Mama Chang opened early in 2019 in Fairfax, VA. It focuses on family dishes from the Hubei province, where Peter Chang is from, ones his mother and other females in the family cooked. There is less pepper than in the traditional Szechuan dishes. The large interior is filled with light from the many windows and white walls. Textured ropes hang from the ceiling, the well spaced light wood tables are bare and tons of green plants surround the room. It feels open and spacious but a bit sterile. Portions are generally large – we way over-ordered but wanted to try a number of the dishes. The server was masked and willing to give advice. One note is about their to-go containers which were nice plastic dishes with good locking lids not the usual leaky styrofoam containers. Continue reading
It’s been a year since we visited (and 2 since I’ve written up) Galatoire’s and we were excited to be vaccinated and out once again. The food is just as good but a few changes include well spaced tables, masked staff and required reservations – even for dining on the first floor. Even with 75% dining capacity the room still got really noisy but part of the place is the energy in the room. Less waitstaff are on for each shift so you also may need to stray from your usual person. The menu is on line and in past write-ups but it hasn’t changed except for a price increase here and there. The fresh catch is updated daily and the food and service is consistently excellent. One caution, don’t fill up on the hot bread and butter while waiting, which is really easy to do. 
Dametra Café specializes in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food. The small cafe opened in 2008 and is even smaller now having only outdoor dining due to Covid 19 restrictions of California. The same table set up runs along the street in front of the building with tables divided by planters and heaters and separated from the street by a wooden fence. The narrow, small tables are covered with bright yellow oil-cloth tableclothes and set at street level rather than sidewalk. It makes some difficult to get in and out but didn’t seem to keep the crowd away. It’s reputation is that there is often a line for walk-up guests but we were lucky and got a table when we arrived. They offer the same menu at lunch and dinner but add sandwiches to the lunch offerings. They also have a more limited menu for curbside pickup. Service was friendly, helpful and efficient. Even with an ever-changing supply of table guests they did not rush us to finish up our wine so they could reseat the table. 
Our second evening at Restaurant Beck we got a table next to the window and the view was spectacular. The tables were configured slightly differently to accommodate the guests, but they were still well distanced from one another. 
The original caramel corn shop in Depoe Bay, Oregon has been also named “J’s Caramel Corn” and the building has had various paint jobs, but all say it was established in 1940. It’s a tiny shop that also sold salt water taffy, a few other candies, books and toys. It’s a one woman shop that uses Kettle corn for their product. They also sell plain and cheese corns but no mix. This corn was well coated with caramel and very sweet. It pops into really large pieces and I found very few hard, unpopped kernels in our bag. It’s not greasy and your fingers will have more of a stickiness rather than glisten after eating. The owner used to make the cheese caramel mix but found it too messy and didn’t sell as well. Either way, it was a really good caramel corn and she was very friendly and offered samples. Do note, it’s not a mis-spelling in the title here – it’s spelled without an ‘a’ in the middle. 
We visited Good Thyme Restaurant again on a Friday but this time opted not to have fish fry and instead try things off their regular menu. Nothing had changed in the physical facility and the service was friendly and efficient. 
