hapatite

I still have some Ku-Ki-Cha that I bought in 2002.

Okay, it's not "tea" so much as "twigs," but it's lasted 12 years (Upton customizes your labels at no additional charge).

I LOVE kukicha. I've only seen one place that sells it, House of Steep (called "Twig Tea" there).

Also, I don't know how I feel about this, but I read an article recently that talked about all the chemicals and pesticides in teas and tea bags. 

I already drink mostly loose leaf teas, but I purchased some bleach/chlorine free paper tea bags for tea-sharing. I was really shocked to find out that some major brands, including those sold at Whole Foods & MOMs, tested high for pesticides or unnatural additives (Yogi, I'm looking at you). They didn't test some of the other teas I drink (Harney & Sons / Lupicia), but I do have Teavana, Liption, Yogi, Trader Joe's, Twinnings, Tazo, and Tea Forte in my cupboard. Some others might not believe this article or care about the findings, so I thought swapping these teas might be better than just throwing them away.

I agree, I like the variety of flavor and caffeine levels that tea gives you. I made a resolution to switch to 100% tea last year, but... then I got an espresso machine for Christmas. Since I have over 100 different types of teas, I resolved to drink through all of my teas before buying anymore and thought a swap would be a good way to accomplish 2 things at once. 

Even though donburi is easy to make at home (unlike ramen), I'm excited about checking this out since I miss non-ramen Japanese comfort food (which I've only seen at Temari in Rockville). It's also an excuse for me to try out the new bakery, Sugar Daddy's, up the street.

Everytime I go back, we only order from the Laotian menu -- it just looks more tasty for some reason. I want to keep trying more dishes, but I keep levitating back to the same dishes.

I do like the watercress salad (it DOES remind me of Rasika's palak chaat!), but the crispy rice salad is definitely my favorite.

That's great to know that they do tasting menus with a week's notice.

I can't believe that I've lived this close to BG for so long and just recently discovered it. It's definitely my new go-to fix.

Has anyone tried the lunch buffet?

For the 4th year I am organizing a charity event called CupcakeCampDC. This year we'll be benefiting Becky's Fund, a local non-profit organization that raises awareness about domestic violence.

The event is a cupcake tasting event and we need bakers (and tasters, when we get more bakers!).

There will be free cupcakes, $15 unlimited mimosas, live DJs, a judging competition, raffle prizes, a custom jewelry bar, and a silent auction.

Come on out to the Brixton on October 5th for a good cause!

VIP admission starts at 12 and General Admission starts at 1pm.

(Baker check-in/setup is 11AM)

Even if you cannot attend, please help us spread the word.

More information here: http://dc-cupcakecamp.blogspot.com/

I didn't care for the pork belly - it wasn't rendered to my liking (too chewy).

I got the astro donut banh mi (1/2 chicken, 1/2 pork belly). The chicken was in huge chunks, but I liked the flavor of the pickled vegetables. Another special they had was a spam musubi taco (spam, chinese sausage, nori) and it was great! definitely making me miss hawai'i

I also was expecting to be underwhelmed by Le Diplomate. I've gone here twice (once for dinner and once for brunch).

The service is always attentive, informative, and friendly. Both times I have sat in the garden room so it has been quieter with a much nicer atmosphere than the inside of the restaurant.

I agree with some other comments here. There are a lot of things about this restaurant that are good, but there aren't many things that are "great" that would make me say "When are we coming here next?". The dinner portions are large and the drinks are strong and well crafted. Half way through my veal I did notice a dark, curly hair and notified management, but I still enjoyed dinner. I went here for brunch the past weekend and the the bread basket was good. Some items in it were great and some were meh. We had the mushroom tart (which is now on puff pastry, not shortbread), and it was my favorite of the whole day. I liked the funkiness and the slight char of the crust. We also had the macaroni gratin which was too oily and greasy for us. The service was a bit forceful at times, but well-intentioned.

I would go back here with a friend from out of town, especially for breakfast or drinks, but there are far too many other places on 14th street I want to try before I visit here again.

I ate here Friday night and was very pleased. The drinks are inventive and surprisingly complex though they have a small amount of ingredients (peanut-infused bourbon & tamarind soda; passion fruit & coconut in another).

We had:

• Duck & Duck Liver Salad: so spicy! reminded me of LIttle Serow. Thank god for my coconut drink. The small grind of the meat is reminiscent of larb
• Crispy Rice & Sour Chinese Sausage Salad: I liked this salad because it was well balanced and the crunchy chunks of rice were fun to eat. The chinese sausage was fresh, not dried, and it had little "tentacles" of what I guess were strips of tripe sticking out of it, so that was a little off-putting. 
• Tumeric/Dill Sablefish - the fish itself was randomly very hard to chew/cut in some places. The exterior of the fish had good flavor, but the middle (most of the fish since it was a thick filet) was watery and bland. The scallions served with it were rough and were basically inedible
• Rice Noodle & Vegetable Stir Fry: this was my favorite savory dish. The spices were nice and built up as you ate it. The noodles weren't as greasy as these type of noodles usually are (to prevent sticking) and they had a nice char flavor to them. The vegetables were tender and fresh.
• Fried Bananas - this was my favorite dish. Drizzled with honey and roasted coconut chips, the bananas were the perfect level of ripeness. When I bit into it (after burning my mouth in my excitement), the texture was like custard.

It was a bit expensive, but in my mind when you purchase small plates, you pay a premium for being able to try several different dishes. There are definitely things I want to go back and try, especially the shaved ice dessert.

The space is loud and reminds me of a cafeteria. The kitchen, bar, and seating are all parallel to each other, and everything is white washed and a bit sterile. I think the open kitchen lends to this affect and gives the illusion you should be pushing a tray parallel to it. I'd like to see what it looks like at night.

p.s. I also heard there was a speakeasy underneath it called 2 Birds, 1 Stone. Is this true?

Ah, I stand corrected. @merc340 says there was a steak dish that was pretty expensive, so that would probably match up to @sheldman's account. To be honest, we don't eat as much as most people - we usually share dishes when we go out to eat, or at least share an appetizer. We were both very satisfied with the price to portion ratio on the dishes we ordered and weren't hungry later, though I could see how others could be.

Like other restaurants (Zaytinya comes to mind) - you can come out of this restaurant with a reasonable check or something $$$,

The pricing is great! They give you a lot of food for the price ($13 for snails/squid I think) - appetizers but big portions. Most expensive entree was the veal I think for $24. Dessert was ~$7. I was surprised how cheap it was. My boyfriend paid for Table and I paid for our brunch to Volt because I thought Volt would be cheaper. Table was $100 after tip, Volt was $100 pre-tip & tax is lower there.

We can't wait to go back, which would never be the case for an expensive restaurant! I feel like you can make it affordable or splurge out. Pretty close in price to Green Pig Bistro I think.

Well Mr S says that the guava used in the chiffon pie should be a puree--with no sugar added. And the frozen pulp, as well as the paste we bought, both have extra sugar added. So much for that! But I still want the recipe!

Ah, our family recipe calls for the guava concentrate (like orange concentrate) that has the the sugar in it, which is what's hard to find. The recipe has no sugar in it I think, and I suggested to my Grandmother that we buy unsweetened and add sugar. The paste is a different consistency altogether, but I might have more luck with the frozen, unsweetened pulp I've seen at Grand Mart (though is this really the same as concentrate? Concentrate is concentrated & really sweet!)

Has anyone seen frozen guava concentrate? My family is from Hawai'i and for special occasions we make Guava Chiffon Pie. My grandma has to shlep this stuff back from the islands in a lunchbox because she can't find it here.

I went on Saturday (16th) for a late Valentine's dinner.

I was really worried because they open at 5pm and they don't take reservations. In this past, this has not gone well (Toki Underground, Little Serow). I don't know if it was the cold or the holiday weekend, but we arrived at around 5:15 and snagged one of the beloved chef's tables.

The chefs' tables stick out of the actual counter the chefs are using to prepare dinner. This means a change in lighting when heat lamps are moved, front row seats to what dishes are being ordered, and maybe even some conversation. I did think it was a bit awkward to be sitting at back-less stools for dinner, and the counter/table is too low to be eating at comfortably for too long.

The food was amazing. Complex, but not complicated. Casual, yet special-feeling. I really do feel like this garage-turned-restaurant is a little secret that I don't want to tell anyone about.

First course: Stuffed Squid; Snails

The squid oozed with flavor and was chewy yet palatable.

The snails were set on an earthy rectangle of spinach mousse/gel cake. I've had bad snails that are chewy or greasy, but these were perfect little pops of flavor. The tiny crusts of bread made it fun to make mini snail sandwiches.

Second course: Scallops; Pork Belly & Clams

The scallops were placed on a green sauce of parsley & sunchoke creams. They were small and sweet, with shaved leeks on top. A few of mine had some grit in them, but it's not like the kitchen knew. The pork belly was a bit inconsistently cooked. I like my pork belly to be easy to chew and not fatty. Some pieces were cooked wonderfully, with a sweet crispy sear on top, others were inedible (@merc340 gladly ate these pieces). The clams were also a bit chewy and the broth was very salty. Since there wasn't much broth, it was alright. It would have tasted great with their airy, crunchy bread.

Bread: On demand only. It is not offered unless you ask. It is full of craters and a bit doughy tasting inside, but the crust & the lemon-pepper/pepper/salt olive oil it comes with is worth it.

Dessert: Apple crostata with honey gelato and white truffle oil. We were sitting next to the "dessert person" and she recommended this dessert to us. I saw all the desserts were pre-made and was worried that re-heating them to order would dry them out, but the mini apple pie-like parcel came out wonderfully hot and flaky. I liked the lean towards savory with the white truffle oil, but some might not.

Service was good - there are no cocktails, only wine.

Ordered take out from here right after it opened. It looked dingy inside, like a hole-in-the-wall Chinese take out place, but the food was good. I agree that the fare here is a bit more spicy than at normal Indian restaurants. We got the vindaloo and it was burning my mouth so much, I had to take several breaks. I've ordered vindaloo at Curry Mantra and Indique and had never had anything this spicy before.

so excited to try this out! the decor looks a little crazy inside (the bar area), but more normal in the rest of the restaurant.

any idea of how long a wait would be on a saturday night?

I love your comment on "don't assume your customers are ignorant!"

I think a pisco sour is a great base for many bitters, including rhubarb.

I like using smoky bitters in tea based drinks to emulate lapsong tea (or Russian caravan tea).

Chocolate or mole bitters surprisingly do well in tiki drinks (found out at needle & thread in Seattle)

Turtle soup was creamy but surprisingly tasty (think lobster bisque but with turtle). The bread was ok & tasted good dipped in the soup.

Lamb ribs were fatty, gristly, not much meat but had good flavor.

Sweetbreads were fine, but were portioned too large and were a but unwieldy; didn't care for the accompanying slaw.

Scallops sounded flavorful and fresh on paper but were watery, flat, and gristly/sandy tasting upon arrival.

The service was very friendly, but the prices will keep me from going back and giving them another chance.

It's a seemingly cavernous space (looks like Potenza but with changed upholstery), but was pretty empty when we visited on a Friday night.

I've heard mixed things about WTF.

Whoops, that was fast!

Annandale location closes: http://annandale.patch.com/articles/bonchon-chicken-restaurant-leaves-annandale

The banana pudding *is* delicious, though I cannot speak to it compared to Bayou Bakery. I usually only get the banana pudding and the cookies, especially the ginger sandwich cookie.

Being run by the centreville crew is an added + for the Arlington location. I mentioned that I will most likely only eat carry-out because I live down the street and wouldn't have to wait for the chicken.

I've been to the Annandale, Centreville, and Fairfax locations. The Centreville location by far is the best. The service is better, it's cleaner, and they have the aforementioned buns (though I wouldn't go quite so far as to liken them to Momofuku). I don't mind the wait times because they have appetizers.

The Fairfax one is alright in terms of service and wait times.

The Annandale one is absolutely horrible. Even though it is the closest for me, I will never go to that location again. Not only is it slightly grimy feeling inside, but the service is very lackadaisical. They were sold out of drumsticks, but we luckily got an order of half-and-half. What do they do? They gave our order to a table that had sat down after we had ordered. They were surprised they got their food so quickly, and when I raised it to their attention, they didn't care at all. A 10 minute wait for someone and an hour wait for another table?

There is a location coming to Arlington soon (Pershing Drive, I'm going to be so fat...), so I'll see how that goes. Probably carry-out only.

I'll have to start placing my orders through you SeanMike!

My boyfriend called Ace Beverage and the person that answered the phone said that he doesn't carry the Apricot Liquer but he carries something "much better". I'll be researching that.

How's the sage? I didn't like RHUBY at first (almost empty!), but it really grew on me and the one that I thought would be my favorite (SNAP) is still mostly full.

Went here last night and it was great. It really is a speakeasy! It's upstairs and through a concealed "sliding wall" door.

You can get the # through Suna or Acqua.

I was excited about the bar snacks from suna, but it seems they're all dishes that just require assembly, not creation by suna. That makes sense since suna was completely closed when we showed up for our 11pm reservation. The snacks were chips & dip, smoky pastrami-wrapped crackers, cracklins', and a pickle plate.

The atmosphere inside reminds be a bit like Milk & Honey in NYC. Nice, comfy booths and friendly staff. I'm undecided if the light level is good or if I could have gone without the exposed filament lamp above. We were seated at a smaller booth in-between two larger corner booths. I could see this going wrong very easily, but thankfully only one side was filled to capacity. As it was, it was very hard to have our own conversation at times when our neighbors stories leaked into ours. Our other neighbors were swapped out for a party of two, so it became a little quieter.

I do wish the space was a bit more insulated. I could see how diners at suna could get bothered by noise leaking through the thin make-shift wall. I went to dinner at suna before HB was open so I don't know the level of noise-leakage in the dining area, but the entrance to suna is open to the hallway where the "sliding wall" is. Not only insulated from noise, but from the elements as well! Many times I would get a sudden draft of cold air and shiver, but switching sides of the booth to sit together and finishing my first drink seemed to help that.

The menu is filled mostly with a list of all of their spirits with a smaller portion of it devoted to "Vittles" (snacks) and beer. The top-most part is divided into 3 columns with just 9 signature cocktails. You would think there would be more for a speakeasy, but for this space, it's just right. Sure, I miss the binder of PDT, or even the 3 page menu of Little Branch. But the small selection forces you to trust the artist behind the bar. One ingredient that would normally cause you to move on to another drink down the page suddenly becomes the most intriguing one. It also doesn't hurt that we had to spend about 10 minutes looking up various ingredients before we could even narrow down the drinks to a "top 3" we wanted to try. We're into cocktails (or "Elixirs" as they're called here), but we were showed up here!

I'm not going to go in to detail too much about the drinks. They were all unique and delicious. I had a pear EDV drink with a fresh grannysmith apple peel that absolutely made the drink. My boyfriend had a bourbon pine drink that I made a serious dent in as well. Another drink (shochu, punt e mas, herbal liquer) was good as well, but I honestly don't remember too much of it.

(Extremely) Long story short: If you're in to spots like Columbia Room, Rogue Spirits, PX, and Gibson, where you don't mind paying some money for excellently crafted cocktails and like a bit of exclusivity, head to HB as soon as you can!