mtureck

Damn...I was hoping that the Walmart deal was going to fall through....do we really need that right across from Target? http://rockville.patch.com/articles/delay-for-proposed-rockville-pike-wal-mart My son's gonna be sad when Cici's goes away. My arteries, no so much.

I'd never been to Redwood...first I heard that it wasn't very good, then lately I heard the opposite, so I finally went over to check it out. I went for Restaurant Week lunch, (I know, I know, not the best time to check a place out) and came away really impressed. One of the reasons I've never gone is the menu...a pretty generic sounding collection of the obvious restaurant trends of the day...charcuterie plate and artisinal cheeses, mussles, steak frites, pizzas and flatbread, etc. So maybe not the most original of places, but there's something to be said for a place that does those things well. I started with a cheese board with a Old Chatham "ewe's blue" cheese and a dry cured surryano berkshire ham. They were both excellent, and the board came with a small bowl of olives and gherkins, some sliced apple, some sort of fruit preserve (pear?) and number of slices of toasted bread. One of the nicest meat/cheese board I've had in town. I had the Blue Bay mussels with frites for my entree. Slightly overcooked, but excellent plumpness and flavor in a nice wine/cream/garlic sauce. The hand-cut frites were a little thin for my taste, but crispy and tasty. If I was in the mood for mussels frites, I'd have these again instead of going over to Mussel Bar. Ended with a simple caramel sunday with some scattered fruit. Paired it all with a nice Chenin Blanc for a reasonable $7. All in all, I was very happy with my the meal, and I'd certainly go back. I'd really like to try more from the meat and cheese selection, and see how their pizza and burgers rate.

Saw this sign in the old Gaffney's space in Bethesda...anyone have any info?

And it's much more responsible to make proclamations about a restaurant you admit you've never been to? Just as you'd never go review a new play knowing that an understudy is playing the lead, I think it makes perfect sense not to review a new restaurant when the primary chef/creator is away. When they've been around for years it's a completely different matter. Since we have RJ frequenting this discussion though, I'd be interested to hear his opinion...would you rather have your place reviewed when you are there, or does is not matter?

I've had good and bad RW experiences, and good and bad coupon experiences. I'm not so arrogant to think that I have to protect a restaurant against their own judgement though. Don, you've said that this is an "epic, industry wide disaster", but I've never seen any specifics in terms of restaurants that are being hurt. Can you, or any restaurants that are on here with couponing experiences, give us some examples?

Ah, obviously I was among the confused...thanks for the correction.

I'm concerned that they're about a year too late. How many Neopolitan pizza places does Bethesda need?

Do you have anything to back this up with, or are you just venting over reviews you don't agree with?

I've always walked past this place assuming it was more of a lounge/bar than a restaurant, and never went in. At the recent Taste of Bethesda though, they were out grilling sausages and hanger steaks for sandwiches. I tried, and really enjoyed, one of those Argentinian sausages before succumbing to the miserable weather. So I figured I'd give Divino a shot, and went there for lunch a few days ago. They have a nice lunch deal, three course with a glass of wine for $15 or a soda for $12. I had the Argentinian sausage again for the 1st course, which I enjoyed again. The main was a hanger steak with chimichurri sauce and mashed potatoes. Pretty good piece of meat, the sauce was more subtle than most I've had...which is a good thing, as I'm not too fond of parsley. The desert was my favorite part...a rolled up crepe filled with dulce de leche, with a brulee topping. Yum. It came with a glass of house red...I'm not a big wine guy, but I liked it. All in all, it was the perfect size for lunch, and obviously it was a good deal. The food was solid...nothing too exciting, but tasty. I'd go back again for lunch.

And that's that...Galileo III is closed. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/all-we-can-eat/post/galileo-iii-has-closed-donnas-future-uncertain/2011/09/16/gIQA6Mw7XK_blog.html

Thanks for the posts...I hadn't heard word one about this place, but after reading your bit I went down there for lunch today. And wow...that was surprisingly good! It was just me, so I can't give you much of an overview, but I really liked my meal. I got the steak with brown rice, Chinese broccoli, long beans, and green papaya slaw, topped with red curry sauce, chopped peanuts and crunchy garlic. The steak itself was impressive for a quasi fast food joint...nice thick chunks cooked medium in a good marinade. A nice combination of textures with the slaw and the crunchy toppings over the rice. They warned me that the red curry sauce was really spicy, and it actually was! A good, slow building tasty spice though, as opposed to a palate searing quick burn. All in all, a great combination of flavors...I really enjoyed it, and look forward to going back to try the chicken and the meatballs. Certainly the best rice bowl type meal I've had in a while. The line was long...it streched out the door and almost passed BGR, but it moved fast. Probably a ten minute wait once I actually hit the front door, twenty minutes total.

I had one yesterday...after posting on this thread I was lucky enough for them to show up right near my office! I think they are as good as ever. I prefer the Maine roll to the Connecticut, which I think is overly buttered and makes the roll too soggy. As for generous, they're about the same size as Freddy's and BGRs...which isn't really enough to fill me up, but it makes a nice snack. A $15 snack, sadly.

Haven't seen any reviews of this place in a while...thought I'd chime in. I went over the weekend to take advantage of a Capital Deals coupon...three course meal for two for $40. When we got there we were asked if we were using a coupon, and got a specific menu for it, which looked like Restaurant Week type menu, missing all of the higher priced foods that are on the real menu. Didn't bother me at all, as that's pretty much what I expected for such a good price...plus, there were still a lot of good options on the menu. Let me digress from the food for a second...this place is, physically, utterly charmless. I always roll my eyes when Sietsema goes on about style, decor or architecture in a review and skip on the the part about the food, but Chef Tony's really, really needs a makeover or an updating. It didn't help that there's no central ac...only a few window units and ceiling fans, and that it was uncomfortably hot inside on a 90 degree day. Back to the food. We had the mussels and the fried calamari to start. The calamari was too heavily breaded for my taste, which made it a bit soggy, but it was still pretty tasty. The mussels were excellent. The broth was good enough that I asked the server for bread to sop up the sauce, but he came back with pita triangles which don't work at all for that purpose. It was a shame to see the bowl taken away still filled with yummy broth. For the main course, we had parmesan crusted sole and penne with crab and a spicy tomato sauce. The fish was a little under seasoned, and a bit bland even with the lemon caper sauce. but was nicely crunchy. The pasta had a nice kick to it, with a nice amount of what appeared to be backfin crab. There was a bit too much cartilage left in though, which didn't bother me too much, but I heard two other tables complaining about it. Again, some good bread for sopping the sauce would have been nice. For dessert, we had a sweet potato "pie" with pecan ice cream, which was essentially a sweet potato brulee, and fried plantains with ice cream and nutella sauce. They both sounded much better on paper than they actually were, and we barely ate either of them. The service was decent, but they seemed understaffed and harried...maybe they had a bunch of extra people coming in to use coupons. All in all, I'd go back if I had another coupon, but not otherwise. The regular prices and food selection are pretty comparable with Grapeseed, and I like that place a lot better. Just one more note, Chef Tony's website is a bit of a mess...doesn't contribute to a good first impression. I know I'm sounding nitpicky at this point, but it all contributes to the feeling that the place simply needs to concentrate a bit more on the details. Just my two cents.

Part of the "true New England clam shack experience" is sitting outside overlooking the water, with the smell of the salt air and the sounds of the shore birds all around you. I won't complain about Freddy's lack of authentic ambiance if you don't complain about crazy folks asking for lighter sides.

I agree with most of the other posters, but the one thing I'd really like to see is a lighter choice of sides for the platters. The fries and onion rings are both far too heavy to work as a side for fried foods. How about the option of corn on the cob instead?

Just had lunch there today. I'd say the burgers were on par with Five Guys. Same style certainly, a little saltier, but juicy and tasty. The shake was good, but nothing exciting. The fries were dull and underwhelming. Not much else to say really...it's better than the Fuddruckers that it replaced, but all in all I'd go to Five Guys instead if given the choice.

Finally got around to eating there...a good pastrami sandwich has been on my DC wish list for a while now. I ordered a hot pastrami on rye with deli mustard, and a bowl of the chicken noodle soup. The pastrami was served on toasted rye for some reason...didn't care enough to get it switched out. Nice amount of pastrami, good fat to meat ratio, but it was way, way too salty.,,,overwhelmed any other flavor that may have been there. I hope I'm not the only one that's noted this...hopefully they'll adjust the spices. The soup was fine, with lots of chicken...but nothing exciting. The bakery goods were really expensive, and I didn't try any of them.