vengroff

That was all the birthday present I needed. Those oysters rule. Besides, I celebrated last week when I was in Florida, so this didn't really count.

That sounds reasonable to me. Shall we get the posts moved to the Firefly thread, and the title changed on this one? Will do this afternoon, unless there are major objections raised before then.

I think this is a great thread, and certainly the Firefly event was a lot of fun. I'd like to toss out an idea, though. Perhaps we should use this thread primarily for proposing event sites and making arrangements, and move comments on specific places we visit to dedicated restaurant-specific threads. For example, detailed comments and pictures from Firefly could go into this thread. That way information on any given restaurant, whether from a whim visit or otherwise, will be centralized for future generations to enjoy. Thoughts?

It was great to see everyone, and thanks again to John and Tricia, our most gracious hosts. The oysters, gnocchi, and lamb steak were all big winners.

I am so eagerly awaiting the opening of the DC branch of Rosa Mexicano. Just a month or two to go.

The appliances are supposed to be delivered tomorrow morning. I'm crossing my fingers. Pink wine rules. White zin gives it an ill-deserved bad name. See you all tomorrow.

Depends on her workload at the office. 50/50 at this point.

If you are willing to buy by the dozen, your best price/performace bet is to find a decent-sized restaurant supply shop in your area. Many claim to sell to the trade only, but I have never had problems walking in, picking out what I want, and paying cash.

We just got back from the keys, with a few recs to add to those above. We had a nice big relatively inexpensive lobster at a "locals" place called Sharky's near the MM100 marina in Key Largo. It's further back from the road than the touristy Coconuts. Just keep walking along the canal until you see it. The best, if perhaps not most key-traditional, meal we had was at a year-old restaurant called nine one five. It's at 915 Duval St. in Key West. It's mostly Tapas-sized dishes, with a wide range of influences, from Spain, to the Caribbean, to Asia. The chefs are from Oregon and somehow ended up on the opposite corner of the country. My favorite dish was the tuna dome, which is a dome of dungeness crab and chopped granny smith apples wrapped in strips of sashimi tuna; it's served with Mirin and an Asian red-chili sauce. A plate of chorizo, manchego, and aged goat cheese was also a real winner. The wine list is eclectic and reasonably priced. We had a nice Alsatian Riesling. We also tried Shula's on The Beach on Key West. This place is all about portion size. Everything is monstrous, from the certified Angus steaks, to the pound-and-a-half baked potatoes. Even a side of brocolli was an entire head. The strange thing was that they featured Australian lobster tails, at $4.75/oz. That morning I had been snorkelling on the reef just a few miles away, and seen no shortage of either lobsters or lobster traps. Are the Australian lobsters really that much better that it's worth flying them halfway around the world? What about Maine? It's a lot closer, and you would get claws too. We skipped the lobster and stuck with steak, which was well matched with a '99 Three Rivers Walla Walla Cabernet. $70 was on the high side for this bottle, but everything else was similarly marked up. This particular Shula's sell a lot of Opus One to go with their big big steaks. We heard good things about Alice's at La Te Da, but it was closed for vacation when we were there.

Also, just one little reminder regarding this and similar events. Please note the following from the eGullet User Agreement: Thanks, and I look forward to seeing all of you there.

I'm in.

Damn, it looks like I picked the wrong week to be out of town.

Bartelby, I see your point, and I hadn't thought of it before. But I don't think we can fault Donna for opening Laboratorio only three nights a week any more than we can fault Adria for only opening half the year. If he feels that's the most appropriate way to operate his business, that's up to him. Every restaurant has a limited number of seats available. Whether the scarcity is a result of limited space in the dining room or limited opening times, the effect is pretty much the same from the diner's point of view.

Thanks, Joe. I'll try not to say much more until I try Laboratorio once and for all. But just to clarify, I'm not suggesting that the recipes or ingredients are the same as his other places. Instead, I'm merely suggesting that if he is not at the top of his game at lower price levels, it makes me wonder whether he is at the top price level. That's why I have been more interested in, and have gone to, Maestro and Citronelle first. By way of analogy, suppose that based on my driving experience I thought Chevrolet cars were not a good value in their price range as compared to Hondas. Suppose that I also found Buicks to be inferior to Lincolns. Then given the choice between a Cadillac (part of the same GM empire as Chevy and Buick) and a similarly priced BMW, my previous experience with GM might cause me to turn away from the Cadillac and towards the BMW. That's the position I find myself in with Donna. I'm looking forward to finding out that my suspicions are misguided.

I have not yet been to Laboratorio. But I have been to some other parts of the Donna empire, and those visits have a lot to do with why I haven't gone to Laboratorio yet. I found them to be sub-par for their price-points and target market. In one case, the Il Radicchio location on Capitol Hill, two of the dishes were inedible. I don't expect him to serve what he does at Laboratario for Il Radicchio prices, but I do expect something above the average of what other places offer for that price. Seeing how Donna lets these places founder bothers me a lot. There are two possibilities: one is that he is a great chef de cuisine but a sub-par manager who doesn't care if his name is associated with some really terrible food; the other is that his work is below standard at all price levels. Your comments and those of others, lead me to believe the former. But my lingering doubts about the latter possibility have kept me from visiting. I would certainly appreciate further input on the matter.

I understand it is now sold out. Congratulations on acting quickly. I look forward to hearing about how it goes. And welcome to eGullet!

At WD50 in NYC, you can get a flattened oyster. Word on the street is it tastes like an oyster, but it's flat. I haven't been to the new mini-bar, but I've been to brunch and Cafe Atlantico. There, the Adria techniques are anything but gimmicks. The shot of potato vanilla foam with caviar is the dish that turned me from a skeptic to a supporter of this movement.

Mark, Any interest in being fitted for a wireless web-cam lapel pin for next time?

Laboratorio always comes up in discussions like this. One of these days I have to get over there. Cafe 15 has got to be considered a contender. As far as I@LW goes, I think once you get up to a Zagat 29, you pretty much stay there as long as you stay open for business. You get a lot of tourists coming through who don't have a lot of experience with some of the really excellent places that are getting the 23's and 24's. If it's a once a year $600 blowout, it better be good, so they write back to Zagat and give it a 29 or 30. I'm going to go out on a limb here and pull out a name that hasn't come up yet as my #3: Cafe Atlantico. It's not aspiring to be the kind of room that Maestro and Citronelle are, but the creativity is fantastic, especially at Brunch.

My understanding is that this event is sold out. However, I think there are still tickets available to the Rising Stars event next month. It sounds like it is going to be a very nice evening.

I just discovered an instant favorite at Litteri's. Cherry peppers stuffed with die-sized cubes of parmesan cheese wrapped in proscuitto. The stuffed peppers are then packed in olive oil. Hot, salty, savory, and smooth all in one little package. They are $9.99/lb, which works out to about $.70 each. A couple of them make a great side for one of Litteri's sandwiches.

Nobody showed up for work today. I don't know if that's better or worse than last Friday when they were here but three cans of Pepsi mysteriously disappeared from the mini-fridge I bought. My new fridge is supposed to have already been installed, but apparently they delivered it to another customer who yelled louder than me and now they have to order a replacement. And the contractor wonders why I am hesitant to give them a key to the house so they can keep working when I go out of town later this week.

This from the Latin American category, in which Cafe Atlantico took second place. Notice that in that category there are only nine on the list. This seems to imply that the Post chose the ten entries in each category and that the voters merely ordered them. Anyone have any further details?

These days a lot of college campuses are installing shopping mall style food courts in place of dining halls. Students can charge Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and so on to their meal plans.

The readers of washingtonpost.com have spoken. And here is what they had to say. As is usual with these things, there is a disclaimer: "A non-scientific tally of washingtonpost.com readers. Results do not represent the opinions of editors of washingtonpost.com or The Washington Post." They may or may not represent the opinions of eGulleteers. Here's your chance to weight in. Some interesting highlights: neither Laboratorio nor Maestro appear in the top 10 Italian; Kinkead's is number one for seafood; and, of course, the Cheesecake Factory is #1 for comfort food. Tryst edges out Starbucks for best coffee. My beloved Murky didn't make the top 10. There's no category for French (or is that Freedom?) or for American, which I guess is what comfort food is supposed to cover. All Asian is lumped together in one category. Any other thoughts or comments on the lists?