BookGuy
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Pines reopened this past Sunday in the old Portobellos spot on North Pollard Stret off Langston Boulevard in Arlington. I went on Tuesday evening and believe that the place needs more time to become worth visiting. A lot of the food seemed to be overaged and not fresh and not really heated enough. The place was also cold and many diners wore their coats throughout their meals. I guess the moral of this story I’d wait awhile until a place gets most of the kinks out.
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I haven’t been to the Rosslyn branch yet, but there was a comment on Tom Sietsema’s chat last Wednesday about the food being overly salty. This is enough to scare me away if the food is all pre-prepared. The Perron who wrote also noted that he/she complained afterward and received no response.
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I was at Liberty Tavern on Friday night and it was disappointing, sad as I really do like their fried chicken deal on Mondays. It may have been due to restaurant week as the place was quite crowded, but the pumpkin soup was lukewarm, the chicken wings overcooked, and the Caesar salad overly salty. It may have been because the kitchen couldn’t keep up with the crowd and the servers were frazzled. I hope it was due to Restaurant Week and the place will revert back to its usual consistency.
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Back in the 90’s, I took someone from out of town to Kinkead’s and she loved the food. I also noted that Leon Panetta was two tables away and she didn’t know who he was. It was then that I realized that Washingtonians live in a different world than people elsewhere. I am grateful that Kinkead’s was part of my world for as long as it was.
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To be honest, I was never impressed by Landrum’s restaurants, all good concepts that faded away. At Rsy’s And at Hellburger, I always felt that there was something missing. People who I took to Ray's complained that there was a strong feeling of being rushed. Considering the failed businesses, good for a bit and then gone, there needs to be a fuller analysis of why these concepts failed.
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While I am feeling somewhat nostalgic about eating options in the Twin Towers, I remember when I moved to Rosslyn in the early 1980's, that complex had a restaurant called New York, New York which closed in a few years after I moved to Rosslyn. Although I was young then and, therefore, had no basis for comparison, it reminded me of what a typical Manhattan eatery was like with a break menu of surf and surf, something like I imagined Toots Shor's or Jack Dempsey's must have been. The closest that my fading memory can come to describing something similar would be Joe's, the Miami transplant on fifteenth street near the White House.
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I went over to the Twin Towers to The Great Eatery, the buffet and sandwich place, and they posted a sign that August 31 would be their last day after ten years. Although I think the cause is mainly the movement of various businesses on the Mall level due to the expansion of the WJLA empire, I am sorry to see it go, particularly as a similar buffet place at the Rosslyn Metro Center closed several months ago. Now, aside from a sandwich shop on the street level, a fairly large complex has no interior dining options. There are still food trucks along Wilson Boulevard and assorted take out places in the block across Wilson, but it is sad when a business closes that was at least convenient.
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I took my teen-aged goddaughter there before a basketball game at what used to be the Verizon Center. She was more in awe that it was a Mike Isabella place because she had heard of Mike from some cooking show that she occasionally watched. I have also been to his Greek place, both the Ballston and Bethesda branches, and they were just OK. It leads me to believe that my goddaughter, being a college student, may have hit it on the head: it was considered better than it was because Isabella popped up on television. If you want an economic response, it was like the Ray's The Steaks franchise in developing a name, over-expanding, and paying the price eventually.
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I have lived in Rosslyn for thirty years and note that, during that time, we lost Tivoli, Tom Sarris, and the China Garden. I even remember early on that there was a very pleasant restaurant called New York, New York in the Twin Towers. You would imagine that with the residential towers sprouting up down here that there would be some better dining options for dinner. I do note that a brief Circulator ride takes you to Georgetown and even as far as DuPont Circle. By the way, Mi Jana is fine but it is one of the few dining spots at Court House.
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Rosslyn has many fast casual lunch places and very few dine in places. For dining, you have to go up the hill to Pierce Street to Barley Mac, Kona Grill, and Quinn's or go further to Clarendon to Ambar, Lyon Hall, or Liberty Tavern. I should note that Nando Peri Peri that opened in Rosslyn doesn't carry my favorite chicken livers.
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The price of the dish is eighteen dollars. If I remember correctly (I also had two Black and Tans), there were three large pieces of fish plus the fries.
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I am not a complete expert on fish and chips but I do recommend a fairly new bar in Rosslyn, Quinn's on the Corner, located at the corner of Quinn Street and Wilson Boulevard in Rosslyn. I would you could call the batter fluffy and it certainly not dried out like the fist is in many other places. The only negative I can give to Quinn's is that the chairs are high.
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McDonald's reopened in Rosslyn opposite the Metro after being closed for a number of years due to construction. Of particular interest is that it has automated ordering via touch screen, something apparently existing in one other part of the chain. I tried it last Sunday after coming home from a sports event. I should not that, although I am computer literate, the touch screen method, particularly the need to double back to order more than one of an item, was not that easy for the first time. I did order two McChickens and one small fries to go and skipped the credit card swipe to pay at a counter, I waited for five minutes to pay cash and was sent to another line to wait for my order. This took about fifteen minutes and struck me as interesting unless the chain is trying to get out the bind of being fast food. Fortunately, with the new buildings we should be getting other small chain places such as Sweetgreens and Nado Peri Peri as alternative choices.
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It would also help if the web site showed the menu. It did not on the Boss site nor on Open Table. I think that the place is capable of being successful considering the large number of well-heeled visitors to DC who might like the ambiance. We just have to know that it is there.
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This is a new restaurant which appears to be under the Warner Theater. Although it boasts a Pennsylvania Avenue address, although that esteemed Avenue is a block further south, it is actually located at Thirteenth and E, NW, with the entrance on Thirteenth. You go down a nice flight of stairs into a well-decordated room. I took my goddaughter there last week and the fifteen year old enjoyed a clam chowder that was actually full of clams. I opted for the fried chicken that the Post food critic had recommeded. I liked the chicken very much as did goddaighter who had one of my pieces and pronunced it as better than Joe's where she had chicken last month. She finished off with chocolate chip cookies and milk and, when she had one cookie left, they put it in a neat little box for her to take home. I will go back, of course, and I do wonder why these new restaurants are not reviewed more frequently. Boss is a nice place and certainly better than Chef Jeff's across the street. Perhaps the entrance is too hard to find.
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My comment on I-270 related more to the people who were out at Camp David for business relating to the President and who now didn't have to stay in the neighborhood because they had access to a high-speed highway. I do remember when we had to take 355 out there from the DC suburbs because it was faster.
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I was there for the first and last time last summer, one for the regular buffet, one for the seafood buffet. It was a pleasant enough place where the food was slightly above cafeteria level and it was a nice ride out in the country. I can remember when we would ride out to Peter Pan in Urbana braving the long waits for the everything you can eat meal of steak or seafood and then only all the vegetarbles you can eat. I also remember when Sam Eig had a buffet restaurant out in Gaithersburg which was a fun drive. I wonder if 270 killed Cozy because the Secret Service agents and other types had a road to ride to find better food. I do hope that Barbara Fritchie's in Frederick is still there.
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I had an early dinner here on Wednesday with my fifteen-year-old goddaughter who was delighted with the way that the waiter poured her Diet Coke into a glass. We shared a Caesar Salad, which we found to be bland, and calamari which we finished easily. I asked for anchovies and received two smallish ones in a metal cup. I had fish and chips which were fine while goddaughter had a quite large portion of fried chicken, which the Post critic raved about as a sleeper dish, of which she ate one-and-a-half pieces, taking the rest home for her dog (the half) and herself (the rest). The place is an old bank and has large rooms and is reasonably quiet. The waiters wear tuxedos covered by a butcher apron although no dress code applies to the customers. I would go back to try the chicken for myself although the beef and seafood may be more expensive that I would wish.
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I was there on Friday night. I had the corned beef bisket with vegetables which was a good-sized portion which was easy to cut with even a fork. My companion had the trout which she claimed to enjoy. The place is huge and seems to accommodate all types of people and, importantly, seems to be rather quiet and conversations can actually be held calmly.
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I was there this past Friday, taken by a couple who live in the neighborhood. The place is small but very comfortable and. although it was quiet when we arrived at 5:30, it was bustling when we left about 7:15. I stuck to the specials which were lobster bisque, shad roe, and burnt orange sorbet. I thought it was all quite good and well worth a side trip if you are anywhere in the neighborhood. This strilkes me as being a starter restaurant, an experienced che's first try at running a place of her own. It doesn't look like it has been reviewed by Tom Sietsema of the Post and it could take off if he decides to come out in this neck of the words.
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I went there on Saturday with a couple I know. We arrived early at five pm and the place wasn't crowded but there were some people at the bar. We shared a sweet potato gnocchi small plate which was fine. I had the bouliabasse which was a nice dish of various sea foods which was, true to the menu's warning, spicy and hot, a tribute to the chef's Thai background. The couple got a duck confit and hanger steak which they said was good. I do know that the Post's critics recommended both. The wine is served in water glasses. When we left, the place was crowded and there were quite a few groups of young women dining together. The restaurant has ample street parking, free after six, and is very close to both the Virginia Square and Ballston Metro stops. The name Water and Wall comes from the intersection near where the chef/owner lived in New York.
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I don't know where else to put it, but today's Washington Post printed an obituary of the last owner of Sholl's Cafeteria, a chain that existed in Washington, from the 1960's until it closed at 20th and K in 2001. It was what Bruce Jay Friedman would call the perfect "lonely guy" restaurant, decent cheap food and a well lit place. When I came to Washington, Sholl's had two sites, one on 15th and K and one on Connecticut Avenue just below L. The Connecticut Avenue location was moved to 20th and K. I also recall during the late 70's and early 80's, there was a location in Rosslyn on North Lynn Street just down the block from Wilson Boulevard. Evan Sholl, the founder, was a Catholic convert, and he took it seriously as all the tables had little cards noting that "Religion and Patriotism make this a great place to work." I understood that clergy of all faiths were allowed to eat free and, although Sholl's did serve a lot of school groups, I never saw busloads of Jesuits from Georgetown coming to eat. Most of the cafeterias are gone now, replaced by fast food places that a quicker than a food line. Still, Sholl's is a fond memory of a time when I had less money to eat than I do now.
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If i am recalling correctly, the Pines of Italy was the first offshoot of the Pines of Rome in Bethesda. It was not owned by the same people, but used pretty much the same basic Italian menu. This place also spun off the Pines of Florence group started by former employees. Vicino in Silver Spring was also started by someone who had worked at the Pines in Bethesda.
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I remember Escargot as it was down the block from Roma, the Italian restaurant that had all of the animal heads that the owner supposedly shot on safari (and, hopefully, not served). To me it was what I call a "little old lady restaurant," one that elderly retirees went to on their night out. I saw one take the remains of her dinner and shovel it into a plastic bag that she had stowed in her purse. By the way, one restaurant I miss is the original Chez Francois which was located where The Oval Room is now, on that little spur of Connecticut Avenue between Lafayette and Farragut Squares.
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I haven't been there for about six-months but I do recommend the so-called Gourmet Pan-Fried Noodles which have noodles, of course, with the addition of beef, pork, chicken, and shrimp. The dish costs $25, but the secret is to eat your normal portion and take the rest home. I found that there was enough for three additional meals. The hot and sour soup is worth a taste also. Having actually eaten Peking Duck in Beijing, I stay away from a place that serves it on an assembly line basis.
