thetrain

Has anyone ever made a Red wine chocolate cake? I saw this recipe (link) in one of my Cucina Italiana magazines and was thinking of making it tonight to bring to a dinner party tomorrow. It sounds good, I mean who doesn't like wine and chocolate, but any first-hand experiences?

Nope, but I get the same magazine and was equally intrigued. Let me know how it goes if you attempt it!

This reminded me I've been meaning to post about Fabian's for some time. Located in Ballston Mall's food court, their location is not ideal, but the food is markedly better (and cheaper) than other nearby Mexican places (the now defunct Chevy's and Uncle Julio's). The beef and chicken enchiladas and tacos are quite good, and the tortillas are marketed as house made. I have never tried the South American dishes outside of a pupusa, but, for what its worth, this place is frequented often by what I assume are people of South and Central American descent. The proprietor is nice and eager to please. Many of the menu items are cooked to order, the wait time for those dishes is usually a few minutes. Caveats: the pupusas are middling at best, along the lines of Tortilla Cafe's, and the rice and beans are unremarkable by themselves.

Website

Someone PMd me the answer this afternoon! She needs to post it; otherwise, things will be impure.

It's pescado frito (that's cabbage, not noodles, the round things are garbanzo beans, that "thing" peeking out from the bottom is a piece of fish, the bowl on the left is refried beans).

And Mi Pueblo closed in 2012!

My guess was Dona Azucena or Dona Bessy - they are next to each other (and the laundrymat) and I think owned by the same people. Between the two I'll guess Don went to the new Dona Bessy. I still haven't been, how is it?

So according to the Wash Post today, the sandwich with 1.5 pounds of meat is $12. A pound of sliced pastrami is $12. I know which one I'm getting.

I got a pastrami sandwich this weekend and ate half of it with around half the meat from that one half taken out because it was so big. Out of curiosity, I weighed the meat leftover when I got home - nearly 1lb. I don't think their 1.5 lbs. claim is an anomaly and thought the same thing as you - its cheaper to buy a sandwich and save the leftovers.

Hmm...hadn't noticed that, but I did question whether the slices of pastrami were REALLY 1/2" thick as reported. Unless the bread pictured was 3" thick, that meat wasn't 1/2". Yes, it was thicker than some of the others, but I doubt 1/2". Seriously, the metric system is soooo much better. Some pastrami looked like 2-3mm slices while others looked to be 5-6mm. A half-inch is about 12mm.

[Dang, forgot to quote the appropriate post above. Wish there were a way to add that in editing.]

Half the slices of meat on mine were easily 1.2 cm.

Dean, are there any horror stories on how WF treats their employees (besides anti-union and charging someone with a higher BMI more for health insurance)?

I've never shopped at WF because its 'green' so I'm not overly concerned about the rest of what is outlined above, I figured things like that went on. There are a few staple items I buy at WF because they are cheaper/better quality than I can get elsewhere and its convenient.

Costco occasionally has wild salmon for $8.99 a pound and it is at least $7-10 more a pound everywhere else,

Harris Teeter has had Alaskan Wild Caught salmon on sale several times this winter for that price. Their seafood prices are a fraction of WF, and they do a good job marking country of origin and whether its wild/farmed/etc. So, if those labels are accurate, an informed consumer can make responsible choices.

I've got one more from this weekend. Where did I brunch?

DGS Delicatessen

I've had bottles of this so far, purchased from WF in DC, for $10.99 - even though it was marked $9.99. Hoppy, sweeter than an IPA, and lots of citrus, like others have mentioned Grapefruit especially. As a grapefruit fiend I really enjoyed it, although I'd probably get my usual Lagunitas Little Sumpin Sumpin. I've found most Lagunitas beers are heavy on citrus, and its why I'm a big fan of their beers in general. If you liked this Don, I'd suggest trying some of their other beers. I thought the Brown Shugga was similar to Little Sumpin Sumpin but maltier and sweeter.

I had a pint of this on tap. I thought the flavor profile was very similar to the regular left handed milk stout, but the flavor was more intense. Lots of coffee notes and a nutty finish. I've always thought milk stout was a more flavorful version of Guinness, and that its also a light, less sweet stout.

Ha! And it's not Loving Hut either, but ---> you're thinking on the right track. <---

Not Don Arturo's but a good guess.

La Choza

But what has happened to Pizza Paradiso? Was my experience an "off day" (it wasn't at all crowded)? Have others been here recently and had better pizza experiences? Based on just this one recent visit, the distance between Two Amys and this is vast. It didn't used to be that way. But I think I'm thinking back too long ago; maybe even back to when Peter Pastan was involved in the business.

I've never had a pizza at Pizza Paradiso in the last five years, including the original P St. location, that I'd consider Neapolitan. I've always put it in the 'wood fire' category and I think it performs admirably against that competition. The key to enjoying a PP pizza is to get more aggressive toppings, cured meat, olives, fontina etc. etc. and let the crust serve more as a delivery device. And if you want to eat your crust, use the olive oil and cheese on the table. My most recent PP pizza in Georgetown was slightly better than what I've come to expect from PP. Overall I'd say its a great restaurant for beer that serves affordable and enjoyable (but not great) food.

According to their menu online, Eat-bar has Nitro on tap too. Very familiar with the regular Milk Stout, had it as recently as last week at Mister Days of all places ($3.50 until 9pm on Wednesdays!), so I'm looking forward to tasting the differences between the two.

I'd be all over a virtual beer tasting group, but with admittedly no time to plan or organize (other than throwing out some suggestions here and there).

Does anybody know of HopSlam still available on draft in DC? ChurchKey and Meridian Pint predictably blew through their kegs in no time last week. I'd always prefer to have a taste every year on tap rather than shelling out for a 6-pack.

Windows Market on 1st/Rhode Island in Bloomingdale had them for $21.99 as of last night. I think that is the "cheapest" I've heard in the District this year.

According to twitter, Big Hunt is tapping their keg at 4pm today.

Stumbled across some on tap on Friday, shockingly drinkable for 10%, and like others mentioned not as hoppy as expected.

I like virtual beer tasting idea and would participate.

The craziest thing about that whole story is that the owe roughly $65,000/month in sales tax, which is 6% of their monthly sales. That translates to to about 1.1 million in sales monthly. That is a lot of f*cking cupcakes! And that is just for the DC store!

I am sure the tax thing was just a glitch. I am pretty confident they are perfectly fine in the financial side of running a business.

Actually that's with the penalty - without its more like $50,000, so more like $830,000, but yea still a lot of cupcakes.

I'm not going to speak for him, but an offer of free money for essentially doing nothing (he doesn't have to do the graffiti, he doesn't have to take a job) would interest a lot of people.

According to the Post, he doesn't have a fixed address despite multiple offers of help. Honestly even if he is interested, I don't really think a steady influx of cash for doing nothing would be beneficial to him.

On the burger photo: yes, the photo doesn't do it justice. Didn't have my camera and borrowed my dining companion's android. OT note: iphone camera better than android camera.

Fries were the best part of the dish and I'm near certain anyone would agree if they'd been there or if I could have attached a couple of the actual fries. They look "greasy" for a slightly misleading/less-obvious reason. Not a burger chain. Burger was better than BGR's (imho).

Are they the malted fries at Rustico?

I know the answer, and after this morning's hint, you guys are going to smack yourselves on the forehead for missing this one.

One last go - Ashby Inn?

As far as tableware goes, the bowl is a red herring. The overall setting, however, is indeed rustic. And it's some of the most sophisticated food in the area. I didn't think too many places would meet this criteria. Now I need to go try Seasonal Pantry.

AlexC, I haven't been to Ripple in a while; sounds like I need to go there, too!

Palena?

Food wise I've only tried the goat tacos so far, but my initial reaction is 'meh'. I really enjoyed the fresh tortilla but the meat was lacking flavor and paled in comparison to that in El Charrito's goat taco. (I actually went to El Charrito later that night to confirm - yep still great). I've enjoyed the drinks and hopefully further food endeavors are more successful.

How many people regularly buy bagel that are still warm out of the oven and eat them on-site?

I get a bagel every work day morning from my local Brueggers, and I'd say 30% of the time I get a still warm bagel. I get the same variety every morning, so I'm guessing if I was less particular I could up the percentage. I agree, there is a significant taste difference if its still warm vs. cold, and I'd take a warm bagel from a middling store over a cold bagel from a superior store any day.

They seem to regularly have Mad Fox on tap - so if you don't want to venture out to VA, but want to try some of their beer, this is the place to go.

Hey, are you one of my peeps? Best by far are ordered ahead at Mediterranean Gourmet Market. I call them warak enab bil laham. Give the Mediterannean Gourmet Market a day or two advance notice, and order at least 50 -- I have an order in for 200 this weekend as part of a feast I'm having for my family. I think they're $1.25 each. I ask for the laban with cucumber to serve with them.

Significantly better than Mount of Lebanon's/Lebanese Butchers?

I have taken a shine to the Rick Bayless Frontera-branded seasoning sauces found at Whole Foods and other places.

Me too - the red chile mole sauce poured over browned bone-in chicken thighs with a handful of kalamata olives is a cheap and easy dinner. Leftovers hold up well too.

For what it is worth, Bruegger's also kettle boils then bakes its bagels. If you get one fresh out of the oven, I think its comparable to the best bagels in the area.

I'm also on the lookout for SAGE (by AITA) and this Pine Gin that @merc340 is lusting after...

I saw three AITA liquors at the ABC store on Fillmore in Arlington last week - Root and Snap, can't remember the third.

Anyone see Fernet Branca in VA recently? They used to carry it at the Quincy store but they've stopped. I've seen it in D.C. but its $10 more than what ABC was charging...

There is a location coming to Arlington soon (Pershing Drive, I'm going to be so fat...), so I'll see how that goes. Probably carry-out only.

Unless things have changed since the article posted above, the Arlington location will have +100 seats, serve beer and even more apps, and be run by the Centreville owners.