Travel Dining Itineraries: Washington DC

The Mr. and I are about to visit friends in DC, so this dining itinerary from my brother Adam is quite timely. As a kid when I visited DC, I was always wowed by its ethnic food. It's the first place I ever tried Ethiopian or Thai. Now DC is chock full of of hip restaurants. Looking forward to some good food with good friends.Thanks for the scoop, little brother!

• Virtue Feed & Grain - Old Town Alexandria - Set in a former feed store, this relative newcomer to Old Town offers your standard gastropub fare, a fancy burger, a chicken liver dish, a variety of other organ meats served a variety of ways and lame options for the less adventurous. Food was eh, but the restaurant has a great beer menu and inventive cocktails made with beer. The upstairs bar is a great place to get a drink after dinner downstairs or elsewhere in town. 
• PX - Old Town Alexandria - Same owners as above, but this is their take on the pervasive speakeasy. Only a blue light outside an unmarked door let's you know you're at the right place. Reservations are required. I had one, but we missed it by a few minutes and were politely dismissed from the doorstep. It made Esquire's list of top bars, so I assume it's worth the trouble of finding it. 
• Birch & Barley - Logan Circle - After combing through the incredible beer catalog, more than 500 strong, I almost forgot I was there to eat. The food menu offers a variety of well-crafted, unique, meat-centric dishes to accompany your carefully selected craft beer. I didn't make it, but the upstairs bar, ChurchKey, is also very popular. Apparently, it has the longest bar in DC, not that I really care. Walkable, but not exactly close to the nearest Metro station.
• Pearl Dive Oyster Palace - Logan Circle - Incredibly popular and critically-lauded seafood restaurant set among a burgeoning hipster neighborhood. They don't take reservations, so expect to wait unless you go at an odd time of day. No wait necessary for a 4 PM lunch at the bar. Same issue as above regarding the distance to the Metro.
• Black Jack - Logan Circle - However, if there is a wait at Pearl Dive and you're ill-prepared to battle the sea of skinny jeans outside the restaurant, head upstairs to this bar. A throwback to the days when the person serving you drinks was a bartender, not a mixologist. Fortunately, the night I went, nary a sullen hipster was found among the boisterous crowd. Yuppies, on the other hand, are widespread in this popular late-night bar.  
• Graffiato - Chinatown/U Street Corridor - Mike Isabella of Top Chef fame's much-anticipated restaurant specializing in pizza and other Italian specialties that any momma's boy who grew up in Jersey might have enjoyed. Again, Antico is better all-around. I didn't tell him that, though, when I ran into him downstairs.  
• The Gibson - U Street Corridor - Yet another reservations required, difficult to find, pretentious (surprising, because the clientele wasn't all that impressive) cocktail lounge in a major city. I made it to this one on time, but a rude waitstaff put me in a sour mood. Despite all this, the cocktails, which are expensive, are imaginative and mix ingredients I could hardly pronounce in an impressively delicious manner. Put it on your list if you're in the mood for rude bartenders and an air of pretension. 

Travel Dining Itineraries: Pacific Northwest Edition

I spend hours researching restaurants before I go on a vacation, heck, even a business trip. Then I tend to be shall we say negligent about writing about my travel dining experiences after the fact. Lest my hard work go completely unappreciated, I thought I'd start an occasional series in which I share with you the fruits of my labors.

To get things started, if you're heading to Washington or Oregon any time soon, here are the places that made the cut on our summer 2011 trip:

Seattle

• Quinn's - Hipster gastropub
• Anchovies and Olives - Italian influenced Pacific NW seafood
• Revel - Korean comfort food
• Emmer & Rye - Local, seasonal, yada yada yada

Portland

• Pok Pok and Whiskey Soda Lounge - The Thai place everyone is still talking about years later
• Food carts - we particularly liked Big Ass Sandwich
• Gruner - Germanic goodness
• Clyde Common - the epicenter of the hipster universe - think charcuterie and lots of skinny jeans at the Ace Hotel

Willamette Valley

• Thistle - tiny New American
• Nick's Italian - nothing fancy, but it's slim pickings in McMinnville. 

More to come from New Mexico, NYC, Bogota/Cartagena...

Meal Planning: Montreal

I thought I'd give everyone a little insight into my obsessive travel planning. I am all for spontenaity, but when it comes to visiting a foodie mecca, I like to do my due diligence in a big way to make sure I don't end up eating at a tourist trap. For everyone charming tapas bar I've stumbled upon in Barcelona, there's 10 bland restaurants I'd regret wasting a meal on.

So for our upcoming visit to Montreal, I have spent hours curating a list of possible dining options. Always a stickler for data, I don't just settle for one glowing review either. I prefer to triangulate. Yes, I'm bonkers, but as Mr. AT can attest, I make excellent restaurant choices after all that obsessing, and we're rarely let down.

Here's the actual text from the email I just sent to our travel companions:

Our trip to Montreal is rapidly approaching...hurray! Before I can even think about what we'll see, I have to think about what we eat. I have a one track mind! So I've sent info before, but just as a reminder, here are places that I'm hearing a lot about. I'm not sure if you want to weigh in or if you prefer I pick.

Unless you strongly object, I'd like to suggest that we definitely go to Au Pied de Cochon, preferably on Saturday night. It was recommended in every single source I checked and sounds AMAZING!

Au Pied de Cochon (recommended by NYtimes, Conde Nast, Bon Appetit, F&W, Frommers) - meat centric
http://www.concierge.com/travelguide/montreal/restaurants/19210

As for other options, we need a Friday and Sunday dinner, and perhaps one nice lunch/brunch.I might suggest L'express for a quintessential French bistro vibe for one of the nights, but I'm totally up for suggestions (including ones not on this list) Never sure how much research others want to do!

1. Club Chasse et Peche (recommended by Nytimes, Conde Nast) - a twist on surf and turf http://www.concierge.com/travelguide/montreal/restaurants/19084
2. Joe Beef - surf and turf (recommended by Conde Nast, Bon Appetit) http://www.concierge.com/travelguide/montreal/restaurants/19085
3. L'Express - french bistro ((recommended by Nytimes, Conde Nast, Frommers) http://www.concierge.com/travelguide/montreal/restaurants/19086
4. McKieran - good for lunch and Saturday brunch, side by side sister restaurant with Joe Beef (recommended by Bon Appetit, F&W) http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/2010/12/montreal_travel_guide -or - http://www.foodandwine.com/restaurants/mckiernan
5. DNA - Italian (recommended by F&W) http://www.foodandwine.com/restaurants/dna
6. Kitchen Galerie (recommended by Bon Appetite,  F&W) http://www.foodandwine.com/restaurants/kitchen-galerie

Complete lists:

• http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/2010/12/montreal_travel_guide
• http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/where-to-go-next-montreal

Well researched and a wee bit crazy, right? Lest you think I'm freaking my friends out, I've traveled with this crew before and apparently they like not having to plan it themselves, so I'm happy to oblige!

So anyone been to Montreal? I'm open to suggestions, so let me know if you've tried any of these places out or have other ideas!