kirite

Our lunch there a few Sundays ago was extremely disappointing. The only dishes that worked were the roasted pork with noodles (delicious; tangy and lighter than expected) from the street menu and the mango with sticky rice dessert. Everything else was inappropriately sweet and dry at the same time. Chili cod - overcooked, dry, hard fish and very sweet chili sauce. Pad se ew - floppy noodles, no burnt-wok smell/taste, and sweeter than normal. Jerked beef with sticky rice - very dry rice (meat was also dry, but that, at least, was as it was supposed to be). The duck in the duck dish was overcooked and dry and the red curry was very, very sweet. I had brought friends for the first time and was very sad about the experience. The roasted pork with noodles came out second, so we didn't know anything was really wrong until the rest of the entrees came out. And then...everything had major flaws! So I guess this is an interesting point of discussion - what do do when you don't like any of the food??!! It's one thing to send back a dish, but the whole meal? Especially when the real answer is that you don't want to eat any more food coming out of that kitchen! So we didn't say anything to management (again, we had guests) and high-tailed it outta there. First time I haven't brough home leftovers from my meal

I've not yet been to Rabieng but plan to go. The two previous posts have left me confused to say the least. Has anyone else been there recently?

Well, D minor is the saddest of all keys.

We had a wonderful vegetarian dinner tonight. The vegetarian salad with brocolli, cauliflower, red and green peppers, tomatoes, carrots, garlic and onion (served hot) was a beautiful blend in a tomatoey sauce. We added the chickpeas as a side. They were delicious and may have been in the same sauce as the vegetarian salad.

We were able to snag one of the recessed booths and had a gracious and efficient server.

One of us had a glass of red wine and with the $5 coupon, the meal came in at just over $42. Bamian is a gem, especially for those who want to eat healthy.

We returned to Orso after a relatively long time away and for the first time with the new chef in the kitchen. Our experience was enjoyable across the board.

The new menu is divided into a Small Plates section and a Pizza section. In all my numerous trips her in the past, I had never ordered anything but pizzas so I thought I would branch out in this visit to explore the small dishes. My adventurousness was richly rewarded. I tried a number of dishes, all of them successes:

• Baby lettuces salad - tender lettuces, pickled onions, poached egg tossed lightly with a dressing that somehow had the kick of jalapeno. A nice salad
  
• Crispy Brussel Sprouts - addictive, salty snack tossed with parmesan and salt. So good for munching on.
  
• Baby carrots and beets salad - roasted beets and baby carrots tossed with chunks of blue cheese and a dressing. Honestly I hardly noticed the dressing because the carrots so we explosive with carrot flavor. Completely fantastic salad.
  
• Smoked chickpeas - another completely addictive snack food. Salty, smoky and unexpectedly delicious. I could have ordered 3 of these.
  
• Seared scallop - perfectly cooked scallop on a bed of couscous with maybe a ring of pesto (?). Lovely dish.
  

My wife ordered a marinara pizza and I sampled a bite. We both agreed that the pizza hardly missed a beat vs. those produced in previous administrations here. My kids had mac & cheese and a Bambino pizza, both above average kids food.

It seems as if the kitchen here is off to a good start and doing some things that should give us reason to be excited, especially those of us lucky enough to live close by. I love this place and hope that the turbulence is behind it and that the neighborhood fully supports the restaurant because it is a gem.

- Sean

We tried the small plates tonight. The beet and baby carrot salad was very nicely done--would order it again. The fava bean raviolli was really interesting with pureed beans on the inside and peas and tiny mushrooms on the outside. We found the smoked chickpeas inedible because of more salt than a horse could lick, but we were comped. The lobster raviolli was OK--just two of them. We want to return. Both of us have flat bellies and small appetites, so two small plates each should suffice. We look forward to one or more of their salads. Service was professional and friendly.

The one in McLean appears to have closed. Hope something better replaces it.

I think Passionfish did a very nice job of of restaurant week. All of their main dishes except 2 were made available to restaurant week patrons . There was a selection of close to 10 appetizers and a few desserts. I find that very flexible and nice.

I have had the corn and crab chowder both during restaurant week and not. I didn't notice a difference. So the poster probably would not have liked it either way. The rock shrimp ravioli was excellent.

There were a few small mis-steps that they may not make during the normal volume nights - I did find my eggplant side dish overcooked compared to other visits..so maybe they are doing more preprep of them to handle the increased volume. Also the apple crisp was okay but not great (but since I normally don't order dessert there - that might be a defiency always). In general for Reston Town Center skip restaurant desserts and go to Pitango...

We had dinner on Sunday in a cozy booth. The spicy ahi tuna tartare and the grilled baby octopus were exceptional. The octopus was incredibly tender and enhanced with Greek yogurt, and an array of finely diced vegetables.

Parking at a metro station and training in may be faster for "you guys"

You have an impressive memory, you guy.

We have reservations for Sunday dinner and will be driving from McLean. We're not familiar with this part of DC and would appreciate any off street parking suggestions.

Check out "The Great Salsa Book" by Mark Miller. It was published in 1994 by 10 Speed Press. It has a wide variety of salsa recipes including beans, fruit, seafood, tropical salsas, corn salsas, nut, seed, and herb salsas. All are ranked according to heat.

We do salsas with fish almost every night, but carnivores would also find these recipes very useful.

My spouse and I have had lunch at Cassatt's many times and never experienced anything even approaching rudeness. It's true that lunch time is busy, and the wait staff is stretched, but we have always been treated very well.

We went there for dinner on Sunday for the first time and liked it very much. My papaya spicy salad was delicious. Everything was very fresh including tiny cherry tomatoes. I ordered the chicken cashew in taro nest with green and red sweet peppers, onions, and dried chilies. The portion was huge. +1 had slightly overdone Thai spring rolls and a very interesting mixed vegetables with fried tofu in brown sauce entree with lots of brocolli.

The service was friendly and professional, and the background music featured a soft jazz violin. The best way to get there is to head south on Gallows Road and make a left turn at the light just before the Rt 50 intersection.

Salsa was tonight's feature. 1 1/2 cups of quartered cherry tomatoes, 8 cloves of minced garlic, 1//4 cup of kalamata olives, 1/2cup of diced artichoke bottoms, 2 TSPs of flat leaf parsley, 2TSPs of minced fresh basil, 2 TSPs of red wine vinegar, and 2 TSPs of olive oil. Mix, refrigerate for 30 minutes and serve with the fish of your choice. We had grilled salmon. Try it. and let me know if you like it.

Is this blog still active? There haven't been any new posts in almost three weeks.

We often end up on La Strada's patio in Del Ray. Although the food is sometimes over-salted, it is consistently consistent and you can usually get a table outside without a wait.

It's probably not a genuine patio, but the outside tables at Zaytinya are very pleasant.

This veal chop worship almost makes me want to return to the days when I ate meat. Sounds fabulous.

You mean at the most pointlessly long stoplight in the world, other than the one on Sycamore Street and Washington Boulevard?

That's the one. Perhaps a food cart could hide in the lot one of the many gas stations in this wretched intersection.

I realize that this is a pipe dream, but I'd love to see a food cart at the intersection of Old Dominion Drive and Chain Bridge Road in ugly downtown McLean.

Do they serve melted cheese on toast?

Welch hit.

I think the name refers to what a rabbit may eat; not eating the rabbit.

Indeed they do, although Rabbit calls it a "classic grilled cheese" sandwich. But I understand that it is rarely ordered.

I discovered that Rabbit does not serve rabbit, but here's a rare bit of good news: The grilled vegetable and crusted tofu dinner is very tasty.

Roger. I checked with Google Translator and in Hindi, they call it वेल्श ग़ैरमामूली. I've never been to Hindonesia, so I'm not sure how likely one is to actually find this though.

The Brits brought lots of colonial administrators to their global empire but probably imported more cuisines than they exported. Good decision. Just imagine London with only British food.

No but I'm a willing learner. Are you indicating that you prefer to call it rabbit? That's the part I'm missing - your preference is rabbit, and that's fine. Is there more I'm missing here?

The Brits pronounce it rabbit, but, of course, the Brits pronounce many words differently than Yanks. For example, Leister Square is Lester Square for Brits.

By the way, Saturday night's version didn't match your description at all. The perfectly cooked spaghetti was beautifully and lusciously suffused with sea urchin. There was no crab meat, but there was a bisected langoustine which was also perfectly cooked, the flesh still slightly translucent and jelly-like. As I said above, it was one of the best things I've ever eaten.

I had this dish on Thursday night, and it was as the Hersch described it.

I could alert management to this, but I don't want anyone to have a quiet meal on my account.

(I'm quite sure Fiola is listening, and this sounds like an important (but potentially costly, perhaps long-term) issue that won't be fixed overnight.)

Perhaps the clamor is intentional. Deprived of conversation, patrons have but one option: focus on the food.

Really happy to see the Wa Po award 2 1/2 stars to the Maple Avenue Restaurant. I was unaware of the four seats in the tucked away bar.

Yep, it's very sweet. For most of the '70s and '80s I lived in a little town in rural Ohio with a population of about 15,000. The most popular restaurant was "Bland's Family Restaurant." I was (am) a wise guy, so I thought that the name was hilarious. Who would want to eat bland food? I should have been less judgmental.

We had our anniversary dinner here tonight, and the stars were the Burrata Mozzarella and the Ahi Tuna Carpaccio. But although we were seated at the very rear of the restaurant, the noise was overwhelming. So instead of attempting a conversation, we just looked at each other and frequently mouthed "I love you."