I completely respect anyone whose taste is demanding, so I am totally open to the idea I got lucky. The list of places where l like the fried chicken is:

Rays East of the River (RIP) - best when it was open
Flavors - but i don't recommend other items there
Horace and Dickie's
Rays to the Third
Central
Sou'Wester

I've been to GBD three times. Once for brunch, which is a waste (mostly donuts). Once for the quarter dark at lunch, and once for the breast at dinner. I am partial to white meat for fried chicken, dark meat for all other preparations. So my favorite is the chicken breast at dinner (not available at lunch).

But I will go back for dinner at some point.

I had their chicken breast for dinner, it is small (only a half breast) but phenomenal. Like being invited to the best picnic ever. Sorry you had such a bad experience.

I'm looking for an opportunity to go back, and I'll be curious to see if my experience still holds or if it is terribly inconsistent. My piece was not at all bland.

Ten Chowhounds managed to have a very worthwhile meal at Grace Garden. curioussheridan convinced them to prepare in advance the pheonix purse, duck with taro, a brand new dish of pork, squid, and cashew stir-fried, dry pepper chicken, and fish with chinese sausage.

We also had from the regular menu shui zhu yu (sichuan boiled fish), sichuan triple treasure, chive blossoms, snow pea leaves, and dan dan main.

Duck with taro was completely new to me and I think spectacular, served in a pot wiht a special bamboo tray. Most others at the table seemed to prefer the pork, squid, and cashew: Chef Li came out and explained this dish gets cooked in three different ways, so is a time consuming process.

Every time I have something new, I find a new favorite.

That's the case with Pick Your Own.

Here are my three favorites:

Toki Undrgorund. Go for the kimchi ramen. This is a tiny place that gets totally packed with people waiting for hours, but you can reserve for 6pm or earlier. Worth going out of your way for.

Link:
http://www.cityeats.com/dc/restaurant...

Go for the tail end of Happy Hour (before 7pm every day) at Lyon Hall, where you can get the warm pretzels, shortrib frank, and pickled vegetables at a reduced price, then order the kraut garnie from the regular menu. Clarendon metro.

El Rinconcito for the papusas, tamales, and the carne deshilada.

We should not pre-order dishes on the regular menu.

My favorite (easily accessible) places right now to stop in for a snack are GBD for the fried chicken breast (it's snack size, but only available at dinnertime), and the chopped liver appetizer at DGS. These are the names of the places, not just cryptic shorthand. Both places are on the same block just south of Dupont Circle metro. You can eat at the back bar of DGS. During the day at GBD, they do offer chicken leg and thigh combo. Ignore the donuts at GBD, and go across the street to Krispy Kreme, do not get a pre-made donut, ask them to make a couple fresh.

DC3 just south of the Eastern Market metro for the kimchi hotdog and the Sonoran hotdog.

Across from DC3, get an eclair at Sweet Lobby. It is not the kind you are used to!!! They also have cupcakes here if you really need one.

Remaining on Capitol Hill, get a toasted marshmallow milkshake at Good Stuff Eatery. Next door at We the Pizza, they make their own sodas. I recommend the sour cherry or the coconut - but ask for an extra shot in the coconut.

Oyamel for Mexican - a restaurant that serves tapas portions. Go for the albondigas and the ceviche with passionfruit. Ignore the tacos.

In DC that you can't find easily elsewhere: Oohhs and Aahhs is a tiny soul food kitchen with four stools and a small dining area upstairs. It specializes in Coastal Carolina soul food. Go for the shrimp and grits, the lemon pepper wings or the broiled crabcake - though this involves a long wait. Do not get the crabcake fried. Down a block from Oohhs and Aahhs is Etete, an Ethiopian restaurant. Go for the vegetarian platter and add the fish for a small upcharge. Both of these are located an easy walk from the U St/Cardozo metro stop.

Overall, you seem to be looking to recreate your NY experiences here - most people on Chowhound seem to think this is a bad idea, and I tend to agree.

Arlington, Virginia is home to a sizable Bolivian community. My favorite place is Luzmilla's (get the saltenas, open only until 6pm), but if you are interested in dinner, I recommend Sibarita, about a 15 minute walk from the Clarendon metro. They specialize in silpancho, get the beef. Also the sopa de mani and a mocochincho to drink. Next door to Sibarita is the DC area's best taco, the taco de cabrito at Taqueria El Charrito Caminante.

There is also a large Vietnamese population here, and Eden Center is a vietnamese shopping center with about 23 Vietnamese restaurants and other shops. I like going here in the evening. RIce Paper is a very popular place, focus on the rice paper wraps. For a more exotic experience, there are three hidden courtyards. The one labeled Saigon East contains Nha Trang (I go for the noodles with shrimp paste in the shape of worms) or to Bay Lo (I get the Boy Lo 7 Special or the "miscellaneous salad"). Neither of these are easy to find, but worth the effort.

She said that she couldn't get hold of the big oysters, but that if brought some with me they'd prepare them. I didn't pursue this any further.

I'd want them to do the duck at the table. That way, I can start to eat but the duck gets crispier and crispier as you go along.

Thanks for the tips. I already have my bib one.

yes, that's right. 3pm.

cf folks is a unique lunch counter, so I think you did very well to hit that up. It's a great experience.

Extra points for duck - not that easy to find. I'll try it soon. Marinated duck is the best, but I'm willing to dip into sauce then grill.

You've missed the obvious solution: store them in the wine cellar. 55 degrees should do it.

Yeah, I think the oyster po boy and the gumbo are the winners here - though be prepared for a gumbo that seems to have a vietnamese slant to it. I wouldn't fool with the the jambalaya.

Looking back on the menu again, you're right. It's composed mainly of French dishes - I misinterpreted some of the ingredients like thinking 'jitomate' were green tomatoes and assuming the salmon was French with Mexican (chipotle, chayote) ingredients thrown in, but it is simply one of the few Mexican dishes on the menu.

England, Half English (according to Billy Bragg)

Look at the whole menu. Chayote, chipotle, croquetas jamon....

Without having tasted the food, I'd say this is a Mexican Chef cooking in Mexico who has appropriated French cuisine.

Yes, I've been to Fettoush. We had lentil soup, couscous with lamb, and b'stilla. Both the soup and the couscous were thoroughly uninteresting, kind of bland. The b'stilla was great, a knockout. Works well to take home. That's the only thing I'd touch there.

Duangrat's takeout has items not on the restaurant menu, and they also offer Lao (Issan Thai) food. Their Nam Khao is very good. Lat time I was there they didn't have English translation for the menu, but I'm pretty sure they do by now.

Lots of great items at Pupatella, including the panzarotti and anancini.

That's the perfect example of what I was looking for, but couldn't find on my own.

Thanks!

Here is my list of the best things to eat in the area. Since you are new to this site, please realize it assumes you are willing to explore with no limitations:

Arlington:
Taqueria El Charrito Caminante: Taco de Cabrito
Lyon Hall: Kraut Garnie, Warm Pretzels
Thai Square: Yum Pla Krob/Yum Pla Dook Foo
Me Jana: Mezze Platter
Bayou Bakery: Arm Drip Sandwich
Pupatella: Burrata Pizza
Gharer Khabar: Moghlai Parota, Chatpati
Nha Trang: Noodles with shrimp paste in the shape of worms

Falls Church:
Luzmilla's: Saltenas, mocochincho
Hong Kong Palace: Chengdu Cold Noodles
Bangkok Golden, Lao Menu: Nam Khao
Myanmar: Ginger Salad
Jerusalem: Musakhan
Mirage: Lomo Saltado
Fairfax Inn: Daing Na Bangus

The list includes only those items which you can always find on the menu. Check for hours of operation, etc.

Arlington County is pretty small and there are a lot of great eats just across the county line in Falls Church. Do you want to hear about those places as well? I live in Arlington, but I am surrounding by quite a few terrific eats within a five minute drive or a long walk in nice weather.

Five Chowhounds got together for lunch to test out this critically acclaimed Korean restaurant in Montgomery County to see if it's better than the Annandale places.

We had:

Haemul pajeon
Fried mandu
Galbi
Bibimbap
Kimchi Jigae

This meal was weak from start to finish.

The haemul pajeon didn't have much seafood, and what it did have was tasteless. If I were blindfolded I could not detect the seafood. In addition it seemed warmed over and overcooked. Both the bibimbap and the jigae were lacking any kind of spice. Adding the squeeze bottle of sauce to the bibimbap helped, but it was not going to be enough for the jigae. It was beyond help. The kimchi was rather 'fresh', so not much tangy flavor that should make this a great dish.

The mandu and the galbi were good.

There were six items of banchan: three of them bland. One of those was some torn lettuce splashed with russian dressing. Bean sprouts and julienned daikon were hardly flavored at all.

There's no Korean meal that weak in Annandale.

Xiao long bao are tiny,delicate, and steamed (A & J has them, but they are lesser) The niu rou xian bing are large, fried, and with a heavy pastry bun.

I stand by my recs to Oohhs and Aahhs. It is my favorite spot in DC. The items I recommend you can't get in the same style anywhere else in the area, and certainly not in NJ.

Eyo and A&J definitely.

My sine qua non at A&J is the Niu Rou Xian Bing (pan fried beef bun). There is a dangerous, boiling hot soup inside and also a beef patty. You can't bite into this, you just have to nibble on one end and slurp the soup with the constantly shifting patty. Also the Suan La Mian (noodles in hot and sour sauce. You need to ask for the big homemade noodles.

I also love the scrambled tofu with 1,000 year egg.

For Korean BBQ I prefer Oegadgib, it's a nice, quiet place that is packed with Koreans. Very attentive service. Hard to find, not visible from the road, it's located behind a Paisano's pizza in Annandale. The banchan here is insanely copious. The do not marinate the bbq here, you just use the sauce at the table.

We met, BTW, in august of 2004 at Galileo's backyard grill. If you'd like to join another group outing, just send me a PM.

I hope by now that Minneapolis has kabobs!

Réunion is still part of DOM TOM, n'est-ce pas?

Département Outre-Mer, Territoires Outre-Mer.

A department of France.

Jose Andres is a nationally famous chef who has never turned his back on his hometown restaurants. Some of his chefs have gone on to fantastic careers of their own. They operate at a very high level, although any place could have some ups and downs over that many years.

His original restaurant, Jaleo, got a makeover recently with a new menu. Periodically, standard menu items get a makeover too, so even if they remain on the menu, the recipe and construction change. I have now had four different iterations of his patatas bravas at Jaleo, and have seen changes at Zaytinya as well. In each of his places, he has drilled down deep into the cuisine to find the exceptional recipe that characterizes the cuisine. Zaytinya will be impressive. My favorite item is the bantijan bil laben (crispy eggplant). Some starters are half price for Happy Hour - they have tables in the bar area.

When you go to Jaleo, go for the quail with rosemary sauce, patatas bravas, the mini-hambuerguesa, grilled asparagus, spinach with raisins, beet salad with citrus, and the baby wrinkled potatoes. Potatoes here are great. Order three tapas at a time and stop when you are sated or run out of money.

If Montparnasse is a possibility, then you will find at least four crêperies open in August by strolling down the tiny and cute r. montparnasse (Edgar Quinet Metro stop). Within three blocks, there will probably another five open as well. This is a traditionally Breton neighborhood from the nearby railroad terminus that services the Paris-Brest line.

Good question! If there's been a renovation, I haven't been there since. It was a complete hole-in-the-wall last time I went.

The area is hopping with nighttime activity. In good weather the streets can be packed, especially if a show at the 9:30 Club has just let out.

Bingo! You won't see round table at a place that needs rearranging and flexibility with seating.