wrash

Unfortunately, I'm depending on public transportation for this trip. The restaurant has the advantage of being a 3-minute walk from the hotel. My guess is that 30 minutes is too far for a cab ride. This particular visit will be train-only, including breakfast in the DB BordRestaurant on the way to Munich. I'm told that this will be better than breakfast on Amtrak. Wayne Rash

Anyone heard of the Kommoedchen Restaurant in Karlsruhe? I'm encouraged when I Google it and see a long string of 5-star ratings, but the reviews are all in German, and while I can usually figure out menus in German, I'm not really close to fluency. The hotel concierge recommends it very highly, so I asked her to make reservations for when I arrive, but it would be nice to get a better idea of what to expect. Wayne Rash

Thanks for the note, Don. My job as a journalist is to do reviews, and I always use my real name. I think it would be disingenuous to do otherwise. I also report accurately on what happens. If the experience is poor or the product doesn't cut it, then that's what I report. This has nothing to do with whether the meal was free (which it wasn't - the staff was bewildered by the gift certificate). I'm simply reporting on what happened. I have no agenda at all here, other than to let the rest of this list know what I found. Personally, I don't think food that's intended to be eaten hot should be served cold. Mine was cold. I don't think you should have to provide written proof to a runner that the meal is really yours, but fortunately since I'd paid for the dinner, I had the receipt as proof. Originally, I went to lunch at Cafesano because I'd had a wonderful lunch there at the suggestion of one of Sprint's PR people. The panini was properly cooked, the chips unique, and I liked it well enough to want to take my wife back again for a weekly date night. Unfortunately it was a disaster. So I responded to the contact link on the Web site, and got a reply from Paul asking me to try again. He also sent me a gift certificate, but in all honesty I would have returned with or without that because he asked me to take another look. I should add that the cost of the meal isn't so significant that it makes any difference. Our corporate standards are that we can't accept a gift for over $40.00, and the value of the certificate is well under that. In any case, my reporting and my opinions can't be bought. I have decades of reviews (which you can look up on Google) that support that. My response to complaints about reviews that find that a product or service isn't good is always the same. To get an excellent review, produce an excellent product. I realize that there are many people who have an emotional attachment to products they like, services they consume, and in this case, neighborhood restaurants. I've experienced this for years. If you want to see real wrath, just find fault with an iPhone or an Android device. But the bottom line is that I know only one way to report, and that is with facts and accuracy. I have no interest in trashing anything. I would encourage your to visit at around 7:30 on a Friday night so that you can have the same experience I did. Wayne Rash

So I returned to Cafesano. Paul Swinley, the owner, asked me to try again after my last unsatisfactory experience, and he sent along a gift certificate that was intended to cover the cost of a meal and beverages. I figured at the time that the inept performance of the staff and the remarkably poor food might have been just one of those really bad nights that sometimes strike a restaurant. Well, I'm happy to report that unlike last time, my wife and I did, indeed, get flatware made out of metal. That was nice. That was about the only part that was nice. This time I ordered the lasagna that had been allegedly out of stock the last time. Paul told me in a subsequent e-mail that it really wasn't out of stock, but that the people at the counter were inexperienced. This time the lasagna was indeed available, so I ordered it along with some Italian sausage. I also ordered a half-size house salad and iced tea. My wife had their cheese ravioli. We both had dessert - I had oatmeal raisin cookies, my wife had a brownie. I'd originally intended to order pizza, but again they had the sign up that pizza was taking 30 minutes to deliver after ordering. I didn't want to wait that long, which is why I ordered the lasagna. The lasagna took 40 minutes to deliver, which might explain why portions of it were at room temperature. However that doesn't explain why other portions were below room temperature - indicating that the lasagna had apparently been thawed in the microwave. The salad is romaine lettuce, thin cucumber slices, a few chunks of tomato and two very salty croutons. It sells for $3.99 and is worth perhaps half that amount. The standard dressing is a vinaigrette that's mostly vinegar, The runner who delivered the main courses initially refused to deliver them to us because the runner who delivered the salad had removed our number from the table. I had to show my receipt to prove that the meals were mine. When I got my lasagna, it appeared to be a nice amount, and was surrounded by a decent portion of crumbled Italian sausage. I think that the heat that had been used to vulcanize the sausage might have been better used getting the lasagna above room temperature. By the time it reached the communal table where we sat, however, the sausage was also at room temperature, having been cooked to the point that it closely resembled the texture of used retreads than sausage. Portions were simply too tough to chew. As disappointing as the food was, it was exceeded by the level of chaos at the counter. The person at the register was attempting to multi-task to the point that we had to place our orders several times. The person who was waiting on carry-out was trying to pick up his food, which was sitting, and sitting, and sitting, clearly marked on the counter behind the cashier. The cashier insisted that it wasn't there. He meanwhile was carrying on conversations with others at the counter. We placed our orders after several tries. Getting the gift certificate honored was an exercise in futility. The level of chaos among the staff was startling to watch considering that when we entered there was no line. There were a number of people waiting for carryouts that seemed to come with excruciating slowness. One man watched his dinner get cold for 20 minutes or so before the staff would hand it to him. Because we were there for a substantial period of time, we began conversations with the other people at the communal table who were also waiting for their dinners. A woman across from us wondered if delivery of the food always took as long, and a man next to us said that it usually did. When that woman's dinner arrived, she wondered if they'd cooked her steak kabob properly. Unlike my kabob on the previous visit, this one did appear to have seen a grill rather than a microwave. However she also wondered why they hadn't asked how she wanted the meat cooked. I guess they just naturally assumed that everyone wants their meat extremely rare. Hers had seen only the briefest exposure to heat. She said it was extremely salty, and then decided it was inedible. She pushed it aside. The bottom line is, don't go there. I suppose it's a busy as it is because it's the only non-fast food place around. But this isn't a place that I intend to return to. I can't recommend that you go there either. They've had two tries to do something as basic as deliver food that's cooked and hot. McDonalds can accomplish that. Unfortunately Cafesano can't. This place is a real disappointment. Worse, it needs adult supervision to get the chaos under control. Until they figure out how to cook and how to manage the staff, don't go there. It's just not worth it. Wayne Rash

I went by and had lunch there on Sunday (11/14/10) and it's still there, and still serving Turkish sandwiches, etc. The tables were full at 2:00PM on a Sunday, so apparently business was good. The single employee was trying to do everything, and was having to struggle to keep up, however, so it took a few minutes to get served. I had the Adana Burger, which is a very large beef patty that is nicely spiced. It's served on a fresh baked loaf of bread (I have no idea what the name is) but didn't come with anything else on the sandwich. Also on the plate was a lettuce, onion and tomato salad. The drinks are kept in a cooler in the market area. Unfortunately, I haven't been to Turkey, so I don't know how the sandwich stacks up with something from there. I do know that it was quite good, and very reasonably priced. The grill and market are at 1119 Nelson St. in Rockville. They have a web site at www.lezzetkabob.com. This restaurant is between a Chinese place and the Hard Times Cafe. I think it's the better choice. Note that this is not fine dining. It's a Turkish kabob and sandwich place with four tables and a market in back. If you're in the area, it's worth a visit. Wayne Rash

My first visit to Cafesano was one where a PR person from Sprint decided we should have lunch. He had a pizza which appeared to be quite nice. I had a panini which was quite good. The bread was crusty and nicely marked with the grill. The chicken moist and very flavorful. The serve it with lavash, which is a nice alternative to chips. I also had the Mediterranean potato salad, which was also a nice variant since it's not mayonnaise based. Overall, a nice lunch. For those who haven't been, Cafesano is one of those places where you order at a counter, then they bring your meal. It's kind of like what they do at Panera except vastly more chaotic. The second time I went, I took my wife for dinner. Then the chaos that I'd observed at lunch was an order of magnitude worse. The staff informed me that pizza would take 45 minutes, that they were out of the next three items I wanted to order, and then, when I got my shrimp and chicken kabobs, I was greeted with meat that appeared to have been microwaved. It was unseasoned, unmarked by a grill, and it was served at room temperature. The place obviously has a grill, since the (room temperature) vegetables had obviously been grilled. I can only assume that the kabob cook didn't know about it. My wife, meanwhile, didn't get her first, second or third choices, and ended up ordering a chicken kabob pita. What she got was a chicken salad pita that was fresh from the refrigerator. Meanwhile, service was extremely slow, the restaurant ran out of silverware (we had to use plastic from the carryout stand), it was noisy. I wrote Paul, the owner, to complain. He told me that the staff was having a bad night and invited me back. He sweetened the deal with a gift certificate. I really hope the kitchen and counter staff get their act together, because this was worse than just spending money on a substandard restaurant experience. It was a waste of the time I could have spent eating somewhere I'd have enjoyed. It was a terrible waste of a dinner with my wife. Wayne Rash

Virginia Beach is about as close as you can get to being a culinary wasteland while still having restaurants. I did find one decent place, but it took a lot of looking. A lady at the Va. Beach farmers market gave me a list of the "Buy Fresh Buy Local" places in the area. I found one that seemed to focus on fresh seafood. That was Burton's Grill, the southern-most outpost of a small New England chain. This wasn't up to the level of Kinkead's in DC, but it wasn't bad. The wine list is somewhat well chosen, although their one Virginia white is from the Eastern Shore, and is a regrettable selection. Glad I asked for a sample first. For the most part everything was fine. They can make a martini cold enough, the scallops are almost cooked perfectly (30 seconds too long) and the crabcake likewise (30 seconds too little). But the cucumber salad was remarkable. We were here checking Virginia Beach as a retirement possibility. As my wife said, we've been spoiled. Virginia Beach is off the list. Wayne Rash

I guess I should have learned by now to beware of places with "Fisherman's Wharf" in the name. Mo's is apparently a favorite of hotel staffers, probably because they offer a free shuttle. But whatever the reason, it's probably not worth the trip. As you'd expect, seafood is their specialty, and they do serve fresh crab, oysters and some other fish. I don't know where the crabs and oysters come from, but the only fish that was local to Baltimore was the rockfish. I ordered it grilled, and while it was cooked well enough, and even though there were grill marks on the fish, it had no grilled flavor whatever. In fact, it had little flavor of any kind beyond the butter it was drenched in. The fish is served on a bed of flabby sliced potatoes ostensibly with herbs (you can't taste them) and butter - lots of it. You have one choice of sides, which is steamed vegetables. The restaurant offers a crabcake as their signature dish, but at 38 dollars, I passed on that opportunity. I don't know whether it's local crab. I do know that the restaurant sells a lot of non-local crab. My wife had their catfish, which had a slightly off flavor and was overcooked. The wine list is short and fairly ordinary, but not unusually expensive. The food was more expensive than it should be, especially given the quality. 20 bucks for the catfish, 22 for the rockfish. A glass of house wine is 8 bucks. Service was OK, although the waiter was unable to answer even basic questions about the menu items. In one move that I found annoying, the restaurant adds a 15% gratuity automatically. I can understand this for large parties, but for a table of two? I voiced my annoyance to the manager, but got little response. If you're really looking for seafood, there are certainly better choices in Baltimore. Next week when I'm back I'll look a little harder for something better. Wayne Rash

My wife and I went to Cinghiale for dinner. The last time I'd been overnight at the Inner Harbor we went to the Oceanaire Seafood Room and were disappointed, so we didn't want that to happen again. It didn't. In a kind of strange dichotomy the food at Cinghiale was some of the best I've had outside of Italy. I had a pasta course that reminded me a lot of a plate of spaghetti de la frutta de la mare in La Spetzia. The pasta was hand made. the seafood was perfectly cooked, but didn't have the tiny octopus that usually graces this dish in Italy. But that's kind of beside the point. But the feeling was more of eating by the sea in France. Interesting. We actually started out with an antipasti sampler that included a fresh tuna salad, tomatoes fresh from the field, grilled eggplant from the farmer's market and preserved olives and marinated mushrooms centered around a slice of porchetta. The spaghetti I had was served with perfectly cooked shrimp, and was dressed in olive oil, garlic and basil. we had a bottle of MaJus from Sicily along with homemade bread. The pasta itself was handmade and hand cut. The taste brought me back to the Italy if 30 years ago when I spent months there sampling the food. Interestingly, however, the ambiance took me back to Cannes, when we used to dine at a little place along the Croissette with the sea across the street, and the tables shared between just the two of us. This time it was the Inner Harbor across the street, and the traffic was calmer, and the Paparazzi nowhere to be seen. That made it even better. It was more than a memorable evening. We're coming back again, maybe for Restaurant Week in a few days. But I can't get this place out of my mind. It was everything you could want in Northern Italian cuisine, and then some. It reminds me of the feeling of a place in Genoa where I meant to eat once, but where events conspired against me. So go here, and imagine you're in Cannes, or Genoa or La Spetzia. You'll be in love, but with Baltimore. I'm amazed. Wayne Rash

Four of us had dinner at The Green Tree on King Street in Leesburg Saturday night. We were intrigued by the restaurant's description as serving authentic recipes from the 18th century. According to the blurb in the Entertainment book, the original owner researched colonial recipes in the Library of Congress, and adapted them to more modern practices. Since one of our group is a docent at Mount Vernon who happens to be an expert on the cuisine during the time that George Washington lived there, we figured it would be an interesting exercise. Our visit on Saturday found a place that was somewhat better than some of the more dire reviews that appeared online. The dining room was once lit only by candles, for example, but since that was written some electric lamps have been added, and that means that those of us of a certain age can still read the menus. We arrived at 7:00PM to find only one other table occupied. By the time we left, a couple more tables had filled. This place is not overly busy, and I have to wonder if it's trying to rebound from declining fortunes and rising costs. The menu includes an appetizer course, a soup course, entrees and dessert. Not on the menu, but served before the entree is a salad course. The entrees range from some long term items such as the cheese pie (kind of like a quiche) to mushroom canapes to a crab and cream casserole, which is what I had. The appetizers can run large, so for some like the cheese pie, you might want to share. We avoided the soup course considering the weather, although I'm told that the cabbage soup is a favorite. The entrees are supposed to be items that were served in the late 18th century, and our period expert says that they appear to be very similar to items that appear in contemporary diaries from the time. A couple of the items claim to have been taken directly from records of meals hosted by Thomas Jefferson, including his favorite liver dish. I was a little surprised to find an Indian curry on the menu, but I haven't had curry for a long time so I tried it. There was also a crab-stuffed flounder, a lamb kabob, a perch poached in dill cream, and some specials that didn't seem at all colonial. A couple of things make me think that this restaurant is trying to overcome bad times. The curry I had, for example, was described as having a collection of side condiments, as it typical of an Indian curry, but the condiments were presented already on the curry, and the sides were eliminated. Other things that make me wonder are the butter that's served, which is the same California Dairy packet that you get at Costco. There's nothing wrong with the butter other than its presentation, but it doesn't really fit the image of fine dining. Service was quite good, although the staff was pretty thin. The head waiter is a retired gentleman who is clearly a colonial food scholar who can quote from Jefferson's diaries during his time in France and at Monticello, He's assisted by a runner, and things are delivered promptly, the orders are correct, and the result is well paced if leisurely. We finished with the bread pudding, which was quite good. The restaurant makes its own desserts for the most part, and apparently is known for its pies, but I really like bread pudding, so I went with that and wasn't disappointed. The wine list is short, but reasonably priced. The house white is a California pinot grigio. We ended up spending about $40 per person. I thought it was a little steep, but I was outvoted by the rest of the table. Maybe I'm a cheapskate. A couple of other thoughts. This restaurant is part of a group that lines that side of King Street in Leesburg, and includes The Leesburg Colonial Inn, Bella Luna and the Georgetown Cafe. The Green Tree seemed to be the busiest of the bunch on the night we were there. Also, the chef is clearly producing specials for more than one restaurant. As much as I love escargot, for example, I don't think it qualifies as an 18th century American dish. I also have my doubts about the crab-stuffed flounder, which I'm told was quite good, but our captive docent didn't think she'd ever seen in any of her studies. Overall, I think The Green Tree is worth a visit, although I'd think of it as more of an exercise in culinary anthropology than as the latest in fine dining. I halfway expected to see Deb Duchon show up around a corner at some point. The restaurant doesn't have a Web site of its own (I'm told they're working on it) but the group can be found at http://www.theleesburgcolonialinn.com. Wayne Rash

I got a call today from Sherry Bailey at Legal Seafoods in Tyson's Corner. Ms. Bailey tells me that she's the new manager (I guess this is becoming an annual event) and that she's been working hard for the three weeks she's been there to make sure that the cooking staff has the necessary skills in hand to prepare sea food the way it should be. I suggested that she needed to join donrockwell.com and be kept up to date on what's going on at her restaurant as well as the places with which she competes. She said she would, so we'll see. In the meantime, she did invite me back, and offered to make a reservation for me. I declined that mainly because this is a really busy week with deadlines galore, but I'll probably take her up on it next week. In the meantime, she tells me she has a newly unified team. I hope that translates into good food. I'll go back at some point and see whether she's managed to convince the kitchen to learn how to cook fish. That would be a nice change. Wayne Rash

I just found out from Don that there's no topic for Red Hot and Blue, so I'm starting one. The reason is because I went there for dinner last night (1/13/10). I wanted barbecue and I didn't want to have to go a long way to get it. Since there's one in Fairfax, making it potentially the nearest barbecue place, we went there. Over the years, I've been to many, but not all, of the Northern Virginia locations of this restaurant. In fact, I had lunch at the original location in Arlington on the day it opened back when Lee Atwater was one of the owners. During this time, the quality of the barbecue has gone up and down, but it's normally been reliable enough that when the urge strikes and you need some pulled pork for carry-out, it'll do, and it's a lot faster than making it yourself. But not everything is at the same OK level as the pulled pork, which while never the best, is usually well, OK. It'll do. Last night, for example, I decided to have the sliced brisket. Now I realize that there was no chance that I was going to be impressed. It hasn't been that long since I last dined in Brisket Heaven, otherwise known as Lockhart, Texas. An evening with the brisket at Black's Barbecue is the sort of thing that spoils barbecue for other places. It's just that good. But even knowing this, the brisket at RH&B has reached a new low. It was dry, crumbly and nearly tasteless. The sauce puddle on top looked as if it had been dried in place by a heating table. Smoke flavor was not in evidence. In fact, it was so mediocre that the brisket at Blue Smoke in New York was better, and I didn't think that was possible. My wife told me that the pulled pork was also not up to its usual middling standard. One thing we've noticed about RH&B is that the quality of food varies quite a bit by location. The store in Manassas, for example, routinely has better barbecue of all types than the one in Fairfax. When the Fairfax store is up to full steam, it's OK. But don't make a special trip to Red Hot and Blue. There's a reasonable chance you'll be disappointed regardless of the depth of your expectations, and even at its best it's only OK. And this is all too bad. When the first restaurant opened, it was pretty good. Now I have to wonder how they're passing that brisket off to the stores in Texas. Those people carry six-shooters when they go out to eat after all. Wayne Rash

So for grins I decided that I'd like to go to lunch with a friend. She wanted a place where she'd never been. I wanted to pay Restaurant Week prices. We both wanted Tyson's, since it is about halfway between her home in Maryland and mine in Virginia. We also wanted a place so we could actually have a business meeting that involved verbal communications. We ended up at the Capital Grille in Tyson's. As is the case with first time visitors to this steak house, it took a while for her to find her way into the parking lot (hint, you can only get there if you enter International Drive from Rt. 7). We actually had a choice of a number of nice entrees. I wanted something lighter than a steak, so I ordered their crab and lobster sandwich with the house-made potato chips. She chose the same thing. I halfway expected a crabcake with a little lobster and a lot of filler. That's not what I got. It turns out that the broiled crab and lobster "burger" is very light on filler, and chock full of wonderful crab and lobster flavor. I found pleasant chunks of crab and big chunks of lobster, but little if any breading. The flavor was light and focused on the main ingredients. The meat was delivered perched on a bed of shredded lettuce (can't win 'em all), but the bun was toasted brioche. The tarter sauce was house-made, but I used only a half teaspoon or so, so that I wouldn't cover up the flavor of the seafood. It resulted in a pretty big meal - much larger than I'd expected. But I ate the whole thing anyway. The house made chips were just right. Warm, crisp, little sign of oil, but enough salt to make them taste like potato chips. You get three courses, so I started with the Caesar salad. I'm rarely impressed with Caesar salad because it's usually boring, but in this case it appears that the Capital Grille makes their own dressing. It has actual anchovies. I was astonished, given the uniformly bad dressing in these parts. Desert was a flourless chocolate cake. It will cause chocolate overload in all but the most dedicated chocolate lover. I don't particularly like that much chocolate, but I like cheesecake even less, and that was the other choice. When I looked at my plate after a few minutes, something mysterious had happened. Apparently my cake had evaporated or something. All that remained was a little residue. I guess it was the low humidity. I know I don't like chocolate enough to have eaten the whole thing. Do I? For $20.10, this was a seriously good deal. The food was quite good, the service was better than I expected given the madhouse that's Restaurant Week around here. In fact, the waiter took time out from his mad rush to guide my friend through the Tyson's maze to the restaurant. I know this is a chain, and from what Don says, the wine is overpriced. But it was lunch and I didn't have wine. After a long period of one disappointment after another eating out around here, this was a true bright spot. I'll go back here for lunch any ol' time. The only downside to this lunch is that I'll obviously have to tack on another fifty miles or so when I hit the A.T. once the weather breaks. But that's not much of a downside, given the glory of the Trail in the spring. Wayne Rash

After an evening of disappointing seafood (see my post regarding the Bonefish Grill) I felt it was only fair to give another cuisine a chance to disappoint me. Otani Grill in Fairfax accomplished this. Otani is a sushi and teppanyaki place with a limited lunch menu that includes a selection of bento boxes. There is a sushi bar, although that was unoccupied when we were there. We didn't try the teppanyaki, although the flames from the other side of the restaurant were interesting to watch, and gave a faint promise of warmth. My daughter and I each ordered a bento. I had the Tonkasu Bento, which features fried pork cutlet. My daughter had the Beef Teriyaki bento. Both included rice, miso soup, salad, gyoza and 4 pieces of California roll. We also had a small sushi order to share and we had a pot of hot tea. The miso soup was thin, watery, nearly tasteless, and without much of anything such as tofu cubes to give it character. Its only saving grace was that it was hot, which was a Good Thing considering the temperature of the restaurant. the salad was also watery, but unlike most Japanese restaurants, this one served it with ranch dressing. The California rolls were loose, poorly rolled, and unremarkable. The Gyoza was pretty good, but appeared to be the prepackaged pot stickers from Costco (which may be why they rose above the level of the food otherwise available). I chose the pork because that's usually one of the bento items that virtually impossible to ruin. But it turns out that I underestimated the skills of the kitchen who managed to find a way to make this dish resemble a sliced brown hocky puck on a bed of brown lettuce. My daughter tried valiantly to eat the beef teriyaki, but it was only after she cut the meat free of the gristle with my pocket knife that she could do it. The pork, beef and rice were cold. The gyoza was hot. The tea was hot, but at five bucks for a pot, it should have been remarkable. Instead, it was lightly flavored hot water. The sushi is priced per piece and is fairly expensive. The quantity of fish is minimal. The taste was missing. I now realize that a better strategy would have been to eat at that Scottish place next door, the one with those yellow arches. At least there my expectations would have been so low that I wouldn't been disappointed. And the food would have been hot, and the tea would have only cost a buck. Wayne Rash

I'm beginning to wonder if it's becoming impossible to get decent seafood at a mid-priced location near the water, or if that's simply something I should stop trying. Went to Bonefish Grill in Centreville for my daugher's birthday dinner last night (1/3/10). Normally this location is OK, and probably better than the Tyson's Legal Seafood. This time, however, it seems as if the cook had quite working around lunch time. Most of the fish was overcooked. My wife's grouper was (in her words) "chewy." The sides were of dubious quality and one dish, the basmati rice was delivered as a glutinous, gongealed ball of something sort of springy. I think it was supposed to be something like Thai sticky rice, but they surely missed the mark. The service was also iffy. Drinks came over a span of time, with their special for the evening, a white cranberry cosmo, being delivered nearly 15 minutes after the first drink, my martini (which was served warm). The whole evening was like that. Disjointed, low quality, seemingly unpracticed, and overall poorly done. I think I'll add this to yet another seafood place to avoid. I realize that all seafood restaurants can't be Le Bernadin, but you'd think they could at least cook fish. The summary in three words: Don't go here. Wayne Rash

I've been to four of the Wegmans in Northern Virginia. The one I visit weekly is the Fairfax store. While I don't eat there on a regular basis (I'm there to buy groceries, after all) I have eaten at the seafood bar, and I've tried the Asian bar on occasion. In there fairfax store there are actually two food counters. The seafood bar is an actual sit-down seafood restaurant with a menu containing whatever is really fresh that day. There is a good selection of wine and beer pairings, the service is nearly immediate, and you're sitting in sight of the cook, so everything is delivered fresh and hot. While the store prepares fairly simple dishes, they're expertly prepared, nothing is overcooked, and the prices are very reasonable. The sushi bar focuses on nigiri sushi. I tried to grab lunch there, but could never find a seat. There was a line. But the sushi is made fresh to order, and that's certainly a step up from grabbing one of the little plastic boxes and heading for a table. The Asian bar tries to be more of a pan-Asian bar. There's Indian, Thai, Chinese, Japanese and faux Chinese. As steam-table Asian goes, it's pretty good. The containers are refreshed frequently, the variety of choices is wide, and the quality is much better than what you'll find in the horrifyingly bad Asian buffets in Western Fairfax and Manassas. But it's not the same as going to a good Asian restaurant. On the other hand, you can't go to a good Asian restaurant and have General's Tso's chicken, Naan and Indian Curry on the same plate, and share a bowl of pasta with your table mate. From that perspective, it ain't bad. It is, as was previously mentioned, a grocery store after all, not a fine dining restaurant. But the seafood bar, at least, is very good for what it is, and it provides a nice lunch at a fair price. I have trouble finding fault for any of this. Of course, I haven't tried the pizzas, and I haven't tried the subs. The bakery used to have its own selection of sandwiches in baguettes that reminded me a lot of sandwiches I'd had in Paris and Cannes in little cafes. They were not at all like the subs, but in a very good way. I don't know why those stopped, but I miss them. Wayne Rash

I suspect that this is about a different Japanese place, and in a different strip mall than the one mention in the Strip Mall topic where this originally resided. My daughter had me take her to Akasaka on Sudley Manor Drive in Manassas. This is a combination sushi / teppanyaki place in a strip mall across from the Office Depot. It's not Yama, but it's not bad. The cucumber and radish rolls were well made, the tempura roll not so much. The tempura crust was no longer crunchy except where it emerged from the roll, a sign that it probably was made too far in advance. The nigiri sushi was well made. The salad wasn't as waterlogged as it frequently is in nid-range sushi places, but they could stand investing in a salad spinner. The miso soup was drinkable. The things you should know is that the sushi nigiri is very expensive for the quality delivered. Most items are over $5.00. My daughter and I spent nearly $100.00 for a fairly modest meal. We didn't try any of the other menu items, but the action at the griddles was certainly showy. I guess if you're on Sudley road near 66 and jonesing for sushi, it's better than the chain places farther down the road. But I'd rather eat at Yama.

Apparently I took my wife there the day after Don visited. I'd made the reservation using Open Table, and had mentioned that the 25th was our 37th anniversary. I also asked for a romantic table. The staff at Trummers delivered on all counts, plus some that I hadn't expected. For example, if you read my initial write-up on the restaurant, I mentioned that things were so chaotic that we never got our drinks. Apparently they keep track of such things. This time the waiter showed up and asked my wife if she wanted the brandy alexander that she didn't get the last time. Yes, I know that restaurants have databases, but still, this surprised me. Also apparently somebody at Trummers read Don's review and decided corrective action was in order. Service was exceptional. Everything was well paced, perfectly timed, and delivered to the table in exactly the right way. The service was excellent. I guess Don actually is a restaurant consultant, but just isn't being paid for it. The lineup for the menu was similar to what Don listed from the day before. I had the oxtail ravioli. The pasta was al dente, which is not the same thing as being not quite done. The oxtail filling in the single, but quite large, pie was wonderul. My wife had frisee lettuce salad which had a remarkable curry vinaigrette. For our main courses I had the Costa Rican Mahi Mahi and my wife had the pan roasted scallops. Now, I've been to Hawaii at least 50 times, and I've had a lot of very good mahi mahi there where it's served the same day it's caught. But this was the best mahi mahi I've ever had. The bed of risotto was a perfect complement to the fish. My wife's scallops were also done perfectly, soft and velvety as they are when they're just barely cooked enough. Another 15 seconds would have been too much, but these were exactly right. The only quibble is that I wish there were a choice for dessert that didn't include ice cream or sorbet. On a cold damp November night, something warm would have been nice. We had a white wine from the Loire but I can't remember what it was. I can'f find my notes. Such is the penalty for age. But the improvement from July until now is remarkable, and it was good to start with. The only concern is that as in the case of Don's dinner, only three other tables were occupied. The bar was full, however, and one of the occupied tables was quite large. But still, I'm worried about such an empty space. On the other hand, you can be certain you'll find a seat, something that's well worth doing.

A place to avoid in Harrisonburg is Clementine at 153 S. Main St. This restaurant presents itself as an upscale eatery that also features music and art. In reality, this is a bar with food. If you're looking for a place for a drink, it's probably fine, if noisy. But as a restaurant, you'd be better off finding another place to eat. We shared the seared ahi tuna appetizer. I'm grateful that I only had to eat half of it. If the tuna was seared, it wasn't evident. Worse, the tuna was old. The best I can say is that it was so thinly sliced that the overwhelming fishy flavor of the overripe tuna was covered by the thin puddle of soy and wasabe. At $7.95, it was dramatically overpriced. I'd ordered a burger with mozzarella, roasted red pepper, pesto, lettuce and onion. The roasted red pepper was AWOL. So was the pesto. The burger pattie was so overcooked that it closely resembled a hockey puck, except when it crumbled into a sawdust-like powder. My order was for it to be cooked to medium doneness. I wonder what it would have been like if I'd ordered it well done? Clementine features house-made potato chips. Nice idea. They closely resemble those from Grandma Utz. The other dinners were similar in their ability to dismay their respective diners. Here's the Web site for your viewing pleasure, but remember, look, but don't eat: http://www.clementinecafe.com. Wayne Rash

So today I took a turn for the wurst. In other words, I went to Bernie's Deli in downtown Fairfax and noticed that today's special was bockwurst with saurkraut and provolone on a baguette. So I ordered that. But before I go further, let me digress. I get to Germany on a regular basis. Each year I go to Hannover for a large trade show, and I almost always end up transferring to the tram at the main Hannover rail station. On the concourse level, near the stairs to Track 4 is a sausage stand that sells bockwurst, baurenwurst and bratwurst, along with Herforder beer. You can get a sausage on a baguette and a liter of beer for around five Euros. I mention this because this stand delivers what are perhaps the finest sausages in all of Europe. They are always perfect, the skin browned and crisp, the sausage juicy. This place is the best against very stiff competition. Well, the sausage stand in Hannover is better than the sausage at Bernie's Deli. On the other hand, the sausage and its accompanying saurkraut and mustard are as good as I've had elsewhere in Germany, notably in Frankfurt, where I've spent far too much time and eaten much too much sausage. This means that the sausage at Bernie's in darned good. And it costs about the same, too, except Bernie wants his money in Dollars, so it's about 7.00 bucks. I'm a little dubious about the need for the provolone. Good sausage doesn't need cheese. I also had Bernie's tomato and mozzarella salad, which is served with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, onions and red peppers. This really rounded out the meal, but certainly wasn't traditional. On the other hand, it was a seriously good version of this traditional Italian dish. The only thing lacking is that you can't get Herforder beer at Bernies. Of course, you can't get it anywhere else in the US, so I won't hold that against them. Overall, Bernie's Deli continues to delight in its standard menu and in its forays into interesting specials. And I keep driving back there for a quick meal. It's worth the trip. Wayne Rash

Four of us went to Mama's on the Halfshell on Saturday evening. The restaurant was crowded, but it was still possible to carry on a conversation. I shared a dozen oysters with my brother-in-law, and we had four each of the three varieties they offered. Those were bluepoints from Long island, Chesapeake and another type that was very small, and the name of which I've forgotten. The Chesapeake oysters were really outstanding, and the bluepoints were nearly as good. Both were sweet and briny, with the Chesapeake having a nicer finish. The other type didn't have a lot of flavor, which may explain why I can't remember the type. I had the soft shell crabs for my main course. Another of us had proscuitto wrapped halibut, two of us had scallops, one meal had 'em broiled, and the other pan seared. When you get your main course from the menu, you have a choice of sides. I was told by my companions that the mac 'n cheese should have been sharper, either with a little bleu cheese or a sharper cheddar. The scallops were just about perfectly done. I prefered the pan seared scallops, but that's a matter of preference. The haddock was really wonderful, with the salty ham accenting the fish perfectly. The crabs were another matter. This dish comes with rice and fried green tomatoes. Unfortunately, the soft shell crabs were past the point of having really soft shells. The shells had already begun hardening, and while they were still edible, the crabs were tough enough that an attempt to cut through them just resulted in the meat being extruded like a sort of paste. Couple this with the fact that they were dredged in Old Bay, then fried at too low a temperature, and you had crabs soggy with oil and overwhelmed with the seasoning. The fried green tomatoes were also cooked in oil that wasn't hot enough, and as a result the coating was oil soaked and kind of gooey. The rice was fine. However, I cannot recommend this particular dish. The kitchen, at least on this night, doesn't seem to have a fry cook who has a grasp on how to fry these foods, and the crab vendor was selling crabs a couple of days past their prime. On a much brighter note, the short wine list was a well chosen list of very interesting wines, and the prices were very reasonable. The white wines were priced in the low to mid 20's for the most part, with the occasional bottle bumping against 30 dollars. This may make Mama's the area's top wine bargain. Overall, the dinner was quite good for three of us, and the wine list is very well thought out. But stay away from the soft shell crabs unless you confirm that conditions have changed. Wayne Rash

They cut the head of romaine lengthwise, and grill the cut side, so it's browned slightly. It's served with a poached egg and some anchovy sauce, so it's sort of like a deconstructed caesar. I loved it. Wayne Rash

So we went to the Crystal City location of Legal Sea Foods on Friday night. The experience was dramatically better than our visit to the Tyson's location. But before I go any further, we need to do the full disclosure thing. When I had the really horrible dinner at Legal Sea Foods in Tyson's, I wrote a detailed message to the management at the corporate HQ. I got a nice letter in response from JoAnne, who is the manager of Guest Services for Legal Sea Foods in Boston. She extended her apologies, passed along gift certificates, and ask that I contact her to "facilitate" my next visit. So I called her and told her that I was planning to visit the Crystal City location on Friday. She said she'd make the reservation. I asked that she call me back if there was any problem getting a seat at 7:30. Her comment was interesting. "There will always be a table if I make the reservation," she said. Sure enough, we arrived (late due to traffic), and our table was indeed ready. Considering the massive crowds, it was clear that she had some clout indeed. We were seated near be back in a nice but not particularly speccial location. The restaurant was very noisy, but considering the hoardes of people at the bar, this was not a surprise. I could carry on a conversation, but after 20 years of pushing troops in the military, I can be understood on the floor of a steel mill. Shortly after we got our menus, the other parts of what JoAnne meant by "facilitate" began to be appearant. As we were discussing appetizers, Restaurant Director Tony Fiorino arrived tableside to make sure we were being treated well, and bearing a combination appetizer platter for us. He apologized for the actions of the Tyson's restaurant, and assured us that we'd not have problems like that in Crystal City. During the course of the meal, the chef also arrived to make sure we liked our fish. Since I didn't see either the chef or Mr. Fiorino show up at other tables, I think we were being facilitated. Our facilitated appitizer combo platter included a crab cake, a pair of steamed shrimp dumplings, tuna sashimi and a two-shrimp cocktail. They make their crab cakes as a sort of a pile of crab that's cooked under a broiler. It was delicious, but I prefer the other style. The dumplings were quite good, the sashimi fresh with a nice soy and seaweed salad accompaniment. The shrimp cocktail was perfectly done. Nice appetizers. Since my wife doesn't do sashimi, I was forced to consume that and the seaweed salad myself. Ah, the sacrifices we make. I ordered their wood grilled rockfish, with asparagus and rice pilaf and a corn and black bean salsa, which was the special for the evening. It was allegedly cajun spiced, but this was done by a very tame cajun. However the rockfish was firm, moist, flavorful and done as well as I'd have done it myself. My wife had the wood-grilled scallops. In Tyson's these would have had the consistency of little white hockey pucks. Here they were perfectly done, smooth and velvety inside and just enough carmelization on the outside to be properly done. Our dessert was a strawberry shortcake that was absolutely identical to the strawberry shortcake I make at home. I don't mean similar. I mean, it tasted as if I'd made it. Of course, that means it was exceptional. As is the case with Legal Sea Food in general, the wine is well chosen and reasonably priced, and you don't get ripped off ordering by the glass. Overall, I was very pleased. I particularly happy being facilitated. I just wish the service was like that without the intervention of JoAnne at the corporate offices. However, I don't think the food was any different than what I saw other diners getting. The woman at the table next to me said that when she's in DC, she always eats at the Crystal City restaurant because as far as she's concerned it's the best in the chain. She said that she prefers it to any of the Boston locations she's tried. So, yes. I'd go back to this location. I still haven't made up my mind about Tyson's. Wayne Rash

It's worth noting that Trummer's now has a functional Web site. Go to http://trummersonmain.com and you can look at the menu, photos, etc. I haven't found out if they're linked in to OpenTable or not. But at least you can check out the menu on the Web site. Wayne Rash