KHT20

Do NOT go to McFadden's on a Thursday night unless you want to be surrounded by cigarette smoke, loud music, and drunk interns packed around you like sardines. Oh yeah, and the food is pretty awful.

If we go early enough, we can get half-priced oysters AND crabcakes! Not today for the 1/2 price deal on the shellfish, it's Monday-Thursday only. I'm going anyway because all this chat has stirred up a yen for some oysters! Ahhh.... today is Friday I am rarely at work on Fridays so I've been a bit confused all day. Guess my brilliant plan will have to wait for Monday.

If we go early enough, we can get half-priced oysters AND crabcakes!

Blurb in the Post yesterday. Went with a couple co-workers today. As the lack of a chef would suggest, the menu was very small. I had the Traditional Panini with provolone, mortadella, sopresetta, and salami. It was pretty good, but very greasy when grilled. There were two or three other paninis (one co-worker had a hamburger panini topped with fontina and pancetta, which she said was very good). All paninis are served with rosemary potatoes, which were leathery and overcooked (but something tells me that if they were fresh, they'd be awesome). The antipasti bar was pretty standard - the boss seemed to like it more than his panini, though. Also on the menu were two very uninteresting salads (one with grilled veggies and one with three peppery greens), two semi-interesting soups (the chilled tomato-citrus sounded intriguing on this steamy day), three or four simple pasta dishes and four entrees. The service still has some kinks to work out - our waiter wasn't sure what fontina cheese was and quite a few people tried to take our drink orders. We also had to wait for a table even though there were many throughout the restaurant waiting to be cleared. It was also a tad slow - luckily the boss was there so I didn't feel bad about the 2 hour lunch. The price was right, though and at this stage the food is decent. I think it'll be pretty interesting to see what happens once they get a regular chef in. If anyone else ventures over, I'd be interested to hear what you think of it. Our table's tally was 1 good and 2 fairs.

a very comprehensive list of each day of the week's specials, sorted by neighborhood, can be found at On Tap

They've only had a wine list posted outside instead of a menu... I guess we know where their priorities are! Yesterday at lunch was the first time I've seen people actually eating there - the outside patio was pretty packed, and most people seemed to be eating pizzzas. (I use the term "eating" very loosely, since I saw lots of leftover pizza abandoned after the parties left.) The few pasta dishes I saw had the familiar color and texture of Chef Boyardee. I can't make any comments on taste, but my secretary is planning on heading down one of these next days to try it herself, so we'll see.

I second that. We took my (Vietnamese) mom to the Eden Center once and she asked all the little old ladies where we should go. They all suggested we go here. Way better than anything else in the metro area IMHO (unless my mum is cooking, of course).

I did the same thing. Alas, no limeade for me today. Perhaps I'll brave it before heading to the Penn Quarter Farmer's Market. Thank God I walk to work now.

I've read that "authentic" pita doesn't actually have a pocket - is this not the case? I accidentally made pocket-less pita a few weeks ago. They could have doubled as frisbees. My guess is that either my oven wasn't hot enough or I didn't roll the dough thin enough. Anyone else have an idea?

But they do have these yummy limeade stands that make me salivate just thinking about them... I wait every year for them. In fact, I'll take a stroll over during lunch today!

It's a Thai place 2 blocks from my apartment, so I walk by everyday - always a few people inside, although never packed. I've never actually eaten there (too much bad Thai has scared me off), but it actually looks pretty good. I saw someone eating out of a halved pineapple once, and the inside decor is pretty funky and modern. A few tables outside so you can breathe all of the car exhaust. I'll try to head over to sometime this week/end and report back.

Kraft macaroni and cheese. Straight out of the pot. In college I used to make it at 2 a.m., sit in my dorm room, and methodically eat the entire box with my roommate. I ate a lot of Kraft macaroni and cheese in college. Hang in there (imagine that goofy poster of the kitten hanging from a tree branch).

I suggest tying a bell around his neck - I'm lucky, my boyfriend stomps around like an elephant. I think I can actually hear him getting off the elevator (which is about 100 feet away) when he gets home from work. Wait... did I say I was lucky?

Standard food court fare: Wall St. Deli, Sbarro, City Lights Express, Soup Nutsy, Subway, Caribou Coffee, Smoothie King, Kabuki Sushi, an ice cream place, a turkey sandwich place, the Great Steak Factory (or whatever it's called), a pita place, some sort of wrap sandwich place, and an Italian panini place owed by this cute little Italian woman. Can you tell where I work?

Definitely not. In fact, overcooked mussels are quite the opposite - chewier than Big Red.

Gaffney's Tap Room in Ballston (on Fairfax) does does an awesome Carolina fish fry - shrimp, oysters, or a platter of shrimp, oysters, and grouper. They make the best fried shrimp I've had in this city, and a pretty kick-ass crabcake to boot.

Alton Brown recommends sticking them in the freezer for 15 minutes to slow their metabolisms down so much that they become paralyzed. By the time they warm up enough to start feeling/moving, they're already dead. Boy, this is an uplifting conversation.

We regularly steam 2 2lb. lobsters in our 8 qt. stock pot - just make sure you keep an eye on them for the first 7-8 minutes because they have a tendency to kick off the lid. Couple inches of water at the bottom for steaming does the trick.

After reading this thread, I was inspired to make cheese grits for dinner last night (my own Yankee BF had no idea what "cheese grits" were). The recipe on the box called for lots and lots of Velveeta. Yuck! Luckily, the Dinosaur BBQ cookbook had a great recipe using lots of extra sharp cheddar and jalapenos. Sooooo good

What about Flounder? Or is that just some crappy filler fish that american japanese restaurants use to fill out a plate? I don't think flounder is a typical "bottom dweller" in the same way as, say, catfish is. Flounder do primarily spend their time on the bottom of the ocean as protection, but they are still predator fish rather than scavengers. I also think danjou's comment about fresh water fish vs. ocean fish is pertinent - as an ocean fish, flounder is less likely to carry diseases (unless of course, Animal House is involved).

There's a Cook's Illustrated article on this somewhere... they claim that you can actually add about half the liquid right away, but the second half still needs to be incorporated a little at a time. I don't remember why... can anyone else?

Nathan's makes a griddle/defroster. One side fits over your stove top burners, with grill marks for your hot dogs; the other is flat for defrosting on the counter. I always wondered if the defroster would work... now I know. Begs the question - would a regular aluminum cookie sheet do the same thing?

Any cuisine - we're both total foodaholics (we can't get enough foodahol ) As for price range... pretty flexible, but it's a black-tie wedding so nothing too fancy schmancy. Don't want to overload one weekend with schmanciness.

I'm heading to the home of the Browns, the Indians, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in a couple weeks for a friend's wedding. Looking for a fun place (hopefully downtownish) to eat dinner on a Friday night with an old high school pal. Any suggestions?

My Vietnamese mother would always make me rice porridge when I was sick, but she'd only put a little sugar in it to make it sweet. It always made me feel better - but probably just because it's a comfort food.