JPW

Climbing out of the woodwork after many years to express my condolences to his friends and family. I owe eGullet and Steven a great deal for the things he enabled me to learn and the people he enabled me to meet. Rest in peace.

I am sure that he will continue to speak truth to power from his new job as chief speechwriter to the Ron Paul campaign! (kidding, just kidding)

Two episodes back to back starting at 7.

Fine Living 11PM. Caught the first Morimoto battle last night (Red Snapper)

Edited to remove erroneous adjective.New Heights is not open for lunch.

The only spot worth eating at in that stretch is New Heights on Calvert. The rest of those places are thoroughly mediocre, but are always packed due to convention traffic.

La Limena is fine for what it is, but not exactly ideal for a business lunch especially with all the high school kids wandering in. There are a couple of places in the new town center by the library that would probably work better. Of course the names of the places are escaping me.

Bull Branch and Crown Sterling I don't know. I'll have to ask the local gentry about those.Meriweather's has a sizable bar area and a small-medium-big plate menu that lends itself well to your needs. It's 10 minutes outside of downtown up Rivermont Ave. It'll easily be the best place in town for the big gathering. It fits within the fed gov't per diem. Main Street Eatery also has the drawback that 10-15 people would be quite cramped there. PS- note the edit in the above post, I meant Meriweather's, not Magnolia. Magnolia is a little gourmet shop next to the school formerly known as Randolph-Macon Woman's College that is a good lunch option and actually has somewhat interesting wine for sale.

All depends on your timing. Between DC and Madison, VA there is nothing of note except for Pete's Park 'n Eat Pizza and Subs. But just because it's quaint and it isn't Sheetz (count 'em on your way to Lynchburg). Maybe stop and browse through the tie dye store. Calhoun's is great, bring a cooler and pick some ham up. Warn your Lynchburg people that it's not country ham, but just ham - they are not to make ham biscuits out of it. Damn good ham. Foti's is uneven according to people I trust. You can get a decent lunch at It's About Thyme in Culpeper. I love the Pig 'n Steak. Is it equal to the best of NC 'cue? No but it's good and I love the atmosphere of the place and the name. As soon as you see the signs for Prince Michel's vineyard watch out for the speed traps. After, consider a side trip to Horton and/or Barboursville vineyards for a taste of some of the best of VA wine. Barboursville has a restaurant, but I've never eaten there. At Norton, make sure to see if you can get a resonably recent vintage of their Viognier. I have an unhealthy obsession with Bavarian Chef, the next port of note just north of Charlottesville. They may be the only Germans south of the Mason-Dixon line. Solid food, good beer. It's only an hour (64 miles) between C'ville and Lynchburg, but there is absolutely nothing in between. Nothing. Nada. Other than Poplar Grove golf course in Amherst. So eat at some place in C'ville if you're hungry. Speaking of Amherst, the speed traps on 29 used to fill their entire city budget, but now that the speed limit has been raised to 60 and 65 on that part of 29, it's not that big a deal, but keep close to the limit and wave to my buddies as you drive by.Lynchburg has exactly one restaurant worth eating at -- Grace, on Old Forest Road -- but they are holding weird hours recently and close during the summer (hopefully they won't close for good, because they own the house free and clear and live on the second floor). Magnolia is marginally acceptable and the local "Establishment" resto. If someone tries to entice you with the Main Street Eatery, feign seasickness, go home and have someone make ham biscuits. If anyone from a reputable household offers you ham biscuits, eat them. Same with fried chicken, but only if you see a giant cast iron skillet on the stove, a big can of shortening next to it, and a hired cook at the stove. Otherwise, do what most of Lynchburg does and load up on booze and cheese at cocktail hour, bring a drink with you to the table, and pretend you like dinner or be drunk enough to not care. Edit to say - Magnolia? What was I thinking. I meant Meriweather's.

A nice story made even more special to me by the fact that the East End was my home for the the first 18 years of my life and where I still have family.Mineo's pizza may be better, but Aiello's has better subs. Dumb factoid of the day - Dan Marino grew up in the "lost neighborhood" otherwise known as Panther Hollow.

Ummm. How about Discovery Life which has been showing "Inner Chef" for about 6 months. Also shown there is License to Grill, hosted by Rob Rainford (sp?). Interesting that a channel tha shows only 5 or 6 cooking shows has two hosted by African-Americans, while Food Network has how many???? Oh yeah. NONE

Another place to try in SS -- Taste of Jerusalem. Although not a veggie restaurant per se, it serves several meatless dishes in the tradition of the region.

By this point, I've made my way through almost the entire menu. Favorite entree = Veal Oscar. Favorite hors d'oeuvre = sausage biscuits with fondue. I've had discussions with Michael about his wine program and was priviledged enough to see a copy of the list that had what he paid for the wines versus what he is charging. At the low end, you'll get a really good deal, but if you have a few hundred bucks to blow on a nice Bordeaux, you'll get some great deals.

I used to tout Thai Farm a lot until I tried their larb. Yuk. Bland and way too much toasted rice, which made it feel like you were eating coarse sand.

tasting menu = $64. with wine pairing = $104. well worth it.

I was at Jazz Fest last week and Mrs JPW, Peanut and I had dinner at the new location in the Saratoga Hotel on the very edge of downtown. The space is beautiful. The lower level dining room has about 20 or so tables and looks out ovre a nice courtyard where they have installed several of Joseph's sculptures. About 5 steps up is a huge bar area with another dozen or so tables and a very attractive bar.We started with the pate a choux which was very good, but could have withstood a touch more seasoning IMO. I had the duck breast which was also very good, but the star was Mrs JPW's brined pork loin. This is a superb dish. For dessert Mrs JPW and Peanut polished of the "nearly flourless chocolate cake" and I had a well thought out cheese course. Cheryl picked out a nice Corbieres for us at $48. Wine prices are more than reasonable. I spotted several bottles at less than twice retail. The only problem was the Keystone Kops-like service. But seeing as how the place opened literally the week before and that all of the servers were extremely earnest, attentive, and well-meaning, this was easy to overlook in the context of a highly enjoyable meal.

Have to report that we were unable to stop in C'ville as planned due to Peanut developing a rather nasty cold. We'll try again next time. Thanks to all for the suggestions.

Another option for immediate use would be baby wipes. Unless they're sealed in something they dry out after a couple of hours.

Thanks for this link. As planning develops, it looks like we will wander around the mall. Any faves there? Hopefully, I can convince the troops to stop by Horton on the way back tomorrow, need to replenish my Cab Franc supply. PS -Kim, I'm a Bavarian chef fan, but can't imagine eating there when it's 90 degrees outside.

1)Whatever the best place is that can handle a well-behaved 2 year old (there I just jinxed myself) 2)Never in town - just driving through on 29.

Nor would one guess by its exterior. I must have driven past that place 100 times and never once had any inkling that it was anything other than another hole in the wall.Will be in C'ville Tuesday, any more recent suggestions?

I'm with you senor. I think that the sense of entitlement in the American people has gotten much worse. Also, as a youth, dining out was a special occasion. I think that now people tend to view restaurants as extensions of their family room (because how many people actually use their dining rooms? Most new McMansions don't even have separate dining rooms) and behave not as if they are in public, but in their own houses.Another common thread I see in the webosphere is a lot of people who go out seemingly looking to have a miserable experience. Have you ever noticed that there are a whole group of people that seem to attract restaurant disasters? PS - Peanut, too, does not suffer from excess cleanliness PPS - I still don't have central AC in DC

Thanks for that notice. I signed up for the newsletter and am already looking forward to dinner there during our annual jazz fest pilgrimage.

That is unfortunate. I'd be willing to bet, oh about $40 (including lame tip), that the $40 shows have been repeated more than the various episodes of IC Japan.

So it appears that the dumbing down of FTV continues. No more Iron Chef Japan. Replaced weeknights with the already over-exposed Alton Brown (even though I like the show) and uber-overexposed Rachel Ray, $40 a Day.