Lau.riol Plaza

I'm a big fan of this restaurants sister restaurant C.actus Cantina so I decided that it was time I vetured out to the place that was voted as one of the best restaurants in DC and one critic said it has the best Mexican food period. I hear the margarita's here are no joke (I couldn't drink one this time), but if they are anything like the one at the sister restaurant I'm sure they are fab.

I've tried to come here several times and the wait has always been at least two hours so we always gave up after 30 minutes and went elsewhere in Adams Morgan. First I have to say it's an absolutely beautiful restaurant I wish it would have been warm so we could have eaten outdoors on the rooftop.

Lately I've been traveling to restaurants in groups (we had a party of 12 here) and I can actually say that the service went really well. We were shown attention and hot fresh tortillas and homemade salsa were immediately placed on our table. The drinks were brought out in a quick fashion and eveeryone that had something with alcohol said the pep in the drinks were juuust right.

The food came out rather quick or at least it seemed that way. I had Masitas de Puerco that came with white rice and some savory black beans that were wonderful and ceviche which was flavorful from the spices with some tang from the lemon juice. Everyone at the table had something different and everything looked great from the salads to the entrees.

I will most definitely be going back there soon... especially when the weather warms up... and when I can get a pitcher of margaritas

Shopping Event

Join Urban Diva's and Hecht's for a semi-private affair celebrating the launch of BCBGirls, To the Max, CITY DKNY, and Kenneth Cole! Enjoy cocktails & hors d'oeuvres, music and a goodie bag, while you view the new collections from these delightful designers. Discover from our roving models the hottest trends for spring, receive goodies from the Little Black Book, and mix and mingle in a fabulous atmosphere. You'll also receive a fun treat just for trying on anything from any of the new collections!
Please RSVP no later than March 21st 2005 in order to guarantee your goodie bag, and feel free to extend the invitation to all of your closest friends!
Place: Hecht's; Imagination Lounge, Montgomery Mall
Address: 7125 Democracy Boulevard, Bethesda MD 20817
Date: Wednesday, March 23rd 2005
Time: 6 - 8:30 PM
Cost: Free with RSVP!
RSVP to secure your space!

Stone.fish Grill

The decor of the restaurant is really cozy. The restautant is rather small and is a white table cloth, dark wood, deep seated leather booth and cozy restaurant. I really shouldn't be rating this place since my visit tonight was with a party of 18. The reason I say this is because we didn't really receive the personal attention that someone would get as a small party. But I can still talk about the food. Stone.fish is owned by the same people as Red.Star.Tavern so they have something in common... some really good cornbread with honey butter. When served hot it's absolutely fabulous more decadent like cake then cornbread. We also had crispy creole calamari and onion straws... the latter was okay but not great that could be because they weren't brought out hot since I think the waitress was trying to bring out all of the orders at the same time. The calamari was pretty good though not the best I've had but good.

What I did enjoy was my maryland crab and vegetable soup. It wasn'y lump meat but the was full of crab, especially leg meat and the had a tomato base. I loved it because they weren't stingy with the crab. For my entree I got crab stuffed salmon and that came with a side of mashed potatoes and green beans with julienned carrots. The salmon was really moist and the "stuffing" was excellent it was really just lots of buttery lump crab and not much filling added, the mashed potatoes were thick and smashed with some skin left on and were good and the green beans were slightly cooked and still had some crispyness to them. The food was very well seasoned and delicious if only it had been hot and not just warm (the waiter tried to bring all of our stuff out at once). Since I can't eat bread or drink at the moment I can't comment on those things this time.

The food was overall delicions and others at the table enjoyed their food and had nothing but good things to say (they had the crabcakes, fishermans platters, seafood fettucini, and scallops) and all said they would return just in smaller parties so we could really experience the restaurant. Overall the food was good and I will be returning because I enjoyed my meal.

www.stonefishgrill.com

Jackie's

When you drive into this neighborhood you are not expecting to find this restaurant. Things seem kind of seedy and just a few feet away there is a gre.yhound station. This is the neighborhood where you put on the club, the alarm and the viper. But then you see this bright sign that says Jackie's and a big furry curtain that you walk through to get to some doors and you enter Jackie's. When you walk in there you think why isn't this place downtown and not in Silver Spring but that adds to the quirkiness. It really reminds me of NY and maybe that's why I frequent this place so much. It's really like one of those spots in the meat.packing district... where you go in and its really high tech with bright colors with a pink base and and exposed surfaces and a big plasma screen on the wall that changes scenery. What I love is that this place is small and there is an open kitchen so I can sit at my table and see them cooking my food.

Food is what we were there for and let me tell you I love it. First let me start by saying I always go here with other foodies but on my visit yesterday I brought with me picky palleted people and guess what... they loved the food too. When looking at the menu their faces were twisted and they were looking like ehh what can I order but after some recommendations from our waiter we had a great meal. For appetizers we ordered two and sampled... the first thing was grilled calamari, shrimp and sea scallop with green romesco it was great and refreshing to try grilled calamari as opposed to the normal fried. The flavor of all was really good and the romesco sauce was wonderful. Our other appetizer was calamari "pasta" a la putanesca, in this dish the calamari was cut so it resembled pasta and had the sauce over it this dish was amazing just a little heavy on the olives.

For my entree I ordered chicken breast glazed in red wine vinegar with fries and mixed greens. This was one of the most succulent pieces of chicken I have ever had in a restaurant. The skin was crispy and perfectly seasoned and the meat was so juicy. Two of us ordered it and we both were saying how we were sad when we go to the last bite (that's how good it was). The fries served with it were crispy and seasoned well and the salad had a fabulous vinaigrette on it. The food there is just delicious and love going there. I think it's a PERFECT date spot because its a great ambiance and great food. I definitely say go there. You may even see me there...

www.jackiesrestaurant.com