Weenend-o-Wanders Part I (FOOD!)

It was a nice break from work, taking off Thurs-Mon, to have my best friend in town to visit. It was time for another weekend-o-the tourist! Needless to say, we wandered around a bit, but it was somewhat directed. I have a few updated opinions about former subjects, so let us get down to the juicy tidbits…

Ray’s Hellburger – Friday night we rocked out in style and hit up the best damn burger in the region! Once again, they didn’t let down as they keep putting out excellent quality beef patties. Annie, Beje, and I dove in and were extremely satisfied afterwards. I got my usual “Let’s Get It On” and it was like sex in your mouth. Mmm… I almost felt as if I needed a cigarette afterwards…

Ella’s – Friday for lunch we dove into an excellent feast of ‘za! The quality is still supurb and any wait is well worth it here. Annie discovered a new way to skimp and ordered a pizza with arugula on it. Since the arugula it added post-baking, you can eat it off the top like a salad and then dive into your pizza! Excellent call Annie!

Pollo Factory – This place is just a given. It never waivers from a standard of excellence. Any place that can deliver white meat as moist as this place is golden in my book. The pollo is always seasoned and roasted to perfection! Kudos on a job well done!

Coastal Flats – This was my first weekend to check this place out. It’s owned by Great American Restaurants and they have a thing with creating great food and atmosphere. I only went because my roommates work there, and I’m very picky when it comes to any type of seafood restaurant. The bar service is superb, but I’m also a bit biased since one of my roommates was my bartender. I did have a few issues here: 1.) The food service to the bar is lackluster. The servers mix up orders, forget bread, and basically kill the bartenders’ chances at good tips on a regular basis (all this from observing for a few hours). I don’t know how their serving system works, but it’s obviously broken here. 2.) My “firecracker shrimp” came out looking and tasting delicious…mostly.You see, these shrimp are butterflied prior to frying. Doing so serves several purposes, one of which is the allow for the removal of the shrimp’s shit-tube. Of course if it’s not removed, as was the case with half of mine, it’s on glorious display (front and center) and actually accentuated by the butterflying.Being raised on the Gulf Coast it didn’t really bother me, per-se, but if I’m paying someone this much to cook my food then they need to prepare it properly.

Eastern Market – Once again, this place delivers on EXCELLENT quality steaks. We grilled up several Sunday and then we promptly devoured them! Here’s my quick suggestion on a great meal:
Steak ==> Rub (salt, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper (black and cayenne)), grill medium rare, top with whole-seed mustard, top again with a load of fresh parm., broil to melt cheese, serve.
Mexicorn ==> Roast (sweet queen) corn, cut off cob, add lime juice, salt, cayenne pepper, and butter to taste.
Twice-baked taters ==> Bake, cut out oval in top, scoop out, mix insides with sour cream, milk, salt, pepper, cheese, put back in taters, cover with cheddar, bake until cheese melts.
Grilled onion ==> Cut (sweet) onion halves in thick foil, add lots of butter, throw on grill before you cook, remove when done cooking.
Hennepin Belgian Ale from Ommegang Brewery (Whole Foods, Harris Teeter)

Four Provinces of Ireland – This is my favorite place to grab a brew locally. The 4P’s is a laid-back, local pub with some great bartenders and an atmosphere you can enjoy just hanging out in. There’s nothing like relaxing here with a black & tan while munching on a bit of bar food. Did I mention they win the Taste of Falls Church nearly every year? Yeah, the food’s not too shabby…

Finally, The Original Pancake House — This place is a bit pricey for breakfast, but why not eat there for lunch? The blueberry pancakes are excellent and you MUST MUST MUST order the breakfast sausage and bacon on the side for your party. You will definitely not regret it. Also: fresh squeezed OJ & grapefruit juice ftw!

Part II still to come!

Southern Hospitality. Assholes. Happy medium?

It seems that while many here think themselves Southerners, they are not. I have heard many a claim on the Mason-Dixon line delineating the North from the South (yes, I disagree with wikipedia), but that’s a load of horse manure. While DC isn’t a bastion of assholery that NYC or Chicago can be, it definitely isn’t near the warm and hospitable South as experienced in Alabama, Georgia, North Florida, and Tennessee (Note: The further south you travel in Florida the further “north” you really are). As such I’ve decided to help people figure out where the South ends and what you can expect from the middle-folk.

From St. Augustine, FL. Far enough south to be north...

1.) Mason-Dixon Line: Traditionally, many people claim the South to be states that are below the famed Mason-Dixon Line. This line was surveyed by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon to settle a border dispute in the old British colonies. As such, this basically puts every state below Pennsylvania in the South. This line begs the question as to whether or not you just stretch it clear across the US. One can assume you would since it was once used to mark the line between slave and free states, but that would leave parts of Indiana and Ohio in the South, while relegating some of West Virginia to the North. And where does it end? California? Texas? This just seems to not quite fit the current South.

2.) Confederate States of America: Sure, we’d all like it to be this easy, right? Just mark down all the states from the CSA as the South and be done, but are they? I’ve already established that the southern part of Florida is the North, not to mention Texas is definitely mid-west. They’re…different…and arrogant. Then, one could also count all of Virginia in the South, but further along I will argue that Northern Virginia (NOVA) is indeed part of the North now.

By this method the South would include South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, & Tennessee. Then there’s the question of the states with dual governments such as Kentucky & Missouri and places claimed by the C.S.A. such as: Indian Territory, New Mexico, & Arizona. Finally, one would also need to consider the border states of Delaware, Maryland, & West Virginia. Holy crap! Talk about a mess!  I think that’s just too much of a hassle and far too antiquated a method for such a demarcation.

Mmm....southern fast food.

3.) Pork BBQ & Sweet Tea: This is my preferred method for delineation. Basically it works like this: To be a part of the South the area in question must produce both of these or one in total excellence. This gets rid of NOVA, MD, WV, most of KY, MO, TX, and southern FL. God knows DC isn’t in the south according to this method. There is hardly any decent pork BBQ in this entire region, much less good. Most non-southern inspired restaurant chains also do not carry sweet tea, and if they do it’s that God-foresaken Lipton Lemon CRAP that only WISHES it could be considered sweet tea. I thank God every day for places like Chick Fil A where I can grab some decent sweet tea on the run or a REAL southern chicken sandwich (screw you McDonald’s!).

Now, since we’ve established this isn’t the South, I must say it’s not the typical North either. People in DC & NOVA aren’t complete assholes,  just somewhat. Here’s what you can expect when you come here in comparison to what you’re acustomed to.

-People will not waive when you let them over in front of you while driving.
-Some people will hold doors, most won’t (the people who do are probably tourists anyway).
-You must be semi-aggressive to merge.
-Everyone wears their hats indoors.
-Most people don’t wait to start eating until everyone is served.
-Don’t expect a ‘please’ or ‘thank you’ terribly often.
-You will get strange looks when trying to make small-talk with the cashier.
-People will not acknowledge you when you walk past.
-The person that you think it making random friendly conversation with you is actually on their bluetooth headset. They now think you’re crazy.

This is just life. Sure, people aren’t as nice here, but they could be much worse. Overall, I’m loving the DC region. It has its pitfalls, but overall it’s a winner IMHO. Now, time to go make some sweet tea…

I love Saturday markets!

I could stare at this selection all day...

There’s no better way to spend one of the first gorgeous weekends in the spring than to head out to the farmer’s market. Saturday Beje and I hit up both the Falls Church Farmer’s Market and Eastern Market. The first was fun in that we were able to introduce my roommates and they were hilarious. It was almost like watching two kids in a candy store! With all of the excellent fruit samples, crab cake, and fresh mushrooms they were caught up in a whirlwind of delicious sights and tastes. (Yeah, R has a thing for mushrooms, but her fiance J is excited as hell for the umpteen thousands varieties of apples…and it’s not even peak season.) After a bit of ‘Bucks we headed back home to drop them off so they could head to work and Beje could drag me out to DC (yeah, drag….riiiight…heh… ).

I remember catching these when I was little!

We wound up having a tasty lunch with some of her friends (possible later post) and then headed down to the National Museum of the American Indian (upcoming post…possible rant…) before hopping over to Eastern Market. Mmm… I just love walking through and checking out the amazing cuts of beef, lamb, pork, seafood, etc.

I mean, come on! I grew up catching croaker off the pier in my hometown down on the bay. You just don’t see this on the menu anywhere, but I always loved catching them. Hell, they were about the only fish that made any noise! (Hence the name…)

Doesn't this make your mouth water?

On top of that, they serve up all kinds of old fashioned cuts of pork, with some you just don’t see ANYWHERE else. I can’t even get the Amish guy at the Falls Church market to sell me a raw pork belly! Here you can get that, brains, extra thick fat back, etc. Then move on down a both and you’ve got numerous kinds of fresh pasta and sauces. Across, numerous kinds of cheese, and further down a baker and organic poultry where they even sell the feet! You just have to love this place, especially since you can flip this all around, run to the other end and when you’re done salivating over the fresh seafood, you can turn around and get in line for some excellent soul food. There is just no other place like this in the region and no better way to start or end a day in DC…carrying home two excellent steaks to throw on the grill…damn that was a good day.

Going out of business sale that puts furniture stores to shame!

I’m a fan of sales, hell, I’m a fan of saving money in general. However, some people have started giving sales a bad name. First it was furniture stores, since they’re ALWAYS “going out of business”. We’ve come to accept that there’s basically no such thing as a good deal at a furniture store. However, electronics are a different story. With all of the big box competition and online competition, there’s always a good sale somewhere. Sadly, with the demise of CompUSA and Circuit City, the “going out of business” sale BULLSHIT has hit the electronic stores like a couch-pushing pro.

First a preface on how this works. CompUSA and  Circuit City both went bottom up. With tons of instore merchandise to liquidate they sold off everything to a liquidation company for a low cost to wash their hands of any more bleeding. Sadly, these new owners are doing their best to squeeze every last cent out of CC customers, just like they did at CompUSA. Knowing all of this I decided to travel down to the local CC to check out the “deals” and see if it was as rampant as had been reported. The known M.O. is to mark ALL merchandise back up to MSRP and then take the discount off that new, higher price. Was this at work in Tysons Corner? You betcha! And I have pics!

I’ve used the Internet to find prices for several things I photographed in-store and have listed them here for comparison. Note that there were a couple of decent deals, but the problem is that everything sold is sold ‘as is’ so there is ZERO possibility of return if the product is defective. If it is, you’re just screwed. And trust me, anything can be defective at CC.

Office Ultimate 2007
CC: $680 @ 60% off = $272
NewEgg (NE): $380

Kingston 4GB (2 x 2GB) 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Laptop Memory Model KVR667D2K2SO/4GR – Retail
CC: $149.99 @ 30% off = $74.99
NE: $39.99

Panasonic DMC-TZ4S Silver 8.1 MP 2.5″ 230K LCD 10X Optical Zoom 28mm Wide Angle Digital Camera
CC: $299 @ 40% = $179.99
NE: $225.99

ACC-FH70
CC: $119.96
B&H Photo: $75.80

160GB EIDE WD HDD Caviae SE
CC: $79.99
NE: $44.99

100DVD-R
CC: $49.99@60%=$19.99
NE: $19.99

50DVD-R
CC: $29.99@60%=$11.99
NE:$10.99

QuickCam Orbit AF
CC: $141.99@40%=$85.19
B&H Photo: 95.95

G51 Logitech
CC: $209.99@40%=$125.99
NE: $169.99 Shipped

Panasonic TH-50PZ85U HDTV 50″
CC: $2199.99@40%=$1319.99
ShopDigitalOnline: $1,199

These guys have a special little place in hell reserved for them. I highly recommend everyone help protect themselves from such scams and visit Consumerist.com regularly. I’m an avid reader and this place will open your eyes (and help your back pocket).