Delhi Club - Arlington, VA

Monday, I decided to eat some vegetarian Indian food.  My favorite Indian dish is Baigan Bhartha.  So, I went to Delhi Club at Clarendon.  I arrived pretty early, so the restaurant was empty.  They also had a lunch buffet.  The food came out pretty quickly.  I ordered extra naan.  The rice was a little plain, I think they could have added some spices.  The Baigan Bhartha was very good and so was the dal.  They were both a little bit spicy.  There was a good amount of food.  Enough for two lunches, so it was quite a good deal.  Overall, I enjoyed this meal and will be coming back.

Bulgogi Cart - Washington, DC

I've been on a Korean food kick for awhile, so I ventured down to McPherson Sq. to the Bulgogi Cart.  I was hoping for a vegetarian version, but they only had chicken or beef.  So I got the spicy chicken Bimbimbap with egg on top.  The chicken was ridiculously spicy but had nice flavor.  The kimchi tasted good also.  It was hard to mix in the styrofoam container.  But it was very good.  The lettuce on the bottom was wilted by the time I got back.  Overall, I like this one better than at the Oak Street Cafe, because you got more meat and the kimchi was better.  They also had kimchi and bulgogi kimbap which I will try next time.

Pho 98 - Chantilly, Va

I have found my favorite Vietnamese restaurant in Western Fairfax County.  Pho98.  The owner of this restaurant is the brother of owner of Viet House in Fairfax.  As expected the food tastes very similiar.  I actually haven't eaten the pho here.  I've been getting the Bun Thit Nuong, which is Rice noodle with Pork.  This is a great dish.  The pork as a lot of flavor, and they give me much more pork than I would usually eat.  The vegetables are fresh and the noodles cooked perfectly.  Overall, I really like this restaurant and will be back.

Tian Chinese - Centreville, Va

I'm glad the Koreans have moved to Centreville, because now I don't have to drive to Annadale for good Korean food.  This is really a Korean restaurant that serves Korean-Chinese food.  I ordered the Champong, which is a spicy seafood noodle soup.  It was the biggest bowl of noodle soup I have ever seen.  There was a good amount of seafood.  Although only one huge clam, and two large mussels.  There was squid and shrimp also.  There was a lot of nappa cabbage in the soup.  They didn't ask me how spicy I would like it, and it was very spicy.  The noodles were good, they had a nice chewy texture.  The broth was also very flavorful.  Overall, I really enjoyed this meal and will definitely be back.

Giuseppi's Pizza - Bluffton, SC

We went here because we want to eat something cheaper.  Overall, it is good pizza and decent sized.  Although I would have to say I can get better pizza in Virginia.  Not a bad place to eat,  it really wasn't anything special, but I would probably come back.

Fiddler's Crab House - Savannah, Ga

This was our only meal in Savannah, and it really wasn't that good.  On top of that, it was quite expensive.  This little restaurant is located on River St.  So it is kind of touristy place.  I ordered the steamed Seafood Platter, which came with snow crab legs, shrimp, oysters, mussels, clams, and crawfish.  It actually came with a decent amount of food.  The thing I didn't like about it, was the the food was not hot when it came out.  So was it cooked ahead of time?  Actually the seafood was decent and I did enjoy eating it.  Even the crawfish which I don't eat too much of.  But I probably wouldn't come back.

Peppers's Porch - Bluffton, SC

If you've ever been to Hilton Head, you quickly realize that it is quite expensive to eat out.  Especially if you are a group of 6 people.  But we found some great restaurants to eat at.  I wanted to eat some authentic low country cuisine.  I found this little restaurant outside of Hilton Head.  This is a little restaurant, in a tiny town called Bluffton. 

We ordered the fried green tomatos and calamari as appetizers.  The fried green tomatoes were very good.  They came with a creamy spicy sauce.  The calamari was also good.  For my meal, I ordered the seafood lovers paster in a scampi sauce.  Although the the seafood was good, I didn't really enjoy the scampi sauce.  It really just tasted like an oily buttery sauce.  H got a fried grouper which came with a sweet pepper sauce which he really enjoyed.

Overall, I still enjoyed this restaurant.  It seemed like a place the locals would hang out.  The ambiance was very down to earth.  And most of the food was pretty good.

Passion Fish - Reston, Va

We went her for a special occasion.  We ordered some oysters from Cape Cod as an appetizer.  I've had oysters before and enjoyed some more than others.  These oysters were the best I've had.  The were juicy and plump.  We also ordered the Kamikaze Roll (Tempura Prawns, Avocado, Spicy Ahi Tuna).  The sushi roll was good, but a little odd.  I would probably pass on it next time.  For my main meal, I ordered the Fishermans' Wharf Cioppino.  Now this dish was great.  It include many huge prawns, some clams, mussels and fish.  This dish tasted delicious.  The broth had great flavor and was perfect for dipping with bread.  The other main dish we ordered was the Red Thai Curry Lobster "Claypot".  Although this dish was good, it wasn't great.  There were big pieces of lobster, but it was basically thai curry with lobster.  I can easily make this dish at home.  So that was not a homerun.  Overall, I really enjoyed this meal and the service at the restaurant was very good.  Definitely a place to come back to.

Oyamel - Washington, DC

 

We finally got a chance to try out Oyamel without having reservations.  We just happened to be in DC around lunchtime and decided we would have lunch here.  At first the prices seemed pretty cheap, until we learned they were more of a tapas size.  As most mexican restaurants, the meal came with chips and salsa.  They were pretty decent.  I ordered the Camarones al Mojo de Ajo Negro (Shrimp sauteed with shallots, arbol chile, poblano chile lime and sweet aged black garlic).  This shrimp dish was very good.  The shrimp were cooked perfectly and the sauce made it a little spicy.  I also ordered the Mejillones al tequila con chipotle (Steamed mussels with tequila, sauteed garlic and chipotle sauce).  This mussel dish was delicious.  The mussels were cooked perfectly and the sauce was a tomato sauce which was good enough to eat alone.  A little bit of bread would have made it perfect.  I also ordered a chicken soup.  This soup was just average, nothing special.  Overall this was a great meal.  Although the portions were quite small, being a tapas style, we were able to try several dishes.  Next time we will try the ceviche. 

Lighthouse Tofu - Centreville, Va

I just found out this place opened in Centreville.  I used to have to go all the way to Annadale to get the great Tofu soup.  I ordered the seafood Soon Dubu.  It came with several sides which were all good.  I ordered a medium spicy, which was a little milder than I would have like, but it was a great meal of Tofu soup.  The clientele was all hard core Korean.  However the service was very good.  I really enjoyed this meal and will be coming back.

AW Shucks - Charleston, SC

We decided to stop in Charleston on our way to Hilton Head.  Charleston is a nice city.  Very pretty buildings and nice restaurants.  At this restaurant, I ordered the Market Street Platter.  It had shrimp, oysters, scallops, and a filet of flounder.  The seafood was just broiled so, it was cooked in any special way.  However the seafood was very good and I enjoyed it.  The other dish pictured is the Seafood Jambalaya.  Although H said it was good, he didn't finish it all, so perhaps he didn't like it.  Overall this was an interesting restaurant experience.  We sat outside, which was covered.  I enjoyed this restaurant, although it probably wouldn't qualify for fine seafood.

Delhi Dhaba

I went to the Delhi Dhaba for lunch today by Courthouse.  I got the chicken curry, goat curry, and potatoes with cauliflower with bread.  The Delhi Dhaba is a fast food Indian place, where they have a pre-made selection of food.  I think you can also order food too.  The chicken curry was very good.  The goat curry was also very good.  This is the first time I have had goat and it tastes similiar to beef, and a little fatty.  The potatoes with cauliflower was also good.  Overall, I really enjoyed this meal.  I will be back.

Chanab Kabob - Chantilly, Va

Yesterday, I decided to try a kabob for lunch.  I stumbled upon this place.  I ordered the chicken kabob sandwich.  I was not very good.  The chicken was dark meat, which was fine, except it had bones in it.  The french fries it came with were pretty awful.  On the plus side it was a large sandwich that I wasn't able to finish, but I just threw it out because I didn't care to finish it.  Honestly, it was probably the worst kabob I've had in a long time.

Rebel Heroes & Choupi

Today, I decided to hit two food carts for lunch.  These are probably the best deals in Rosslyn, but neither one alone would be enough for lunch.  At Rebel Heroes, I had the pork meatball sandwich.  It is a meatball sandwich served with Vietnamese style pork meatballs on French bread.  The sandwiches here aren't authentic Vietnamese sandwiches, the meat and sauces are a little different, but they are pretty close and good. 

I have actually decided not to go here for awhile since, I have gotten a stomach ache the two times I've been here.  Could be mere coincidence, but that's the chance I will take.

Choupi is a great place for a semi-sweet dessert.  I haven't had the savory or lunch crepes there yet.  I is a great deal for $3.50 a crepe.  The crepe is made fresh and is piping hot.

Halal Food Cart - Rosslyn

I decided to try this place again.  This time I just got the lamb on rice, since I didn't like the chicken the first time.  The first thing I noticed, was you don't get as much meat, when you just order the lamb.  The lamb was tender and quite spicy.  The salad was fresh.  Overall, I like this place much better this time.  Perhaps I was expecting too much for $6 the first time. 

TNR Cafe - Arlington, Va

I went to Court House for lunch again.  This time I tried a Chinese restaurant called TNR Cafe.  I had high hopes for this place.  The menu had many specialities you see in typical Hong Kong Style restaurants.  I was debating between several dishes and I got the Cha Jiang Mien.  It was pretty bad.  It was very salty and it tasted like it came the bean paste came directly out of a can.  The cucumber slices were translucent which meant it wasn't fresh.  They also had bean sprouts on the side which I have never seen in this dish.  The noodles were the best part of the dish.  Overall, I didn't like this at all.  I might come back to try something else, but this was pretty awful.

Cosi - Arlington, Va

Today, I went to Cosi for lunch.  First I will have to say, it took a very long time to get my food.  There were a bunch of people waiting in front of me.  I got the shrimp remoulade sandwich.  The sandwich was decent.  It had a little bit of spicy to it.  They shrimp was good.  I really like the bread at Cosi.  Overall it was a little better than average lunch.  I might come back.

Afgan Kabob House - Courthouse Metro

Today, I decided to venture out of Rosslyn for lunch.  So I took the Metro to Courthouse and went to the Afgan Kabob House.  I ordered the boneless chicken kabob, with a side of eggplant.  It came with bread, rice and a salad.  The chicken was nicely marinated and juicy.  They gave me a bigger portion size than I needed.  I would have liked more rice though.  The bread looked like it was made there, but it looked a little different, as it had holes in it.  Perhaps it was from a mold or something.  The eggplant was stewed and also very good.  When ordering there were several different types of rice to choose from:  brown rice with cumin, saffron rice, and a rice with raisins.  I got the brown rice and it had quite a strong cumin taste.  You also get a decent sized salad with different kinds of dressings available.  Overall, I liked this restaurant.  It had much more variety than most kabob places I've been too.  And it was nice to try something other than the usual in Rosslyn.

China Garden - Arlington, Va

Today, I decided to try authentic Chinese food for lunch, instead of the Korean style Chinese food which is commonly found in Rosslyn.  I'm not a really big fan of Koreans serving Chinese or Japanese food.  I really think they should stick to what they know best, Korean food.

I haven't been to China Garden in years.  I ordered the Szechuan Beef Lunch special which came with an eggroll and fried rice.  The egg roll was pretty good for a Chinese Restaurant and so was the fried rice.  The Szechuan Beef was typical chinese food.  A little oily.  There was a ridiculous amount of red and green hot peppers, but the dish wasn't very spicy.  I thought the sauce could have had a little more flavor.  The portion was the perfect size, just enough to make you full.  Overall this lunch was pretty good and I will go back for authentic Chinese food.

Santa Fe Cafe - Arlington, Va

Today I ordered a taco salad and a chicken taco from Santa Fe Cafe.  I've been here several times.  There is nothing particularly impressive about this place.  The picture looks better than it tasted.  And  I had to pay an extra $.60 for jalapenos.  Overall, everything was a bit bland. The chips were soggy from the 5 minute walk back to my desk.  I didn't care for the beans in my taco salad.  The jalapenos add a little flavor and spice.  Even the salsa was bland.  It's about average for a meal in Rosslyn.

Baja Fresh - Arlington, Va

I haven't been to Baja Fresh in awhile because it's not one of my favorite places.  They redesigned their menu, which they really needed to do.  I decided to go there to try their primo tacos.  I got the blackened shrimp and lanogstino lobster tacos.  The lobster, didn't really taste like lobster, it tasted more like a crawfish.  But the lobster taco, was actually very good.  The blackened shrimp I didn't really like because it had cheese on the bottom.  Melted cheese with shrimp taco, just didn't do it for me.  The one nice thing about Baja Fresh is the variety of salsas you can get.  I noticed a new one too, pineapple salsa.  I didn't try it this time, but will next time.  Overall, this meal was much better than the usual Baja Fresh.  I might go back for the lobster taco, or something else.

La Chocita Grill - Leesburg, Va

We decided to try this place for lunch because I had a Restaurant.com coupon.  I don't think it is really a mexican restaurant, more like a Salvadoran restaurant.  The restaurant should have been called the La Chocita Fried because everything was super duper fried.  I ordered the fried fish.  It was a whole fish deep fried.  The fish was actually pretty good.  However, my not eating fried foods on a regular basis, it felt a bit greasy.  It came with rice and a side salad.  Overall the food was pretty good, however I think it could have had a little more flavor or spiciness.  The restaurant was pretty crowded, being a small restaurant in Leesburg.  The waitstaff/owners were very attentive.  Overall this was a good restaurant.  I will come back when I'm in the mood for more fried food.

Tequila Grande - Vienna, Va

This really isn't in our neck of the woods, but we were coming home from an event in DC and wanted to try something different.  The restaurant was pretty empty, but it was 3pm on a Sunday afternoon.  I'm not sure the food was authentic Mexican, but it was very good.  I ordered the Carne Asada.  It came with cheese on top of the steak.  I had never seen it served this way before.  The steak was cook perfectly with very good spices.  I came with black beans, a small salad, rice, tortillas and a chicken flauta.  I've never had a chicken flauta before, but it was sort of like a taquito but was filled with chicken much more flavorful.  My husband had a chile stuffed with seafood.  It was a good sized chile, but I'm not sure it went well with the seafood.  The seafood stuffing was good on it's own.  Overall we liked this restaurant and we will come back.

Chen's Kitchen - Herndon, Va

I've been to this restaurant many times.  Most often the food has been mediocre.  I went here for lunch and got the Beef Chow Fun and Singapore Rice Noodle.  The food was actually very good.  The Beef Chow Fun was close to the quality I used to get in Boston.  The only difference was there were no vegetables.  The noodles were cooked perfectly and the small amount of sauce was perfect.  The Singapore Rice Noodle was pretty good also.  Overall, probably the best Beef Chow Fun I've had both at this restaurant and in Virginia.

Oak Street Cafe - Arlington, Va

So I went back to the Korean cafe to get the Soondubu.  The owners were waiting for me when I got there.  It took awhile for them to prepare it, but not a big deal.  Overall the Soondubu was good.  It seemed like it could have used a little more flavor and definitely more spiciness.  I suppose they did not make a seafood based stock and it was just water.  They added an egg, which I didn't really like because it was cooked by the time I got back to the office.  The kimchi was also good, but could have been spicier also.  Overall, it was a good meal.  I would get it again, but probably not every week.

Oak Street Cafe - Arlington, VA

I noticed that this deli had a special of Bimbimbap.  So I figured I would try it out.  It was actually very good.  Everything was fresh and authentic.  I even got a slice of orange to go.  Since this is a Korean owned deli, it's natural for them to serve Korean food.  I was surprised by the number of people who got the Bimbimbap and Bulgogi.  I talked to the owner and they said they would even make Soondubu on Tuesday.  So I'll have to come back.

Halal food cart - Arlington, Va

Another mediocre lunch in Rosslyn.  I saw this food cart on Wilson Blvd near the Post Office.  I figured I would try it out.  It wasn't very good.  I got a lamb and chicken combo on rice.  The best part was the lamb.  Very tender and flavorful.  The chicken was a bit dry.  The rice wasn't even basmati rice.  The lettuce was a little old.  The sauce tasted like red pepper sauce instead of a spicy brown or green sauce most places use.  Overall not that good and I will not be going back.

James Cafe - Leesburg, Va

We ordered take out from this place over the weekend.  I believe it just opened a couple of months ago.  We ordered some spring rolls, hot and sour soup, orange beef and chicken lomein.  Everything we ordered was pretty mild.  A little more spice to the hot and sour soup and orange beef would have made it better.  I didn't try the spring rolls, but the kid ate it, and he is quite picky.  The chicken lomein was a little plain, but the kids enjoyed it.  The orange beef had a good flavor, but way too much breading and the pieces were huge.  The hot and sour soup was not very hot or sour.  Overall this place is average for a restaurant in Leesburg.  Probably a little better than the other Chinese restaurants in Leesburg.  The prices were average also.  We'll probably order from them again whenever we feel the need to have some less flavorful but convenient Chinese food.

Harry's Tap Room - Arlington, Va

I ventured out of Rosslyn to Clarendon to eat lunch at Harry's Tap Room.  This was my first time there.  It's kind a fancy place to have a business lunch.  I ordered the Thai steamed mussels.  This dish was actually very good.  It had a curry flavor, but very mild coconut flavor.  The mussels were very plump and flavorful.  I had two servings of bread.  I'm not sure why, but they were both different.  I first loaf of bread was a thin oily kind of bread.  The second loaf was a thicker heavier bread which went well with the mussel sauce.  Overall, this is a nice restaurant, which I will go back to in the future.

Cafe Asia - Arlington, Va

I had take out at Cafe Asia last week.  I ordered the Indonesian Grilled Chicken salad.  The chicken was grilled nicely, but the Soy sauce vinegar was a little sweet for me.  I thought there there should have been more greens a lot less bean sprouts.  Overall an average salad.  I would have to get something else next time. 

Oak St. Cafe - Arlington, Va

This is one of the many deli's in Rosslyn.  It looks uninteresting both inside and outside.  I ordered the steak and cheese.  It was actually pretty good.  It need a few hot peppers and would be excellent.  It is cooked when you order which is expected, however I never heard the grill.  They do serve a few Korean dishes which I will try next time.

Pho 75 - Arlington, Va

Another lunch at Pho 75 for this wintry cold day.  They are very consistent with their pho.  I guess there's no reason to change a successful recipe.  They did manage to screw up my order, but it's really no big deal.  Pho is Pho.