did not laugh but actually wondered if we had enjoyed our meal here, or preferred our experience at Chick-Fil-A. Perhaps she even thought the kids didn't like the food here, so they went to Chick-Fil-A instead? I can only speculate, but we enjoyed our meal here.
  7. It doesn't say that he will be an equal partner, and it says he will move to North Carolina but come back monthly to design the menu. I am also wary, like Mark is. I kind of go there only when I am in the mood for mussels and frites, I think it operates better with a focused specialty menu. And with a great ale selection. That said, I do think it is a saavy pickup by the Queen Vic, if Granville Moore's is at a depressed value as H Street NE begins to transition from destination pubcrawl to self-sustaining destination modern neighborhood. Granville Moore's (which I confess I hadn't realized had fallen off) isn't a Piratz Tavern concept, it should be one of the easier turnaround projects out there.
  8. So, the bar manager announced today on his FB that he is "parting ways" with Bistro 1521, due to "too many cooks in the kitchen." He also says that hospitality, great service, and the best quality ingredients are important to him, "no short cuts". He also cited the huge space. I probably won't be back, I was giving it the benefit of the doubt due to the usual opening pains. Our service was friendly yet pretty bad, and the food was worth the visit, and the cocktails very good. I certainly wish it the best, I will monitor this thread keenly.
  9. We ate out on the outdoor patio, but as we walked thru, it didn't seem really that different than other times -- I didn't think it was super hot. The upstairs usually is very cold, if that makes a difference, to the point I have heard diners complain about it on different visits. I would suggest you go back. I also think you picked a good night to skip, not only no porchetta, but their fryer was down, too, so a significant portion of their appetizers were unavailable. Which meant other appetizers were sold out by 7:00pm (such as the herbed arborio rice stuffed squash blossoms that I wanted to order).
  10. If they are serving porchetta as a main, then it is probably on Saturday and maybe on Wednesday. This past Saturday, our family ended up all ordering personal pizzas all around, since we didn't feel that cobbling together the smaller plates that intrigued us would be enough. We did get the local cranberry beans topped with sliced porchetta, and that was worth it. But it wasn't the same. It's great to have their pizza as a fallback option, and it's great to have their pizza period.
  11. The industry put their whole self in, but I've put my whole self out. New entrants are going all in, too, but let's see how that shakes out. I think poke's pretty hokey, yet it turns people all around. It's a poor man's chirashi: that's what it all about.
  12. I am usually skeptical of built-in bottle pourers, in my experience the fail rate is not inconsequential. Granted, usually they are used in liqueur bottles, where the sugar content plus the lower-traffic setting of the home bar leads to crappy buildups that clog the pourer or make the cap so sticky that you can't open it. I have seen bartenders hack off the tops of Luxardo and Cynar bottles because those pourers are so bad, so this one would have been of a fail-safe quality I think for it to be feasible. And if it is of a certain quality, I wonder by how much it increases the cost of the bottle. Gosh, why do I sound like such an asshole, I should be happy for these innovators who might find a decent solution for the industry. Maybe it would work for rail base spirits, where most of the volume is anyways.
  13. A couple years ago, a chef shared a conversation with me that he had had with another chef, the gist of which was this: we are all doing pretty much the same thing. Since then, not consciously though, I have slowly been less enthusiastic about trying new venues. It's hard to convince me to check out a new $30/entree place, because generally it really isn't that interesting. And you can only do so many tasting menus. So, I now have my core favorites, maybe 4 or 5, that we visit 80-90% of the time. And really, the only time I change places is if I am following a bartender or chef that I already know there. Thip Khao is one of those places where I eat less than I should, because it is always very very good, and has some personality to it. My spouse met up there with her friends, and 10 minutes before their kitchen closed, she accommodated my request for take-out. The catfish red curry was excellent and traveled well, and I wish this place was an UberEATS option or whatever instead of Mr. Chen's Organic or whatever else drivel is out there.
  14. I once tried to tip our server at Komi some extra cash for him to pocket personally, and he refused it. I wonder if this is following P&P's "let us not burden you with math" at the end of a luxurious meal, for the benefit of the diner. Also, if you are ordering a $500 bottle of wine at a restaurant, you are trying to impress somebody, so the extra benjamin just adds to your mystique.
  15. We ate there over the weekend, it is worth a visit. The bar program is biggest strength. We found the menu, even as it has expanded from the previous iteration, was waaay too pork and chicken-centric, one member of our group was disappointed there was no grilled fish items. Another lamented there were too few veggies options to balance the meal. But, I understand they will expand the menu in about a month. Service is not on par with the bar program, yet. I would recommend the Ukoy, Sisig (to share amongst like 6 people), Ihaw-Ihaw Special, and Kare-Kare. Bicol Express was excellent as well.
  16. Matisse Cafe may be the MILF of upscale dining in the lineup of sexy millennial fast-casuals along Tenleytown's Wisconsin Ave. Last night, a very relaxed, comfortable, and enjoyable dinner here. Atmosphere is a very nice change of pace from loud 14th Street type places. Non-descript, non-offensive music on the speakers. We dropped in, just because I had never been there before and wondered about it. We stood out in this white-tablecloth spot, as I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, but it was a quiet night there anyways. We were in the back room, where my wife sat on a upholstered banquette that spanned the entire room. The lighting and detailing are beautiful, and have aged gracefully. I recall being shocked when I first ate at Granville Moore's at the intentional lack of renovation, but that has become the new normal, people like industrial ambiance. Matisse is much more comfortable than all of that, I hope the pendulum swings back towards this style, soon. A glass of a just-opened sparking rose will always put me in a good mood, and so we evaluated the menu. There's the regular menu, and then there is a half-page insert of the specials. And then the server announced two more specials: Soft shell crabs Almondine, and a King Salmon entree. I'm not sure if they are printing a menu every day (doubtful), so this system is a bit strange. We started off with the zucchini blossoms appetizer off the specials ($13). This was four blossoms stuffed with goat cheese and prepared tempura style, and served over the best marinara sauce I have had in recent memory (including my own). The blossoms themselves were breaded with a light touch and fried just right. My wife opted for the pasta in a red sauce with jumbo crabmeat ($28 regular menu), and I went for the king salmon entree ($33 the special special menu). I tasted her pasta, and was disappointed in the saucing, it was thin and lacked the personality of the appetizer sauce. My salmon was cooked a nice medium rare, and the skin was fairly crispy. Served with cherry tomatoes, olives, and some other vegetables, it was very very good. We rarely do dessert, but decided to go for the Matisse Meringue, with hazelnut gelato (Dolcezza?), fresh whipped cream, and Swiss Milk & Dark Chocolate Sauce ($10). Really nice, not too sweet, and the meringue itself had a nouget of some sort in it that kept it interesting. A very pleasant surprise. Downstairs we see there is a chef's table, where it does a $95 multi-course dinner. I am tempted to check it out, anyone been recently?
  17. Happy to share, but like the marinara I do think the Hummus is improved by the Vitamix. I always use two cans of chickpeas, one can drained and one as is. Juice of one lemon. Cumin seeds, salt, and olive oil - all in quantities at least twice of what most recipes call for. Probably 3 oz of oil at least. Then I rift, based on available resources in the kitchen. Leftover roasted veggies always get added, and never raw garlic like many recipes call for. Roasted garlic is wonderful, though. I like adding berbere, many times. Finally, I often add homemade chicken stock for flavor and consistency, so that the blender doesn't struggle as much. It is a pretty versatile recipe.
  18. I make my own hummus, and now I use it for our marinara. It really makes a great sauce emulsifying the oil and improving the overall taste, I have spoiled my kids. But basically, I use it for soups, sauces, and dips. Think of it as a garbage disposal before all that produce/leftovers go bad. It is pretty much the same equipment.
  19. I think this is a perfectly legitimate question. Well, for many other articles of commerce, it would be very likely unconstitutional. But when America passed the 21st Amendment (to the Constitution) repealing Prohibition, there was concern that already dry jurisdictions would be forced to tolerate alcohol traffic. So under the 21st Amendment, states and local governments get to make the call on how alcoholic beverages may be regulated. I come from a state where there are no retail alcohol sales on Sunday. So, generally, how alcohol is regulated is largely outside of the scope of the federal constitution. Regarding poor people, that just sucks and when I see this type of legislation, it smacks of white privilege to me. I think the Constitution would protect poor people if there was a showing that a government was discriminating against a protected class when it came to marketing alcoholic beverages, without a countervailing legitimate interest. On the flip side, having lived on the same block as an establishment that has a heavy traffic of single serves, the alleys literally smell like piss and there are poor people passing out in the streets. I would rather not have public drunkenness, nor would I have easy loopholes for people of better means to get one beer.
  20. I personally am against single serves, and even sat on an ANC alcohol licensing committee to champion the cause. Unfortunately, as soon as they passed the single serve moratorium, the big breweries came out with a new product where they basically duct-taped two tall boys together and sold them. The old boys on the streets would pool their cash to buy and split these, so it didn't altogether eliminate the outdoor bars (and public intoxication/urination/etc.) issues. The most compelling argument for me was for the liquor store in Union Station, where most of their customers just bought a beer for their Amtrak trip (in a private space, not outdoor public space) back to MD or further down the corridor. Otherwise, just buy the damn six pack at retail price! I get that there are $20 bottles of beer, but still. Given the reality that the DC police are spread too thin, and there are admittedly bigger fish to fry than corner drinking, just put the onus on the shops to not sell them. Plus, I think stores can apply for an exemption from this rule anyways.
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