Biotech

I'll let you know tomorrow. A couple of us are going on a field trip tomorrow to the schwarma cart.

I agree. Two of the worst lunches I've had (from food to service) were at Acadiana. Dirtiest oysters as well. I'm interested in trying Beck for the food. Central was good, but not stellar - although it was lunch service. Maybe it hits its "A" game for dinner.

We've tried this place twice and have enjoyed the pizza both times. The one thing that drives me crazy is the unpredictability of the availability of toppings. First time, no sausage. Second time - had to check if they had green peppers available. That one had me scratching my head. But the pizza is very good.

Fosters is in our regular rotation as well. Kids dig the schlocky decor and the burgers are generally pretty good. Unfortunately it is hit or miss on the freshness of the buns. It's also a godd opportunity to hone up on your Pac Man skills in the back too.

Niall, I've had the same problem in the past. What I do is snip back so that the basils starts getting bushier. Just pinching hasn't given me satisfatory results with the smaller basils. All of my gardening is done in containers these days and I'm doing the same with my oregano at the moment. The recent heat and sun seems to be encouraging all my herbs to bolt. Tomatoes are doing well, though.

Much thanks. As a Jersey boy myself, I'm looking forward to trying them tonight. This should make it a little easier.

Does anyone have any contact info for this place? Ideally I'd like to call in an order for pick-up before entering the seventh circle of Hell that is Rte. 123 during rush hour. A google and yellow pages search doesn't bring anything other than this thread up.

Heading over for lunch today. Any not to miss lunch dishes added recentl?

Mmmmm....the KenTacoHut. The best is when these are housed in a gas station. Nothing screams sanitary and fresh quite like Sunoco

Hmmm. I was just in Calabash 2 weeks ago visiting my in-laws and I'll be honest - to me, more than 1/2 of the experience was eating that big pile-o'fried was the location. We picked the most divey restaurant to eat at (Coleman's - Calabash's first fried fish house) and drank cheap beer. The shrimp, scallops, and oysters were really good, the fish a tad dry. Hushpuppies were great and greasy. The "atmosphere" such as it was included surly service including a very pregnant waitress who had a beer and cigarette waiting for her at her break station, and a view of the docked shrimp boats. I don't think this experience will translate real well to Old Town. A fisherman's platter is a fisherman's platter.

I used to do the RW thing until i got fed up with harried servers and over demanding diners. Pretty blanket statement, but that's what I remember about RW, not the food. I'm glad to hear good stories, I may give it a go again next year. So far, we've had some bad stories around our office about the service and menu offerings at a couple of restaurants in Penn Quarter. In effect, the RW experience at one place has turned a group of people off so much so, that they won't go there again even after RW is over. Yikes. Not the intended effect of RW for sure. For the most part, I've avoided eating out this week, but we've had 2 lunches at Oceanaire which is only doing dinners for RW. Host was still snooty yesterday when we walked in sans reservation, although we were trying to call for an hour earlier but no one answered. He claimed we were mistaken. Then stated they were probably just on the other line taking dinner reservations. Whatever. They were able to make room for us although we were a table of 2 at a 4 top and he made great pains to tell us we were shorting him one 2 top for lunch service. We had good service beyond that, and guess what? The restaurant was still 1/3 empty when we left.

My freshman year of college was spent in Lexington, VA around the same time that Colders 29 was released. This stuff was absurdly cheap and one of our frat brothers had a running account at Lex Vegas liquor store. His parents had it billed to their house each month. Gives you an idea why I transferred schools. At Mary Washington, the beers of choice were beast lite and Mickey's stingers. These were dark times. I tried a Shaeffer a few months ago and barely got a swig down. Now our cheap beer is Dominion. Good stuff varies by the season. We are heading into the Octoberfest season of beers and then it's just around the corner to the holiday heavy ales.

The first comment may be housed in the Sietsema thread. Joe, I'm going to disagree with you on the latter comment. I live in Vienna, choosing to move out of DC to raise the kids. I chose Vienna for a couple of reasons. We may not have the downtown restaurants, but we do have some other good choices. Choices that work for many of us with small children. While I would take my almost 5 year old to Corduroy, as he's very serious and quiet in public, I wouldn't dream of taking the 18 month old to, say, Maestro or 2941. Too long with too little to do for a toddler. What I will do is take them for kabobs, go to Panjshir II and a whole lot of other more ethnic things around here. Vienna does have a lot going for it. Vienna Inn is not one of those things, in my opinion, but nothing beats a nice slice of bread from the Great Harvest Bread Company on Church on a weekend or meandering around the store and grabbing a bite to eat at Al Nakheel on Maple. That said, I'm one of those people that can't wait for the demand for restaurants like Bazins to make Vienna more and more attractive to chefs. The owner of the building Bazin's is in spoke to me at length one evening and would love to see more mid-range restaurants housed in his buildings. He has many apparently. So there is hope for more stratas of restaurants, but to say Vienna doesn't have a lot going for it is a disservice to us and our business owners.

Michael's wit was right on cue last night. That was one of the funniest things I heard all night. Especially with his so matter of fact delivery. I would like to see the "other shit" description hit a menu, though.

We left you food? Didn't I say we ate it all as I left? See..now I feel like an amateur - are you happy? Time for the second NY strip steak slice off (Ms. Biotech will be very unhappy).

OMFG. This dinner was good. We had the pleasure of dining with Brr, his lovely wife and their adorable daughter who I've known since birth (and who was, as always, a perfect angel throughout the whole 2 1/2 hours - and was very tolerant of her dad), Bilrus and Jenrus, and two other lovely ladies - Catherine and Jill. This Dinner should be remembered as "Ray's Greatest Hits...and Great Things to Come." Service was beyond attentive, food was excellent, and as Brr stated - a damn steal at $35. Everything was wonderful. Clams casino could use some work. The Pancetta or whatever pig product was in it was a bit salty for the dish. Crab bisque in a coffee cup tempts you to abandon manners and just drink it. Devillishly good eggs lived up to the hype and the rib eye was excellent...even if I got Brr's medium when I wanted medium rare. I don't think a bad steak could be made with Michael overseeing the kitchen. Crab Imperial was scavenger goodness and we were all fighting over the chocolate mousse (although Brr's 4 year old managed to steal the lion's share, but in all her cuteness, no one minded). The evening was wonderful until I came home to a clogged drain and probably a very expensive plumbing bill in the morning. Well, at least I can steal my wife's leftovers when I post this. I can't wait for Michael to re-open Ray's. I'll mark my calendar.

Not paranoia, just unclear as to why he's adamant not to review a place until he has been there 3 times, but here he goes and discusses Bazin's before it has a chance to work out the kinks. I agree that 75 minutes is absurd. No one who has taken their business seriously would not see this as something that needs to be corrected (except doctors, like the one I went to today who kept me waiting over 75 minutes). Maybe "motive" wasn't the right word. More like "purpose." I'll buy some of the PSA argument, but I still don't think it's fair to do more than a mention of any new place before it's been thoroughly reviewed. Then it's time to address all the good and the bad. If excessive waits for those holding reservations continues, then it won't be my first choice. My visit wasn't perfect either. They need to fix their service path that runs through the middle of the restaurant. I was almost run over by 2 waiters on the way out.

This post isn't meant to jump on the band wagon, but I was a little irritated that he decided to do a review of Bazin's after one visit one week after it opened. He says it's not a real review, but it was. I've been there once and I felt it was worth checking out again. 75 minutes is absurd to wait, but I was there at the exact same time and there were empty tables being set up for the next seating. I'm guessing that Bazin's needs to work out their kinks. A Saturday one week after a decent restaurant finally opens in Vienna is probably a lousy time to get your first impression as a Post reviewer. I'm not seeing this as a consistent practice of his, and I wonder about the motive.

I had a similar experience at Paya - food was good, but not stellar and the inconsistency among dishes made you wonder how they all came out of the same kitchen. My favorite is still Pilin, but it's mostly for takeout as their dining area is absurdly small. Beware the Japanes/sushi place in the same strip mall as Paya. Not good and way overpriced.

Just got back from dinner at Bazin's tonight. They've been open one week and without a reservation, you are SOL until after nine. We didn't have one, but they provide full dinner service at the bar if you are okay with that. We are, and went that route. If you are thinking about going - Go. It is awesome and just what Vienna needs. Actually, Vienna needs about 10 more restaurants of this caliber. The space is very nice, service is professional, and food is very good at a reasonable price. We started out with ’04 Steele Carneros Pinot Noir and ’04 Bearboat Russian River Valley Pinot Noir by the glass. I had the Panko Crusted Oysters served on top of creamed spinach and country ham in the shell with a dab of creole aioli on top. Very nicely cooked and not overdone at all. Five meaty oysters for $10. The only downside to this dish is the oysters are nestled in salt and if you slip with the fork, you end up with a mouthful of rocksalt. Ms. Biotech had the asian lump crab spring roll with asian slaw. She was in heaven. It is very generous ($11). I had just eaten crab cakes at Oceanaire the day before and was a bit crabbed out to try the spring roll. Main courses were the braised veal cheeks with leeks and asparagus with homemade gnocchi (which were cylindrical and had been boiled and then roasted) and the flat iron steak on a mozzarella potato puree. My veal was incredible and was every bit as good as the pork cheeks served at the DR dinner. the meat literall melted in my mouth. The flat iron was nice, but I still prefer Ray's for everything steak. I had a glass of ’03 Joseph Phelps “Pastiche”, Rhone Blend and my wife had a glass of ’03 Four Vines Winery “Old Vine Curvee” Zinfandel. Both were good with the mains. Dessert was Michel’s hazelnut crunch bars with cappuccino sauce and a warm chocolate tart. They were very good if not all that innovative. Total damage pre tip was $115 for two. About $32 was wine. Bottles were reasonable as well. My wife ran into chef today at the Giant on Maple Ave and told him we enjoyed our dinner. It's nice to have a restaurant like Bazin's nearby and we know we'll become regulars. We were told by the guy that owns the buidling Bazins is in that Tom Sietsema will be starting to dine there so I suspect we'll see a review in the next few months. Let's hope he agrees about the food and I don't look like a schmuck come then. Bazin's On Church Website

Friends is 2 minutes from my house and is my first choice on days I'm working from home or hanging out with my toddler. The lamb kabob was good as is the above mentioned soup. One warning though, the ground meat used for the kofta kabob is not always the freshest. I had a pretty nasty one there last trip, but I'm mostly picking up lamb kabobs anyways. I have no frame of reference for this joint as this is the first time I've seen anyone discuss it. Are we sure they are halal? not that it matters to me from a religious view, but I do like searching out halal or kosher meats for better and fresher quality than the big stores. I remember their halal status being in question by the local arab community in Vienna (believe it or not, with a name like Topoleski, I am partly lebanese).

Mine would. I've never been wowed by the place or even felt the food was a shadow of the diners I grew up with in Jersey. I held hope though, it has everything going for it on the surface: Decor last updated in the 70's, exact layout of a diner, surly waitresses, large menu, greek owners, open 24 hours. Sadly the food doesn't live up. Last trip instead of burgers or meatloaf, I decided to go with Greek food. It was the worst of all! The desserts are decent though. Their coconut cream pie will forever live in my heart as the dessert my wife and I shared as we timed her contractions to 5 minutes - while the waiter figured out what was going on and promptly gave us our check.

See, now if you are getting down as far as N&C, you need to start branching out on your own. Bazin's is now open on Church (not sure if it is open for lunch). You passed Aarathi which has decent Indian (although I can't attest to their lunch buffet), a bakery in the same strip mall, Amma's, Jammin Java (again not sure of their lunch hours, if any) and were damn close to Whole Foods, Kabuki sushi, Yuma Sushi, a lebanese cafe/store, and the Italian gourmet. None of these are a revelation, but are a far cry from that crap you ate for lunch. Hell, even a panini from the Safeway next door would have been better. Next time I'll give you the keys to my house and you can heat up a few kibbe torpedos I have in my freezer.

I hope to god you aren't talking about that cafe deluxe by the mall. You'd be better going to the actual mall and eating at Chipotle. I also forgot that if you want a really good bagel, Tyson's Bagel Station on 7 is really good too.

The meal was very good. In our case, we thought it may have been a little too long between courses, but this isn't the thing Corduroy is probably used to doing often, the food didn't suffer, and we did enjoy our table. Our table was a non wine pairing table although we all did buy by the glass. I sat with my wife (non member), Billy DeLion and his lovely wife, and rbh and his companion. The verbatim menu with my notes was: Amuse-bouche Duck Rilettes (pate) First Course Celeriac soup with lobster carpaccio -very rich soup with a really sweet paper thin lobster. Second Course Sweet Maine shrimp tartare with meyer lemon -flavor was good, but they must have held this together with cornstarch, because the mouthfeel was a bit gummy Third Course Niman Ranch braised pork cheek with black truffle and egg noodle -As good as the pork belly. Fantastic. Fourth Course Roast loin of venison, chestnut potato puree, syrah reduction -Another winner. Served rare, everyone was finding ways to mop up the reduction. The potato chestnut puree was nice, and pleasantly savory, not sweet. Desserts Kobocha squash tart with ginger ice cream and licorice sauce -This was a mistake I thought. I thought it would be pureed, but it was chunks of starch. The ice cream was superb, but the squash was not good. Licorice made it too bitter as well. Chef took a chance with this one, and most plates had quite a bit of squash left on them. Brazo de Mercedes, bergamot sauce. -We couldn't stay for this one. It was going on 3.5 hours, so we had to bail and get home to the kids and relieve our baby sitters. All in all, it was a fun time and a very rich meal. Hope tonight's guests enjoyed it as much as our crew did. The wine pairing tables seemed to REALLY enjoy dinner. They weren't shy with the pours for the pairings. I saw more than one glass refilled during a course when it ran dry. Staff were attentive and worked really hard. Rissa was gracious and made a short speech of thanks to the whole DR community.