Marzapane
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Posts posted by Marzapane
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Has anybody been to Restaurant Nora (not Asia Nora-- sorry, I didn't want to start a new thread) lately? I've never tried it but it's been highly recommended to me by several people. My aunt and uncle are coming to town and want me to pick out a restaurant-- their treat
Is Nora a good choice?
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I'm also a Lazy Sundae fan. It has a nice, creamy consistency.
I was in Thomas Sweet the other night (not aware of its ice cream's good reputation) and was so skeeved out by how unclean the place was that I ended up getting the soft serve yogurt. Just curious, is their ice cream worth risking food poisoning?
Also, has anyone tried Icy Isee across the street? I'm a little scared off by the price, but it is supposed to be authentic Argentinian gelato (i.e., some variation on the Italian kind).
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Julia's empanadas are way, way better.
Changing the subject a little to empanadas....Perhaps this merits a new thread. With all due respect to Julia's, every time I've gotten one there it's been fairly good, but the pastry was too bready, not flaky at all, and the think tasted like it had been sitting under heat lamps for about 8 hours. Perhaps JennyUptown meant this comment in context, anyway...
Ever since I travelled to the caribbean, I have fallen in loooove with empanadas.
The best ones BY FAR that I have found in the area are at Luzmila's Bolivian Cuisine in Falls Church. The empanada de queso picante is delish. They also have saltenas which are like a juicier meat empanada.I'm curious if people have tried any empanadas in the area that they thought were particularly good.
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This may be why Marzapane's boyfriend likes Ribsters - St. Louis Barbecue sauce is typically pretty sweet.
I knew I shouldn't have gotten into a conversation among carnivores! I will try to ask my boyfriend what he liked about it. I also seem to remember that Ribster's had several different varieties of ribs (ie, Memphis style, Texas style, etc). I myself am partial to sweet bbq sauce. I've never really cared for the vinegary varieties.
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Grand Mart (locations in Lincolnia on Little River Turnpike and Falls Church at 7 corners) is hands down the best place to get fruit and veggies. I have yet to find any store that can beat their prices and variety in the produce section. It is a full-size international market and so its produce section caters to a wide variety of ethnic groups. For example, you can get huge bunches of various herbs for something like 99 cents-- about 10 times the amount they give you in those dingy little boxes of wilted herbs at Giant. One word of caution is that their produce is generally pretty ripe (might have something to do with the good prices) so I wouldn't buy a huge supply of it.
My other favorite for pure cheapness is Aldi. I feel a little ashamed plugging this store on a foodie forum. However, I defy you to find cheaper groceries anywhere else. I find that it is best for stocking up on staples such as canned goods, milk, baking ingredients, etc. I have almost never spend more than 30-40 bucks with a FULL cart at Aldi.
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I'm REALLY not qualified to contribute to this thread since I don't eat meat. However, my boyfriend happens to be the biggest rib fanatic and I am usually a very nice girlfriend and go along with him and get salad and fries while he enjoys a rack. We lived in St Louis for a few years, just a few blocks from the St Louis Rib Co on Delmar, where he ate on a regular basis, so I guess he was spoiled.
Although he hasn't found anything close to it, the two places he favors in DC are Famous Daves and Ribster's on Little River Turnpike in Annandale (I haven't seen that one mentioned yet). I am a bbq sauce fanatic and especially enjoyed dipping my fries in the sauce at Ribsters.
I'm glad I found this thread, my boyfriend will be thrilled to have some more recomendations.
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Still, we are indeed fortunate to have Two Amy's. Now we are not debating whether DC has decent pizza; rather we are debating whether the BEST pizza is in Italy or elsewhere in the U. S.
Looks like I'll need to take a trip up to New Haven and then get back to you. I am willing to travel great distances for pizza that is purportedly the best in the world.
This discussion also brings up an important point-- that you cannot compare all pizzas. You really need to group them into subcategories-- Chicago, StL, NYC, Neapolitan, etc. I actually know many Italians who do not like the thicker, softer crust of the neapolitan style pizza, but prefer the thin crispy crust that predominates in the north. I think Chicago pizza is awesome for its sheer cheesiness, but would never group it in the same category as any other kind of pizza.
However, I am most partial to the neapolitan style, so until I try better, 2Amy's is decisively the best I've tried this side of the Atlantic.
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Someone in Dayton and someone leaving Imo's in St. Louis (who grew up with provel cheese) would have an opinion on this, too.
With all due respect to Imo's, that is the most disgusting excuse for pizza I have ever tasted in my life. I live in St Louis for several years and never got the attraction of a cracker topped with sugary tomato sauce and processed provolone cheese (think white velveeta). I shudder even now to think of it... maybe you have to be born there to love it.
I digress though.. Having moved to DC less than 2 years ago I had been frustrated for quite some time at not being able to find an affordable restaurant that was more than mediocre (before anyone reacts to this comment, please note that my options are limited since I am vegetarian and that I emphasize the word affordable-- I'm open to suggestions though). Thanks to eGullet, I learned about 2Amy's a few weeks ago and took a trip there with my Florentine boyfriend. We've been there twice in the last two weeks, and 2Amys has made me regain my faith in DC food.
I won't go into the minutiae of the menu because everyone else has done a good job with that, but I do want to say that this is the best pizza I've ever had outside of Italy. I should note that I lived for half my life in Italy (Florence, with many trips to Naples for pizza!). They've done a great job of recreating the atmosphere and type of service one would experience in an Italian pizzeria. By my comment about the service, I mean that it is very matter of fact-- they take your order, they bring you your food and they don't kiss your a**. I think that the food just speaks for itself, and the most important thing in my book is that they bring you your pizza fresh from the oven, which they did both times.
My one complaint is that the wine list is exclusively Southern Italian wines-- I wouldn't mind a few Tuscan ones on there too.
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If you're willing to drive 2-3 miles east on Route 7 (Broad St/Leesburg Pk) into Falls Church, I recommend Panjshir Afghani Restaurant (I think it's in the 700 block or so of W Broad St.). It is quiet, good service, and the pumpkin dish I had there was to die for!
Luzmilla's Bolivian Cuisine (809 W Broad St) is the perfect little family run greasy spoon with authentic Bolivian food-- lots of stews and meat dishes, yummy saltenas and empanadas-- if you want to try something different and cheap.
There are also a lot of other restaurants on Broad St but I haven't tried many of them. A lot of people like Crisp n'Juicy across the street. Haandi Indian restaurant in the shopping center by the Giant is supposed to be good.
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I find this to be a theme in cheap Asian restos. Is it a conspiracy?
The first Pho place I started goiing to here in Rockville played Abba every day.
That one closed and I started going to another where they seem to have this thing for the BeeGees.
You kind of have to shut out the cheesy music to enjoy your food.
On the flip slide...
The BEST music/cuisine cheap eats blend is at Roger Miller where they play African music videos on the giant screen TV on the back wall all night.
Another exception would be Bangkok Blues on Broad St in Falls Church. I have not yet tried it since moving to the neighborhood 2 months ago, but they do have live local music 6 nights a week. I found a 2002 Post review by Eve Zibart that calls it "one of the best Thai restaurants in town." Has anyone eaten there recently? I'm wondering if the food is still as good as it was in 2002. The music lineup, looks good and cetainly a great alternative to your "Wind Beneath My Wings" mix!
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Mmmm...rissoto fritters...
Thanks for the description of what might have gone awry with the risotto, John. One less than perfect dish certainly wouldn't keep me from eating at Firefly -- I'm not sure wild donkeys could do so! I love bringing people who haven't experienced the frites and then watching them as they try to slooooowly slide the frite holder closer to their plate...
That's exactly what I tried to do with my companion's frites!
I'm wondering if it might be a good idea to say on the menu that is is a French-style risotto so that Italian-style risotto snobs like myself won't be disappointed. I also hope that it was just an off night for the kitchen. Just out of curiosity, what do they call risotto in France? Is there a French word for it or do they use the Italian? I was not even aware of the existence of French-style risotto.
If nothing else, I will definitely be back for the frites-- I have been dreaming about them.
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Hi, this is my first post ever to this forum. I've been reading it for quite some time but just got posting priveleges. I am very impressed by a lot of the content on this site.
I went to Firefly for the first time this past Friday. When I called to make the reservation I was impressed when the hostess asked me if this was a special occasion. Indeed, I said, we are celebrating an anniversary, plus early valentines day. So she said she would make sure we got a quiet table in a corner. When we got there, we were seated at a small table crammed between two others. Oh well.
The decor at Firefly is great, and I loved the lighting. Perhaps it's because my bf told me it made me look especially beautiful and glowing. Always a plus, so congrats to the lighting designer!! :)
For starters, I got the squash soup and he got the truffle parmesan frites. As delicious as my soup was (and it truly was-- I thought that the pickled onions added a really interesting and complementary texture and flavor to the soup), I could not keep my hands off the frites. I guess I will have to order my own next time!
For the entree, I had the creamy risotto with black truffle, while he got the steak diablo. I am vegetarian so I did not try it, but he said that the steak was excellent. Unfortunately, this was not the case with my risotto. The rice was still crunchy on the inside, but mushy on the outside and drowning in a sea of bland cream. I think they also used long grain rice in the risotto-- definitely not arborio or any other short grain that I could tell. The dab of black truffle sauce in the middle added only a hint of flavor, certainly not enough to save this dish. In my view, a good risotto should be al dente, but not crunchy or chewy. It should not be covered in sauce, rather, it should have a thin glaze as a result of absorbing the stock and flavorings that were gradually added as it cooked. Any cream added at the end should only enhance the existing flavors.
For dessert, we shared an espresso cake with an orange cream sauce and vanilla ice cream. I'm not sure I was crazy about the flavor combination, and the cake had a wierd crunchy hardness to it. I'm not sure if this sort of texture was intentional or not.
The service overall was quite attentive, although they did forget to bring the dipping sauce for the frites and it was hard to get anybody's attention for a few minutes.
I will definitely be back to Firefly, but probably just for the starters. Judging from others' posts on this restaurant, I'm wondering if they were having an off night with the risotto and the dessert.
Maria
Where Do I Get Stuff?
in DC & DelMarVa: Cooking & Baking
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The name of it is Thanh So (sp?)
I go there all the time for the mushroom tofu, but the best thing of all to get there is the tofu pudding. It is incredibly silken, warm, freshly made tofu and comes in two flavors-- plain white tofu with sweet ginger sauce, and (my favorite) the green pandan flavored tofu-- it's kind of like a light vanilla flavor-- with coconut milk and tapioca. It is the most delicious thing ever and is good cold, too. It is also incredibly cheap.
They have a bunch of other things that I am eager to try-- has anyone had any of their drinkable concoctions? They look interesting but I don't know what to order.