This place is a knock out. Ask for it spicy. The Karahi chicken for two is first-rate. The breads are freshly cooked. I like the chapli kabob. The vegetables taste like…vegetables. The service is sometimes a disaster, especially for lunch. There’s amazing people-watching at night when the hookah bar is up and running, though if the smoke bothers you ask for the back room.
For the first time we have a superb Pakistani restaurant in our midst, you just need to bear with the service a bit.
]]>Indoors, against the back right corner of the mall. Their #1 dish is excellent -- one of the best dishes in Eden Center -- just don't ask me to describe it. It's not weird, though, just original. The menu here is limited but they specialize in what they do and they do it well. Worth a visit.
]]>This place is a total wreck and mess when it comes to service, décor, and organization. They also serve the best pupusas I’ve eaten in the U.S., ever. It’s worth it. The soups look pretty good too. The menu is ghastly in its presentation and it doesn’t list a lot of what they serve. Just try to talk your way into what you want to eat. The cute waitresses will giggle and mess up your order, but they do know what a pupusa is. I call this a find, though you need to go with the proper expectations.
]]>Which cuisine are you most likely to be satisfied with when dining out? Which disappoints you the least # of visits?If you were at a shopping center you've never been to before and it has one restaurant of each cuisine and your goal was to simply be satisfied (you're not looking to be blown away, you just don't want a bad experience), which cuisine do you pick?
Korean is perhaps the safest bet, for two reasons. First, non-Koreans are not usually interested in the food. They might enjoy Bul-Gogi but there will be plenty of other dishes for Korean patrons and these will not be "dumbed down." The lack of mainstream interest limits the potential for sell-out behavior on the part of the restaurant. Second, many Korean dishes, most of all the pickled vegetables, "travel" relatively well and do fine in a culture -- the USA -- which is not obsessed with fresh ingredients.
The most dangerous cuisine to try, in the United States at least, is Chinese. Your best working assumption is that the restaurant simply isn't any good. Even in a Chinatown, such as in New York or DC, most of the restaurants aren't very good. Inverting the two principles mentioned above puts you on a path toward figuring out why. Still, even in Paris or most of Europe for that matter, most of the Chinese restaurants aren't very good.
I find also that (in the U.S.) Mexican restaurants are risky, Vietnamese establishments are relatively safe, and Thai places were traditionally safe but they are becoming riskier. I've never been to a bad Nepalese restaurant.
Originally posted on Marginal Revolution - click to see comments and suggestions.
]]>I have mixed feelings about this place. They have the single best and most authentic Indian menu around, ranging from the Chicken 65 dosa to Kori gasi, namely chicken made in fresh coconut, red chilly, and curry leaves, plus a lot more in between. And none of it is bad. Yet somehow the dishes don’t quite taste right. With some superior execution this could be premier places on this list, but as it stands it is an interesting curiosity of unfulfilled potential. If I lived nearby I’d go all the time, but it’s not yet worth the trip.
]]>How good can any chicken be? Should any roast chicken place be on the “must-tries” list? Maybe not, but this is the best chicken place around and it didn’t make my guide at all last time, so I believe it could use the extra publicity. Northern Virginia Magazine did a blind taste test of about ten different roast chicken dishes from leading restaurants. Super Chicken was a clear winner, including in my eyes. I since went to the restaurant and found it was even better on-site. They also have the best rice and beans around and occasional Peruvian dishes such as fried fish and tripe stew. No, it doesn’t transcend its category but it does win its category. Worth a try.
]]>This unassuming locale is one of the two or three best Ethiopian places at the moment. Furthermore they serve Ethiopian breakfast, starting at 10 am, though sometimes interpreted flexibly by management. Their foul is simply superb and more generally you can’t go wrong with anything here. This single strip mall in Virginia is raising Ethiopian food to an entirely new level and making the trip to 9th Street obsolete. This place is also a favorite of the local cab drivers.
You really do need the image with it (best is to buy the New York issue), but if you insist on an excerpt, here's one:
5. Columns Are Killers According to Brandon O’Dell, one of the consultants Poundstone quotes in Priceless, it’s a big mistake to list prices in a straight column. “Customers will go down and choose from the cheapest items,” he says. At least the Balthazar menu doesn’t use leader dots to connect the dish to the price; that draws the diner’s gaze right to the numbers. Consultant Gregg Rapp tells clients to “omit dollar signs, decimal points, and cents … It’s not that customers can’t check prices, but most will follow whatever subtle cues are provided.”
Originally posted on Marginal Revolution - click to see comments and suggestions.
]]>Previously reviewed on TCEDG in 2006 here, but this seems to be a new place.
Quite small, very mom and pop. Of all the Korean places around, they have the best whole fried fish, the croaker in particular and maybe the mackerel too. That’s the thing to get here. Of all the rest, nothing is below average, though not much above the prevailing average. This is a fun place and you can’t go wrong here. At lunch time it can fill up, though if need be there are other nearby places you can walk to, if you don’t want to wait.
]]>I should note that if you've been following the blog version of my dining guide [here at TCEDG.com], the html version is simply a print-it-all-out-at-once compendium, rather than a source of new information.
Originally posted on Marginal Revolution.
]]>This is run by the same people who do Hong Kong Palace and it has pretty much the same menu. Oddly, for a new branch, it is not quite as good as the home base. Their braised pork belly is much superior, but the five other dishes we tried were all lesser than at Falls Church. They were still pretty good and if you live in Maryland you may wish to come here. But right now it isn’t worth the trip from VA. It may yet improve, we will see. It also has a less interesting atmosphere and décor than the home branch.
]]>This is a tough review to write. This is clearly the most authentic Cantonese place around and their menu is superb, all the way down to the casseroles. Nothing here tastes bad. The service is fine. I like the atmosphere. The name of the restaurant is excellent. But where is the wow factor? What’s the dish you go back for and why? This place simply needs to be better. Maybe it will get there, it still has time. In the meantime it’s worth a visit, just don’t think it is the answer to your prayers. Right now there’s no truly good Cantonese food in this area.
]]>Right now this is a clear #1 in the Lebanese department. The sausage, and dishes involving fatty meats, are especially good. As is the raw meat. Simply an excellent restaurant, tasty all around, and the best place to eat in the Courthouse area short of Ray’s Hell Burger.
Originally posted on Marginal Revolution - click to see comments and suggestions.
]]>Right now this is one of the three or four best Indian places around. Gibbs St. is not the obvious place to go eat in Rockville, but the food here is genuinely excellent.
The dishes are truly spiced and I don’t just mean hot. (The level of heat is quite bearable, though present.) The spices are fresh and taste like a genuine part of each recipe. It’s not a mom and pop, as it actually looks like a nice restaurant, which indeed it is. Some of the cooking has a Parsee slant, to my taste, such as mixing lamb and fruit. I was especially fond of the chicken with spinach.