beets4dinner's Profile
Late night in Georgetown
Bistro Francais is THE historic late nite place -- a bump up from the two previous, but worth it if one is mostly sober. This is where, traditionally, chefs go for late nite bistek and frites. One of the few French places that remain open in a city once dominated by frogs.
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Bistro Francais
3128 M St NW, Washington, DC 20007
Best place to take Mom for lunch in Fairfax City tomorrow.
Thanks -- I'll take un-visited recs all day long -- I know so little about that part of town, b'cept to note that it can seem kind of rural for a town. Appreciate the response.
Best place to take Mom for lunch in Fairfax City tomorrow.
Looking for an independent place that is roomy that I could reserve a table for lunch in the heart of Fairfax City, or close by there. Thanks. Or no reservations is fine too. Tuesday (tomorrow) should not be too busy, even this week.
Looking for fun food and bar in DC near Holocaust Museum for Birthday
Without doubt you are in a non-restaurant area, but up on Capital Hill -- a bee line west on Independence Ave. from Holocaust -- are some dozen options -- Sonoma is higher-end and foo-foo, but the food is good. Montmarte is good too, and more relaxed. Stay away from the Monocle, and Johnny's Half Shell and Bull Feathers.
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Johnny's Half Shell
400 North Capitol Street NW, Washington, DC 20001
Sonoma Restaurant
223 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 20003
Great Falls -- Tavern or Brogue?
Most assuredly yes. The Brogue is far better -- they have a thirty-year history in that spot, and the locals know the Brogue as the best dive within many miles and towns. The food is above average and creative for an Irish bar, the help is great and locals always know the best food in town.
The other place is a relative newcomer, the food is lack-luster and without creativity, and I've seen bugs crawling around in there.
Rehoboth Beach- favorite dining spots
Nage, a few miles west of the beach, does amazing food -- way above what most beach fare aspires to. They have two locations; one here in DC, and the creativity is unmatched in Rehobeth. Not cheap, but very serious food.
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Nage Restaurant
1600 Rhode Island Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20036
Lunch in Georgetown - cheaper the better
Bangkok joe's is all flash and spendy; don't bother.
Tacklebox -- amazing, go there.
Stay away from the waterfront (food-wise, anyway)
Pizzaria Paradisio has decent lunch specials.
George's Falafal has this quiet upstairs seating area, and the food is servicable.
It's shad roe time baby!
2000 Penn. Ave. NW --- in a set of rowhouse facades that have offices and a kind of mall behind them.
This is always rated as one of DC best places, especially for seafood, but all around they just are great.
And thanks for the McPhee recipe: he is my most favourite writer. Which book? I thought I'd had all of them, usually two copies.
Cherry Blossom Eats and Tips
Matchbox would be my choice, but there will be large crowds likely.
Keep the numbers for Matchbox, Ellas's Wood Fired Pizzas, and 2 Amy's on hand -- then, when you get hungry, call to see which one you can get in to.
It's shad roe time baby!
Kinkead's does it this time of year. I had it just a week ago. Trust them.
It is, there as at many places, an appetizer; most often I think it is considered too rich to do an entree. And if they sell raw sets for $13, then I'd always let Kinkead's cook it. Sit at the bar if you don't want to mortgage the entire estate for dinner -- they have one of the best dinning bars in the city, imnaho.
Food-related sightseeing (and lunch)
In the Fall, the Nat.Mus.of.Am.Hist will reopen with Julia Child's complete kitchen on display -- maybe on your way back.
Monday is a great day to see some of the best of DC. Adams Morgan is mostly closed for lunch -- Georgetown will work. But the Nat.Muz.ofthe.Am.Indian serves things you will not see anywhere else -- in DC or most of the Eastern seaboard; it is not cheap, but for museum food, it is unique and of relatively high quality -- not that they don't have some stinkers -- but if you look carefully, you can find great things -- it is all on display, so just use your judgement: get the lobster salad without the bread, and over by the roast buffalo and smoked salmon are veggie side dishes that are very much worth visiting. Don't let anyone suggest Chinatown; although if you want sit-down, one of the best restaurants of late is Zaytinya -- it looks all spendy, but is not too; ingredients and preps that again are unique to the tri-state area - and the service knows what they are doing, at last -- Monday lunch would be the best time to go there -- other than that, nobody goes, as it is much too crowded. Across the street is the best museum of art in dc -- if it's raining or cold, it is always worth a few hours there.
Thai or Vietnamese in DC: do not miss?
Po Siam is a nice hideaway, too. Authentic (my buddy's wife is Thai, and she says so).
Get the Yum roast duck and steamed mussels apps: best mussels I've yet to eat. It's in Arlandria near the Birchmere.
fresh lima beans.....
Steam, my friends, Steam. Boil away precious flavor and vitamins. But steam and save all the best nutrients in the veggies. When were you born?
Steam is the new boil -- never boil any vegetable that you can steam. Get with it.
Best fresh fish markets in DC, pref. NW?
There are good fish at the Maine st. barges, but they started wrapping it all in plastic wrap, which is no way to sell fish. It is not for the feint of heart, but if you know something about what your doing -- and most don't -- you can get good fish there.
Hate to suggest it, but Harris Teeter has been my go to fish place; they know what they are selling, the product is consistantly fresh, and it is convienient (to me).
But I would second or third Black Salt. High quality.
Il Fornaio Reston
We went two weeks ago. The carpaciao of beef was fine, even good. But my fish was old -- not bad old, just old. True, though, that you need to give any place a few months to get the bugs out. It is a nice physical plant, pleasant interior, and the concept does work in other locations. I just will normally opt to support local, independent restaurants when I can -- seems to me a civic duty, somehow, but I was raised working in independent restaurants, so that has no small amount to do with it.
Silver Spring
Rays the classics. Simply can't go wrong there. May need a reservation. You can sit in the lounge area if you like; they have some specials there not served at in the dining room.
Best Authentic Thai in Metro Area
Po Siam in Arlandria -- still relatively unknown; you know good Thai when the customers are, well, Thai. Mussels and yum roast duck -- don't wait, go now.
Lunch recs in B'more with brave 14 yr-old
Looking to have lunch in B'more with an adventurous teenager on Friday, 8/3.
Thanks in advance for any recs.
(Nice but not snooty or too dressy, any price; something that shows what B'more can be without that Inner Harbor nonsense. -- We will be doing the Aquarium, but don't mind leaving the waterfront; would prefer getting out of that scene.)
Is that restaurant at the B. Art Museum still any good?
DC Area Treat for Friends
Kinkead's --- rated best wine list, best seafood, best service -- open kitchen in the more formal upstairs, live piano every nite in the bar area downstairs -- best place for dinner at the bar. Not inexpensive, but very special. Always full of impotent peeps.
2 Amy's
The secret is lunch; nobody is threre weekday lunches. Complaints about a restaurant being busy on Friday and Saturday are falling on deaf ears. Good places are busiest those nites.... hello? Bueller?
Just try Monday or Sunday nites -- the whole city is different on those nites.
And the post above is right on: if you want Pizza Hut, go there -- if you have even a smidgen of imagination, go to Amy's.
Best Breakfast/Lunch in D.C.
Best Breakfast:
Teaism. The one in Dupont is empty in the a.m., and the one in Penn quarter is too. Get the scrambled eggs to start, and go from there.
great food markets?
For local produce try our area farmers markets. My current best is Takoma Park; fresh local greenhouse greens, eggs, cheese, bread. Every Sunday from 10:00 a.m. Local food is really the answer -- less fuel to ship, and the quality and freshness outlast everything else by weeks. Although it may seem like a hike from Va., the parts of DC you get to see are unique (to most people from Va.) and Takoma Park is just a hotbed of liberalism singular in this dc metro region. And there is no traffic to fight at that hour on Sunday. Plus they are open year-round. You will not be disappointed.
Favorite Thai restaurants in D.C., nothern Virginia?
I don't normally share a secret this good, but Po Siam in Arlandria, north of the Birchmere, just south of the Wafle House (sic); Yum roast duck, steamed mussles.
Boston hound seeking lunch by the Smithsonian
Second the Indian Museum cafe. Get the lobster roll, ask for it without the roll -- results in a nice bowl of lobster salad. Great veg. sides over by the roasting buffalo -- which is a bit tough. Just make a lunch out of the interesting sides. Pricey but worth it; go late on Sunday to avoid crowds. Leave the tamales alone, and just give yourself twenty minutes for the rest of the museum -- that should be plenty to see how poorly it is done.
Plan my anniversary food day near Dupont
For brunch, a local institution is the Drag Brunch at Perry's, north of Dupont maybe thirty minutes walking. Just go and have a glass of something at the bar, watch the show for a bit, and then go downstairs to Cashion's Eat Place for real food. Perry's is a good restaurant, but the Drag Brunch is buffet-style, and the Drag part is great, but not 'whole-brunch-great', just one beverage great. Downstairs at Cashions, brunch will be great.
Great but casual dinner: Zatinya -- it looks all la-ti-da, but it aint, and the food is unique in DC, and I'd argue just about anywhere. Not too expensive, and very memorable. Sunday is THE nite to be there, as you can almost not get in other nites.
That Restaurant You Always Wondered About??
Tom Sarris Orleans House is the only original thing left in Rosslyn. I worked close by for years, and we'd go there with groups of ten for office lunches. The menu really tries to do too much. I found everything to be about par with country club food -- everything tastes the same.
Seems like the salad bar is mostly canned food, and loaves of club white straight from the Safeway. The lunch specials were cheap, if not very good, but no one ever got hurt from the food.
We had limited choices in Rosslyn ten years ago; there was a local ordinance forbidding anything edible there that was very well enforced for years. Our salvation was the Tivoli carryout. Then the Spice of Life opened just past Our Lady of Exxon (the church over the gas station -- eat your heart out Crystal City, you'll never see urban planning like that) and our lunches took a turn for the better.
Anniversary Meal
A view, good food and kid kindly -- you may be wishing too big for this burg.
http://www.dcist.com/archives/2006/06/08/rooftop_roundup_1.php
Start with the list above. Don't know where you're starting from, but if the weather were any good, I recently did the water taxi from Georgetown Harbor to Old Town, and that gave a view, would have entertained kids, and left better choices for eats at either end. Ten bucks each way, about 45 minutes, some narration, but not the usual drivel. Take metro back to your starting point, I mean, if you do that sort of thing.
Dinner near DC Arts Center
Cashen's Eat Place won't let you down -- a bit steep, but a very good local place that is reliable.
DC travels
You can't do better than Kinkade's at 2000 Penn.Ave -- mainly seafood, but always rated the best in the city -- very good service and ideal for a special nite out. Expensive, but well worth the price.
Blue and White Carry Out in Old Town Alexandria?
The blue and white is a working/trades place that does as much breakfast sandwiches as it does lunch. Honest food, great chicken.
