JPW

after a few hours of stoli+sprite you may only have thought it was comped and you may only have thought it was $5

I've got to say, that if it was a customer who was a regular, or even one I recognized, I would have had no problem with the request or a little bit of an extra pour. ESPECIALLY for one who regularly tips $2.50 a drink. Most GOOD bar managers expect a certain amount of "spillage" and would not discipline/fire a drink slinger for the occasional comp or extra. Many even encourage a certain level of it. Unless, of course, this is either a) a corporate run bar, or b) in Canada or elsewhere where the laws suck.

YOu've hit upon my favorite topic. I generally spend <$10 for everyday wine by the case while splurging on some individual bottles for more special occasions (like when I want a bottle of really good vino). Don't have my notebook on me, but some current faves that have not been mentioned -- The Rhone wines have made a HUGE improvement over the last decade or so. You can find some really sturdy dependable red wines from -- Cotes de Rhone, Costieres de Nimes, Vaqueryas (sp?), etc. Recent buys from these areas that I have enjoyed are: Ch. Mas Neuf (Costieres de Nimes) Rasteau (CdeRhone and a CdeRhone Villages - I like the second better) IMO the affordable Australian Shiraz's have really gone downhill in the last decade. It seems as if they (esp. Rosemount) have dumbed down their taste to get a larger market share. WHich is a shame because I really loved how peppery they were. For whites, i too tend to dislike the buttery Chardonnays. Someone already mentioned the Picpoul which is great at $6-7 per bottle. A fuller white that I like that might be good for NeroW is the Domaine de Pouy (Gascogne?) which I feel is a steal at $7-8. In the end, remember -- one man's vinegar is another's nectar.

Interesting to read Sietsma'a review and then go in and read the customer reviews. Granted it tends to be the gripers that write in, but the juxtaposition is interesting.

Sorry this took so long, but I've been swamped. I did up a quick list from the posts last night. The list (in a very rough form) so far is at the bottom. I'm planning on fleshing it out when possible. Any additions and correction are welcome. I'd be happy to send the Excel file this lives in to any who so desire. Since I spend as much/if not more on home food than eating out, I'm actually considering maintaining this on a fairly regular basis. Looking forward to blowing part of my Xmas bonus tonight at Firefly. Wait, let me rephrase -- spending money on good food is not blowing money, it is enjoying the fruits of my labor. Can't wait. Type Name Location Asian Da Hua H St Chinatown Asian Lotte Rockville Pike Rockville Butcher Canales Eastern Market DC Butcher Union Meat Eastern Market DC Butcher Treuth's Ellicott City Butcher Laurel Meat Market Main Street Laurel Butcher Wagshal's Mass Ave Farmers' Market Town Hall Alexandria Farmers' Market Courthouse Arlington Farmers' Market Dupont Circle DC Farmers' Market Carroll Ave Takoma Park Fish Cannon Seafood Great Falls Gourmet Dean and Deluca M St Georgetown Italian Marco's Colesville North of Georgia Silver Spring Italian Vace Bethesda/Cleveland Park Italian Litteri's 6th and Florida NE DC Italian subs Luigi's Wheaton Jamaican New Hampshire Ave Langley Park Japanese Daruma Bethesda Korean Kam Sam Rockville Korean Maxim Rockville Korean Han Ah Reum Georgia Ave Wheaton Kosher Katz's Kosher Rockville Pike Rockville Market TPSS Coop Ethan Allen and Carroll Ave fork Takoma Park MiddleEast Yekta Rockville Pike Rockville Organic My Organic Market College Park/Alexandria Produce Grosvesner Tuckerman and Rte 355 Bethesda/Rockville Thai University at Georgia Langley Park Thai Thayer Ave between Georgia and Fenton Silver Spring

How about a vote for (as seen on Queer Eye) --- Gewurztraminer (heck, I don't even know if I spelled it correctly)

Wife's from Atlanta. I've been there a few times and would definitely agree to skip Buckhead. A personal favorite of hers IIRC is the Claremont (sp?) Lounge where they have elderly, pregnant, and other differently bodied strippers while some of Atlanta's better bands play on stage. On the topic of b'room attendants. Went to a wedding last summer in rural VA in a tent. 400 or so of the bride's mother's best friends. Had two smaller tents off the main tent for restrooms. With porta johns, portable sinks, toiletries, and attendants. I was told the ladies "room" had a chaise for lounging while in line.

Not pronunciation, but spelling One of my favorite bartending moments. Summer at Martha's Vineyard Two rather attractive women decide to have appetizers at the bar for dinner. Take the wine list for a look. One says to me in a thick Boston accent "Excuse me do you have any 'Sha-blee'?" "Sure' I respond. "It's right at the bottom of the page there" "I can't find it. It's not there!", she says dropping the list on the bar. I lean over the bar and point to the entry labeled "Chablis". Puzzled looks all around.

Well I enjoyed the byline! I missed the byline first time past. Absolutely hilarious!!!

Le trachet? Looked through several quality online dictionaries dating back to 1604 and could find such a tool nowhere. A "tranchet" is a knife like tool specifically designed for cutting leather. Trachet does, however, seem to be a not-too-infrequent family name in francophone Belgium and the Pays du Nord. In any case, even in NE France, I find it hard to believe that they would pronounce a final consonant, especially a "t". Not to cast any aspersions on the source, but I find that etymology extremely dubious.

2 words Sweet Tarts The most perfect candy ever invented. No other ingredients to get in the way of the sugar.

Nope. It's peas, some type of pork product, rice and onion. THen a variety of spices depending on where you are.

THe dish is called Hoppin' John. It's thought to have been derived from an old Caribbean or African recipe. It was then brought to the south by slaves. My MIL cooks up a vat every Christmas and sends my wife and I home with a big Tupperware full of it every year to be eaten first thing New Year's Day (well for me after the asparin dissolved in gatorade and the whisky laced coffee hangover curatives).

WHAT? How big is your kitchen? 50x50ft.?

I don't hit WF too often because it upsets me, but it has been my experience in SS that -- They are often out of flat leaf. Once or twice I have seen oyster mushrooms there but very irregularly and can't recall ever seeing more than 3 types of 'shrooms out. The peppers are very hit or miss. They have NO basil except in the prepackaged clear plastic containers. (And here too, they are often out of a variety of the different herbs). While I have seen the little postcard display for fennel I can never recall actually having seen it. Others may have had a better experience at the store. I may just be a crotchety old coot. If it had been only once or twice that they didn't have something, I would not be so down on that store, but at the price you pay for WF shopping I expect a little more.

My love of shopping for food stands in stark contrast to my distaste for other types of shopping (just ask my wife) My weekly shopping trip IS to a variety of places. I am lucky enough to be able to avoid safeway/Giant/Giant Eagle/et. al. on a weekly basis. I hit the chains only for paper goods and when they have huge sales on certain staples. I go to Trader Joe's and a local market for "filling the fridge". I stop off at other places as needed. I recently posted on the DC forum a request for people's favorite local places and have received a huge number of responses as to where to best buy certain things. Granted I am lucky to be in a big diverse city. When I was in grad school in upstate NY, I was lucky enough to have a Wegman's in town, which was a joy to shop in.

Wow, so far there have been more quality responses to my original query than I could have possibly predicted. I'll be doing up a list soon so that people don't have to read the whole thread. Wanted to comment on one thing... Among the things that I have been unable to find at WholeFoods SS more than once (even with asking the quite good staff) 1 - Flat leaf parsley 2 - Basil 3 - Any mushroom that is not button or portobello 4 - Fennel 5 - Any semi-hot long pepper (e.g Anaheim) I judge on things that I can't find in two different trips b/c something I've only looked for once is apt to be something more rare or out of season that I can't always expect them to have.

Well, I've been monitoring this discussion for a while and thought it was time to add my $.02. I must say that I am glad that the general level of maturity in the discussion have ascended in the last day or so. I think to most of us (eg bourdain) it's not so much that we hate anyone who shills for BK or any of the other chains, but that the hypocrisy of Bayless shilling is more apparent to us than any good he may have intended to do with the new sandwich. That he had no role in the development of the product seems to support the position that it is rank hypocrisy. I myself have few compunctions against working for/purchasing product from unpopular companies/industries. Hell, I used to consult for petrochemical and pharmaceutical companies. I'll even admit that I love fast food french fries. But then again, I never claimed to be the second coming of Alice Waters. Would I rather be able to find a place where I could get a burger and fries of a higher quality -- sure. I love Five Guys (best burger joints around DC), but the closest one is 15 miles from my office. Can't quite make it for lunch. My problem with fast food and society really revolves around 2 interrelated things -- parents and choice. I cringe whenever I see parents bringing small kids into fast food joints. I poison myself with that stuff occasionally because I DECIDE TO AND I LIKE FRENCH FRIES. These kids, don't know what their choices are. Like any craving, it comes about through habitual exposure. That's all they want and that's what their parents give them all the time (often, from what I see, just to shut them up). I know enough to at least follow up with a healthy (and if I may say so myself) damn good home cooked meal. The more disturbing aspect for the society is when you look at poor areas of US cities. Drive around parts of the Bronx, the SouthSide of CHicago, SE in DC, and it is tough to see anything BUT fast food. No grocery stores, no options for good eats, just McD's. These are the only obese people I really feel for, they have no choice. I agree 100% with Ivan when he says his libertarian and communist sides are at war over fast food. I'd love to force Whole Foods or Sutton Place Gourmet open up a store in these neighborhoods and sell at a loss or force McD's to serve food with top quality healthy ingredients, but in my mind the libertarian side wins out here. The fast food joints act like they do because this is a capitalist system and that's how they make money. I like capitalism. I do not expect them to have a consciense, organizations can't, people can. To me what needs to change here is people. I agree with Tony on that point. I look at my nieces and nephews who were taught not just what to eat but WHY and they know what the deal is. Kids are a lot smarter than people give them credit for, the battle is over their impressionability.

Now that looks like a real butcher shop!! From SS, I can get there faster than I can get to Alexandria. I feel it calling my name. I can already smell some long braising top round. Not to mention a long simmering beef stock........ drooooooolll !!!!!

Thanks for the suggestions so far guys/gals. I'll check some of these places out over the next couple of weeks and let you know what I think. The places along Rockville Pike are especially useful to me because I work in Rockville and can easily take 355 home and stop off at places. I was really hoping that there would be a real butcher somewhere close by. I remember about a year ago reading in the Post (?) about a German guy somewhere way out in Fairfax/Loudon who has a shop where he makes his own sausages. At the worstI might have to hijack a shipment of the chorizo that Jaleo uses!! My wife laughs at me because I generally hate shopping, but food shopping is one of my favorite parts of the week. If you see a stocky balding blond guy wearing a big grin like a kid in a candy store at any of these places it's probably me!

I'm definitely a multi-store shopper. At its longest, my weekend shopping will be Trader Joe's in Bethesda (coffee, whole wheat tortillas and the like), Snider's on Georgia (generally like to support the little guy and they have a decent deli and Italian brands of canned tomatoes with lower salt than you can find in american brands), Whole Foods (butcher counter and other things I can't find elsewhere), and about once a month a trip over the river to Total Beverage in McLean for Troeg's Pale Ale and a case or two of wine!!

HJ, I've seen the Thai place on Thayer, but have not yet stopped in. Will definately do so now on your rec. Will have to check out the Korean places when I have the need. I've shopped a couple of times at the TP farmers' market and found some good stuff (my house is inside the Beltway just off of ColesvilleRd.) Does it shut down in the winter like most of the ones around DC?

Greetings all, My first post on the DC board, so please allow me to introduce myself. I'm Joe. But seriously, came across the site from the Rick Bayless article in the post the other day. It's what I always dreamed of. Food, good food, is very important to me. I spent a fair amount of time in my youth working kitchen and bar (long enough ago that I tended bar for Todd English on martha's vineyard when he only had the original Olives and the pizza place). Since then, I've been a home cook and (when finances allow) restaurant junkie. Been in DC (Silver Spring actually) for just over two years. Pocketbook and personal tastes tend to run more towards the mid-range good honest food than the elegant. However, I am saving up my pennies (OK dimes and quarters) for a dreamed of trips to Citronelle and Laboratorio de G. The Jaleos are by far the favorite local "everyday" type restaurants for my wife and me. Love the food at Zaytinya, but find the atmosphere a little too impersonal for my tastes (must say though that the design is beautiful, just not the type of atmosphere I personally find comfortable). We also enjoy Firefly greatly for slightly less frequent visitations. Spend most of the rest of our dollars in DC's super-abundant ethnic restaurants - for example -- T.H.A.I in Shirlington and Roger Miller in downtown SS. My main question today is where to find the best ingredients for the home cook around DC. Where I grew up in Pittsburgh we have an area called the "Strip District" where many of the best local purveyors for restaurants are. They also all have retail outlets in the front. I've been to Eastern Market once or twice. Buy most other special things I need at Whole Foods in SS, which I find annoying -- prices can be somewhat ridiculous, cheese section big but I find the selection rather unispired, and the produce section STINKS. Any ideas? Especially looking for a top notch butcher, green grocer, and bakery (boy do I miss the little place in Del Ray behind the Giant on Monroe that I went to all the time when I lived there). Tend to do mainly Mediterranean and a fair amount of Thai/Vietnamese with a little bit of "other" thrown in. Sorry for the long post. Look forward to the responses.

3 favorites? free free free But seriously, I have been on a mad Manchego kick of late. Been using it for everything - grating on pesto, grilled cheese (paired with Swiss), a kick-up for cheese fondue, and my favorite - straight up with an after dinner glass of Fonseca LBV port.

Really have to reiterate though the good that he did do. I remember watching him in grad school (my dissertation chair looked enough like him to be a doppelganger) and think he played a big roll in publicizing what, at the time, were very exotic cuisines to whitebread america. I mean Chinese food for most was something that you got for takeout at the Golden Dragon not something you did at home. How many American's owned woks back then versus now?