hapatite

They actually have outdoor seating! I think 2 tables in the front and 3 tables on the side down 11th street. I also noticed today that they have a snazzy sign up on the brick wall outside, cant wait to see it lit up.

I think they are still struggling with temperature control in the bar area as it gets hot very easily. i was just in there last friday and they added a rotating fan but everyone was still sweating, including me. the dining area is more airy and much better controlled in terms of temp.

I had the loco corn and it tasted alright. I had to eat all 5 pieces by myself (shame ) and it tasted good, but I wouldn't order it again. My favorite things so far are the kung pao sweetbreads, ribs, and banana cake. I have tried almost everything else but not the fried chicken plate!

I did try out their brunch and am glad to report that it is very tasty. Merc340 got the chicken n' waffles which was oddly soggy. He wasn't a fan of the thick gravy (obviously he's never had good biscuits and gravy!), so I ate that up for him. I had the french toast which was more like bread pudding but that made it even more delicious. The star of the meal was definitely the sour cream donuts! They are so hard to find and I'm glad that they started making them. I've already picked what I'll order next time and I'm glad they do brunch saturday and sunday. There is definitely a market for more weekend brunch/lunch in clarendon.

This is still *the* best restaurant in Clarendon, and I would even venture to say Arlington! There are a couple places I can think of that might rival it, but definitely not surpass it (e.g. Willow gets great reviews but I didn't have a good experience there; Bangkok 54 is great, but would still rather go to GP; Tandoori Nights is always a delight).

Oh, and to the poster that loves the ice cream, I'm sure that they would let you order the ice cream a la carte! Peanut butter and maple are both creamy and not too sweet.

I've lived in the building for over 2 years and there's been only one or two days that I didn't see parking on the first level. I agree that it is getting more crowded with Revolve, though the cyclists seem to go to the GP bar or Screwtop after their class so not sure they clear out in "a shift". There is parking under the Trader Joe's, street parking by there and all around. They demolished the parking lot that used to be caddy corner from GP. There also may be less parking because of the people *working* at GP, Revolve, and the new salon.

The only sad thing is that the bar is very very busy. At times there is a bartender assisting Andrew (andrew makes less and less drinks these days) and he either doesn't admittedly know how to make the drinks, or they just aren't as good. I'd take Matt/Andrew any day though! I've only had one drink that wasn't to my liking (a bourbon mint julep) out of the many, many I've enjoyed there.

I've heard Jade was great, bummer to hear it's 30 minutes outside the city

Thanks ad.mich! I just searched my RSS reader for "Seattle" and those were the places that popped up, so of course I'm open to anything! I'll look into the recommendations you made, especially Walrus/Carpenter and Paseo.

Would you say places in Seattle are spread out enough to warrant a rental car?

I'm going to bump this since the posts are a tad old and the restaurant world can change immensely in a mere year and a half.

I haven't started researching Seattle too much yet, so I don't know what neighborhoods are the best to stay in or explore, or even if we'll need to rent a car (Taking the train from Vancouver).

The only definites: CakeSpy Shop and Mariner's Game.

I've heard some things about:

• Katsu Burger
  
• Lark
  
• Crush
  
• Kinokuniya (not food related)
  
• Pike Place Market
  
• Poppy
  
• Rover's
  
• Quinn's
  
• Elemental
  

We can afford to probably eat at one really expensive place, but since we'll be binge-ing in Vancouver for several days before, we can't afford to eat $$$ every meal.

I found the Vancouver thread (last time I try to read all traveler threads late on an iPhone)!

We plan on going to Vancouver this July for a few days and ending our journey in Seattle.

It's very overwhelming to look at guide books and yelp, and I don't necessarily trust their taste. We will not have a car, but will probably be staying in Downtown Vancouver or maybe Gastown. The last post I see is from Oct 2011 so I just want to get some ideas on what is good, especially in the summer. I'd love places that are in good areas so that we can explore the area as well as enjoying drinks or dinner.

I've heard a lot about Diva, Union Bar, and Guu and I plan on visiting David's Tea as well. We love all types of food except oysters (not so much), and we love good beers and well crafted cocktails. We can afford to to eat at a few nice places, but since we're eating out all day every day for Tuesday Dinner, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday Breakfast (maybe), we can't afford to eat at 5 star places every meal. I'd value unique-ness over quality if it comes down to it too.

I look forward to hearing your suggestions, especially for Chinese food (super-especially for Dim Sum) & will post my Seattle questions to that thread.

TIA - Nicole

Thanks for the links Ericandblueboy! I must have missed them as I was searching quickly on my phone last night.

A lot of great places on there -- many of them are on islands or far north (Corolla).

I'll recommend the following to my family:

Black Pelican (Kity Hawk) $$

Ocean Blvd Bistro (Kitty Hawk) $$

Bad Bean Baja Grill (Kill Devil)

Kill Devil Grill

Tortuga's Lie

Sooey's BBQ

Sam & Omie's

Dune Burger

Run Down Cafe

Duck

Gingerbread House Bakery

Blue Point $$

Red Sky Cafe

Paper Canoe $$

Corolla (The whole Tim Buck II Shopping Center looks great)

North Banks

Fin & Claw

Sweet Spot

Corolla Village BBQ

The Shack (Coffee)

Manteo

1587 $$

Duck is probably the furthest we'll go though since we're staying in Kill Devil Hills and Manteo and Corolla are pretty far.

I know that many people travel to the beach each year, but most of the time people cook their food at home & hit up a grocery store on the way in to town.

Since my family gets lazy sometimes, we are bound to eat out a few times a week while there. But, I noticed the area seems a bit desolate in terms of food options. Does anyone have recommendations? I've found one place we would actually go back to this year (besides places for snacks like donuts).

I won't elaborate much since I wrote these places up w/ their own reviews already on yelp.

Good:
Food Dudes - atmosphere is friendly, food is spot on. Can get crowded.
Duck Donuts - get 'em fresh
Try My Nuts - just a nice snack place to get different varieties of nuts, popcorns, fudge, candy

Ok:
Shun Xing - it's cheap and pretty good, though quality has gone down recently

Bad:
Mama Kwan's
Tale of the Whale - we used to go here every year as tradition. Not only has it gotten more expensive, but the quality of food has gone waaaay down. Multiple send backs at the table for inedibility

Thanks for any help!

-Nicole

(p.s. it's a family trip so places with tons of drinking or margarita bars won't work, sadly)

Yes, I've never seen anyone there for the food. There are many bartenders and many at the bar, but just the one lone older guy in the corner you have to find to pick up your carry-out order. Quality is lacking. Not the sauce, but the meat itself is really gristly, tough, and chewy. We recently switched to ordering from Rien Tong which is better, but still not great.

I don't think that anyone's going to H#1 for food though, just drink. And food as an afterthought.

I'll ask around! My dad's side of the family is from Guandong, though I don't think they'll be much help since they've been in the states a while.

Yeah, I wouldn't suggest using it either, but like I said, I'm sure others might be wondering and wouldn't want them to be surprised at dinner.

Like I said, this is a happy hour AND a prix fixe, so it's *doubly* excluded from LS use.

1) Voicemail only at this point. Reservation has to be made through Manager's number, the regular reservation line can't make them

2) I know this is weird, but Sou'Wester just had a deal on Living Social. Wonder if it's valid for this event? It says valid for dinner only 5:30-10 and not for HH or Prix Fixe. I'm assuming this costs as Prix Fixe AND Happy Hour, but I'm sure other people on this board bought the deal and might wonder the same thing.

I was harsh on the 'goods in the beginning, but I've come around (or have they). I think the quality of his baked good have gotten a lot better, though I still prefer the oatmeal creme pies and cookies to his cupcakes.

If they opened for breakfast to have muffins/coffee in the morning I think they could do some great business, but there is strong competition from South Block around the corner.

We love Pete's! The owner is really nice and I don't mind paying extra since they said they try to buy as many ingredients as possible from the local farmers' market.

That said, it is too expensive to go regularly. We've gone several times with groupons and on half-price mondays and after getting it on the cheap (Aka more-in-line with other pizza places), it's hard to go back to full price. From what I remember, they've discontinued the monday deal.

I like supporting them though since they're local and they donated to a charity event I did last year (CupcakeCampDC). That, and their pizzas are huge! Clarendon needs a good pizza place, and no more ice cream/froyo/gelato places!

I've been in a million times since the soft opening and the food and service is always superb! I mentioned to a manager that there needs to be some hooks under the bar for purses and especially coats since there is no coat rack in the place -- I hope this gets added since I heard someone else mention it that night too. I live in the building, so it's not too much of a hassle for me to forgo the coat/purse and just bring my wallet for now.

I've already noticed that the prices have gone up a few bucks in about as many days. I remember there was an article where Scott said he was competing with Cheesecake Factory. The prices aren't exactly the same, but they're close enough and honestly, there's no competition. I highly doubt there's an overlap of clientele from CF to Green Pig. When I was there Friday night, one of the managers told of a dissatisfied customer that said they had eaten a better steak at Outback and that they were going to blog and write on all the food sites how bad Green Pig was. They refused to let the meal be comped and stood outside of the restaurant for a while telling people to not go in. I wonder if the diners knew that the chef uses off-cuts of meat for steaks? Then again, I don't know if there can be much reasoning done with patrons of Outback. I know the Bloomin' Onion is good there, but they're not the same "type" of restaurant as Green Pig. I joked and said "let them try to diss you -- I, along with many others, have already written our 5 star reviews!".

The dining room is ridiculously hot (I run cold, so If *I* say it's hot, it's sweltering), but I like sitting at the bar since Andrew is such a great bartender. They have a chalkboard special where the drink changes about every night since they only have 3 drinks on the menu. The only problem is that the bar gets so ridiculously crowded. I'm hoping that the crowd dies down a bit when the hype is gone, but I can't guarantee that since I've been recommending and bring lots of people TO it! I guess it doesn't help that there's a spin place in the building as well and the classes tend to let out and converge at the bar here.

On another note, I went here on Saturday with a vegetarian friend. Luckily she isn't too strict of a vegetarian since I'm pretty sure there's lard or bacon in everything. She had the mac & cheese (the potato gnocchi had big pieces of bacon in it, the mac had smaller ones that she didn't notice ^__^), a skillet of the delicious corn bread, yummy cocktails, asparagus hollandaise, and she tried one bite of my snail/mushroom toast. She eats chicken sometimes, so I'm sure she would've eaten more if there would have been less adventurous meats. "The reuben is really good!" "Um.. it's ox heart". Not the best meat to ease in with.

oh yes, to mention about the wait: the line starts at about 4:45 or 5 for their 530 opening on Saturdays. I got their once a little late and was quoted a 10:15 seating time!

I've heard it's much easier to get seatings during the week, especially the earlier ones since a lot of people are still working.

The best ice cream sandwiches I've had were always the kind where either cookie and ice cream were prepared separately (warm cookies, a fresh scoop of ice cream in-between them) so that both the ingredients were soft. I one like this at the Wine Kitchen in Leesburg and they were great!

The other kinda of acceptable sandwich is the grocery store freezer kind where everything is rock hard and the same consistency.

I think the problem with the Sugar Magnolia version was what weezy says leads to a *good* sandwich. The cookies and ice cream were combined together in the freezer, but they have different densities and thaw rates, hence the bite and squirt.

I agree with the posters above -- I was excited when Farrah Olivia was re-opened inside Kora. We went there for a special occasion and it just wasn't the same. I loved the original FO and wish I would have left the memory as such. The colors, temperatures, and presentation were just... weird. It didn't have the elegance that the original FO had, and it made me miss it even more!

Sticky Bun was delicious. Unfortunately, we got there a bit late and almost everything else was sold out, but I WILL be going back for those elusive donuts. I also only got the 'bun because I had planned to stop by Sugar Magnolia afterwards.

I'm heading there this weekend for a tour and tasting & am excited! I love their rye and can't wait to try their other offerings.

I like to help out local businesses as much as I can, even if it means paying a few extra dollars.

I too had a problem with the ice cream sandwich. We got the chocolate/coffee/coconut one and it refused to be eaten. Ice cream too soft, cookies too hard, the ice cream gushed out when we tried to take bites out of it. We were left with sticky hands and faces and empty tummies.

The blondie sample we tried was good, but the brownie we bought was ho-hum. It had good texture, but lacked the richness and depth of flavor that I've come to expect from brownies.

All in all, the setup was cute inside (bummed that SM is open, but ripple isn't open for lunch!), but I agree that there's a definite space issue. There is not enough room for more than 3 patrons at a time. I love the soda cooler with tons of interesting and unique drinks in it! I snagged an Aztec Cola but have yet to try it.

I went before the tax debacle and was un-impressed--I spend over $50 and left hungry, which is hard for me to do! I went back with a LS recently and spent around the same amount, this time for two people, and we both left pretty satisfied! I too noticed their sushi menu looked less exotic.

We had the agedashi tofu (crispy with a nice broth, though BF thought a tad too gingery), pork and sprouts roll (meh), yuzu salmon (nice portion and flavor), kabocha (interesting way that they sliced it; had a nice grill flavor), and honey banana (light yet sweet). The drinks were great there too and sitting by the robata grill kept us nice and toasty, definitely recommend it. We had the Oscar wilde's Shochu ride w/ Yuzu instead of lime, hum & rum, and Hakutsuru ume shu which are all pretty unique drinks for this area.

But not the attitude. The service was endearingly friendly (cf. Zooey Deschanel and the MPDG).

I do have to say I was somewhat underwhelmed by the overall experience. While I enjoyed most of the dishes and thought the quality of ingredients good and the kitchen well-drilled, there wasn't a single dish that had me dying to come back. Slight (and I mean slight) imbalances of flavor in some of the dishes prevented them, for me at least, from fully satisfying; these appeared to be issues of conception rather than execution.

I did enjoy the atmosphere, except for the aggressively loud soundtrack (though understand the rationale for it).

I whole heartedly agree about being underwhelmed and the reasons for it. I'm glad I went to see what the hype was about and had a delicious meal comprised of food and dishes that I've never had. I wish there were cocktails too---though the hibiscus tea and salted pineapple soda were refreshing (even though the hibiscus tea was too sour for me), a nice cocktail would've sealed the deal. After glimpsing menus from other weeks, I was hoping for some interesting ingredients and combinations, but all of our dishes had either pork or shrimp in them. No duck, which is my favorite protein!

I had the same type of experience at Komi -- slowly started getting full after a few courses, then all of a sudden it seems the courses get bigger and bigger! Thankfully, just like at Komi, we were able to take leftovers (and the cucumber and thai basil made excellent pimms cups no. 13later that night), but I just wish the meal was a tad more balanced in size and flavor. I also asked if we could take pictures since I had an awkward (& painful) experience earlier at Komi.

I have a horrible memory, so like to take pictures so I can look back and remember experiences (I'm not one of those that uses the flash or lets the food get cold while I set-up the shot; it's purely documentation). I'm not intrusive to others at the table, let alone others in the restaurant.

Since everything was shared, I was also wondering that single diners experience at LS, thanks DaRiv18 for clearing that up!

I heard they are opening to the public April 4th.

I went there the same time as SeanMike and also enjoyed everything I ate and drank there! corned ox heart ruebens, mushroom and snail toast, peanut butter "ice cream sandwiches", and two great cocktails (plus rolls, butter, and a beer). I heard they butcher their own meat in-house which is why they have so many different cuts of meat on the menu.

I'm excited to go back soon and glad a restaurant like this came into the 'hood.

I can't wait to go back and try the fried pimento cheese, sweetbreads, and whatever else they happen to throw on the menu.

I'm also glad that someone from Inox found a home -- I loved that restaurant and was sad to see it close.

are you asking for an explanation from me?

I went February 13th and have not been back since then because it was a bad experience.

I didn't know that there was a statute of limitations on reviews, is there?

I'll remove my post if it didn't follow guidelines.

It was my recent,and only, experience. The only reason I'm posting it now is because I just joined! I wasn't part of DR when I went to SEI

masa 14 is open!

soft opening/mock-service on Friday

official opening yesterday (oct 12).

I'll be going there tonight, will report back.

I don't like La Sandia, but like Zengo, so we'll see how this is.