treznor
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Posts posted by treznor
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Indeed, many of the nicer restaurants in DC are closed on Sunday and many on Monday as well. Hotel restaurants have a better chance of being open as they typically need some source of food anyway unless there's another restaurant in the hotel (such as CityZen being closed as the Mandarin Oriental has other restaurants). Citronelle is one of (or the, depending on who you talk to) the best restaurants in the city and is open on Sundays. It is quite expensive however and getting reservations can be difficult. opentable.com can also help to sort out what's open, though of course it doesn't have every restaurant.
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I'm a fan of both Frazier's and Porter's (next door to each other and owned by the same people). During the summer at least parking shouldn't be too bad. During the school year since it's across from NCSU it can be a tad annoying to find a spot, but after 7pm (or is it 6pm?) when the southern side of the street becomes open to park on it's easier to find a spot (though still a bit annoying).
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Thanks Varmint! Any other must try places--either higher end or a different style?
I always suggest Enoteca Vin as a must-try place in Raleigh.
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Another place that I know that serves salt-and-pepper catfish is Big Daddy's, west of Mooresville on 150. If you're driving out 150 it's tough to miss the place as it has a huge parking lot and NASCAR cars on top of the building :-) I've eaten there many times as it was one of the few restaurants in the area near where my parents live.
I've always really liked the salt-and-pepper catfish there, but I don't really have a comparison point as it's about the only place I've been to that serves it.
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I stopped by on Wednesday to try out the new menu, not coincidentally. I had read here about the new menu and I'm in Raleigh about every other week and stay downtime so Vin is right around the corner for me.
I tried the hazelnut crusted chevre as well as the poached egg for appetizers. Both were wonderful. I particularly enjoyed the pickled black-eyed peas with the poached egg. I ended up trying both since I ordered the poached egg but ended up being served the chevre. I was completely out of it and had eaten a decent portion before the waitress came by to tell me about the mixup (evidently the poached egg is called the same thing on their system with the new menu as the chevre was under the old menu or something along those lines). I wasn't complaining too much :-)
I also had the pomme frites. Some people might find the fries a bit salty. Personally I really liked them, but I do recognize that others might find them a bit salty. The steak was well cooked and the au jus soaked into the fries on the bottom of the plate were a great combination.
For dessert I had the pecan tart with brown sugar ice cream. The pecan tart was at just the right temperature. Too hot and the filling starts to get too gooey and it causes the ice cream to melt too fast; too cold and well.. it isn't hot. This was at a great temperature, and the combination of the pecan tart with the brown sugar ice cream was great. The ice cream didn't overwhelm with brown sugar flavor but just gave a good pop to the pecan tart.
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Ah, I knew I was thinking of something that I forgot to write.
The wine list is fairly small (30 or so wines maybe?) and the wines by the glass even smaller (4-5 I believe). I definitely would have liked to see a larger selection. No brandy either, so I couldn't have the Sidecar that I was craving for some reason.
Food was good, but would have liked a little larger wine list to choose from, especially by the glass.
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Stopped by tonight and was impressed.
Started with the gnocchi with mushrooms and greens. The gnocchi were pillowy goodness (okay I'm a sucker for gnocchi anyway), the mushrooms nice and meaty. I prefer my gnocchi tossed into a skillet for a slight crust on the outside, which these weren't. But hey, that's not the tradtional gnocchi recipe so it's tough to fault someone for not doing it :-)
Next was the duck confit crepe. A bit difficult to eat as I didn't have a knife. The duck was basically bite sized but since it was inside a crepe it was tough to tell exactly where to seperate with the fork. My least favorite of the dishes I tried, but still good.
Veal sirloin with fingerling potatoes and cherries was the third course. Nice preperation and the fingerling potatoes picked up the sauce well. I'm not overly familiar with veal really so it's tough for me to compare.
The crepe of the day was a banana-caramel-rum crepe with a bit of chocolate on the top. Every bit as good as it sounds and it was extremely large (a bit too large I thought...)
The first three courses were included in the $25 price fixe menu and the dessert was $5. Wine was $6-$8/glass and cocktails were in the same range (at least my gin and tonic was). I wasn't absolutely wowed by the food (though it was quite good) but for that price I thought it was very good.
Both the salmon and the chicken specials of the day (which I don't recall exactly anymore) sounded very good but I wanted to try the 3 course price fixe first.
When I went in (around 6:30) the place was only about one third full but by the time I left there was only one table empty, which was a fairly large table, and I think one person waiting at the bar.
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I wish I had been in town for this... I got the email and started salivating thinking about it, and then realized I wouldn't be in Raleigh that day :-(
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I stay at that Sheraton alot since I travel to Raleigh often (and lived in Raleigh for 6 years). I can't answer the coffee question as I don't drink coffee all that often. Most of the downtown restaurants are closed after lunch, so I'm not sure if you're asking about lunch or dinner. If lunch, again I'm not sure. For dinner, the Borough is 5-6 blocks away and has pretty decent burgers, and the Flying Saucer is one block further, which has a wide beer selection and some decent food (the pizzas are one of their better items). Going a little further, South Glenwood is walkable in about 20 minutes, which may mean you would want to drive. It's mostly bars and such, though one of the state's better restaurants is in the stretch as well, Enoteca Vin.
A little further up Glenwood is the Five Points area, which has Luna Pizza, which is quite good as well.
I'm mostly drawing a blank for sandwhich shops though... Sandwhiches are typically lunch, not dinner, for me which means I'm up in N. Raleigh and tend to just hit a Subway or a Panera if I'm in the mood for a sandwhich.
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Okay, so what is Moxie? I checked out the linked websites and didn't find anything that described it at all. I'm gathering it's some type of soft drink, but is it something along the Nehi type, the Sundrop type, or what? Just trying to figure out what I'm missing out on :-)
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I was talking to Chef Landrum one time and he looked a little bewildered aby the hype and said "all I want to be is a great neighborhood restaurant."
Hopefully, there will soon be two.
I've read that quote from him a couple times. At this point (may change with going back multilpe times, but I doubt it), it's probably one of the two restaurants that I'd actually consider in a decision on where to live, just to make sure it was a neighborhood restaurant :-) The other being Lost Dog Cafe, which has to be one of my favorite (if not -the- favorite) place to just go have a regular ole' meal. As I'm in Alexandria, I'm not exactly far away from either of them anyway.
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Made my first visit to Ray's last night. I had been fearing the worst as his answering machine currently says he's closing 3/26 until further notice (I'm guessing in order to focus on starting up the new store, though that wasn't stated anywhere) and not taking reservations, I was worried I wouldn't be able to get in. I ended up showing up around 7:50pm Sunday night (3/20/06) and getting seated around 8:20 or so. Not bad at all.
I had the scallops and my girlfriend had the cold-cooked Norwegian salmon. I'll have to agree with everyone that the scallops were absolutely wonderful. The smoked salmon was awesome as well, but I thought the scallops were definately better.
For entrees I had the cajun rib-eye, cooked medium rare as I had heard both on these forums and from the waitstaff at the time that the cooking temps were probably a little lower than what most people were used to. My girlfriend had the 16oz NY Strip cooked medium rare along with the blue cheese crumbles. To drink was a nice (and well priced) bottle of Penfolds Bin 128 Syrah. My rib-eye was definately good, though I think the NY Strip was better. I wanted to go with a steak I was familiar with (as opposed to the hangar which I'm not familiar with) in order to have a basis of comparison. If I get to go back (either before they close or if they open back up in Arlington, which I hope they do) I'll more than likely try the hangar or flatiron.
Both of us commented that we actually wished we had gotten the steaks cooked rare, which is our traditional way of having our steaks cooked. I guess it was just we didn't know how much Ray's undercooked compared to other restaurants, which I've always considered to overcook. His medium rare looked pretty much exactly what a medium rare should look like (as opposed to the almost medium you find at a lot of places), so I definately would have been fine with the rare. I think it's more that Ray's cooks the steaks to the proper temperature and that most other restaurants overcook, and if that's what people are used to then they may be a bit surprised. If you are used to steaks being cooked to the proper temperature, I don't think Ray's will surprise.
The creamed spinach was quite possibly the best creamed spinach I've had. There was still texture to it, which unfortunately is commonly lost in creamed spinach as people turn it to mush. The mashed potatoes were good (and I'm a fan of everything potato), but the spinach was the hit of the table.
For dessert I had the Key Lime Pie as I had heard that it was very good. It indeed was some of the best Key Lime Pie I've had north of the Keys themself. Nice crusty graham cracker crust (instead of the almost mushy feel that alot of graham cracker crusts end up having) with just the right amount of tartness. My girlfriend had the white chocolate mousse, which she absolutely loved. I'm not a fan of mousse and she's not a fan of tart desserts, so even after trying a bite of each others, we felt we had chosen just right.
Oh, and the hot chocolate was back. I was glad I got to try it, as it was quite tasty.
Overall, probably one of the best meals I've had in quite some time, for a price that wasn't all that painful (~$150 after tax and tip, including a bottle of pretty decent wine). Honestly the steak almost let me down a bit after the hype. I've had steaks about as good (from the District Chophouse, which most people don't include on their lists of "good" steakhouses oddly enough. Maybe I got lucky when I went, but the blue cheese crusted NY Strip I had at District Chophouse was awesome), though not for anywhere near the cost of Ray's. Don't get me wrong, the steak was among the best I've eaten, but after the hype I'd almost expected it to be another level above what I'd had before, which it wasn't quite. Still, I'll be going back any chance I get :-)
Anniversary Dinner on a Sunday
in D.C. & DelMarVa: Dining
Posted
Is Corduroy open on Sunday? I was going to mention it but when I looked at their website it doesn't say they are open on Sunday.