vengroff

the big draw is the all you-can-eat sushi bar.

Well foodwise, which is what we care about here, it's clearly a bad decision. Cruise ships, in stark contrast to the city of New York, are not generally known for their fine cuisine. And among cruise ships, this one didn't even make this list of the top 70. One of it's sister ships, the Norwegian Sky, just barely made the overall top 70, with dreadful food scores. A friend and long-time DC area resident claims the local dining scene was more alive during the Clinton administration than it is now. I don't know if this is true or not, but the hammer doesn't seem to put much value on interesting dining.

No, not the BdC! The French embassy will have to annex it and declare diplomatic immunity.

The vegetarian brunch at Cafe Atlantico is an excellent bet.

I've been on this brunch kick lately, and today it took me to Firefly. What a gem of a brunch. It doesn't seem to be that well known except to the guests upstairs at the Madera hotel, but it absolutely ought to be. The menu is small, but it covers a good range of sweet and savory, traditional and non-traditional brunch dishes. For all of you out there who love the fried oysters, you've got to try them with a spicy old bay bloody mary. If that doesn't get you going on a Sunday morning head straight for the nearest hospital because you are clinically dead. We also had a nice selection of pastries served in the same copper pails user for bread at dinner time. A winter medley soup of parsnips, sweet potato and chicken stock topped with a crisp bruniose of tart apple kept up the Firelfy tradition of really excellent soups. The oatmeal expert in our party also gave a big thumbs up to the maple and pecan covered rendition on offer. For main courses, orecchiette with roast chicken and safron and a hearty portion of steak and eggs were clear winners. Salmon cakes with cheese grits were really intriguing, and I think I will have to give them a try next time. With the holiday season approaching and visits from friends and relatives immenent, I'm going to keep this one in my back pocket ready to go.

This sounds great, Brian. I look forward to getting up there at some point. The one thing that struck me was the prices on your sample menu. They really seem low--especially the seafood and meat selections. $9 CDN for grilled wild line-caught sockeye? $14-16 CDN for prime dry-aged steaks? $8 CDN for leg of lamb? I've never heard of such incredible bargains. I wonder if, even at high volume, you can really cover your costs at that kind of price point.

We went again yesterday under the misinformed notion that they would have brunch on a Saturday, which they do not. The meatloaf sandwich was good, but when you have your mind set on those cheese grits, anything else is a letdown. We politely inquired if there was any possibility of obtaining grits, but alas, none were to be had. Obviously it was our own fault for not calling ahead to check.

How about Nuevo Huevo? It's a kind of cross-cultural new wave cooking with balls.

December 3rd is your lucky day, Rocks. Click-click.

Where is it for sale? I searched amazon and came up with nothing but Robert Sietsema's New York ethnic food books.

Our brined and stretch-trussed 8lb capon was the best thanksgiving bird I've had in a long time. My mom and I made a pretty awesome pumkin pie. I did the crust and she made the filling from a recipe she got from some women's magazine in the 70's. Toasted corn pudding was good too.

If it has no settings, just a button to push to turn it in, it is most likely a blade grinder. This is the lesser quality type as per Holly's post. If it is cylidrical, about eight inches high and three inches in diameter, and has a removable top that covers a chamber with a metal propeller-looking thing, then it is the blade type. As for the amount of coffee, about 7g per cup gives me good results in a vacuum press. It may vary up or down in other types of machines.

I recently saw it listed on a menu as "burnt cream" which doesn't make it sound all that appetizing. I asked if it was indeed creme brulee, and it was.

If you're referring to the obelisk that's the Washington Monument, I agree: don't miss it - that's the only one in this town that has had proper upkeep (though I strongly preferred it when it was draped with blue fabric). You can get a great view of the Washington Monument from the cafe on the top of the Hotel Washington on 15th St NE. Sadly the food there does not live up to the view.

That's the Hotel Monaco you're talking about, right? Poste is there too. I like Klimton hotels too.

Only if you want to have the sauce on the side or substitute brocolli for mashed potatoes. If so, heaven help you.

Just thought I'd bump this back up. A friend of mine recently stayed at the Hotel Madera and enjoyed it. It's also the home of Firefly, which is well worth a visit. Your best bet is probably to scroll down through the threads here. From Matchbox to Nectar, minibar, Charlie Palmer Steak, Maestro, Citronelle and many points in between, there is some interesting cooking going on here. Klc's work can be found at Jaleo, Zaytinya, and Cafe Atlantico. Don't leave town without visiting one or more of them.

Any triple-cream cheese from Normandy Long aged (>12m) manchego Maytag blue or similar I don't go so much for soft goat cheeses; I much prefer the less-common aged varieties, like Le Chevrot and its older cousins.

I ended up at Elliot's, after a harrowing walk down the hill on Seneca St. in the midst of a sleet storm. When I got there, I went straight for the oyster bar, which is probably the best place for a single diner. Mike the oyster shucker was ready and willing to explain all there was to know about species, cultivation techniques, and terrior. Around fifteen varieties were offered, of which I sampled six or seven. They ranged from the tiny quarter-sized olympics up to a couple of monster pacific varieties. I had the Maryhill Sauvignon with the oyster course. One thing I found unusual is that the mignionette is served frozen--it's a sort of red wine vinegar and shallot sorbet. Mike said that when it is served in the traditional liquid form, too many people overuse it and destroy the subtle flavors of the oyster. I know the problem he is describing, but my solution is usually to skim a few shallots off the top and season the oyster with them, rather than pouring the sauce. I'm not convinced the frozen technique is optimal. After the oysters, it was on to half a Dungeness crab, served cold with three dipping sauces. I particularly liked the spicy mayo. I was warned that there was some work involved in extracting the meat, but compared to blue crabs, it was no problem at all. The flavor of hte crab was excellent, and if the texture had been just a bit firmer, it would have been perfect. About halfway through the crab, an alder-planked filet of king salmon and a glass of King's Ridge Pinot Noir arrived. I was expecting these, although there had clearly been some miscommunication in the kitchen which resulted in the fish being fired way too early. To my servers credit, he realized there was a problem before he even set the plate down and offered to return the fish to the kitchen. After an appropriate amount of time, a new piece of fish was delivered. They serve their salmon three different ways. I chose the alder planked, which is convection roasted atop a plank of alder wood. It was rich and smooth in both color and flavor, with a nice crisply sealed surface. A really excellent example of what a good piece of salmon can be. I finished with a perfectly acceptable creme brulee from a desert card that was long on tradition. I also had a tawny port. I guess I'm a certified Seattle tourist now, since in addition to eating at Elliot's, I carried an umbrella when it was raining, and walked across a empty street against a light, which got me a chorus of dirty looks from the pedestrians patiently waiting on the other side. Luckily there was no cop around to give me a ticket. I always forget about that when I go to Seattle.

With eGullet's software upgrade and redesign, the Post had to do something to keep up....

Murky Coffee has good coffee.

Mostly we just wish we lived/worked somewhere else....

Here is artisanbaker's camera-phone picture of the breakfast:

Later in the meal, consider a rich vanilla-bourbon milkshake alongside your pumpkin pie instead of whipped cream on top.

I went for the first time today, for brunch. I'm eager to return for dinner soon, as there were some definite high points. Majestic opened at 11, and by 11:15 it was filling up. Having arrived just in time, we began with white peach bellinis and blood orange mimosas, and some really excellent coffee roasted at Misha's across the street. A basket of assorted breads and butter got us going while we looked over the menu. The highlight of the meal was a ramekin of cheese grits. They were just about everything grits could ever be, and then some. They were light and fluffy and full of the rich cheese flavor one finds in the best homemade macaroni and cheese. There were also some tiny flecks of pink pork, either bacon or ham, I'm not sure, for added flavor. We also had some nice waffles, homemade apple sauce, and an intriguing dish that's new to the menu, deep-fried poached eggs. The eggs are poached, then coated in panko and deep fried. These upscale scotch eggs are them served over a bowl of "caviar lentils" with a tarragon vinagrette. The lentils were very much like puy lentils, if perhaps a bit smaller. I though the combination was good, but I would have liked it even better it the yolks had been runny. The double cooking leaves them just firm. I'm not sure if it is possible for them to be runny--they would have to be very lightly poached, I suspect--but that really would have made the dish for me. But that's just me--others may prefer their eggs more thoroughly cooked. Other brunch menu items which we didn't get a chance to try included steak and eggs, a burger, homemade corned beef hash and eggs, and trout. Plain grits and hash browns are also available as sides, but it would be hard to get me to stray from the cheese grits. I found it well worth a pleasant Sunday drive out to Old Town and look forward to returning.