nelumbo

I started a thread for a possible outing to Xi'an Gourmet:

Would anyone be interested in meeting up at Xi'an Gourmet in Rockville to explore the menu? http://www.xiangourmetmd.com/menu.aspx I'd prefer a weekend because this is a bit of a drive for me in weeknight traffic, but could maybe do a weeknight if it were a bit on the later side. This coming weekend (March 9-10) is totally open for me, but after that I have a moderate preference for Sunday evenings.

I'm pretty sure Manila Mart in Beltsville has jackfruit dishes.

I haven't been to this one, but More Ice Cream in Middletown http://www.moreicecream.net/ has a sort of ice cream parlor in an old house. Not quite the ambiance I'm looking for, but something at least.

There also used to be that (much more posh) ice cream parlor in the lowest level of the National Gallery of Art. Proof: https://www.si.edu/exhibitions/ice-cream-parlor-3299

The attached image shows what comes up on google, " Unforgettable Flavors Cafe is in transition and has temporarily closed the cafe until March 1 2018. You can see Chef Neville at Mad Cow Grill Restaurant, 310 Domer Ave Laurel MD in the Laurel Shopping center, next door to CVS. The company will continue to provide catering services with Chef Neville. Call 240-582-7831 for your catering needs." There is also this article on the Mad Cow Grill: https://www.beltsvillenewstoday.com/single-post/2017/09/30/Mad-Cow-Grill-Restaurant-Opening-This-Fall-in-Nearby-Laurel

I live nearbyish and eat in College Park fairly regularly just for convenience. There has been a lot of turnover in the past 5+ years. These are the places that I can recall offhand, working vaguely north to south down Rt 1: Unforgettable Flavors, listed as temporarily closed online? one of the better Jamaican places in the area, odd location in Seven Springs Apartments Jerk Pit, I've only been here once or twice, thought it was ok but isn't at the top of my list for jerk Rita's Ice Custard, one of the few places with soft serve around, annoying parking lot, closed Oct-Feb (reopens early March). Look for monthly coupons in those snail mail coupon envelopes if you live nearby, there are usually BOGO deals for this location. Rasoi : this is an Indian restaurant inside of a hotel on Rt 1. Ate there once, would not go back - food and service were very meh, it had a weird grimy vibe as well. There are much better Indian options nearby in Langley Park, Hillandale, or Laurel. Kangnam BBQ: this a large Korean BBQ place on Rt 1. Have been there 2-3 times. It has seating for large groups and seems to cater to the university crowd - has a kind of noisy sports bar thing going. Food was ok but not amazing. NuVegan Cafe: http://www.donrockwell.com/topic/46986-nuvegan-cafe-100-vegan-franchise-with-raw-food-options-on-georgia-avenue-nw-in-park-view-and-baltimore-avenue-in-college-park/?tab=comments#comment-294506 I'm surprised this one is still open, but it is there every time I drive by. Food Factory: I've been here a few times for dinner, and wonder if it is better at lunch time? The buffet options seemed to be suffering a bit by the end of the day. South of UMCP: Aroy Thai: tiny little place on College Ave just off Rt 1. Decent thai, a couple of odder options (spaghetti versions of some noodle dishes). Better service than Pho Thom, the other local thai option. Krazi Kebob: Lehigh just off of Rt 1, shares a building with Bread N Greens. "Indian Pakistani Mexican Fusion", has things like naan pizza and naan wraps/quesadillas that you can get different combinations of Indian/Pakistani/Mexican fillings. This was perfectly fine as a quick counter service/takeout option if you need a fast meal to go. Cluck U Chicken: Ok, so I haven't eaten here in 20 years, but this was open when I was an undergrad in the mid 90s. I remember liking the fried mushrooms and teriyaki wings, with the hot flavors being very inconsistent. Ten Ren's Tea House: Used to go here more often before Kung Fu Tea opened down the street. Bubble tea is ok, the food options were kind of variable. Giant shave ice dessert things are...weird. "Original" Ledo: I remember eating at the real original Ledo's on 193 in Adelphi - but this is just a slightly nicer Ledo than the rest of the chain. Sauce is too sweet, weird crust, just ugh. Kung Fu tea: this is alternatively empty or overrun with college students depending on the season/time of day. Lots of options, properly made bubbles, also different jelly add-ins, and non-dairy flavors. Ivy Noodles: Chinese place with a bit of an eclectic menu. I like the two-person "dry hot pot" option, which is a giant bowl of veggies and your protein choices with the type of seasoning used in hot pot, but sans broth. Has non-american menu items, larger menu than NW Chinese next door, service on the slow side. Northwest Chinese: small place with limited noodly menu, good noodle options, often crowded at lunch or dinner Pho Thom: while pho is on the menu, the rest of the menu is "standard" american type Thai food. Food is usually decent but not exciting, service can be really really slow though Applebees: I remember when this opened to great excitement as a new dining option (prior to the opening of IHOP up near Ikea), haha.

Sounds great, I'll check it out. Thanks!

I'm looking for an ice cream parlor, similar to Farrell's (I'm thinking of the one in Wheaton Plaza 30+ years ago), or maybe the old Giffords. The key here would be a selection of ice cream products, including sundaes, with a substantial amount of indoor seating. A Friendly's would be an acceptable distant second - ie a restaurant type establishment that has regular food but also serves a variety of ice creams. IHOP would not make the cut because the quality of the ice cream is too low and it is more of an afterthought to the main menu. I was surprised to find that all the Friendly's around DC are gone, although there are still some up by Baltimore. Friendly's isn't close enough to what I am looking for to make it worth driving to Baltimore. The main issue with most of the ice cream/gelato/whatnot stores in the area is the lack of seating - if they have any seating at all, it is one or two tables in more of a "cafe" setting, and not what I think of as "ice cream parlor". I had hopes for the new Retro Creamery at Tysons, but it sounds like 1) there is no seating and 2) they don't have their act together yet in terms of service/having ingredients on hand/etc.

FYI, this is not in Beltway Plaza, it is a block or two down 193 in the building formerly occupied by Siri Chef's Secret.

The former Siri's location is now Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken, a Tennessee-based chain. http://gusfriedchicken.com/greenbelt-college-park-maryland-location/

Made it to Seoulia with a small group. The menu is down to a collection of standard dishes (bibimbap and the like), but they have kept most of the soup dishes from the earlier menu. I think there was a short list of bbq items, but it wasn't clear if this was for cooking at the table, or in the kitchen. We had the tteokbokki (spicy rice cake) with fish cakes, haemul pajeon (seafood pancake), soon dubu jigae (soft tofu stew), and the oxtail soup, plus appeased the lone vegetarian in the party with japchae sans beef (yam noodles with vegetables). The prices are fair, the dishes are generous, and one of the owners?chef?grandma? came out to advise on some of the dishes while we were ordering. The soon dubu jigae was similar to pre-re-branding; I found the oxtail soup to be a bit bland, but I think it is supposed to be that way. The tteokbokki was a pretty big hit with the entire group. I would like to see a few more tentacles in the haemul pajeon, which was a bit more batter and less seafood, but still quite tasty.

Seoulia appears to have reopened with new management, possibly a new owner, and a condensed menu, according to the internets. Will attempt to verify in person.

For anyone who frequents the New Deal cafe in the Roosevelt Center in Greenbelt, the current chef is leaving at the end of November, and the coop that runs the New Deal is changing the menu from Lebanese to something closer to American next month. There was a partial sample new menu on the neighborhood listserv that has stuff like burgers, salads, salmon, jambalaya, chicken and waffles, etc., approximately half vegetarian. The current chef (Karim) is possibly opening his own restaurant nearby after winning a $50k lottery ticket: "$50K Lottery Win Helps Restaurant Manager with Dream" by Kristin Wright on nbcwashington.com

Jodeem African Cuisine in Beltway Plaza (the indoor mall in Greenbelt with the Target on 193) has Nigerian cuisine. They have a small seating area and a hot food counter for takeout. The chef(s) are helpful and will explain the different dishes. Menu

Drat. I wonder if Kangnam BBQ in CP siphoned off some of the bbq-seeking crowd.

Kung Fu tea has a newish outpost in College Park, on Rt 1 near North West Chinese, a block down from Ten Ren.

There are still Highs around, mostly in Maryland north of I-70. One is down the street from the Howard County fairgrounds, do not recall if they have slush puppies. Rita's Italian Ice has a version that is alternating layers of frozen custard and ice. I will note that the ices have the same or higher calorie content as the frozen custard.

The Grand Mart near my house stopped selling szechuan peppercorns, so I've been ordering online. I have found that the quality of szechuan peppercorns has gone down a *lot* in the past year or two. I have bought from multiple sources, and ended up with bags of thorns, twigs, the black seeds from the center of the peppercorns, and in one case, an unidentified red seed that was the same color but clearly not a szechuan peppercorn. It used to be easy to pick out a few of the black seeds from the peppercorn husks, but now I just pull a few peppercorns out of a big bowl of debris. Anyone had any luck recently with a particular vendor?

Went to Chez Dior tonight, battling past some annoying lane closures due to utility work on Rt 1. The restaurant has booths along one side and a scattering of tables in the center; the table settings are...eclectic. One of the owners (I think) was in front handling the tables, and was very friendly and also helped to describe the dishes. I got the thiebou dienne (red version), which consisted of a generous slab of fish, partially stuffed with herbs and cooked with a tomato-tamarind sauce, accompanied by a large portion of rice cooked with tamarind and an assortment of vegetables - I think some kind of yam, cabbage, yucca? and maybe eggplant, also cooked with sauce. There was also a dish of tamarind based sauce to accompany, and a very small dish of very hot red pepper sauce as well - I have a high heat tolerance, and this was hot. I really liked the flavors, especially with the application of the tamarind condiment, and would like to try some of the other dishes from the menu. I don't eat fish often, but this was nicely cooked, with just a few easily removed bones. There was only one other table occupied while I was there, although a few people came through who may have picked up takeout. My meal at Chez Dior was way better than any of the dishes that I've had at Franklin's or Busboys across the street (which are usually packed), so this is a shame. It seemed like a number of the storefronts on their block were vacant, so that can't help. I think there may be free parking somewhere behind the restaurant, but I parked easily in public lot #4 just around the corner, which costs $0.50/hr until 8 pm. Tim Carman of The Washington Post also wrote it up last year.

I have a bottle of fish sauce that has been open for about two years, that lives on the counter next to the hot stove. Went to add some to a batch of curry, and the lid was clearly pressurized when I opened it. Now I assume that fermented items are going to keep fermenting...but I'm still slightly skeeved. Also, the aroma is very reminiscent of Japanese gummy candy, somewhere between peach and lychee. Anyone ever encounter fruit-scented fish sauce before?

So, I lived on Flower near Washington Adventist from 1985-1999. We used to get pizza from Giorgio's Pizza (Flower at Erie), which had puzzles all over the walls, and where you could get things like octopus and zucchini on your pizza - exotic for the 80s. I am sad to see that it is now a Pizza Movers, but then the original Giorgio family moved out and sold it to someone else in the 90s anyway, and I'm not surprised that it has moved on. However, it looks like there is now a small tea house around the corner on Erie, NaTra Teas, has anyone been there? It is a bit of an odd location, but maybe the college two blocks down will help them stay in business.

The Rita's in Laurel is indoors and open year round. The College Park Rita's opened the first week of March and was doing brisk business this week with the warm weather. This year they are apparently jumping on the "all natural" bandwagon with a handful of italian ice flavors that don't use artificial colors/flavors. I'm sure there is just as much sugar as in the un-natural ones though. The eggs have also returned to their frozen custard, which was replaced with regular soft-serve last summer during the egg shortage. I just wish the College Park location would carry the coffee flavor custard, but they usually only have some kind of fruit (orange or strawberry) flavor in addition to the vanilla/chocolate standbys.

Thanks for doing the writeup! I've had the papaya salad there at "American hot" level, and it was considerably more spicy than the "medium" version. I also really liked the Devil fish in particular for the tasty sauce, and also the crispy pork dish.

Yikes, looks like I'll take an alternate route. Will have +1, so that evens out