Bob Wells

3 minutes ago, deangold said:

Too late for that as my Centreville cherry is already long gone. So Korean and Gom Shabu Shabu so far.  

But I forgot to add, the TJ's in Centreville had the nicest folk of any TJ's I have been in in a long long time!  I had real exchanges with three different crew members that really made me feel like it was a good day!

Totally agree on the Centreville TJ's crew. A few weeks ago two even complimented me on how organized my cart was! However, I have had two run-ins with customers at TJ's and both were in Centreville. One old bat didn't like how I parked and another old bat took issue with the decibel level of my voice.

Welcome to the wilds of Virginia! Your first Centreville meal should be at Ciao Osteria in Centrewood Plaza.  https://www.ciao-osteria.com/

I'm a long-time PB eater. I totally agree it can be really dry and really bad, almost inedible without Tiger Sauce or horseradish. The sandwiches are usually huge but if you can barely choke the meat down, that's not much of a good thing.

Now, since I don't see any mention of this item in the thread, here is my pro tip regardless of which pit beefery you try: order some 'burnt ends' aka 'charred ends' on the side. They are usually very cheap and to me much tastier than the pit beef itself.

13 hours ago, Ericandblueboy said:

from Washingtonian.

Ah, Tempt Asian -- had a few great Peter Chang meals there way (way) back in the day.

Wandered over to the F St MK this afternoon. Cases are getting pretty bare but still some stuff left and it appears I was charged half price for the pastries. Good deal, but so sad in there.

1 hour ago, squidsdc said:

Dang. If I like it, it closes. 😟 Unfortunately neither location was convenient for me, but I would go out of my way when the weather would allow, to grab a coffee and sandwich for lunch.

F St is around the corner from our front door, but I rarely buy lunch and I made the conscious decision to lower my intake of delicious sweet baked goods.

And while the area is lousy with tourists, I suspect MK is not what many of them are looking for. There's a Corner Bakery right across the street... on the corner. 😄

3 hours ago, NolaCaine said:

you and me both. Terrible change. They should call it the "whateveryouwant factory." 

The food is not horrible but I don't need to buy five meals at once. The waste has to be massive. Where will tourists keep all the leftovers?

Well that didn't last long! I confess to not getting much at Kayser in the past several months and apparently I was not alone. https://dc.eater.com/2019/8/2/20751710/maison-kayser-closure-dc

Meanwhile, I think they are up to 17 locations in NYC.

I work nearby. We will miss WT. Will not be "dining" at CF. Leave it for our friends from the hinterlands.

44 minutes ago, alexandria1 said:

Ice Cream Jubilee closed (or "taking a break") here as of July 31st.

https://gallery.mailchimp.com/d14bf08698cb1ba7a8ad0c7f0/images/8bf420b8-c549-438b-baca-7e4b064736db.png

Taking a break from serving ice cream in the middle of a hot DC summer?

On 1/3/2019 at 8:38 PM, Bob Wells said:

Oh I noticed the blueberry scones. Saving them for the beginning of March, after my bootcamp winter challenge is over. 😀

Belated report - tried the blueberry scones. On the cakier side of the scone spectrum. Nice lemony touch and very good.

OK looks like we are trying the Conche on Saturday. Will report back!

20 hours ago, Ericandblueboy said:

Our entree was the country fried steak - battered and then DEEP fried until it's curled up and tough as leather.  Country fried steak ain't that hard to make but I've yet to find a decent version around this city.  It's just sad that restaurants would put this on their menu, pretend to know how to make it, and then fuck it up. 

Were you in the area when the Black Eyed Pea was here? Country fried steak (I think they called it chicken fried steak) and fried okra was my go to order. My taste buds miss those places (but my waistline does not).

How would you folks rate Ciao in Centreville? I'm always thinking I need to take my family there more. We've always enjoyed their pizza and other dishes. The place is generally packed.

We're heading down with the kids to Rehoboth in two weeks for a few days of shopping and eating. I try to keep up with the Rehoboth Foodie (Bob Yesbek) as he is a good source of intel.

13 hours ago, DonRocks said:

Are you sure you love Pupatella, or do you love Enzo Algarme? I fear that, for me, it's the latter - we'll find out soon enough.

LOL good point. We will definitely find out. But even if Reston Pupatella is 80% of Arlington Pupatella, that's about 100% better than Reston Pizza Hut. 😃

On 7/22/2019 at 4:17 PM, JBag57 said:

A new location of this place is supposed to open at the Wiehle Avenue Metro Station in either late 2019 or early 2020.  Same with Matchbox.  Pupatella is to take over an existing Pizza Hut within a couple hundred yards of that Metro station, I think late Fall or by the end of the year.  Things are taking a turn for the better in that area on the food front.

Thanks -- that's great news. Love Pupatella but haven't been in a while. Nice of them to move out my way.

Meanwhile, not sure how closely people are paying attention, but the array of eateries around the Reston West Metro station (which obviously is not even open yet) is already impressive. I'm hoping for more of the same out around the Loudoun Silver Line stations as well.

Welp, was planning to go with some colleagues for drinks tomorrow and saw the place has closed. I had a very good if pricey lunch there soon after it opened with my brother (a trencherman of some repute) and our camp friend Josh Hahn, one of the original folks behind the highly successful Logan Tavern group. Never made it back and never heard much about the place so can't say I'm overly shocked. Guess it never found its groove like similar downtown spots such as Woodward Table.

BTW, if any of you know Josh and are curious what he's been up to since he stepped back from the resto biz, he's now one of the co-directors of Camp Somerset, a very nice girls camp in Maine that reopened after a 30 year hiatus (website). I'm sure the camp food is quite good! Yeah, I'd say it looks good: 

2 hours ago, DonRocks said:

The Beatles peaked in 67.

LOL possibly. Open for debate. Only a music dork would seriously say the Beatles peaked in 61.

What I posted was a common theme on music boards -- "You should have heard them [before they got the big record contract] [before they got any record contract] [before they got recorded] [before their first drummer quit] [etc etc]"🤣🤣

On 5/6/2019 at 11:41 PM, DonRocks said:

The problem with the national Beard awards is that they're usually 5-7 years too late - to get the "real" Zahav, you needed to have gone 10-years ago; to get the "real" Ashley Christensen, you needed to have gone 15-years ago.

I tried to tell people about both, I really did!

And the Beatles peaked in 61!😉

3 hours ago, KeithA said:

I wrote awhile ago about Naf Naf here but couldn't find a separate topic for it. It is another great place for middle eastern food, in what I noted before is the downtown DC good pita triangle when you have Little Sesame and Yafa Grille all within 2 blocks of each other. I had Naf Naf again yesterday for the first time in a while and it was excellent. Great pillowy, soft pita made fresh in shop along with perfect falafel - crisp on the outside, soft inside and not at all dry. The hummus was good and even better when topped with a bit of tahini and schug. The vegetable sides were pretty good too - very fresh. Amsterdam Falafel still has some of the freshest falafel in the city with a great toppings bar but their pita bread sucks - not only is it store bought it is almost stale tasting - these 3 places have surpassed it by far in my opinion. 

 

Thanks -- now I definitely need to try the local Naf Naf!

Speaking of Tysons, old faithfuls, lobster rolls, etc, any word on what's going into the old Legal Seafood space in Tysons Galleria?

38 minutes ago, Kibbee Nayee said:

I know there's a following for GARG restaurants here, but when I see "neo-industrial space" in the comments, I think of the typical ear-splitting din of GARG restaurants and why they are so unappealing to me.

I also assume with the Tex-Mex egg rolls, the Charleston salad, and the Louisiana pasta, they are also pushing the same menu at all of their differently-named outposts. Short-smoked salmon, where are you?

It's not just the GARG joints -- the places run by GARG alums have many of the same/very similar items, just under different names.

For example, the menu at Loudoun's thriving (for good reason IMHO, I'm a GARG fan along the lines of Dr. Delicious) Blue Ridge Grill mini-chain features:

"Steak and cheese eggrolls"

"Smoked salmon"

"Brentwood Salad" (my go-to, it's a great deal and I get two meals out of it)

"King Street Creole Pasta" 

etc

Just got treated to lunch at Bourbon Steak today. Verdict: Very good food, very expensive. I got a Caesar salad that was pretty substantial, with whole anchovies in there. Very nice. Then got the "All-American Wagyu Burger." Luscious. Got an order of fries to share with my friend -- honesty, they were not spectacular. He got a steak cobb salad that looked really good.

If anyone wants to treat me to another meal at Bourbon Steak, I'm definitely up for it!

For me the attraction at Heidelberg is the bread. Not only is the variety impressive, but the rye breads such as the corn rye are easily some of the best I've had since the sissel breads of my youth in RI. The breads with various other seeds are really good too.

The hamantaschen are excellent too, available year round, and I am pretty sure they even have mun (poppy seed paste) in addition to the apricot and raspberry filled. Maybe even the nontraditional chocolate?

We've also enjoyed various of the pastries, such as the cream cheese slabs with blueberries and other ooey-gooey delights.