DrXmus

Oh, how I wish I didn't have a career right now!

Cacio e Pepi washed down with Flying Dog Raging Bitch beer and our fave chocolate chip cookies with ground oatmeal washed down with milk.

Flying Dog Raging Bitch. a Belgian-style IPA. A little funk, plenty of hops. Tasty and very drinkable.

Beaten into submission. I'm spent.

Can I email?:-) Introverts don't like phones.

Tom Seitsema's review said you have to call ahead for the Burek, but I think they were in their tiny joint back then. Their web site says the Bureks aren't on the menu. I'm not sure what any of that means.

Thanks, all. Great suggestions, and complete, too! We're going to try Cosmopolitan. I have a feeling he was stationed in the Balkans at some point, so he thought the place looked "perfect". I'm psyched to try some of the dishes. Should I call ahead for the Burek?

I hope this isn't intruding into Don's "concierge service" territory, but I don't know anything about the area around the Fort. My buddy has come up for work a few times and suggested Bungalow's (Bungalow Billiards, I'm pretty sure) for a steak, but I'm not a steak guy and I'm not sure I want to eat a meal there. Does the DR braintrust have any suggestions around Fort Belvoir for a couple of dudes getting together for the first time in over 20 years? Thanks for the help.

We've been 3 times in the last couple of weeks. Mrs. DrX loves the chicken cheesesteak. She's a huge fan of the bread they use. It's got a great texture and flavor. I had the chicken souvlaki once. Once. As mentioned above, it's OK. Not bad, and the sauce is really good, but overall just OK. I've had a couple of the Italian cold cut subs. I like that you can order them heated or toasted. I think the next try will be heated AND toasted. Nothing wrong with making it a hot sub, right? The vinaigrette is tasty, if a little too sweet, and the peppers are very good. The (frozen) steak fries are very well executed. I'll second (fourth?) the comments about the service there. We've dealt with 3 different guys at the register and they've all been great. I'm thinking Chicken Parm sub and calzone for the next couple of trips. The prices seem reasonable, especially the 8" sub/fries/drink for $8 special that seems permanent. Based on wybigoo's recommendation, I was going to get a baklava today, which looked great. They had a minor rush and I didn't feel like waiting, so that'll have to wait for another day.

Thanks for the notes, all. It turns out we're going to meet at Ruby Tuesday's in Warrenton. Oh, joy! He's coming up from Fredricksburg and I'm coming from Vienna. I guess Warrenton is a pretty good idea so that we both miss most of the traffic for the day. I managed to avoid a Ruby Tuesday's for over 15 years, but I can't avoid this one.

Anybody been here, yet? I need a lunch place to meet an old high school buddy tomorrow. Nice sandwich menu and great beer list, from what I can see on the web site.

I don't see Vermouths (sweet and dry) on your list, so here's your excuse to go buy something:-) Oh, and pick up some Green Chartruese while you're out. Some of my faves, among many: The Last Word: 3/4 oz of each - Gin, Maraschino Liqueur, Green Chartreuse, lime juice. Shake with ice and strain into cocktail glass. Here's a simple aperitif: 2 parts Pellegrino Aranciata soda to 1-2 parts Campari, depending on your taste. Mix on the rocks in a highball glass. I second the vote for the Negroni, too. Boulevardier: 1.5 oz bourbon, 1 oz sweet vermouth, 1 oz Campari, lemon twist. Shake with ice and strain into cocktail glass. Scofflaw: 1 oz Rye, 1 oz dry vermouth, 3/4 oz green Chartreuse, 3/4 oz lemon juice, dash orange bitters. Shake with ice and strain into cocktail glass.

As much as Mrs DrXmus and I love Orso, we had a rough experience last night. Service was the worst we've ever had it. I've seen others comment on inconsistent service, and I guess this is what they're seeing. We finally had to ask the hostess (we were right next to her) to find our server for us. The server didn't know anything about one of the beers on tap, Anderson Valley Winter Solstice. I told my wife what I knew about it, that it's a California brewery and was a "winter warmer" which should be malty and a little sweet. She asked the server for information and she was told the beer is from a Kentucky brewery and the alcohol was 6%. That's all she knew (and she was wrong about both!). SWMBO's Diavola pizze was great, as usual. That's been our go-to pizze for consistently good eats. I had the Quattro Staggioni, which had the oft-mentioned, dreaded liquid/soupy center. It was all absorbed by the time I finished 1/2 of the meal, but the central crust was essentially nonexistent at that point. The edge crust was fantastic, though, as usual. The salami it was really, really tasty.

Two nights ago----- Intercontinental cocktail - brandy, Averna, Maraschino Liqueur. Just bought Averna for the first time from Ace Beverage over the weekend. Wow, that's some cool stuff! What do others do with it? I have another recipe I'm looking forward to trying from Jason Wilson for a Black Manhattan.

Thanks for that information, Joe. There was a Little Pigs in Greenville when I was growing up and it was my dad and my fave restaurant when we were in town. We always got the sandwich with cole slaw. Great memories. I wish I'd known there was a local shop that may have been similar.

I drove by last week and wanted to whip in to check it out, but I was on the wrong side and one doesn't just "whip in" when crossing Route 7. Thanks for the web link. I'm disappointed in two things: 1) If you call your establishment "an English Pub", I'd expect there would be a better beer selection, perhaps with a true British beer thrown in there (Newcastle Brown doesn't count) and 2) I'm getting old because I had to hold my laptop close to my face to be able to read anything on the site. I'm sure we'll be giving it a try, but that area is such a nightmare to drive in, that I doubt it'll be a frequent hangout.

Aperitif: Negroni. I'm out of Campari at the moment, so Aperol was used to substitute. I like the strong flavor of Campari better in this drink, but Aperol is Campari Jr. and worked just fine. Digestif: Offley Boa Vint.age Port 2000. The bottle's been open for a few months, but thankfully I don't have great taste, so I'm still enjoying it immensely.

Last couple of nights: Horse's Head (a/k/a Jack and Ginger). For comparison purposes, substituted Ancient Age and Jim Beam for the Jack portion. Ancient Age had more "bourbon" flavor. Thanks, Joe H, for the suggestion.

I often see them at the olive bar at Wegman's in Fairfax.

Wow, there was NOTHING like Soby's when I was growing up near Greenville (Travelers Rest) in the 70s and 80s. My dad, who is a meat and potatoes kinda guy, says Stax's Peppermill [Editor's Note: Peppermill is closed] is a great go-to restaurant. Good luck finding a web site. I tried for a while, but gave up. It's near Haywood Mall, if the Mall is still there. The Beacon is a landmark! I went to see my dad last summer and made the Beacon an important part of the trip. It's certainly no foodie destination, but it's a place everyone should see at least once.The onion rings are my thing. How can you go wrong eating rings at a place with huge (50lb?) bags of onions you walk by to get into the joint? It hasn't changed in decades. You still place your order with the guy at the counter and he screams your request, usually in diner code, to the rest of the huge, visible kitchen staff. It's classic. Best sweet tea around, too. Clemson was a food wasteland when I was in school there, and apparently still is. The only restaurant I really remember eating at as a poor student was Bojangles. We usually had to make biscuit runs at midnight due to an overwhelming need for munchies. I really wish we had Bojangles up here. OK, so I realize I'm not helping you any, but thanks for mentioning the area. It's not much of a destination for people around here.

Water that gives you a headache. No thanks! (I'll chalk it up to individual variation, but I get a screamer of a headache after a TsingTao. Damned Asian congeners!).

I'm not affiliated with Yelp, and I've had my share of problems with them, but I've got to add my $0.02 here. As someone above mentioned, a great deal of Yelp's bad press and complaints is due to users and owners not understanding how the site works. From what I understand, reviews are filtered based on how much the reviewer uses Yelp. The 7 filtered reviews you're pointing to were posted by people with either one (6 people) or 2 (one person) reviews. When these users post more reviews, their reviews of Star of India will appear on the main page. Again, this is my understanding of the filtering system, but it seems to be holding true with my business' Yelp site, too.

SWMBO made Chicken Fricassee from this month's Cook's Illustrated. She has a knack of never making a recipe according to the directions, so she halved the amount of chicken and mushrooms and kept the sauce amount the same. It was served over rice and was perfect for the two of us. I'd highly recommend it.

SWMBO and I had a very disappointing meal at Minerva in Fairfax - Lee Highway last night. If we hadn't been there a couple of times before and had enjoyable meals, we'd never go back after this atrocity. We arrived at 5:30P to find that's when they open. "Good for us," we think. Wrong. While the entrees were cooked well and served at a good temperature, everything else seemed reheated (but not quite) from the night before. The dal was a lukewarm paste. The paneer was good, actually, but not warm enough. The naan was almost like a cracker (could that have been from the night before, too?). Mrs. DrX's chai tea was clove soup. Our waitron did NOT want to be there. I hope this is just a one-off on a Sunday night, but it may be quite some time before we give Minerva a try again. Jaipur and Bombay Garden were our first choices. Obviously, we should've stuck with one of them.

How were these? I just printed the recipe on Friday to make soon:-)