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bookluvingbabe

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Everything posted by bookluvingbabe

  1. bookluvingbabe
    Where did Mr. BLB and BL-2nd grader dine?
  2. bookluvingbabe
    Arthur Ashe is an excellent choice for the history of it. Andy Roddick when he was just starting out was all kinetic energy and potential. That was pretty amazing. And you know how I feel about John McEnroe... I would have loved to see Maureen Connolly play before her injury. (The movie, Little Mo, still haunts me!) And Martina at her prime.
  3. bookluvingbabe
    One of these days! Thank you for your ongoing willingness to offer these tours.
  4. bookluvingbabe
    Red Sea is definitely the first place I went to. Meskerem was always a distance second. I was in Adams Morgan for lunch about 2 weeks ago and ended up at Awash for lunch because Meskerem was was only open for lunch on weekends. (No signs indicating it was closed/for lease at that time.) I've got to get the family over to Sheba.
  5. bookluvingbabe
    My mother had a thing for Jimmy Connors. So I remember watching Connors and Borg and the rest of the tennis players of the 70s. Boring, boring, boring. And then there was John McEnroe. He made tennis interesting and exciting. I appreciate the skills of players before him and since, but the pleasure of watching the game starts and ends with John McEnroe.
  6. bookluvingbabe
    Is it too early to invoke the Sports Illustrated curse?
  7. bookluvingbabe
    Bruce Jenner for finding and living his truth.
  8. bookluvingbabe
    Well, we didn't freeze. BL-2nd grader got to eat his first chili dog and had his first taste of Cracker Jack. So he was pretty happy, at least until really tall people sat in front of him. As one person in the elevator in the garage said, at least it was a short game! April baseball is rarely great baseball but this April seems to be a rougher start for many teams than I remember in previous seasons.
  9. bookluvingbabe
    I haven't been down to the Lafayette-Houston area in forever. I think Tower Records may still have been open. A group of 5 of us went for dinner at Lafayette following a memorial service in midtown. It was super loud and reminded me quite a bit of Balthazar in terms of lay out and sound. Our server was excellent and never let anyone run out of drinks (both alcoholic and non). We skipped appetizers and went straight to the entrees. I had a roasted pork chop that was great. Others at the table had the duck, the bass, a goat cheese ravioli and I think a roasted chicken dish. Everyone was very pleased. The brussels sprouts and pomme frites for the table were a hit as well. The dessert options were a bit exotic--the pineapple pavlova wasn't going to work for any of us, nor the chilled rhubarb consommé. It wouldn't be my first choice---my list of places I want to go in NY is quite long--but it was another case of everything being just right on a day where that was just what was needed.
  10. bookluvingbabe
    Taking BL-2nd grader to today's game. This is a tough one. Lifelong Cards fan who had Nat's season tickets when they first came to DC (NL baseball finally!) and who lost some of the enthusiasm for the team over the years. But I frigging adore Max Scherzer. Like I may have cried a little when he went to the American League. And he's back. And I "own" him on my fantasy team again. BL-2nd grader is supposed to be a Nats fan. That is the deal Mr. BLB (a Met's fan) and I made when he was born. Except that the Cards were good before the Nats were good so the first baseball he can remember is the Cards winning the World Series in 2011. (And dear god, the Mets may actually be good this year!!!) I think we're hoping for good baseball, better fielding for the Nats and not to freeze. Fingers crossed!
  11. bookluvingbabe
    Lunch yesterday at the Modern was just the antidote I needed following my less than happy excursion to the Grill Room last week. Service was spot on. And at the end, when I went to the restroom after I had finished eating but before I had paid the check, the staff cleared my water glass. When I returned to the table, I hadn't been seated for more than 30 seconds when a staff member was by my side to apologize and replace the water. A manager circulated throughout the room and stopped and chatted at every table. I started with a Sidecar. I had the foie gras sautéed with rhubarb followed by the beef with morels and sweetbreads. The beef might have used a bit more salt but otherwise the food was pretty darn close to perfect. I admit that some of my favorite meals over the years have been at Danny Meyer places. Eleven Madison Park, before the sale, on election night 2008 may be the best meal I've ever had. Union Square Cafe is probably Mr. BLB's favorite place in NYC. Blue Smoke is where we took BL-2nd grader for his first grown up meal in NYC before ascending the Empire State Building. The food is always excellent. The service is always spot on. I wish there were more restaurateurs like him.
  12. bookluvingbabe
    I think that is exactly right--it has excellent PR and a celebrity chef/owner. If you have a hankering for fried chicken, and the time to make the trip, then go for it. It is lovely. But it is in a city filled with lovely restaurants.
  13. bookluvingbabe
    So funny to see this back at the top. I can tell you that I remember enjoying my 2011 meal there although not enough to come and report back. Or to go back since...
  14. bookluvingbabe
    Thanks for the ideas! And we're doing none of them, mostly because I was outranked by the boss's wife so we are heading downtown... But *I* am (fingers-crossed that my train continues to cooperate) having lunch at the Modern before the service.
  15. bookluvingbabe
    Deer in the headlights look, nod, half-hearted apology. (Edited to add--over spring break we went to the Original Pancake House. My young dining companion was out of water and my server was MIA. I caught the eye of the manager and alerted her. She apologized but never brought him any additional water. Maybe I just have a little black rain cloud over my head.)
  16. bookluvingbabe
    Don, I don't disagree. But I didn't need it to be perfect. I just needed to not be invisible. I don't think my expectations were too high because it was Frank Ruta in the kitchen. They may have been too high because of my previous experiences at the Rye Bar. And sometimes in the middle of a crappy day, week, month, year, life, you just lose it over something that might ordinarily be inconsequential but in the moment tips you over the edge. Sigh...
  17. bookluvingbabe
    Service at lunch today was beyond indifferent. I ended up in tears in my car when it was over because it wasn't easy to clear my schedule or juggle the budget and I didn't even get dessert because my server kept disappearing for 10-15 minutes at a time. (And yes, I brought the issues to a manager's attention.) I was truly stunned because I have had spot on service at the Rye Bar on multiple occasions. The food was good, though pricy. The burger was a bit over done. The fries were nothing special. The gnocchi was lovely and perfect. But I can't imagine going back. It isn't just the ghost of Palena. As a stand alone experience this was cold and depressing. Edited to add: the cheese on the burger today was the old "Palena Burger" cheese rather than cheddar.
  18. bookluvingbabe
    Indeed. I actually gasped when I saw the headline and I'm not usually one to do that.
  19. bookluvingbabe
    It's a good nuts. A while back, I went through and tried to figure out what was the oldest thread of a still open place. The goal was to go and update the thread. I think it is Cafe Berlin. Or maybe that is the oldest that is anywhere in the realm of my getting to. And I quite liked it. In the 90s... But I haven't gone. I should though. It isn't far from my office.
  20. bookluvingbabe
    (I love when a thread pops back up and I see how "clever" I was trying to be and for the life of me I have no clue what I meant or what the controversy was in 2012 that prompted me to start the thread in the first place.) Locally, the service at Athens Grill is terrific. The owner knows everyone--by your second visit you are a regular. He knows everyone's kids, their spouses, he knows their voices on the phone even when you haven't ordered in forever and call from a different phone number. And the food is solid. I think Coastal Flats at Downtown Crown is trying really hard. But in the 6 months or so they've been open they haven't quite hit their stride or had a sufficiently stable staff to elevate them to where they are striving.
  21. bookluvingbabe
    We had one very average meal there about a year ago. Bl2nd grader never asked to go back.
  22. bookluvingbabe
    The 8 year old already hates it when Mr. BLB and I start rattling off all the movies we saw at all the great (and not so great) lost theaters of DC. Of course the Key and the Biograph. And the Outer Circle (Tenley). But there used to be a $1 theater at Wisconsin and Brandywine. And the "purple theater" in the Fannie Mae building. And that awful dinky theater at Wisconsin and Van Ness that AU now owns. And the weird screens at the Dupont Theater. And the theater on CT where the Benneton is now. And the $1 movies at the Foundry. And all the movies I saw at Union Station when I didn't have air conditioning. Sigh...
  23. bookluvingbabe
    It has been so long since I did any dining in New York. I need to organize a dinner for 6-8 people,somewhere near-ish Bryant Park, following a memorial service next month. While good food is important, the highest priority is somewhere that isn't too loud and where we can get a stiff drink. No one will willingly get onto the subway so an easy walk or quick cab ride would be helpful. Thanks!
  24. bookluvingbabe
    Bethesda location update--their website had been reporting a reopening date of mid-Feb and there was clearly activity inside. Earlier in the week the website was updated for a reopening of yesterday. Planning to call and confirm that but, fingers crossed, we are heading there for dinner tonight as a surprise for BL-2nd grader.
  25. bookluvingbabe
    See I was thinking Coastal Flats and have a similar picture of our Valentine's Day lunch except that they don't mingle the mushrooms and mashed potatoes at the Gaithersburg location. Although truthfully, Mr. BLB got it with mashed potatoes and I got mine with spinach so it is possible I'm wrong...
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