6184 Arlington Blvd
Falls Church, VA  22044
www.marksduckhouse.com


Ever since the gentrification of Chinatown/Penn Quarter in DC, (I lived in NYC for 6 years, Penn Quarter is still new to me!  Shush) you've had to go to the suburbs to find good Dim Sum.  My favorite Dim Sum is a joint in a strip mall in Falls Church right near Seven Corners.  You'll find a million good things online about their Dim Sum and I had planned to go about a month ago but those plans fell through.  But, I found myself in the general area this night (my computer is on the fritz so the shop I took it to was just a few miles away) and decided to try out their regular menu.  My plan was to order a ton of dishes and then take them home with me for the rest of the week and the weekend.  After all, there's nothing better than Chinese leftovers for breakfast.

336 Lexington Ave.
New York, NY  10016
212.986.1520
www.scottysNYC.com


The best way I could think of wrapping up my fun-soaked, food-laden, alcohol-thumping, hookah-smoking weekend was to kick my stomach in the you-know-where's and have a nice, greasy, diner breakfast before I left to go back to DC.  And when I say diner, I mean one of the old-fashioned ones that haven't been gussied up or made to look like an old nostalgic diner.  Scotty's Diner is such a place.  It's the kind of hole in the wall you'd never find unless you worked in Murray Hill (like me) but once you find it, it quickly becomes a go-to for reliable diner food.

185 Duane Street
New York, NY 10013
866.414.9250
www.thehideawaynyc.com


Whenever I think of Memorial Day weekend, I always think of Maryland Blue Crabs with tons of Old Bay.  So, when I used to live in NYC, I was intent on finding a place that served them so about six years ago I found the Hideaway in TriBeCa (Triangle Below Canal).  This weekend, I was still thinking of Maryland Blue Crabs and I was coincidentally back in NYC.  I had called the Hideaway on the Friday before I left for the weekend and they were still doing the same old Blue Crabs.  We decided to have a Sunday Funday which, of course, included the Hideaway.

529 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
212.792.9700
www.redfarmnyc.com

Our next destination after Resto was a place called RedFarm which I read and heard about a ton.  It's a Chinese Dim Sum inspired restaurant with a reputation for creativity and elevated Chinese Food.  It's from the same people as Chinatown Brasserie so while I had high hopes, I also had some reservations about it being all about the hype and style rather than the food.  The place doesn't take reservations so we got there late enough (~10 PM) so that there may be tables available. There wasn't AND the first thing they asked was if we called ahead?  Whaaaat?  But, I thought no reservations.  But, you can call ahead?  I'm confused. Anyway, we left our number and they told us it would be another hour.  We were deep into a few drinks at that moment so waiting an hour while finding another place to have a drink seemed like a sensible option.  What follows is why I think NYC is so unique and why I love it so much.

111 E. 29th Street
New York, NY  10016
212.685.5585
www.restonyc.com


I'm in New York City again! For Memorial Day weekend no less.  I know that sounds counter-intuitive since most people generally flee to the beach or some other body of water for this long weekend which is exactly my point of being in NYC.  Long weekends, especially Memorial Day weekend, are the best time to go and try out NYC since its relatively empty.  The waits for tables are shorter, the bars are less crowded and the weather is almost always nice.

3211 Wilson Blvd
Arlington, VA  22201
703.382.4875
www.northsidesocialarlington.com

They say breakfast is the important meal of the day which I hope isn't true (yes folks, that's called denial) since I tend to just have coffee and maybe a bagel or muffin.  The owners of Liberty Tavern also own a couple of restaurants situated close by called Lyon Hall and Northside Social.  Lyon Hall is meant to be your typical French cafe and Northside Social is a coffee and wine bar.  More importantly, Northside Social is open at 6 a.m. which is early enough to get a good, casual breakfast in with plenty of time left to get to work.  Since I don't really eat much for breakfast, I decided to go a couple times this week to make sure I get a fuller experience.

3195 Wilson Blvd
Arlington, VA  22201
703.465.9360
www.thelibertytavern.com


I remember reading something about President Obama visiting the Liberty Tavern sometime last year and I made a mental note to go and try the place since the sitting U.S. President went to visit.  I thought this would be an easy proposition since it's on the way home from work and I could just stop by for a quick dinner.  However, the place is always busy around inner time and the one time I tried to meet up with a buddy for dinner, it was packed and we had to eat somewhere else.   I tried a different tact and went there for a late lunch when you figure that it may not be as busy for those hours.