vengroff

Tom hyped Kuna again today in his Washington Post chat. Have any eGulleteers been to this place? Reports?

Unless I have had a specific conversation with the host in which we discussed me bringing wine to go with the menu, I don't expect to drink what I bring that night. When I bring a bottle of wine, it's a gift. The recipient can do whatever they like with it.

A huge percentage of the Delaware population lives within easy driving range of Maryland, which as the article points out. has Sunday sales. Many regularly shop across the border for all kinds of things. I'm shocked that it took them so long to realize that they are losing out on tax revenue. This from a state that collects a toll on every vehicle that passes through its tiny stretch of I-95.

In your Fish book, you described Tilapia as "muddy" and recommended against purchasing it. I see it absolutely everywhere these days, and have bought it a couple of times. It's not my favorite fish, but it's OK. The samples I've tried were less muddy than some catfish I've had. What's your current thinking on Tilapia? Have farming techniques improved in ways that produce a noticably better product? For reference, here is an eGullet discussion on this topic from a couple of months ago. Just click on the underlined text to go to it.

It's a total pain, isn't it? It's only slightly less impenetrable than the hard plastic that screwdrivers and other tools come in. I put the package bone-side down on a board, then use a small very sharp knive to cut right along the seam on the the meat end. It's where meat, bone, and plastic meet. I then carefully extend the cut along the seam at each end of the rack, back towards the bones. Usually this requires hanging the curving bones off the end of the board. This usually enables me to pull back enough plastic to get the rack out. Compared to getting the package open, this is the easy part. I just roast 20-25 min at 375, until it feels medium rare. 5-10 minutes rest, then slice it into chops.

I asked our sever what cheeses were in the chef's selection. He told me it was actually just one cheese. He said it confuses a lot of people, but "chef's cheese selection," means one cheese, selected by the chef, not a selection of several cheeses. If it confuses customers, than that seems like one more reason to change it. Maybe Mr. Comfort has a particular reason for choosing to serve one cheese at a time, but if he does, our server didn't offer it.

I'm sad to hear about this new policy. 72 hours is a long time. This approach has been debated up, down and sideways on other threads, so I'll try to be brief. Whenever I hear about another place adopting some variation on this policy, I initially get mad at the restaurant. But after I think about it a second, I always end up blaming the dining public. If people would view their reservations as a contract and show up when they make them, or at least be courteous enough to cancel in advance, we wouldn't be having this discussion. If I owned a restaurant that I knew could be full every night, but I was forced into turning away willing customers to hold reservations for eventual no-shows, I'd be pissed.

The cheese selection is listed on the dessert menu along with the other choices. I'm only up in arms about it because the "selection" was a single cheese. I think they should either offer several or not bother at all.

I think Sietsema was absolutely right about the duck and polenta. I mentioned it in a grits thread somewhere, but I can't find it. I didn't try to short ribs, and I've not been for lunch, so I can't say whether he's accurate there. But he did nail the green apple sorbet, which was delicious. Sadly, the champagne sorbet was much icier and had an off chemical taste. I wish he had mentioned the cheese selection. I asked him about it in his chat last week, the first time I've ever gotten to the chat live, but he didn't pick my question.

No, I was in New York this weekend, but I'll check it out.

Salsa simply means sauce, so any sauce from anywhere is technically a salsa. For a while, the popular usage was narrowed to mean the tomato, pepper and onion stuff you dip corn chips in. But now usage seems to be expanding again to cover a wider variety of things.

I tried to replicate this at home last night. I brined a pork tenderloin, then grilled it on the Weber. I kept the coals over to one side, got a good char all around, then slid it over to the other side for some indirect heat and smoke from some mesquite chips. Half an hour later it had the medium rare feel to it so I took it off. Five minutes rest and then I sliced it. It was easily the best pork tenderloin I've ever made at home. Totally moist, and just barely pink. Not as good as at the restaurant, but still very good.

For those of you who have had cilantro get away from you, have you ever harvested the seeds (corriander) and dried and ground them? Or is it just not worth the effort?

Or, if you are willing to go a bit farther afield for some of the best Italian food anywhere, get out to Tyson's Corner and dine at Maestro. Cafe Atlantico, or either of Jose Andres's places (Jaleo and Zaytinya) are always good bets. You will find all three are heavily praised on this board.

I haven't been yet, but Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema routinely recommends Kuna, an Italian place on U St. Here is his review. Is this the sort of thing you are looking for? You didn't say anything about price range, so I'm not sure.

I've got half a Jim Beam barrel (the genuine article, all scorched inside and smelling of aging bourbon) planted with two basils, cilantro, dill, chives, and oregano. They are all about 1-2" tall at this point. I'm looking forward to starting to harvest in the next few weeks.

Anything beyond Tres Generaciones or Cuervo Gold does not belong in a margarita. Of course, anything much less isn't worth drinking at all. And since someone mentioned Grand Marnier 150, I have to say that's the biggest crock of a marketing ploy I've ever heard. The 150 does not refer to anything other than the age of the recipe. It's made with the recipe they used to use 150 years ago, but there's not evidence that the quality is superior or that the ingredients even cost any more for that matter. I refuse to go near the stuff.

I had some very interesting polenta the other night. It was cut into diamonds instead of the traditional triangles, and then deep fried just long enough to get a crisp crust on the outside, without browning much at all. Of course it still tasted like not much of anything until you used it to soak up the sauce from the duck it came with. Does anyone ever make grits into cakes to grill or fry like this, or are they always served soft? Was the triangular cake just something the Italians came up with to make yesterday's left over polenta more appetizing?

On the Cashion/Andres question, it would seem impossible that Jose has not played around with the menu since Ann was around at Jaleo. Just about every chef's cooking changes over time, and Jose certainly has the reputation for constantly trying to innovate. On the other hand, nobody in the restaurant business works in a vacuum. Chefs are influenced by their mentors, their collegues, and their competitors. As brilliant as Jose is, there can't be any doubt that he watches and learns from others, whether it's Adria, Cashion, his grandmother, or his own line cooks. Cashion's nomination this year suggests that she is still doing very good work. I've been meaning to try her food for a while. Maybe now, when Jose's places are likely to be even more crowded than usual after his win, is the right time.

I forgot to mention that Fabio Trabocchi of Maestro lost out to a very desrving Grant Achatz (chefg here on eGullet) in the Rising Star category. Obviously we need to get Fabio in here for a Q&A to boost his exposure for next year. So, what does everyone think of the cooking of our local nominees and winner?

Congratulations to Jose Andres of Jaleo, Zaytinya, and Cafe Atlantico for being this year's winner of the James Beard Foundation's American Express Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic award. Three of the four other nominees, Ann Cashion, Todd Gray, and Peter Pastan are DC-based. Let's give Jose and the rest of the DC contingent a big hand!

So, here's a question. Is this place related (common ownership, spin-off, or whatever) to Joe's Shanghai in NYC? Can anyone who's been to both compare them? How do the soup dumplings stack up against each other?

The big question you have to ask yourself before you go to Artisinal is whether you want an all-out cheese fest, or whether you want a well-prepared bistro meal followed by just about any cheese you can think of wanting. If you want to O.D. on cheese, start with gougeres, then get one of the fondues, then a flight of cheeses and some fresh fruit. If you want to go the other way, I can't help, as I never have.

In my mind, the question is, why always black pepper? I prefer white pepper in many cases, both for flavor and appearance. I keep two grinders in the kitchen, one filled with black and one with white.

Note that there is also a significant collection of cornbread recipes in the eGullet Recipe Archive. I'll leave it to the individual authors to promote their specific variations.