Taste Wheaton This Sunday

In college, when we used to play cards or games or whatever and someone needed to take a quick break, that person would say “in but out” which loosely translated meant “I am coming right back so DO NOT TAKE MY SEAT” and it was surprisingly effective.  Everyone always respected the in but out.

Vis a vis the blog, I remain indefinitely in but out, for now.

However!  I would be even more remiss than usual were I not to note that this Sunday is the Taste of Wheaton 2012 — it would be odd and kind of gross if it were some previous year’s Taste of Wheaton — and I will attend as usual, at least briefly, even though most of the participating restaurants are the same as they always are.  Limerick Pub is a new addition, so that’s something.  Los Cobanos, Hollywood East, Saigonese, Moby Dick, and Marchone’s never get old, so all in all it’s still well worth a visit.  I cannot recommend eating anything resembling pizza while in Wheaton, even if you really like pizza.  Especially if you really like pizza. You have been warned.

Don’t forget your stack of dollar bills!

Can Foodies Be Feral?

Long, detailed post on Wheaton real estate/redevelopment with a focus on food at Urban Turf today (thanks to Mrs. Me’s network of spies for the tip).  Lots of good info and quotes.  My only quarrel is with the headline, which calls Wheaton a “foodie magnet” — to me, the term “foodie” connotes someone who obsesses with trends and haute cuisine and, like the famous definition of a cynic, knows the price of everything but the value of nothing.  I don’t think Wheaton’s many ethnic dives, awesome though some of them are, are attracting what I would call “foodies” – rather they are attracting people from around the region who appreciate great, diverse food at good price-to-value ratios.  Maybe a foodie shows up in Wheaton by accident sometimes, hopefully to be cured of his or her affliction through the magic of kaprow.

Kaprow!

Charboneau! Schlabotnik! Chill!

I have a serious case of blogging burnout.  Not giving up, but posting may be light for a while.

As a wine appreciator and a long-suffering Mariners fan, this USS Mariner post made me laugh, especially since I vividly remember the heady 1980s days of Joe Charboneau hype.  Remember when Topps made special edition cards that were disseminated with Squirt, a Mountain Dew competitor?  (Probably you do not! But it did happen) Despite my mom surely not purchasing a Squirt six-pack, I somehow acquired the Topps/Squirt version of Joe Charboneau.  Why do I remember?  Hype!  I guess.  He may as well have been Joe Schlabotnik.

While I’m here, ‘splaining things, this article made me feel better about my iced coffee habit.  I’ve always suspected I was totally getting fleeced by Starbucks (although more often I make my own at home, using imported Peet’s), but evidently the profit margin on iced coffee is tougher than I realized.

Also, when I typed “‘splaining things” above, autocorrect wanted me to change it to “spraining things” which is probably not untrue, but still irritating.  I hate autocorrect.  Get off my lawn, autocorrect!

I Know, I Know

Suffering from lack of time and energy for posting lately.  Still plan to finish Texas, and then it’s back to Wheaton.  Yeah, Wheaton!  Gorged on Kenny’s the other night…and for several lunches thanks to huge portions = mucho leftovers.

In the meantime, the Post will do my job for me with a Wheaton feature (real-estate-centric).

Less Texas, More MoCo

Also known as stuff that, if you care about it, you probably already know about it, but I’m not gonna let that stop me:

• Wheaton’s Royal Mile Pub reopens on Friday, according to official Royal Mile blogger Wheaton Calling (heehee).  Release the haggis!  More from the Gazette.
• Silver Spring, Singular rounds up recent restaurant developments in his neck of the woods; Just Up The Pike has more detail on the re-opened, not-new-but-improved (?) Piratz Tavern, no thanks to the SpikeTV makeover show says a PT employee named Poppet.
• Stage Burger Lounge is also now open in SS, owned by the Pacci’s/Mrs. K’s dude.  Some background at ThayerAvenue.  Yay more burgers — but SBL is yet another that won’t cook its beef less than medium.  Mixed reviews so far on the usual internet suspects, but it’s early.  I respect the audacious location right next to burger nirvana (so I hear — still haven’t gotten there) Ray’s the Classics.
• I appreciated Joe Posnanski’s discussion of the (yes, “the”) Olive Garden review.  The Gazette’s Bernice August is (at least in my mind) our local equivalent of 85-year-old Grand Forks reviewer Marilyn Hagerty.  Maybe Bernice is a bit more sprightly, I dunno.  At first, as I read Joe’s piece, I felt increasingly bad about raking a couple of Gazette reviews through the coals recently, but then I realized that Marilyn Hagerty is not only astoundingly earnest, but her writing is also comparatively well-organized and grammatically correct — so props to Marilyn, and I don’t feel (too) bad after all.

It’s all enough to drive Hungry Like the Bear to drink — not that he needed the extra encouragement of course!

BB’s Cafe (Houston)

The self-described “Home of Tex-Orleans Cooking” is about 98% Cajun; the “Tex” comes mostly from its three locations around Houston. BB’s Cafe – named for founder Brooks Bassler — is best known for its unusual variety of po’boy sandwiches, and also for their “Tex-Cajun Virgin” appetizer. It is unclear who, exactly, is the “virgin” (or the “cajun”) because really this is just poutine but with queso instead of curds (hence the “Tex”) plus shards of roast beef thrown in with the rich brown gravy and fries.  I think they call it “virgin” just to get attention, but it doesn’t really matter what you call a mountain of gravy-and-cheese-smothered fries, if you use decent ingredients, it is kind of hard to screw it up.  BB’s doesn’t screw it up, and it all disappeared quickly, straight to our arteries.

The drinks sure aren’t “virgin” — they pack a punch, especially the Hurricane, which was a little too close to a Rum Bubba for my comfort, so I went with a well-assembled sazerac instead.  Etoufee and gumbo also pack a (spice) punch, but our group wasn’t wowed by the quality of those dishes overall.  I enjoyed my Surf & Turf po’boy, with a re-run of roast beef and gravy plus  a scatter of fried shrimp, all delicious except the bread was much too chewy for my not-razor-sharp teeth. You can get fries (regular or Tex-Cajun, whatever that means — spice-dusted I suppose) with most entrees, but since you’re already digesting a pound of “virgin” fries, the tasty fried pickles (and lots of them) are a winning alternative.

Service was great — our group was raucous and demanding and the entire staff handled us with humor and aplomb.  Food overall was decent, drinks were excellent, and the place was packed, so clearly the locals dig it.  Not a bad break from Tex-Mex and barbecue…

The Flying Saucer (Austin and beyond but not DC)

Hard not to like a pub whose URL is http://www.beerknurd.com, isn’t it?  We hit the Austin location of the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium — there aren’t any in greater DC, closest is Raleigh NC.  They always have a great selection of microbrews, with a focus on local and regional but extending nationally and internationally.  We tried several Texas-brewed IPAs on this visit, all good, including from Austin’s own 512 Brewing and Austin Beerworks Fire Eagle.  Food is mostly average, but the big salty pretzels are a good match for the beer, and you could do worse than two large slices of mediocre pizza for $4.99.  Beer specials vary throughout the week — we were there on Texas night, so our IPAs cost $3 apiece, a total steal.  Service is excellent; servers do not fly, nor do they wear saucers; they do wear little kilts, but the outfits are more punk and less trashy than at the Tilted Kilt.  The walls do wear saucers, lots and lots of saucers; the decor is kind of hard to describe.  A fine place to indulge in some delicious beverages, when one finds oneself in a town that has a Flying Saucer franchise.