MartyL's Profile
Montgomery County Taquerias -- Taco Bar and Tortacos (and R&R in Elkridge, not MC)
Just to be clear -- none of this compares to my memories of La Super Rica! But we should be thankful for what we have . . .
ISO Vietnamese restaurant in Rockville/Bethesda/Gaithersburg
Alas, revisited BaLe recently and have to agree with the others in this thread -- major downhill turn. Doesn't really resemble the BaLe of old -- now dark, tired, limited menu. New owners? This is a great loss.
Montgomery County Taquerias -- Taco Bar and Tortacos (and R&R in Elkridge, not MC)
Encouraged by posts here, tried Tortacos last week. The reviews are accurate -- family-run; very fresh; everything well above-average for these parts. Limited menu, but they're focused on what they do well. Revisited Taco Bar (gas station, Gaithersburg) this weekend for comparison. Much busier than Tortaco -- indeed, much busier than I've ever seen it. I love the posole at Taco Bar, which is reason enough to stop by frequently. But the tacos were very good, too. Only item I had in common with my order at Tortacos was a sope al pastor. Fine rendition at both places; slight edge to Tortacos, where the flavors were more distinct.
P.S. Not that it's in MC, but R&R Taqueria, in a gas station in Elkridge, is indeed very good, although perhaps not quite the nirvana that Todd Kliman and Tyler Cowen describe.
All three of these places are well worth your patronage.
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Tortacos
9629 Lost Knife Rd, Gaithersburg, MD 20877
Looking for Dupont Circle recommendation
Not sure about Cabernets in particular, but Eola has a very interesting selection of wines, and very good food.
Chinese for Christmas Dinner in Gaithersburg?
I haven't been, but there have been some good notices lately for Tai Shan. A bit south of Gaithersburg, Sichuan Pavillion has excellent Sichuan fare -- and they have beer.
Hungerford Drive's new "York Castle" IS The ORIGINAL GIFFORD'S ICE CREAM. (Proof)
I'm eating it now (prepacked). It tastes like, uh, real bananas! (not the artificial banana flavor one so often encounters). I envy you Rockvillians.
Hungerford Drive's new "York Castle" IS The ORIGINAL GIFFORD'S ICE CREAM. (Proof)
I, too had the pumpkin (pumpkin-pecan, actually) yesterday, as well as the banana. Both excellent; although the pumpkin got a little tiring after 15 or so bites. Tried the swiss chocloate sauce -- not my thing.
Cal indicated that the reopening in SS will not be anytime soon -- after all the many legal problems are resolved. So, for now, it's Rockville or bust.
good places to eat in Rockville?
Nope -- not the wrong entree; the wrong restaurant. You would have been much better off across the street, at Jaleo. Oh, well. We were able to steer you right a majority of the time up in Rockville . . .
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Jaleo
480 7th St. NW, Washington, DC 20004
Looking for GREAT restaurant open on a MONDAY night
I'm not at all a fan of Central -- it's overpriced, average fare, IMHO -- but I strongly recommend Palena. The back room reservations are not available on Mondays, but you can sit in the back room and can create a great dinner from the "bar menu" alone.
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Palena
3529 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20008
What do Momofuku and Wu's Garden Have in Common?
Nothing. Against my better judgment, I tried it last night, and I've got to imagine that David Chang was just pulling a fast one on the Post writer (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/06/AR2009100600762.html). Oh, I don't doubt that he is nostalgic for it -- and perhaps even that he has a soft spot for the braised chicken and braised tofu (both of which were ok, but nothing special).
But no, there's really no reason to go there.
Kabob 'n' Karahi -- Better than Ravi Kabob?
Finally tried the lamb karahi yesterday. Yes, it is all that. (Also tried the haleem -- good, but so rich I can't imagine anyone having more than a few bites). This is one of the better restaurants in the DC area, I think. But what's it doing way the hell out in Cloverly? Is there a large Pakistani community out there?
good places to eat in Rockville?
Yeah, they're very proud of their soft tofu dishes at SP, and with good reason.
good places to eat in Rockville?
Of the suggestions you've received so far, the chinese places (Joe's, A&J and SIchuan Pavillion), are your best bets, along with York Castle and Spice Xing. (Smokey and Steve, that is to say, are very reliable posters.) El Patio, La Canela, Bobby's Crabcakes, Cava, China Bistro, are all good but not great (although I suspect El Aptio might be better than the couple of meals I've had there). Within a very short walk/drive of your hotel are two other excellent options -- BaLe is a wonderful, small little Vietnamese place and Vit Goel (Lighthouse) is a terrific place for Korean soft tofu (soon doo bu).
Kabob 'n' Karahi -- Better than Ravi Kabob?
I could have just added to the existing thread, with Dean's raves, but I thought such an eye-catching -- but well-deserved -- header might draw new readers. Tried it today for the first time, and it was really fantastic. The lamb chops were perhaps the best I've had in the area, the chicken-on-bone was great, too, the chickpeas better than that (earthier than the also-terrific Ravi K. variation) and the samosa chat and mango lassi first-rate. Perhaps more importantly, the karahis looked delicious; the family at the next table said they'd been looking far and wide
for great karahis, and that this one was the platonic ideal, better even than Ravi's. Can't wait to try it next time. This could be the best Pakistani restaurant in the area. If only it were more centrally located . . . .
bethesda with kids?
Steve: Alas, the Daruma counter is gone . . . but it's replaced by Ren's Ramen, so all is not lost!
Red Velvet Cupcakery
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/cityguide/features/2008/cupcake-wars/chart.html
Top, unstuffy, DC Restaurants?
Komi. The obvious choice. And Palena, too. Corduroy is great, but perhaps too staid for you.
Rubio Balsamic Vinegar or other great balsamic vinegar sold locally?
Dean: You enticed but forgot to tell us: One can buy Carrandini and Manodori . . . where, exactly?
Good restaurant between BWI and Silver Spring
If you like Chinese and don't mind being in a dingy strip mall, this one is easy: I just tried Grace Garden last night,and it is *almost* as good as the raves on this board suggest!
Sushi Azabu - new great sushi in Tribeca
Guess we won't have to worry any longer about them pulling in enough business to survive:
http://events.nytimes.com/2008/10/29/dining/reviews/29rest.html?ref=dining
On the other hand, that oh-so-easy reservation . . .
Peruvian chicken - replacement for El Pollo Rico?
The "new pollo place" in Bethesda is the same as your favorite, beauxgoris: Don Pollo is an outpost of Chicken on the Run.
The DCgourmet's 5-Star Jamaican Spot in DC
Interesting. Last night I ordered both the dinner -- with sauce -- and the jerk "sandwich," which is dry, with a piece of bread. The former is spicier and, in my opinion, more interesting, but the latter was ok, too. Goat curry was very good. I'm not sure, however, based on this one experience, that SMC is considerably better than Tropicana or Negril, except that the jerk chicken with sauce was a smidgen better, probably.
Process of elimination: DC
You'll be able to get to seven of those places? Wow!
Great choices. I'd eliminate Eammons and Tabard Inn. If you need a brunch fill-in, go for Black Salt then, and add some oysters or something to your meal.
The DCgourmet's 5-Star Jamaican Spot in DC
OK, so now I'm very eager to check it out -- thanks for the rave. Here's the great/weird thing about this, though: Sweet Mango has been around for *15* years (with a two-year gap due to fire and rebuilding). And only now is it all-of-a-sudden getting all this attention online and in the Post. I've probably passed it oh, about 400 times, and never thought to stop in. And now I can't wait for the chance. That's the beauty of Chowhound and other sites. But what it also demonstrates is that there's a ton of great chow out there -- that's been there for years or decades -- and we still have no idea where 95% of it is, because very few of us on this here board venture outside the ordinary.
What this Board -- and the Post, and Kliman, etc. -- really needs is to invite greater participation in our conversations from folks within DC's remarkable immigrant communities, be it Jamaican or Korean or Bolivian, etc., so that we give the hidden bastions of soulful deliciousness -- the Sweet Mangos and Nava Thais and Distrito Federals and Grace Gardens (still haven't been!) -- the exposure and business that they so richly deserve. Oh, and so that we can eat better, too.
SOS--indian burnout
I haven't been for over a year, but Saravana Palace in Farifax was great for vegetarian South Indian cuisine. Anyone been more recently?
Soups at Nava Thai
The Floating Market Noodle Soup has been justly and repeatedly praised in these parts -- it's a spectacular dish. But the blood will turn a few folks off, and for the rest of us, it is incendiary -- no amount of rice and ice will keep you from sweating profusely (not that that's a bad thing!) -- and therefore not the sort of thing one would eat every day.
But for those days when the FMNS seems like more than you can bear, just look down one item on the menu, to No. 05, Tom Yum Pork Noodle Soup, which, were it not for the FMNS, the pho at Pho Hot, and anything Frank Ruta concocts at Palena, would be the best bowl of soup in town. Just a perfect mix of the classic Thai sour, sweet, spice, savory, fish-sauce, combo. Every time I've had it, at Nava or carry out, I've been wowed. Just couldn't eat enough -- and that's with the delish duck salad and other goodies beckoning. The TYPNS is, for lack of a better word, soulful.
I'll bet the other soups at Nava are also great -- but it'll be awfully hard to ever try them, if it means not ordering one of the two I've had so far.
