106 South Union Street
Alexandria, VA  22314
571.970.3669
www.virtuefeedandgrain.com


The first thing you notice about Virtue Feed & Grain is that the space is huge.  It is a wide open seating area that meshes well with the bar that runs almost the length of the restaurant.  The tables are spacious and gives plenty of elbow room for everyone to sample the food.  The next thing I thought about is how in the world do you ever keep up the rent for such a big restaurant (albeit very aesthetically pleasing) which used to be a feed and grain house (presumably for horses).  It is located in the heart of Alexandria's waterfront and while it's not New York City, it can't be cheap.  The answer, I think, is that while it calls itself a restaurant, it almost certainly doubles as a sports bar since when we went there for lunch, there were equal amounts of patrons sitting to eat a meal and milling about to watch games at the several TVs along the bar.

2227 University Blvd West
Wheaton, MD  20902
301.933.8388


One of my fondest memories while growing up in Toronto was going down to Chinatown and eating some authentic Chinese noodle soup from some hole-in-the wall restaurant.  When my family moved down to Maryland in the 80s, we searched for that same soup and short of going to Chinatown (which, sadly, does not exist anymore) in DC, we found it at Full Key.  So, in my culinary walk down memory lane, I decided to stop by there on my way to my parents' house for Christmas.

511 East 5th Street
New York, NY 10009
212.687.3641
www.goattownnyc.com


One of the byproducts of the NYC restaurant scene is that every restaurant is looking for a unique spin that will attract diners.  In the East Village, this is especially evident and Goat Town is no exception.  From the somewhat weird name to the tiled benches and ceilings which gives it a somewhat of a feeling that you're eating in a subway or a shower yet it doesn't feel like that's something weird.  I do have to admit that we went to Goat Town for a late dinner and it was part of a very long day of trying to find places to enjoy a drink while avoiding anyone who was participating in Santa Con.  To put it lightly, we had a few drinks in us.

240 East 9th Street
New York, NY  10003
212.979.2733
www.sakebardecibel.com


When I was younger, I couldn't fathom why anyone would want to drink sake which I had thought was always served hot and should be sipped.  For some reason, it just never agreed with me.  But, if you chill that baby and don't filter it, it becomes one of my absolute favorites.  So, when I'm craving a great bottle of chilled, unfiltered sake, I try to make it to Decibel.

238 East 14th Street
New York, NY  10003
646.669.8889
www.baohausnyc.com

The chef owner of Baohaus has been getting a ton of press lately from being featured on a Bourdain show, having his own show, and to guest blogging appearances on eater.com.  He comes off more as a pot-smoking, urban rap star than as a chef but you need only to stop by Baohaus in the East Village to know that he's created something that you will crave at any time of the day.

228 East 10th Street
New York, NY  10003
212.387.9545
www.dieciny.com


We discovered this place after deciding that a 90 minute wait was simply too long for wait for the buns and noodles at Momofuku regardless of how good they were.  Oh, and we were really, really hungry.  Just around the corner on 10th is Dieci.  Its not very big at all and if you go too far down 10th, you're liable to miss it.  As you walk in, you immediately notice that the restaurant isn't much bigger than most NYC apartments.  I've read that it seats 30 but I'd be hard pressed to figure out how unless people were sitting on top of each other.  Regardless, the two times that I've been to Dieci, it's been packed but we were always seated quickly.

728 King Street
Alexandria, VA  22314
703.299.8384
www.eamonnsdublinchipper.com


Appropriately dubbed (i'm here all week folks, and twice on Sundays) a Dublin Chipper, this is Cathal Armstrong's take on a traditional Fish & Chips joint.  The restaurant is no-frills with a few tables up front and wood paneling across the span of the place.  You order up from the cash register and then try to get lucky and snag a place to sit.  Fittingly, they yell out your name and order and you run up to the cashier to get it and head back to your seat to enjoy a treat.