39 replies to this topic

[KevinKorell]

To expand on the meals for WARF 2015, the lunches on both Saturday and Sunday will be in food court type settings.

 

Saturday lunch in Baltimore will be at Lexington Market.  My restaurant listing for them is here. Unfortunately with most of them private stands, they don't have their own websites. But as you can see from the list they have just about anything there. You'll surely find the standard pizza or burger fare.

 

Sunday lunch will be at Tysons Corner Center   (aka Tysons I).  The list I put together for them is here. This is a large suburban shopping mall. It has a food court on one end and another area in the middle where there are storefront restaurants where one eats within the restaurant instead of a center court.

 

Dinner on Saturday, when the most participants will be in town, will be someplace within the Washington, DC area.  The plans are to arrive in Washington on Amtrak Regional #147 at 3:30 PM or whenever it happens to show up, sit a bit in the Club Acela, and then depending on where we end up having dinner, leave and head for Metro with enough time to get to that location.   Where will dinner be?  That is still in active discussion. Anywhere within a reasonable walk from a Metro station that is reasonably priced and meets the attributes we've learned over the years (separate checks, easy access/egress seating) we need to follow is a possibility.  Thus both downtown and suburban locations are being considered, with the latter more likely to be within everyone's budget.

 

A smaller number of people may be in town on Friday and Sunday evenings, and dinner those evenings can also be discussed among that smaller group once Saturday is settled.

[KevinKorell]

I've had a month of discussions with Steve (thanks!) regarding where the best place for dinner might be.   We believe the group would prefer a reasonably priced steak dinner.  Longhorn Steakhouse does fit that description, and there is one located in the Boulevard at Capital Centre, which in turn is adjacent to the Largo Town Center endpoint on the Blue/Silver Lines.

 

Longhorn Steakhouse dinner menu

 

The new plan is to go directly from arrival on Regional Train #147 from Baltimore. We would arrive at Largo Town Center about 4:30 PM, and then there is a walk across the Metro property and through the Boulevard parking lot to the Longhorn at the other end.

 

IF for some reason 147 is very late, we also have the option of getting off that train at New Carrollton, and then taking the Orange Line to Stadium/Armory and then the Blue/Silver Lines from there.  That saves a few minutes. The $13 advance bucket fare many of us got already is the same whether one detrains in Washington or New Carrollton, so we could just disappear. I would not however advise changing tickets to New Carrollton just in case we need to invoke Plan B as below.

 

If the weather is rainy, snowy, or severely cold, a plan B could be one of a number of diners that are within a block or two of Metro stations.

 

The attachment shows a Google Earth map with the Largo Town Center Metro station at the bottom center, and the Longhorn at the top center of the picture.  Boulevard at Capital Centre is between them.  Should anyone prefer a Golden Corral we would be walking past that as well on the way.

 

 Largo.jpg   161.02KB   1 downloads

[CNJRoss]

Another option is the Center Cafe Restaurant at Washington Union Station.  Follow their links to download dinner menu to your word processor.

 

We could take up time from our arrival to a "respectable" dinner hour by walking across the street to the National Postal Museum.  They do have at least 2 railroad related exhibits; an RPO and "Owney" the Railway Mail Service "Unofficial" Mascot. 

 

Ross

[KevinKorell]

So NOWWW, 3 weeks after my original post in this thread about what we might do about meals, and with nothing said until now, we did research through Yelp and the restaurants' own websites as well as telephone calls to the places, to find out if they met our criteria.  Now here we are 3 weeks later and NOW the suggestions start coming in? Where were they before?  Makes me wonder how and why  I go through this process twice a year as we plan each Fest and continue to do it into the next one without giving up on everything.  What on earth is a "respectable" dinner hour anyway? There may some very different opinions about that. "Respectable" to me is a time that provides me with a maximum number of hours between mealtime and bedtime.   With that said, if we got to the Boulevard at 4:30 PM, and by the time we walk across to Longhorn it would be close to 5 PM. What is more "respectable" than 5 PM?  I'm the one making a concession here since I usually eat at 4 PM at home.

 

So now that we awakened a sleeping giant, does anyone else have their own suggestions ?  Would the diners chosen as Plan B possibilities be more preferable to Longhorn?  Or is the Saturday afternoon that I'll never get back in my life again that was spent altering the itinerary and costs page to match the chosen plans still a worthwhile use of my time?

[steve4031]

kevin, I missed this one. (Center cafe) It seems to be located where the old "American" (not exact name) was. Like the old restaurant it has a big menu and a bar.

If there is a serious delay on the corridor this would be the best union station option IMHO.

Edited by steve4031, 04 January 2015 - 06:09 AM.

[KevinKorell]

I am certainly OK with remaining in Union Station if that is what people prefer to do. As long as this place is affordable to all, will do separate checks, and can handle a larger (and growing) group.  It's now January 4th, and I leave on this trip in 12 days.  A final decision on whatever we do needs to be made TODAY, Sunday.  I only have one more weekend available to prepare and make changes. It's not all about me, it's about everyone, but everyone needs to participate in the discussion when we're having the discussion.

[BillMagee]

I ate at Center Cafe a couple of years ago. Very nice menu, not badly priced, and the seating is open in the middle of the Union Station Main Hall making for a very pleasant atmosphere.  Plus, you can't beat the convenience of simply staying at the station, indoors, and having dinner.  There is nothing wrong or with having dinner at 4pm. 

 

With all due respect, I did not see a general request for dinner suggestions from the group. The first post said the selection was "under discussion," which to me means that those within the discussion knew what is going on, and those not involved in that discussion were outside the decision making process. Had there been a general "anyone have an idea about the Saturday night dinner" request, some of us might have chimed in.  It's not a big deal to me since I am not planning to be in DC Saturday night for dinner.  However, having dinner downtown in the station seems like a good idea, and it could change my mind about staying in DC.

 

For information, I attached the Center Cafe dinner menu.  It's a little tricky to get to on the website.

 

 

Attached Files

•  Center Cafe.pdf   89.44KB   8 downloads

[KevinKorell]

Thanks Bill, I was having trouble opening up the menu on the site.

 

Now that I've seen the menu however, it does say on the bottom: "No separate checks."  Having separate checks is one of the criteria we strive for, only because of the nightmare later on in figuring out how much each person owes.  Those who were in Albuquerque know what that was like. Especially when some need to depart on scheduled trains soon after dinner concludes, we need to be able to pay quickly and go.

 

The decision making process is always open to everyone. We're a bulletin board and all who use it can participate.  We all have different things we like or can eat, and different tastes, and even different budgets.  Nobody was ever omitted from that discussion.  Had that been the case, this thread would never have been created.  Steve has been extremely helpful to me over the years by scouring the restaurant websites and Yelp to see reviews of various places, and he has taken the time and initiative to call many of those eateries to confirm their policies.  Short of too many other suggestions, we worked with what we had.  After planning over 40 Fests in the past 14 years, everyone especially the regulars in our group should know the methods to my madness by now. I should not have to explicitly come out and say "OK what are your suggestions for dinner?" Once a Fest is announced, the wheels are turning and many decisions have to be made as soon as possible since the itinerary for the day we're having dinner together depends on where we ultimately end up going.

[pennyk]

Thanks Bill, I was having trouble opening up the menu on the site.

 

Now that I've seen the menu however, it does say on the bottom: "No separate checks."  Having separate checks is one of the criteria we strive for, only because of the nightmare later on in figuring out how much each person owes.  Those who were in Albuquerque know what that was like. Especially when some need to depart on scheduled trains soon after dinner concludes, we need to be able to pay quickly and go.

 

 

 

I agree that having separate checks is extremely important.  Because I was not able to open Bill's attachment, I did not see that version of the menu.  I found another version of the menu on line and it did not mention anything about separate checks.  I telephoned Center Cafe and asked if one would be able to get separate checks for a table of 8.  I was told yes.  I did not bring up the fact that their on-line menu says something else.

 

If we do decide that Center Cafe is a viable alternative, then maybe someone should phone and attempt to make a reservation and confirm separate checks option prior to making a final decision.  I assume that we will be more than 8, but I just used that number to get a response.

Kevin, I was aware that you were looking for a restaurant close to transit and frankly never thought of Center Cafe.  Although I have never eaten there, I have consumed a good number of very tasty beers in the upstairs bar.  And......Center Cafe is pretty darn close to transit.

 

Although it is "late" in the game of fest planning, I think we should consider Center Cafe. 

 

Kevin, I realize you are frustrated, and I apologize for chiming in after you have prepared the itinerary and cost sheets.  And....... I am extremely appreciative of the time and effort you spend planning the fests.  Thank you.

Edited by pennyk, 04 January 2015 - 03:21 PM.

[steve4031]

I did some research on yelp hoping to help narrow down the choices for Kevin.  My first thought was legal seafood by gallery place.  However, after more research it was determined that there was only one or two non-seafood choices on the menu, so after some some discussion with Kevin I decided to leave Legal seafood alone.  Then I recalled our meals at the spaghetti factory/warehouse with pleasant memories and tried to locate one of those that would be convenient.  I did not find one.  Then I researched Italian restaurants near gallery place and metro center, and those were all overpriced.  Or did not accommodate our needs as a group.  As I discussed these options we concluded that the steak restaurant near Largo town center would best meet the needs of our group. Since we would be arriving Union station early I thought this might allow us to get more riding in and cover the other end of the silver/blue line.  

 

I called Pizzeria Uno and Grill in Union Station and they did verbally confirm that they would accommodate a group, and that separate checks were possible.

I agree that it would be best to reach a conclusion today.  

 

I will monitor this thread to keep up with it and help in anyway possible.