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Deac

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Everything posted by Deac

  1. Deac
    The Washington Post is reporting that Piratz Tavern across the street is closing next weekend.
  2. Deac
    agreed it was a great event. I've been to plenty of tastings where it's hard to get samples and the crowd is suffocating. this was the appropriate amount of people, and $25 was a bargain. they gave my wife and me each an extra beer sample ticket because our last name is a good "beer name" -- it's spelled similar to a style of beer. and after a couple of beer samples my wife wanted to drink cider instead so I got her tickets. I wanted a couple of other people to come but they tried to get tickets after it sold out. we left around 2:30 because we were stuffed, but I imagine if we had a group we would have stayed longer to chat.
  3. Deac
    French Broad recently moved to new, much bigger digs and it still has lines around the block (at least it did the weekend after Christmas). We absolutely loved Wicked Weed for lunch (went there unexpectedly after we found that 12 Bones is closed on weekends). Seven Sows had some really inventive, delicious food...their fish sauce caramel wings are the best wings I've ever had. They also have a great whiskey selection (and cocktails) and terrific fried chicken. Curate was incredible, but since you didn't mention it I'm guessing you were shut out for a reservation there given its popularity. If you have a chance to try and pop in at the bar for a drink and dish or two, by all means, go. One of the most satisfying meals we've had in a long while.
  4. Deac
    It's called "Beat Bobby Flay," and it's similar to "Throwdown," but now the competitors come to him. They start out with 2 chefs who must cook a dish with a featured ingredient picked by Flay. The ingredient has to be the "star of the dish," which is easy when it's a protein or certain vegetables but sometimes it's much harder to showcase the ingredient. Then two judges -- usually Food Network personalities -- pick which dish is better. The winner goes against Bobby Flay and they each have to cook the contestant's signature dish. Albisu's was steak and eggs. Then they do a blind tasting at the end with a different judging panel that didn't watch the proceedings.
  5. Deac
    Sietsema confirmed in his chat today
  6. Deac
    Yeah it's a worthless review, especially because he literally only has 2 paragraphs dedicated to the food! There's a lot on the design, on the chain, their reasoning for going to Maryland, etc. Plus it has one of my least favorite cliches of his: fishing metaphors for seafood restaurants. He gets very cutesy in his writing (e.g., "grape juice" for wine, "meat market" for steakhouses, etc.). But the fishing ones are the worst.
  7. Deac
    technically I think it's not vegan because I believe the green curry has fish sauce in it
  8. Deac
    and one of those chefs who couldn't make an omelette was Dan O'Brien from Seasonal Pantry. he never even made it onto the main show.
  9. Deac
    that's basically what I told her -- to go in with an open mind. and she loved it. I thought she would never actually even try the pork lychee dish, but she had a few bites, and said that while spicy, it was great (she has a big aversion to spice).
  10. Deac
    finally (finally!) going to try it this coming Monday. my wife went with friends on Saturday night while I was doing a sort of bachelor party at Del Campo. to me, everything on the menu looks delicious, but she was eyeing it and seeing not much that appeals (she can be a very picky eater at times, but she will also go to Rogue 24 or Komi and eat and enjoy most everything), so she was skeptical. but of course she loved it and is ready to take me there ASAP. we're going to celebrate the end of her perpetual jury duty on a murder trial. woulda gone tonight but she has a dr's appt, so we're going to hold out for next week.
  11. Deac
    if I recall there are 2 levels of pairings you can do. we had the premium and it went...cocktail, sparkling wine, white wine, red wine, dessert wine. there was also a beer in there but I do not remember where it slotted in.
  12. Deac
    wife is out of town next week, so thinking about treating myself. what time would a solo diner need to be in line to get in at the opening? alternatively, if I showed up at, say, 6:30 by myself how would I stand for getting a seat. if it's before 5 or something like that I might just stick with Little Serow, which is practically across the street from my office.
  13. Deac
    I respect Tom for what he does, but his writing seems to have gotten too cutesy. Every dish is swathed or bathed or lashed or served on a raft. Steakhouses are always "meat markets." When going to a seafood restaurant he's "going fishing." Wine is often referred to as "grape juice." And he has also gotten very into the design of restaurants, which he does mention in this interview. But in the recently dropped spring dining guide, where he only has a paragraph or two for each place, too much is devoted to the look of the place.
  14. Deac
    Tom, please find another word to describe fish than "silken," especially when referring to the black cod at Rasika. I think that word always accompanies that dish.
  15. Deac
    Panic is my favorite band. Jimmy Herring is a damn wizard. Hoping they come back to DC this year (was on my honeymoon when they hit Wolf Trap last summer). Might try and see them at Lockn' Festival in Nelson County where they're playing two nights, one with Steve Winwood sitting in (Fogarty did this with them at last year's fest). Also excited to hit up R24 next month.
  16. Deac
    It was a semifinalist this year
  17. Deac
    My wife lived in Fredericksburg for a few years while getting her Masters at UMW so I was there basically every other weekend and hit up every spot in town. We like Foode a lot for a casual lunch (they don't have a lot of seating, so you might have to wait a while). The best dinner spot in town is Bistro Bethem which always has a changing menu with sort of New American dishes, and some pizzas and sandwiches thrown in for good measure.
  18. Deac
    we cancelled it. since it was my cousin's birthday I let her call the shots on where we went, but I did make sure she did that at least.
  19. Deac
    We went a few weeks ago for my cousin's birthday. We saw a Sunday matinee show at the Kennedy Center, and had a reservation at Scion for like 6:00 (which was what she had booked at the absolute last second). But we had a couple hours gap and head to her apt on 14th Street for her and her mom to go over some wedding stuff. Since it started snowing, my aunt and uncle didn't want to walk all the way to Dupont for Scion, so we were able to walk right into Barcelona around 5:30 and snag a table for 6 people. I don't remember everything we had, but I agree for the most part with your assessment. Our server was a little pushy on some things like the paella and one of their special jamons. They have a large charcuterie and cheese selection at the top with everything having a listed price, but the jamon he was pushing didn't have one, and since we knew we were in for a big meal we opted for a different jamon, which seemed to disappoint him. Highlights for me were the kale salad, the calamari (the plate was stuffed with tentacles, which are by far my favorite part and most people in my party didn't touch those, opting for the rings), and the chicken and jamon croquettes (had to order another round of those). The piece de resistance, however, was the roast suckling pig, which was accompanied by roast potatoes, brussel sprouts, pickled onions, and chimichurri. It's $18/person so we ordered one for "2 people" which yielded plenty of pork for all 6 of us. Very tender meat and juicy, covered in loads of very crisp, crackling skin. The onions and chimichurri added a great hit of acid to balance out the fattiness. Now, I've had suckling pig in Spain many times and am used to just getting the whole animal, nose to tail, on the plate. The piece we were served here was roughly the same size, but seemed to come more from the rib area of a larger pig. Perhaps they just can't get the actual suckling pig product in high demand here, perhaps US customers freak out at seeing essentially a whole pig on the plate. Whatever it was, it was delicious, and I still think about it. I remembered we ordered the hangar steak with truffle sauce, and the tapas were supposed to come before the pig, but when the pig came our server said that would be the last of things, and we reminded him of the steak. He apologized and went to go check on it. As soon as he left it showed up. He came back to let us know he had put the order in again but we showed him it had come and he said ok and walked off. Then about 10 minutes later another one showed up delivered by him. We weren't charged for either, and really the second one was totally unnecessary given all the food we had (but I guess it was too late). And because he overheard my cousin mention it was her birthday he said dessert would be on him and he brought back an entire large cutting board with like 5 different desserts on it, including a flan, chocolate molten cake with cherry chocolate ice cream, nutella crepes, and a couple of other things I forget. The crepe was great, and the rest were fine, but we put everything down. The Spanish wine selection seemed pretty good to me, and they had a whole page of the Ribera del Duero region, which is near and dear to my heart because I studied abroad in Salamanca, just nearby. They were quite reasonably priced we thought, at roughly $35-40 for the three bottles we had. All in all a great meal, and we wouldn't hesitate to return.
  20. Deac
    just returned from a stupendous lunch there. here's how it's described on Facebook: they first bring you 2 small appetizers, one bok choy with some soggy tempura something or other and a side of what they called potato salad, which was some veggies mixed in with potatoes the consistency of mashed potatoes (with perhaps a bit of mayo as well?). both were ok, but I didn't eat much to save room. next up was the star of the show: 2 bowls, one with an incredibly rich and supple broth and the other containing what I assume to be housemade noodles, half an egg with soft yolk, lobster meat, and chashu pork (all cold). on the side was a rice ball and some pickles. though the ingredients were chilled, a quick soak in the fabulous broth did the trick. all in all a deeply satisfying meal, but I will admit I prefer the more standard (at least around here) prep of everything coming out pre-assembled. still, ramen day at Taro is one of my favorite of the month.
  21. Deac
    according to the restaurant's Facebook page, today is ramen day! their post says it'll be different than usual, but doesn't give any details. I'll be there!
  22. Deac
    I eat at Super Tacos fairly frequently and like it for the most part but find the carnitas to be very dry a lot of the time, so I get the cochnita pibil instead which is similar but juicier. I usually get 3-4 tacos (some combo of chorizo, carnitas, pibil, al pastor) but sometimes do the huitlacoche quesadilla or gordita de chicharron. haven't tried a torta or burrito yet. and I get a horchata to wash it all down. the tacos are a little pricy by taqueria standards, but much larger than their counterparts.
  23. Deac
    the gist I'm getting from the Post article is that she wanted to do things one way and perhaps NRG wanted to do things another way. which is why it looks like they won't "officially" have a head brewer but a team.
  24. Deac
    sorry that was poorly written. I'm not friends with the new brewer, but my friend is basically in the same situation as this new guy at Bluejacket, also a Brown bio grad. my friend has been jumping from winery to winery for a few months at a time (in Australia now). I'm not as familiar with the wine industry, but hoping he can get something good after doing this.
  25. Deac
    yeah I might just have to hold off. making dinner tonight (though I don't live far). my office is across the street, so it's the perfect lunchtime stop.
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