Weekend in DC/No. Virginia

Oh that grill of dogs looks like a sampler platter I'd like to sample!!!!

buffetbuster -

thank you for the review, it was great.
whats next?

BB, I had to make a quick trip to DC to look at a job. I got a chance to see my daughter and her new apartment which was great. We went to dinner in Alexandria last night. Great area. But my job was in the city so I stayed downtown.

About 7:00 AM this morning I asked the hotel front desk about a good place to have breakfast. They looked at me like I was crazy. They told me only the hotels have breakfast. One girl did say I could get a Chinese breakfast nearby, but they didn't open till 10:00 AM. I never asked what a chinese breakfast consists of. My mistake.

Well armed with this trip report I headed to the Florida Ave Grill. No pics as you have it covered. I guess DC is not a breakfast town. Even this hot spot does not open until 8:00 AM. The biscuits and gravy were excellent. You definitely have to go by taste and not sight on this one. It looks clumpy but that is actually the chunks of sausage. Next up was the Virginia ham and eggs with potatoes. Very good. I also had the hash, but I asked for it grilled crispy. Again, very good.

Your right about the service, Mothering. I could not have been treated any nicer. And this early in the morning there was more employees than customers. Just about every waiter, waitress and cook stopped by our table. I told them the crazy guy taking pictures of his food sent me. Everyone remembered you and said hello.









BTW, Someone wanted to send a special hello.

[img]

Sorry about the closeup, in was self inflicted.[/img]

joerogo-
Very well done! That is so cool that you had your photo taken with her, too. Glad to read you found the food to be as good and the service as friendly.

catherines-
Thanks for the kind words and glad to see another western Pa'er on here! As for where else we went, we did briefly visit a place very close to you and one I assume you know well.

quote:

Originally posted by buffetbuster

As for where else we went, we did briefly visit a place very close to you and one I assume you know well.

Please. You don't need to be a Navajo code talker to decipher[url='http://www.cityofthornton.net/Business/IMAGES/thorncreek/olive_garden1_0603_700.jpg']that[/url] message.

i95-
We can't get anything by you! What, were you in my back seat the whole time?

i95 is a regular roadfood Cupid, that one. Always looking for the hookups. joe, I love that you went and got your picture taken with Cliff's buddy.

quote:

Originally posted by buffetbuster

i95What, were you in my back seat the whole time?

Only when I wasn't driving you to the brink of murderous insanity outside of the car, as well.

All work and no Roadfood makes buffetbuster a dull boy!

Saturday August 23 cont.

We took the Metro to Smithsonian and headed towards the World War II Memorial.



Maybe it is because my dad fought in this war (lied his way in when he was 16), but this place holds special meaning to me and is one of my favorite places in DC.

Mariton and Emilou also posed in front of the pillar representing the Philippines.


Since we wanted to walk as much of lunch off as possible and get us hungry for dinner, we continued our trek down to the Lincoln Memorial.

Great words behind Lincoln

The entire Gettysburg address in inscribed in the wall.


We walked back to the Metro, took it to U Street and our car and drove to the hotel to relax for an hour. Soon it was time to drive to Falls Church, VA and dinner at Peking Gourmet Inn.

In doing some research about the place, I read that they can get quite busy. So, I thought it would be a good idea to make a reservation ahead of time and thank goodness I did. The place was mobbed! But, we got seated within five minutes of our arrival.

Emilou ordered her old favorite dish here, the Gourmet Chinese Eggplant.

She was very happy with her meal.

Johnny ordered the Ginger Shrimp with Asparagus.

The shrimp were very light and tasted very fresh. Excellent dish!
Now, that was what I had planned on ordering before Johnny stole it from me! Not having a backup dish ready, I just got the lemon chicken,

which was a mistake. With a heavy, gloopy sauce, no one really cared for it, including me. My hot and sour soup was good, though.


The star attraction on the menu and the reason this restaurant packs them in is the Peking Duck, which is what Mariton ate. One of the cool things is that they actually slice it right at your table.

The girls recognized the older man from years ago. I imagine he has sliced quite a few ducks in his time.

The plate of duck meat looked like

Since Johnny and I were unfamiliar with the process, Mariton and Emilou showed off their expertise. For those that don't know, which included me until recently, you start the Peking Duck meal with a pancake and put some of the provided sauce on it.

The sauce is unlike anything I have tasted before. I was thinking for a few minutes it reminded me of molasses, but that isn't it.
Next, you put scallions on it.

Then come slices of cucumber. Interestingly, the owner himself brought over a plate of cucumbers. He told us that after customers watched the Olympics and saw the Chinese eating their duck with cucumbers, they started asking for it. So, now they just automatically bring it out. You put the duck on it next and roll it up. It ends up looking something like this.....

The duck itself was delicious. Johnny has never been a fan of duck, because he thought it was too greasy. But this wasn't greasy at all. Even better was the crispy skin.

The Peking Gourmet Inn comes highly recommended. By the way, the vast majority of those dining were Asian, always a good sign!

http://www.pekinggourmet.com/

After driving back to the hotel, Johnny said his goodbye, since he had to work the next morning.

More to come.....

I had to do a double take of the picture of the older man. It appeared at first he had a really long nose. Great report by the way.

Now I really want to try Peking duck; that looks fabulous.

The eggplant and the duck look great. Will have to try Peking Gourmet.

The sauce for the duck may be hoisin sauce.

BB

Another wonderful exploration. I have not been to DC since the WWII memorial was dedicated, I gotta get there.

This picture



They could be sisters, not mother/daughter

BB - I was thinking that Ginger Shrimp and Asparagus dish would have been a great 5th man order! I hope Johnny let Mariton have some asparagus...if I remember correctly, a favorite veggie of hers! The Peking Duck sauce looks like Hoissen (not sure of the spelling) Sauce and is my favorite with pot stickers also. Keep it coming...

CajunKing-
Since Mariton looks younger than her age and Emilou looks older, they do get told that frequently.

I did not see anywhere at the Basilica where you could take a tour, but that doesn't mean it wasn't available. Too bad, since we would have enjoyed that very much!

ChiTownDiner-
Good memory! Yes, Mariton loves asparagus, which was one of the reasons I was going to order that meal. Johnny was more than happy to share his dish, considering he got plenty of Peking Duck in return.

Sunday August 24

After sleeping in late, our first stop was another place that Mariton and Emilou have enjoyed in the past. The name in English on the outside sign just says Fortune, but there is probably more to the name that that.

It is located in the Seven Corners shopping center. I believe this is still in Falls Church, but I'm not positive.

This is a dim sum restaurant and the place was packed with I'm guessing 80% Asian customers. There were also no eating utensils other than chopsticks on the table, another great omen. Since the girls were much more familiar with the restaurant and the cuisine, I was happy to let them do all the selecting.









Sorry about the poor quality of the photos. It was already past noon and this was my first meal of the day. Obviously, I was more focused on eating than getting quality shots. As for what everything is, I'm not completely sure. The girls will be at my house tonight, so we will go back in and label everything later. I can tell you the food was particularly good and I highly recommend this place.

Since Pittsburgh has very little in the way of Asian grocery stores, the girls wanted to visit another shopping center across the street. It is called the Eden Center and is almost completely entirely Vietnamese. As a matter of fact, in the hour or so we were there, I only saw one other non-Asian walking around.

We hit a bakery, that had all kinds of interesting, colorful stuff for sale, that I had never seen before.





The girls did buy a few items to take home with them, but the main reason we were there was to get some bubble tea. If you haven't had this before, it is a very interesting drink. It reminds me of a fruit smoothie, but you are given an extra wide straw to suck up the large bubbles in the drink. The bubbles, I believe are tapioca.

Emilou got a strawberry, I got a mango

and Mariton got a papaya.

After we walked a few doors down, Mariton was disappointed to see that she could have gotten one made with jackfruit, which is her favorite fruit.

We decided it was time to head back to Pittsburgh. As we were approaching where I had to decide to take the turnpike or I-68 home, I programmed the address in the GPS to see what it suggested. It told me to take I-68 and get off to Route 40 towards Uniontown, PA. Knowing this would take me right past Glisan's restaurant in Markleysburg, it sounded like a great idea. Glisan's is famous for their pies, which are the best I have ever had in Pennsylvania.

Since we were anxious to get home, I just ran in to get some to go. But it being late afternoon, the selection was rather picked over. I did get the last slice of cherry crumb,

a whole peach

and a whole cherry.

Both the cherry pies were outstanding as usual, but the peach was a disappointment.

We arrived back at their house at 6:00PM.

Great report! The dim sum looks great, and I love the pictures of the items in the grocery store/bakery.

I enjoy dim sum and have been to several dim sum restaurants in the DC area. My favorite is still Oriental East in Silver Spring, MD -- http://www.orientaleast.com/.

Ivyhouse-
Thank you very much for the kind comments. This was only the fourth time I have had dim sum, but it is a lot of fun, with really good food if you are at the right place.

If I had one disappointment on this trip, it would have been not making it to Crisfield in Silver Spring. Johnny and I have only been there once, but the food was terrific.

I have had the fried head-on shrimp with jalapenos at another place in the DC area and they are to die for. And the Asian bakery thing will make your head spin if you aren't prepared for what you're going to see. It's a real schooling in cultural expectations.

BB - I want in on the next trip...I love dim Sum and have a Tapioca Pearl Smoothie every week at a local Asian food court. Great stuff!!!

BB

Your legend continues to grow.

You have went from 2 to 3 pieces of pie to 2 to 3 WHOLE pies, I bow to your supremacy.

I really enjoyed your report. Stunning church! And, all the food looks great too!

who got to bring home the PIES??!!!

A superior report in all respects. Thank you!

Wow, BB. That was fantastic. And I love all the colorfulness in all of the pictures. What's better than travel, food and photography with those you love? Thank you for another piece for my "lesson plan" arsenal, as I slowly-but-surely convert my Brian into "one of us". I plan to give him this lesson this weekend (he has gone to DC quite often on his own before he met me) (and has no clue about any of these places, I'm sure).

Very nice!

Buffetbuster -

I agree the peach pie has too much filler and not enough peaches.
This is peach season and Chambersburg is just down the road.
Also, Hilltop in Grantsville MD Route 40 East has peaches, peaches and peaches.

CajunKing-
Thanks, but don't give me too much credit. I shared the pies with my co-workers.

AHI MPLS-
I made an offer, but the girls weren't interested in keeping any of the pies. I didn't argue!

We were back in DC again over the weekend.  Saturday morning, cousin Johnny met us and we headed for Florida Avenue Grill again.  The biscuits, by themselves,

were a little crunchier than I remember, but were perfectly soft

under the thick sausage gravy we got as a side dish.  Johnny seemed pleased with his corned beef hash,

grits and eggs, plus the side of fried apples. 

But the best dishes on the table, were things we tried for the first time.
 
With this being DC, I went for the half smoke as a side meat.  It had been sliced in half, with the inside placed on the grill. 

This gave it a nice crunchy texture and the smoke flavor really came through.  In an excellent weekend of eating our way around DC, this was most likely my favorite thing.  Not too far behind it was the amazing fried pork chops my girlfriend ordered.  On our last visit, she got the smothered pork chops and as good as they were, these were even better.  The pork chops came with a thick, crusty coat and the meat itself was plenty juicy.  She always brings up the pork chops she had at Niecie's in Kansas City two years ago and apparently, these were it's equal.
 
We got two desserts and shared them.  The peach cobbler

was a repeat.  Just as delicious as it looks, the only complaint was that it had been microwaved and was hot in some places and cold in others.  This was the first time for the homey sweet potato pie

and I wouldn't hesitate to order it again.
 
Unlike previous trips to this wonderful restaurant, the place was mostly empty.  Hopefully, it was still early and the breakfast rush hadn't hit yet.
 
Florida Avenue Grill
1100 Florida Avenue
Washington, D.C.
202-565-1586

This thread really makes me miss NOVA.
 
Try the Metro 29 Diner (Lee Hwy & N. Glebe in Arlington, VA).  When we lived there it was our all around favorite: a true Long Island-style diner.  Recently, Guy Fieri paid a visit for his "Diners  & Dives" show.  http://www.metro29diner.com/Home.html
 
Another place guaranteed not to disappoint is G&M Restaurant in Linthicum, MD (very near BWI).  It's worth the trip for the best crabcake you'll ever eat.  http://www.gandmcrabcakes.com/
 
I know you'll be returning to the Peking Gourmet.  Try the Jeo-Yan Shrimp.