Restaurant: Tersiguel's French Country Restaurant

Restaurant: Tersiguel's French Country Restaurant
Web Site: http://www.tersiguels.com
Address: 8293 Main Street, Ellicott City, MD 21043
Phone: 410-465-4004

Very French, very nice restaurant in the historic Ellicott City downtown in an old building. Part of their charm is their use of produce grown on their own farm, and maintaining high quality traditional French service and cooking.




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Restaurant: Tako Grill

Restaurant: Tako Grill
Web Site: www.takogrill.com (Urbanspoon Link)
Address: 7756 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20814
Phone: 301-652-7030

December 28, 2009 - Likes it - I wish sushi was cheaper, because I could sit here and eat all day. Very good service and food right on Wisconsin avenue a few blocks north of Metro. Full variety, and I haven't had anything bad here yet. Bento boxes seem popular at lunch time from looking around the room, but I haven't tried them yet.

(I posted this on Urbanspoon, which is a great application, by the way).


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Hotel: Hilton Garden Inn, Indianapolis South

City: Indianapolis, Indiana (Greenwood)
Chain: Hilton
Property: Hilton Garden Inn, Indianapolis South/Greenwood
Address: 5255 Noggle Way, Indianapolis, IN 46237
Phone Number: 317.888.4812

Check Out: November 2009



South of the city off the beltway.

Place was so new you could still smell paint and carpet. Lobby is nice and spacious, staff were courteousNo mini-bar, nice bathroom. Lobby had a breakfast dining option.

Rating:

• Safety: 1 (in the middle of nowhere)
  
• Dining: 1
  
• Bar: 1
  
• Internet: 1
  
• Wireless in Common Areas: 1
  
• Work Space, Power: 1 (enough outlets)
  
• Shower: 1
  
• Air Conditioning, Bed: 1
  
• Common Areas: 1
  

Total: 9

Last Visit: November 2009 ($129)



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Restaurant: Oakville Grille and Wine Bar

Restaurant: Oakville Grille and Wine Bar
Web Site: http://www.geppettorestaurant.com
Address: 10257 Old Georgetown Road, Bethesda, Maryland 20814
Phone: (301) 897-9100

Not in downtown Bethesda - out Old Georgetown Road at the small shopping center where Democracy Blvd. connects.

A small place, but the menu was varied (but not too long) and the wine list is pretty good. We've been here twice now, and both times the meal was enjoyable and the service nice. Different specials, soups, etc. The cooking is a little French, but I wouldn't call it a French restaurant.

(Update 3/5/2010): Another visit, same good service. Nice Oregon Pinot, swordfish for entry. Starting to like the place a lot, particularly for exploring wine.


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Restaurant: City Lights of China, Bethesda

Restaurant: City Lights of China, Bethesda
Web Site: http://www.bethesdacitylightsofchina.com/
Address: 4820 Bethesda Ave, Bethesda, MD 20814-5202
Phone: (301) 913-9501

I used to work one block from this restaurant and hit it frequently for lunch. The costs are low to reasonable, the cooking is fast, and the menu is varied as with many Chinese restaurants. I don't go nearly as much as its now a 5 block walk and there are closer options for me.

However, went there with a group from work recently for dinner and it was as good as I remember. I like that they have a lot of options that are "light" - vegetarian, sauteed versions of fried dishes, etc. The Singapore noodles was some thing new for me and I liked the curry flavor in the dish.


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Restaurant: Oceanaire Seafood Room, Washington DC

Restaurant: Oceanaire Seafood Room
Web Site: http://www.theoceanaire.com
Address: 1201 F Street NW, Washington, DC 20004
Phone: (202) 347-2277

Went there for a special occasion. Right downtown in DC. The atmosphere was not as intimate as we wanted - a little bright, but the service was top of the line and the food was great. The waiter helped us with a bottle of wine (wine lists in the district as a little intimidating, as they have access to a lot more wine than those of us out in Montgomery County) and navigating the menu. The crab cake appetizer was fantastic, and it takes a special crab cake to impress someone from Maryland. Lots of great fish entrees, cooked the way you want it.

The baked Alaska was fun, too.

They were set up with a lot of booths, seemed like it was more of a place for a business dinner or a large group. However, it was top of the line service and great food. A little pricey, but seemed worth it for the experience.


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Restaurant: Gaylord Texan Resort

Restaurant: Gaylor Texan Resort, Texan Station
Web Site: Hotel Web Site
Address: 1501 Gaylord Trail, Grapevine, TX 76051
Phone: (817) 778-1000

Spent a few days here for a convention. There are a number of dining options in the facility, this is a review of the "Texan Station" one, whose menu seemed to be identical to the room service menu. The Texan Station is a sports bar that is inside the building. There is a large end area filled with an immense 52 foot television driven by three projectors in the ceiling (the technology was actually quite remarkable; there was no visible "seam" between the projected images) that creates a video wall with multiple images projected on to it. That end of the room is filled with lounge chairs and small tables, the back of the place has more normal restaurant tables and lots of hanging flat televisions.

Food was typical bar food, not very interesting. Ended up having a few meals here over the days, they are best at nachos, fries, dips, and other things I wasn't interested in. Salads were OK. If you have a car there are most likely better things nearby.

Bottom line, fun experience, food OK.



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Restaurant: Clyde's of Gallery Place

Restaurant: Clyde's, Gallery Place Location
Web Site: clydes.com
Address: 707 7th Street NW, Washington, DC 20001
Phone: (202) 719-1901

Part of the Clyde's restaurant group, which has several locations in the Washington DC area. This location is almost directly attached to the Verizon Center downtown, so its really convenient if you are going to an event there. While that part of the city has boomed tremendously since the arena was built, if this is your location on an event night you would want to get there early since its proximity makes it a prime target for lots of people all at once.

All the Clyde's locations are nicely appointed, but also quite different in appearance. This one has an downstairs large bar, an upstairs dining room with another bar, and there are probably some private rooms buried in there somewhere. The bar areas were quite packed, as Clyde's is a bit of a meat market (maybe that's spelled "meet market"?) for the after work crowd. Reservations work best.

We had great service - an attentive but not too attentive waiter who could answer all our questions except details about the sparking wines (and quickly admitted this wasn't one of his areas of expertise). The wine list is not real extensive; this is a somewhat fast moving place and its positioned as a nice place to go but not a pretentious place to go. But, a peak in the back showed a number of selections we didn't see on the menu. Perhaps another wine list for use outside event times?

Clyde's has a menu that changes frequently, so no notion of specials really. But, a number of nice selections across a variety of types. We had the salmon, it was a generous piece and cooked the way we like. The rice had seaweed mixed in which wasn't needed. Also the paella, which was spicy and good on a cold rainy day.


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Hotel: Hyatt Regency DFW

City: Grapevine, TX
Chain: Hyatt
Property: Hyatt Regency, DFW
Address: International Drive, DFW Airport, TX 75261
Phone Number: 972.453.1234

Check Out: April 2009



Right at the airport with commanding views of ground operations.

Lobby is nice and spacious, staff were extremely courteous and attentive, room was stylish and clean. Bed was extremely comfortable, which seems to be a corporate goal. No mini-bar, nice bathroom with an extremely decadent shower head.

Plenty of outlets for the desk and recharging batteries. Several dining options, including a kind-of-sports-bar. Seared tuna was good, breakfast buffet was good.

In room internet was a little pricey, but not needed with cell cards. Gift shop had the batteries and snacks I needed, although no copy of the Washington Post in the morning (a mixed blessing). Big TV in the room, lots of channels but all I watched was football and Harry Potter on Disney channel.


Rating:

• Safety: 1
  
• Dining: 1
  
• Bar: 1
  
• Internet: .5 (not free)
  
• Wireless in Common Areas: 0
  
• Work Space, Power: 1 (enough outlets)
  
• Shower: 1
  
• Air Conditioning, Bed: 1
  
• Common Areas: 1
  

Total: 7.5

Directions: DFW Terminal C

Last Visit: September 2009 ($109)



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Traveling by Rail

One of the advantages of living on the east coast is that traveling by rail is a real option for some cities. Amtrak runs a very busy city-to-city service from Boston down to Washington, which is priced somewhat competitively with air travel. DC to NYC by rail and by air are both somewhere around $200, although there are tremendous fluctuations with air travel prices.

But, a comparison between the two is interesting.

Comfort is no comparison; rail is far superior to air in comfort. The seats are much more spacious, there is way more storage space, the seats are far more comfortable. You can get up and stretch or walk around any time you want, and if you need to use the rest room it is far larger and even accommodates wheel chairs if needed. The noise level for rail is lower, the ventilation is better, and you don't twist your neck trying to look through a little tiny airplane porthole.

As a business traveler, there also is no comparison - rail kills air. Comedians don't joke about airplane food anymore because there's no such thing. On the train you can walk to the dining car where there are a lot of options, hot or cold. You can sit at a table or have a big pull out tray for your work. There's a 110 volt outlet next to the seat to keep your batteries charged. Odds are pretty good that you'll have a solid cell phone connection the whole way. You can annoy your neighbors as you pretend you have very important calls to make, or keep your computer attached to the Internet as you roll along. Air is working on solving this; Internet access and cell phone access in the sky, power at your seat sometimes if you have the right cable. Maybe if there was enough room to open up your computer you could take advantage of this, but its pretty hard in a center coach seat to open up a laptop these days.

The time it takes to travel has been similar for me between rail and air in some cases on the east coast. While a plane is way faster than a train (about 450 MPH airspeed vs. 90 MPH ground speed), when you consider the time delays with airports and their security vs. walking onto a train minutes before it pulls out - plus the train leaves you downtown where air leaves you facing a 30 minute or more cab ride - not much difference. Of course, the further you go the less they are even. DC to Boston the plane wins; DC to Philadelphia or NYC the train wins.

One big difference is style. It's not not really a win for either side, but there is a huge difference in the perspective on the planet you get between the two modes. A plane ride at 30,000 feet is an amazing experience. You have a view of the planet, weather, and how humans exist which is so different than everyday life from the ground. A sight like Manhattan or the Grand Canyon from the air is almost surreal.

A train ride is sitting behind a picture window as you zip along water, land, people, forest, buildings, that you normally don't see. You'll pass over rivers with people rowing and riding bicycles, followed in a minute or two by building covered with graffiti long abandoned. It's hard to not hum "Ain't That America" in your head as you cross through all sections of life.


I've really enjoyed traveling by rail when it makes sense. It can also be very nice with colleagues since you can sit across from each other at a table while you travel. It's a shame the rail system doesn't connect more cities than it does for me, as most of my travel is by air.

Restaurant: Christina's

Restaurant: Christina's
Web Site: None Urbanspoon Link
Address: 2666 University Blvd W, Wheaton, MD 20902
Phone: (301) 942-4137

We eat here about once a month. The staff and owners are always very good, making us feel at home. The food always comes out on time and is prepared well. The specials almost always tempt us off the regular menu with seafood offerings. We wish the place was bigger, or that it was easier to park in Wheaton, but they seem to always be busy so we assume that they are happy with where they are.

The specials are usually in the $20-$25 range.

(I posted this on Urbanspoon, which is a great application, by the way).


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More on Tripit

I wrote before that I'm using Tripit.com to help with travel, and its a great service. As a way of simplifying my life, Tripit lets me stop keeping track of my trips on a spreadsheet since it does a better job of this.

One of the neat things it does it keep a map of all my travels. You can zoom in and out, as its all based on Google maps. Even though I only started using Tripit about 2 or 3 years ago, you can go in and enter older trips if there's anything you wish wasn't missing.

Tripit is a really nice application for anyone that does a moderate amount of travel, and the free version is amazingly full featured.