pras

At some point I am going to take a guy trip to Belgium, mostly to hit up famous lambic breweries, but I will have to make a trip to the abbey as well.

For full disclosure I am a member of a club at Flying Dog called Junto.  Its run by the brewery.  We meet once a month, drink some beer, discuss the latest releases, etc.  We met last night and CEO Jim Caruso talked up the new releases (Dead Rise, Blood Line, and a ginger rarity).  According to Jim, Dead Rise is their most successful release EVER and there is a shortage.  I got to speak with him after he addressed the group and he was a bit cagey about the process of making the beer as it includes a "proprietary process".  The beer has been a long time in the making--they had about 8-10 pilot batches before they got it right.  McCormick had signed on early on, but had some second thoughts as it got closer to the release.  Had McCormick backed out, it would have meant the brewery lost $100k on packaging.  Regardless, it is selling phenomenally--Safeway in Olney sold out of 100 cases in about a day, Shoppers in Germantown also sold out of their 100 cases in record time.  The beer is in such short supply that they are limiting sales at the brewery to 1 six-pack per person.

I got to try both at the brewery last month at their Savor Symposium.  I really enjoyed Dead Rise.  As far as old bay goes, what I got was a strong celery seed flavor at the end.  There was a nice salinity, and I thought it was well balanced with the hop bitterness present.

As far as the Blood line goes, not my favorite from them.  It just didn't do it for me.

At Savor, my favorite beer of the night was by and far Allagash Coolship Red, a raspberry lambic.  Too bad they don't ship it.  I told the lady pouring that I was going to stand there all night.  She wasn't very amused.

For the money, and it is different than a lambic, I like Petrus Aged Pale Ale, nice tartness, readily available, and reasonably price.

According to a an employee at home depot, they are converting the space into some sort of tool rental business.

Happened in here a week ago today for a light lunch.  We were the only people there, but another group showed up while we were there.  First impression is that it is VERY clean.  The waiter was very gracious, attentive, and eager to explain Korean food to us.  My wife got vegetable dumplings and a tuna kimbap roll.  I got jap chae with beef.  The banchan were pretty good, but standard, the dumplings were well cooked and had a good flavor.  As far as the kimbap, it was the first time my wife had tried it, but she really enjoyed it (but nothing to compare it to!).  Jap Chae was was good, nice flavors and my daughter liked the beef (I got this dish so the 3.5 year old would have something to eat--usually I would have gotten something spicy).  Overall, the meal was tame, but had nothing wrong with it.  We will definitely be back.  Glad we tried it.

For Maine Ave, Jessie Taylor is the best vendor for crabs, in my opinion. I am not a Capt White fan. If he's working, Clarence is the man to talk to at Jessie Taylors.

Wow, brings back memories from my youth, going there with my dad.  I wonder if Clarence is the same Clarence from back in the day.

Somewhat surprised that there wasn't a thread already for Vince and Dominics.  Around since 1983 in Bethesda behind Montgomery Mall, and closed on May 30.  Here is the message they posted on facebook:

"Vince and Dominic's would like to thank our loyal customers for supporting us for 31 years! As of 5:00 today Home Depot would not renew our lease and the doors are closed for good. Until yesterday we were lead to believe that a new lease would go through, so we were surprised and deeply saddened by this turn of events. We love you all."

Their departure will surely be missed.  Great pizza, great service, great people.

Interesting since they have apparently been evicted.

Well, I guess I should never believe the good ole' opening with a new concept sign!  Duped again!

Sign on the windows says they are re-opening in June with a new concept.  They were also selling pizza at the weekend Hometown Holidays event.  We'll see!

Need to check this out!

This is good news!  I thought something was off the last time I was there.  I thought the change with the clam pizza was a seasonal thing.  It was soooo good when it was made with fresh clams.

I guess I missed the lunch, as it is Friday.  I work in Bethesda and would be happy to join in the future (that is if there are no tourential downpours!)

Before I really get into anything, I want to give a big shout out to the staff at Blacksalt for making my evening truly memorable!  My wife and I went here last night to celebrate our 10th anniversary.  It was our first time eating here.  We have wanted to check it out for years, but never were able to (story for a different time).  We arrived early and our table wasn't yet ready, so we had a drink at the bar.  We were called for our table and were showed to one in the bar area.  I asked the host if another table was available, and he said they were booked.  When I reminded him that we had a reservation, he found it and quickly re-sat us.  Once we were ready to order, the waiter came over.  My wife wanted tuna, but doesn't eat meat--the preparation on the menu included pork belly.  He said that they could do it with 3 different alternate preparations--my wife choose chef's choice and told him our preference.  Appetizer came, which grilled sardines, they plated each separately and it was accompanied with a slice of grilled lemon and olives.  It was cooked perfectly and was very tasty.  While we were waiting for our mains, the waiter brought a shell bowl for each of us.  My wife wondered why, I was just enjoying the evening and didn't think much of it.  The waiter brought us out something we didn't order, compliments of the house, due to the table mixup and the "long wait".  Funny thing is, there was a long wait, but I didn't really notice.  This dish was some mussels, clams, and a head-on shrimp, the head was stuffed with crab meat.  It was in a nice thai style broth, with alot of mine acidity, coconut milk, and leeks.  It was amazing.  Mains came out next.  Wife got the tuna--chefs choice preparation, I got bouillabaisse.  The tuna was on a bed of risoto, spiked with some pickled cabbage, and a side arugula salad.  The tuna was prepared rare but it was smoked.  It had a deep smoky flavor while at the same time being rare.  Neither of us have ever had tuna like this.  It was a revelation!  My bouillabaisse included clams, mussels, shrimp, scallop, and monk fish.  It was perfect, everything tasted amazing, there were a couple potatoes in the mix, and just a hint of broth at the bottom.  For dessert, we got a cherry chocolate bread pudding, topped with cherry chocolate chip ice cream and stewed cherries.  A nice end to a great meal.  When the check came they had also comped the desert.  Moral of the story here, is that the food was great, but what made it a truly memorable evening was the service and generosity.  The entire staff went above and beyond to make our night special.  Thanks again!

Closed.

I could swear I've been to Far East before. (Weren't you wearing red silk?)

Does Turner Lab have any tables? Is it part of the Dairy Science program at UMd? If so, we had one of these at Clemson - they sold milk, ice cream, and (of all things) blue cheese (I've actually seen this in restaurants as "Clemson Blue"). I'm pretty sure it was just a stainless steel counter with a makeshift cash register that sold milkshakes in styrofoam cups. I guess this could be on the list if they've been operating non-stop (does anybody care one way or the other?) I wonder if they and Wagshal's (opened in 1925) were sending telegraphs across town saying "Fuck you!" in Morse code.

I can confirm that Far East is owned by the same family.  When they moved to the area they were my parent's neighbors.  My dad used to help them fix things around their house.  After one such time, they asked my dad what they could do to repay him.  Jokingly, my dad said make me a meal.  My parents keep their own style of Kosher.  Mom was embarrassed by my dad's request.  Never-the-less, the Wong's sent their chef with my mom to the Kosher supermarket to pick out ingredients and the chef prepared a banquet  in their house.  We still occasionally go to Far East, and now it is run by the children, but still the same family.

Went here last night with my wife and three year old.  We went there specifically for a hot pot that we had in the past--miso with seafood.  Service was really good last night.  It wasn't overly crowded, which was a surprise.  Bob greeted us and gave our daughter a bubble tea which was very nice.  Brooke loved it.  It was the first time she had tried bubbles and thought they were really good.  They have a list of hot pots, one of which was a miso base.  We had them doctor it up with seafood, tofu, and some cabbage.  We explained that my wife doesn't eat chicken stock and they happily obliged the request.  The hot pot included squid, scallops, shrimp, clams, and fish cake, this was accented with some nappa.  Flavor was really good, and broth was light but still very flavorfull.  Also had 2 apps--the aforementioned bamboo shoots (we always love this dish) and head on fried shrimp (they had a sweet glaze).  My wife insisted on a shaved ice desert--always a nice end to a meal at Bob's.

On tap at SK right now. One of my favorite times of the year. Plus, we have the Lagunitas Sucks on as well. Makes for a nice side by side. Hopslam's keg price is about 60% more than Two Hearted or 60 Minute. We charge up, but not that much. Honestly, I like the Hopslam a lot, but it's hard to believe it's worth the price especially if you're paying off premise retail.

Beer for beer and dollar for dollar, I still think the the regular lagunitas IPA and the Sumpin Sumpin are my definition of great beer. With Sumpin Sumpin even edging ahead; particularly with warm weather coming.

Agree with you on Lagunitas.  Dollar for dollar better than most out there, even Stone IPA.  Hopslam is a great beer, but there are so many great hoppy beers out there now.  Regardless, I still seek out a six pack every year at this time.

2559 Ennalls Ave., Wheaton, MD 20902

Meant to write something about this a while ago, but never got around to it.  We went here a couple of months ago after a small write up in the Washingtonian.  Seafood is the specialty here.  Ceviche and fried seafood to be more exact.  One piece of caution, they don't speak english very well, but never-the-less the food was really good and we will go back at some point.  All ceviche was made fresh and tasted fresh as well.  The fried seafood had the perfect amount of breading and a nice crispness.  We ordered once ceviche, and a platter of an additinoal ceviche and a mixed assortment of fried seafood (shrimp, octopus, flounder, scallops, and mussles), all served on a bed of pickeled red onions.  Everything had a nice brightness to it.  So here is where the language barrier kicks in.  When we ordered, the server said we needed more food (there were three adults).  We asked for her suggestion and she recomended the "house dish" she couldn't tell us what it was in English, but we obliged.  Turned out, it was the same platter of ceviche and fried seafood, only adding on a rice dish with more seafood.  Needless to say, what we had originally ordered was more than enough for the three of us (the portion was very generous) and when the second platter came we continued to gorge ourselves and somehow one guy and two little women finished all of the food (the three year old who ordered a quesadilla sat there in amazment).  Regardless, we will make it back there.

Been a while since you posted to this, but there are some widely available resonably priced sours that would be great:  Petrus Aged Pale Ale or Rodenbach Grand Cru come to mind.

I know I am chiming in a little late, but my top beer of 2013 was New Belgium Oscar, unblended.  Had it at a New Belgium sour event at Black Squirrel, all sorts of variants, all amazing, all unique in their own way.  Second favorite was Stone Enjoy By, no need to elaborate on that one.  Finishing off the group with another IPA--Flying Dog, The Truth.  I am a Flying Dog nerd and fanboy, but they really have something with this one.  Please try if you see it out there.

Has anyone seen anything locally from Prarie at a retail store?  I have seen it at Churchkey, but never retail.  Would love to get some.

Nebraska Brewery is showing up locally.  Very good stuff, but very expensive.  Woth trying.

Rodman's sold out early this morning.  I got some at Magruder's.  They also had a keg for growler fills.  Although I think it is a bit of hype, its a good solid beer and if I don't have to kill myself to get it, I am all over it!

Bob's Noodle house is a bone in version.  Very tasty!  Sorry, meant Bob's Noodle 66 on N. Washington in Rockville.  If you go out looking for Bob's Noodle House, you will never find it!