vengroff

If you find yourself on Capitol Hill in DC, Murky Coffee does a ristretto. They used to be in Georgetown too, but lost their lease.

Welcome, DrinkBoy. If you haven't already done so, be sure to check out the Dale DeGroff Q&A we had a while back. I think you'll find his perspective quite interesting.

What is the deposit per bottle in California? Over a billion bottles being worth $26 million suggests it is less than 2.6 cents per bottle. Usually 5 cents is the minumum any state bothers with. Do some of them not have a deposit, or did somebody do the math wrong?

Well, not much of a web site yet, but it's under construction at http://www.matchboxdc.com/.

Ella's Wood Fired Pizza will be at 9th and F or so. Just a block down from Zaytinya. That's all I know. Sounds like two people had the same idea about that area needing a decent place for pizza.

Le Tarbouche also has belly dancing. The food is hit and miss.

We are in the very early stages of planning our first trip to the Florida Keys. We'll mostly be in Key West, but we'll be driving the whole length and probably stopping in a couple of other spots. Where should we eat? We're interested in the full range, from cheap local specialties at roadside shacks to top-end fine dining. Fire away...

Utah's first winery opened in 1989. At least according to the Castle Creek Winery web site in Moab. Nothing like a cool glass of Utah Chardonnay after a long dusty day of mountain biking.

I met some Japanese diplomats today. We spoke at length about Ichiro-san's success in Seattle, and eventually turned to food. They recommended Makoto as far and away the most authentic Japanese food in town. They said it was founded by the personal chef of a former high-ranking Japanese diplomat and named in his honor. Thay said the omakase is well prepared, authentic, and well priced at $45 + supplements for toro and a few other items. Have any eGulleteers been?

That's great news about the corkage waiver. CP was smart about choosing a location. It's now the closest fine-dining restaurant to the Senate. The address is on Constitution, but the entrance is actually a block up Lousiana on the side of the building. They also have access to a space on the roof for private functions.

13' by 10'. Having just moved from Manhattan, that should seem large, but it doesn't. In New York, the main room of our loft was 19' by 34'. It could be reconfigured easily to adjust the relative square footage devoted to kitchen, dining, living, and office space. We did buffet dinners for as many as 60, sit downs for close to 20.

I haven't been, but would love to hear about it. Please post a report after you go. A friend of mine who works on the hill say it has become an instant favorite of the lobbyist crowd. I'm not sure if that is good or bad.... Order steak, of course! One other thing, they have an all-American wine list. They hired a guy to travel around the country to try to find at least one wine from every single state. I don't know if he's got them all yet, but he has found an Alaskan berry wine of some sort.

Dear Tom, On behalf of the eGullet community, I would like to thank you for participating in this Q&A session. It's been a real treat to have you come in and answer our questions intellegently, insightfully, and accesibly. I wish you continued success and look forward to continuing to read your work.

The spicy meatball did look like a good choice. The other thing I forgot to mention is dessert. They didn't have anything beyond some ice cream when I was there, but promised that a dessert menu would appear soon. Any scoop in this Steve?

Matchbox is pretty cool. They've done an incredible job with their long tall but very narrow space. It's divided into three levels, with lost of custom woodwork and a lovely little hand-powered dumbwaiter to bring drinks up from the bar. They have a good selection of American micro and macro-brews, and a few English imports. I really appreciate a place that has Newcastle Brown Ale on tap. I'll be back for that alone. It also strikes me as a great bar to catch a game. I was getting handshakes and pats on the back from strangers just for showing up in a Red Sox jacket. Upstairs in the restaurant, they are still going through teething pains. The service is alternately spotty and overattentive, but given time they should be able to work it out. They do a good job with their pizza, which I'll say a few words about later, but the real must-have dish is the amazing mini-burgers. These 2" angus beef burgers come 3, 6, or 9 to an order, for $6, $9, or $12. They're an ideal starter for the table, and they'd made a great snack at the downstairs bar. The exteriors of the thin patties are crisp charred, but the centers remain delightfully pink. We didn't specify a particular level of doneness--this was the default. They are served on beautiful buttery little toasted brioche buns with a slice of pickle. These burgers are what White Castles dream of growing up to be. A dollop of ketchup completes them. Dijon mustard would also be great. Next time I'll ask if they have some. Don't bother with the onion straws that come with burgers. They make for a nice presentation, but they are entirely too salty and covered with a totaly superfluous sprinkling of dusty parmesean cheese. They must be trying to make the point that this is still a pizza place. The pizza comes from a custom brick oven wedged into the back of the main floor. They've put together some very nice combinations, like spicy meatballs with bacon, and a nice veggie with roasted red peppers and mushrooms. The crust was thin, as advertised, and just shy of charred on the bottom. Absent are the big bubbles that ruin so many other thin crust pizzas. I would have liked it to stay in the oven maybe a minute more to get a fuller crisp crunch, but other than that I think they did a bang up job. Aside from the pizza, there are some salads and a few entrees. The spinach salad was overdressed, leaving a pool in the bottom of the plate, but that's a minor offense that can easily be corrected. If you're in the Chinatown area, I'd recommend stopping in.

Excellent!

Thanks, Steve! I'm all over them too. Best burger I've ever had in a pizza place. See my comments in the pizza thread.

That whole cattlemen vs. Oprah case kind of put an end to that tactic, no? Or did that just teach them to avoid going after deep-pocketed media-savvy defendents who know how to turn cases like this into massive positve publicity?

I've had best luck slashing with an 12" chef's knife that's absolutely as sharp as I can possibly get it. Very little pressure is needed, beyond the weight of the knife itself. Excess pressure, or a dull knife, mashes the bread instead of slashing it.

Tom, Could you say a little more about how the chats influence you? Does having this kind of direct interaction with your readers influence how you approach your writing? Do you make a point of going back to places that chatters disagree with you about or say have changed to the better or worse since you last visited?

Hi Tom. Thanks for joining us here at eGullet. I'm hoping you can share an insiders view of what the role of food criticism is. We've discussed it in various forms here on eGullet, and it would be great if we could add your opinion. What do you think of as your goal when you write? Are you a consumer advocate? Are you an advocate for the restaurant industry in DC? Are you an activist trying to encourage people to explore new culinary ideas? Are you just writing about something you really enjoy and happy that someone is willing to pay you to do it? To some extent all of this depends on who your constituency is. Do you write for the hard-core audience who follows your chats and spends their free time on eGullet? Do you write for the person who doesn't dine out much but wants to know where to take Aunt Martha for a special 60th birthday celebration? The tourist who wants a good crab cake? The lobbyist who wants to keep up with the latest steakhouse to entertain their clients? Or do your editors ask you to write for the generic paper-buying public demographic, whatever that is? I know this is a lot of questions in one; please consider them a jumping off point rather than individual questions I expect direct answers to. The real question is simply, if vaguely, what is the raison d'etre for a big city food critic?

Have you checked out some of the recipes on their site? Maybe we can make a few as side dishes.

Absolutely. There's no doubt they went out on a limb with that location at that time. Hopefully they signed a 20+ year lease. I'm sure the rent has gone up just a tad since then. I don't know how much they are asking for those loft condos going up across the corner, but I bet they're not cheap.

Foods of the World Series? Once you get past hot dogs, peanuts, cracker jacks, and beer, what is there?

The MCI Center and Jordan coming to town didn't hurt either.Next time you see Jose, whisper in his ear, "3rd & H NE, 3rd & H NE, 3rd & H NE...."