New Place to watch football - Buffalo Wild Wings

So it's been a long long time since I wrote a blog. This year has been packed for us - basically no free time...

BUT I found a new place to watch college football today that I felt like I needed to write up. We're always looking for somewhere good to watch college football games. My husband and I both went to big football schools, and really can't get enough of the sport. Today, we needed to return a couple things to IKEA (in college park), so we stopped in to the new BWs next door. Totally pleasantly surprised. I've obviously been to numerous locations of this chain before and it's always fun, but this one had lots of good attributes.

20 TVs in the room I was seated in, and at least another 20 more around the bar. Three of those devoted to my beloved Florida Gators, even though they were playing a meaningless game against Troy. Yummy wings, as always. And $3.50 22oz Bud lights on Saturdays. And no smoking, since we're in Maryland, so people can bring their kids and I also get to breath clean air.

So if you live in Maryland, make a stop in. Your game will surely be on.

Don't Get a Bloomingdale's Card

This post breaks one of my rules, as it is not about something specific to the DC area (or a vacation we have taken while living in the area!), but it's a warning every young and married girl in the area should have.

Most of us have fallen victim to the temptation of a store credit card at one point or another. My weakness came at Bloomingdale's over a year ago. I was buying a pair of fairly expensive new boots, and I decided it would be worth it to apply for the card and get the discount. They upgraded my card to be a Visa, which would allow allow me to use the card outside of Bloomies. After getting annoyed with another card, I decided to make this one my primary for "fun" purchases. Two months in, I realized I hadn't gotten a bill for the card. I know I should have noticed, but I've been busy, and didn't. I called to figure out what was going on, and discovered something absolutely ridiculous.

Apparently, Bloomingdale's set up two accounts. One for in store purchases, and one for out of store purchase. I used to work in the credit card industry, so I get this, but it should be completely transparent to the customer. Instead, they let me know that the billing for the second account was not set up to appear in my electronic account. But not to worry, I was current on the account and all I had to do was login and pay my bill. Annoyed, but slightly relieved, I did that. I checked in two days later to make sure everything was applied appropriately to discover they had assessed a $29 late fee.

I'm still trying to get this remedied. It has taken way too much of my time, and frankly, I expect much more from a high end retailer. So take this as a warning - if you are addicted to Bloomingdale's like I am and end up with a card, pay very close attention to your balance. They seem to be falling short in this area.

Brunch that was just ok

Looking to do some shopping after Sunday brunch, we decided to try a new location over in Chevy Chase. We picked Chadwick's because of the open windows out front and the opportunity to people watch while we enjoyed breakfast. It was fairly empty when we arrived a little after noon, which should have been an indicator that brunch wouldn't be the greatest. We were shown to a table in the front atrium, and reviewed what looked like a great menu. Moderately priced, with lots of variety. I ordered the quiche, and my husband had eggs benedict with a side of grits.

I can't really say it was bad, but it certainly wasn't good. The food was average and our server seemed like he had just woken up. My quiche was fairly greesy and my husband didn't even eat his grits, saying they just weren't worth it.

This place is fine, but with all of the other great offering close by, I'd suugest skipping brunch at Chadwick's.

Decadant Italian in Silver Spring

It's been quite a while since we went out for Italian. As part of our "be healthy" kick, pasta has pretty much been removed from our diet. We decided to make an exception on Friday night, since we were celebrating a nice tax return and bonus season. Lots of people had recommended Olazzo, so we headed over early in the evening.

We were pleasantly surprised to find a happy hour in the bar area, offering $4 beers and $6 martinis, plus a discount on bruschetta. You can't even go wrong with a nice happy hour. While we enjoyed our appetizer, we debated over what to select from the menu which offered tons of options that we were excited about. In addition to their standard menu, they offered us two seafood specials. We ended up with one of those, and a dish called cardinale - penne pasta, a tomato cream sauce, and sun dried tomatos, topped with grilled shrimp. Everything was amazing. Both entrees were flavorful, but not too heavy. The bread was served warm with delicious oil and vinegar, and the appetizer salads were prepared with a light dressing that perfectly accompanied our meal.

Both of us managed to save room for desert, so we ordered a chianti and a homemade brownie served with an esspresso gelati. It melted in our mouths, providing the perfect ending to our meal.

This is a must visit stop - we tried the Silver Spring location which has a good sized bar and a huge dining room. There is also one in Bethesda, which is apparently smaller and normally has a wait. Either way, it'll be delicious.

Something Chocolate at Redrock Canyon Grill

You all know we love to spend a casual evening in downtown Silver Spring. We've gone to most restaurants multiple times, and have favorites for particular items ranging from the Happy Hour deals at Eggspectations to the perfect burger at Ray's. Someplace new has stepped up to take the honor of best dessert - Redrock Canyon Grill.

"Something Chocolate" is absolute decadence. Mixing chocolate, cinnamon and caramel flavors together in one desert, with vanilla ice cream is just pure genius. And accompanying it with a glass of red wine (half price on Wednesday during happy hour) makes for a perfect experience.

To be fair, Redrock Canyon offers many other menu items of note. The crab cakes have a great flavor and the meatloaf is also a must try item. They have a happy hour too, daily till 7PM, that rotates each night for variety.

So skip to almost too good to pass up deals at Austin Grill and Eggspectations one night, walk across the street and try this place out.

Amazing burger in a Sterling Strip Mall

On the way to the outlet mall, we got hungry so we stopped in at Ted's Montana Grill in Sterling. I expected a cheap, fairly generic American place, and was fairly disappointed when we opened our menus to find $12 cheeseburgers. But we were there already and I didn't feel like taking the time to find a cheaper option for a Saturday afternoon lunch. So we ordered what seemed like the standard offering - cheeseburgers.

Turns out the burgers are definitely worth the $12. They were amazing. Perfect almost. Juicy, flavorful, everything you want in a burger. And the fries were delicious too. Salted just right, and perfect when dipped in ranch dressing.

If you ever find yourself way out in Sterling, stop in for sure!

Boycotting Harrah's Entertainment

Needing a "quiet" getaway, we spent out weekend in Atlantic City, expecting to have a great time.

We did, with one major exception - our experience with Harrah's Entertainment. It started when we called to confirm our comped rooms at Caesar's, and were informed it was actually at Bally's. At the time, we thought it was no big deal and everything would go fine. But it only got worse. We decided to gamble mainly at the Harrah's hotels, so we could continue to build up comp points. What a mistake - over the course of two days they refused to cash in chips across their properties, charged us for drinks while we were playing video poker, asked me to stop drinking at a table citing their responsable gambling policy (and I really wasn't that drunk) and told us we would be charged $50 for each hour we stayed in the room after noon on Sunday morning. Each of these offensives would have annoyed me on their own, but lumped together, I was pushed past my point of tolerance. But I'm not going to complain any more, I just won't be returning to any of their casinos. A fact they should be very disappointed about, as my husband and I are healthy gamblers. So are all of our firends, who will surely hear about this. They stood to make lots of money off of us over the years. Now that money will go directly to their competitors.

Speaking of their competitors, we had a great time at the Borgata. They treated us perfectly, offering great service at every turn. And the crowd there was much more our speed. We'll be back, and if you take a trip, I'd recommend you at least stop in.