cfoodie's Profile
Smoked eels?
I had some fond memories eating smoked eels and raw herrings while traveling in Netherlands. Can anyone comment on where to get some of those smoked eels in the metro DC area? I have given up the possibility of raw (non-marinated) herrings but if you are getting it please share how. Thank you.
CFoodie
Corridor Wine & Spirits or DC wine shop
They are right next to 295, a decent selection of wines/beer/liquor from low end to Chateau Lafite. Don't know how much cheaper alcohol is in DC due to taxes.
Dim Sum
It really depends on your palate. I enjoy lightly flavored food as they can't cover up the unfresh meats and others. Unfortunately I am very sensitive to unfresh foods, and most of the listed dim sum places are out for me. The heavy flavoring means hours of thirst (due to salt) and other problems for me. Silver Fountain was a good choice for me but the place is so full that I can't afford spending an hour or more waiting. Went to Asian Delight on Lockwood Dr in White Oak. It's a nicely decorated place, has decent dim sum, freshly steamed noodles and excellent soft tofu dessert. Excellent roasted meats. The service is excellent, none of the rudeness you usually encounter in a Dim Sum place. The price is very reasonable. The rest of the menu is extensive and excellent. Only drawback is the congee has no soup base. Otherwise it's the cheap Cantonese food joint with Americanized service and very little wait. I will be heading out there again now, third time in week and half.
Turtles and Bullfrogs and Eels . . . oh, my
It's not about right or wrong. People have been eating what they can find, that's edible for as long as we are around. The laws don't have to be changed to "reflect the modern advances in aquaculture." The agents could have investigated and asked for receipts, and maybe go to the farms to check them out for themselves. I am glad to be among those who are open minded about their food, and live in Maryland.
New Hong Kong style restaurant in Rockville - East Pearl
Found Asian Delight, another Cantonese place that has Dim Sum on the weekends in "the hood" in White Oak. They make fresh steamed noodles (somehow erased from EP's menu), has decent BBQ meats, as well as standard menu of other dishes (love their Dim Sum and soft tofu dessert) and priced very well. Never thought I would prefer this place "N' Da Hood" than a place on Rockville Pike, but it's my favorite hidden Gem so far. Went there twice this week and got nothing but superb service, decent food and great price. Their only weakness is lack of a base in their congee. Can't complain when it's closer to me than the pike.
Good news for crab lovers!
The question is, whether the high crab prices of the recent years would come down any with such new abundance.
Fish place near Clinton MD?
I am in search of a good seafood restaurant near Clinton MD that serves local fish or at least fresh fish, maybe crabs or raw oysters. Something like Crisfields (hopefully better) in Silver spring. If you know of one within 15 minute drive, or between there and College park, I do appreciate a note. Thanks in advance.
New Hong Kong style restaurant in Rockville - East Pearl
Went there a couple of times Standard Hong Kong style menu. I was most interested in their congee which was good. The noodles are subpar. The roasted meats were so so. The service not very well put together. They do have the pork rind dishes, but the one with turnip was a failure (turnip was sour, not stewed). Unfortunately without the steamed noodle dishes, I would prefer Full Key over this place any day. Overall, unless you are dying for some pork rind dishes, I'd head for Full Key in Wheaton.
Need Chinese cream cake (NOT w/fruit) source or recipe
Two Chinese bakeries in Rockville are: One in the mall a few doors from China Bistro. Cantonese styled but you may find some cakes. The other one in the supermarket mall on the other side of the China Bistro, next to the Hungerford Drive Mama Wok. More likely to find that there. Other than that, bakeries are found in some of the larger Chinese supermarkets.
Best SUSHI in D.C. ????
I second Sushi Taro, if you have eaten a lot of sushi. Try the sushi bar rather than the dinning room Kaiseki.
Where to buy alcholoic ginger beer?
I am trying to find alcoholic ginger beer for a friend that had it 10 years ago "in a small bottle." If you know of a store in the Laurel/Silver Spring area, or anywhere else, I would appreciate the info. Thank you in advance.
Dim Sum
Having re-tried many of the dim sum places lately, I was rather disappointed with New Fortune as it was the top of my list. I found two interesting ones that are decent, and after some debate, decided to post them. One is Silver Fountain in north silver spring area...now accessible via ICC. The selections are limited, but the food is delicate and excellent. They do it with care. The problem is, everybody seem to get it, so if you don't sneak into a seat 20 minutes before they open at 11AM (they are full by then), you will wait forever.
The other is Red Pearl in columbia. Again, the food is decent, the selection is better, but the bill is almost double what you will see elsewhere. I am only commenting on the food.
One Dim Sum place I heard about is behind the fried chicken place on Lockwood Drive in White Oak. Couple of friends told me it is excellent, and packed, but I am not sure whether it's because it's good or cheap. If you have been there, would you please post to share your experience.
Thanks.
Best place for Sunday brunch in Annapolis or DC?
I agree, Four Seasons has the best sunday brunch. Each selection is a delight. It just cost a bit and takes a few trips to try out all the major selections.
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Four Seasons Cafe
50 S Pickett St Ste 23, Alexandria, VA 22304
Woodberry Kitchen in Baltimore
It's interesting the first time around. I think second time, that overly salted vinegar taste plus hot pepper and some funky spice started to get a bit old.
Signs of life at Wagamama
The food is not that great. The more times I tried it, the worse it gets. Maybe the one in Amsterdam is better than London than Boston, but I think it's more a function of the chain losing quality control over time (or maybe my taste buds getting too picky). The crowded seating was neat but gets old pretty fast. However, I welcome any new Asian fast food restaurants in town to offer additional choices. The food is not bad, the concept is interesting, so it's one more choice you have on those weekends when you run out of ideas.
JFX Farmer's Market 2011!
First, it's not less expensive "closer to the source" ie Salt river. Second, maybe you can specify how it is different, and please don't assume others can't taste. I eat lobster twice a week and know that there is no significant difference as the H-Mart places have high turnover. Maybe it's like the red wine study that was published...the more you pay, the more you think it's better. So even though these folks can't put up a nice story or resemble the lobsterman, I am happy buying the cheaper live lobster at H-Mart, supergrand...etc.
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H-Mart
800 N Rolling Rd, Catonsville, MD
JFX Farmer's Market 2011!
They taste exactly the same to me, consistently. Maybe high prices make it taste better.
Bland Produce JFX Farmer's Market
I am treating it like an assortment of food retailers with no expectation of it being a real farmer's market. Take their baby spinach. I bet they got it from wholesalers put it in a farm look-alike bin and charge twice Whole Foods price. Anything different there costs a lot and after a few weeks, I stopped going. It's just another venue for vendors to make tons of money off "tourist food shoppers."
Ren's Ramen Reopening in Wheaton on June 1
I went by Ren's today for the first time in the new place and found that they are including bamboo shoots, meat and a few other in their standard ramen. Nice change. They still don't include the egg as standard, as in Japan but I guess they need to have a revenue source. The price is reasonable at $10. Perhaps they have read the posts here. I signed up for the $2 cabbage and only got a mouth full and thought maybe they should improve their menu. Instead of overcharging for the little bit of "extra toppings" perhaps have small side dishes which will add to the diner's experience and drastically improve revenue per diner. Stuff such as Japanese potato salad, fried chicken, kimchee and other Japanese stuff to Edemame for the Americans charged at American price (very high margins), as well as seaweed salad...etc could be offered at $5 a piece and diners would have enough choices to dine in more often with different foods. The Ramen is still good.
JFX Farmer's Market 2011!
Is this why the crab guy next to the pickle left early. Maybe bad karma being next to the Salt River Lobster guy. I won't touch the lobster guy with a 10 foot pole. You can get live lobster at H-Mart/Super Grand/Lotte for 20-30% cheaper on a regular day, and even lower on sale. I guess they also trucked the farm raised Atlantic Alaskan Wild Salmon they sold me from Boston along with the Halibut and Chilean Sea Bass. Probably cheaper to re-sell ones from H-Mart.
Rockville, A&J, Bob's Noodle 66, or Joe's Noodle House?
Unfortunately, Bob's changed its Taiwanese flavor and my friends also don't trust their cleanliness there anymore. A&J is a northern Chinese flavor which is pretty decent. We went to Michaels noodles for a while and like their "three cup chicken" where they stir fry chicken with basil and a little bit of rice wine. It's another place under the radar.
JFX Farmer's Market 2011!
I decided to go to Whole Foods for my fish after JFX. At least you know the employees won't intentionally cut you a piece of farmed salmon and sell it for wild. The crab guy's crabs looked fresh, but crabs are light at this point. I will try crabs later on in the season. Unfortunately I don't buy enough crabs at one time for delivery so will shop around.
JFX Farmer's Market 2011!
We had excellent sugar snaps three weeks ago at the South Mountain Creamery side vendor. We checked last weekend and they looked "older" and decided to skip. Is the season starting or ending?
Elkridge Furnace Inn--a MUST
Furnace Inn is very small cozy and comfy place. The atmosphere is great and romantic. The food is pretty good. The french onion is pretty regular. The best part is cold crab in lemon juice. The portion of fish we got is on the larger side. The main dish itself is a lot of food to fill you up without appetizer. We thought the dessert and coffee part was the best and the most romantic. Service is excellent and the experience was great. If you are there for food only, it's pretty regular. We are going back!
Toque' or Better
I am going to add that Toque ranks up there (if not better than many) Michelin 3 star places that I have been to both in NY and Paris. I have not found another place as good as Toque in Montreal, and no, it's not a one or two star place. It's a solid three star and very easy to tell. Europea was a disappointment, nothing like Toque. Thanks for the thread. I will hit all others on the list next time I go to Montreal.
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Europea
1227, rue de la Montagne, Montreal, QC H3G1Z2, CA
JFX Farmer's Market 2011!
Came home and had half a container of that pickle before dinner time. Very nice. The pork chop fried up delicious and juicy. It's been a few years since I had pork chop this good. Two pounds of peas are finished now.
I think I've been given a piece of farmed salmon for wild salmon, and charged for it. It was quite strange when I was given the redder batch of salmon. When I got home, the salmon was very red with an astaxanthin color. It's got scales, which the wild ones I had last week had none. When I cooked it up, I became very angry. For a guy naming himself "CFOODIE" and have eaten salmon almost weekly if not daily since the age of 5, to be passed a pice of half pound farmed salmon and be charged wild salmon rate ($10 for half pound) is an insult. I don't think this is a mistake cause the older guy was the one who sold it. Makes me wonder how many others who don't know salmon got the same deal.
JFX Farmer's Market 2011!
I am almost done with two pounds of peas and it's only Monday evening. They are good!
Ren's Ramen Reopening in Wheaton on June 1
Little things, I think it was bamboo shoots, egg, corn and some other stuff. Don't get me wrong, if it was a 20 dollar bowl set price with everything included, that would have been fine with me (maybe not to most people). But making it out to nickle and dime customers is just not cool. Look at the noodle bowl picure on the website, and you'll notice a lot of the stuff in there cost additional.
