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Old 06-07-2011, 06:16 AM
 
855 posts, read 1,176,757 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fern435 View Post
1. Horrible traffic in NoVA/DC.

2. Terrible customer service. Why should I pay an exorbitant price for the privilege of being served mediocre food by a disgruntled, sulky employee?

At least, that's our reasons for eating at home. It has allowed us to sock away a lot of money here. And I am a pretty good cook.

#1 was the exact reason we didn't eat out as much. When I lived in Fairfax I was much less inclined to go out to eat in, say, Arlington or Old Town. Now that I live in Alexandria, I frequent Old Town and Arlington much more.

I don't think people eat out any less here at all. People still go out to eat, but it's at the usual suspects (takeaway joints, fast casual, copy cat ethnic spots, and chains). I think that they would eat out more if there was more variety in cuisine--not so much as restaurants. NoVA is a culinary wasteland when it comes to cuisine variety...(I can find a million Ethiopian and Thai places but can't find a Puerto Rican, Cajun or Filipino place to save my life). Proximity to DC makes up for this in some respects but definitely not all...still can't find my bacalao, chuletas, mofongo, arroz con gandules...
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Old 06-07-2011, 06:54 AM
 
Location: Brambleton, VA
2,136 posts, read 5,327,818 times
Reputation: 1303
Quote:
Originally Posted by chariega View Post
NoVA is a culinary wasteland when it comes to cuisine variety...(I can find a million Ethiopian and Thai places but can't find a Puerto Rican, Cajun or Filipino place to save my life).
Cajun:
RT's (Alexandria)
Bayou Bakery (Arlington)
Okra's (Manassas)
Cajun Experience (Leesburg)


Filipino:
Philippine Oriental Market (Arlington)
Fairfax Inn Restaurant (Falls Church)
Karaoke Idol Restaurant (Falls Church)
Manila Oriental (Falls Church)
Pinoy Market & Cafe (Manassas)


Can't help with Puerto Rican, though.
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Old 06-07-2011, 07:05 AM
 
Location: Virginia
18,717 posts, read 31,178,753 times
Reputation: 42989
For cajun, don't forget Mokomandy in Sterling.

For Puerto Rican:
Laspalmas Cafe http://www.laspalmascafe1.com/
Mio in DC-particularly on "Puerto Rican Fridays" Mio Restaurant | Urban Latin American Cuisine
Banana Cafe Banana Cafe
Manna in Takoma Park serves Dominican food and some PR dishes.
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Old 06-07-2011, 07:26 AM
 
855 posts, read 1,176,757 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cdmurphy View Post
Cajun:
RT's (Alexandria)
Bayou Bakery (Arlington)
Okra's (Manassas)
Cajun Experience (Leesburg)


Filipino:
Philippine Oriental Market (Arlington)
Fairfax Inn Restaurant (Falls Church)
Karaoke Idol Restaurant (Falls Church)
Manila Oriental (Falls Church)
Pinoy Market & Cafe (Manassas)


Can't help with Puerto Rican, though.

GRACIAS! I didn't know about RT's, driven by it a 1000 times, but thought it was just seafood. nice! the only place I'd been for Cajun around here was Acadiana in DC--more fancy than I'd expected but awesome happy hour (1/2 off apps, $6 drinks incl. pimms cup, hurricanes, etc.) Will try out Bayou Bakery, their menu looks good.

Karaoke Idol was cool, but for some reason I thought it was closed. I'll have to check back. Pinoy also looks like a good menu. THANKS!
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Old 06-07-2011, 08:11 AM
 
19,198 posts, read 31,546,562 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Caladium View Post
Maybe we just aren't into wasting money? Restaurants charge a ridiculous amount for food....
Or perhaps the premise wasn't all that well-founded to begin with. According to the latest Census figures...

Number of residents per full-service restaurant

Maryland: 1,772
West Virginia: 1,580
US Average: 1,370
Virginia: 1,331
Fairfax County: 1,230
The District: 901

Last edited by saganista; 06-07-2011 at 08:32 AM..
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Old 06-07-2011, 08:54 AM
 
4,709 posts, read 12,711,646 times
Reputation: 3814
Quote:
Originally Posted by Caladium View Post
Maybe we just aren't into wasting money? Restaurants charge a ridiculous amount for food I can prepare better myself and for half the price. Also, people here like to cook--look at how many cooking classes there are. Even the malls have cooking schools.

I only eat in restaurants when forced to....traveling, etc.

Had a buddy that was an institutional grocer for decades and he spent a great deal of time in restaurant kitchens. He has stories of what he has seen that would gag a maggot.

And price didn't matter....he says some of the nastiest were the high-dollar joints.

It's probably even worse nowadays with the economic situation....politicians will cut what you can't see first. I would imagine that health inspectors are spread pretty thin these days....
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Old 06-07-2011, 09:09 AM
 
19,198 posts, read 31,546,562 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by car54 View Post
I only eat in restaurants when forced to....traveling, etc.
And others eat out whenever they feel like it. Two or three times a week...maybe more.

Quote:
Originally Posted by car54 View Post
Had a buddy that was an institutional grocer for decades and he spent a great deal of time in restaurant kitchens. He has stories of what he has seen that would gag a maggot. And price didn't matter....he says some of the nastiest were the high-dollar joints. It's probably even worse nowadays with the economic situation....politicians will cut what you can't see first. I would imagine that health inspectors are spread pretty thin these days....
So basically, you can't trust the private sector to do what's right unless there is meaningful and substantial public sector oversight. Interesting.
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Old 06-07-2011, 10:24 AM
 
Location: Virginia
18,717 posts, read 31,178,753 times
Reputation: 42989
Quote:
Originally Posted by saganista View Post
So basically, you can't trust the private sector to do what's right unless there is meaningful and substantial public sector oversight. Interesting.
LOL I know I can't. Which is not to say that you can't trust everyone--there are lots of trustworthy businesses and people out there--but in a large metro area you're bound to have plenty of unscrupulous folks, not to mention those who have to take unfortunate short cuts because money is tight.

(OTOH, when I do eat out, I don't tend to worry much about the food. The places I go to seem fine, and I think worrying too much can make you sicker than most things you eat.)
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Old 06-07-2011, 10:44 AM
 
Location: Richmond va
1,570 posts, read 4,632,743 times
Reputation: 676
I know I waste a lot of money in take out but unfortunatly I cannot seem to make food at home without throwing half of it out. Cooking for one person is hard. I cooked in a meal last night and it was so good. I wish I could cook in more often but sometimes I feel I am better off eating out. One thing I really like is Wegmans $6 meals.
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Old 06-07-2011, 12:14 PM
 
Location: South South Jersey
1,652 posts, read 3,891,890 times
Reputation: 743
Quote:
Originally Posted by saganista View Post
Or perhaps the premise wasn't all that well-founded to begin with. According to the latest Census figures...

Number of residents per full-service restaurant

Maryland: 1,772
West Virginia: 1,580
US Average: 1,370
Virginia: 1,331
Fairfax County: 1,230
The District: 901
I got my data right off of city-data.com (in the 'Food Environment Statistics' section of the Fairfax Co. entry):

Number of full-service restaurants: 693
Fairfax County:
6.90 / 10,000 pop.
Virginia:
7.65 / 10,000 pop.

Granted, the data has (have ) no date/year attached to it (or 'them,' but I don't feel like being a dork right now.. some would say I've succeeded anyway.. ha!), so it/they might be a little old. Come to think of it, 'Loco Chicken' (and any possible En-Sp bilingual synonymous permutations thereof you can imagine) outlets have been springing up like wildflowers around here... BTW, I still need to try one of those places. Some sort of Central/South American rotisserie/Korean fried chicken fusion might be cool. Or kimchi in a pupusa?

Last edited by Alicia Bradley; 06-07-2011 at 12:25 PM..
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