BookGuy
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Everything posted by BookGuy
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One other use of OT is to see the availability for a particular time among a large group of restaurants. I had to make a celebration dinner reservation and wasn't sure what was available at the time I needed. I went through the OT list and this time selected DC Coast. It was quick and efficient and eliminates calling a lot of places.
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The major problem with the web site is that it doesn't have an up-to-date menu. That can be rectified by looking at Washington DC Menu page which does have the menu. It is from 2003 but gives you a sense of what they serve. The link to Palena is at http://washingtondc.menupages.com/restaura...amp;cuisineid=0
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A friend took me to Beck last night for a very early 5 PM seating. Although the place was somewhat noisy, it was not unbearably so. She had a pastry pate and I had the lamb sausange as an appetizer. For the main course, she had the skate wings and I had the moules and frites in memory of all the places I ate this dish in Brussels. We both thought it was fine food while remembering that it isn't supposed to be as upscale as Marcel's. One thing I liked was the was they validiated the parking ticket which was added to the regular bill when you handed it to the waitier--and the car was waiting when we walked out the door. That may be Belgian efficiency.
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Thanks for Hooters which may be the only restaurant named that is in the Maryland suburbs. The goddaughter has been to the one in Rockville where she liked the chicken wings and made some interesting comments about the servers' costumes. Here is the menu with the fried pickles: May I note that, were it not for the costumes, Hooters would be a marvelous family place.
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Whenever I ask my eight-year-old goddaughter what restaurant she wants to go to, she always says the one with the frickles which is the fried pickle dish that she gets at Arlandia's Del Merei Grill. As the kid lives in Wheaton, that is a long trip to make. A few weeks ago, we went to the cafe of Palena in the hope that the fried plate would satisfy her but the restaurant was no longer serving it. Although I do understand that it may be back on the Palena menu, I wonder if there are any other places that serve a dish similar to frickles.
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There was no problem about ordering from the regular menu although I presume that it would escalate the prices for dishes. What I was concerned about was that the fried plate and the hot dog, for example, were not on the menu which minimized the number of dishes available for an eight-year-old.
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I was at the Cafe last night for the first time although I had eaten very well in the back two or three times. One thing that struck me was the limited menu and another was the unwillingness to deviate from it. When the child who was with us wanted more fries, the waiter said we would have to order another dish in order to get them. Otherwise the food, and particularly the desserts, were excellent. Although it has been mentioned before, the restaurant really needs to update its web site to give prospective guests an idea of what the menu is.
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It is actually the Tastee Diner that it is behind.
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I was there the Saturday before last. We arrived at 5:40 and the bar area was packed, particularly with a table for twelve that took up a good portion of the space. We tried Dino for the first time but really wanted to do the chicken at Palena.
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Both branches of El Pollo Rico have the same ownership and the same menu although some claim that the Virginia version has tastier chicken but I can't tell. The Virginia branch is on North Kenmore Street in Arlington on a short block between Wilson Blvd and Fairfax Drive and you can find it by tracing the aroma.
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During the past few days, due to being in the appropriate neighborhood at the time, I had the chicken at the Chicken and Steak Place on Route 7 in Alexandria across from Toys ‘R’ Us and also at the Arlington El Pollo Rico. The former has better sides because the salad option is better than El Pollo’s coleslaw and the fries seem fresher. At both places, the chicken is moist although El Pollo’s has spicier herbs. I wish that I had one of these places within walking distance of Rosslyn. They did have a decent, although not as good, place in the shopping center with Ray’s but it is closed now.
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On Friday, I took a gastronomically limited friend to Ted's Montana Grill in Ballston. I know that the chain also has branches in Crystal City and out near the Eisenhower Avenue Metro. We both had the bison meatloaf with squash and mashed potatoes. He had the special apple crisp for dessert while I opted for the root beer float. The root beer seems to be made by the Montana Grill people and doesn't appear in a branded bottle. I thought the food was fine and reasonably priced, the cost for two with nonalcoholic drinks and side salads came to less than fifty dollars. I know we tend to look down on chains but this seems to be good enough to deserve more attention.
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Did the chef's departure have any impact on the menu? I have been there four times since it opened and I love the pan-fried chicken and don't know what I'd do if I could no longer get it.
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A member of my party ordered the foie gras and I got a small taste. I thought it looked like packaged liverwurst does on the plate, but it was tasty enough. I think the problem for most people is that it looked different from what we'd get in a French restaurant.
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I was also there last night and second Barbara’s extremely positive impressions. One of our party of three of was seven-year-old who is normally a picky eater. She had the sausage biscuit of which she gobbled up two, her mother’s Caesar which she liked so much that she asked the waitress for another one (“Certainly”) which she ate totally, and an order of the macaroni and cheese appetizer. Her mother had the fois gras and the veal. I had the sweetbreads and the pan-fried chicken. Mother and daughter finished up with a key lime pie with loads of whipped cream. The bill, before tip, was $124, mainly because of mother’s three Kir Royales. This is a marvelous restaurant, which is excellent across the board. If you don’t want to do the valet parking, the parking lot behind the building is free—at least at that hour.
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I work across the street from the Holiday Inn and the area is a dietary wasteland except for lunch at the American Indian Museum. As someone has suggested going out of the neighborhood to Eastern Market, I suggest going over one block to Seventh Street and take the Circulator Bus into the Penn Quarter ($1.00 each way per person) and there are quite a lot of choices. For the picky eater, the new Clyde's down the block from the Verizon Center is the easiest pick. But there are so many others to enjoy.
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Queen Bee Has Left The Hive
BookGuy replied to mame11's topic in Washington DC Restaurants and Dining
I walked by yesterday and did indeed notice the Bee was gone. I had been there a few times over the years (I prefer Nam Viet a block away) and felt it was no better or no worse that the standard Vietnamese place. If you want a silly reason for not going back, it was because we felt that the wine prices were out of whack for a place like this. So it goes and it went! -
It must have been more than 20 years ago, but Coors had a certain fame because we could nto get it in the east. When I visited my parents who lived in El Paso, I would buy a case of it to give six packs to various friends. My mother would wrap my carton and it would look strange (24 circles) showing up on the airport X-ray machine.
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We were also given some hints of things to come at Ray's the Classics. Any hint as to what the menu would look like? I presume that it is more than steaks.
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On Saturday, I took my goddaughter and her mother to Bobby Van's Grill at 1201 New York Avenue in a brand new building with a stunning lobby and atrium. They seemed to have quite a few tourists walking in and I do remember when the neightborhood featured two bus stations and was one to aviod. We shared a Ceasar salad. I had broiled salmon with asparagus while the child had St. Louis ribs with an adequate portion of both french fries and onion strings plus a fried onion ring. The mother had the crab cake and filet special with aparagus on the side. The food was quite acceptable, the ambiance stunning, and the service above adequate. The place is most reminiscent of the Caucus Room with a bit better service and little worse food. If you are in the neighborhood, it seems to be a good enough place to go to, but it may not be worth a special trip.
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Azucar, Silver Spring near Argyle CC
BookGuy replied to deangold's topic in Washington DC Restaurants and Dining
I was at Azucar last night with one other adult and one seven-year-old. The young one enjoyed the chips and salsa and her cheese puposas. The older one and I split a ceviche mixto. I had a seafood burrito and the other adult did a combination filet and lobster tail. They had a steady group of people coming in and out but the place was not particularly crowded nor noisy. The two wait staff were stretched out a bit but were quite acoommodating. Essentially this is Samantha's at another location and where you go depends upon how far you want to travel. Parking is better at Azucar and the food definitely worth the trip. In my Samantha/Azucar testing, I have never had the same dish twice (the last time was seafood with french fries mixed in), and I have never been disappointed. -
Nobody seems to have mentioned Arbaugh;s, a German sparerib place on Connecticut Avenue between the Sheraton Park and the Shoreham. I used to go weekly for their ribs and fries. I realize now that the ribs were not that good but it is at least 25 years ago that it closed. I also remember Hammel's which was located on 1Oth above Pennsylvania Avenue where the FBI Building is now. Hammel's had planked rock bass surrounded by mashed potatoes and other vegetables which is still as good a dish as I can remember. When the FBI forced them to move, they were in Georgetown for a few years and closed.
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On Saturday afternoon, I stopped at Vicino's, a red tablecloth Italian restaurant on Sligo Avenue in Silver Spring one short block from Georgia Avenue and across the street from Jackie's. We all had fairly simple stuff, two different treatments of veal, calamari, and the child had a small and cheap ($6.00) cheese pizza. I had previously had the roast veal which they cook to order and recommend it. There don't seem to be many of these old fashioned Itialian restaurants around any more and I miss them.
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I prefer smoke-free myself. I do note that there is a distinct pleasure in walking into a restaurant and not having to say "non-smoking, please." I have been to California and note that the smoke-free rule is enforced but it only apples to indoor parts of restaurant. Last year, along the beach in Venice, it was a lovely day and we stopped off at a cafe for a beer and snacks and decided to sit outside and enjoy the weather. There were a lot of smokers out there. It is passing strange that the smokers are the only ones who can "enjoy" the fresh air.
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I live in glorious downtown Rosslyn and have often been upset by the lack of much other than fast food chains and the family-owned Orleans House which appears to cater to people of fairly staid tastes. If you go up the hill from Wilson and Lynn, you do have Ray's and the previously unmentioned Rhodeside Grill which does seem to be chef driven. So I guess that Rosslyn can be as much a dining wasteland as any area beyond the Beltway.
