lscanlon

Actually, there is a dumpy, balding man inside Rocks trying to get out. The guy sat too close to him at the bar at Marcel's one night and kept going on about how he couldn't stand "that sugary riesling crap." Two bites was all it took... ← Sounds a little like those great lines from Sideways, but with riesling instead of merlot: "I'm not drinking any riesling! If anybody orders riesling, I'm leaving!"

I'll have to give that a try. My wife and I love thick-sliced bacon, and we used to buy West Virginia brand in the market until it became too expensive. Now we generally buy Giant's store brand thick-sliced bacon. Good stuff!

I've been there. Pretty decent food, but not memorable. Anyhow, their website says they were established in 1770.

For my money, Il Pizzico is the best restaurant in the Rockville area. No, it's not a pizza place, "Il Pizzico" means "the pinch," according to our waiter. Very creative Italiian food at reasonable prices. Menu: Il Pizzico I like the Scaloppine alla Krizia: Veal scaloppini with prosciutto, tomatoes, and melted cheese. They have quite a variety of pastas, too.

One of the things that makes a Cuban sandwich so good is the bread. From my experience, we can't get good Cuban bread up here. Also, I don't think many of us own a sandwich press. I lived in West Central FL (Inverness) for about eight years and came up here in 1988. I sure miss that great Cuban food. And, yes, I've been to the Cuban Corner in Rockville. I guess it's better than nothing, but it can't measure up to the restaurants in Tampa and St. Pete.

The place could really use a little something to absorb the sound and at least a few decorations--the walls are absolutely bare. They could do both things at once by hanging a couple of tasteful carpets from the walls. My wife and I were there Sunday a week ago for the first time and really enjoyed it. The service was slow, but the staff was so friendly that we really couldn't gripe. Besides, the wonderful rosemary foccacia helped us tolerate the wait. I had the rib eye with horseradish cream. The steak was sensational, but the horseradish tended to overwhelm it. My wife had the hanger steak with bernaise sauce. The meat was fine, but she found the bernaise "sour"; too much lemon, IMO. She asked for some hollandaise instead and that was a little sour, too. Maybe that's because Michael wasn't working that night. Or at least I don't THINK he was! There was a fellow in kind of a cooking smock acting as maitre d' at the door--was that Michael? The only cook in back, AFAIK, was an African-American fellow. Is HE Michael? We both loved the mashed potatoes and spinach. They gave me a chocolate mousse gratis for my birthday and my wife had the key lime pie, which was to die for. We live in Gaithersburg, which was quite a hike by Metro, but we'll certainly be going back.

My wife called yesterday evening (Mon., 5/17) to ask about a reservation for two on Sunday, 5/30. They had tables available at 7:30 and 6:30; we took the 6:30. This will be our first visit and we're really looking forward to it, given the rave reviews here and on Chowhounds.

For me, it's Fajita Burrito with no rice, Carnitas (pork), green chili salsa, sour cream, cheese, and lettuce. Deeeelightful! BTW, take a look at Chipotle's webite. It's funny and very creative.

What were the two spice blends and which was "just ok"?

I read on their website that you can name any city on the postcard you send in.

Penzeys is the best; I've been buying their spices for years. It would be wonderful to have a store nearby. Leo

I believe I saw it at Trader Joe's, no? Leo

After reading all of the negative and lukewarm comments about Crisfield on this board, I was a little apprehensive about accepting an invite to join some friends there last Saturday. As it turns out, the experience was okay. As most of you know, the original Crisfield is an old place, and looks it. It's not dirty, but looks like it's seen better times. We got there about 6:40 and had to wait 20 minutes or so. That wasn't too bad, I guess, except you have to just stand along the wall, since they have no bar. One of our party had the seafood bisque as an appetizer; it was very tasty. I ordered the fried oyster platter and it was heavenly. The oysters were done just and the accompanying fries were exceptionally good. The cole slaw was a little too sweet for my taste, but my wife liked it. She had the Norfolk lobster, which, depite being cooked in butter, was too dry. My friend's SO had a broiled seafood platter ($24.50, I recall), which included a lobster tail; she loved it. Service was decent, considering how small their waitstaff is. Would I go again? If I were in Silver Spring, probably, but I wouldn't travel far to do so. Leo