vengroff

Flipping though the same issue, I just ran across an ad for Cook For the Cure, a program where chefs create special menus and donate a portion of the profits to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Locally, Jose Andres (Jaleo), Roberto Donna (Galileo), Scott Houghton (Ortanique), and Katsuya Fukushima (Cafe Atlantico) are participating.

This month's Gourmet has a little pull out guide to America's best restaurants. (It also has Eric Ripert on the cover, looking like he is trying out for a Green Day tribute band, but that's a whole seperate story.) The guide is supposed to be something you pull out when you've just gotten off the plane in San Diego, or Boston, or Chicago, or wherever and you're looking for someplace good to eat (Silly you, you didn't check eGullet before you got on the plane). Each city gets six restaurants, one for business, one personal favorite, one with a buzz, and three neighborhood gems. In DC, the choices are : Business: TenPenh, because it has the looks and wine list of a top steakhouse, but a more exotic menu. Buzz: Maestro, because Fabio and his team pull together the traditional, the luxurious, and the avant garde like no others. Personal Favorite: Galileo, including Laboratorio and the bar/cafe for Donna's staying power and ability to cover all bases. An unusual choice, I thought, if only because so many commentators make a very clear distinction between the Lab and what goes on in the rest of the building. If Laboratorio alone were picked, I would not have been surprised at all. [Mental note to self: You've been in DC for a while now, get your butt down to the Lab already.] Neighborhood Gems: Zaytinya, for it's elegant versatility, dress-up/dress-down flexibility, and cooking unmatched by many higher-priced competitors; Heritage India for standing above it's Indian competitors with elegant styling and subtle flavorings, despite irregular service; and Thai Square, for bringing distinctive flair to traditional Thai cooking in an affordable, family-friendly atmosphere. I wonder how other eGulleteers would have voted. Please follow up with your thoughts. Note that there is no explanation of the categories, which makes the neighborhood one subject to especially wide interpretation, or who the person(s) who chose the personal favorites were. One other note from the booklet. There is a very nice picture of a dollop of caviar served in an eggshell. I thought it might have been from Citronelle until I read the caption that credited Everest in Chicago.

On a related note: With commercially produced poultry, the working assumption is that it is contaminated with harmful bacteria that need to be killed. Is this due to the inherent nature of the animal, or how it is processed? In other words, if I was holding a healthy live chicken and had the appropriate level of knowledge and skill, could I produce a safe, bacteria-free carcass ready to go into the roasting pan?

"Forget Arnold and Arianna," writes Mike Steinberger of Slate, "the real farce is what's become of California wines.... If Californians want to recall something, they might start with all those insipid chardonnays."

Plus, it's fun to say. Spatchcock Spatchcock Spatchcock Spatchcock Spatchcock Spatchcock Spatchcock Spatchcock Spatchcock Spatchcock Spatchcock Spatchcock Spatchcock In the name of trying something new, not to mention appeasing baby lovers the world over, I hereby resolve that I shall spatchcock my next bird.

Don't forget volume. For many people, if you are going to spend $12.95 or more, you better get a damn big portion. If at least some part of the meal is all-you-can-eat, that's even better. Half the quantity of a higher quality product at the same price point doesn't cut it in our supersized world.

Burnt? Hardly. It's moist and evenly cooked from breast to thigh, with a crisp golden brown skin. Once you quarter it, it looks like every other roast chicken--but it tastes better.

I've been wanting to try Chef Fowke's trussing technique ever since I saw it on this thread. As of today, my new kitchen was finally sufficiently functional to give it a go. Besides, the range still doesn't work, so what better first meal than a roast chicken. I did my best to follow Chef Fowke's directions. Whether I tied it precisely as he does or not, I'm not sure, but I got the general idea close enough to get good results. Here are a couple of pictures that illustrate the change in shape of the chicken, from a 3-1/2 lb bowling ball to a lean, mean, skin-crisping machine. Here it is covered in olive oil, salt, pepper, and rosemary about to go into a 390F convection oven along with some potatoes and cipollini onions. And fifty minutes later it's crisp and golden. I don't see the baby analogy. Siamese twin ducks, maybe... Fifteen minutes in the warming drawer waiting for my dinner companion to arrive. And then it's quartered and ready for service. It was super simple and the best roast chicken I've ever made. A perfect way to christen the new kitchen. Now if only the range worked....

Apps are about $8 up to $15 for foie gras or a four ceviche sampler. Soup or salads range from about $6 to $9. Entrees are high teens to mid twenties. Desserts are $7. Portion size was perfectly acceptable to me.

Now we are talking about a whole diffferent issue; the problem isn't anonymity, it's cyber-stalking. Anyone who has such a bad opinion about the service at a particular restaurant that they need to repeat it over and over again in every possible forum should really just try to move on, find someplace else to eat, and look into getting some semblence of a life.

First of all, I've always thought that the live chat has got to be one tough gig. As Tom mentioned, there are a hell of a lot of interested parties hiding behind the facade of anonymity. Picking them out from a screen full of questions is never going to be a 100% perfect proposition. Second, I think it's great that Tom offers Mark and others a chance to reply to criticism. I doubt there is a single chef, sommelier, manager, or owner whose reply Tom wouldn't publish in his chat. And I think it's great that Mark is willing to engage the chatters, however frustrating it can become. It shows that he is committed to what he is doing, and to doing it right. But back to the specific issues of anonymity and accountability. What does the typical anonymous chatter want? In many cases, they just want an answer to a question like, "where can I get a good turkey molé in this town?" or "where should I go for a great seafood mean on my anniversary?" They see the chat as sort of an interactive dining guide where the act of looking something up in the index is replaced by typing a short query to the person who just happens to have written the book. I don't think a lot of chatters want any more interaction than that. But when it comes to lodging complaints, particularly against a specific restaurant, things are a little different. There are two reasons for a chatter to complain: because they hope the problem will be corrected; or because they feel a duty to warn their fellow diners about a situation they feel is intolerable. In the former, anonymity reduces the chance that their particular grievance will be addressed directly. In the latter, readers' lack of knowledge about the complaintant's background and biases necessarily reduces their credibility. In either case, a willingness to engage in a dialogue is going to be more productive than posting an anonymous complaint and walking away. Within the confines of the chat format, I think Tom does all he can to create a back-and-forth discussion. He does this by printing Mark's replies and Gillian Clarke's rants, soliciting recommendations for dining in cities he has not visited, and letting participants tell other chatters it is unreasonable to expect a fine-dining establishment to offer a McDonald's-style playland for their children. Here at eGullet, we can pick up where he is necessarily forced to leave off.

Cool. What kind of bait did you use? And what are those other fish waiting to be cleaned? Triggerfish or something along those lines?

That's easy, it has to be a midnight parrotfish.

Spearfishing is the only way I've seen people go after parrotfish. It's got to be a lot harder at night. They munch on coral, so you can't exacty use a baited hook like with other fish.

I second what John says. I really don't know any of the brands, but looking for the two key words "junmai" and "diaginjo" on the label has always gotten me a smooth drinkable product.

Joe, I'm not sure if it's much use to you, but within the district you can get your violane nano arborio at A. Litteri off 6th NE just above Florida Ave. I could also almost swear that I have seen mauri gorgonzola dolce at the P Street Whole Foods location. I'll try to verify next time I am there. Am I correct in assuming you pair the two in a rissotto?

Corner of 14th and G. (202) 393-3983

Chef Vinod at Indique here in Washington, DC splits monster prawns of that size and puts them in the tandoor. Here is the result: For Varavul, he uses much smaller specimens.

I believe that in Quechua, the language of Tawantinsuyu, which colonialists like you and I know as the Inca empire, this dish was referred to as a "hooker."

I forgot to mention that the shrimp in the Moqueca were served deviened, but otherwise whole, as opposed to decapitated. That's a big plus in my book.

A confluence of unexpected events led me to stop in for dinner at Ceiba. In general I would like to give a place a little more time to find its feet before saying a whole lot about it, but since the debate has already started, here goes... I almost ordered the Red Snapper Vera Cruz, and probably would have if I had seen the comments above, just to be able to weigh in on it. But I had the Moqueca instead. Ceiba's version of this fish stew is made with lobster tail, mussels, and shrimp and served over rice. Farofa (I think) and hot sauce were served on the side. The stew itself was quite straightforward. Nothing at all was wrong with how it was cooked, but it was very mild. Stirring in the hot sauce helped a lot. I wasn't looking for a three alarm fire, but I think the base-line seasoning was too restrained for all but the most delicate of palates. To start I had duck confit empanadas. They were deep fried so the exteriors were crisp. I was happy with them, but I found the thin bitter orange dipping sauce a bit of a distraction. For dessert, a very cripsy batch of churros were accompanied by a nice demitasse of thick rich mexican chocolate. Considering they had only been open a few days, service was really very good. Some of the servers were training others in real time, but it didn't create any unnecessary distractions from our point of view. The only other minor gripe concerns the stemware. The flared flutes look lovely on the tables and complement the flowers and the rest of the decor marvelously. They also make perfect water glasses. But I don't think they are the best way to show off the finer points of an $11 glass of Rioja. We loved the wine, just not how it was served. Any and all of the issues I raised can easily be dealt with, so at this point I really have to reserve judgement. I'd love to see this place grow into a solid reliable spot in that neigborhood. It's already trouncing its neighbor Old Ebbits, so that's something, but I'd like to believe it is capable of even more.

One of these times El Nuevo Wong Grande is going to have to come up. Or Full Kee if it ever reopens.

Here we all are, in stereo, almost:

I've just gotten back online. I want to thank Monica again for organizing this event, and Chef Vidod for the incredible eleven course meal he served us over the course of five marvelous hours. And thanks to all of you who attended. Here are some of the pictures I took, to help you relive the experience, and to encourage those who were not able to attend to try Indique on their own. We began with Aam Ka Panna, a raw green mango drink which our table thought of as a liquid papadam. Another favorite at our table was the shrimp varuval, whose sauce had incredible depth. It was served as part of the Samundar Platter along with calamari and crab. The shrimp is the darker timbale on the left of the plate. Next up was the Shakahari Platter of vegetarian specialties. The platter of kababs included this massive prawn, which I thought was great. For those of you who didn't see these things in person, they are about the size of the palm of my hand, and I'm no dainty little fellow. The biriyani was baked in crokery with a protective coating of bread. The bread was cut away tableside to reveal rice; each and every grain was seperate and tender, as shown here. I was also enamored of this small dish of chopped vegetables. There was much more to the meal. I have only begun to scratch the surface with these photos. But I have to include this shot of the dessert plate of mango cheese flan and cardamom ice cream with orange sauce. Thanks again to Chef Vinod, Monica, and everyone who attended.

Schneider's of Capitol Hill was a madhouse this afternoon. There's going to be some serious hitting the bottle around here, and it's not going to be water.