Friday, November 30, 2012

Small Plates: 11.30.12


Astro Doughnuts & Fried Chicken is coming to 13th and G early next year. [Washingtonian]

Check this out for another take on food in New Orleans. [The Plate]

Favorite dining spots while shopping in Georgetown. Haven't they heard of Amazon? [Washingtonian]

Frederick De Pue, of Table, opening seafood restaurant in Cafe Atlantico space. [Young & Hungry]

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Small Plates: 11.29.12


Why did Edan MacQuaid's pizzeria quit? Is Littlest Italy too big? [Young & Hungry]

New Eastern Market bar Beucher's Saloon schedules opening for January 7. [Washingtonian]

Bardo has it backwards: they have a liquor license, now just need to build a bar. [DCist]

Radius Pizza now serves booze. They'll start offering cocktails later this week. [Young & Hungry]

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Small Plates: 11.28.12


Quench is hosting a series of pop-ups, including Laotian and Korean. [Young & Hungry].

West of the Palomar Hotel, La Kazba offers Moroccan food and belly-dancing. [Borderstan]

In further signs of gentrification, an 'upscale grocer' is coming to 14th and Belmont. [PoP]

Union Market will now be open five days a week. Go check out Buffalo & Bergen! [Young & Hungry]

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Small Plates: 11.27.12





Two levels not enough? After Repeal Day, Jack Rose will have three. [Young & Hungry]


Foggy Bottom elder stateman Kinkead's will be closing in December. [Eater]

Pete's and  Taqueria Distrito Federal are coming soon to Silver Spring. [PoP]

Firefly will have $10 drinks to celebrate Repeal Day. [Washingtonian]

If anyone is ever in St. Louis, be sure to check out taste. in the Central West End. Tasty!

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Small Plates: 11.20.12





Single-A team Stockton Ports has a mascot who wields a stalk of asparagus as a bat. [Atlantic Cities]


Can you be the distiller of the year if you don't actually distill anything? [Rowley's Whiskey Forge]

Firefly will have a $10 cocktail menu for Repeal Day. Best holiday ever. [Washingtonian]

Meridian Pint will be closing over the long weekend for renovations; basement still open. [PoP]

I'll be out of town for Thanksgiving, so posting will be light. I'm thankful for all of my readers -- both of you!

Friday, November 16, 2012

Small Plates: 11.16.12


Jewish deli DGS opens in Dupont. They have a bar! [Washingtonian]

Finally, the Matchbox at 14th and T looks like it's going to open November 30th. [Borderstan]

Shadiest looking fish shop since Fish in the Hood got a makeover adds wings. [PoP]

Want a bookstore? Be more like Adams Morgan. [GGW]

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Small Plates: 11.15.12





Woodward Table and WTF are now open. Apparently Jeff Buben didn't know what wtf stood for... [Young & Hungry]


The Gryphon is coming to Connecticut, just south of Dupont, where Heritage India used to be. [PoP]

World's best sushi restaurant Kushi is launching a food truck focusing on rice bowls. [Young & Hungry]

The Logan Circle Whole Foods is now doing wine and cheese samples Wednesdays. [Borderstan]

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Small Plates: 11.13.12


Bakehouse bakery opening early next year at 14th and T. [Borderstan]

Long-anticipated Suna opening this week above Acqua Al 2. [Young & Hungry]

Owners of gyro mecca Greek Spot opening an 'island' restaurant. [New Columbia Heights]

Thai X-ing is opening a new restaurant near the 9:30 Club in January. [PoP]

Monday, November 12, 2012

New Orleans, Day 4


On our fourth day in New Orleans, we relaxed. We had massages scheduled at Pura Vida in the Garden District, and figured we'd spend the afternoon out there, checking out a different scene from the hectic French Quarter. We got lunch at the St. James Cheese Company. They had some fantastic looking sandwiches, but we went with a cheese board and a Ploughman's Lunch, the better to try their cheese. And their cheese was fantastic. We especially liked what I think was the Fleur de Maquis, on the left of the picture above. But they were all very good.


After my wife went to get her massage, I went to a nearby dive bar, Le Bon Temps Roule, to read and hopefully watch Mizzou beat  Florida. (They didn't). It looked like most dive bars, but it had a really enormous beer selection. How many dive bars have Chimay? Really chill, and a nice pool table.


After meeting up after my massage, we made our way back to the Central Business District. We hit up the W.I.N.O., the Wine Institute of New Orleans, one of our other favorites from our last trip. This one was actually improved from last time. WINO provides the option to taste 40ish different wines in either 1, 2, or 4 ounce pours. Many of these wines are really good, and now they also provide some spirits like armagnac to sample as well. However, it can get really expensive really quickly, so it's important to be careful.


After WINO, we went to dinner at Cafe Adelaide. This was our favorite restaurant. We started off with the foie gras and truffle flatbread, which was incredible. It was covered in large slices of foie gras, just really rich and creamy. For our entrees, we had the Shrimp Courtbouillon and the Duck Breast. The duck was dark and juicy, and really hit the spot. Fantastic dining here.


After dinner we went to Frenchmen street to listen to some jazz. We settled on dba, which in addition to good jazz has an extensive beer and spirits list. John Boutte was playing the night we went, and we thoroughly enjoyed his performance.

Friday, November 9, 2012

New Orleans, Day 3


On day 3, we drove east of New Orleans, first for a swamp tour (Cajun Encounters, they're great), and then to go to the Abita brewpub. Perhaps I'm spoiled by such great brewpubs as Founders' and Schlafly, but I didn't find this brewpub anything to write home about (and yet here I am...). The food was average, and they had a broad selection of Abita beers, but the special brews, like the pecan harvest my wife had and the Roggen I had didn't seem all that special.


The brewery tour, on the other hand, was great, and was everything the Tabasco tour was not. They were very generous with the free samples -- visitors formed a line, and could just go around and around collecting glasses of beer. The video they showed us was genuinely informative, and the tour was pretty interesting. Abita doesn't really wow me with any of their beers, but the beers are generally well made, and I'm always fine drinking an S.O.S. or a Restoration.


When we got back, we walked over to the French Quarter for dinner. The proprietor of the bed and breakfast we were staying at suggested we get oysters at Market Cafe. On our way, we thought we'd stop at Bar Tonique, which came very highly recommended. And for good reason! They have an extensive cocktail menu, with highlights up on a chalkboard, and a $5 happy hour for several of them. Every cocktail I had there was excellently made. It's odd, though, how used I've become to smoke-free bars.


We then took our innkeepers recommendation and went to Market Cafe for oysters. We should have listened when he said he doesn't eat oysters, but his friends all went there. Outside, it smelled like fish, and not in a fun way. The oysters themselves lacked flavor, and were poorly shucked. On the plus side, this inspired us to do an oyster crawl later in the trip, which was a lot of fun.


We went to dinner at Evangeline. We had gone here last year, and really enjoyed it, so we had high expectations. Sadly, our expectations let us down. My wife had the Shrimp and Grits, and I had the Pasta Evangeline. Both were good, and I was especially impressed by the size of the shrimp in my wife's grits. But they weren't great; my pasta in particular was bland, and the grits weren't very creamy.

Small Plates: 11.09.12


Judy's, on 14th just north of U St, is having a contest to build the neatest tower of Tecate cans. [Borderstan]

DDOT's proposed regulations would disallow food trucks at their most popular spots. [WaPo]

Speaking of beer, check out the Beerathon this Saturday. 26 beers, 55 bucks. [Thrillist]

Owners of dive bar Blaguard are planning on doing a Beergarden at 3911 Georgia. [PoP]

Thursday, November 8, 2012

New Orleans, Day 2


The title may be a misnomer. Most of Day 2 we spent not in New Orleans, but a good deal west, in Iberia Parish. In Iberia Parish, on Avery Island, they have the Tabasco factory. We thought it would be fun to get out of the city and see where they make the famous hot sauce, but it was a bit of a bust. The 'tour' consists of  an 11-minute video, which is shamelessly commercial, even by the standards of this sort of thing. If we're at your factory, we're already fans of your product. You don't need to try and sell it to us! After the video, there was a short walk down a corridor where you could see the factory floor, and it was over. We grabbed some food from the food stand they had set up -- I had some red beans and rice -- splurted some tabasco on it, and enjoyed it a fair amount. The experience wasn't bad, but it wasn't worth the 2 and a half hour drive. If you happen to be driving through southern Louisiana, I'd do it, but I wouldn't go out of my way. (Shout out, though, to the really interesting Bayou Teche museum in New Iberia).


We went to Desire for dinner, a slightly-more-upscale-than-usual-for-New-Orleans restaurant inside the Sonesta. The oysters were not terribly memorable, though not the worst we've had in New Orleans. My wife had the Peacemaker po' boy, a po' boy with shrimp and oysters, and I had the Muffaleta. Both sandwiches were good, but neither was exceptional. At least the restaurant wasn't overpriced. Still aching from Halloween, we didn't go anywhere afterwards.

Small Plates: 11.08.12


Founding Farmers is opening a new branch at the Georgetown waterfront. [PoP]

Wonderland Ballroom adds a blue plate special. The chicken and waffles look good. [Young & Hungry]

Taylor Charles Steak & Ice looks to be opening in December, will serve cheesesteak. [WaPo]

DGS Deli, in Dupont, is supposed to open this month. Sounds tasty! [PoP]

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

New Orleans, Day 1


After the ups and downs of hurricane Sandy, we arrived in New Orleans a little less than 24 hours after we had originally intended. Nevermind that, it was Halloween, it was our anniversary, and we were ready to celebrate. We got our first Sazerac at Hermes Bar. Hermes, as far as I can tell, doesn't have much going for it. The drinks they have on their cocktail list are all cloyingly sweet, and I've not heard good things about their food. But they make a good Sazerac. We had dinner at Herbsaint, in the Central Business District. We were very impressed by the appearance. It was nice and formal, but didn't seem stuffy. I was glad I dressed in slacks and and long-sleeve shirt. At Herbsaint we ordered the lamb neck and the duck leg confit. Both were excellent. The duck leg confit had a nice crust and good tenderness. Their cocktails were good, and overall we had a great experience here. We went out for Halloween after that, and none of the places we went were very memorable.