Chubby’s Southern Style Barbecue, Emmitsburg, MD

Posted on May 28, 2011 by Don

I last went to Chubby’s several years ago, and remember really enjoying their ribs, but I didn’t remember all that much else. I’ve been in touch with owner Tom Caulfield on-and-off (he’s a member of donrockwell.com), and he wrote me a few months back and asked me to come up and try a few menu items that he was thinking of adding.

This area of Maryland is great for an overnight trip – you have Catoctin Mountain Park (national) with its ultra-rustic overnight cabins, Cunningham Falls Park (state) with its lake, beach, and waterfall, Mount St. Mary’s University with its magnificent national shrine, the Grotto of Lourdes (worth seeing regardless of faith), and the drive itself which becomes beautiful once you’re north of Frederick (it actually becomes pleasant once you’re north of Boyds). This doesn’t even take Gettysburg into account.

And right there, in the thick of it all, is Chubby’s in Emmitsburg, sitting on Route 15 – you can’t miss it. Tom said to call him when I was coming, and he’d bring out a few samples of his new dishes, and I’m glad he did because one of them is unique (to me), remarkable, and worth a detour to get.

Four of us were pretty hungry, so we ordered a large selection of items: Buffalo Wings ($7.99 for 10), Chicken Tenders ($6.99), Baby Back Ribs ($22.99, full rack with two sides (slow-smoked baked beans and Chubby’s fried potatoes), a couple other small plates and drinks (including Yeungling (Chubby’s has beer and wine)), in addition to small, gratis samples of “Award Winning” Chili, Baltimore Style Brisket, and Smoked Pork Belly.

“What did you just say, Don?”

“Smoked pork belly.”

Ah, yes, the smoked pork belly. Thick-cut strips of belly (in the form of thick bacon), barbecued in the smoker, and then crisped on the grill just before serving. This is going on the menu as an $11.99 platter (with two sides), and is the one dish here that haunts me to this very day. It’s a simple concept really, but also one which I don’t remember seeing before. How good was it? It was awesome – remember, this is smoked; not cured – and worth the trip to Emmitsburg. For sides, I would strongly recommend the Chubby’s Potatoes and Slow-Smoked Baked Beans with it, and you have yourself pretty much of a perfect barbecue dinner.

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Samuel Beckett’s Irish Gastropub, Shirlington, VA

Posted on May 28, 2011 by Don

It wasn’t so long ago that Shirlington was a quaint little strip with one really good restaurant (Carlyle Grand Cafe), and a few lesser ones. Now, that strip is still quaint, but Carlyle is a shadow of what it once was, and once you get beyond the movie theater, you have a Harris Teeter, CakeLove, Johnny Rocket’s, etc.

And you also have Samuel Beckett’s Irish Gastropub, an ambitious, 280-seat, 5,500-square-foot upstart with three bars, two fireplaces, and a noisy, bustling interior. What people might not realize is that there’s also a serene, civilized patio off to the side, and that’s exactly where I took my French house guests.

I’d never been here before, and had no idea what to expect other than that reviews on donrockwell.com had skewed towards the positive. I was skeptical, but that little restaurant website tends to be pretty accurate (must be the handsome guy running it, or more likely, the quality of its members).

I started off with a draft of Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale ($6.50) much to the amusement of my guests, old-school French senior citizens who were completely out of their element, cuisine-wise.

“Ohhh! You dreenk a beer, Don?” they said, monitoring me while sipping their ice water.

“Yes, we’re at an Irish pub,” I said, while thinking, “Damned right I am. And I’m gonna have another one, too.”

These Kilkenny’s were in perfect shape – with an incredible inch-thick creamy head that lasted throughout the glass, giving me a moustache with each sip. If you’re here for Guinness, and have never tried a Kilkenny, do yourself a favor and try at least one.

For an appetizer, my guests split a Rocket Salad ($8.00), thoughtfully divided in the kitchen and brought out on two plates. A plate of greens with small amounts of shaved Irish cheese and dried fruit, perfectly dressed with a walnut dressing, this salad outperformed any possible expectation I could have had of it – the quality of ingredients was easily what you’d find at Whole Foods, and it was dressed perfectly. I knew that if it lived up to its potential, my French friends would love it, and they did.

Me, I started with the Tipperary Tart ($8) which was a fancy name for a wedge of blue cheese-and-leek quiche, served alongside the same greens that were in the Rocket Salad (and dressed equally well). Yes, I only got it because of the name, but I’m glad I did because I love a good quiche, and this one was.

For our main course, my guests split a Lamb Stew ($11) even though I warned them that they might be getting some questionable lamb meat (although I was encouraged that Samuel Beckett’s had lamb several places on the menu). The menu says it’s “fresh lamb” with peas, carrots, and potatoes in a Guinness sauce. It looked fairly generic, but they enjoyed it well enough, and both of them finished it (I didn’t get to taste it).

I’m a bit embarrassed that I ordered twice in a row for the name, but I got the Dingle Pie ($16), a bowl of smoked and white fish in a creamy white wine base, served en croûte, and arriving very hot to the touch since it was baked in the oven (the main courses took awhile to arrive, and this is probably why). Again, this is pretty much everything I’d hoped for, and the crust itself was wonderful, especially when poked into the bowl and mixed into the broth which it absorbed. My one niggle is that they were a bit skimpy on the fish, but then again, it’s a sixteen-dollar dish.

My guess is that I had a “Best Of” experience here: perfect weather to be on the quiet patio, well-poured drafts, and two respectable courses. Still, this is enough for me to debut Samuel Beckett’s Irish Gastropub as the top restaurant in Shirlington in the Dining Guide (available only to participating members of donrockwell.com).

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PS7’s, Verizon Center

Posted on May 27, 2011 by Don

(See the December 9, 2010 Review here.)

Every time I’m at PS7’s lounge, I tend toward the flatbreads and sandwiches; this time, I forced myself to go “main course,” just to see what this crew is up to.

Gina Chersevani wasn’t working on this evening, so I was unrecognized (at first) and sat through some minor service delays. I started with a glass of 2009 Ponzi Pinot Gris ($10) which remarkably retails for only about $15-16 a bottle, figuring it would work well with my first course, an entree of Green Garlic Gnocchi ($22). As I waited and nursed the wine, a super little basket with two homemade rolls and house made crackers arrived, complete with elaborate descriptions by my bartender (back there churning the butter, too, Peter?)

Then I waited, and waited some more, and was wondering why the gnocchi was taking so long. It arrived, and I just bowed my head in reverence: this is a vegan dish, I believe, made with fresh green garlic in the pale green gnocchi, beautifully plated with carrots, beet greens, trumpet mushrooms, beet sauce, and pine nuts. One of the most visually appealing dishes I’ve come across in quite awhile, this was every bit as good on the palate. If you’re a vegan, then you will love this gnocchi (although I’d ask to make doubly sure it’s vegan).

For my second course, I went whole hog and ordered the Steak & Cheese ($34), the most expensive item on the menu, and one of only two dishes priced over $29. Described on the menu as a “kobe bistro filet,” with bresaola, cheese roll, yellow foot mushrooms, and onions, I was certain that I was going to be getting a small portion, and a low-grade cut of Kobe. Not the case, unfortunately: this was plain old Snake River Farms Wagyu, and I have to give Peter a wrist slap for not saying so on the menu – it says a lot about my confidence in PS7’s that I didn’t even think to ask before ordering, but I was pretty sure after bite number one that this wasn’t actually Kobe.

With this dish, I switched to a burlier red: a 2008 Vajra Langhe Rosso ($10) which is a blend of five grapes (and contains, surprisingly, 5% Pinot Noir). The Steak & Cheese was “guy food” to the max, in direct opposition to the gnocchi which screamed finesse and elegance. Slices of Wagyu, arranged on the plate alongside halved cheese rolls, sauce poured all over the place – it evoked Michel Richard’s carpaccio in a faint way, while being coarse and guttural at the same time. For $34, this just wasn’t good enough (as I type this, I’m thinking about what $34 buys you at a Morton’s or a Ruth’s Chris, and this dish is fifty times better and more interesting than just a generic steak, so please take all this in context of Peter Smith and Andrew Markert being two seriously talented cooks, and me being hyper-critical).

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Pupatella, Arlington, VA

Posted on May 26, 2011 by Don

(See the January 31, 2011 Review here.)

All hail the new King of Pizza in the Washington, DC area. I’m coming right out and saying that, as of late May / early June, 2011, Pupatella is the best by far, without any serious contender in sight. No, it’s not a competition, but if it was, this would win.

As usual, I started with a bottle of 2009 Case Ibidini Insolia white ($15 with the purchase of two pizzas, up from $13 in January).

Fried Zucchini Blossoms ($4 for 2) is one of the greatest individual food items I’ve had in all of 2011. No matter how much you think you might not want these, get them anyway. They’re done in an incredibly flavorful, tempura-like batter and have just the right amount of salt. Served on paper, there was no residual oil at all afterwards despite them having been deep-fried. Please, please do yourself a favor and get these. (Note: Pupatella was originally going to discontinue these at the end of May, but has decided to keep them into June. (A second order, tried about a week later, was a bit less perfectly fried (and thus left some residual (albeit high-quality) oil).) Go. Go!)

A weekly special White Pizza with Roasted Potatoes, Shallots, Rosemary, and Parmesan ($12) went into the stratosphere after putting a good, runny Egg ($2) on top, but surprisingly was distracted by a supplement of Prosciutto ($4) which ended up dominating the other ingredients. An extraordinary pizza regardless, this is the answer to all your breakfast fantasies.

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Medium Rare, Cleveland Park

Posted on May 25, 2011 by Don

(See the March 27th, 2011 Review here.)

When Medium Rare first opened – even before it first opened – I expressed to myself a quiet concern. I had questions about whether a restaurant serving essentially one thing only – steak frites, salad, and bread – could possibly survive in DC, especially in the somewhat remote Cleveland Park neighborhood which is already heavily populated with restaurants.

After my first meal here two months before, I was extremely impressed (and somewhat skeptical) that they could offer what they did for the price: good homemade bread, a properly dressed salad, and tranches of prime, dry-aged culotte steak served with hot, crispy fries along with a pitcher of “secret sauce” so good that it should be illegal – all for only $19.95?

Then, after a second visit with diverse guests ranging from my hungry fourteen-year-old son to a couple of old-school French senior citizens who have dined on steak frites for decades, I have my answers.

If Medium Rare served only their three-course meal, they would soon go out of business due to all the other expenses involved in running a restaurant – food, rent, wages – because you don’t stay afloat by selling $19.95 steak dinners for very long in a small, civilized Cleveland Park restaurant.

My french house guests were extremely impressed with their meal, but then their jaws dropped when our server came out and offered us seconds. “How do they do this?” one of them asked me.

It’s because they sell wines and desserts, and these represent the slim difference between being in business, or not. (Pssst … don’t tell anyone, but Medium Rare has a $12 per bottle ($24 per magnum) bring-your-own wine policy, and the outstanding retailer Weygandt Wines is just across the street. “Isn’t that an amazing deal?” their salesman said to me. Also, Medium Rare’s desserts are enough for two to share. Shhhh …)

One of my house guests was comfortably full after her first helping, and declined seconds. Aha! That’s how the restaurant hopes to survive, right? By little old ladies passing on the second helping? Nope – they packed it up for us, and we had it for lunch the next day.

There are murmurs about Medium Rare being a one-trick pony, and I don’t accept that as a flaw. This restaurant is no different than a pizza parlor or a burger joint, except that it’s move elevated and refined, and you don’t see those places hurting for business. It’s better to do one thing well, than to do many things poorly. Consistency will be the key to Medium Rare’s success, and if they’re able to pull it off, then they have a winner on their hands – and so do we.

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Ulah Bistro, U Street Corridor

Posted on May 24, 2011 by Don

Ulah Bistro has several things going for it: a wood-burning pizza oven, a great view of Ben’s Chili Bowl, and a solid beer program.

As I sipped my draft of Bell’s Amber Wheat ($5.75), I decided to create a highlight film of this meal posted on donrockwell.com.

It’s not at all intuitive to order an Ahi Tuna Tartare ($12) here, but if you didn’t, you’d be missing out on a great rendition of this long-since-trite (can we call it “classic?”) dish. A huge cylindrical mash of chunks of tuna loin, served with Asian seaweed salad with orange-sesame dressing, and squirted with wasabi aioli – it’s a lot of tuna for $12 which might at first seem like too much money for this appetizer. Get this.

After the tuna, I was pretty sure the Fried Cod Sandwich ($11) would be a hit, but I was wrong. The battered filet of cod comes on a braided mini-challah loaf, with caper aioli and a tomato salad which sounds good, but the fish itself was exceedingly dry – normally, when you flake cod, each section glistens with moisture, but this had more of a dry-fiber look to it, and the batter itself could have used a bit more seasoning. Throw in the standard-issue frozen bistro fries as a side, and you have a dish that was a slight miss for me – not bad, but I’ll try a pizza next time.

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Bistro Cacao, Capitol Hill

Posted on May 23, 2011 by Don

It was a perfect night to dine on a patio, and picking Bistro Cacao – sandwiched between a packed La Loma and Cafe Berlin – was an obvious choice for my French house guests (especially since I hadn’t been since the week it opened and wanted to try it again).

All the tables on the patio are pleasant, sitting underneath huge umbrellas weighted down to avoid disaster. But they didn’t keep the same question from raining down upon us – three times, by three different people – within a period of ten minutes, and before any order was taken: ‘Would you like still, sparkling, or tap water?’ Three times! It sounded like a broken record, and it sounds like a record that will never be broken.

Those of us that enjoy lifewine ordered a glass of Château Magneau Graves Blanc ($9, and I can’t remember if it was an ’09 or the first tranche of ’10), but this is a great wine for a restaurant to sell because it only retails for about $15 a bottle, is dominated by Sauvignon Blanc, and speaks strongly of Bordeaux. The glassware here is good, and the pours are fairly generous.

If the trio of questions seems awkward, more awkward still was The Wait. My guests weren’t really hungry and only ordered one small plate each, while I wanted two courses. One of these was the Salade de Truite Fumée ($9.95), smoked trout atop red beet with fresh grapefruit and mango dressing. It arrived first, and since one of my guests ordered the same thing, I offered it to her, figuring the other two plates would soon follow.

Then we waited, and waited, and I said, “You know what? I think this might be my salad because I ordered two courses.” Yes, it became obvious that’s what it was, so I took the plate while they just sat there, and felt obliged to scarf the damned thing. I don’t think this is the restaurant’s fault so much as it was “weird ordering.” Still, I was sort of assuming that their plates would come out with my first course, and they’d just have to eat a bit more slowly than me (I’d love to hear some opinions on how people think a restaurant should handle this situation).

The salad was fine with one huge, glaring exception: the huge, circular, bright red slice of beet sitting underneath the trout was canned! The last time I had canned beets was about five years ago – ironically, at L’Auberge Chez François. This is one vegetable that turns to mush when it’s canned, and it’s unacceptable to serve anything but fresh beets in a restaurant that’s not in the Poconos.

My second course was wonderful. Cuisses de Grenouille “Provençal” ($9.95) was three pairs of sautéed frogs legs with eggplant, potatoes, and parsley-garlic sauce. This was a great dish from Bistro Cacao – Kemal Deger is a fine cook (I’m assuming he cooked this), and this dish was well-designed, well-integrated, and well-executed. Don’t shy away from this appetizer just because it’s frogs legs (unless you’re a frog) – get this.

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Blue 44, Chevy Chase

Posted on May 22, 2011 by Don

It was the day of the donrockwell.com picnic, and after spending an afternoon feasting on 18 different types of pork, I wanted a light dinner.

Blue 44, with its strong influences from Pittsburgh, isn’t the type of restaurant that a vegetarian would normally frequent, but there are a good half-dozen items on the menu that you can work with.

After nursing a bottle of Fordham Helles Lager ($5), I was curious about the Pierogis ($8), but was skeptical that they were purchased. Surely they were.

Nope – they’re stuffed in-house, and it shows, too. Billed as “classic Pittsburgh-style pierogis” stuffed with seasoned potato, lightly browned and served with caramelized onions and sour cream, these are pretty much obligatory for anyone with roots in western Pennsylvania. You won’t be disappointed if you order these.

The Classic Caesar ($6) took me off-guard because I wasn’t expecting it to be this good. It is, indeed, a classic Caesar (albeit with no anchovies) made with romaine, and properly dressed with a creamy Caesar dressing, shaved Grana Padano, and house-made croutons. This is another dish I can happily recommend.

I didn’t plumb the depths of this menu, but what I had was very impressive, especially given the mediocrity surrounding Blue 44 in that area of upper NW DC. This restaurant reminds me of Town Hall in Glover Park in terms of what it’s trying to be (and don’t dismiss that because Town Hall used to be pretty good).

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Ray’s Hell Burger, Arlington, VA

Posted on May 21, 2011 by Don

It should say a lot that on their first full day in the United States, I took my house guests to Ray’s Hell Burger.

Old, old school French senior citizens, they were bewildered and engaged by the vivid, youthful atmosphere at Ray’s – really, everything about the place threw them for a loop -the ordering process, the noise, the rushed feel, the rapid plate clearing, the self-serve aspect – it was interesting to see their inquisitive minds spinning around like slot machines.

We all four (Matt was there, too) ordered a burger, Grilled ($7.99) with “our secret steak blend” which tends to make me thirsty a few hours later. Theirs, with Vermont white cheddar and bacon; mine with my usual Bone Marrow and Persillade ($3.00). If you’re here for beefy abundance, I really want to urge you to try the bone marrow, and only the bone marrow, as a topping. It’s such a natural extension of the meat, and adds depth to the sandwich without cheesing it up, or smoking it out with bacon. Essentially, it turbo-charges the burger while letting the beef remain the focus of everything – The Dogcatcher is the same price at $10.99, but comes with lettuce and tomato which are unnecessary distractions. This burger needs nothing else – not ketchup, nor mustard, nor cheese. To each his own, of course, but if you want to try a thoroughbred Hell Burger run through an amplifier, then consider the bone marrow alone as a topping.

We split a large order of Skin On Fries ($2.99) which was enough for us to occasionally reach in and grab some potato as a palate cleanser, and they were fine.

The burgers themselves were the best I’d had at either Hell Burger in ages (it has been far too long since I’ve been here). “Medium” was cooked to medium, and “Medium Rare” was cooked to medium rare – how often do you see subtle differences like that actually executed as specified?

“I haven’t had a ‘am boorger een zirty yeers!” My house guest exclaimed, enthusiastically, looking back to when he lived in New York in the 1960s. They didn’t know how to eat them, and started to use a knife in the right hand and a fork in the left. “Just pick it up and enjoy,” I said. They did, and they did.

These burgers were fantastic, huge, and the reason why this place sometimes serves 1,000 or more people a day. Absolutely the best non-frou-frou hamburgers I’ve ever eaten with nary a challenger in view.

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Pizzeria Orso, Falls Church, VA

Posted on May 20, 2011 by Don

(See the April 30, 2011 Review here.)

Uh oh.

“It” happened.

If you click on that April 30th review, you’ll see in the penultimate paragraph that I expressed a concern about a possible future decline at Pizzeria Orso, but in no way did I see one on that evening.

Well …

A Beet Salad ($8) with pickled beets, dandelion greens, yogurt, local honey and pistachios sounds good, but I didn’t pay close enough attention to the word “pickled” – this salad was shrill to eat, and needed plain old farmer’s market-quality roasted beets that saw no pickling.

The Torino ($14) was the worst pizza I’ve ever had at Pizzeria Orso. Made with cream, fontina, ham, crimini mushrooms, and oregano, it was unevenly cooked – way over-charred in parts – and the crust was dense and ponderous which is something I’ve never before encountered here.

And yet, two of the Crudo ($15) were both good – not outstanding, but good. Made with tomato, mozzarella, basil, arugula, Grana Padano, and prosciutto di Parma, they were both cooked evenly all the way around, and as bizarre as it may sound, the crust was spongier (a good thing) and had more flavor. I have no idea what can account for two such different crusts in essentially the same firing.

The “whisper number” on Christopher Nye is that he’s a terrific cook, but has not spent a lot of time as an apprentice making pizzas – from everything I’ve read, being a great pizzaiolo is not something that sprouts from genius; it’s a product of hard work, repetition, and painstaking attention to detail. When da Vinci died, his studio probably excelled for a time afterwards, but when it came time to call upon the master, there was no one there to answer.

Nye made me two phenomenal pizzas at the end of April, so he’s got it in him. Consistency will be the key here – I’m not optimistic, but I’m hopeful.

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