Queen Vic Rocks The Gnocchi And Squash Dinner
I live just off H Street in DC. The area has seen a major increase in restaurants over the last few years. My stomach has benefitted from these equally as much as my wallet as suffered. One of these newly opened places is the Queen Vic. An excellent gastropub offering high quality food and a nice selection of brews. One of those meals I enjoyed very recently, two nights ago, is the gnocchi with squash.
I ordered this because a few weeks earlier my fellow diner, and hopefully future blogger here, Jon, ordered a special at the Vic that was made with the Gnocchi. I tried it, it was delicious, so I was determined to have an entire plate of it on my next visit.
The special that Jon had included cheese and I believe lamb. The regular version just has squash as a major ingredient. Both the gnocchi and the squash were cooked perfectly. There was also a fantastic amount of garlic in the dish, I happen to love garlic, and it complimented the dish very well.
I’ve never been a big fan of squash but after my wife recently introduced spaghetti squash to our menu lineup and the Vic served that delicious dinner, I’m becoming a convert.
I’ve been to the vic many times and have had many dishes there. I plan on going back and posting about each one, as well as from other places around the city. As a quick plug, if you’re the type that likes them, the Vic also makes a fantastic chicken livers dish. I ordered it twice once. Give it a try.
Happy Eating!
Taylor’s Gourmet – Great Food – Terrible WebSite
I sit here eating a Walnut street thinking how much I love Taylor’s food and hate their website. I spent a good few minutes getting frustrated with their flash website trying to order. It’s quite annoying. Why do you ask? Well, we’ll get into that later. First off, this is a food site, and we have to talk about their food, first.
I happen to really like Taylors. When they opened, we were there, living only 2 blocks away, on the day they opened. I have heard how some feel their bread is a bit chewy, but not I. Well, it is chewy, but in a good way. I love this Sarcone and his bread. It’s both soft and hard all rolled into one and is the hallmark of Taylors. You really can’t get a better sub bread in the city.
Favorite sandwich? Have to say so far it’s the Callowhill, a Meatball Parmesan cheese sub. But, honestly, how can you go wrong with meatballs and cheese on bread? It’s like a dream. The meatballs are nice and fat and the cheese matches with it nicely.
The one thing that stands out for me with Taylors, when I compare them to other Italian sub places that come to mind, such as A Litteri’s and, of course, The Italian Store, is what goes into their subs. First of all, when you get a sub at the Italian store, it’s LOADED. A capri on a hard roll hits the spot with layers of meats, cheese, sweet peppers, onions, its a dream. The sweet peppers are to die for and you really need to dedicate some time to eat one of their sandwiches. With Taylors, you generally get two or three items of high quality and taste. A walnut street, for instance, is a roasted red peppers and grilled chicken, both of which you can really taste and it tastes good. As complex as the subs at the Italian store are, Taylors are that simple.
That said, I do have to say that the bread at Taylors beats the Italian store, for me, every time. There’s just something about how it’s made that makes it both chewy and not soggy and very good. The hard roll at The Italian store is ok, just not as good as what you get at Taylors.
As for A Litteri’s, which really deserves it’s own post and will get one soon, its really more of a market that makes subs than a sub shop that has a small market. The sandwiches are good, but they don’t have any sweet peppers, last time I was there, and you should bring a PSP with you when you go. The wait times are really nuts. I haven’t been in a while and they may be less now that there are more options around the area but when the wait times are bad, they are really bad.
The ingredients at Taylors also make them standout a bit. They are always fresh and I haven’t been disappointed yet with what i’ve gotten. I’ve heard from a few unnamed sources how the subs aren’t as stuffed as you could ask for, which brings us back to the simplistic method, and its true they aren’t as stuffed as something you’d get at the Italian store, but the quality makes up for that for me. Though, if I had to make a choice between Taylors and the Italian store, as if both were next door to each other, I’d have to go with Italian store. No Taylors. No Italian store. Christ, makes me feel like the Fraggle Wembley choosing a Doozer Stick from the legendary Tooth Tower vs a slice of Mossmelon. How can you pick?!?!
I do highly recommend Taylors and its a great local place to get a good sub. For inside of DC Taylors is by far the best place to get a sub, yes even better than A Litteri’s when you add up all the points, including wait time.
Now, about their website. Fuck me, it sucks. I have been doing web development for a very long time. It just sucks. When I go to a retail or restaurants website, I don’t want to see flashy nifty cool effects that take time to load and give me a headache. I want to see a fucking menu on one page without having to scroll in some weird counter-intuitive manner. I want to find a phone number quickly, ya know, so I can order something and give you money, as fast as possible. I want to be able to create an account and order by your website, ya know, so you can make even more money and don’t have to man the phones all the time. Save the flashy bullshit for an artsy website where the main goal is to be artsy and not functional. Taylor’s has a hip new style and they wanted to incorporate that in their website, got it. But you can do that and still be functional. Your goal isn’t to be hip on your website or in your store, its to sell subs. The hipster shit has to bow to the selling of your merchandise.
Simple recipe here. Get a simple website, allow regulars to sign up and place orders, get the orders to your location so they are ready to go. For the money you spent on this flashy POC (That’s piece of crap) you could have gotten an iPhone app. Which would you have preferred? Do I even have to ask?
In closing. Taylors, great subs, lousy website. But who cares, I’m fat, I go there to eat, not be hip.
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Star and Shamrock – Irish and Jewish Tavern
Ah, Guinness. One of my favorite all time beverages. Both a meal and a drink in one lovely pint glass. And now I have a place on H street where I live that I get to enjoy one. Granted, Star and Shamrock has been open for some time now, and as usual i’m late to the party in writing a review of it, but better late than never.
This great little tavern opened up this summer on H and I’ve been there many times since it did. The inside is nice, really nice. It’s a big open space, unlike other places on H it’s not just a thin row house style, and the bar wraps around in the middle.
They have a good selection of beers on tap, including of course Guinness. The staff is very cool and friendly and this is quickly becoming one of my favorite drinking spots on H. How about the food you ask? Well this is a food blog, so read on.
The food is, in a word, good. They have a solid selection of sandwich, Reubens, Chicken Livers, Hot Pastrami and roasted turkey. They also have a pickle as an add on, nice! I normally get the Turkey #2 with a side of fries or onion rings. One thing, if you order either one expect to get a ton of them. They don’t come with the sandwich on the menu but you get so much of them they could be a meal in and of themselves. My wife loves the Reuben with Turkey, called a Rachel (would be cool if they added it to the menu) and often sends me over to pick one up.
Another nice thing they are very kid friendly and have a kids menu. They can also give you some crayons and paper for the little ones to doodle on while you wait for dinner. Perhaps the best thing about them they are open for lunch during the week. I can’t tell you how nice it is to have a lunch time spot on H street when you are working in the area. Its heaven.
Not everything is rosy colored. Don’t expect to eat very healthy here. Like I said, though they are quite good, the fries and onion rings come in a big basket. Best to share them with a friend if you can. The sandwichs are good but again, don’t expect to stay on your diet. The Turkey 2 is loaded with mayo, bacon, muenster cheese on sourdough bread. Not exactly health club turkey. Delicious but makes my waist line increase every time. They even have a sandwich called The Clogger. Again, good, but damn I can feel my arteries hardening.
The appetizers are not much better. Everything is fried, except the pickle, and though it tastes good it’s not something to eat regularly. Would be awesome if the added some kind of smoked salmon bagel or even salmon wrapped in cream cheese. Yum!
Bottom line this is a great addition to H street. The interior is fantastic and the food is really good. I would love to see just a few healthier choices. How about a salad of some kind? Smoked salmon anything? Not like i’m not going to go just not as frequently as I would like.
Star and Shamrock is located at 1341 H street NE. http://starandshamrock.com/
09.23.10 by AllenGranville Moore’s new fall menu – H Street at its best
Yes, I know, its been another month and no posts. The truth? I’m generally a lazy person and don’t upload pictures very frequently. The end result is no posts. For some reason I have this feeling that blog posts about food should have pics of the food. Well, I’m tired of not posting here so some posts will have pics and some will not. Sorry to all the image folks. And no, this is not going to be about San Francisco either, though I do want to post a general post about that city. Great food, great times, love California.
That said, on to Granville’s. Let me say that I live about 3 blocks from Granville’s. I ate there the first week it was open, we’re talking pre-Teddy Folkman days, and that pub is the reason why I’m still living in DC. I have never been disappointed with the food, beer, atmosphere or service. Granville’s is by far the best pub, measured by quality, consistency and atmosphere, in DC. Keep in mind, I’m not comparing it to BLT, the steak house, as that’s a different experience. But for your local pub to grab some food, some beer, and relax, nothing beats it.
My wife and I decided to stop by tonight to grab a quick night out. A quick three block walk and we’re fortunate enough to grab a table and find a new fall menu. What does yours truly order? Shocker, buffalo burger. Only been on the menu since the place opened but what I can do, it’s delicious. Frites, of course, were great as well.
My wife was more adventurous. She got the Vegetariènne sandwich and tomato soup, which I tried. Result? Goddamn can that place cook some food. The soup was delicious and so was the sandwich. Though I don’t regret the burger, it was equally good, my wife was well pleased with her choice as well.
I’ve eaten here many times before, had all the Moules, bison burger, bison hot dog, bison steak and cheese, and all of it is fantastic. If you are looking for a place to go and haven’t been there, give it a try. I recommend getting there early as it does fill up fast, even with all the other restaurants opening up on H street. And check out their new blog, they just posted the fall menu.
http://www.granvillemoores.com/blogs/