Cuddlyone

Actually, Bagel City is still open, although I’ve given up on them. Bagels are not as great as they used to be and bialys are now just fat rolls with onions on top. My favorite bagel place is Georgetown Bagelry, but their bialys stink too.

Love their breakfast too. I get coffee (they bring a whole pot), 1 pancake (large and tasty), and an order of bacon (soft, the way I like it). For a few bucks, a great breakfast!!

On 6/13/2016 at 10:41 AM, Simul Parikh said:

Can't really compare prices from Slidell I still remember $3/dozen oyster happy hours during med school. Really gotta try out QD, sounds fantastic.

Sorry to be 3 months late, but I've got you beat!  In the early 1980s I had a case in U.S. District Ct  in Panama City, FL and a bunch of us went out to lunch at a super divey oyster bar.  The Apalachicola oysters were $1 a dozen served up on cafeteria trays.  You sat on bar stools facing the shuckers and they served them up in stacks of three, four, or five trays.  The locals ate them on saltines topped with cocktail sauce.  Best 5 bucks I ever spent! 

Sorry it me so long to reply.  I totally agree! My kids love FF too and me and the spouse is always happy to have a benign meal!!

14 hours ago, DanielK said:

There's a long story that I don't know all of about how the original guy partnered with someone else to open the other locations. They apparently had some kind of falling out at one point, and for a while the menu at Federal Plaza was different than the other places. A few years ago, they seem to have reconciled, but I haven't tested the other locations recently to see if they are any good.

Took the kids to Bethesda location a couple of months ago. The good: pizza still decent NY style. The bad: shabby (booth seats were torn and duct taped), floor was dirty, salads were just OK. 

About twenty years ago, my BFF and I had to return early from a vacation in Charleston because her dad was ill. It was Sunday night and her birthday and we were exhausted.  We made it as far north as Emporia when we decided we couldn't go any further. After getting a room at a pretty crappy motel, we drove and drove, looking for a place to eat. The only place open on a late Sunday night was a Pizza Hut. You know how they say there's no such thing as bad pizza? Well, that's not true. This pizza was beyond bad, beyond disgusting. It was a gray, hard disk  covered with gross sauce and plastic cheese. Worst pizza of our lives, but, intestingly, something we look back upon often. 

Stopped in late last week for a snack during soft opening. Very nice looking room in a "market" setting. We sat at the bar and had a bottle of wine and a veggie board (in a review today, Pete Wells asked what will happen to all those boards when the board fad fades away). Great selection of roasted peppers, green beans, caponata, olives, buffalo mozzarella, focaccia and other stuff I can't remember. Prices for food and wine seemed pretty darn reasonable for this area.

Maybe I'm just easy to please, or maybe my expectations were low at the start, but I've always enjoyed my breakfasts at Ted's (never been for any other meal).  The food is reliable, they handle special requests well, and they are kid-friendly.  We don't go there often, especially when it's just me and the husband, but it definitely serves a purpose - and I guess I've never really thought of Ted's as presenting itself as something special?

You're exactly right! We've had salads and pancakes and, God forbid, bacon that was perfectly good. I just don't think that makes us "clueless." I guess I'd rate it serviceable.

Why is Ted's Bulletin so horrible? Matchbox wins no prizes (well, actually they won the Rammy), but it isn't *that* bad; Ted's Bulletin is pretty much universally derided by anyone who isn't completely clueless.

Well, that's a tad judgmental. Now I'm kind of afraid to say something positive about this place.

. the chicken in the dish was overcooked hunks of meh though, perfect for someone that doesn't care what their Soylent Green looks or tastes like (hey look! a cube of protein!). The sauce was at least flavorful and the pasta was not overcooked at all. .

I mostly lurk, but just wanted to say that I love it when the comments, rather than being a straight review, are about how the commenter is so much better, more informed, smarter, more foodie, etc., than all the stupid common people. Please keep it up.

Not to be rude, but is this a joke? I never heard of a request to "donate" money to a privately owned for-profit business.

Forgive me Don if this is the wrong place to post this, but I needed to talk about our meal at Vin 909 in Annapolis. We thought we were lost when we got there because it's located in a residential neighborhood in what looks like somebody's house. When we saw all the people waiting on the lawn, we knew we were in the right place. It was just 6pm on Saturday night, but we waited about 45 minutes for a table. There's a pretty lawn with benches to wait for a table, so we ordered a bottle of wine and sat for a while. There are two small dining rooms inside and and a small patio out back. Also, there were two tables on the front porch that didn't look very comfortable. Oh yeah, the food. For starters I had the "Chesapeake farm raised clams" with wild mushrooms, grilled corn, scallions, garlic, smoked bacon, white wine, and cream. I think this was the best dish I ever had in my life. The clams were perfectly cooked, the bacon was thick and meaty, and the sauce was perfectly decadent. My SO, not as pro-cholesterol as I am, had the greens with blue cheese. SO loved it. Then we moved on to the pizza. Pizzas are sort of oval, pretty thin, but not soupy at all. Kind of Roman if you know what I mean. I had the Spotted Pig with spicy soppressata, wild boar meatballs, tomato sauce, mozzarella, basil, and provolone. SO had the Trip, wild mushrooms,taleggio and fontina cheeses. Pizzas were AMAZING. Perfectly balanced amounts of sauce, cheese and toppings. Service was friendly and efficient. Char was just right. When informed of a food allergy, the server checked with the chef for each dish we ordered. Sorry, no dessert report, too full.

We were there last Saturday. Had their pizza for the first time. Wanted to test out their version of Neapolitan pizza and it was great: just cheese, tomato sauce and basil. Crust was pretty salty, but that's how we like it, great chew, and, bravo, not at all soupy. Don't miss the charred asparagus: baby stalks and butter, yum!

Bad night at Haven. Liked the clam pizza a lot last time I was here. Last night, not so good. Pizza came just barely warm. Ruined the whole melty, cheesy, clammy taste. When you pay almost thirty bucks for a pizza (yikes, did I say thirty?), you expect more. Not to mention a waiter who obviously had never waited on a table before. My SO asked for a lemon wedge for her salad and he brought it to the table in his hand and put it down on the bare table--gross!

So this is weird. Beautiful weather last night, so we went here to eat at their new outdoor dining area. Amazingly, it was closed because it was too "hot." Temp was high eighties with a nice breeze. Isn't that exactly when you want to eat outside? We ended up going to the Matchbox in Rockville and eating on their patio (which was packed).

I love Dino, but, being an inveterate suburbanite, I'm wedded to my car and can never find parking there. Any suggestions?

"Service was friendly, efficient, and except for the fact that I had to twice tell our server that I'd pour the wine, very good."

Do you pour your wine an extra special way, please tell.

I totally get it. Some people (me included) like to drink wine at their own pace and not have the waiter at the table every few minutes.

Did someone say muffuletta? Best we ever had was in N.O. near the French Market. I think the place was called Central Grocery. Would love it if this place was as good.

Unfortunately, the spotty service is a problem. We were there on Wednesday (no sign of Melissa, but the goofy new manager was there) and the pizza was great as always. I asked the waitress to put my leftover pizza in a box and she dropped a piece on the floor. She didn't apologize, she didn't replace the pizza, and she jammed the rest in a small foil container. Bit of a bummer.

They used to have a wonderful bone in rib eye that I thought was the best I ever had. Of course, that was pre Ray's the Whatever. But, alas, it disappeared a few years ago.

What makes this place Venetian? I just browsed the menu and found it lacking in Venetian specialties.

I'm not sure they're claiming to be a Venetian restaurant. I think they might have taken some liberties with their name and were going for a broader "small plates" vibe. BTW, I think their doing pretty good so far.

We also ate at Sugo night two. Agree about the service; a little rough, but I guess that's to be expected. As to the pizza,I'm all about the crust. We had the pizza with sauce and mozzarella (not buffalo). Not soupy at all. The problem with buffalo mozzarella is that it releases a lot of liquid when it melts, resulting in "soupy" pizza. Our crust was crisp, with a good bite, a little salty, great crumb. However, there was way too much sauce. With a crust this good, they need to dial the sauce way back. My advice is to order the "oven baked bread. " it's the pizza crust with a little olive oil, salt, and rosemary. We loved it.

Lunch today. Lobster roll and Salad.

Pros - lobster was very good. Tasted recently cooked and had just the right amount of mayo.

Cons - tiny amount of lobster. Maybe two or three ounces. I wouldn't expect a half pound, but for 15 bucks be a little more generous. Salad had a bunch of old brown lettuce and was minus the promised hazelnuts. Also, amazingly, they said they had no oil for the salad (I'm allergic to vinegar).

What about Bagel City in Rockville? 1. Their bagels are not the size of frisbees and not doughy (think Einstein or Chesapeake). 2. The crust is crispy with a great bite. 3. The inside has a great chew, not too soft, not too hard. Downside: servers/cashiers are rude, but worth the aggravation. PS, the bialys are great too (but extremely oniony-I dump out the onions when I get home).

Go dig up your dead grandmother and fuck her eye socket.

Meant to say the above quote from DR is not a very nice thing to say. Sorry you're so angry.