Black's Bar and Kitchen Visited 12/26/2014 3 Forks

Black's Bar and Kitchen 7750 Woodmont Ave., Bethesda, MD, 20814

Every time I come back to MD, I'm amazed at how different things changed since I grew up there in the 90's.  Black's Bar and Kitchen is smack in the middle of Bethesda and is one of the nicer places I've been to in the area in a really long time.  The menu is described by the restaurant as being regional Maryland and Virginia flavors and I can see that as the menu is pretty heavy on seafood but they do also have a nice line up of meat ranging from pork chops, veal chops, rib eye steak and duck. 

Jeana, Chris, Carolyn and I met up for a nice reunion of sorts and spent 3 1/2 hours there, not because the service was slow but because we had a great time catching up and the restaurant was nice enough to let us stay there the whole time and never once pushed us out.  Jeana and I started the night with a dozen oysters - I found out at dinner that we have really different oyster preferences.  She likes them smaller and briny and I like them bigger and creamier.  Luckily our waitress was able to recommend 2 types of oysters that fit our different tastes.  Jeana got the Malpeques (East Coast, $2.50 each) and I got the Stellar Bays (West Coast, $2.50 each).  I will say that while I'm a huge lover of oysters, there are so many different kinds that I never really know the names of the ones I like.  But I will forever remember Stellar Bay because they were mind blowingly awesome.  They were huge, with ample white meat bursting out of the shell but still with a light clean taste.  The meat was very tender and being that one of my biggest gripes with oysters is that they are never filling, 6 of these bad boys was definitely a very satisfying appetizer.  

As for entrees, Jeana and I got the crab cakes ($35 - yes, you read that correctly), Chris got the scallops ($32) and Carolyn got the fried chicken ($19).  I make it a rule that if I'm going to eat crab cakes it's only in the MD/VA/Delaware region because most other places put too much filler in them. While the crab cakes here were quite good, I was quite shocked that they were charging $35 for 3 small sized portions.  Although I will say that despite their size, they were chock full of crab meat and were extremely filling.  It was served with a crab meat and tomato salad (nice that they threw in more crab meat to the dish here), bacon lardon pieces, local pea greens as well as small wedges of sweet potato.  The salad was a bit too heavily dressed with the lemon vinaigrette but overall it was one of the fanciest crab cakes dishes I've had in a long time.  It did almost take me 2 hours to eat the whole thing because of how filling it was.  While I did enjoy it, I still prefer my crab cakes from a local seafood join like Cameron's where it's served with tartar sauce and french fries and comes out of a Styrofoam container.  Some things just don't need to be fancied up.  I didn't try the scallops but they looked fantastic - very plump and firm.  Carolyn's fried chicken also looked awesome - she had 4 huge pieces and they looked golden brown and crispy.  

Since we wanted to still sit around and talk some more, we decided to order dessert as well.   After a lot of hemming and hawing, we got a chocolate bread pudding ($12) and honestly, I wasn't a huge fan of it.  The chocolate was baked into the bread pudding and for moistness they gave us a side of whip cream and ice cream.  But that didn't really make it any tastier.   It just fell flat for me. 

We stuck around for another hour or so and I appreciated that they let us do it.  We had heard a rumor that they were knocking this place down soon to make room for condos, which seems to be the general trend in Bethesda which makes me incredibly sad.  It's not that I think Black's was fantastic and needs to stay but the town is just becoming super bougie and generic and that just sucks.   While the food at Black's was good, the prices were ridiculously high for what it was - which is why I'm knocking my review down half a fork.  These are New York prices which I'm generally ok to pay when I'm actually in New York (or even London or some other comparable city) but I'm definitely not ok with paying for it in MD (and yes,  I know Bethesda is super richie rich these days but still...). Total bill with drinks, tax and tip:  $75/pp

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Toki Underground Visited 12/24/2014 4 Forks

Toki Underground 1234 H St NE, Washington DC,  20002

Every time I come back home to the MD/VA/DC area, I end up going to the same places and most of them are in MD and VA.  So I am thrilled when local friends recommend anything that is new, cool, or fun in DC proper.   Luckily, my friend Dan is pretty up on these things and recommended that we meet up at a hipster-ish ramen place in NE DC, which is not a part of DC that I have been to frequently.  The area is still developing and you would never know that tucked upstairs from a random bar/restaurant is a Williamsburg-like hipster ramen place the size of my bathroom.  It's tiny but luckily when we got there at noon on Christmas Eve, it was still pretty empty.  But by the time we left around 1ish, there was quite a line.

The menu is pretty simple - 5 different kinds of ramen and then some sides like dumplings, cold tofu, steamed buns, and seasonal vegetables.  Louise, Dan and I split the fried chicken steamed buns ($12) and I opted for the red miso ramen ($12 for 4 pieces).   The food comes out rather quickly, so be prepared to eat right away.  The fried chicken steamed buns were freakin delicious and addictive. There were 4 Chinese style steamed white buns, a bunch of boneless fried chicken pieces, pickled cucumbers and mayo. The buns were perfectly soft and pillowy and were a great holding vessel for the pieces of fried chicken in sweet chili sauce and pickled cucumbers.  The chicken reminded me of the Korean fried chicken variety at Bon Chon and it was every bit as yummy as those pieces of chicken.  While I can't vouch that it's authentic or even mildly Asian in style, it was awesome and I would come back and order an entire plate just for myself.

On to the ramen.  Despite it's name, the red miso is not spicy at all.  It's just red in color and it comes with pieces of pulled pork, egg, pickled ginger and greens.  It was a very solid ramen dish - the noodles were cooked just right and it was topped with sesame seeds, scallion and nori.  I slurped up the whole thing pretty quickly, so I guess my only compliant would be that there could be a bit more noodles and toppings to go with the overabundance of broth.  As for the broth, it was also solid, it wasn't too salty but still had strong flavor from the pork and miso.  I did enjoy the bites of pork but I still prefer the pork to be more on the sliced side vs. pulled.

All in all, this was an adorable place that would fit right in with any city's hipster scene.   While I do think the ramen craze is over with these days, it doesn't mean that you shouldn't be able to still enjoy a good bowl of ramen - especially when it's cold outside.  What nice about DC is that it's still mildly less expensive than NYC and it was great to enjoy a fun and delicious lunch for a reasonable price (in NYC a bowl of ramen at a good place like Ippudo will run you between $15-20 depending on if you add any extra toppings and steamed buns are $9 for 2).  While I wouldn't say that Toki Underground is on the same level as Ippudo, frankly, it's not that far off.  Total bill:  $25/pp with tax and generous tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Grand Ferry Tavern Visited 12/22/2014 3 Forks

Grand Ferry Tavern 229 Kent Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11249

I should almost give this place 5 forks for having half price bottles of all wines on Mondays - always a pleasant surprise.  Jenn and I stopped by this place right before the holidays and we were given the best gift of being told that all bottles were 50% off - so we got a nice bottle of red for $20, which was a pretty good deal considering most of the wine ran $12-13/glass.  I had initially heard about this place from a work friend who works at Food and Wine Magazine and who also lives in the 'hood.  He had mentioned that the burgers were fantastic and Jenn and I are always up for a good burger.  Plus, how could I not trust someone who works for the most major food publication out there? 

The place was pretty deserted on the Monday before Christmas but it has a nice old tavern feel to it and the cozy menu matches the vibe with oysters, meat and cheese, plates, burgers, and pot pies. Instead of both of us getting the burger, we decided to split the burger ($15) and the clam roll ($19) just so that we were able to try 2 different things. 

I opted for the burger half first and it was quite the juicy burger.  It was incredibly moist and it was served with shelburne cheese (which is a Vermont Cheddar), tomato, pickled slaw and a side of fries. It wasn't quite a Spotted Pig burger but their flavor combination of the cheddar and the slaw was delicious and the bun did it's job by holding up its own despite all the juiciness of the 8 oz burger.  If both Jenn and I had gotten the burger, I might have given this place 4 forks but sadly the clam roll knocked this review down a bit.  It was oatmeal crusted whole belly ipwich clams with citrus fennel slaw and also another side of fries.  The roll was a bummer of a disappointment.  All I could taste was the oatmeal crust, I couldn't tell there were any clams inside of it.  Luckily my half of the burger was a pretty hefty half and I devoured my side of the fries as well - which were pretty crispy and salty - so I was pretty full by then.   Of course, since it was the holidays we opted to also get dessert and as most of you know,   I'm a giant sucker for chocolate bread pudding.  This one didn't blow me away either as it seems a bit dry and lacked any real sweetness or cravability to it.  

If the wine wasn't also half priced, I might have knocked this place down another half fork.  But this shouldn't sway you from not trying the burger as it was quite tasty and I would definitely go back on another Monday for burger and 1/2 priced wine.  They also apparently have oyster happy hour every day from 4-6pm and 11-1am where the oysters are also 1/2 price - so if you played your cards right you could end up with a great deal on Mondays.  

The motto on their menu says "Not fancy, just done right" and I would say they are half way there.  I should note that they also had a fantastic sounding cocktail menu - with a heavy emphasis on whiskey cocktails, which is another big plus in my book.  Definitely give this place a try but maybe just stick with the burger or other meat dishes.  Total bill with a bottle of wine:  $47/pp with tax and tip 

Photo Credit:  Yelp

B side visited 12/21/2014 4 Forks

B Side Pizza and Wine   370 W. 51st Street, New York, NY 10019

I was totally caught off guard by this place.  I was struck by how similar it was to Roberta's and dare I say that it might be just as good?  Granted I was about half a bottle of wine in and then split another bottle at dinner but the quality of the food was really fantastic and the staff was awesome.

They have a fairly basic menu of great seasonal salads and appetizers and then about 11 different kinds of thin crust brick oven pizzas.  Everything sounded delicious and the ingredients sounded fresh and local.  Kevin and I started with the burrata ($15) and the black kale salad ($10) and then we split the Meat Packing pizza ($19) because it had the most amount of meat ingredients on one pie.  In retrospect we totally could have gotten another pizza and there were more enough to choose from - I probably would have chosen The Muscles From because it had shaved Brussels sprouts on it.

The burrata came out first and it was fantastic.  It was a giant piece of moist cheesey goodness with delicious pieces of braised beets, oranges, and topped with white balsamic and chopped herbs.  It was almost a perfect beet and burrata salad.  Next came the kale salad and it was also fantastic.  It was finely chopped kale with pickled dried apricots, mint, almonds and pecorino.  Again, a very tasty salad - clean tasting and didn't have any of the toughness that kale can have.   I could have eaten both salads on my own but then I probably wouldn't have had room for the pizza, which would have made me sad.  The Meat Packing consisted of exactly what you would think: 4 different kinds of meat - bacon, sausage, pancetta and speck along with tomatoes and mozzarella.  All on a thin brick oven crust and it was one of the best thin crust pizzas I've had in a while.  It was incredibly flavorful and the ingredients tasted fresh and balanced.  We devoured the food in a matter of minutes and I was this close to getting dessert but thought better of it.

I was pleasantly surprised by this fantastic place that's so close to Times Square.  It definitely rivals Roberta's and for those of you who don't feel like making the trek to Bushwick, this is a pretty decent substitute in the city.  Total bill with a bottle of wine:  $60/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit: Yelp

Little Park Visited 12/2/2014 4 Forks

Little Park 85 W Broadway, New York, NY 10007

So I know it's been a while since I have updated this blog and apologies in advance if this review ends up being a bit lackluster because it's been about 3 weeks since I had eaten here.   Little Park is the latest venture from Andrew Carmellini - chef of The Dutch and Locanda Verde.   It's located inside the Smyth Hotel in Tribeca, so it's a convenient location for any of you looking for a place near the Tower.  It was fairly empty when we got there at 6pm but it was definitely completely packed as time went by. 

The waitstaff was very nice and walked us through the menu which was broken up into raw and cured, vegetables, pasta and whole grains, fish and seafood and fire roasted meats.  She told us that most of the plates were small plates to be shared with the table and that she recommended 5 plates.  I have general annoyance for places, with the exception for Spanish Tapas places, that create small plate dishes for sharing when the dishes are more complex and sound like they should be bigger dishes (i.e. the lobster in the shell on the menu - how the heck do you split that among the table?!).   Regardless, Cicily and I opted to try a variety of dishes and got the fluke ($14), butternut squash ($17), charred broccoli ($14), steamed black bass ($24) and the hanger steak ($20).   The fluke was really for me since Cicily wasn't into it but it was beautifully presented with crunchy relish and sea salt on it.  It was a tad on the fishy side but overall it was nice citrus-y fish carpaccio dish.  Next came the butternut squash dish.  So unfortunately Cicily doesn't like butternut squash but the dish came with burrata cheese and who doesn't love burrata??  So she ate around the squash but as someone who does like butternut squash, I thought it was a great autumnal dish that was very cozy and comforting.   Nothing screams fall like warm butternut squash and a hunk of creamy burrata.  Next they served us the sea bass, hanger steak and charred broccoli at the same time.  I was extremely impressed with the sea bass - it was perfectly cooked with a gorgeous seared skin on the outside.  It was firm in texture but melted in your mouth.   It was an excellent fish dish and I honestly think it could be an entree for someone who isn't totally starving. The hanger steak was also a solid dish meat dish that came with its own side of charred broccoli.  It was tender on the inside and was also a pretty filling dish on its own.   

Since it was close to the holidays, we decided to indulge ourselves with some dessert and we got the frozen lemon fluff honey with lemon sorbet ($12) . This dish tasted EXACTLY how it's described. It's a frozen "fluff" that was dripping with honey flavoring and served with a refreshing lemon sorbet that was very heavy on the lemon flavor.  It seemed like a much more summer time dessert than something I would have in the middle of winter, but none the less, it was a nice welcome light dessert that contrasted the very fall heavy meal we had.

I definitely enjoyed the food I had Little Park but I will caveat that it's not a cheap meal, nor do I think it's particularly a good value but this is New York and Tribeca to boot.  Most of Andrew Carmellini's places are good bets and solid choices, including Little Park, but Locanda Verde still ranks at the top for me.  Total bill:  $110/pp with tax, tip and drinks.

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Oriental East Visited 11/27/2014 3 Forks

Oriental East 1312 East-West Hwy,  Silver Spring, MD 20910

Every time I go home I always hit up 3 places:  Pho 75, either Tachibana or Sushi Yoshi and then New Fortune for dim sum.   But this time I was thinking of trying a different dim sum place just to "spice" things up.  New Fortune has always been hit or miss with the quality of the food (sometimes the food is ice cold) but it's the largest dim sum restaurant in MD by far and it's close to my mom's house, so it's just always the lazy choice. 

My mom had heard of Oriental East being quite popular so we decided to give it a try on Thanksgiving morning.  Even though it was a holiday, the place was crazy crowded at 11:30am.  I had read that people start lining up before the place opens at 11AM but I figured that since it was a holiday that it might not be as crowded - big mistake as clearly most Asians don't give a sh*t about Thanksgiving.  We waited over an hour for them to call our number and I was about to pass out from hunger.  The place is just not equipped to have many people waiting in their "lobby" and the carts are bumping into you left and right.  Finally when they called our number it was like someone called out bingo!  We got seated in what we thought was a pretty prime table but it turns out we were wrong as all the carts were going in the opposite direction so that by the time it got to us everything had been picked over completely.  It took us forever just to get one cart to come by that had something that we wanted.  We ordered steamed shrimp dumplings, sweat rice in a lotus leaf, shrimp rice noodle crepe, beef balls, chicken's feet, radish cakes, sesame balls, sweet tofu, and another shrimp and vegetable dumpling.  They were all good dishes but nothing that I felt was worth waiting in line for an hour for but at least all the dishes were hot and tasted like they were freshly made.  I was super bummed because the shu mai dumplings never came our way, despite us asking the waiter to help chase it down for us.  I mean that is THE staple item of any dim sum experience and for them to run out is completely unacceptable to me.  

This place is also probably cleaner than New Fortune and has less of a factory feel to it but I wasn't super impressed with the variety and just generally felt overwhelmed.  I would recommend if you go to either come before they open or after 1pm - otherwise you will lose your mind waiting for a table. The other big advantage is that the prices seemed cheaper than New Fortune for the same quality food.  Total bill:  $44 for 3 people with tax and tip

Photo Credit: Yelp

Il Buco Alimentari e Vineria Visited 11/25/2014 4 Forks

Il Buco Alimentari e Vineria 53 Great Jones St., New York, NY 10012

What I adored about Il Buco Alimentari  upon first entering is the decor - it kind of transports you to a place that's not really New York.  I can't quite describe what it is but it's cozy yet modern with large communal tables and airy open kitchen but then it's got a cute market type place in the front.  I just really enjoyed being there despite it being packed to the gills at 10pm on a Tuesday night.  They were kind enough to let me sit at the bar and order a drink while I waited for my friends and even though we were 30 minutes past our reservation time, they didn't give us any shit for it and led us straight to our table.  The hostess was super friendly and nice considering how late we were and she even told us stories of how Christina Hendricks of Mad Men fame had come here on her 1st date with her husband and that they hoped to make more love connections at the restaurant.

As you can imagine, the menu here is traditional Italian - a variety of appetizers, salumi, primi, secondi and contorini dishes.  Aarti, Deanna and I split the crispy artichokes ($14) and the mushroom dish to start and I got a veal ragu pasta for my entree while Aarti and Deanna both got the Cacio e Pepe ($19) and we also got a side order of crispy polenta ($10) as well.  The artichokes were the smaller baby kinds and served with preserved lemon - I enjoyed the crispy outside and tender meat of the inside but I do often think that the leaves are so delicate that they are almost always over cooked which was kind of the case here.  But still - a solid appetizer dish.  I really loved the mushroom dish - it was a medley of mushrooms sauteed in what must have been 5 sticks of butter.  It was heavenly and delicious as the mushrooms were all cooked to perfection with the right amount of firm texture to it.   Next came my pasta - it was a long flat noodle pappardelle served with tomato sauce and veal ragu.  It was hearty, comforting and the ragu was salty but not too overwhelming.   While I really liked my pasta, I looked over to the couple next to me in complete envy - they had ordered the short ribs for 2 and it looked out of this world.  It was an enormous serving of short rib on a cutting board and you could just see the meat and bone melting off each other.  I wanted to reach over and take a bite of their leftovers.  I had a small bite of the Cacio e Pepe and it kind of re-affirmed my thinking that it's just not my favorite pasta.  I know it's a Roman classic and it's supposed to be a simple but wonderful dish but I just don't get it.  As for the crispy polenta, well, it was kind of weird and totally not what I was thinking.  I know it said it was crispy but I totally did not expect it to be a fried cube of polenta.  It had a nice crunch to the outside and was still creamy on the inside but I still prefer the nice smooth creamy version instead.

Since it was Deanna's birthday we got the Migliaccio ($11) which was a semolina cake with ricotta and citrus.  Semolina is kind of like a lemon/olive oil pound cake - it was good but by this point it was almost midnight and we were all incredibly tired and could barely keep our eyes open.

Overall, Il Buco is a lovely restaurant with a very solid traditional Italian menu.  I would just be prepared to sit very close to someone at the communal table and to talk very loudly.  Otherwise, you'll be fine.  If anyone out there is reading this and wants to try the short rib for two, call me!  Total bill:  $80/pp with tax, tip and several cocktails.

Photo Credit:  Yelp