rbh

Salty oatmeal cookies. Wheee! ← are these salty oatmeal cookies the same as those at Marvelous Market

I don't usually find the parking to be so bad on weekends. This past Sunday, though, there was a Wizards game at noon which probably affected your parking search. ← If there's no event at MCI Center (a more likely occurrence these days with the lack of Capitals games :-( OT - I'm somewhat curious how that's affecting the restaurant and bar scene around Penn Quarter w/o hockey) you can usually find parking over by the National Building Museum - around 4th and 5th and F or G. Even in worst case scenarios, 3rd St is almost always available. In this area, I've usually found that going east is more conducive to parking than going west (i.e. toward Metro Center).

I miss Giolitti's in Annapolis. Italian sub - meaty, tasty, great Tuscan roll.

FYI - Opentable can ask for and take credit card numbers online. Typically I've run into this with booking larger (i.e. >6 people) tables. It's SSL encoded - so theoretically as secure as ordering anything else online with a credit card. Cancellation guidelines are included (48 hours) but it's not clear what the charge would be in the event of a no-show.

Oriental Regency near the Sheraton on Rt 7 used to be very good, but I haven't been there in years and heard it had gone downhill. Anyone heard good or bad about Hunan Lion?

The 2 places I like in Chinatown are Eat First (roast duck chow foon is usually pretty good) and Full Kee, for the HK Noodle Soups and other noodle dishes. DC's chinese food doesn't compare to NYC or California. The suburbs tend to be better - A&J (Annandale and Rockville), Bob's Noodle House (Rockville), and Fortune (7 Corners) among others. The place they make the noodles in the window is Chinatown Express, on 6th. I've tried the shanghai soup dumplings there.... and it just makes me long for Joe's Shanghai in NYC.

I was here on Friday - and didn't notice a difference in the mini-burgers - still as good as ever..... interesting to note that when we ordered them, the waitress mentioned that they normally come medium-rare and whether that was ok. The flank steak sandwich didn't seem quite up to standards - it was good, just not as good as I've had before.

Surprisingly, the Original Pancake Houses (at least the Rockville one) has excellent lean, meaty bacon. Not overcooked - crispy with the right amount of chewiness.

Annapolis doesn't really do the Firefly kind of place. Some of the places have been there for decades. Other locations just seem to be cursed. 49 West can also be the place for dessert..... If you want sushi, goto Joss: http://www.josscafe-sushibar.com/ O'Leary's for fish is excellent. Northwoods is also supposed to be good. though it's about a mile out of downtown. I've also had friends who liked Harry Brownes - it's on State Circle. Haven't been to either of these. Usually when I'm back in Annapolis, I'm at bars like Galway Bay (one of the better Irish bars there food-wise) or Riordans. Don't go to Ram's Head, Pusser's, Phillips, or Ego Alley for food. Drinks there - ok. Also, one of the boat shows is this weekend - parking's going to be tough!

But in 15 Ria's case, at least it's a fenced in patio - and not just sidewalk seating with at most a theater rope separating the sidewalk traffic from the tables (a la Gordon Biersch, Mimi's, etc).

doc - i was at pesce last weekend and found it to be very good - fish was very fresh. just have to realize they cook some of the fish bone-in, so it takes some effort for those uncomfortable with non-fileted fish. the problem is no reservations. jenny - how about Chef Geoff's for the non-ethnic leaning parents?

Ditto on the O'Learys recommendations - i personally think the best in annapolis. For more casual, I also like 49 West, great coffee and desserts and the other food's good too. My friends like Lewnes, but I've never been - and Joss is good for sushi.

Addie's is, imho, the best restaurant on the pike. When I lived in Rockville, I tried to steer any occasion there. Now I live in the District and it's not quite as convenient. Other favorites on the pike: A&J, Il Pizzico, and when I'm in a hurry, Eatzi's and Chicken Out. i'm still looking for equivalents down here...

sausage & onion, Q Special, and chicken pesto for me. everything is good at matchbox..... except for the crabcake (had some of tcpanda's - and it just wasn't good) - though i admit i've never ventured much into the seafood there - except for the mussels, which were excellent - but aren't on the menu anymore. i do like the pastas too - plus they have Chimay on draft.

fyi - here's Palette's RW dinner menu (i'm going here on Thurs and to DC Coast on Monday). did anyone check out Butterfield 9's RW menu also (see link) - it didn't make the cut this time, but the menu (particularly lunch) looks tasty. APPETIZERS Yellow Tomato Bisque Jumbo Lump Crab Salad, Opal Basil Puree Lump Crab Cake Roasted Corn Puree, Pepper Relish Field Greens & Grilled Mushroom Salad Truffle Honey Vinaigrette ENTREES Roasted Wild Alaskan Salmon Roasted Corn, Fava Bean & Onion Succotash, Fried Green Tomatoes Herb Basted Bone-in Chicken Breast Five Spice Sweet Potato Waffle, Braised Greens, Chive Honey Reduction Grilled Hanger Steak Balsamic Glazed Asparagus, Three Potato Hash, Fresh Horseradish Cream DESSERTS Chocolate Chi Bread Pudding Saffron Ice Cream Blackberry Cobbler Tahitian Vanilla Ice Cream

Calvert Woodley in Van Ness has a good selection. inventory can be seen here

Doesn't Carvel do special designed cakes?

For this area, I've found the dim sum at Fortune to be the most consistent. New Fortune (Gaithersburg) and China Garden are the other big ones, and i know a couple people that swear by Good Fortune in Wheaton as well. I've never been to Mark's Duck House for dim sum, but the couple meals I've had there have been fabulous. Chinatown dim sum is not good. It's not Cantonese dim sum, but my favorite small plate Chinese is A&J. Even with the steam carts and such, dim sum has a limited shelf life - no matter how good it was to begin with, if it sits too long on the cart (except for things like congee or the dessert carts), it just won't be very good. That's one good thing about busy dim sum places - lots of turnover and the food's always fresh. When I walk into empty places, I always know I'll be disappointed. It's one of the things about places like NYC, LA, Montreal, and Toronto - in Chinatowns or in the case of LA, Chinese suburbs (San Gabriel, etc), the dim sum places get a lot of business, food is fresh, and there's a lot of competition, so you see a bit more variety and creativity in dim sum dishes (beyond the standard shui-mai, har gow, BBQ pork buns, etc). I plan to go to Lucky 3 sometime - i never liked Maxim Palace - and knowing it's run by the same people as New Fortune is encouraging. Anyone been yet?

I was quite pleased with dinner. the trout was very tasty. lightly fried, not too greasy. and the string beans were nice and crispy with it. tcpanda neglected to mention the appetizers - the fried oysters were very good. the shrimp and grits was not as impressive - not bad, but not good enough that i'd order it again. i liked the crab cakes - but they are a bit pricey (but then again so are crabs as a whole). i miss annapolis when you could wander and get a decent crabcake sandwich for lunch. in DC, it's like hunting for a 4-leaf clover in a bed of poison ivy. i'll have to try old ebbitt's...... i should have known we were in trouble, when both soft shell crab folks before we went in said they were really hungry.

It's below Burma on 6th St, near Mr Yungs and Chinatown Express (where they make the noodles in the window) - i had lunch there last week - it's more attractive on the inside then one would expect. was in a little bit of a hurry so didn't get to peruse the menu in detail - i just had pad thai. it was good - but nothing spectacular - i'll go back to try out other things on the menu. but my initial thoughts are that if it weren't right by work i don't think i'd make a special trip for it. tcpanda said it was as good as Haad Thai over by metro center but not as good as ThaiTanic.

Taste-wise, that's accurate. Price-wise, not so much. couple months ago i also had Five Guys for the first time - i like the burgers - but i agree, it is a bit pricey for what you get - not something i'd make a habit of but i've gone back a couple times since - it'll fill a niche in the Gallery Place neighborhood. i think i like the fries a lot better. i never go to fuddruckers a block away because I think they're overpriced - yet i'll go back to 5 guys. i guess that shows something about how i like 5 guys. of course if i'm already escaping form the office and walking over that way, i should just go get a plate of mini-burgers at matchbox across the street...... or some beef brisket at capital Q.

i always get the chicken w/ green sauce, the spinach and pine nuts, and the fried shark. the mussels (a lot of them), chorizo w/ mashed potatoes, fried calamari, red pepper w/ goat cheese are also popular with the group i usually go with. p.s. i love the apple charlotte......

Finally made it back to Ray's Saturday night (and introduced 6 others to the phenomenom) and it was delicious again. I had a caesar salad and a couple others had the crab bisque and the onion soup and declared them good. Around the table, I had the ribeye with horseradish, there were a couple cowboys (28 oz bone-in ribeyes), a 20-oz strip, the strip with brandy mushroom sauce, the strip withblue cheese crumbles, and a filet. Everyone was quite pleased with their steak - one disappointment was the inability to get the chateaubriand - it's for parties of 2 and only 2 (no more, no less). We speculated that it had something to do with not wanting to hold up the steaks at the rest of the table, but we should've gotten Michael to explain. We were marveling at how perfectly cooked the steaks are - for such big slabs of beef, they're not overcooked on the outside, yet just warm and juicy on the inside. Besides the mashed potatoes and creamed spinach, we also ordered the grilled asparagus which were great. After all that 3 desserts were ordered - 2 of the wonderful chocolate mousse - though a couple folks in the group wished it were a dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate, and a new addition, a root beer float. We went through 3 bottles of red - very reasonable - $24/bottle for a 2000 french cabarnet whose name i'll need to ping one of my dinner companions for - Domaine something ;-) I won't go so far to say it's the best steakhouse in the area.... but certainly it's the best value. You just get so much more here for the price compared to the other steakhouses..... and their steaks certainly compete with or are better than much of their competition.

It's a little out of the way: 15151-D Southlawn Lane back by the ARC Ice Rink goto http://www.mayorgacoffee.com/html/index.php - they have directions on their web page - it's only open 12-5 on Thur Fri and Sat. What they sell are overruns so there's no guarantee of any particular coffee being available, but whenever i go, there's always about 5-10 flavors to choose from. i've also heard they take requests (i.e. if you want something, let them know and they'll hold one for you.....)

hmmm, 21 and looking for "grown-up" bars. me ARGGGH too. Happy B-day! How about Helix Lounge or Bar Rouge?