BookGuy
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I had alays thought that the owners of Jay's owned the building but it looks like they lease it and it looks like the lease ill expire in December. That is sad because Jay's has alays been the perfect counterpoint to the places near it that are mingling spots for the area's twenty-sometings. I'll have to spend some time in the next few months hoisting a few in honor of Jay and Ann.
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On Saturday, while visiting friends who live in the Brookland area of DC, we went to the San Antonio Bar and Grill at 3908 12th Street, NE. It claims to be Tex-Mex and there are the obvious burritos and tamales on the menu but it also includes quite a few Peruvian and Central American dishes. I had the chicken saltado, the one where the chicken is above fresh fries, and two companions had various versions of fajita, one beef, one vegetairan. Another companion did a hug slab of barbequed ribs. Although the place is not a destination restaurant, it is well decorated with an active bar, and the food is above average. More important, in the underserved Brookland area, with Colonel Brooks due to be torn down for condos shortly, it is a good place to eat for people near Catholic University.
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I go to the Quarterdeck every so often for their pizza (of the so bad it's good variety) and have had several family gatherings for the crabs. It is really too out of the way to generate walk-up traffic, particularly now that you can get pretty much any tyype of food you want on Wilson Boulevard. One of the old line places that I worry about, because it sits in the middle of development in Clarendon, is Jay's on North Tenth Street in Clarendon which is the perfect greasy spoon bar, cheap beer and equally cheap bar food. It is particularly pleasant to visit now that the county has outlawed smoking.
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I took two friends to Eventide last night and everything was perfect, although with my pre-inflationary mentality, the prices are a bit higher than I would like. I had the chicken with a calamari appetizer. One thing that is most interesting is how the place is actually split into three different venues, the lounge on the main floor, the staid restaurant, and the catering to the younger crowd rooftop. From the rooftop, we could see the crowds at the Clarendon Ballroom and it seemed that everyone between 21 and 30 was on that block last night. From someone who can remember all the Vietnames luggage shops from years ago, this is quite a dramatic and welcome change.
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RIS, the new restaurant at 23rd and L, has chicken pot pie on the menu and it is pretty good. I think a problem with pot pies is that most of us got used to the mass produced Morton's pot pies and probably wouldn't know if what was being served was better. Still, the RIS version is worth a try.
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The article notes that Landrum is touting fried chicken. I always liked the fried chicken at Ray's The Classics until it was discontinued. I wish they would carry it at the original Rays which I am more likely to frequent.
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Hollywood East in Wheaton looks very close to actually opening in the Wheaton Plaze Mall. They might actually be able to do a dim sum thing for a large group of people. I do know that when they were at their previous location, you could order dim sum at any time.
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One interesting thing that I have noticed about Ray's is that if you take someone there for the first time, no matter how picky an eater they might be, they clean their plate off completely because they never had food as good. I, having been there many time, take half of the food home to have two enjoyable meals.
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I was there last night and everything was excellent, particularly the Lobster 2 and the chicken lo mein. As a test for new restaurants, I had shrimp egg foo yung, a simple dish, and it was fine with a lot of healthy-sixed shrimp. For some reason, although the spareribs were meaty, they seemed bland as did the hot and sour soup which wasn't "hot" enough. Still, it is a nice place with parking front and back very close to Georgia Avenue.
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I don't go as often as I should but they have a very good deal in small plates if you don't want to try the entrees as being too large. I think that the chicken liver small plate and a Caesar salad make an excellent meal. The place gets virtually no notice but apears to have a very loyal local clientele.
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I've been there a few times with visiting vegetarians but the place is a bit out of the way for anything resembling a walk-up crowd. I do hope that they find a better location. I was at Sunflower Vegetarian in Seven Corners over the weekend and my companion and I wondered why there were few real vegetarian restaurants in this area when the demographic would be likely to encourage that type of cusine.
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I was in the Wheaton El Pollo last night for the usual half chicken with slaw and fries and somehow felt that it was not as good as the one in Arlington. In the first place, the Wheaton store has the chicken pre-sliced and off the rotisserie, so it is slightly more dried out than the Virginia Square location. Wheaton does offer tortillas as a side which I had not noticed at Arlington. It may just be that Wheatonites have different tastes than Arlingtonians because I have the same positives for the Crisp and Juicy off Lee Highway as compared to the one in what I still call Wheaton Plaza.
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On Wednesday, a friend of mine and I ate at Ruffino's on Lee Highway and it certainly meets the criterion of being a basic Italian place, something most exemplified by the various Pines restaurants in the area. I had gnocchi with alfred sauce and friend had veal scallopini. It isn't Tosca or Palena by any means but it was filling, tasty enough, and cheap.
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Ferdinand's in Wheaton - Closed.
BookGuy replied to squidsdc's topic in Washington DC Restaurants and Dining
I just found out about the closing last night. Ferdinand's was nothing much, standard Amercian food plus salad bar, but it was a neighborhood monument that had certainly been there for a very long time and some of the people in the bar look like they were at the place when it opened. The owner was the cousin of the man who owned the late lamented Barnaby's. The death of Ferd is a blow to the diveresity of the neighborhood and, as such, it will be missed. -
About ten years ago, I called Vidalia to ask if they had a dress code for dinner and was told something to the effect that "we are here to sell food and not to evaluate clothing." Still, whenever I go there, I wear a tie and loosen it during dinner.
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I was there last night and they were out of the soft shells, fish and chips, and the clams. We did quite well with the crabcakes, scallops, and fried shrimp, topping it off with key lime pie. The staff was quite accommodating and friendly and the place is certainly worth a side trip although we haven't quite figured out the parking. We did get a meter down the street.
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No-Shows When Using Online Reservation Services
BookGuy replied to deangold's topic in News and Media
Twice I have recieved e-mails from Open Table questioning my not showing up, once at Harry's Tap Room in Clarendon and the other at Oceannaire. I responded to both with enough information (what I had, the amount I charged) and the possible reasons for being No Showed when I had showed. The first case at Harry's seemed to be because a reservation wasn't really needed so the hostess just seated us and didn't enter it into the system. At Oeannaire, the host had the reservations listed on a legal pad and didn't check back with the system. After both explanations, they credited me the requisite points. Open Table is a great and generally trouble-free reservations service and glitches appear to be human rather than system. -
I don't know if this is the place for this but three times have I eaten at Ted's, felt the food, mainly the meat loaf, was good, and felt qeasily full for a day afterward. One of my companions (who apparently has some sort of newly developed allergy to beef) was in the hospital for four days after eating at Ted's. So let's say that, while the food is very tasty, it is possible to have a strange reaction to it afterward.
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The campy place was Roma which featured the heads supposedly shot by the owner whose name was Frank Abbo. Abbo, curiously enough, was killed at about 2 AM crossing Connecticult Avenue by someone who was speeding home.
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They stay open quite late on weekends and I have been in on a Friday and a Saturday night about midnight and there was always a crowd.
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I think that Hollywood East is a destination restaurant and should have no trouble having its fans follow it, particularly as it is on most lists as one of the best dining places in the area. I never noticed that HEOTB had much of a walk-up crowd except for those who parked in a lot somewhere and walked over. Janet should do very well.
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I finally made it to the new location yesterday and think it is quite an improvement in decor and, fortunately, the food is just as good. We had the House Special steak with bleu cheese and peppercorns with potatoes and spinach on the side. Neither of us could finish and we took ours home. In the tale-out container, they add fresh mashed potatoes and spinach which is a nice touch. We finished sharing a key lime pie. The place looks like it is getting a good and well-deserved increase in business with the larger and mroe convenient quarters. And if you know when you will show up, the new reservations policy is a good thing.
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I was looking at the topic of Dive Bars and I thought of Spider Kelly's because it definitely not one but is setting itself up to appear to be one. It had the low lighting and booths of many dive bars but the price of the booze and beer is much higher than, say, Jay's or the Tune Inn. The food, slightly above mediocre (although the chicken noodle soup is excellent), is more decently priced. I had the fried chicken with moist meat but over fried.
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Unfortunately, it wasn't obvious and I was too shy to ask.
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Went last night to the place which is in an interesting location. There is no waiter service. You order and pay at the counter and your meal is delivered to your table. I had three pieces of fried chicken and mac and cheese for $12, my companion had the curried tuna sandwich for $8 plus a side order of collard greens. The ten-year-old had the children's plate for $5 consisting of one piece of chicken and the mac and cheese. I had the pecan pie and companion had the lemon chess pie. Everything was excellent. I paid cash because it didn't appear that they accept credit cards. I do note that much of the "decor" seemed to be transported from Colorado Kitchen. The place is well worth the trip if you can carefully pay attention and find it.