gear02

Unfortunately, I work in Fairfax, VA and I don't think I can make it to MD by 7pm. Plus, I'm leaving for Asia that week and I might have to work extra hours. Sorry guys.

Oh, cool! Thanks for taking charge, Malawry. Monday the 6th and Tuesday the 7th are out for me. I'd vote for Thursday the 9th. ← I'm game...but weekends work better for me since I live in Fairfax and don't relish the idea of driving to maryland during rush hour...

I think we just found our culinary tour guide on an eGullet outing BURMESE-STYLE! Whaddaya say gear02? Al Associate Deputy Vice-Chief Co-Instigator ← uhhhh.....sure?

My parents are Burmese so I grew up on the food. Anyways, there's another Burmese restaurant in Falls Church called Myanmar (i think). How does this compare to Mandalay? Btw, what's your favorite Burmese dish? Mine has to be OhnNo KaukSwe (Egg noodles with chicken soup in creamy coconut soup), which is very similar to Malaysian Laksa. Also, just wondering if anyone knew, but Thoke (as spelled in english) is traditionally eaten with their fingers. I can remember when my family would have a gathering, those who were born in burma would be eating with their fingers while those of us born here were using forks :) Anywho, nostagalia.

Well here's my thought on the world of chinese food in the US. There's what I call American Chinese food. This comprises of pretty much every chinese take out restaurant, chinese buffets, and most "high class" chinese places like PF Changs. Most people associate this as being chinese food, though it's no more chinese than Tacos are Mexican. It's catered towards americans. Then there's Authentic Chinese food, mostly found in *real* chinatowns (real being the fact that actual chinese people venture and hang out there, DC's chinatown is NOT real) and other restaurants, Mark's Duck house being one of them. Now, it may not be like home cooking, but the style is the same and the types of dishes are incredibly close. For cantonese food, this generally means either "fast food", i.e. wonton noodles, bbq pork with rice, etc or family style where everyone shares large plates. In DC it's hard to find real chinese food. Mark's is the only cantonese place I know. However, if you go to New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, or Houston, you'll definately find real chinese restaurants. I've lived in Houston and I can tell you the places if you ever decide to go. So yes real chinese food does exist, it's just hard to find it here. I'm not saying that American Chinese food is bad. Sometimes I crave beef and broccoli and general gao's chicken. What I don't like are people who think that American Chinese food is what all chinese people eat, and there's no alternative. And your last statement is very much correct. It's all over the place because people have found that american chinese food is incredibly easy to cook, and can charge a lot of money for it. Honestly, it doesn't take much skill to cook it. And to make really good american chinese food, just get better incredients, take a little more time, and decorate the plate nicer, and voila, you have high class american chinese food. Cooking authentic chinese food, however, takes a lot of skill.

Thanks for the reply. I went to the fortune in Seven Corners and the dim sum was pretty bad. What do they serve when they're not serving dim sum?

Again, sorry to ressurect an old thread, but as a Texan (lived in Houston for 8 years), I LOVE BBQ and due to my attempts at a good rib, I've tried many places in this year. Btw, a caveat. My belief of ribs is that a great rib does not need BBQ sauce. The flavor should already be there. BBQ sauce is just to cover up a badly cooked rib. Also, the meat shouldn't be falling off the bone. You should have to bite it off the bone, but it shouldn't be chewy. I know this different from like Memphis style or Kansas City style, but that's the way I like it. Willards - The ribs are decent, though unremarkable. I haven't tried in a while so I'll update it when I go tomorrow :) This place in centreville, near the Giant (forgot the name) - The ribs there are somewhat flavorful, but many times dry and overcooked. Dixie Bones - This comes as close to Texas ribs as I have seen. They are really good. The pulled pork isn't so good though, but my absolute favorite is the fried catfish...mmmmmmmmmmmm...catfish.... Red, Hot, and Blue - Tried their dried ribs and was not impressed at all. Some parts of the ribs were still dry with rub. It was a bit too tender (falling of the bones). Famous Dave's - The ribs here are excellent. I really need to go there more.

Sorry to be ressurecting an old thread and I'll apologize in advance if my choice is pretty horrid. I took my mom to Fairfax Crab House (Captain Pell's) a month ago and it was somewhat decent. The decor was horrible, but the crabs were actually quite fresh, although slightly too much crab boil mix. I wonder what your opinions are on this place...

I'm a new poster here and I just found this board about 2 days ago when I was looking for good reviews on China Star in Fairfax. After reading 10 pages of posts, I have finally found the forum I've been looking for for the past 2 years. I'm looking for an authentic cantonese chinese restaurant, like Mark's Duck House, but closer to the Fair Lakes area. Last year, there was such a restaurant in Centreville (near the Giant and the bar on 28 and 66). They had bbq pork along with my favorite cantonese dishes like Fried Squid (yum). I used to go there twice a week and I think I was their most regular customer. The manager/owner (i think) even knew my name since I ordered from there so much. However, they closed without warning and without informing me, although it wasn't a big surprise. Does anyone know of such a restaurant within a decent driving distance from the fair lakes area (Fair Oaks Mall)?