Michele "with one L" D.'s Profile

Had there not been one mishap, I would give this place 6 stars.

First off, a big shout out to Brendan J. for selecting this place and getting us over there.  It was a great night to dine with him, Chris M., Tony P., and Thuy T.  

The food here is AMAZING and I can't believe there aren't more reviews on it.  Tony and Thuy placed orders for the appetizers, and each of us ordered our own entrees.  They are both so good at teaching me about Vietnamese food (Song Que was the first place), so I placed my trust in their selections.  No disappointment there!

Appetizers we all shared:  

Jewel Green Papaya (shredded papaya with beef liver jerky)

Rainbows White Cloud (steamed rice cake topped with shredded dried shrimp)

Green Paradise Spring Roll (prawn and pork rolled in rice wrapper with mint and whole basil)

Entrees ordered:

Open Field in the Sunset (sweet and sour soup with Rockfish, okra, tomatoes, celery and bean sprouts)

Basking on Sandy Beach (soft shelled crabs with seasonings, salt and pepper)

Caramelized Pork Ribs.

I don't remember the name of the noodle soup that Brendan or Thuy ordered, so hopefully they will mention it in their reviews.  I didn't try either one of their dishes, but Tony's sweet and sour soup had huge chunks of fish in it (we think it was Rockfish--and it was delicious).  

I don't know the names of the two dishes Chris ordered, but his beef dish was OMFG good.  I hope like hell he mentions the exact name of it in his review, because I will order that when I go back.

The caramelized pork ribs came in a small pot and the sauce is especially good with rice.  I really tried to avoid rice because it takes up too much room in the jelly belly, but the sauce, rice and ribs combined are *really* tasty together.

The menu, as you can see, has a lot of amusing names for their entrees.  I loved everything I tried a bite of.

Now here is where I am very disappointed.  I was a little late and was the last one to place my order because I was busy chatting with everyone.  The kitchen basically forgot my order, and as a result, I was without food for a little longer than I would have liked.  The service was excellent and our guy kept me informed of the status of my dish, but as a kind gesture, the restaurant could have either comped my meal, comped my drink, or comped dessert for the table.  Neither one of those things happened, and I know Chris and I were disappointed in that.  

Other than that, I am so happy to have experienced this restaurant and we all agree that we were missing out on the pineapple thing that we saw at nearly every table around us.  Brendan and I agreed that when we go back, we'll be ordering that, along with the steamed whole fish.  

The papaya salad with the beef liver jerky was so f'in good.  Wait.  The beef liver jerky was so f'in good.  We asked where they get it because Thuy and I were ready to go out and buy some, but our server told us it is made in house by the Chef (note to self, get to know the Chef!).  The jerky is -the- best I have ever had in a Vietnamese restaurant--from the Big Apple to the Pineapple, it was excellent.

Parking can be a little troublesome; just go to the lot a little past the Baskin Robbins on the corner.

This place is AMAZING.  Go check it out and Yelp about it.

Okay, okay, what can I say that hasn't been said already?

This is one of my favorite restaurants if I'm going to have good ol' American style food.  I've been here for many dinners, attended the Oyster Riot once, and now I've enjoyed their Thanksgiving dinner, and the OEG hits it out of the park when it comes to consistency.  Service is always top notch, and despite how crowded they can be, they are prompt with taking orders and bringing out your food.

Case in point:  Thanksgiving day.  

Reservations were made two weeks prior, so when my dining companion and I arrived slightly early, we were told it would be just a few minutes.  The restaurant was a zoo; people were all over the place either seated or waiting to be seated.  Sure enough, we were seated a few minutes after our arrival.  We both ordered the Thanksgiving dinner they were offering, which hovered around $23.00 and was quite a steal.  Our plates were over flowing with turkey, stuffing (which was very, very good), and all the usual fixin's.  At the end of our meal, we had two options for dessert and we both chose the pumpkin pie.  The pie was unbelievable, but I only ate 1/2 of it because I was so full.  I also had a glass of Pinot Noir that is now my favorite:  Mirassou.

It's layout is unique in that there's a "back area", and atrium, and the "main" part of the restaurant.  I can appreciate the dark woods and feel of the place.  The food is always good, prices are reasonable, and I've never had much of a problem in finding a spot to park.

If you're looking for a place that is classic D.C., this is it.

After an eight hour flight, a friend declared his craving for Chinese. Since were in Reston, my beacon immediately lit up at the thought of taking him to Mama Wok. I'd been once long ago and never reviewed it, but after yesterday's experience I thought it was time to take to the keyboard.

We were in rather early (5pm), so we were the first to arrive. We saw the list of Chef's Specials at the entry way, but decided to order a couple of items from the menu. Both of us were craving noodles, so we ended up with two different noodle dishes to share.

Since he wanted flat noodles, our server recommended the Beef Chow Foon. He changed it to chicken since that sounded much better to him. I asked about the Taiwanese style Lo-Mein with shrimp & chicken and was told it was with hand made noodles. I went for it.

The Chicken Chow Foon was a hit; it was stir fried with a hint of a brown sauce (perhaps soy sauce based?), chicken, white onions and green onions (not appreciated by him, but oh well). I tried a bite and found it to be much better than most of the stir fried noodle dishes.

My dish was very, very good. The noodles were thick, round and cooked just right. It had chicken, shrimp, green onions and shitake mushrooms cooked in what looked like a similar base as the Chow Foon. Either way, it was good enough that I nearly finished it.

Service was good; we didn't feel rushed to make a decision from the menu and my water was refilled when it got low. All in all I thought the prices were very reasonable for the portion size (both dishes were $8.95) and for the quality.

I would certainly come back when craving Chinese, and I know my friend quickly forgot about his other go-to Chinese place after trying MaMa Wok!

Now that's some chicken.

It's rare that I like wings, but oh. dear. God.  These wings were so different from any other I've ever had and what's better is that I LOVED them and could have eaten dozens of them.  

I drove to Sawtelle craving Japanese food and almost went to Asahi Ramen.  Not hungry enough to have a whole big bowl of noodles, I decided to give Furaibo a try.  I knew, from reading the Yelp reviews, that the chicken was the thing to eat.  Now I know why.

I ordered the teba saki (chicken wings), tofu (with what I call "fish flakes", shoyu, slivers of seaweed and a little grated ginger), eggplant with miso and skewers of grilled chicken and green onion.  Everything was really, really good, with the exception of the chicken skewers.  The chicken didn't seem fully cooked, so that was a huge turn off.  I don't know what the wings are seasoned with, but damn it was all I could think of the next few days.

I was there fairly early and found a spot right away on Sawtelle.  The nice thing is that the prices are pretty reasonable and it's a great place for groups.

Now if I could only work my flights next month to allow for enough time to leave LAX, go get some wings, then return to the airport....hmmm, may take a little work, but would be *so* worth it.