Bad Saint

Posted on 2016/04/05 by .

Bad Saint, web site, 3226 11th Street NW, Washington, DC, closed Tuesday, no phone. (Metro Trip Planner – opens in new window) [WaPo | Washingtonian | TripAdvisor | City Paper | Ylp]

No reservations, get there well before 5:30 when they open, they have only 24 seats and your entire party had better be there at that very moment. No tables seat more than four and everywhere it is crowded, including for your knees let’s hope your coat is not that heavy. The good news is that it is definitely worth it. Creative Filipino cooking at its best, and I don’t mean that as faint praise. I’ve had most of the menu, and none of it is worse than interesting, noting they are not afraid to serve you sour-tasting food. The two best items are the bronzino, and the clams with sausage and Sichuan chiles; they are two of the very best dishes in town right now. Trendy, you get a good view of the kitchen, not cheap but reasonably priced for what you get, worth the trip and the wait for sure.

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Yu Zhou Café

Posted on 2016/04/03 by .

Yu Zhou Café, web site, 576 N Frederick Ave, Gaithersburg, MD, 301-330-9808 (Metro Trip Planner – opens in new window) [Google | TripAdvisor | Ylp]

This is a strange but also excellent place. The clientele is Latino and Chinese, and they order accordingly. Thus the secret Chinese menu is in Chinese only. I tried to order some dishes I know. The fish with Sichuan peppercorns was excellent, and with an amazing amount of quality fish, sharp flavors too, not the muddy, gluggy route. I ordered Dan Dan noodles and received some kind of hot sesame noodles, they were pretty good. Hot and Sour Wontons are recommended. If you can’t read Chinese, I don’t really know how to crack this menu. I was there too early to do a lot of pointing to other tables. At the very least this place seems to be competitive with many of the other Sichuan eateries, and it has possible upside potential beyond that.

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Soju Sarang

Posted on 2016/03/26 by .

Soju Sarang, web site, 4231 Markham St, Annandale, VA, 703-256-3565, open late usually until 2 am (Metro Trip Planner – opens in new window) [Google | TripAdvisor | Ylp]

Mostly sushi and sashimi, plus some stranger Korean soups and stews, including fish head and the like. It’s actually one of the very best raw fish places around outside of the expensive sushi restaurants in DC. Many people turn their noses up at the idea of Korean sushi and sashimi, but the servings here taste very good. If you are looking to shell out $100 for a large and impressive plate of sashimi, and wash it down with beer, this is the place to go. Most Annandale Korean places have good atmosphere but this is above average in that department too. Recommended, worth having in the repertoire.

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Chettinadu Indian Cuisine

Posted on 2016/03/13 by .

Chettinadu Indian Cuisine, web site, 15124 N. Frederick Rd., Rockville, MD, 301-251-8991 (Metro Trip Planner – opens in new window) [Google | Ylp]

Get the goat soup, the chettinadu naattukozhi varuval (chicken in a tamil dark sauce, a real knockout), the chicken 65, the fish fry (Nethili meen fry with anchovies), a dosa, an aappam, and the eggplant. This place is a knockout, the flavors are so vivid, and a lot of these dishes you cannot get elsewhere in the region. Right now this is one of the best and most interesting Indian places going.

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Die Aufhebung des Bezahlens

Posted on 2016/03/13 by .

At [new D.C. restaurant] Pineapple and Pearls, Silverman says there will be no sticker shock. A $250 dinner will cost $250. When diners make a reservation, they will pay half upfront and will be billed the other half automatically on the day of their reservation. If they cancel 72 hours in advance of their reservation, diners will be refunded their initial payment.

. . . Pineapple and Pearls wants to “eliminate the guest from ever having to look at a bill,” Silverman says. “When you show up, you have nothing to worry about. Everything is paid for. All you have to do is sit back and have a good time. We’ll take care of the rest.”

Here is the full story, here is my earlier post “Why is it so hard to find the cash register?”

Originally posted on Marginal Revolution – click to see comments and suggestions.

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Meda Market

Posted on 2016/03/06 by .

Meda Market, web site, 512B S. Van Dorn St., Alexandria, VA, 703-212-6740 (Metro Trip Planner – opens in new window) [Google | Ylp]


A mom and pop Ethiopian, full of Ethiopians watching TV around a bar, with an attached spice shop as well. A small menu, mostly various forms of kitfo and tibs, but with an excellent vegetarian sampler as well. There are so many very good Ethiopian places around these days, it is disorienting to try to rank them all. Still, if you ask is this one in the top tier, the answer is yes, yes, and yes…recommended, definitely. You will note that the outside sign is in Amharic only, but if you are looking for this place you will find it, just don’t expect the four letters “Meda” on the outside.

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Taste@Hong Kong

Posted on 2016/03/05 by .

Taste@Hong Kong, web site, 13912 Lee Jackson Memorial Hwy, Chantilly, VA, 703-378-7680 (Metro Trip Planner – opens in new window) [Google | TripAdvisor | Ylp | Don Rockwell]

Cantonese, with an enormous, sprawling menu. The food here is fresh, tasty, and consistent, with plenty of authentic options, including yams and also a big choice of casseroles. I don’t know that they have any killer dishes, but you’ll do very well here if you avoid the more typical American Chinese dishes and stick with the real thing. This has to rank among the top three or four Cantonese places around, recommended, and it further cements my growing view that Chantilly is becoming the ethnic food center of this broader area.

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Mazagan

Posted on 2016/02/27 by .

Mazagan, web site, 2901 Columbia Pike, Arlington, VA, right next to the Drafthouse Cinema, 703-566-4173 (Metro Trip Planner – opens in new window) [Google | WaPo | TripAdvisor | zabihah | NoVA Mag | Ylp]

Genuinely good Moroccan food, consistent across all fronts. I’ve tried about fifteen of the dishes here, and not a single miss, so in that sense I don’t have many particular recommendations. Maybe the shrimp in spicy garlic sauce. More a trendy place than a mom and pop, but somehow it avoids the feel of being pretentious or unpleasant. It’s simply a very nice restaurant to sit and dine in. There is nothing here which is strikingly original, but everything here is well above average and this is definitely a place to have in the regular repertoire.

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Kingsway Café of Laurel

Posted on 2016/02/18 by .

Kingsway Café of Laurel, web site, 13919 Baltimore Ave., Laurel, MD, 240-294-4144 (Metro Trip Planner – opens in new window) [Google | TripAdvisor | Ylp]

Full of charm and good humor, this is one of the few Nigerian places around. For better or worse, it makes few concessions to the taste of the Western diner. The fufu comes in the form of a big lump, and is perhaps not as moist and juicy as one might ideally like. The vegetables have real flavor, and the goat is…bony. I enjoyed this place, taken in as an overall dining experience, but it was not “the Nigerian place I have been looking for.” On execution they still need to improve. That said, I wouldn’t mind going back, if only because there is nowhere else around quite like it.

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Birrieria Zaragoza

Posted on 2016/02/10 by .

Birrieria Zaragoza, web site, 4852 S Pulaski Rd, Chicago, IL. 773-523-3700 [Google | TripAdvisor | Chicago Reader | Ylp | Chicago Food Chat]

This small, family-owned Chicago Mexican restaurant specializes in barbecued goat. It is the best barbecued goat I have had, the best accompanying sauce I have had outside of Mexico (you must order it separately), and the best tortillas I have had outside of Mexico. It is one of the best restaurants in Chicago, for my taste perhaps the best.

Here is a short video about the restaurant.

Note also that goats are not in general raised on factory farms. It is a significant question how steeply the marginal cost curve would climb, were we to substitute a lot of goat consumption for say pig or cow consumption. In any case, at the margin it seems like a no-brainer, especially with the Birrieria to guide you.

Strongly recommended.

Originally posted on Marginal Revolution – click to see comments and suggestions.

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