plarkins

2941? Looks like their old tablecloths.

winner! And the evening sunlight coming through the large windows

Yes, it's a brioche pudding, but with caramelized peaches and butter pecan ice cream. Focus on the second half of the second clue as the restaurant changes were discussed with trepidation on this site.

Apparently I only take pictures of dessert.

I had this during Restaurant Week a year and a half ago, but it's not currently on the RW prix fixe menu for at least two reasons (clues):

-seasonality

-new pastry chef, among other changes

How did you possibly guess this?

It was a little more than a guess!

Does to me. There are some places I'll get veggies and some I won't.

This tells me Thematt is discerning and his profile says he lives in Alexandria. Enat is one of the better/best Ethiopian restaurants in NOVA and happens to be in western Alexandria. And looking at the first photo on Yelp, I see that the tiles and table match TheMatt's photo.

Where did I dine?

Looks like Enat in Lincolnia

Okay, something a little lower brow while others try to figure out Porcupine's higher-brow (but rustic) cuisine.

Where did I dine?

4018099.jpeg

Lyon Hall

So, Pupatella serves doughnuts now, Friday-Sunday (maybe just lunch, can't remember). Is this new? I usually eat here on the weekdays. They're $3 each, but they're the no-hole variety. Choices are Sugar Dusted, Vanilla Creme, and Nutella. Split the sugar dusted with a friend. So good...incredibly fluffy and a nicely browned texture on the outside.

While ordering, I noticed 3 teenagers eating one of arugula salads each. While I love the salads here, I tried the hot panini (Eggplant parm) for the first time. While good and the homemade bread shines, it was a bit heavy for an early lunch. Should have gone with the salad. My friend had the prosciutto arugula pizza and loved it. I've introduced a number of friends to Pupatella's pizza in the past year, but this was my favorite experience as my friend couldn't go a bite without exclaiming aloud to anyone who would listen how amazing the pizza was. Fortunately it wasn't too crowded yet.

Oh and do try the doughnuts.

Where did I dine?

I have no idea, but best guess on the ethnicity falls somewhere between Israel and Afghanistan or South America. Would have guessed Faryab, but the tables don't match.

It looks like the sugar on snow from America eats (with additional flowers). since that is closed I am guessing minibar. or I could be way off...

winner!

Sorry for the delay, but it is indeed the Sugar on Snow from Andres' America Eats. The server pours maple syrup over shaved ice, forming patches of chewy maple candy.

I suspect this will be an easy one...

I got into wine after most of the '07's were sold out. I can attest the '08 Onyx is drinking well now as well. I did manage to grab the '07 Hardscrabble red, which I hope to open later in the year. I thought Black Ankle had a very good syrah, but ended buying the Slate.

Linden, Glen Manor, and Delaplane are my three favorites. All their wines are well made and the tasting room settings are all great. Of the Charlottesville wineries, I've only been to Veritas (their '11 viognier is excellent); so I do bias towards the Northern Virginia wineries.

Glad you finally made it to Delaplane. It's in my top 3 wineries in Northern Virginia. All the wine is solid. It can get swamped on weekends and lacks the more intitmate tastings experienced at other top wineries in the area. Though, if you show above average interest in wine, I've always gotten a few extra pours from wines not on the standard tasting. Obviously, that was the case with you, Joe. Would be interested to know your thoughts on the CINQ2, the Williams Gap Reserve, and their tannat. I still favor Hillsborough's tannat over Delaplane and Chateau O'Brien.

Went for the first time tonight, walking in at 745pm. I recalled in my head old reviews about crowds, high noise levels, and pricey food. My recollection could have been wrong, but my GF and I left feeling quite content. We waited about 10 minutes for a table, during which we were offered chips/salsa and a drink menu by the busy bar staff. We started with two margaritas, the house blend ($8) and the blood orange ($10). Once transferred to our table, we ordered the guac ($10), asparagus ($8), and the pork confit ($3.5) and spicy beef ($4) tacos. We finished with a order of the black bean/goat cheese empanadas ($9). We enjoyed everything, but favored the (not) spicy beef tacos over the pork confit. The asparagus was great and I would have licked the plate clean of red chili vinaigrette if I was single and wanted to remain so. The empanadas' crust was perfect and enjoyed the goat cheese/black bean combination. My only gripe was the lack of spice in all the dishes. The spicy beef tacos were mild at best as were the salsas. All the flavors were fine, the food fresh, but a little bit more spice to balance the sweetness of the pork tacos and asparagus (as Ericandblueboy noted above) would have been welcomed. The final bill was $57.77 before tip, which was reasonable I thought. A great QPR meal could be had if you abstained from alcohol and strategically ordered dishes that include guacamole. Though, if I return I'll ask for a side of fresh jalapenos! Also notable, the service was very good and we didn't have to raise our naturally quiet voices to be heard.

Green Pig Bistro. My first experience with sweetbreads was here. Good enough I'd eat them again, despite now knowing what they are...

homemade peach schnapps with homegrown peaches. hmm peachy

a couple reasons I think:

-growing more vinifera has become 'easier' as the growing techniques and knowledge base has increased in VA wine industry

-growing vinifera adds legitimacy to the VA wine industry compared to selling wine made from native and hybrid grapes (Norton, Niagara, Chardonel, Vignoles, etc). Who's talking about Missouri wine? meh..

-its hard to make good Norton wine, which usually needs to be aged a few years thus longer to get a return on investment, which many of the, growing VA wineries couldn't risk.

For the most part, I share your sentiments. From what I've heard and read, they have some really good wine that's only available to members..but then how would we know based on our personal taste? Make friends with members I guess. I did a regular tasting and liked the '05 and '06 Merlots and appreciated having the older wines in a regular tasting.

PS - I opened a bottle of 2008 Onyx (1 of 3) on Wednesday and really enjoyed it. I don't like Hillborough's whites, but I appreciate the contrast between their reds and the reds of Linden and Glen Manor. Hillsborough's are bigger and fruitier I think, while Linden/GMV have more earthy tones and have finesse. Thus, they all should be in your VA wine cellar.

In addition to Hillsborough, Glen Manor and Linden, two other favs are:

Deplane Cellars - solid wines with great tasting room (one of the better winery views)

Zephaniah Farm Vineyard - neat tasting experience especially if seated in the library. WInery/tasting room(s) are in early 19th century farm house and tastings done by family members. Very personal. Wines are not bad and sometimes the owner will give an impromptu barrel tasting.

anything worth looking up in Tulsa? I just found out I've got all day tomorrow to kill before dinner plans at the local sushi joint

bump...any highlights for Tulsa? Will be there for a wedding in a few weeks.

Interesting reads. Another good account from Mike Steinberger, published in Vanity Fair

Pretty bummed to hear. I just moved to the EFC/Westover community and was hoping to go there often. I went two weeks ago and got a meat pie and history lesson on hairy baklava (kataifi). Will try to stop by tomorrow to verify closing date.

Hike in the Bull Run Mountains, just past Haymarket; then head back up Hwy 15 to The Pit Stop BBQ.

So far, my CSA veggies sauteed with cumin has been the winner. The first week I received lots of beets and turnips, so I sauteed them with cumin and coriander and added mint for a beet salad. The next week I made cumin-braised swiss chard but added squash, zucchini, and garlic scapes. I wouldn't have touched any of those veggies as a kid, but add cumin and I would have. I now know how I will get my kids to eat veggies one day!

Peter Pan Buffet at Fairfax Circle always has busses of Asian tourists out front. In fact, 7 years ago, my Chinese roommate took me there. I thought it sucked, so I'm curious how it draws the ethnic crowds at a large scale....and apparently small scale since my roommate knew about it.