BradS

Thought I would add to the undeservedly slight quantity of literature on this topic. I live more or less in the Pair neighborhood, have attempted to go there four times, and have actually made it in twice (we were twice deterred by the wait). Before I praise the food, let me complain. I really hate the policy of taking reservations only for parties of six, which I presume is still in effect. The two times we left, the place was half empty, with big tables committed to others later in the night. That's fine, but why couldn't we have signed up for a small table the following night? I know lots of places to do this, but I just don't get it. Anyway, the other two times I went later and sat down right away (I don't think either was a weekend). 1 trip was solo, 1 was with spouse, and service was always great. Very nice European feel to the place. Besides the dishes others have mentioned, such as the gougeres and the brisket and the mac and cheese, my favorites have included the lamb in merlot reduction and, especially, the potatoes and eggplant with harissa sauce. These were amazing! They're basically wedges of perfectly seasoned potatoes and eggplant with a flavor of (I think) cumin. The potatoes are great---sort of like the absolutely perfect wedge fries with the ideal combination of roasty crispiness and softness---but the eggplants, which are cut in a very similar shape to the potatoes, are especially amazing, and it's also fun to compare and contrast them with the potatoes. The spicy bright orangish/red dipping sauce is great too. And it's only $5 or $6! Do try this if you go. If I get time, and can avoid lines, I aspire to eventually make my way down the whole menu. Lots of reasonably priced wine options too. BradS

I visited Seven Stars Pepper recently, first time in a while, so I thought I would report. It was my fifth visit, spread out over the several years since it's opened. It's probably a good sign that, in a group of five people, two Chinese, this was the place we were able to agree on. (I'm not Chinese.) I can't remember the name of every dish we ordered, but I will try. We ordered fairly randomly, trying what to me were all new things. The real standout was the deep fried chicken, Szechuan style. I was the one who insisted on trying this and I was actually very confused. I thought maybe they would deep fry a whole chicken, the way they deep fry a whole crab (we had that the first time and as everyone says it's awesome, especially the crispy edible pieces that form at the thin pieces near the joints). But no, this was little chicken pieces deep-fried in breading. Fortunately, the breading was fantastic. Also, it came with green beans that had been stir-fried with some hot peppers. Really really good chicken nuggets, I guess. Very addictive. Nothing else was quite so memorable, but nothing was bad (well the sweet-and-sour chicken was boring except for the mild shock of the accompanying raw onion, but we only ordered it because we had a suspected spiceophobe in the group). Baby bok choy and garlic was nice, the vegetable flavor pretty intense, cooked in a nice broth. The crispy noodles wasn't that exciting. Neither was the twice-cooked beef. (All this was ordered in Chinese, so I have no idea if the noodles were hand-shaved, if that's even an option. But quite likely not.) I do love how when you order things here, you get so much more than you expected. It's true that you get crispy noodles, but you also get all this unannounced stuff on top of them, like mushrooms and onions and chicken (if I'm remembering right) and whatever else. The beef also came with all kinds of vegetables. It's one of those menus where you really have to order everything to figure out what you like. Scallion pancake was good, but not outstanding. The fortune cookie contained a flattering message. OK! I think that's plenty long enough. Definitely don't skip the deep fried chicken, Szechuan style, next time you go. BradS

It looks like Ipanema is finally open. There seemed to be a few people inside last night, and there is a menu in the door. I'd like to try it sometime, but reading the menu made me miss the old version in the U. District. It's pricier now ($35 for the full meatfest) and the menu at least has an appearance of hoping to mainly target expense account businessmen (or maybe I'm reading too much into the phrase "executive lunch"). Looks like you don't get quite as many side dishes automatically now either (i.e., feiojada not part of the standard side dishes but available separately). They have a special Brazilian dish every day, but I'm not sure how much it costs. A vegetarian buffet option is available. It's a bit of a confusing menu, and I only had a minute or two to study it before dashing off for the bus. Maybe I'm being too sensitive, but the menu overall bore a disheartening resemblance to the kind of thing you come across at upscale restaurant chains. But the food, of course, will be the real test... BradS

Thanks for the welcome! I finally, but only after consulting my wife, remembered the dish I'd forgotten: the foie gras with pumpking caramalized in grape must. Just because I forgot it doesn't mean it wasn't memorable---it mostly means I had a brain cramp. Our waitress brought it last, which she said she always does because it's hard to eat much of anything else afterwards, which is true. I really liked the hard pumpkin pieces with the explosive grape flavor. I've never had anything like them. It's not the sort of dish I'd go back and order again and again, but I'm really glad we tried it.

I went to Harvest Vine for a delayed birthday dinner this weekend, and since I love reading about what people get to eat at places like this, I thought I'd at least try to give a brief sketch. Overall impression: Everything we had was superb. Nothing brilliant, as usually happens at least once/meal at someplace like Union, but no disappointments either. I was lucky enough to visit Spain a year ago, and the food at HV pretty well mirrored what we had at the best places we made it to there (we were baby-encumbered and didn't go to the ultrafancy places there, but we did make it to some good ones). Also, we had great service, no rush at all, and a nice cabernet-temprenaillo-something blend that was one of many bottles in the $30 range. Dishes (I wanted, but failed, to steal a menu, so bear with me!): Freebie---two sea scallops, cooked very much in the style of Pulpo a La Gallega (Galician-style octopus). Tasty. Also, good white bread throughout, abundantly refilled. Herbed duck broth with onion confit on little toasts: This was actually a highlight. Very pure bright flavored broth with strong rosemary aroma, intensely sweet onion confit. Small, but only $3.50 a serving! Chickpeas: We did 3 veggie dishes, and this was the first to arrive. Generous portion of chickpeas in very tasty sauce lightly spiced with cumin. Menu said something would be "caramelized" (it said this about nearly everything) but I'm not sure what. Very flavorful. Pork loin with some kind of potatoes---I think they were basically scalloped potatoes but the menu had some other name, what counts is they were delicious. Probably some onions involved, and (of course) some caramelization. Pork loin was a little dry on the ends, juicy in the middle, nicely seared and seasoned. Revuelto with erizos---I just had to try scrambled eggs with sea urchins! Seemed like a generous amount of sea urchin roe, with a faintly briny flavor. I would have guessed some kind of mushrooms or sausage if I hadn't known. Very softly cooked eggs. Artichokes with jamon---We actually got this at the Royal Palace cafeteria in Madrid, not exactly a dining destination, and really loved it. Loved it here, too. Nice rich sauce, wonderful combination of rich flavors. White asparagus with crispy jamon in Bechamel sauce---I got this mostly because of the nutmeg-scented bechamel sauce, which reminded me of some of my favorite dishes at a tapas place in Madrid called Cafe Lucas. Only 5 stalks of asaparagus, but very interestingly crisped cured ham (almost like potato chips) and plenty of rich white sauce to sop up with bread. Flourless chocolate cake with citrus---This wasn't so thrilling. The cake was served in its own baking dish, which was very hot, and too much stuck to the sides. A tasty chocolate mousse-like thing was on the side, as were about 3 little pieces of mandarin orange. Cake flavor was just OK. I wish I'd gotten the espresso flan. I think I'm forgetting one dish, and I will try to figure out how to edit this post if I remember what it was. Total bill was $160, including tip. Not a steal by any means, but I didn't feel ripped off in the least. We sat in the basement. Incidentally, the menu was huge, and we could easily have made another great meal without duplicating a single dish. I need to stop by this place more often! BradS

The thing about Tangletown is that the menu reads great. As you look down the menu it all looks interesting and good, but the food never seems to match expectations. I agree with Jbonne's observation about Luau. The food is mediocre---but at least its over priced. One underrated spot is Jak's steakhouse. Very tastey yet reasonably priced. ← As far as Tangletown/Elysian goes...well, it's really all about the beer, isn't it? The Elysian is a great brewpub---they keep winning best large brewpub of the year at the Great American Beer Festival---and that's what I go there for. Even having said that, the beer doesn't taste quite as good to me at Tangletown as at the Capitol Hill location (which can be, on a good night, one of the great beer spots in the world). Maybe they're not turning over the kegs quite as fast, or maybe they're brewing on site and things aren't quite perfect. Also, I really don't like that Jasmine IPA---sickeningly sweet. I couldn't even drink it. And they once served me a Sierra Nevada barleywine that could not have been what was advertised. I do really appreciate the family-friendly thing, since I'm usually restricted to such places. I wouldn't say the food is terrible (I once head a cornish game hen thing served on andouille bread pudding that was actually quite amazing) but it does generally taste less exciting than it sounds. Don't get the American Bento, whatever you do! Mostof the sandwiches are OK. Speaking of Tangletown, what about Kisaku? I've only been a couple times, haven't yet had the chance to sit at the sushi bar, but it's been good and I always hear good things. I'm not sure they do an omakase, though.