Where is that perfect little French bistro hiding? (Annandale, Centreville: house, school)

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by chariega

Mexican in NOVA is def. hard to come by. For some real deal Mexican go to Riverdale...there's a place called tres reyes...it is the bee's knees!

I might if I knew where Riverdale was. Never heard of it.

[cdmurphy]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

I might if I knew where Riverdale was. Never heard of it.

Taqueria Tres Reyes - Riverdale, MD

Personally, I'm more likely to go to Mexico to eat than to Maryland. Speaking of which, one of my friends lived in Mexico City for several years and he says that Picante in Chantilly is as good as some of the food he had there.

[saganista]

Hmmm. Having just returned from a week in downtown Mexico City, I would have said that it's easy to find both good and bad food there. Just like here.

[brooklynborndad]

Originally Posted by IndiaLimaDelta

It's really simple. Aside from the usual "prestige" cuisine (French, Tuscan, Japanese, etc.) that is popular with a certain blandly affluent segment of the population (snobbery anyone?), availability of ethnic cuisine is entirely dependent on immigration patterns.

yes, I understand the social history going on here. What I am saying is that for anyone who grew up in a major metro area in the northeast or midwest, the relative sparcity of (non chain) non "new ethnic" offerings in NoVa (whether thats the sparcity of old ethnic offerings in all of DC, or the sparcity of the snob cuisines in most of the suburbs) takes some adjustment. Its not just a personal preference issue, as implied by comments like "well we just dont have the kind of restaurants YOU like". And I suspect most of the American transplants here who are NOT from northeastern or midwestern metros, are from either the south, or from smaller places generally, where there may not be many "old ethnic restaurants" but there are lots of diners, nonfoodie regional style restaurants, etc.

BTW, I have never been to seattle (some day). The west coast city I have spent the most time in was SF, which of course has abundant Italian restaurants, making stuff we couldnt at home. Recently I was in san diego, which also has a little italy surviving (just barely).

Folks who moved to say upstate NY from the south complain about the cold. Now its pretty clear WHY its cold, and its pretty clear that that has lots of advantages, and that folks who are used to it have very different attitudes than those who are not (you can substitute houston, heat, etc to flip this if you like) But when a houstonian complains about the weather in rochester, or vice versa, its not really a PERSONAL issue, so much as its saying a particular metro has real weaknesses in certain areas (no decent skiing in Houston, short swimming pool season in Rochester)

Now I certainly agree that we have a profusion of interesting restaurants here (greater DC in general, NOVA in particular), and thats an advantage. My wife and I have favorite Japanese, Viet Namese, and Korean places - we go to afghan and thai and ethiopian often enough (though we dont really have a fave) we have sampled Malaysian, Nepali, west african. We probably would go out for Japanese or Viet Namese or Thai more often than for Italian even if we lived in NYC. Even a kosher deli would probably only really draw us if our observance of kashrut increased. BUT - I think its fair to say, that compared to the restaurant scene in the average large metro area in the USA (and I admit to a biased view cause of limited time spent in sunbelt metros) the restaurant scene here is somewhat imbalanced. Thats a reality, as much as cold in rochester, heat in houston, or whatever is a reality - its not just an issue of personal preference, I think.

[JD984]

Quite honestly, some of these responses strike me as "over-analysis," and only partially correct at that.

Hopefully, the OP will find that one or two of the bistro-type places recommended (some of which are admittedly hard to find, whereas in other towns they might literally be the "corner bistro") are to her liking.

To the extent it's been suggested there are no "mom-and-pop" restaurants in the area, and that it's all chains, it's been usefully clarified that (1) there are plenty of mom-and-pop, family-run restaurants in this area, (2) there aren't many good Italian restaurants, or for that matter Italians, or delis here, (3) there are lots of other good restaurants here; and (4) the ratio of chains to non-chains may be higher here than in some places, but that this ratio probably gets higher as one travels further out into the outer suburbs. People may or may not find what's available here to their liking, which is indeed a mix of personal taste and expectations derived from past experiences.

[IndiaLimaDelta]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

One thing is for sure though. Mexican food here is awful. But to ILD's point, there isn't much of a Mexican community in the area.

You can get a decent philly style hoagie at either the Italian Store up Spout Run in Arlington or at the Italian Deli at the Belleview shopping center in Mount Vernon. I'm hoping Taylor Gourmet in DC will expand into NoVA.

I don't care for what passes for "Mexican" food in this country. Reheated refried beans and gobs of awful cheese. Yuck. It seems particularly heinous in NoVA, I agree.

Except in New Mexico. New Mexicans have their own style of regional cuisine that I really enjoy. And you can't beat that green chile that only grows in that area -- moderately spicy and very sweet.

And, no, Anita's chains in NoVA do not represent real New Mexican food.

[IndiaLimaDelta]

Originally Posted by brooklynborndad

BTW, I have never been to seattle (some day).

When you go, I recommend: Dungeness Crab in black pepper sauce at Malay Satay Hut. Cheap, spicy and tasty. MSH serves Straits Chinese food (Malay-Chinese). Very authentic, complete with surly service. On the opposite side of the price spectrum (since you like Vietnamese), Monsoon, a Saigon-style French-Vietnamese restaurant. Best seared tuna I had in the world. It's not always on the menu. The owner gave up a successful white collar career and became a restauranteur because he loves food so much. This place is really a labor of love.

Originally Posted by JEB77

(4) the ratio of chains to non-chains may be higher here than in some places, but that this ratio probably gets higher as one travels further out into the outer suburbs.

I don't mean to be argumentative, but I don't know that even that's true anymore. Prof. Cowen (he of the NoVA Ethnic Dining Guide fame) thinks that the best mom-and-pop ethnic joints have been migrating to western Fairfax and Loudoun (Centreville, Herndon and Sterling) and I agree with him wholeheartedly. For example, I don't even go to Annandale for Korean food anymore. I go to Centreville. Same thing with Thai, Indian, Burmese, Sichuan Chinese, Peruvian, etc. One exception I found is Vietnamese. You still cannot get elsewhere (farther west) the kind of Vietnamese food you find at Eden Center.

And there is still only one "real" Japanese restaurant in the exurban area that is run by actual Japanese, serving, for example, Udon noodle soup that is handmade (noodles, broth). Because of a small staff, the wait is sometimes interminable at this place. But most (probably all) other "Japanese" places are run by Koreans and use instant ingredients, not to forget fish sourced from the Moonies.

[brooklynborndad]

Originally Posted by JEB77

Quite honestly, some of these responses strike me as "over-analysis," and only partially correct at that.

Quite honestly some other responses strike me as overly harsh responses to common new comer observations. I wanted to explain, sympathetically, where I see those observations coming from. I am sorry if that seems overly analytic.

[normie]

Originally Posted by IndiaLimaDelta

not to forget fish sourced from the Moonies.

I wonder if fish sourced from the moonies comes wrapped in the Washington Times?

[Stephen 81]

Originally Posted by brooklynborndad

Quite honestly some other responses strike me as overly harsh responses to common new comer observations. I wanted to explain, sympathetically, where I see those observations coming from. I am sorry if that seems overly analytic.

I will admit to having written a response to your previous post and then deleting it because I felt that my language was unnecessarily harsh, so I apologize for that.

That said, I don't think it seems overly analytic to say that this area's culinary offerings are "imbalanced" as you did. I think this area may seem imbalanced from the perspective of someone from the Northeast, but the same could be true of the Northeast as viewed by someone from another part of the country. Just like people who consider themselves locals have internalized the idea that this area is "normal" and everything else is a variation on NoVA, I think you may have done the same with regard to Metro NYC.