The Restaurant at Patowmack Farm Gets 2.5 Stars

The Restaurant at Patowmack Farm earns 2.5 stars from Tom Sietsema this week, and has clearly benefitted from the addition of The Ashby Inn veteran Tarver King. There, the "Raised" menu gives him goosebumps, as he puts it.

The kicks started with a deep white bowl of barley flavored with red wine and scattered with petals of pickled onion and pinches of feta that a server said came from his own Nubian goats. After introducing the dish, the waiter grated a small black something over the risotto-like pasta. My taste buds expected bottarga or truffle. In reality, they encountered beef heart that had been cured in sake and dried. King appreciates the salinity the filings add. Chances are, you will as well. [WaPo]

Sietsema has a nice enough time at Penn Commons for his First Bite.

The Twelve Buck Chuck hamburger spoofs a popular cheap red wine. Beef is replaced by lemony ground chicken, and craggy falafel with feta cheese and pickled vegetables, in the tasty "High Thigh" and "Haight-Ashbury," respectively. All sandwiches arrive with a cone of pale golden french fries, all are better with a glass of rosé from New York state." [WaPo]

The $20 Diner checks out Hong Kong Pearl in Falls Church, largely for dim sum.

No, the time to dine on dim sum is the weekend, when Hong Kong Pearl sometimes opens at 9 a.m. to accommodate the expat community accustomed to breaking the fast with small plates. The cavernous dining room fills fast with diners waiting on the rolling carts, which practically overflow with dishes catering to the Chinese palate: chicken feet (gelatinous, bony, fragrant with five spice), beef tendon (rich, with a tingling heat), chive dumplings (forcefully pungent, melt-in-your-mouth wrappers), shrimp crepe (nutty, delicate, accented with sweetened soy), fried dough wrapped in rice crepes (slippery and sweet, with a contrasting fried chewiness), shumai dumpling (gossamer wrappers, firm pork-and-shrimp filling), salt-and-pepper squid (lightly coated, with just enough texture to remind you that you're supping on cephalopods). [WaPo]

Todd Kliman files a capsule review of Ananda in Fulton, Md. "They maintain their own farm not far from the restaurant, complete with an herb garden — a highly unusual practice for an Indian restaurant in this area. Add to that the quality of the meats and fishes, which is several notches above that of the curry house, and you have a brand of cooking that is lighter and fresher than any Indian restaurant in the area not named Rasika." [Washingtonian]

Don Rockwell visits the new Shake Shack in Tysons Corner and says the service is quite good. "The deck had speakers, and was playing (I won't say "blaring," but it was certainly energetic) an upbeat, poppy hip-hop track which circulated the festive atmosphere in the air. After I finished sipping my first IPA, I was ready to order, and got up to go back inside holding my second beer. Keeping in line with the friendliness theme, a gentleman with a broom and dustpan politely asked me, "Do you mind if I sweep under your table, sir?" Points given for an upbeat, cheerful staff, that's for sure." [DR]

THE BLOGS: STK gets an A for its party brunch from the Bitches...GMF goes to Central for Restaurant Week.