Food Pics of the Week (FPOTW): Silver Diner

Silver Diner (***)

12276 Rockville Pike Rockville, MD 20852

 
 

Although there are several Silver Diners in the area, all of them are equally delicious. Well . . . the three that I have visited have been awesome. The diners are set up like those from the 50s and 60s, but without all of the Jim Crow discrimination. Ok, I know that I’ve said that a restaurant has to work hard to screw up breakfast, but Silver Diner definately has it going on. While the lines during the weekends can be really long, they move VERY fast.

The Lumberjack Breakfast

 
 

This is the meal to get when you are in hangry mode. For about $15, you get 3 silver dollar pancakes, TWO meats, eggs, and potatoes. Yes, I know that I should have stuck with the egg white omelette, but I wanted to go for broke in terms of my caloric intake for the day.

During another visit, I asked for my Chesapeake Bay Bloody Mary to be served without an Old Bay Seasoning rim. Y’all know how I feel about the latest Mid-Atlantic trend of putting Old Bay Seasoning on/in every-damn-thing. The waiter was like: So you just want a regular Bloody Mary? I thought to myself, if you are going to call something a Chesapeake Bay X, Y, or Z, then I would expect crab meat, NOT Old Bay Seasoning.

Food Pics of the Week (FPOTW): Taberna del Alabardero

Taberna del Alabardero (***)

1776 I St NW, Washington, DC 20006

 
Taberna del Alabardero's awning
 

Since the hubby wanted food from his homeland, we decided to hit up Taberna del Alabardero in DC for brunch last weekend.

Boy oh boy walking into this restaurant really takes you to an old school bar/restaurant (i.e., taberna) in Spain.

 
Taberna del Alabardero bar area
 

Like most of our brunch excursions, we decided do brunch with bottomless cocktails. In additional to the $35 brunch (one starter and one main) menu, the restaurant offers bottomless red/white sangria, mimosas, and Bloody Marys (for an additional $18). Unfortunately, you have to stick to only one type of bottomless beverage. This was kind of sad because I wanted to have one rebujito – a typical beverage of sherry or white wine plus 7Up or Sprite. Oh well, next time.

Overall, the restaurant was amazing from the service to the food. However, I will say that the husband’s Spanish dishes that he makes at home are a little better. We had a lovely spread of food that included: huevos rotos con txistorra (eggs over easy with txistorra sausage), ensaladilla de atún (tuna & potato salad), patatas bravas (potatoes with a spicy mayo sauce), and pulpo (grilled octopus).

 
Huevos rotos con txistorra (eggs over easy with txistorra sausage) and Ensaladilla de Atún (Tuna And Potato Salad) at Taberna del Alabardero at Taberna del Alabardero
 
 
 

HA! I just realized that all of our plates were very potato-rich. I guess we can visit again when I need to carb-load before a half or full marathon.

The restaurant even gave the hubby a little treat for his b-day.

 
 

Random thought/question: Since this was a Spanish restaurant and the hubby has a Spanish name, I’m surprised they didn’t put Feliz Cumpleaños instead of Happy Birthday.

Since we were down to keep the party going, we decided to grab couple of scooters and hit up JR’s (on of our favorite LGBT post-Brunch bars).

 
Kwame and Pablo in DC
 

Fortunately for us, we arrived right before the deluge of rain, which took out a few trees in the area.

 
 

FOOD PICS OF THE WEEK - Bay Local Eatery

Bay Local Eatery (***)

72 Laskin Rd Virginia Beach, VA 23451

What an amazing brunch joint. This spot definitely is on the top of my list for weekend brunch excursions. The only issue: the place is super popular so wait times can be a bit long, and the place does not take reservations. Fortunately for us, we had to wait about 30 minutes for a table. You know how I am . . . I don't believe in waiting more than 45 minutes for a table. Actually, that was my rule for NYC dining. Perhaps, I might have to update this for my suburban life in Virginia.

Great Advice, Bay Local Eatery.

As some might know by now, I love Eggs Benedict, and I love oysters. . . so of course, my brunch dish was a combination of the two. Overall my dish was pretty delicious. Although the prep crew could have worked on the plating just a little bit. ;)

A slight rant:

Before I begin, this rant more or less is about dining in the mid-Atlantic region (specifically SE Virginia) and not about Bay Local Eatery.

Ok, I get that particular regions, states, and/or cities want their claim to fame in terms of cuisines. For example, N. Carolina and Texas, BBQ; NYC and Chicago, hotdogs and pizza; Southern California, fish tacos, etc. This region is known for crabs (and other shellfish delights) from the Chesapeake Bay, which is fine. BUT, here is what bugs me. Why do restaurants in the area have to put Old Bay Seasoning on EVERY GODDAMN THING?

Even in the picture of my food, you can see some Old Bay Seasoning on the lemon wedge. During brunch, my aunt and I were discussing this. I had to ask her to refresh my memory on whether this was a thing back in the day because I only remember having Old Bay Seasoning whenever we had steamed crabs. I never recalled seeing beverages with Old Bay Seasoning rims. Now, we have Bloody Marys, mimosas, margaritas, mojitos, and plain old glasses of water accompanied by Old Bay Seasoning.

YOU DON'T HAVE TO PUT OLD BAY SEASONING ON EVERYTHING because it really doesn't elevate the taste of eggs . . . or water.

Ok, rant over

FOOD PICS OF THE WEEK - Sugar Freak

Sugar Freak (Yelp Link: ***)

37-11 30th Ave Astoria, NY 11103



Boy oh boy. I cannot remember the last time when I’ve brunched in Astoria. So a couple of friends and I hit up this New Orleans-style restaurant. Random: I keep wanting to call it Superfreak because of Ricky James’s song. Walking into this restaurant, was a trip back in time into the deep South. Fortunately, the Klan and/or lynch mobs were not present in the restaurant.

 

LOL, at the old school toilet where you had to flush it with an overhead chain.

 

For my dining pleasure, I went with the Oysters Rockefeller Eggs Benedict and a side of grits

 
 

Food Pic of the Week

Red Rooster (***)

310 Lenox Avenue, NY, NY 10027

Another weekend, another brunch. Believe it or not, we did NOT have bottomless brunch this time around. A good choice because this place does not have bottomless brunch.

Anytime someone visits Harlem, they always want to have a meal at Red Rooster Harlem, but I honestly do not get all of the hype surrounding this place . . . Lemme show the food pic before I get into hater mode.

Cornbread & Gravy with Chorizo, Fried Egg

 
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I gotta say that this dish really did hit the spot. Honestly, I never would have considered eating cornbread and gravy for my brunch. BUT, the restaurant's brunch menu was uuummmmmmm a bit lacking.

 
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Wait a minute! Y'all have only three things on the brunch menu? FYI: There were more cocktails than the ones in the screenshot. I get that this is a fancy restaurant so one should not expect a menu with 20 different brunch and lunch items, but may we get a few more fun brunch items? I mean the owner, Marcus Samuelsson, did win the second season of Top Chef, and I'm sure that contestants from the show have to do some sort of innovative dish challenge.

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Food Pic of the Week

Jackson’s Eatery (***) 

 10-37 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City, NY 11101

Bringing in the fall season with a bang.

I took an ‘adventure’ to Long Island City to visit an old friend, catch up, and get my grub on for Labor Day weekend. I will say that I was pleasantly surprised that the 7 train was running quite efficiently during the weekend. Sometimes the 7 train is hit or miss with more misses than hits. Coming here was not really planned. We pretty much ended here because the restaurant had open tables in the shade and it was like half a block from the Jackson Vernon subway stop.

OMG! I want to come back to this restaurant at least eight more times so I can try more of their brunch items . . . and cocktails. What’s brunch without a few adult cocktails? Seriously, I was experiencing FOMO looking at the food at other folks’ tables.

In addition to the amazing food, the service was also top-notch.

Can’t wait to go back.