Silver Spring - shut out again

Well, the James Beard Foundation award semi-finalists were announced, and lo and behold, SS was shut down. Maryland really didn't even get much love except for Charleston in Baltimore. DC did get some love as did a few places in NoVa - but not us.

I'm not surprised, but was hopeful that maybe Pedro at 8407 would have been a semi-finalist for rising star chef of the year or maybe in the mid-Atlantic category, but it was not meant to be. I did not think the burly Greek guys serving up falafel and gyros up on the Avenue would make the cut or even the little old Thai ladies at Thai Derm. But maybe next year.

In other local news, I'm sure everyone has already heard that Langano is on its way out and Fez Bistro, otherwise known as Taste of Morocco, is moving over from City Place to takes its place. Never did try ToM, but I do have to say I'm interested to see what Fez Bistro will have of offer. Their menu from their Arlington location looks intriguing, but certainly doesn't bowl me over. A lot of offerings for groups. But I do plan to eat there more than I did at Langano - which was never. I only went in once when I mistakenly went there to pick up my take out from Bombay Gaylord. Didn't take me long to figure out I was one block off.

And with Cake Love moving from its current location to 8512 Fenton, taking over for the Fractured Prune, we'll have another sweet from which to choose via FroZen Yo. Not sure exactly when we'll be getting the self-serve yogurt, but Cake Love is planning to throw open its Fenton St doors in early March.

Finally, in the bottom of the Crescent condo bldg on Wayne, we have a new Asian restaurant for the hood. It is called Skew Works. According to the web site TBD.com, the owner of the restaurant says they'll serve, "rice, noodles, and of course there's a big skewer out there, so there's going to be lots of skewers. Different types of meat, chicken, fruits, vegetables. It's going to be fun." OK, I'm kinda interested in skewers; let's see what they have to offer. Could be opening soon.

No power, well then it's time to eat out--Jackie's

I was already starting make dinner last Wednesday when the heavy snow falling altered my plans. I actually kept at it with candlelight since we have a gas oven and stove top, but it got to be too much. I covered the prep work I had completed, threw it in the fridge for another night and we headed out into the 'hood to see what we could find.

I first called Olazzo, no answer and also tried 8407 before we left the house. Again, no answer. While disappointed, I appreciated the break the restaurant gave to their staff. I'm sure driving home after a very slow night would have been a mess (not even mentioning getting to work).

We headed up Bonifant and saw our old stand-by Thai Derm had its lights out and the same for Mandalay. While we were about to turn around and settle for Baja Fresh, we passed some of our neighbors who just finished a meal at Jackie's. They said the restaurant was planning to serve for another hour and than they were doing a deal, $25 for an entree and either salad or starter. OK, that made up our minds (thanks Lane and Steph).

We trudged over in the snow and the restaurant had a small, but lively crowd. We were informed of the special and also saw that several bottles of wine on their list were going for half price. OK, this is nice. While we would end up spending a lot more than say Baja Fresh, this would be all right since we'd get a very nice meal, wine and fodder for a new blog post. We had visited Jackie's right after their new chef took over and I wanted another visit before I did my 'review.'

We scanned the wine list and the waiter recommended a nice pinot noir that was going for 50% off. It was a 2008 pinot from Oregon called A to Z. The waiter claimed it had good structure. Can't really say exactly what that means, but it did have a nice bouquet and we liked it a lot. We wouldn't have ordered it at full price, but certainly glad we did at half price.

We then made our choices for the $25 special. My wife started with some lightly fried cauliflower with a romesco sauce and I tried the charred octopus.

Before the apps arrived a basked of bread was brought to the table. While the butter was tasty and easily spreadable (hate it when the butter is essentially a frozen block), the bread was completely lackluster. No real body, no real flavor, easily forgotten. But our starters came soon thereafter. They were both good, but not great. The cauliflower itself was nicely done; it was a very light breading and fry on each of the florets, but the romesco lacked any real punch. I expect romesco sauce to be much bolder than what was served here.

And my charred octopus was actually undercooked. I have cooked squid and octopus enough that I know it takes some skill to do it properly. But I assumed Jackie's would get it right. But not in my book. It was too chewy. I love seared/charred octopus, but this one didn't make the cut. The fingerling potatoes that came with it were nice and the foamy sauce was really good, but as Ming Tsai would say, the 'hero' of the dish was disappointing.

Next up came our entrees. And at least I am happy to say, the meal started slowly, but ended on a high note. My wife ordered the mustard-crusted lamb shank (rather Flintstonian in size) and I tried the Meyer's strip loin.

While at least in my opinion the lamb was quite good, it was not as tasty as the strip loin. This was a pretty thick cut, prepared nicely at medium rare and was really tasty. We ended up sharing our dishes and both were pleased with each. The lamb was served with bok-choi, red potatoes in a rosemary sauce and my loin was accompanied with broccoli and a potato prepared 2 ways, twice baked and then old-school style with bacon bits, sour cream and chives. Reminded me of a prime rib joint where I worked in college. I liked both preparations.

So I am not sure I would go as far as Tom Sietsema has and award Jackie's 2 stars. I think our meal this trip and our previous one was too uneven for that. While the previous one was several months back and frankly I can't remember much about it, what I do remember is our apps and entrees not being served hot. They were all brought out not lukewarm, but not as hot as they should have been. Again, we expect more from a place like Jackie's.

But hey, I am not a real restaurant critic; I'm just a guy with a blog. So maybe you should be the judge. Either way, if you haven't been, or haven't been in a while, you should probably check out them out for yourself.