JennyUptown

I wish it were temporary, but it's not. DC simply has a street crime problem. I lived in New York for about six and a half years and was never a victim of crime. No thefts, no break-ins, no pickpocking experiences. I've been in DC just shy of three years and during year one, my purse was stolen (and they WENT TO TOWN on my cards). In year two, the tires were stolen right off my car (you should have seen my face when I came to find it propped up on junk tires). For those of you in the service industry who leave work late at night, take good care, return to the buddy system of our younger years and remember that while it would suck to be robbed, it's more important to be alive.

My dentist's office is in the same building so I marveled at the line at noon yesterday. It was out the door and up to the corner. Impressive! I'm glad it's there as I enjoy the donuts when they're warm, but it's true that they are pretty readily available elsewhere.

That story killed me!! I wonder if Jamie witnessed the action. I really enjoyed the piece - nice and light, entertaining and somewhat informative. It would make a nice recurring feature.

I neglected to mention the pickled vegetables that came with my burger. The coolest, most interesting one? A small (maybe 2 inches?) piece of pickled corn on the cob. Loved it.

Excellent news! This is also exciting: I'm an equal opportunity hater. I didn't like the name "daSto" and I also think Cheesetique is a bad name. But whatever. No one asked me.

How I wish I had considered babka's post before making my first visit to Palena on a Monday night... Everything aside from the food was wrong-wrong-wrong. I was with the wrong people. They are my friends and I love them, but they aren't all that into food, don't care where they eat "here" or "there" really, and they were sort of in a rush without saying so. I spent at least 60% of my time explaining the cafe menu concept and apologizing for all of the things that went wrong. Problem #1 - we ate outside. Overall, I'm just not fond of eating outdoors. Mosquitos love me. The firemen across the street had not one but two calls. Lots of honking cars going by for a seemingly calm Monday night. It was irritating. Problem #2 - the service. I am so uncomfortable posting this because the service was both friendly and well-intentioned, but it ultimately fell so far short. From start to finish, there were long, awkward lulls. Took forever to get menus, and then to order, and then for wine to arrive. In her defense, she was seemingly the sole server, but by the time the second fry plate arrived, we were ready for a check. Before the fry plate even arrived, we were asked if we were going to want to order anything else (other than dessert) because the kitchen people wanted to close shop (it was just before 9 pm so...ok). And we didn't get the famous caramels. I don't get that because in spite of the issues, we were friendly, model customers. Problem #3 - the vibe. Although JohnW commented that he liked the mellow feel of Palena on a Monday, I felt the opposite. There was zero energy which, with the aforementioned service issues just made me frustrated. Derek wasn't there (looks like he was at Eve ). I couldn't drink anyway. Problem #4 - my friends and their complaining about the previously described issues plus portion sizes. We just didn't order enough food so people were ready to claw each others' eyes out over the last french fry, I swear. I was going to get the chicken, but when we were reminded of the cook time, I saw one of my companions (a friend of a friend, fortunately) roll her eyes. Got the burger - no regrets though. It's so sad because my burger was the best I've ever had. The. Best. I loved it. Could have eaten three (ok, that's a lie, but you get the picture). I enjoyed the fry plate immensely (although I wasn't ga ga over the lemons - I liked the lemon flavor they imparted to the batter eaten solo, but just didn't want to eat the lemon itself). But I was so freakin' tense and ticked off for the majority of the meal that I couldn't wait to get home. I'll go back for sure, but it may mean going solo rather than trying to explain this gem to people who may just not get it. I won't go on a Monday when the service slides. I will try the chicken. I will hopefully someday again be off antibiotics and be able to have a Derek-sidecar. I'm kind of depressed about the experience (as well as my aching tooth) though so feel free to send me "cheer up" PMs.

I'm hoping that it will be reasonably (if not completely) quiet given that today is Monday.

Sit at the bar. No problem. There will be four of us though.

How crowded do you think it will be tonight (Monday) at 7:30?

I haven't been. Sietsema doesn't like it (or at least has said so in his chats). Eve didn't hate it.

Does Celcius have a web site? I tried one but was led to a dead end.

Firefly - amazing. As I mentioned, I took my houseguest there on Saturday night. Not only was the food incredibly delicious, the atmosphere was fun too. I definitely enjoy the social aspect of eGullet. On a deadline here at work so for now, all I have to say is PORK AND CABBAGE SPRING ROLLS. My favorite appetizer on the menu for the time being. Friends from work and I are discussing trying out the new happy hour on Thursday and you can be sure I will order more of the spring rolls.

I would meet you and give the mini burgers a chance to redeem themselves, however I am taking two visiting friends (one from LA, one from Oz) to dinner... hopefully getting to Palena finally. Finally! Cross your fingers that I didn't just jinx myself...

Met him and chatted. Very cool dude.

Countdown to Firefly! JohnW - what should I drink tonight? PS This isn't just for today, Aug 21

Remember that idea about seeing what other eg types might be dining where you are? Well, I'll start. Anyone heading to Firefly tonight? Or where is everyone heading today? PS Rocks, can you please edit the sub head for my poor grammar (lack of agreement)?

Now THAT is a funny coincidence. I also brought a friend there who hadn't been. Fortunately she didn't share my disappointing experience (she's a vegetarian who loved her veggie sandwich). I didn't want to turn her off from the place.

I had the sorriest trio of mini-burgers tonight. What a disappointment! I overheard a bartender saying Graig wasn't there (he was cooking at the Zoo event) so I wonder if that has anything to do with it. The usually zippy burgers were bland and blah this time. You know those stray zings of salt? Missing this time. The brioche rolls were beyond toasted - they were burned in spots. The burgers themselves, while still around medium in the middle, were crusty and burnt-tasting on the edges. Mustard couldn't save them. Even the beloved onion straws were off. The dusting of parmesan and garlic was nowhere to be found. Almost no flavor in these rings tonight. I threw a little salt on the whole mess hoping that would perk things up, but it was no use. After two, I called it quits.

What's everyone's favorite Matchbox pizza? Matchbox meat? Prosciutto white? Do tell.

What design are you getting?

Me thinks you are most creative. A true original. By the way, have any of you paid attention to the Google-served ads? Just now, there of the four were babka-themed (including one for babkaman.com).

So thanks, again, Morela. I don't know who complained about your long post, but I thought it was wonderful to read and now appreciate it even more that I've tried Pesce. I will be going back soon and I look forward to reading more from you. I don't think she meant someone complained. Instead, she took the time to post a long, thoughtful post...and no one responded. I've been there.

Totally unfocused today... I don't know what's up with that. I'm also really hungry after an uninspired lunch.

Is the food at Fahrenheit any better these days? On one hand, you'd think that awful reviews would prompt SOME sort of change. On the other... I still like drinks at Degrees, but only around payday.

That's a different spot and as far as I know, there's no relation. Here's a thread re:Ginger Cove