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AmyH

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Everything posted by AmyH

  1. Now it is my turn to be puzzled . . what is the correlation between dim sum on Sunday morning and your busy schedule on Monday morning? We are kind of stuck on Sundays . . Saturdays in September and October = football games for #1 son. . . anyone for 10/3 ?? Mongo, we'll drive you and Mrs. Mongo and have you back in Boulder by 2:30 or 3:00 at the latest. Should give you time to get ready for Monday morning. Where is everyone else on this topic.
  2. LOL it was a slip of the fingers. . I could have sworn I wrote September. September, September, September. I was distracted by the nine year old who wanted to add every smiley face she could to the post. . . I think dim sum with a crowd will not be a problem. The positives are that we can keep ordering food as we go so we don't have the over/under problem of guessing how much people will eat, we can also order more "larger" dishes, like a plate or two of duck or other items and even those come out quick enough that we can start with one and add another. We will not have the drinker/non-drinker problem, so we should finally be able to just split the bill (that would be a welcome change). There were lots of round tables for big groups in the back. I did not check to see if they had large lazy susans or not. The last time we went to dim sum in Chicago, we ewre a group of 14 and had our own room with a big table and a large lazy susan. Except fo having to keep the kids at the table from sending the dishes around at a frenetic pace . .it worked out really well and was alot of fun. And I should add for dim sum experts, while Empress is very, very fresh and good, it is still not as highly seasoned as you would find in other cities. The dishes are mild, not in terms of heat, but in terms of overall flaovers . They could stand to ratchet up the use of ginger, scallions and other traditional seasonings. Just a fair warning. Flori will know when "the Holidays" are in September. We are out the weekend of September 11 as a certain insane husband is running the Imogene Pass race from Ouray to Telluride.
  3. Mmmm Empress. We went today for dim sum. Because the place is so big, even arriving at noon (yeah, we were really lazing around this morning) did not present more than a five minute wait. What I like about Empress is the combination of carts and ordering off of the menu which is nicely translated into an English that I can understand. The carts come by and the servers do a very nice job of explaining everything on the cart (even to the stupid American who seem unlikely to order chicken or duck feet, but do anyway) and if your favorite item does not come around fast enough or you don't see it, you can mark it down of the menu and an "expediter" person will come along, look at your order form and either run to the kitchen to bring out the dish or flag down the cart that it is on. In this way, we were able to get our shu mai, quail egg with pork dumplings, those great rice noodle crepes with shrimp and pork, har gao, deep fried beef turnovers (does anyone know how they get the shell of the turnover to be so deliciously sweet ), great steamed prok buns, stuffed mushroom caps, and because we could, a steaming plate of beef chow fun with vegetables. Oh, and the egg custard buns for dessert that our kids are sampling in every dim sum place they go to to find the champion (so far Phoenix in Chicago is the sentimental favorite). Delicious And there were so many other dishes coming out of the kitchen that I would have liked to try . . the duck and shrimp dishes looked fantastic that I say when is egullet going to Empress? Oh yeah, the total bill for four stuffed people was 41 including tax and tip, as I think it always is ever single time I go to dim sum anywhere. Dates for Sundays in December anyone?
  4. Looks like us Boulderites are slated to get a couple of new dining options. Next to L'Absinthe there is a coming soon sign for a presumably Indian restaurant "Bombay . . . ." and signs for Aqua Pazza next door to the Reef. Anyone have any info on either of these two?
  5. I have friends that rave about Ocean City . . if they have cart dim sum, it should be considered along with Empress. Now I'm hungry . . we are thinking September -ish?
  6. We are totally up for dim sum . . there's always chili paste oil on the table for mongo, Mr. AmyH, rlm and afoodnut's daughter to knock themselves out. Heck, we may even bring the petite filles so my son can gross everyone out by gnawing on chickent feet.
  7. Mayhew- you really think he can get from Vegas to NYC in five days taking the southern route. . it may be scenic and damn good eating but it is really, really indirect. As for outfitting the car for the journey, I suggest investing in the iTrip for your ipod if you do not already have it. Will play all your tunes through the car radio and we only had to change the frequency (station) a few times during the trip. Second suggestion is to get a Coleman generator/converter that converts the cigarette lighter into AC current. The Coleman converter (about 30$ at Costco), sits on the floor of the passenger seat, plugs into the car lighter and than allows you to plug up to two items and run off the car. We had my laptop plugged in for the kids to watch DVD's (and occasionally to surf the net, when we needed to and could find a wifi spot) and keep the ipod charged (using the ITrip drains the hell out of the ipod battery), but the possibilities are endless . . you could plug in a blender for all it would be worth. In three weeks, we burned blew the cigarette lighter fuse only 1x . . pretty good. If you go through St. Louis, Crown's Candy is right off of I-70 and not even a detour. It is very authentic soda shoppe. The marshmellow phosphate is basically a marshmellow shake . . marshmellow syrup, instead of hot fudge or caramel, ice cream, milk and malt poweder I think. . If you don't head south, I would really recommend Charlottesville and a stop at Monticello . the grounds are phenomenal.
  8. I'll trump Nighscotsman's crazy . . Just returned from a three week roadtrip from Denver to DC up to Maine back through Niagara Falls, Detroit and Chicago. 5,000 miles with only one driver. Las Vegas to Denver in one long day is doable. Day Two, you can go from Denver to St. Louis, but that's another 14 hours at between 70 and 80 mph. Getting out of Colorado takes longer than you think and Kansas is one wide state. Because we were heading for DC, we went from Denver to KC on Day One, KC to Louisville on Day Two (with a long stop in St. Louis to do the Arch and go to Crown Candy for an ice cream sundae and Marshmellow phosphate) and Louisville to Charlottesville/DC on Day Three. My apologies to anyone from West Virgina, but that was the worst part of the entire drive. I have food suggestions for my route, so once you decide how you are going, I can weigh in more.
  9. We are two . .sounds like I better make a note to bring my egg timer
  10. It's almost here!!!! Saturday at 7:30 at Dalat. Fred, do we have a reservation/did we speak to them about seating configuration? By my count we are 14, unless Katzenjammy can be persuaded to jump back in. I also noticed some newbies to our board. If anyone is interested in joining us, a group of egulleteers is heading out for an outing at Dalat on Saturday evening. This is the second outing for some, first for others and all are welcome.
  11. Don't be "apprehensive" rlm, you can hang with the other beautiful people at the bar and have beautiful drinks and beautiful conversation while eating cheese and fois gras . I won't hold it against you.
  12. How far out in advance for Saturday night reservations? . . we may have to swing a trip back "home" to Chicago at the end of August to go to Moto . . sounds like the perfect place for two displaced Chicagoans to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary.
  13. I returned to Chicago two weeks ago for a visit. Ate at Blackbird outside and had a great dinner with a friend . . but they have a very few outdoor seats. We went on a thursday evening at 9 and it worked for us. The following night I ate outdoors at Feast in B-Town. Much easier to get a table as they have a failry large outdoor seating area. . . a fine roast chicken with parmesan crust.
  14. We re-visited the Kitchen last night (before reading rlm's post of Sheehan's review) and I am sorry to say that I agree with his assessment almost 100%. Since we only ordered apps last time and given that the $33 prix fixe is a reasonably good deal, we decided to go for the full on dinner experience. I ordered the pork rillete to start -- good texture of this classic dish, the right amount of meat/fat ratio, it was served in large chunks on burnt toast and sprinkled with capers. What is with this chef and the lack of seasoning? Did they not unpack the spice drawer? forget to forage the herbs when making their run to Whole Foods for every other ingredient on the menu? I added salt and fresh pepper, which by the way Mr. H had to ask for when his Ceasar Salad came, the response "I'll see if I can find some" . . but it still lacked any flavor. Mr. H ordered the halibut and I ordered the ahi filet RARE w/ tapenade for the main courses. The halibut arrived atop a bed of tomatoey risotto and tasted simple, fresh good but again, underseasoned and no discernable stand out flavors. The ahi that arrived was, I am not kidding , GREY, through and through. I am talking the kind of grey that you get if you are dumb enough to order tuna as your choice at a wedding banquet in, say Ohio, or at Bennigans. My friends it was something that should have never left the kitchen at any restaurant, let alone the hot new happening trendy The Kitchen. It was actually so overdone that we were laughing. I call over our server and she agreed that it was the opposite of the rare that I had ordered and that she acknowledged putting in to the kitchen. Now we wait . . and wait. Mr. H is trying to eat his risotto one grain at a time so he will have something left on his plate when my meal is returned. He fails. Server comes back and apologizes "it is taking longer because chef wanted to cook a whole new piece of fish" Well, no kidding, did anyone think he was going to try and uncook the previous piece?! Rare tuna . . we are talking maybe a minute per side, correct? Bus boy has now cleared the entire table. The tuna returns and has multiplied. To compensate, I guess, they have added a second filet to the portion. The tuna is now cooked correctly, but it is not sushi grade tuna, by any stretch. It is just not that good. Again, no seasoning. The tapenade -- cherry tomatoes sauteed in EVO with slices of garlic and black olives is tasty enough, but this is not "cooking" Desserts are an unqualified success. Lemon tart is lemony, good buttery crust and sticky toffee pudding is yummy. We send our compliments to the pastry chef, whoever she is. Server brings us complimentary glasses of two different dessert wines which is a very nice and welcome touch on her part. Of course, she than promptly disappears so we cannot pay her! We wind up scraping together enough cash to leave on the table -- (how much staring into one another's eyes can a coupe married 15 years actually take) and stroll down Pearl Street. Content that we have given the Kitchen a fair shake, it is back to Bistro 1010 for us. The beautiful people at the bar seem to have a wondeful time being beautiful with one another, chatting with the hostess and the bartender. If they can make enough money on the bar tabs, that's fine by me. Serious diners should look elsewhere.
  15. Hi All- A few days in Maine was part of our whirlwind three week road trip that started in Boulder, Colorado. We drove from Boston to Maine, OK - anyone else totally confused about the change in road names -- the old 95, is now 495 etc. etc. -- We spent a chilly evening at the wonderful Norumbega Inn in Camden, Maine. Happy hour at Cappy's Chowder House was a treat -- 1/2 price appetizers at the bar made number #1 son happy with huge baked stuffed clams. Daughter and I shared a mug of Cappy's Clam Chowder which is the best New England Clam chowder I have ever had . . steaming hot, full of clams, potatoes, rich and creamy and great oyster crackers on the side -- $5 well spent! That fortified us for walking along the shore and in and out of shops until it was time to head over to Rockland to Cafe Miranda for a very enjoyable and entertaining dinner as we watched the chef in action in his tiny open kitchen. As previously posted, the menu is extensive and eclectic, particularly the full page of handwriten appetizers. # 1 son insisted on stone crab claws, even though I knew that meant that I would be struggling with them, instead of him. He followed with the sweetbreads, which were delicious. Daughter had a very healthy portion of duck breast. I did not take notes and seem to have forgotten what I had. Breakfast at the Inn the next morning, eggs florentine and microwaved bacon (not my favorite). We took Rt.1 to Boothbay Harbor and stopped for home made ice cream. Next stop was in Wiscasset at Reds -- The lobster roll was definetely chock full of lobster and tasty but, I agree, 13$ was just too much for something that disappeared in 30 seconds. We spent the next two days in Wells at the beach. Great kayaking in the Rachel Carson Wildlife preserve. Took a lovely walk on the path in Ogonquit, although the town itself is way too crowded for my taste. Lobsters from the Lobster Pound in Wells. It was a wonderful part of our trip.
  16. Went to the Kitchen last night with Mr. H for an impromptu date. We sat at the tiny outside tables and ordered appetizers only: charcuterie plate -- miniscule slices of proscuitto, salume, a slab of very plain homemade pate, a handful of assorted olives (now I'm really feeling like they raided the olive bar at Whole Foods), a grapefruit chutney that I did enjoy. roast beet salad with hazelnuts and goat cheese -- yawn. Absolutely no seasoning whatsoever, no salt, no pepper let alone the hint of an herb. green pea bruschetta with homemade mozzerrella. A successful dish because of the freshness of the mashed peas -- intense green color and the freshness of the mozzerella. Ingredients are fresh, flavors bland. OK, we did not order such exciting dishes, but frankly nothing looked all that "interesting" for what is supposed to be this hot new restaurant. I'd rather head down to Adega, where even something as simple as roasted beet salad is elevated to an art and has some unsual twist for the palate.
  17. sorry. Way back when we said 7:00pm. Hope that still works for everyone.
  18. I am just now back, but underwater at work. Fred, if you can continue to keep the total numbers, I would be grateful. We are in for two. I believe that we decided that we would not order in advance this time but would wait and order as a group with the more experienced diners taking the lead at guiding us through an appropriate array of dishes. We also agreed that barring unforseen extravagances by any particular indvidual or group, we would evenly split the check, even if we order tripe as a dish and not all of us eat it (spoken like a true lawyer, I know). edited to include the following: Fred, you were going to check and see if they could do a better seating arrangment and I was going to bring my egg timer. So far, we have: mongo 2 peppered 2 katzenjammy 3 colestove 2 amyh 2 rlm 2 fredbram 2 Did I miss anyone? I will try posting little bits and pieces of my trip on various message Boards . . the filles and I covered 5,000 miles, crossed through 19 states in three weeks. I think dining highlights were in DC (already posted), a great place in Camden Maine (based on egullet recs Cafe Miranda) and two fine dinners in Chicago (Feast and BlackBird). Last night, Mr.H and I had a date at the Kitchen in Boulder and, although like Sally Field, I really wanted to like it, we just thought that it was very plain. We ordered apps only but I felt like I was at a picnic with takeout from Whole Foods.
  19. Just to add my two cents as a visitor from Boulder. We went the night we arrived in DC. The "we" is myself and 9 yr old daughter and 11 year old son. Thursday night, around 8:30 pm. The place was packed, we were told the wait would be about 30 minutes. No problem, I headed over to the bar to try and flag down a bartender. My daughter decided to go over to the hostess stand to grab a menu to take a look at. She came back five minutes later and told me to come quick because they had a table for us. I was suspect that she was either a) mistaken or b) we were going to be placed in Siberia. Neither choice was correct. The hipster ponytailed host (not hostess) said he was impressed by the kid's poise and that a table was opening up by thr fornt window. So, I'm liking this place already. I can't do the names justice like many other posters, but we had the zuchini blossoms, spanikopita, baby quail in a molasses glaze that was excellent, fresh octopus (sorry, Sara that you did not have a good octopus experience), saganaki and the mantu nejla -- beef stuffed baby pasta shells with garlic yogurt, paprika butter and sumac (OK, I got unlazy and went to the website). We had the Turkish Coffee Chocolate and the Turkish Delight. for desserts. I enjoyed a glass of desert wine from Cyprus that went very well with the desserts. We had a very, very nice meal. As Sara said, some of the dishes were better than others, the quail and the beef really standout. We had good luck with the level of service ant attentiveness. Following other egullet suggestions, we also hit Zola for lunch after a morning at the Spy Museum. Great food, great service, a breakfast spot in Dupont Circle whose name escapes me that was OK, the Tune Inn for a patty melt, because I had to show my kids where Mom and Dad spent many an evening drinking pitchers of Natty Bo and arguing politics with our law school friends, and Bistro du Coin, for a late night after the monuments dinner, for very disappointing bistro food. It was not that the service was bad, as some here warned it could be eating at 11:00 near closing time, the food was just not that interesting or well flavored. Filomena's in Georgetown for lunch. Anyway, it was great to be back, if only for a weekend.
  20. Fred- Was in Philly last weekend but only time for one meal and was limited by geography, price and aging parents. We wound up at Trattoria PrimaDonna at 15th and Spruce, very good home cooked Italian, but there were so many places that I wanted to try! I will bring the egg timer.
  21. Geez Louise, I'm off getting Philly recommendations for this past weekend and there is mutiny in my absence! OK, July 24 at 7 at Dalat. Since we all love Fred and Fred loves Dalat, I nominate Fred to speak with the folks at Dalat once we have a head count to try and negotiate an amicable (and amiable) table configuration and determining if they will accomodate BYOB? I will remain responsible for a) reminders and b) gathering our total head count figure. Fair enuf?
  22. Bruce- As a big sweetbread fan, and one who is known to occassionally cook up a batch, can you share more on the preparation at Craftsteak?
  23. I'll bring the egg timer. FYI- at our house it is not used in the kitchen. It sits next to the computer and is used to keep track of children's time on computer games. Set timer at 30 minutes. Timer goes off, so does the computer. I am evil.
  24. STOP! Gross generalization about to be made by pushy attorney who doesn't know when to keep her mouth shut: For me, the point of meeting a group of relative strangers whose only certified common interest is a love/intense like of food and who have expressed a desire to take a flyer and continue on a less than regular basis to meet and share a meal, is the premise that the meal will be somewhat experimental (in terms of location or cuisine) and a shared experience. For me, that equals either pre-ordering or eating family style with a few splinter groups (particularly in a group of 20-25) perhaps ordering a dish or two that I choose not too sample, either because it is tripe or offal or a degree of spiciness that I prefer not to have. In such circumstance, I would not say, we orderered 12 dishes, but I only tasted 10, so I should only pay for 10/12 of the bill. Granted, if one day we decided to go to the Boulder Chop House together to have dinner (something I hope not to do), I would not expect to pass around my steak to other diners in the group and could see a non-sharing experience, but I also would not see that as a typical egullet endeavor. So to start of with the premise that there is going to be a family style table and a non-family style table or other delineation, for me, misses the point. The looong table did not work for conversation. Depending on the numbers, one or more round tables may be the best we can do. If it is, I would think that at some point in the meal, we may want to switch things up a bit. I was kidding about the egg timer and will rely on a regular watch to stand up and suggest that people move. end of rant. Sorry, it's been that kin d of a day.
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