I recently published a list of the Best Barbecue Places in the Washington Area, and that naturally included Northern Virginia. The Washington list involved some very difficult choices, and expanding to the entire state made my task even more difficult. I’d managed to limit the list to ten places in 2022, and keeping the list down to 10 with all the new places I’ve found … Continue reading The Best Barbecue Places in Virginia, 2023: The Top Ten

This is an update from my original post on the Pelican Cafe, which. you can read here. As you can tell from my initial report, I was very impressed with the restaurant. The Pelican Cafe sits right on US 1 at 612 Federal Highway in Lake Park, right across from Kelsey Park. It’s a welcoming space set in a former house and has on-site parking. … Continue reading The Pelican Cafe, Lake Park, Palm Beach County, Florida: An Update

Our Old Guys Lunch Group is always on the lookout for new places and foods to eat, and the recent opening of the third link in a local chain, East West, was most welcome. It sits at 4619 41st Street NW, just north of the Metro station where 41st veers off Wisconsin by the late lamented Dancing Crab. The other locations are in Tysons at … Continue reading East West, Tenleytown, Washington, DC

On behalf of all of our Senior Correspondents and staff, I wish you and yours a truly wonderful Thanksgiving. We at the Blog have much to be thankful for, including the ever-rising number of subscribers and non-subscriber views, your comments, both positive and negative, and especially the many friendships I’ve made through the blog. And I am thankful for all — well, almost all — … Continue reading Happy Thanksgiving!

I’m a fan of local sandwiches and other local dishes, the ones that are closely identified with a particular city. Think of the cheesesteak and Philadelphia, Beef on Weck and Buffalo, and the muffuletta and New Orleans. Some sandwiches spread far and wide, across the country, as has the ubiquitous cheesesteak. The quality of the sandwiches diminishes, however, as the distance from the source increases. … Continue reading Great Local Sandwiches: The Olive Burger, a Michigan Specialty

I finally — finally — made it to the Eden Center, thanks to Doug Herbert, who lives only seven minutes away. Doug, of course, is our Senior Idaho, Mississippi, and South Texas Correspondent , and he gets to the Eden Center often. The Eden Center is a large shopping center and mall at 6775 Wilson Boulevard in Falls Church. It’s filled with Vietnamese and other … Continue reading Rice Paper, The Eden Center, Falls Church, Virginia

Aaron Franklin, the genius behind Franklin Barbecue at 900 East 11th Street in Austin, bestrides the brisket world like a Colossus. He’s the man who revolutionized Texas brisket by perfecting the cooking and handling off that noble hunk of meat. Not only that, but Franklin generously revealed the Eleusinian mysteries and sent disciples forth. As a result, Texas has, as the magisterial Daniel Vaughan reports, … Continue reading Franklin Barbecue, Austin, Texas

I’d been meaning to try La Tejana at 3211 Mount Pleasant Avenue since I saw that they’d teamed up to offer breakfast tacos with brisket from 2fifty Texas. I like breakfast tacos, and I dearly love the brisket from 2fifty. I also love their sausage and their pastrami, and … But I digress. I was immediately prompted to go to La Tejana when I saw … Continue reading La Tejana, Mount Pleasant, Washington, DC

The incomparable BZMaestro Eats has announced the Top 20 Cheesesteaks in the Philadelphia Area. You can and definitely should access the list at this link. Philadelphia recently has experienced a marked elevation in cheesesteak quality, a renaissance of sorts, and the Top 20 list is the work of two years of sedulous research among the area’s elite cheesesteaks. The Maestro’s detailed analysis of each cheesesteak … Continue reading The Maestro’s Top 20 Cheesesteaks in the Philadelphia Area

While hardly an expert, I’m interested in historic barbecue places. I’ve been eating barbecue since before you were born, and I have a deep affinity for the old places, the places where the meat has long been cooked low and slow over wood coals. I especially treasure places that exemplify an area’s barbecue traditions or that broke ground for a new and enduring tradition. But … Continue reading Six Historic Barbecue Places