Toogs

Oh man out of town for goat.  Gonna try to make one of the others though.

Anyone else been recently?  Most of the dishes in the post review are no longer on the menu, and the washingtonian doesn't cover much.

Pho 88 in Beltsville still has the best broth I have found.  

The recent episode about Yelp is amazing and I think many here will appreciate it.  And probably several will be offended but that's life.

Contains Spoilers:

"'South Park' is Right: Yelp Has Made Us All Jerks" by Bre Payton on thefederalist.com

also of note, as of jun 1 the shop part is closed for good and the dinners are expanding to also include Tuesday night. :sigh: I liked the shop. Oh, well.

That's on their facebook June 3, I imagine they meant July 1?  The white board and items for sale when I was there last week made it seem that the market was still open.

Grapeseed did a great job for my mom's 70th, Jeff is the best.  we arrived as a party of 12 in a Mini Cooper, a Taurus, and a minivan of unknown origin.  Also one cousin drove down from New Jersey in a hybrid Lamborghini--he was a little bit late because he had to stop at power stations to fill up every 50 miles or so.

Post 266 here on page 6

Is this the shopping center at the base of Muirkirk Road, at the intersection of Muirkirk and Route 197? If so, then you know the route I took on this run (from Montpelier Hills, down Muirkirk, to Route 197, and back). When I was living there, I frequented the TCBY fairly often, and I have a vague recollection of a small Chinese restaurant going in there, but I don't remember if it was named Chin Tao (Green Island). Was it a small, carry-out kind of place?

Believe it or not, there used to be an entrance from Muirkirk to the B-W Parkway, which they eliminated in late 1989.

That's the one.  It was small, but they had a few tables.  They didn't do delivery until near their end, so it was mostly carryout.

I don't remember the Muirkirk entrance to the parkway but I wasn't driving in 1989.

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Kabu (Toogs)

Don, do you remember Chin Tao over in the Montpelier shopping center?  Best ameri-chinese ever.  They had something called Crab Kahuku which is never on menus elsewhere and is certainly not crab rangoon.  Kind of a cross of rangoon and a thai curry puff.  They went out of business when the owner of the shady irish pub next door set their place on fire for the insurance money.  Man that place was a show too, complete with dwarves dressed as leprechauns.

Pepinos is in the basically abandoned one.  They have a massive "WE ARE STILL HERE SIGN."  It think it's down to them, Kim's Hunan, and starbucks.  The "new" one is the rebuild of the lot the Amish market used to be in.  Giant, pet store, Greene Turtle, a handful of restaurants.

I said this upthread but the pork gyro is a life changing experience.  Just don't go on Tuesdays when they are only five bucks--too many people there including me.

The other one next to Don Pablos was a Lone Star Steakhouse,  complete with hourly staff line dancing and peanuts on the floor.  I believe it was an asian buffet before a better? one moved into the old Greene Turtle (previously El Torito) space out front by Red Lobster.  That whole strip is a wasteland of failed failures that lasted longer than they should have, but RIP Einsteins.

Mozzarella in carozza.  I love that stuff.  I sing a little song about it.  I may have to get some today.

PHH is definitely my number 2.  I prefer the broth at 88 and broth is the most important part (to me).

I do feel like their meat portion has gone down over the last year or 2, but maybe that's because of rising meat prices and not wanting to reprint menus/charge more.

Timbuktu for crab cakes at the bar.

A shame.  I worked there for a bit when it was in Laurel.  My first Cotes Du Rhone, my first Vouvray, my first duck confit with lentil salad, and the best mushroom soup with baguette I've ever had all happened there. 

Whatever you think of her, Martha Stewart's turkey brine makes a delicious bird

http://www.marthastewart.com/343940/turkey-brine

I had a brunch reservation for 8 the morning before an afternoon wedding once.  We got far too drunk the night before and slept into the rez and they called.  I feel bad about it.  I would not have minded being charged, but we were not.

Now there is a useless contribution to his discussion!

It does seem to me that a certain level of cancellation is inevitable and should be accounted for in the business model.  But using any available tool to lower that rate also makes perfect sense.

Deliberately booking several reservations at the same time, knowing you will cancel all but one, seems to have malicious intent at worse, or ignorant thoughtlessness at best.  That's not a really a personal attack.

Common courtesy is going the way of the dodo bird, which is what makes it seem "commendable" above.  Sad.  I blame the millennials.

I just went to L&G last week!  So very good.

The only enchiladas that come close around here were at Taco Fiesta back in it's college park days.  They are now up in Baltimore but may be worth the trek.

I made it back here today.  I frequent several area Indian lunch buffets, and this visit sealed it--this one is by far the best.  Just greater depth of flavor in every dish, and variety.  Put gulab jamun up instead of rice pudding and I will come every day.  No not really.

Thanks.  It might be correct, I was counting Mt. Airy and Westminster as "north."  Montgomery is perfect for me, although I know they are probably a huge hassle on your end.

Probably a dumb question, but I just want to make sure the zip code wine finder on your site is correct--nothing south of Baltimore at this time?  Thanks.

Please reach out in any way you can to ask him to get rid of Sietsema so perhaps we can have a real food critic who doesn't pander to his friends at the most important paper in the city.

"Post Names Frederick J. Ryan Jr. As New Publisher" by Craig Timberg, Chico Harlan, and Peter Whoriskey on washingtonpost.com

Top 15 NEW BBQ restaurants opened in the last year. Not top 15 overall.

sorry, I guess even one of the people who reads them doesn't read them, ha

Not sure how many people read them, but the Thrillist email has it as one of the top 15 [new] BBQ restaurants in America.

With Seoulia, Gom Tang E, Da Rae Won, Gah Rham, and Myong Dong, Beltsville has joined Centreville and Ellicott City as viable alternatives to Annandale for Korean dining.

Do you know the address of Gom Tang E?  I'm still uncertain--I think it either is Seoulia, or has been replaced by Seoulia.