HelDC

So, hadn't been to Hell burger in a couple months, since mid August, cos broke college student budget didn't have room for going to restaurants. I was super excited to go, having had nothing but amazing food there over the summer. I was less than thrilled with the experience tonight tho. My boyfriend and I went, along with our roommate. All our burgers came out without any toppings besides cheese. The employee who'd taken our order sorted it out, brought us all plates with the toppings after a bit of a delay, but putting our burgers together for ourselves seriously decreased their structural stability. Once it was properly decked out, I tried my burger, and it just wasn't as good as I remembered/expected. It was quite acceptable, but it wasn't amazingly awesome like all the ones I'd had over the summer had been. My boyfriend and our roommate seemed happy tho, so maybe it was just my burger. The corn and mac&cheese and potato salad were all pretty yummy. The potato salad is mayo based. I had a chocolate covered strawberry float, which was chocolate soda with strawberry ice cream, and it was delish. Roomate doesn't like strawberry ice cream, but I talked her into trying the float, and she said it was something she might even order sometime.

I can't stand spicyhot stuff, while being pretty fond of spicyflavor stuff. I had a bite of the boyfriend's diablo sauce burger, and found it yummy, and not really what I'd call hot, really more what I'd call spicyflavor. Then again, it was just one bite, it might have been a less sauced bite. Boyf&I have gotten all ours to go, and they've all transported just fine. If you're especially worried, you could probably ask them to put the lettuce on the bun before the meat, they seem really open to requests of that sort.

The (or a) Hell Burger thread can be found at http://www.donrockwell.com/index.php?showtopic=9561&st=0

I liked the RHB burger better than Palena, tho it's been about 2 years since I had a Palena burger, cos as far as I'm concerned, not giving me tomato on my burger is a crime. Palena doesn't give me tomato on my burger, I don't eat at Palena. A burger isn't just about the meat!

Found out about HellBurger tonight, and promptly dragged my boyfriend there. I got muenster, mushrooms, tomato, pickles and mayo, he got raw red onion, pickles, mushrooms, vermont white cheddar, lettuce and tomato. Mine was ordered 'as rare as possible' his was recommended and au poiver. Somehow his was much pinker than mine, but mine was still one of if not the best burger I've ever had (and I'm normally of the opinion that if it's not bleeding and mooing, it's not worth eating!). I could have done with a somewhat more....stable bun, and I thought the corn could have used a bit more cooking, tho my boyfriend was more than happy to eat my corn as well as his. We'll definitely be going back, frequently! We still haven't tried the ice cream for one, having both noshed a bit before finding out about and going to dinner.

OOOOOOO. Steak and shake. *drools* I've been three times, to various ones in the general iowa area, and 6 years later, I STILL crave their food. There have been several occasions I have seriously considered driving the 400 or so miles to the nearest one in PA.

Had a burger and fries tonight at Palena. It was good, but...... It was too salty. Not so much that I didn't enjoy the burger, cos I did, but such that every single bite I tasted salt. And, ya know, for $10? Just include the damn fries, and if I want tomato, give me a slice of bloody tomato. I'll be sticking with the bison burger at ruby tuesday. It's only a 7 minute bus ride or 25 minute walk away, and it's cheaper, especially once one factors in the price of a fry plate at palena, comes with fries or even broccoli if I want, actually has my CHOICE of toppings, and is just as good a burger without being overly salted.

Rare with cheddar, mushrooms, and tomato. Major points to them for the two large thick slices of tomato. (I LIKE tomato, and a lot of places, you get one slice, and it's even odds if it'll be a large slice from the center or a skimpy slice from the end, and odds are it won't be all that thick.) Minor deduction of points for the somewhat clueless look on the waitress's face when I asked what toppings were available for the burger, and for her reply of 'um, anything really, like bacon or whatever', since the menu just says 'choice of toppings' and doesn't specify the options. The bun was a bit thick as well, towering about an inch and a half above the burger and defeating my best efforts to squish it a bit in order to make it easier to bite. I ended up eating the burger sideways! But it was very yummy, and very not greasy (tho I don't think I've ever had a burger made with black angus that was greasy). I wouldn't have minded at all tho, had the burger been just a lil thicker and the bun about half as thick.

Town Hall was great!

Oooo, the grilled cheese&tomato soup appetizer and the burger sound good! An intriguing suggestion!

Ok, so I've been craving a burger for days, and wanna try one I haven't tried. I'm thinking palena, mainly based on convenience of location and this thread, the friend I'm going out with suggested clydes or old ebbets grill. suggestions? One of these, some other option? NW DC, somewhere around georgetown-cleveland park-tenleytown preferred. Deadline to influence my dinner is 2:30pm

I'm a big fan of Sorriso! Been twice, both in the past month or so. The first was to celebrate my birthday. We'd planned to go to Dino, but it was saturday night and the wait was about 45 minutes, so we wandered up the street and ended up in Sorriso. We had a salami and cheese and veggies platter to start with. I don't recall specifics about any of the salamis or cheeses, but they were all quite yummy. The bread was good too, and the olive oil served was, IMO, as good as the olive oil at Dino or Jaleo. My friend got a glass of pinot grigio, which she pronounced quite good. she got a plain cheese pizza for her entree, and I got spaghetti carbonera for mine. Both entrees were quite enjoyable. The pizza was a tad more oily than I like, but, I've never had pizza anywhere that wasn't, since I prefer entirely unoily pizza, so I don't hold that against them. I was very impressed by my spaghetti, in that it was suitably rich without being TOO heavy, and so mouthwatering that even after I felt I couldn't possibly eat another bite or I'd burst (and have no room for dessert!) I still could barely refrain from indulging. For dessert we split a slice of the dark chocolate cake, which was delicious, and addictive. The server mentioned some dessert with lemon and strawberries, which I made a mental note to try the next time. There was a large party at the table next to us, and we blatantly ogled their food, all of which looked mouth watering. The calamari fritti, a favorite of mine, in particular looked quite good, but I didn't have room for another bite, so decided a return trip was in order. That return trip was made for a solo lunch tuesday, and I again found the food to be great. The calamari in particular, has now become my measure against which all other calamari is judged. It was perfectly crisp on the outside, with the batter consisting of something utterly delicious which I am entirely unable to identify but utterly addicted to, and the squid itself was perfectly tender and exactly the right thickness, neither too skimpy nor too meaty. I've had calamari at a number of local restaurants, and this calamari was hands down the best. The tomatoes topped with mozzarella was a win as well. It was lightly peppered, and lightly olive oiled. I don't know what specific mozzarella they used, but it was just amazing. The tomatoes were a bit out of season, although still quite good, but the mozzarella more than made up for the slight deficiencies of the tomatoes. Unfortunately, when I asked about the lemon and strawberry dessert, the waiter had no idea what I was talking about, probably because all I remembered was 'it was something with lemon and strawberry.' So I had a slice of the dark chocolate cake, and it was even more addictive than before. I don't know if Sorriso has changed chefs since spring when people had the not so great experiences, but Sorriso is definitely a very strong contender in my list of places to go to dinner.

Went to the Jaleo in Bethesda tonight. We had Pan con tomate y jamón serrano-Spanish imported cured ham with traditional tomato bread, Pan con tomate y queso Manchego-Tomato bread with ‘Manchego’ cheese, Pato con peras-Duck confit with pear sauce, Calamares a la Romana-Fried squid with allioli, Patatas al ‘Cabrales'-Potatoes with ‘Cabrales’ cheese sauce, and Cazón en adobo al estilo de Cádiz-Marinated fried shark like people do in Cádiz, with the Espuma de chocolate blanco con fresas-White chocolate mousse with fresh strawberries, mint & pistachio for dessert. Most everything was yummy, if a bit overpriced. The shark tasted odd (compared to shark steaks I've had), I think from the marinade, but was very tender. The mousse should have been heavier or lighter, but was yummy. The squid was good, but I had the calamari fritti at Sorriso for lunch yesterday, and that was the one squid to rule them all, so the squid at Jaleo tonight paled in comparison. The waiter, while very polite and friendly, required flashing lights and signal flags to get his attention, so we tipped rather less than we would have otherwise. It wasn't crazy busy or anything, and he came around a couple times and failed to notice us gesticulating wildly for his attention. He did however, seem to be genuinely failing to notice us, not actively ignoring us, so we didn't leave him a bunch of pennies in a drink glass.

I'm a big fan of the Bison burger at Ruby Tuesday. Specifically the RT in DC at 4200something wisconsin ave. I like rare burgers, and a lot of places, even in DC, don't really make rare burgers, but that RT does. Not greasy, but always nice and juicy, on a yummy wheat roll.