Vrai didn't mind?
I made the suggestion, then she insisted, so it's all good.
Best Restaurants in SOMD
- Thread starter MMM_donuts
- Start date
I made the suggestion, then she insisted, so it's all good.
Irish coffee. 3 words. Buena Vista Café. In San Francisco. It's not just a drink, it's a show.
We stopped in The Striped Rock this evening for refreshments & appetizers after the driving range. We got there well before dinner time. As luck would have it we got to chat with Steve from the kitchen. He spoke of some of the things they are trying out. We split the tarragon shrimp appetizer, shrimp potato skins & an order of rosemary oil fries. I give then credit because they are trying. The food was good. We sat at the bar and we were the only bar patrons, so service was excellent.
But back to the conversation. We talked about dishes, sauces and the food service business in general. I don't envy the folks that have to work nights, weekends and holidays to allow the rest of us some form of recreation and entertainment. The sole owner places don't have the advertising budget of the chain restaurants. Chains also do much more market research into their menus. The food is created in a central kitchen somewhere by the corporate staff. The small indy places just sort of wing it based on what ingredients they can get locally and with a hunch for what they think the local diners may enjoy.
If anyone has been to both the old DiGiovanni's and the new Calypso place in Solomons will see the sharp contrast in style. The old place was more tablecloth and fine dining. The new place is burgers and very high acceptability foods that are very generic. Both types of restaurants have a place in the dining realm. The thing about the laid back places is that you aren't going to be wowed by their menu. It's pretty much run of the mill chow with not a lot of surprise. It is very kid friendly. Dress code is very casual. Judging by the number of diners in there on Labor Day, they should do just fine.
Establishments like the now closed Corbells, Charles Street Brasserie and Striped Rockfish will have to work a bit harder to gain a foothold. The reason being their type of cuisine isn't for the average diner. The kitchen staff is trying to produce some eclectic dishes that highlights the staffs talents and the local food stuffs. Diners may or may not be in tune with those items. Then you add in the premium price for quality products and the end product is a dish that is unaffordable to the lower end customers. Not everyone equates price and quality. But we all realize that there is more pleasure in eating a well prepared quality steak(or any dish for that matter) than eating a frozen piece of beef that is cooked then slapped unceremoniously on a plate.
The wait staff can also make or break an establishment. If you have ever eaten in a restaurant that has a well trained staff you will recognize the difference. A lot of places the wait help stand around conversing among themselves. At times it appears that the customers are a minor irritant that need to be dealt with as little as possible. I recall the day when find dining meant Caesar salad and flaming desserts done tableside. Waiters crumbed the table after the entrée plate was removed. Those wait staffs were in tune with their diners.
Needless to say I'm not a big fan of the middle of the road restaurant chains. They have their place but their appeal is beyond their offerings. TEHO I guess. In SOMD, judging by the lines to get in, especially on weekends, they are proving me wrong.
All in all there are many decent establishment locally for dining choices. Gauging the responses in this thread there are many favorites.
But back to the conversation. We talked about dishes, sauces and the food service business in general. I don't envy the folks that have to work nights, weekends and holidays to allow the rest of us some form of recreation and entertainment. The sole owner places don't have the advertising budget of the chain restaurants. Chains also do much more market research into their menus. The food is created in a central kitchen somewhere by the corporate staff. The small indy places just sort of wing it based on what ingredients they can get locally and with a hunch for what they think the local diners may enjoy.
If anyone has been to both the old DiGiovanni's and the new Calypso place in Solomons will see the sharp contrast in style. The old place was more tablecloth and fine dining. The new place is burgers and very high acceptability foods that are very generic. Both types of restaurants have a place in the dining realm. The thing about the laid back places is that you aren't going to be wowed by their menu. It's pretty much run of the mill chow with not a lot of surprise. It is very kid friendly. Dress code is very casual. Judging by the number of diners in there on Labor Day, they should do just fine.
Establishments like the now closed Corbells, Charles Street Brasserie and Striped Rockfish will have to work a bit harder to gain a foothold. The reason being their type of cuisine isn't for the average diner. The kitchen staff is trying to produce some eclectic dishes that highlights the staffs talents and the local food stuffs. Diners may or may not be in tune with those items. Then you add in the premium price for quality products and the end product is a dish that is unaffordable to the lower end customers. Not everyone equates price and quality. But we all realize that there is more pleasure in eating a well prepared quality steak(or any dish for that matter) than eating a frozen piece of beef that is cooked then slapped unceremoniously on a plate.
The wait staff can also make or break an establishment. If you have ever eaten in a restaurant that has a well trained staff you will recognize the difference. A lot of places the wait help stand around conversing among themselves. At times it appears that the customers are a minor irritant that need to be dealt with as little as possible. I recall the day when find dining meant Caesar salad and flaming desserts done tableside. Waiters crumbed the table after the entrée plate was removed. Those wait staffs were in tune with their diners.
Needless to say I'm not a big fan of the middle of the road restaurant chains. They have their place but their appeal is beyond their offerings. TEHO I guess. In SOMD, judging by the lines to get in, especially on weekends, they are proving me wrong.
All in all there are many decent establishment locally for dining choices. Gauging the responses in this thread there are many favorites.
MMM_donuts
New Member
Ok, I updated the original post.
I added a vote for Bollywood because I, too, love Bollywood. We have to make a night of going to Bollywood, though. It takes forever to get the food, which is totally fine as long as you know that ahead of time. We eat too much when we go. Like, sit-on-the-couch-for-the-rest-of-the-night-with-the-top-button-of-your-britches-unbuttoned too much.
Also, I wasn't sure if the Lenny's post was serious so I left it out. I went to Lenny's once so I'm pretty sure it was sarcasm.
And I wanted to tell you all that I read something recently that said Yelp is now a paid advertiser, meaning that a business can pay for a higher rating. I'll see if I can dig up an article for reference. I have an urban spoon app on my phone that I like. I also have an app called "TV food maps" that tells you which places have been featured on popular tv shows like on food network. We've found some fantastic places when traveling through unfamiliar areas by using that app.
I added a vote for Bollywood because I, too, love Bollywood. We have to make a night of going to Bollywood, though. It takes forever to get the food, which is totally fine as long as you know that ahead of time. We eat too much when we go. Like, sit-on-the-couch-for-the-rest-of-the-night-with-the-top-button-of-your-britches-unbuttoned too much.
Also, I wasn't sure if the Lenny's post was serious so I left it out. I went to Lenny's once so I'm pretty sure it was sarcasm.
And I wanted to tell you all that I read something recently that said Yelp is now a paid advertiser, meaning that a business can pay for a higher rating. I'll see if I can dig up an article for reference. I have an urban spoon app on my phone that I like. I also have an app called "TV food maps" that tells you which places have been featured on popular tv shows like on food network. We've found some fantastic places when traveling through unfamiliar areas by using that app.
MMM_donuts
New Member
Ok, here's the Yelp thing.
http://nypost.com/2014/09/06/anger-over-courts-decision-on-yelps-reviews/
http://nypost.com/2014/09/06/anger-over-courts-decision-on-yelps-reviews/
And isn't that too bad? I mean, we're not talking molecular gastronomy here - you can still pronounce everything on the menu and most likely recreate it at home. But people would rather have the mundane familiar than branch out a bit.
Because of Cafe Vrai and our meet & greets, I have tried a lot of "new" foods! You introduced me to quite a few different foods. (Sushi, Chicken Satay to name a couple)
I am not big fish eater, but I have tried different types of fish at the various establishments we've frequented at the Meet & Greets. When everyone gets different appetizers, we all get to try new things that way without committing to one meal. Foxhound and I took a "foodie" type of tour in St. Augustine over Labor Day weekend. (It was my suggestion, too) It was the first time I've ever done that type of thing - and there were a few food items that were completely new to me which I tried and would actually order again.
I like my old standbys, but I also do find myself more adventurous because of the company I've been keeping for the past 5 years or so and now when FH and I are going out of town, the first thing I do is find out what kind of "local/non-chain" eateries there are nearby.
Along with "The Roost"
Bollywood does nothing for me.
I haven't read all the posts, so I won't comment on Lenny's.
But I just read a story that California had to pass a law that protected "Yelpers" from being sued for bad reviews.
Apparently establishments were having clauses put on statments (i.e. your bill) that allowed them to sue you for a bad review.
Read this story http://news.msn.com/us/california-passes-law-to-protect-yelpers-right-to-post-bad-reviews
then Google "Yelpers sued"
I would say that you can't believe reviews done on the internet by random people - it depends on personal preference (unless they are a professional food critic) and can be a paid for advertisment.
As we have seen on this forum, one person's idea of fine dining is another's idea of mediocrity (or worse).
I have only ever been there for drinks with people traveling from out of town (or when I was traveling from out of town before I lived here). There was also a breast cancer fundraiser we went to a few months ago held there. My only thought about the place is that the drinks there are too expensive when you're not swiping a travel card or using an ATM withdrawal of per diem money.
There used to be an Italian restaurant on the northbound side of Route 301 in LaPlata. I believe it was just south of the Route 6 intersection. The building looked like it was an old chain steakhouse or something. Does anyone remember the name? I thought that compared to what normally passes for Italian food around here, it was pretty awesome.