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I'm tired of all my north Bethesda options, so I took the Bethesda Circulator over to Taylor Gourmet today. The Ritner Street (Taylor Home roasted Angus beef, sharp provolone, lettuce, tomato, onions, added hot peppers) was dry as a bone - no juiciness to the roast beef, not enough dressing, slightly stale roll - and tasted (& smelled) of nothing but the onions. Add slapdash assembly and a $6.90 price tag, and it's an choice I won't be making in the future.

@Heather - yeah, I don't think the roast beef at Taylor is a winner. I took one togo and loaded it up with pickles from my fridge to try to add moisture and still wasn't digging. In general though I am a huge fan of Taylor Gourmet. I eat there roughly 4 or 5 times a month. But I recommend getting the hot hoagies like the meatball (callowhill), chicken cutlet (esp the Ben Franklin) or the roast pork. The sauce/juice with those meats complements the bread perfectly. The coldcut sandwiches to me are overwhelmed by the bread.

This is interesting, because I am 99% sure that Bayou and The Cajun Experience are owned by the same folks...

The Bayou folks are connected to Surfside, Jetties and Smith Point. I hadn't heard of any connection to The Cajun Experience. IIRC the people behind the Cajun Experience weren't even in the restaurant business 3 years ago. I think the owner was in the software consulting business.

I leveraged my day off work for the president's day holiday into a chance to swing by the new location of The Cajun Experience at 18th & Swann Streets NW for lunch before heading out to VA to run some errands. Parking isn't possible on 18th Street but one block over on New Hampshire was fine. Upon arriving to the old victorian building there was plenty of evidence of the restaurant from the street (two banners, a sandwich board on the sidewalk, and a menu box on a pole) but it was a tad unusual that you could not see the front door from the street as it is tucked behind a large staircase. Upon entering I beared left to take a seat at the bar as I was dining alone. It was too early in the day for me to sample a hurricane or grenade. I was just stopping in to sample the food. Perhaps another time closer to Mardi Gras for the drinks.

I entered this dining experience with high hopes. I had heard that the restaurant was an import from Leesburg. So expansion suggested that the food was tasty enough to be a rousing success elsewhere. Plus I'm always on the lookout for good Nawlins/Cajun food. For starters I ordered the hushpuppies and a dish of red beans, rice and sausage. I followed that up with a "fully loaded" fried oyster po' boy.

To my disappointment none of the 3 dishes won me over. I really didn't detect much in the way of flavor. The two fried items simply tasted like fried batter. The corn was overpowered by deep fried exterior of the hush puppy. The fried oysters could have been fried anything as I detected no oyster taste - just batter. I was disappointed the po' boy lacked a pickle and the chipotle mayo accompanying both items had zero kick. My red beans, rice and sausage dish was the best of the trio but still underseasoned.

I'm normally not the one to even write a review after just one visit. If the issues had been service related I wouldn't bother to report them since the place is so new. But weak flavor on Cajun food is a large disappointment and suggests fundamentally the recipes aren't that great. I don't think I have impossible standards. I tried the po' boy sliders from Bayou at 25th and Penn last Tuesday and will fully endorse those and their tasty remoulade sauce. The hushpuppies at Tackle Box have earned my seal of approval.

FYI - the new Mandu at City Vista (400 block of K Street NW) is having several preopening services this weekend and will be open for regular service beginning Monday January 24th at 5pm.

I tried Merzi last Friday. I asked them to include two meats rather than one so I could sample more. Supposedly that’s normally upcharged to cost $1.99 more but I didn’t pay the premium this time. I went with the basic chicken and lamb over naan. I enjoyed the spicyness of the food but the chicken and lamb were chopped too finely (practically minced) for my preferences. That made it lose texture my taste buds associate with meat. I prefer larger chunks like you find with the Tasty Kabob food truck in Rosslyn.

I will give Merzi a few more tries. There are several other menu possibilities that intrigue me. I think I want to try the tandisserie chicken over rice next time.

I've heard Micheal Landrum signed a lease for ~1500SF at City Vista this week. Around the corner from the popular Taylor Deli and Kushi Izakaya. Not sure what concept he has planned. Hellburger? Ray's the Catch? Ray's the Glass?

Thanks for the correction--I just found out myself.

Rob

I was REALLY looking forward to Hill Country when I first learned they were coming. I'm still looking forward to it but I've dialed my enthusiasm down a notch after trying the original location in New York City. The prices were through the roof for BBQ! For a brisket sandwich, one small side (pinto beans), one small dessert (banana pudding) and a soda my check came out to just shy of $25. Between myself and my dining partner I sampled 3 sides. None were anything special yet they each cost >= $4.75. I did enjoy the smoky goodness of the brisket although next time I will go for the lean cut.

According to the City Paper, Hill Country D.C. is opening this month at 410 Seventh Street NW. Looking forward to it....

Rob

Citypaper admitted today that they didn't do there research on that item - they just picked up a bad fact from Zagat.

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/youngandhungry/2010/07/07/not-so-fast-about-hill-country-in-d-c-opening-date-moved-to-years-end/

Hill Country is looking more at an end of year opening.

The group from Town Hall is planning to open a new restaurant/bar called Sixth Engine in the Mount Vernon Triangle (on the same block as Buddha Bar).

http://www.mvtriangleblog.com/?p=1843

I gave DonRockwell.com a visit today to see what people have had to say about Town Hall as I have never been to the Glover Park establishment. Seems this thread hasn't seen much activity the last few years. So I thought I'd give it a bump to see if anyone wants to chime in with more recent impressions.

Average at best, while the meatball sub had a good amount of flavor the quality and freshness that they clamour on about just wasnt there. Would rather go to Literris or Al's in Del Rey any day, for that matter every day. It wasnt bad, it just wasnt 20 dollars worth by any means. I dont think I will go here again for a long time. Too bad the food didnt live up to the hype.

Al's Steakhouse in Del Ray is easily more expensive than Taylor Deli. Al's charges $14 for a large sub whereas the Taylor 12" hoagies all come in under $10. I've also yet to spend > $13 at Taylor in over a dozen visits so I'm not sure where your $20 figure comes from...

$9.50 for Garlic Bread. Wow!

Everything at Carmine's is big Family sized portions.

This video from the summer may have already made the rounds here ... but I'm sure it will be new for some ... click

Earl's has become an increasingly frequent stop for me after a long day at work. Tonight I stopped by about 7:10pm to order a Pork and Fries sandwich. Michael Landrum, owner of Rays the Steaks and Hellburger, was in the corner flipping through a newspaper as he awaited his takeout order to be fulfilled. I wonder what he ordered...