johnb

Only in DC can you BYO, at the option of the restaurant of course. In Va it is a no-no statewide with the exception of a purely private party. In MoCo it is a no-no. I think the rest of Md is the same, but am not sure.

How do Raley's markets in Calif compare to CM and Wegmans? I thought they were in that league, but so far have not been able to visit one. Consumers Report is always high on them.

And while we're fixing up the board, not to seem overly petty or anything, but the nation has been on STANDARD not DAYLIGHT time for several weeks now, so why is this board still timing messages in EDT? Is this why so many Rockwellians have been reported as showing up for their reservations one hour early, and thus going off to the bar to kill time and getting zonked? I'll get down off my soapbox now.

That may be true, but he sure did a lot of suburban restaurant reviews in odd places, like Greenbelt, White Oak, Wheaton, etc. Hardly the DC crowd. I think he lives out somewhere around Takoma Park, which if accurate probably explains why those spots.

It's even more ridiculous that they seem to have menus posted for every location of every fast food chain known to man. Puff up the restaurant count I suppose. And the ads are excruciatingly annoying. But the site nevertheless is clearly useful. Is it better than what Amazon has on their site? I don't know.

Niall If you've been perusing eG you probably saw the thread for Binkley's. I haven't been, but it appears to be awfully good from what they say there, and since Kevin is a cousin of mine (extremely distant) I'm curious just how good. He seems to be from a food/restaurant-oriented family---I know his Dad, whom I met at Maestro one evening due to our last names being the same. Kevin has worked at both the Inn at LW and French Laundry, and former collegues speak highly of him. Certainly seems to merit a slot on your short list. If you should happen to go, I'd love to hear about your experience.

If chosen, I'll bring some '66 and/or '61 Bordeaux. Carruades of Lafite is one possibility. Hillvalley can have all she wants as long as she sits at my table

If you're already 4 miles out, it's not too too much further up to Burtonsville where there is a fairly new Cuban place called Cuba de Ayer. Nice but not fancy, and the food is very good and authentic. Run by a young Cuban couple.

There is a sandwich shop called Hodges, at 616 NY Ave., directly across the street from Marrakesh and AV, which claims to have been around since 1893 or thereabouts (yes, the second number is 8). A true dive--it looks as if the decor has not been upgraded since opening day, but they serve one helluva good roast beef sandwich, with juice and all. Also turkey, almost as good it is said but I haven't tried myself. $5. Clientele seems to be mostly construction guys and cops, with a bit of everything else thrown in. Worth a visit. I'll further investigate the age claim next chance I get.

Janet and I were in there yesterday as well, about 5:30 (probably a bit earlier than you). My experience was not as positive. The fries were crisp, but maybe too crisp--the insides, especially the smaller ones were hardened up; personally I like a crisp exterior but a soft interior--I was thinking they would have been much better fried that long if they had been cut a bit thicker. One problem with frying small cuts (shoestrings especially) is avoiding overcooking, and maybe they just have consistency problems. For the burger, I had the single pattie, which might have been a mistake--the double may be a better way to go. There was no pink in the center, and it was over sauced and over lettuced. It didn't seem juicy to me, but it was hard to tell under the sauce. The pickles were good tho I must say. As was the chocolate malt. I'll try it again some day soon. But my next visit to the spot will take me across the street to P&P for a chili mac. Maybe I'll do a twofer! As an aside, I don't understand the point in grinding up "Kobe" style beef into burgers. AFAIK the virtue of Kobe is tenderness, not taste or juiciness. If you grind it, you lose it's main virtue anyway, and it is no better than other forms of beef. Personally I'll stick with good ol' 80-20 chuck.

I recall many years ago an article in the Post in which several big-name local chefs of the time were asked what is their favorite "down-and-dirty" local eats? Roy Rogers fried chicken (so called Pappy Parker's chicken) received a number of mentions.

Removed to RR thread

I've been mulling that over. But I've already done I-n-O (admittedly at the Industrial Road location not one of the ones in Henderson) but we'll see. I do want to try the fries well done animal style which I've never had. Hmmmm. I also want to try a Fatburger one of these days. May just have to plan another trip next Spring (after all, what's 5,000 miles in search of a good burger!). My sister is a big big proponent of I-n-O and I had my first ones in LA many years ago, even before I had ever heard of food boards. No doubting it is good. Now I also have to try an Elevation burger. BTW my only exprience at Culver's (southern Indiana) was only so-so, but that location is a long way from Milwaukee. I will definitely say A&W's cheese curds are way better than Culver's in my experience. I recommend A&W cheese curds anytime one can get some. There's just no end to it is there!

Disagree. But only because this is a somewhat special case. Here, "my own restaurant" is a single, unified concept, as in "my very own restaurant", and deletion of the "own" before restaurant detracts from the thought. It could have been "and have my own restaurant" but that seems weak. The way it was originally written strikes me as the best way to communicate the sentiment. Who among us, I ask you, has never thought of the pros and cons of owning his/her own restaurant?

Yes, I was debating L'Atalier vs. the Mansion in my mind for about a week but finally decided to throw caution to the winds and go all the way. We will be dining at Alex Tuesday night and the Robuchon at the Mansion on Wed. night. It will be an interesting comparison. Maybe we'll slip L'Atalier in there somewhere as well! Then we'll have T'giving dinner at Alize on Thursday. My stomach is already groaning at the thought of all that eating, since I'm also hoping for Rosemary's, Burger Bar, at least one buffet (Craving at Mirage??), maybe Seablue, Bouchon, oh Lord!, and now the friends we are going with have told us they are going to get married while we're there, so we'll have to make a side trip to Freed's for some wedding cake....groan. We may all end up in some ditch off Koval wretching our insides out. Can't wait.

Since we seem to have started something here, let's just throw out the question and get to the heart of it. Since so many think 5 Guys has gone downhill so bad (or never was so good to begin with), what is your suggested alternative place to buy a good burger? Washingtonian had an article on the subject (http://www.washingtonian.com/dining/greathamburgers.html) in which they really did pan 5 Guys; apparently many agree. The ones they liked best were at comparatively upscale places like Harry's Tap Room. The chains they liked most were Fuddruckers and Silver Diner--is that right? "Slackers" above seems to vote for BK. What do you say?

So can I. What I said was that the mere fact that they fall apart isn't bad; it indicates they wern't overpreped, and that is not a bad thing. Of course it is also possible to make juicy ones that don't fall apart, but the ones that are solid are also, very often, overpreped and dry. More to the point, you suggested that Johnny Rockets and Fuddruckers make better burgers. Maybe you just hit 5G on a really bad day/moment. I wasn't there, but in my mind there's just no question that 5G makes burgers that are MILES ahead of either of those, at least 99% of the time. Even the new locations. In my experience JR is about one grade above sawdust. Maybe you've had better luck.

To each his own, but I've eaten both at Fuddruckers and Johnny Rockets (not to mention Cheeburger Cheeburger), and many 5 Guys locations, and I've never had a 5G that wasn't at least better than anything I ever had at the other two (three). BTW, AFAIK, in a burger falling apart meat means it hasn't been over-mixed when being formed into patties. This is a good sign, not a bad one. A looser pack means a more tender, flavorful, and yes juicy pattie. You'll seldom find falling-apart burgers a McD or BK, or the other three mentioned above for that matter. Just MHO

In the FWIW category, Gayot.com, in its annual "restaurant issue," has just named Cathal Armstrong one of America's top five rising chefs. http://www.gayot.com/restaurants/restauran...isingchefs.html

The places in Bladensburg are fine in my experience. Relatively authentic, at least by DC standards. Much better than Well-dressed Buritto is El Charrito Caminante. Outstanding burritos, tacos, pupusas, etc. Carry-out except with some counters around the wall in front. If you haven't been to this place you must go. Both the cabrito and the chorizo are great--have the cabrito on taco and the chorizo on the burrito. It's in Clarendon on Washington St. I think, in the last set of stores before the road gets wide and takes you down to 395. Cheap too.

Now that Riz is leaving 1789, it will be interesting to see what happens there, not to mention wherever her new place turns out to be.

For those of you who follow Tyler's peregrinations around the ethnic dives of the area (but then he points out that even CityZen can be thought of as ethnic), he has now put up the latest (19th) edition. Link is http://www.gmu.edu/jbc/Tyler/19th%20Cowen.htm

Where, specifically, did he work, and was his opinion based on that experience alone or is it something he feels is more general around town? I have eaten several great meals in upper-end places in LV and never felt "high-roller pressure" was creating any problem for my experience--and I'm not only a low roller, I'm a non-roller.

SO and I made it in this eve. I had the blueberry based on Jeff C remark above, and coconut because I love it. Both very good. "Small" serving divided between the two flavors--it was a lot. SO chose the cherry with choc. chips in cone, She thought it was really good, including the cone. Very thick rich ice cream. Seems to have a bit of crystalization, but very heavy anyway. And the flavors really are intense. Worth a visit.

The ice cream place I mentioned above got today's space in the Post "Foraging" column. It's called Moorenko and is a branch of a similar place in McLean. Ultra-premium ice cream (17+% butterfat). The owner seems serious about what she does, and is said to travel regularly to Italy to sniff out new trends.