Mark's Duck House (Falls Church)

Mark's Duck House in Falls Church gets a 24 from Zagats. I've been interested in trying more Chinese restaurants in Virginia as my favorite ones are all located in Rockville, MD which is just slightly less convenient than Virginia.

Lucky for me, Mr. BW's a big fan of making me happy and so we went to Mark's Duck House on Friday night.

We started with the obligatory order of pan fried dumplings.

Photo quality is bad, but as you can see, it's appearance suggests that it's not pan fried, but deep fried. Although Mr. BW enjoyed it, I was not a fan and would not recommend these.

In contrast to the dumplings, the bbq pork is delicious. According to Mr. BW - the best he's had! That's pretty high praise, seeing as how he's had it from Sam Woo's in Monterey Park!
The whole peking duck that we ordered was heavenly. The skin was perfectly crisped and the ample portion made for some pretty happy chinese duck taco making.
Here's a view of the beef fried noodles and the stir-fry green beans. Both highly recommended.
Finally, we ordered a whole tilapia:
Delicious flavoring, but a bit too much by way of small bones for my liking.

All in all, a hearty delicious meal. I would highly recommend Mark's Duck House to anyone searching for authentic chinese food.

Crystal Thai Restaurant (Arlington)

Last week, Mr. BW and I made an impromptu decision to stop in at Crystal Thai while we were out in Virginia, running errands.

Mr. BW's boss has heartily recommended Crystal Thai and it gets good zagat ratings (24 for food).

Mr. BW started with a Long Island. It was very festive.

My fresh spring rolls were very different. First, there was no shrimp, just thin chicken. Second, the rolls use mint, instead of the more traditional cilantro. Also, as you can see, they're fatter than the usual "fresh spring roll" that you get at Thai/Vietnamese restaurants. Interesting to see something different, but I prefer the mainstay.
Mr. BW ordered the num tok appetizer - grilled flank steak with lime juice, chili, red onion, cucumber, and mint leaves. Very tasty and in many ways much much better than a similar dish that we order frequently from our favorite thai restaurant - Thai Noy.

For his meal, Mr. BW ordered a special that they had going that night. Pork chops! As you can see, the portion was huge. The taste was very different, reminscent of a lot of hawaiian flavored food that I've sampled in the past.
I ordered the chicken curry as I was interested in something simple that could really help me evaluate the flavors of the restaurant. The chicken chunks were too big, as were the potato (potato?) chunks. The flavor of the curry was excellent, but because the chunks were so large, much of the chicken was tasteless (and getting close to dry) by the time you start eating the individual bits and pieces.
Overall the food was good, but Thai Noy is still probably better.

No Fun

I had great and wonderful plans to go to Tosca today for lunch. Better yet, I was taking an interviewee out, so lunch was going to be free!

Unfortunately, I was stuck on a conference call and couldn't shake free. I hate missing new dining adventures!

Teaism

Today, I met up with a friend of a friend at Teaism downtown.

I ordered the chicken bento box and she had the salmon bento box. The food was causal, cheap, and good for what it was. If Teaism wasn't 0.9 walking miles away from my office, I'd definitely go more often!

Hank's Oyster Bar

Tonight, Mr. BW and I met up with some friends at Hank's Oyster Bar.

Mr. BW started with the sardines and ordered the Lobster Roll for dinner. I started with the scallops and had the fish tacos for dinner. Our friends both ordered the Monday/Tuesday special: molasses braised short ribs.

Service was great and the food was lovely. The final bill seemed a bit high, but I suppose $171 for four appetizers, four entrees, one beer, and a bottle of wine is perfectly reasonable.

Also, since the restaurant does not serve dessert, your check comes with a little dish of coarsely chopped dark chocolate - yum!

TenPenh

Last week, I went to TenPenh for lunch with a co-worker. Since this was my first time dining with said co-worker, I didn't want to turn him off from future dining adventures by busting out my camera.

We are currently enjoying some lovely weather here in the good old District of Columbia. And so, we elected to be seated outside. We started with an order of the filipino lumpia style pork and shrimp spring rolls ($11) which were delicious. There were four in our order and the trio of sauces were delicious. Highly recommended.

My co-worker went with the braised Korean short-rib that was on special that day and I opted for the Chow Foon Noodles ($14). The food was good enough, but not fantastic. While I enjoyed our spring rolls immensely and while there are numerous other appetizer options on the menu that I find intriguing, I can't say I'd go back again, unless someone else was picking up the tab. Luckily for me, it's close to work and opportunities for comp'd lunches spring up occasionally. Next time, however, I'll be sure to order 2-3 different appetizers and skip the entrees altogether.

radio silence

I haven't been posting these past few weeks for a number of reasons:
1) week long vacation in a far away land;
2) lack of new dining experiences for quite some time; and
3) intermittently too busy at work or too much free time and busy worrying about the ever increasing number of "apocalypse now" news headlines

But, Mr. BW and I went to Crystal Thai in Falls Church last night and I have a few new dining adventures for you coming up (although some may not be accompanied by photos).

End Commercial

Mr. BW and I just returned from a week long vacation out west -- Yellowstone and Grand Tetons National Park to be exact. I was very much looking forward to a few hectic and busy work weeks to come, but based on events beyond my control (no, as far as I can tell, I haven't been fired) I'm finding myself with a lot of time of my hands. And so, I'm waiting for the appliance guy to show up to fix our dishwasher that has been broken for four months before heading off to work and twiddling my thumbs for a few hours. Shaping up to be a relaxing "welcome back" week.