Malawry

Dave, I will happily sous-chef if you run the brigade. I come with my own knives. I'll bring my digital camera too. Though if anybody else has one they should bring them as well, we cannot have enough documentation of this event. Else how will Tommy and Elyse entertain themselves in our absence?

Deep fried anchovies sound more Italian than Southern. Deep fried nightcrawlers??

If ya'll want to deep-fry savory things and sweet things we may want to transition the oil at some point. I'm only bringing enough for one fill-up of the fryer. Hush puppy oil can be used to fry either sweet or savory, but once you dump chicken wings and catfish in there you do not want pies going into the same oil. I think a deep-fried Moon Pie with a glass bottle of RC cola sounds like the perfect ending to this event, btw.

Gratineed French onion soup, in the style of L'academie de Cuisine (veg stock instead of chix stock) Seared salmon atop wilted baby spinach salad Roasted bananas with rum and coconut

Vengroff, what's the scale of that atomizer? It looks like a thermos in the image.

I ate there for dinner a year or so ago and had a whole fried fish. It was tasty, and it was a lot of food so I doubt it's on the lunch menu. Let us know what you had when you return.

I'd come, if it could fit in my budget.

Chickpea-coconut curry with carrot, yellow tomato, onion, red bell pepper Brown rice Raspberry yogurt for dessert.

Does your spouce know? Yes, he was sitting next to me in bed as I scribbled, or across from me at a cafe (he'd be reading a book in either circumstance). Now you've inspired me to drag out this diary. I drew little pictures too, and I'm not much of an artist. I drew a diagram of a typical Milanese cafeteria (these are narrow shops with long counters with premade sammiches, some pastries, a cappuccino bar, wine, and liquors on one side, and seating on the other side. My favorite was standing at the back by the cappuccino, people stand there to drink and gossip with friends and coworkers for long breaks.) In London I drew a picture of our table in a tiny nook at Food for Thought when we ate dinner there. It's a little vegetarian eatery in the Covent Garden area. The table was almost totally private and we sat on cushions rather than chairs and shared bowls of vegetable stir-fry over brown rice. Groovy. From another page, here's a list of items I noticed at the mini-Sainsbury's supermarket near our hotel: meringue nests, 3 varieties of King's syrup, at least 8 real butters including at least 1 from Normandy, unrefrigerated eggs, tinned beef, hard liquor, beer singles, jam-filled donuts, and premade sandwiches ranging from ordinary ham and cheese to baps with chicken tikka. Since then I've made a vow to visit a grocery whenever we're in another country. It's not all food, I drew pictures of contemporary art we saw in Italy and England, wrote details about people I observed in Hyde Park, documented shopping for shoes for both of us, etc etc.

Tweaked, I'm not sure, but you could try. I joined using a letter from a nonprofit, FWIW.

Restaurant Depot is not open to the public, so they may not be of use to you. You have to either present them with a business license showing you operate a food-related business (restaurant, catering operation etc), or you have to bring a copy of a tax letter from a nonprofit that you represent (ie, a school, a church, whatever). Anyway locations should be searchable at their website.

I don't know much about Stacks, but you won't find a Reuben at a Kosher deli...it contains meat and dairy, foods you can't combine under the rules of Kashrut. Regardless, I'm sorry Stacks was so disappointing. Have you tried the Reuben at Parkway Deli on Grubb Rd in Silver Spring, MD? It's pretty good. Parkway is the best "Kosher-style" deli near my neck of the woods.

The best food memory from my honeymoon comes from the night we ate at Joia in Milan. This is a vegetarian haute cuisine restaurant, one of very few I've ever heard of actually. I remember we were so tired, jet-lagged, we'd been in Italy for almost 3 days and were barely acclimated. It was so so sunny everywhere and we didn't speak the language at all, and we'd been surviving mostly off of what we could grab at quick cafeteria/bars until then. Normally before such a trip I would have studied up on restaurants, picked up a phrasebook, and learned about local dining customs before taking off, but with the wedding we had no time. Anyway. Joia. We ordered tasting menus. I remember one dish was a gelee, like a cylinder stuffed with a single flawless piece of asparagus...the gelee was infused with the most vibrant herb flavor, mostly basil. And there were thin pieces of what looked like dried asparagus on the plate, each topped with a tiny dot of real balsamico. I loved those little pieces, they were a little chewy and the dark green color looked cool against the herby gelee. In England I remember going to an Indian restaurant that stood out. It was a vegetarian place that specialized in Keralan cuisine...Rasa W1 was the name of it. One standout was an appetizer of some sort of unusual banana dredged in chickpea flour and fried. At the time of my honeymoon I ate fish but no meat or fowl. In London we relied on a guidebook we purchased entitled Vegetarian London by Alex Bourke and Paul Gaynor. In Italy we consumed mostly pasta, cappuccino, and gelato. Lots and lots of gelato. Gelato twice a day each of the four days we were there. I kept a daily journal on our honeymoon, including everything we ate that seemed relevant at the time. I'm sure this journal will make for enjoyable memory-rejuvenation in the future.

Did you acquire the kokum and the pomfret around DC? If so, where? And will you please make this for me sometime? Monica, thanks for a wonderful story. It's got me thinking back to my own newlywed days and the food we ate in Italy and England while honeymooning.

I'll be there. Perhaps I can make ya'll some sweet tea to wash it all down with. I can show up fairly early if need be, to work on dinner prep.

OK, I plan to be there around 6:30. Al, if you order hookers, I will not be splitting them with you. I'll get my own.

Not sure what's going on Friday. Unfortunately my budget unexpectedly shrunk dramatically due to unanticipated expenses this month, and I don't know if I can afford to eat at Magnolia Grill. I would be up for a less-luxe get-together Friday night, however. Is there widespread interest? Varmint, any suggestions?

So are we still on for Stoney's tomorrow night (Monday)? What time? I'd prefer 6:30 since I'm an early-to-bed sort, though I suspect Stoney's on a Monday isn't one of those places where it's a big deal if people wander in to join a party after they've taken a table.

The first rule of burger club is, nobody talks about the burger club.

Linguine primavera with shrimp Garlic bread A big red-leaf-lettuce salad Ahhh, Americana.

I met with Chefette and Edemuth at the bar at Vidalia for drinks and snacks last night. The newly remodeled restaurant has a contemporary, slick look to it, with frosted glass covering magnolia leaves and flowers as the primary background. I didn't see the entire dining room but did get a peek at most of it. It's a cool, modern look, with off-white and sage tones accented with dark wood. Chefette admired a suspended shelf crowded with white pillar candles that hung over the one large table in the bar area. There's an interesting wine list by the glass, including options for either small tastes or full glasses of over 20 wines. Flights of 3oz tastes are available, designed as each of the 4 or 5 wines from a single category for about $20. Seemed like a pretty good deal. The list is somewhat whimsically-written. What's on their website for "by the glass" selections is not updated (click on Vidalia to go to their list). There are also some Southern-style bar snacks available, including pickled shrimp, hush puppies with pickled okra, and ham biscuits. (This made me rueful, since Vidalia did not have the desired ham biscuits available when Adam Balic came to visit, and he'd wanted to try them.) Naturally the regular menu is also available at the bar. There were dishes of spiced pecans and marinated olives available for snacking. We ordered devilled eggs ($8.50) and macaroni and cheese ($5.50, I think) to share. The eggs were tasty but frankly outrageously overpriced; a serving was only three halves! They were fairly traditional, with completely smooth creamy filling. One was decorated with paprika, one with caviar, and one with some sort of housemade pickle relish. They arrived in a clover-shaped dish with three indentations, a clever presentation. Macaroni and cheese was more amply sized, an individual casserole filled with pasta in a terrific goat cheese sauce accented with truffle oil. Edemuth dunked some of the bread from our bread basket into the dish after we finished to rescue the last of the sauce; we didn't want it to go to waste. Chefette took off later, but Edemuth and I were still peckish so we agreed to order more food. She selected the Georgia pecan pie with praline ice cream from the dessert menu, while I ordered the fried chicken drumsticks with cream gravy off of the bar menu. The pie looked more like a tart when it came out, with a thick gooey layer of that separated dark pecan-pie custard topped with a substantial layer of crunchy pecans. The ice cream was situated to the side and accented with chewy-crisp bits of candy. A beaker of dark, rich chocolate sauce was served on the side (a good thing, since Edemuth and I both believe that pecan pie should not be dredged in chocolate sauce). The sauce was thick enough that when she poured some of it onto her plate, I picked up a taste using the tines of my fork and the indentations from the tines remained visible for several seconds. The chicken drumsticks were hot, juicy and crisp around the edges, served with a thin but very flavorful cream gravy that tasted as though it were enriched with deeply concentrated chicken stock. By the way, the full menu has undergone some redevelopment. I didn't study it intensely but I noted that they revamped most of the entrees. They have retained some of the old favorites like the vidalia-and-cheese-casserole side dish. The macaroni is available as a side dish as well. Laura Bush was eating there last night. Chefette exchanged a small smile with her on the street before they entered. Has anybody else been there since they reopened?

A salad inspired by one on the menu at 15 ria, chef Jamie Leeds: bibb lettuce, shaved red onion, macerated dried cranberries, nuggets of goat cheese Two English muffins with butter. I'm trying to eat up all the bread products I'd frozen before the power outages, since I don't think they should be refrozen and I don't want to waste them.

Yeah, strangely enough none of the other things I bought from the mill were infested. And fortunately the infestation didn't spread at all since I keep everything airtight once it's been opened. So, uh, no worries about those hush puppies.

Wait, if Mark's fuzzy, he better not be serving any customers. Bad service issue: hair in food.

Hi Mark, I read Tom's chat every week religiously. I can see how it would get old having unknown customers attack your restaurant week after week. I do think a lot of diners are too timid to speak up. I've been in that position myself. Just the same I'm grateful for the anonymity of Tom's chat...I get lots of good information, positive AND negative, that I wouldn't get otherwise from those anonymous posts. For example I learned about the popovers at Normandie Farm in Potomac from somebody who wrote in yesterday; it sounds like a fun restaurant and I'd never even heard of it until somebody wrote in. For a long time I protected my own anonymity on the Internet, including here on eGullet. Fat Guy talked me into using my real name in my signature when I started keeping a diary of my experiences as a student at L'academie here on eG. I do think my words carry more weight when I stand behind them with my real name. It's unfortunate that the programming for Live Online chats encourages anonymity by not suggesting people use names. Just the same I find Live Online far more useful than, say, the anonymous reader reviews on washingtonpost.com. I think Tom does a good job of fielding a cantakerous public, asking for follow-ups (remember he asked about an explanation to yesterday's negative comment about Citronelle), and calling foul when something totally doesn't jibe with his experience. In a more general sense I wonder sometimes about bad service experiences in fine dining restaurants. I'm in my 20s and have never felt age discrimination to speak of, and I rarely have truly bad service such that I might complain about. I don't drink much either, my limit is about two drinks (usually a cocktail and a single glass of wine with most dinners) and my partner who often dines with me doesn't drink at all. When I spent a night in the front of the house at Ortanique I could see personally how satisfaction with service varied depending on the diner's mood when they walked in. I suspect a lot of people who call age discrimination or who decry bad service for nondrinkers are expecting to see those practices, and they approach the table with that attitude. This is not to say I don't think such discrimination happens, just that coming in ready for a good time is more likely to lead to having a good time. I couldn't help but wonder if an off night at Palena led the person who wrote in to expect an off night at Citronelle too...that maybe they were on the lookout for it, or were already tense and defensive when they came in the door. They said they were in Palena one night and Citronelle the next after all. BTW, Mark, you must follow up on your comment about Citronelle's iced tea. What makes it the best in town?