An opening and closing

Although not in SoCo, you probably already heard that the General Store and Post Office closed its doors this week.

Management said, "the landlord has not paid his back taxes and the county is taking back the building." However, a commenter on SS Singular alerted us to the landlord's version of the story.

The Washington Post spoke to the landlord, Spiro Gioldasis, who is also the GM at Mrs. K's Tollhouse and runs Pacci's Pizzeria in our neighborhood. Spiro admits he is behind on his taxes, but only because Gillian Clark and Robin Smith, the proprietors of the General Store were woefully behind on their rent.

Clark claims Spiro is a bully and uses the courts to get his way. It looks like here he is getting his way. A judge this week found Clark and Smith are on the hook for $160k. They'll have to sell a lot of meals to pull that money together.

Clark and Smith are not immune to disputes and bad press that's for sure. And while never dealing with Spiro in a formal manner, he does seem a decent guy who's simply trying to collect the rent he is owed.

For the opening, we're getting a new addition to Fenton Village. A place called the Fenton Cafe is on the way. It will be located at 8311 Fenton on the east side of the street between Thayer and Easley (right next to Alliance Comics).

Looks like it will be quite a modest place (maybe competition for Fresh Start). Peering through the window, it appears as though they'll have just a few small tables and a counter to order coffee, espresso, sandwiches and maybe other small items. I wouldn't be surprised to see them opening very soon.

I wish them the best and am glad to see a new cafe in the 'hood as opposed to another braiding shop.

Societal Fezzing

Doesn't make sense, I know. I was just trying to capture the essence of the 2 restaurants coming to the 'hood.

But don't get too excited; it doesn't appear either will be opening tonight or tomorrow. By the looks of it, I'm guessing Fez Bistro should get their act in gear sooner than Society.

I walked by both today to get a look-see of what was going on. First, the doors were propped open at Society (taking over the old Nicaro and Newcaro spot) and several work men were inside, as you might expect, working! My excellent investigative effort shows a restaurant going through some serious renovations. There were workers both on the bar and restaurant side.

But from the looks of the menu at Island Flavors, the existing restaurant of the entrepreneur opening Society, I have to say I am not terribly excited about it. To someone like me who is not that familiar with Caribbean food, it looks quite similar to the Negril menu. I assume this place will be a couple steps up from Negril, I mean it is a nice space. I guess we'll just have to wait and see if they serve more than curries, roti, plantains, etc.

Across Thayer at Fez (taking over most of what was Langano - although Langano Express is housed right next door - side note, there will be some interesting aromas here), I saw no work going on; but from glancing inside it looked quite closer to being ready for prime time. The place needs much less work than Society and some furniture is already in place. I could see it potentially being open in the next couple weeks.

I guess in the end, I'm a little more excited for Fez. Perusing the menu from their NoVa outpost, they do offer some interesting sounding Moroccan dishes -- various types of cous cous, shawarma, kabobs, seafood, and veggie dishes.

And I still need to get over to Skew Works too (the new Asian fusion fast casual restaurant at the bottom of the Crescent building). And do me a favor, check out their web site - not really sure what to make of it. Anyway, they opened I believe the 1st week of March, but I haven't tried it yet. I want to do a comparison/contrast between Skewers and Thai Market. I'm betting TM is more down-market than Skewers, but at the end of the day, it's essentially pan-Asian fare.

So far on Yelp, SW has a 3, 4 and 5-star rating. Pretty mixed bag so far. But as always, I will be the ultimate judge!

Dining Under the Table

I know many of you have heard about our local underground dining scene via Thayer Ave.com. And I was going to stay out of the fray since I have a hand in the venture (actually two hands), but now I'll come clean.

Our supper club, called Dining Under the Table, is run by a small group of cooking (and eating) enthusiasts. The meals are held about once a month or so in downtown Silver Spring, with a focus on local fare and a heavy Mediterranean influence. And all the meat, whether beef, fish, fowl, pork, etc., that is served during the meal are sustainable and have been raised in a humane fashion.

I figured I'd come forward with this right now since we just launched the web site and have actually started taking reservations. We had our first hit last week.

While we can seat six comfortably, and I guess up to eight, our first reservation was only for two people. So we're looking to see if others are interested. The meal will be Sunday evening March 27. The menu has yet to be set so I can't mention anything about that at the moment.

But you can peruse the web site to check out some of the previous items we have served and the suggested donation for dining with us. But you can expect at least a four-course meal with definitely some home-made items included on the menu.

We'd be happy to answer any questions folks might have. OK, I guess that's it for now. Thanks.

Fat Tuesday

For those interested, just wanted to pass along news that Jackie's is featuring a special Fat Tuesday menu tomorrow with special drinks and dishes. So if you want to take advantage and celebrate before the Lenten season begins, here's your chance.

And wear a Mardi Gras mask and get a free drink. That's not an official Jackie's offer, but if you do it, just go in and demand it. Tell them SoCo says you deserve it.


Starters

Wedge salad with bleu cheese dressing
Louisiana oysters with classic mignonette
Chickpea crusted crab fritters and thousand island remoulade
Frog's legs Rockefeller with bacon & spinach


FAT Entrees

Vegetarian jambalaya with saffron
Fried catfish, lemon aioli and old bay chips
Shrimp and grits with green onions
Chicken ‘n’ crawfish gumbo with okra over rice
Pork and red beans
Creole sausage, marinated peppers and dirty rice
Steak and béarnaise with roasted potatoes and vegetables


Sweets

King cake

Cocktails

Sazerac-rittenhouse rye bottled in bond, mata hari absinthe, peychaud's & angostura bitters, sugar
de la Louisiane-rittenhouse rye bottled in bond, mata hari absinthe, dolin rouge, benedictine, peychaud's & angostura bitters
Vieux Carre-rittenhouse rye bottled in bond, st. remy vsop, dolin rouge, benedictine, peychaud's & angostura bitters
Absinthe Suissesse-mata hari absinthe, orgeat, orange flower water, heavy cream, egg white
Crusta-st. remy vsop, luxardo maraschino, cointreau, fresh squeezed lemon juice, angostura bitters
Hurricane-flor de cana 7 year old, house passion fruit syrup, fresh squeezed lemon juice

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.

Time to Garden?

Yes, I know, we have snow on the ground. So why am I blogging about gardening? Well, I want to spread the word that SoCo will soon have a community garden at Fenton Street Urban Park. The park is obviously located on Fenton, just east of downtown at the intersection of Fenton and EW Highway.

According to an article in the Gazette, the County Dept of Parks is accepting applications through Feb. 10 for those who would like to rent a plot of land. On Feb. 11, a third-party will choose the lucky winners who will be notified in March.

I guess the County believes we have a lot of gardeners in the 'hood looking for land to cultivate. If you live within .5 miles of the community garden you will have first dibs on a plot. And those outside that radius will have to wait till the second round of the drawing.

This does not seem particularly fair to me. I guess the assumption is, if you live more than .5 miles away you're not as likely to tend to your plot. But why? Isn't it about interest in growing great plants not just about proximity? I could see after the first year and an analysis is done and if there was evidence that those who lived farther away didn't tend to their plots sufficiently. But this seems premature to this gardener.

Anyway, two plot sizes will be available to the lucky winners -- a 200 sq foot plot will cost $30 per year and a 400 sq foot plot will go for $50. The Fenton Street location will have 27 of the smaller plots and 15 of the bigger ones.

If you're interested in throwing your name in the hat, you can go to
http://www.montgomeryparks.org/permits/find/community_gardens_program.shtm and scroll down the page till you see the lottery application for Fenton Street.

I hope to see something terrific garden plots this year. And since you asked, my recommendations on what to grow -- tomatoes of course, but also look for some exotic pepper varieties (mine have done quite well over the last few years), like Japanese, Spanish or Italian peppers. Also, spring peas are to die for, my okra has been doing great, and you need greens, so throw in some chard, arugula, bibb lettuce, you know what you like. And, try to save room for some herbs such as parsley and basil. It seems criminal to me what the grocery stores charges for this when you can grow them easily yourself.

OK, get growing!