crab cakes :: All Things Andy Gavin

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Jackson’s

Nov30

Location: 11927 Democracy Drive. Reston, VA 20191. (703) 437-0800

Date: November 26, 2011 & 2017 — yes same day, 6 years apart

Cuisine: American

Rating: Solid mid-sized chain offering

Back “home” in DC we wanted a quick and easy meal and so headed out to Reston to this reliable place. I reviewed Coastal Flats last year, another member of the same small chain.

This is one of those well done (but not earth-shattering) mall places. It seems that good malls these days aren’t going with the giant chains or with one-off restaurants. they must feel the need for a little more stability in their business relationships.

This vast interior all decked out for the holidays.

The menu.

They have these donut-like rolls which are pretty delicious.

This was billed as an “perfect margarita” and actually, it was pretty good. Not quite as good as my own, but not bad at all.

A mojito.

“Lobster and ham mac and cheese.” Pretty good too. The ham made it.

A special salad. Fried oysters, blue-cheese, salad.

A simple green salad.
Salad with grilled salmon. Didn’t skimp on the salmon.

Lobster Club salad. Not bad at all.

Grilled cheese for my son.

Simple pasta for my son 6 years later.

Fried grouper, fries, and cole slaw. This was a tasty fried fish, nice and crispy. This chain has an unusual but very good slaw, chopped, with a bit of peppery bite.

Crab cake roll with a side of butternut squash.

And the platter version, two crab cakes with fries and slaw. The cakes a pretty good, with big lumps of crab. It does have a little breading (obviously).

Sautéed spinach.

Lobster roll with corn on the cob. No shortage of lobster here! They claim it’s all the meat from a 1.5 pounder. Looks like it.
Same lobster roll, 6 years later.

This isn’t really chef driven cuisine. It’s basically comfort food. But it is well done.

For more ThanksGavin meals, click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Blue cheese, Coleslaw, crab cakes, Fish & Chips, Jackson, Jackson's, Lobster roll, Restaraunt, Restaurant Review, Reston Virginia, Salad, ThanksGavin

Room with a Vu

Aug06

Restaurant: Vu [1, 2]

Location: 14160 Palaway Way, Marina del Rey, CA 90292 310.439.3033

Date: July 28 & 30, 2011

Cuisine: Modern

Rating: Interesting, but a little all over the place

ANY CHARACTER HERE

My brother and I were out for our weekly lunch adventure and after Gjelina had a 45 minute wait we made our way to Vu, which I had tried a couple months ago for dinner.

Vu does live up to its name, sporting a nice patio with an excellent view of the marina.

I was a little surprised to find the lunch menu, PDF here, a bit “more conventional” than the modern tapas centric dinner menu.

Bread.

“Grilled Polenta: Asparagus, tomato, pickled red onion, aged balsamic.”

“Green Curry Soup: Mussels, coconut boba, micro cilantro.” This was quite good. Fairly spicy, coconuty, definably rich. The mussels, boba, and pork lumps inside were like little prizes to hunt for.

“Seared King Cole Duck Breast Salad: mixed greens, goat cheese, dried cherries, chocolate-spiced cashews, red wine vinaigrette.” This was pretty tasty, the duck was good, and the various elements. But the mix was overall a little weird. I’m pretty sure there was sisho in the greens, as they had that distinct flavor. Now I like sisho, but the overall flavor profile of the dish was a little helter-skelter.

“Blue Crab Cakes: charred tomato, orange, brioche bread crumbs, pickled red onion, mache, mustard ice cream.” These crab-cakes were way over fried, and inside they were stuffed with tarragon. So much so that they tasted like tarragon cakes. This wasn’t ideal, masking the crab flavor (as did the heavy fry). No where near in the league of the crab-cakes from Houstons or Capo.

I also popped down to Vu two days after this with my toddler from some brunch as we were already in the Marina.

The brunch menu can be found here.

Pancakes. Pretty conventional. I think the syrup was vanilla syrup, which was tasty.

My son likes a mix in with strawberries.

“Lobster Omelette: asparagus, shaved fennel, niman ranch pork belly, pommery hollandaise, home fries.” This wasn’t bad at all, but the overall flavor profile was again a little weird. The sour mustard clashed a bit with the sweetness of the pork and lobster.

Some VERY good fries, with a cumin based seasoning on them.

And some fantastic Neiman ranch bacon. Really really good bacon.

Overall Vu is trying interesting stuff, but the chef is too wild with his palette. I’m all for crazy and interesting combinations and new modern techniques — really all over them — but they need to be employed with care. Dishes still have to work together harmoniously, which isn’t really going on here.

Click here to see the previous review of Vu.

or other LA restaurants.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Beach, Breakfast, Brunch, Cooking, crab, Crab cake, crab cakes, Fish and Seafood, Green Curry, Marina del Rey California, Modern Cuisine, Pancakes, Red onion, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Sandwiches, Vu

Quick Eats: Houstons

Dec19

Restaurant: Houstons

Location: 202 Wilshire Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90401. (310) 576-7558

Date: December 17, 2010

Cuisine: American

Rating: Solid High-end Chain American

As any reader can probably tell, I’m not too big on chain restaurants. Frankly I consider the Olive Garden, Outback, Claim Jumper ilk to be demonic evil blights on the face of American cuisine. There are, however, a few high end chains that serve their purposes. Houstons is one of them. Although a tad over priced, its not bad for a chain.

The menu.

Their wine list is all American. While I’m a huge patriot and a grand believer in our role as the best genuine republic since the Roman Republic, our wines our too by the book. Certainly the case with this pinot, over oaked, and just not a burgundy.

Clam chowder. I am a fan of well done American food. Houston’s clam chowder used to be better. It used to be loaded with cream and have butter floating on top. It’s still good, but they lightened it up. In case you’re curious, it’s my opinion that clam chowder is descended from the classic Irish peasant soup that combined cream and potatoes — in ready supply in Ireland. New England — and this is New England chowder — is full of Irish. Go figure.

Fish of the day, livened up with cheese and fried shrimp.

They have a very good veggie burger. Not one of those soy patties. The fries aren’t awful either.

The fish sandwich. The slaw is really good too.

Or you could go with cous cous. They mix in a lot of good stuff there, almonds, mint etc.

Maryland lump crab-cakes. Yum! I love blue crab. These were quiet good, with a buttery mustard sauce.

And the apple praline nut crumble — ala mode. The nuts are glazed and delicious. There isn’t that much apple, but the candied nuts and ice cream alone is enough.

So when one wants a reliable quick American fix, Houstons isn’t a bad choice. Still, I’d take the smaller chain Coastal Flats, but that isn’t on this coast.