Gastro888

I only get the ca phe su da and never the ca phe or ca phe su at Pho 75. In all honesty, I've never seen anyone with the thermos of hot water at Pho 75 in Maryland or VA. Maybe it's just the luck of the draw who knows? Or maybe the manager in VA is nicer than the one(s) in MD. Jolly for you that you can get the thermos! I just wish they'd be more consistent in offering it so that all customers know the joy of unlimited Vietnamese coffee. Otherwise known as liquid crack.

I haven't seen the thermos of hot water at Pho 75 but only at Pho Xe Lua. Maybe that's why they can justify the high pho prices? Who knows. Pho's not supposed to be gourmet - just gooooood eats. Tendons, fat brisket and tripe. Just lovely. Speaking of tendon, Pho Hiep Hoa prepares their tendons differently. Instead of wafer thin slices of tendon, they're cut into thin slices and are about 1/4 inch thick. They could be using a different tendon than the "standard" tendons used in the pho around this area, I don't know. It tastes good, though. I just wish I could eat pho without walking out smelling like it. I dislike the lingering smell of pho on my clothes.

Actually, compared to Pho Xe Lua, the price of the pho alone is not that bad - under 6 bucks for a regular sized bowl of pho. The other stuff on the menu is pricey, for sure! 10 bucks for a banh xeo (Saigon crepe)? But I guess they have to pay for the rent and decorations somehow. Pho Xe Lua charges about 7 and some change for their regular sized bowl of pho that has everything in it. It's highway robbery but damn, that broth is good. And they have LIMES. Praise the lovely lime!

I went to Pho Xe Lua about a month ago and had a fine (but pricey) bowl of pho. There was no MSG after shock. However, an earlier trip in the year for pho at Pho 75 left my throat drier than the desert and with a funny coating in the mouth. But that's the first time it happened to me at Pho 75. I suppose the quality of the broth depends on who cooks it. If they're stingy with the amount of meat and bones used to make the broth, they'll attempt to compensate for the poor quality of the broth with MSG. I ate at Pho Hiep Hoa in downtown Silver Spring on Friday night and was disappointed by my #3 pho. The broth was not scalding hot (granted, it was hot, but I want that broth thermonuclear!), it tasted kinda flat, and they used LEMONS and not limes on the salad plate. The presence of sawtooth herb was not enough to make up for the fact there was no lime (in the coconut...).

Comfort food depends on my mood. If I'm down, I want to eat fries/frites - preferably Palena's or something else of similar quality. I'll settle for Chik-Fila when I can't get anything else. Why-I-piss-my-doctor-off comfort food: Steamed rice w/ chicken drippings (aka FAT) from a steamed or roasted chicken. A 1:1 ratio is what I strive for most of the time. My parents' congee is the ultimate comfort food. Homemade with dried scallops and dried tangerine peel. I top it with tofu cheese (fu yee) and white pepper. Love in a bowl. Edited to add: Oh yeah, how could I forget this: Bacon fried in a pan to a light crisp served with Wonder Bread that was used to sop up the drippings. Ah, drippings.

Teaism is relatively cheap and yummy. Bento boxes for under 10 bucks. Alero's isn't a bad deal, either and the food's relatively decent. If you want to treat yourself, there is HH at the Russia House Lounge where Andre makes KILLER cocktails. I think the have HH specials, check first to make sure. You can always do one of the chains but that would definitely put a damper on your evening of culture. You could walk it over to Adams and eat at the New Orleans Cafe (I think that's what it's called) but I don't know if you want to walk that far.

Really? They were kabocha squash chips? Wow, very neat. We were wondering what they were - I thought it might be young ginger. Did Chef put some ginger on the chips prior to cooking them? Or were my sleepy tastebuds misleading me? Actually, if Chef did the ginger ice cream with the (lots and lots of) kabocha squash chips as a dessert, I know JPW and I would be happy campers.

The meal was fantastic. I really enjoyed the egg noodles and the venison. And the soup and the tartare. Hmm. That would be almost everything! Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about the desserts. I was disappointed by the desserts. I would've preferred any of his chocolate or apple desserts over the squash tart. Although, I must say the ginger ice cream and the ginger decoration on the tart were quite tasty. I forgot to say thanks to all who were involved, especially mdt, Chef, Rissa and the staff at Corduroy.

Here, here! Been fasting* since yesterday and am cautiously consuming so that I'm not too full. Anxiously waiting until 7pm. Who knew Tuesdays could be fun! *not really eating much...not that I'm not eating at all!

The coffee is outstanding. When I have some quiet time, I like to enjoy a cup of the daily roast in their lovely shop. I also like their cheese plate - it's decent, serviceable and hits the spot when you want a light nosh. However, I agree - the service is rather piss poor. This one time (not at band camp), I ordered a cup of java to go and paid for it with my credit card. After looking at the credit card and noticing my last name, the server then proceeded to harass me about my ethnicity, aka the "Where are you from?" line of questioning. I felt this was INCREDIBLY rude on his part. (PM me if you don't get why this is rude) Yes, I couldn't talked to his manager. Yes, I could've lodged a complaint with the main office. I didn't. I decided to fight fire with fire. He kept on pestering so I think I replied "America" or "My mother's womb", to every question I can't remember now. I would stop going there if they didn't have such good coffee. Damn it!

I'm looking for a restaurant in the area that does a great roasted bone marrow. I'm having wicked cravings for it and was wondering if anyone knew of a restaurant that does this dish well. Or am I better off doing this at home? If so, any hints and suggestions on how to prepare this dish would be much appreciated!

Coffee with milk and sugar. A small slice of wheat bread with a slice of Wisconsin cheddar.

Eating joong (Cantonese)/zhong (Mandarin) now during Chinese New Year is like eating holiday fruitcake at a 4th of July BBQ picnic. (Wait, I think I hear my ancestors rolling around in the grave on this one!) Joong is for the Dragon Boat festival season during the springtime (5th day of the 5th month according to the lunar calendar. (FYI, DC does have a dragon boat festival every year - PM for more info.) Technically, you can eat anything you want to whenever you want but it's definitely not the time to be making joong. Dumplings, however, are definitely the way to go during Chinese New Year. If you want to do something fun, have a dumpling party at your home at on Jan. 28th and welcome in the year of the dog at midnight.

Can you still get this at Corduroy and is it a HH special only? Crisp and Juicy is a great place to get cheap eats, too. And a beef pattie from Negril will definitely fill you up for under 2 bucks. But that's just me - those things fill me up quite easily.

It's dessert decadence on a plate, that's what that is! I'd highly recommend getting that or the chocolate hazelnut bars. My friends and I went last night for the first time and really enjoyed our experience there. Our server was pleasant and friendly. I wish I'd ordered the tuna with sushi rice instead of my pork belly. Not because the pork belly was bad (it was great!) but because the sushi rice was so tasty. YUM! Now I just gotta work that tart off my butt...must.hit.the.gym!

Thank you everyone for your hints! This was the hint I used and it worked very well! I had to do it twice (yeap, never have high heat when you're making kalbi) and it's back to it's original state. Grazie!

So I was a bit overzealous with the flame on my stove when I cooked my kalbi and now there's some hard to remove crud at the bottom of the nonstick pot. I've soaked it in hot soapy water and with alot of a elbow grease, only a bit has come off. Help! I wanted to pick y'all's brains and see if you have any hints on how to get the crud off the bottom of a pot. (I don't want to Brillo pad it as it'll scratch the surface.) Thanks in advance!

I was walking around downtown Silver Spring today and noticed that Cakelove was open for business now. I am unsure if today is the offical grand opening but Warren Brown was there along with a photographer who was busy snapping shots of the baked goodies. It's a bright, cheerful storefront - no place to sit but it looks like they have a countertop for some possible barstools. This store has a better display and more products than the U Street store (probably due to the greater retail space). Warren was going around to everyone and offering them samples of his raspberry buttercream along with the "serve at room temperature" explanation. There were shirts with the slogan as well as stickers. Very interesting. Seems he's turning it into some sort of marketing slogan. I've only had the key lime cupcake from Cakelove and I found it to be delish. Then again, I had it the morning after it was put out to be served at a party, which could explain why it was so good. (Also, morning munchies do make a good sauce...) Personally, I don't understand why he's successful in selling a product that has a caveat on it. Perhaps it's his backstory that makes the product sell? I don't see bakers in Europe telling people they need to wait to enjoy their goods and last time I checked, Europe's got some damn good bakeries!

You can marinate meat for four days and it doesn't turn to mush? Really? Or is it b/c it's the shank cut? Just curious.

Our family's traditional Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners have, and always will be: Standing rib roast beef oven baked with pickling spice & soy sauce (not much of the spice and it DOES taste wonderful) White Rice Boiled potatoes with butter, salt and pepper No veggies, no cakes, no sweets, nothing fancy and I absolutely love it!

At Hunan Manor in Burtonsville last night: Cold appetizer plate of 5 spiced beef, deboned duck legs, pig's intenstine and beef tendon in spicy (holy crap, was it spicy) chile oil sauce Chowed egg noodles with scallions, bean sprouts and fried sardines 2 lobsters stir fried w/ scallions and ginger Steamed whole chicken with scallion and ginger sauce Steamed whole fish in soy and scallion sauce Stir fried sea cucumber and shiitake mushrooms Snow pea sprouts w/ garlic Two types of pork intestines stir fried w/ mixed veggies in a garlic sauce It was a family outing with family friends and I was with some of their kids (all preteens) and they were complaining about eating the sea cucumber and intestines. (Mind you, they were not complaining about eating duck feet!) You know you've reached a certain age when you can make a child eat something they dislike just by saying: "Eat it. It's good for you, it'll make you smart and 'sides, you're Chinese, you're SUPPOSED to like funny stuff!"

OK, they're not glamourous but I miss the following: I miss Phineas on Rockville Pike. They made the best popovers and it was the restaurant my parents would always go to on an occasional Monday nights when my dad was off from work. I also loved their pita triangles that they had on the salad bar - they were oven baked with oil and some sort of pizza like seasoning with alot of papirka. I miss Hot Shoppes. I loved, loved, loved the food there. Yeap. Loved the mashed potatoes with the scoop of brown industrial gravy and the squishy bread. I had my first non-Chinese food experience in a Hot Shoppe. Boy, I've come a long way!

Oh goodness, I should tell you, huh? OK, well, if you are familar with Eden Center, here is what I would do if I had to host a party: Starting at the gate next to the National Wholesalers (whatever it's called) store in the former Ames store: 1) Get some fresh baked Banh Mi (baguettes) at Banh Mi So #1 - good with a cheese you could pick up at Cheesetique 2) Get a fresh fruit cake (spongecake with fruit filling topped w/ whipped cream) at Maria's Bakery 3) Get some fried tofu from the tofu store that's in between the brand new hair salon and electronics store. 4) Walk to the deli that is in between the Shisedo store and the hair salon. It'll have a neon TV screen ad outside. Go inside, order your platters for dirt cheap. 5) Go to Eden Supermarket, check out the BBQ meat offerings for the day. See what's the best and get a whole duck or some cha siu or roast pig for your platters. But that's just me and I'm horribly addicted to Eden Center!

The Vermont Apple Pie Company sells their frozen, all butter crust apple pie at Whole Foods Market around the area and all you have to do it pop it in the oven for 45 minutes and BAM, homemade, yummy apple pie. It's very, very, very yummy! Heck, do that and pass it off as your own. It's pretty reasonably priced and very tasty with some vanilla ice cream.

30 pieces of sushi at Kotobuki. With one rockin' green tea mochi as a dessert. I wonder how many visits will it take before they stop looking at me strangely as I order enough sushi for a football team!