Young & Hungry, Washington City Paper - Jessica Sidman Replaces Chris Schott

[Ericandblueboy]

1 minute ago, DonRocks said:

You mean like that time I went to Fast Fare at midnight, came back to the fraternity house, ate an entire jumbo bag of Doritos sitting on the floor, and found an ERASER at the bottom?

I was usually hungry after smoking some whacky tobacci, or maybe after too many beers and I ate a lot of nachos, wings, and pizzas.

[Tweaked]

11 minutes ago, Ericandblueboy said:

Doesn't young and hungry imply that you eat shit and like it?  I don't know if I trust the opinion of anyone who is young and hungry.

If I remember correctly the original focus of the column was more of a cheap eats kinda thing, but has expanded its focus over the years

[DonRocks]

4 hours ago, Ericandblueboy said:

I was usually hungry after smoking some whacky tobacci, or maybe after too many beers and I ate a lot of nachos, wings, and pizzas.

Does anybody remember Jasper's in Greenbelt, and I mean the Jasper's circa 1980 -  not the "clubby" Jasper's it turned into?

They had things like nachos, stuffed potato skins, fried mozzarella sticks (with marinara dipping sauce), etc., each thing served in generous portions on large plates - I thought this was *such* gourmet food that I felt like I owned the world; I had absolutely no frame of reference as to what good cuisine was until several years later - my mom, God love her, could make some good pork chops, lima bean soup with specks of ham (really), and wicked-good stuffed cabbages (she was half-Croatian), and then on Thanksgiving she went pedal-to-the-metal, but that's about the extent of it for me - she grew up with 13 kids on a farm milking cows, busted her rear end to graduate from college and become a teacher, and then worked 10 hours a day for 30 years, on top of doing all the housework and raising three kids - she was the hardest worker I've ever known. One day I was going to play tennis with my dad, and right before we left, Sears had delivered a washing machine that we were going to lug downstairs, guide around a corner, and plug in, with me at age 20 doing the heavy lifting - when we got home, my mom - all 4'11" of her - had done it all by herself, and to this day, I don't know how.

"Harvey's" (The Restaurant of the Presidents) was the first fine-dining meal I ever had - does anyone remember Harvey's downtown? I have absolutely no idea whether or not it was any good (I probably had something like Steak Oscar), but it was seriously high-stakes dining for me at the time (I was earning $15/hour in a summer job teaching tennis lessons, and this was like a whole day's pay).

[DannyNoonan]

I remember Jasper's. I grew up not far from there and waited tables there one summer during college. 

[DaveO]

Yes Don I recall both of those places in the time frame you describe.  But only because I’m an old codger.  

It’s sort of pathetic but in thinking of them I focus on the drinking aspect.  Jaspers was a very busy place at that time and place.  Big restaurant and it had no real competition for its food and drinks in that area.  I enjoyed Harvey’s bar.  You had to walk down steps and the place was dark.  I liked places like that;  conceptually I thought it hid my drinking.  Gosh I really don’t remember the menu.  Was it already “dated”?

[DonRocks]

1 hour ago, DaveO said:

Jaspers was a very busy place at that time and place.  Big restaurant and it had no real competition for its food and drinks in that area. 

Kangaroo Katie's

Don't ask me why I remember, but this was the first place I ever tried alligator, in the form of Alligator Fritters - essentially deep-fried Stove Top Stuffing, with one cubic micron of frozen alligator meat. "Oh! Wait a minute! I just felt something chewy - *that* must be the alligator!"

[DaveO]

1 hour ago, DonRocks said:

Kangaroo Katie's

For the life of me I don’t remember that place at all (and there are many tedious reasons why I should). What year did it open or around what years?

[DonRocks]

12 minutes ago, DaveO said:

For the life of me I don’t remember that place at all (and there are many tedious reasons why I should). What year did it open or around what years?

I Googled it and found this!