Where Did You Dine?

[synaesthesia]

In the Big Easy...

half dozen raw oysters and an oyster po boy - delicious with tartar sauce and cocktail sauce at Acme

dinner at Galatoire's - lighter than I expected. Pleasantly surprised by their beef carpaccio hors d'ouerves - mad props to their sommelier Chris Ycaza - he's sweet and a cutie

[qwertyy]

Ordered from Armand's: pizza, salad, soda.

Ninety minutes later received: cold pizza.

Thirty minutes later received: warm salad, warm soda.

On calling the manager, was asked: "Well what do you want me to do about it?"

The delivery options in this city may inspire me to finally start cooking again!

[keithdcil]

Saturday night...After a show at Lincoln Center (South Pacific) in NYC we dined at Whym. We drank a few glasses of their house sangria and shared fried calamari in a sweet /sour sauce and a wedge salad with blue cheese for starters. We could have made a meal of the calamari and stopped there. For Entrees she had short ribs and I had the blackened scallop special - both plates were huge and tasty. This place is comfort food heaven. After dinner we walked back to the Empire Hotel and had a nightcap in the sleek lobby bar before going to sleep.

Sunday, we woke up early and walked all the way to Chinatown and rewarded ourselves with DIM SUM at the Golden Unicorn. 2 1/2 hours later we squeezed our big bellies into a cab to Laguardia and flew home.

[monavano]

Finally went to Central last week. I had the corned beef which was so soft and delicious. Fries were great. Mr. MV ordered the cheeseburger med. rare. I had a couple bites. Holy shit! *channels Oprah* I GET IT, PEOPLLLLLLLLLLLE!.

I was like steak tartar inside an outer nicely charred burger. The potato tuile is brilliant. I so get it now and the $17 price tag is A-OK with me.

My mom had the onion soup which has a perfect cheese to soup ratio and is very flavorful.

I enjoyed the strawberry soda and we all agreed the bread was top notch.

Our server was nice and handled a really high maintence bitch on wheels patron next to uswho complained about wilted lettuce in her salad and demanded a new one-after she had eaten darn near most of the first one.

[seanvtaylor]

Palena in the cafe last night. Excellent hamburger, 1/2 of a fry plate, and a sidecar for me, followed up with a cheese plate. My GF had the other 1/2 of the fries and the consomme prillantine, a lusciously flavorful concoction that she loved, and the cinnamon ice cream (with vanilla pear).

We have dinner in the cafe maybe once a month, and it has never been off-always good service, always good food and drinks.

[DonRocks]

Negligent. Lebanese Taverna Market (a terrible night for them, with even the old chestnuts such as baba ghanoush having a rough evening), Spezie (should be in everyone's rotation, world-class pasta, I'm not a fan of their panna cotta which I find corn-starchy), Sunflower (get the Macro Plate, just do it), Qdoba Mexican Grill (yes, a second time for their vegetarian burrito with black beans, loaded up with guacamole and hot sauce, mmmm), Bombay Curry Company (as good as ever, some of the best chicken wings I've ever had), Birreria Paradiso (love the beer selection, pizza was decent, with the crust not as dense as usual), 2 Amys (pizza as good as ever, I didn't see any decline in quality this evening), BlackSalt (still my pick as best seafood restaurant in the city right now, remarkable happy hour deals up until 7 PM, people should pay BlackSalt more attention, I love this restaurant right now), Central (food seems to have gotten heavier on recent visits, everything was difficult to finish, runaway truck ramp approaching in early June, hold on, hold on!), Rasika (inexplicable why some people find this cooking to be so compelling, the recipes are interesting but there's very little depth of execution, and it's not a matter of being "refined" either), Cheesetique Wine Bar (cheeses are good of course, but simply too expensive at $19 for five, other than that, this cafe is unremarkable and I feel no rush to return), Urban Burger (one of the best bacon cheeseburgers I've had in a long time, cooked to a perfect medium-rare, I'm surprised more people aren't praising this place), Hard Times Cafe (Chili Lime wings, grilled - shockingly good), Argia's (spaghetti and lasagna were all I could hope for, Argia's workaday red-sauce pastas are consistently good). Whew!

[Joshua Grinnell]

Cashed in a collection of gift cards for Coastal Flats- excellent crab cake, couldn't even find any binder, just a crumb topping. Scooped up forkfuls with the coleslaw and made it that much better. Friend had the sea bass with a side of roasted mushrooms, very subtle taste which I liked. Wife had a key lime martini foisted on her by waitress who acknowledged that it wasn't our money to start with, with graham cracker rim on the glass... it was the only thing that wasn't slightly oversalted, but otherwise everything was excellent.

[food.fiend]

take-out brats from PS7s... with homemade mustard... and shoestring potatoes.... yum....

[giant shrimp]

no small fluke at palena -- crusted with almonds and buttered, sitting by white asparagus, raised as moles and dabbed with orange -- simple, screamingly delicious.

[porcupine]

Wednesday dinner: ribs at Short Sugar's in Danville, VA (not as bad as I remember)

Thursday dinner: some of the best ribs I've ever eaten, at Tater Bugs in Ringgold, VA

Friday lunch: hot dog and fries from the track concession (worst track food I've eaten since Watkins Glen)

Friday dinner: probably the best pork carnitas I've ever eaten, at La Cocina in Roxboro, NC

Putting the pork back in porcupine,

[DonRocks]

Thursday dinner: some of the best ribs I've ever eaten, at Tater Bugs in Ringgold, VA

Is this by Kentuck?

[deangold]

Two serious shots of Central American food. Lunch at Pollo Sabroso. Half chicken with slightly dry casiementios (beans & roice) and fried plantain (outstanding). The chicken was very flavor, the dark meat luscious and the breast only a touch dry in parts. The incindiary hot green sauce made all alright. Kay had carne asada- very well spiced and lemony, great refried beans (smooth style) dry rice. The salad had dressing out of a jar but hit the spot with the basic food. 2 beers and food enough to put us both in a stupor for $25. A real workingman's bar/restaurant. We were the only folk in there without pain or orther construction debris on our clothing.

Pollo Sabroso

11216 Grandview Avenue

933-2026

Late night dinner. Superb Sopa di Pollo, Tamal d'Elote and Tacos de Lengua. The latter, an order of 2, had more tongue than many an entree sized portion I have had. Meltingly soft. The corm tamale sweet, tender, on the line between fluffy and leaden, just perfect! OK chicken tamale. Good cold Regia beer in quarts. Dinner was $30 including tip. Very loud music!

Irene's Pupuseria 3

11300 Georgia Ave

Wheaton, MD 20902

(301) 933-2118

[porcupine]

Is this by Kentuck?

yes - just a few miles south.

[squidsdc]

Stillwaters Restaurant in Northwestern Mass on the Mohawk Trail. Granted it was a set menu for a surprise bday party for a group of ~30 pple, but I was very impressed by the food. The place looke like a nice local place, and maybe a stop for skiers in the winter, but I gotta tell ya the huge yeast rolls were to die for, and the juicy, flavorful chicken breasts were cooked just right. Roasted potatoes-check. Good, solid food-check. Had to roll myself out to the airport the next day-check.

[Dave Pressley]

Friday dinner: Cafe Pizzaiolo (The New York is just awesome. I can't say enough about it.)

Saturday lunch: Half of a second pizza I got from CP to take home.

Saturday dinner: Started at Palena's bar. Finished at Central's bar. A good night, to say the least.

Sunday lunch: The last of the CP leftovers.

It was a good weekend.

[bettyjoan]

Friday night: We were supposed to go to Proof with some out of town guests, but there was an emergency and they cancelled their trip. We decided to cancel the reservation and return for my birthday (sadly, on my salary, Proof is a special occasion place). Boyfriend wanted to try Ray's the Steaks, since I raved about my dinner there a couple of weeks ago. Crab bisque was AMAZING, scallops were great, hanger steak was everything I hoped for and more. Apps, steaks, and dessert (and two beers for boyfriend), and we got out for less than $90, including a 20%+ tip. I love this place.

Sunday afternoon: Grill from Ipanema. Boyfriend and I are learning Portuguese, so he wanted to try out the food. The Coxinha de Galinha ("Brazilian croquette stuffed with chicken and cheese, lightly breaded and fried, served with a spicy sauce on the side") were awesome, and the feijoada was good, but the Passaro Preto ("Crispy fried chicken pieces on the bone marinated in olive oil, garlic, and basil, served with rice, black beans, collard greens, and farofa") was the star of the show.

[DonRocks]

May I have your attention, please, for an important announcement...

Thursday night, there was housemade mortadella at Palena.

Allow me to repeat that:

Thursday night, there was housemade mortadella at Palena.

I had dinner in the front room with Terry Theise and Odessa Piper, and we were stabbing each other trying to get at the last piece. Frank Ruta came up to say hello to Odessa, and afterwards, in a stunned state of reverence, I whispered to Kelli that "I feel like Jesus Christ just walked into my bedroom."

Aside from that, I took my house guests out to Victor's Grill a couple nights ago - one of them was cursing in French when a salteña erupted onto her wool pants. Along with Matt, we made the mistake of each getting a steak: After seeing nothing but flames through the kitchen-door window (honest, the entire view was covered with a jumping fire at one point), approximately 13 pounds of beef was brought out and plopped down in front of us. The steaks are HUGE, less than $20, perfectly grilled, and tasty as can be; everything that was served alongside them, other than perhaps passable frozen steak-fries, was virtually inedible - no better than you'd get in a college dining hall.

Rumors of Zodiac Barbecue in Kentlands being horrible are absolutely true. I ordered a half-rack of babybacks, and can comfortably say that they were the worst ribs I've had in memory (although as I type this, I'm remembering some real clunkers at Overwood) - yanked from a tray, heated up on a grill, and brushed to death with sickly sweet sauce, they were tough and lifeless. Other than a semi-fetching storefront, what does this place have going for it?

If you like Frank Sinatra singing "Chicago," head straight to a la Lucia, where it repeated endlessly throughout an entire hour-long meal - the same song, over and over and over again, played at a moderate-to-high volume. I didn't get a chance to try the pizza because they don't serve it in the dining room, but the cannelloni was incomparable to what I've had here before: Three people ordered it, and nobody could finish it - and this is after I was raving about how good it was. Stuffed with a fibrous, nasty-tasting cheesy puree, it was surpassed on the Yuck Scale by the fettucine with veal ragout - an abysmal excuse for homemade pasta. Picture fettucini that has been overcooked to mushiness, with a can of watered-down bean soup poured on top, and that's what it tasted like. There were no beans to be found, but there were plenty of those stringy little pinkish cubes of "veal ragout" in the "sauce," which was essentially a broth. The grilled vegetable antipasti and a good bottle of Nebbiolo d'Alba turned a nightmare into merely a bad dream. An "off night," no doubt, but $170 later, I'm asking myself, "where was the off night for my wallet?"

Cheers,

Rocks.

[southdenverhoo]

Friday night: Hank's. Briny Atlantic Oysters! Also, Barbecued Oysters. Halibut!!! Muscadet. Sancerre. Both eminently reasonably priced. Bites of soft shell crab (stepdaughter's entree) and wife's entree, memory escapes, I only recall that it was excellent. Gave up more halibut than I would have preferred, in return. This joint is everything it's cracked up to be. Then multiple beers @ St-Ex w/ the little one's mates (I fear for our future)

Saturday AM: Florida Avenue Grill. Grits with a big-ass knob of butter. Half-Smoke. Two over easy, yolks running all over those grits. Biscuits!!

Saturday Lunch: Warrenton KFC. Beers at Grandpa Groovey's. No, just...no.

Saturday Supper: the grill room, Fauquier Springs Country Club. NY Strip. Not the best. Better than the "crab stuffed trout" foisted upon the stepdaughter, though, for damn sure. Wife's filet mignon very nice though. Wonder who was the manufacturer (I use the term advisedly) of the house cab? Server didn't know, as she indicated by ignoring the question, just the two times.

Sunday....waffles chez pere et mere.....getaway accomplished noonish, for wine tasting, Lagrange of Haymarket. Humming of ZZ Top song discouraged, though to be fair, only reprimanded on third (public) attempt (not counting the two in the car), and by wife, not by good-natured staff. Back in good graces (everyone's) with purchase of mixed case, thence back to town for long liquid late lunch/dinner at Stoneys, in the derelict company of an entirely different cross-section of the young one's running buddies (did I mention I fear for our future?) the "lunch/dinner" portion of which comprised the blue bacon burger, cooked to requested temp, and fries...

Monday breakfast/snack: Passable blueberry muffin, Windows Cafe & Market, 101 Rhode Island Avenue NW (Bloomingdale) This store and what one can buy there (Victory Hop Devil! & Prima Pils! Troegs! not to mention a veritable Yuppies' Whole Earth Catalogue of foodstuffs) says gastronomic gentrification, in a good way, has reached the hell out of Bloomingdale, ditto the ads for Farmers Market in front of Big Bear coffee shop just a couple more blocks down 1st St NW (at R, I believe). But you all knew that...just a bit of a surprise to out-of-towners with roots in Warrenton, whose memory goes back to, say, the early 60's.

Monday lunch: Belga Cafe. Croque Monsieur, frites and half my wife's Mussels Rodenbach(!!) Leffe draft! Nice--excellent actually--but having made the tourist's mistake of not knowing that Eastern Market (where we anticipated grazing on many good things, chief among them half smokes from Mengers of Baltimore) is closed Mondays, we were for a brief instant a little disappointed. Walked out happy and satisfied, though, and what more can one ask?

Then off to National Airport, and a 24 oz Backdraft Brown from the fellas at Hook and Ladder (oh yeah, also available at said Windows Market in Bloomingdale and on tap at Stoneys--you guys tell me, is this Washington's new go-to local, sort of, beer?)

Once again, unavoidably, given others' needs, and a tight schedule, had to put off RTS or RTC. Next time, I swear, next time...

[KeithA]

Saturday night, Black's Market in Bethesda. Large group of us had a variety dishes. Best were twice-cooked (i.e. fried) chicken, artic char and whole bronzino. Mussels app was fought over vigorously. The beet salad, mini stuff relleno chili bouilabaise were so so. Service was very good with the waiter providing lots of info and ablely handling special requests.

Last night, Cal Tort for burritos, because hey it is Monday and you can spin the wheel. I definitely eat here way too much when my bill is reduced by half do to coupons, promotions, etc and walk away with "dining points." Definitely one of the best, and fun loyalty programs around. I think today is name tag day - wear one and get free chips and cheese with an entree purchase.

[MelGold]

Last night was EatBar for a kick ass big burger, corn dogs, figs and some fries (no, I didn't eat all that by myself) paired with a glass of garancha and a pint of Eggenberg. Great to see some old friends and catch up over some off-the-diet, pre-Passover food.

[keithdcil]

9:30 pm last night, after a confernce at The Kreeger Museum our group of 8 went to Kemble Park Tavern in the Palisades for burgers and beers. It's a nice place - I think it used to be Starland. We sat on the terrace. Their Beer list could use improvement- 6 bottles (half domestic)and no draft, BUT my medium rare burger was huge and lip smacking good. I could hardly finish it. MMMM mmmm. Perfectly grilled on the outside and juicy red in the center. Each burger came came with a chinese food box full of french fries on the side which were thin and crispy.

[food.fiend]

PS7s - cocktails and appetizers on the patio... which was practically empty, and thus entirely shocking as the weather was gorgeous...

red rocks - great pizza, basic margherita, but with roasted garlic added on top, and a yummy burrata appetizer served simply on a bed of lightly dressed arugula... only bummer, the patio was on a long wait! (do we see a theme with outdoor dining here?)

bar pilar - brunch on Sunday... great sausage biscuits and gravy, and steak and eggs... and reasonably priced... I love how dark and cozy it is there in the morning.... can wake up with some of their good food and coffee without having to actually see any daylight...

[deangold]

Nava Thai

Som Tum - powdered shrimp in abundance but I prefer the small whole, still very good.

Pork Country Salad (fiery hot, thick with rice powder, good char on the pork

Clear soup with shrimp, shrimp cooked to order so they had a nice snap. Good tart broth.

Crispy pork on broccoli - dead pig in a fine crunchy form.

Also snarfed some coconut pudding and some peanut filled rice packets from the plastic packaged foods up front along with a bog of ciccharons. YUM!

Please note, this meal has not been endorsed by the American Heart Association or my cardiologist!

[JeffC]

Today for lunch--pho at Pho Hiep Hoa in Wheaton. I wanted to see if they are better than my beloved Pho 75, based on their recent "best of" in the City Paper. Very good, but I'm still partial to Pho 75. But one thing the City Paper wrote was absolutely true--they do not skimp on the meat. All in all, a very satisfying bowl.

Yesterday for lunch--Ghar-E-Kabab, a new (2 months+) family-run Indian/Nepali place on Wayne Ave. in downtown Silver Spring. We had the buffet, which was limited in choices--tandoori chicken, one curry, three vegetable dishes, dal, raita, and a couple of chutneys. They also provide fresh naan--they achieve the char/pillowy/light combination that is the mark of good naan--and a small dessert. Though the choices were not extensive, the quality was first-rate. The dishes had a freshness that is rare for a buffet--they only put a limited amount out at a time and replentish frequently. I've had the buffet several times when in Silver Spring on business and have been pleased every time. We've also ordered off the menu twice and can say without hesitation that this is a little gem of a restaurant, a most welcome addition to Silver Spring.

[Woodleygrrl]

today for lunch a rare burger at BLT. it had the nicest tomatoes and SHARP cheddar cheese on it. I have been burping up the red onions on it for the past three hours. It wasn't even kobe and it cost $16. can you believe that?

[crazeegirl]

lunch at prime rib--sauteed soft shell crab and prime rib

followed by a massage at the ritz

and dinner at sushi taro--drooling at crazeeboy and his dad devour 3 grades of toro and other sashimi while I ate rolls. Can't wait until I can eat raw fish again.

tomorrow...lunch at either BLT or Equinox. Thoughts? Where would you pick?

[ol_ironstomach]

I haven't yet. But newly returned from three weeks in the land of lamb (delicious!) I'm amused at the list of foods we're jonesing for. Pho. Pizza. Good wine. But above all, we need some pork, stat.

[turbogrrl]

Oh god. Komi last night, and we're going to Dino tonight. Sunday we're going to a cheese party. I'm going to die of too much food. But I'll die happy.

[bettyjoan]

Friday night: Sushi Taro. We were going to go to Makoto, but after reading a lot of inconsistent things, we decided that all we really wanted was good ol' reliable raw fish, so we stuck close to home. Good call--the fish was the freshest and most delicious it's ever been.

Saturday late afternoon/early evening: The Tackle Box. We were shopping in Georgetown when we moseyed past Hook and noticed it's less expensive, more casual (but still focused on sustainable seafood) baby brother. Turned out it was the grand opening! I had fried clams, grilled asparagus, mac and cheese, and a glass of yummy lemonade. VERY tasty, and reasonably priced! Everyone, including Chef Seaver, seemed to be really excited and well-spirited about the new venture. Hope it's successful!

[ScotteeM]

Friday lunch at Saigon Cafe (across from the Eden Center).

[Bob Loblaw]

Saturday night -- Cashion's for the late night menu. Pork burger and duck wings. I was pretty drunk, but I remember the burger being very good, but the duck wings were too tough and had a bit too much smoke to it.

Sunday night - Ray's the Classics for the first time. I had the crab bisque to start. For the entree, I ordered the ribeye and asked for a peppercorn crust, which I then regretted. I love pepper, but this was a bit overpowering for me. Though it did pair nicely with my zin. I also had a couple pieces of the fried chicken, and it is as good as everyone has reported before. Key lime pie for dessert. And then the food coma set in...

[porcupine]

Wednesday -

Late Lickity Split lunch at Restaurant Eve: house made pastrami sandwich.

Cork: cocktail; bruschetta with avocado and pistachio; sauteed kale; exotic mushroom duxelle.

Bar Pilar: cocktail; roasted suckling pig; pea shoots with blue cheese and dried sour cherries.

[jhermes]

Two taqueria visits recently. First was to Distrito Federal, which was a bit of a disappointment for my second visit there. I had three tacos - lengue, goat, and carnitas - and while all the meats were tender they all struck me as bland, and adding the various salsas on the table did little to help. Yesterday, my second visit to Taqueria Nacional was more satisfying. The fish taco was solid, if not overly exciting, and the pork taco had the deep flavor that those at Federal lacked. The salsas are better here, as well.

[jigones]

Ate at Positano (Italian) in Bethesda. I was a little bit weary because of some reviews that I read at different places. However, I have to say that the food was decent. I had Salmon with vegetables and pasta. The salmon was cooked perfectly and marinated. The veggies were a little oily, but other then that, everyone really liked the food. No comment on the pasta (I only comment when someone messes it up.) The service was excellent on that occasion. The price to food quality make this place worth visiting again.

[Anna Blume]

The Finnish Embassy

Moby Dick at Dupont Circle

The embassy was much more interesting in terms of architecture and setting, especially the "living mural" one gazes upon while sipping logenberry juice and nibbling on a very understated gravlax and rye crisps.

The restroom at Moby Dick was impeccably clean. Makes the tomato slice in my sandwich forgivable.

[turbogrrl]

Ate in Bethesda, drove home through Woodley Park. The streets were littered with limousine abominations of every stripe.

It's Prom Season, folks. Run and hide. Run. and. hide.

[JLK]

For some reason, I found the idea of The Source intimidating. Didn't know if it'd be my sort of place or not and thus (stupidly) avoided checking it out. Tonight was my "doh!" moment. A friend and I shared the pork belly dumplings and kobe beef sliders. I did not want to share, but I am feeling a little poor these days so I did. Bar service was iffy though friendly. An awkward amount of time passed before we were acknowledged and given menus, and empty glasses and dishes sat around a bit too long.

From there, we moseyed on over to Oyamel which I really enjoy. Feeling truly sick with allergies, I ordered a soup I have enjoyed before (chicken, rice, peas, avocado, cilantro, chili) plus one conchinita pibil taco. My friend's chicken enchilada didn't look like I expected, but it tasted good (not as good as the pork taco IMO) and the two bartenders who waited on us were great. By that point, I was stuffed and ready to go home to catch Hornets vs. Spurs (Geaux Hornets!).

[Dave Pressley]

Saturday lunch: Foot long hot dog at Dairy Queen. Never again. Ever. (Dry, tasteless bread. Flavorless, sqeaky, rubbery dog.)

Saturday night: Amazing meal at Persimmon

Sunday brunch: unexpectedly decent brunch fare at Charthouse (I'd never been, but I hadn't heard great things.)

Sunday dinner: Extremely pleasant Nana's Sunday dinner at Majestic (crisp and juicy fried chicken, mac n' cheese, corn on the cob, cole slaw and strawberry shortcake). Satisfying meal, great service and well paced. I need to go back more often!

[DonRocks]

Sunday dinner: Extremely pleasant Nana's Sunday dinner at Majestic (crisp and juicy fried chicken, mac n' cheese, corn on the cob, cole slaw and strawberry shortcake). Satisfying meal, great service and well paced. I need to go back more often!

Say hi next time.

[ScotteeM]

Last Thursday, Bombay Curry Club for a late lunch. Rogan Josh, very tasty, fork-tender lamb.

Saturday night, Mio for an early dinner. Spring has sprung! Veal sweetbreads with morels, duo of cuttlefish, trio of rabbit, rockfish with ramps, black cod with brandade & crushed potatoes & green beans, trio of grapefruit with pineapple "carpaccio", butterscotch pot de creme, and apple dumplings with apple-radish salad and maple-ginger ice cream. The food was delicious, but where was the nice young man who had done wine pairings for us on our last visit?

[edenman]

It's Prom Season, folks. Run and hide. Run. and. hide.

My sister's graduation dinner at Johnny V's in Muskogee, Oklahoma happened to coincide with the evening of a nearby high school's prom. There were several bright neon dresses (I noted an orange, a green, and a blue) and a tuxedo vest that was patterned with hunting camo. It was glorious. The food wasn't bad, either. Massive portions, and they had Moretti La Rossa in bottle and Smithwicks on draft. It could've been much, much worse

[Walrus]

Sunday dinner: Extremely pleasant Nana's Sunday dinner at Majestic (crisp and juicy fried chicken, mac n' cheese, corn on the cob, cole slaw and strawberry shortcake). Satisfying meal, great service and well paced. I need to go back more often!

Rats! We don't have any Sunday evenings left in May!!!

Edited to add: Ehhh, who needs Mother's Day! We'll be at the Maj instead

[MelGold]

I love popping someone's cherry at RTS. The look on my friend's face as he devoured his hanger steak was well worth the calories I should not have consumed last night.

[Bob Loblaw]

Friday night: Chicken tenders and fries during the Wizards game. Verizon needs better food. Combined with the loss, this made for a very disappointing experience.

Saturday afternoon: Hot dog and fries from the Boardwalk stand at Nats Stadium. I would've gotten a pulled pork sandwich from Red Hot & Blue, but didn't want to shell out $10.50 for one...

Last night: Dinner at Bar Pilar. Ordered the following (though I can't remember all the ingredients for some):

-Spanish white anchovies on grilled bread

-Grilled ramps with quail egg yolk

-Veal sweetbreads with meyer lemon and olive piccata

-Veal kidneys with mushrooms

-Peasoot risotto

-Scallops with leeks and serrano ham

Everything was great, as usual. And in the middle of our meal, the chef came out and gave us a complementary order of chicken confit (which was not on the menu), as gratitude for ordering his favorite dishes. It was a really nice (and damn tasty) surprise. I already loved the place, but that just made me love it even more.

Today: Lunch at Five Guys for a burger fix.

I should probably eat salads for the rest of the week...

[WestIndianArchie]

Sunday - The Wharf/DC's Fish Market.

Miller's? The one place with the cakes and fried seafood.

They give you a very big slice for 4.00.

[porcupine]

Wednesday, Washington, DC: Corduroy - chilled pea soup , beet and goat cheese salad, scallops. So happy to have them back.

Thursday lunch, Rockville, MD: A&J - fried chicken noodle soup. Great way to start a trip.

Thursday dinner, Danville, VA: Outback Steakhouse. I feel dirty. Actually, the filet is not bad. But as soon as we get home we're going to Ray's. Michael, I'm sorry.

[bettyjoan]

Last night was girls' night out, which started at The Source for apps and drinks. Kobe sliders were tasty and juicy, but I was miffed that we didn't have a choice as to temperature (mine was definitely medium to medium well, and I prefer rare to medium rare). Tuna tartare was served in crispy sesame cones, which--while tasty--fell apart with the first bite. Fries with bearnaise and homemade ketchup were FAB, but the highlight for me was the plate of pork belly dumplings. Not greasy, perfectly spiced, and with a wonderfully sweet piggy flavor--yum. Biggest complaint? Prices are OUTRAGEOUS. And the service wasn't great either (our waitress alternated between overbearing and hover-y and clueless and absent).

For dessert and more cocktails, we headed to the bar at Central--the drinks were great, the service was lovely, and the Kit Kat bar was just what the doctor ordered. Three of us had two rounds each and split one dessert, and the total was less than 1/3 of the bill at Puck's place. Yeesh!

[Bomboniera]

Lunch yesterday was from the NEA Cafeteria, which is actually very good.

It is! I used to work right 15th & M. For a cheapie lunch, I loved that place. Someone - CityPaper, maybe? - did an article a while back about lunch downtown, and how people will typically only walk a block or two for lunch. I moved to a job at 15th & K two years ago and haven't been back to NSA since. I walk 40 minutes to work, but God forbid I walk five blocks for lunch.

Lunch at Pollo Sabroso. ... A real workingman's bar/restaurant.

I visit the one in Mt. Pleasant - try their tacos sometime. I'm a big fan.

As for me, the mister and I picked up some pitas from Old City last night. I had chicken with beets, yogurt, one of the spicy relishes (I forget which) and a little hummus. He had a gyro with hummus and yogurt. We split a thing of baba, which he adores, and two big pieces of baklava. I hope they do a nice takeout business, because the place always looks dead.

[MelGold]

Last two nights were take out in Herndon as I was working late on a new biz pitch:

Wednesday - TurCuisine in the Worldgate Center...Turkish & Med food. Hummus was good. I had a chicken breast with rice and pita. It was serviceable, but anything would have tasted good at that point. It came with a nice little side salad with a really tasty vinaigrette.

Thursday - really bad Pad Thai. I wish I knew where they ordered from as I tend to try to avoid over-cooked shrimp at all costs.

[Rhone1998]

Had a chance to try sausage pizzas at Pete's Pizza and Redrocks in Columbia Heights two days in a row and did a bit of a comparison. Overall a toss up -- nod goes to Pete's for the crust, but the sausage itself was much tastier at Redrocks. I also like the fact that you can get a decent sized, individual pizza at Redrocks freshly made, with the huge size of the pies at Pete's somewhat limiting the options for the single diner who doesn't want to carry home leftovers. But whatever, it's great to have both these places in the neighborhood.