wrash

I get comments and questions all the time when I have a review published. Admittedly, I don't write restaurant reviews for the Post, but the questions are the same. "How much did (insert company name here) pay you to say that?" Apparently there are a lot of people out there who can't believe that a company of any sort can make a good product, serve their customers well, give fair value, or whatever. If it's a company they don't like, they're even less likely to believe it, and if they work for the competition, or are just a partisan of the competition, they'll be certain you're on the take. When I get such comments, I just remind myself that there has to be a reasonable number of really stupid people out there, if only to serve as a bad example. WR NoVA, "the country" according to one of your earlier posters: Come on, Tom, you can fess up. Just how much of a kickback are you getting from Colorado Kitchen? Tom Sietsema: None! And what would prompt a question like that? I don't mention it any more than other restaurants I admire -- and I've been critical of its service in the past. (Yeah, it's some paranoid delusional freak who probably owns a restaurant in Northern Virginia. Freak of nature.) ←

That date works for me. Do we have a time yet? WR

We had a low-key T-day. Wednesday I made a brine of water, cider, a handful of whole black peppercorns, about half that much who alspice, a half-dozen peeled, smashed garlic cloves, a cuppa kosher salt. Boiled it, the simmered for ten to fifteen minutes. Cooled it to room temp, Got a humongo zip-lock for the turkey and after rinsing the bird, put it in the bag, then filled it with the brine. Put the whole thing in the fridge in back, turned it occasionally for the next 24 hours. I took it out an hour before cooking so it would warm. I cooked it outside on the rotisserie for just under two hours, took it off after checking temps. Meanwhile, baked sweet potatoes, sauteed green beans with ham, freshly baked rolls (from Great Harvest). My daughter made cornbread stuffing with cranberries adn apples. We made gravy from the pan drippings. The wine was Breaux 2001 barrell fermented chardonnay. Desert was cherry pie (we'd over eaten on pumpkin the previous week). Really a nice dinner. WR

Ben's Whole Hog BBQ, 7422 Old Centerville Rd. Manassas. I stopped with my daughter to see how things were going at Ben's. It's been a while for both of us, and during that time the restaurant has been remodeled. Instead of the old benches and booths, it's now maple tables and chairs. Very spiffy inside - not a good sign in a barbecue place. Another dubious sign, each place was set with chopsticks. Still, the smell of smoke was in the air, so we decided to try. The pulled pork is very tender, the parts near the outside of the meat have a visible smoke ring. The smoke flavor is there, although kind of faint. We had cole slaw and okra, and both were good. The okra was made from a prepackaged frozen product (okra being out of season in Virginia in late November) but was actually pretty good. The slaw was quite good. One interesting change is the growth of the Korean part of the business. Along with the chopsticks you'll find a Korean menu, with the barbecue choices on a seperate piece of paper tucked inside. Apparently the owners would like this to become a Korean place, but because barbecue brings in most of the revenue, they can't eliminate it. But I get the feeling that their heart is not in it. I mean, barbecue without iced tea? The choice of sauces don't seem to resemble anything I've had elsewhere. The closest was a mustard-vinegar sauce that is apparently an attempt at a South Carolina flavor, but it's much too sweet for that. There's a spicy sauce that is kind of like Western Carolina, but not exactly, and something heavy and sweet that seems like a combination of Memphis and hoisin sauce. Good barbecue, but not great barbecue any more. WR

I was disappointed to get your e-mail message the other day about a bad experience at El Pueblo. I figured that it might have been a bad day, so I went there again for dinner yesterday. Things started out fine - the chips were warm, the salsa spicy, the beer cold. But that was it. Things went rapidly downhill after that. I started out with the tortilla soup with chicken. The chicken was tough and dry, kind of like the kitchen had microwaved some Costco chicken tenders, and then tossed them into the soup at the last minute. The tortilla strips were soggy. After that, I had two favorites, the garlic scollop tapa and the chicken tamale. The scollops were tough. In fact, I didn't know it was possible to make tiny bay scollops that tough. The garlic toast was soggy and the sauce insipid. The tamale was worse. Once a delightful dish with soft, fragrant cornmeal that was just firm enough to crumple when broken, revealing tender strips of chicken, things have changed. The cornmeal had become a gelatinous mass lightly populated with pieces of the same dried out chicken that was in the soup. I couldn't finish it. Of course, I couldn't finish the other dishes either. It's sad for a restaurant that started out so well to have become an "avoid at all costs" kind of place in such a short time. Clearly, they've had a staff shake-up in the kitchen. But it would have been nice if they'd hired a cook who had a clue of some sort. It's sad that there's no good way to get word to the owners about the rapid decline. I don't plan to go back to tell them, though. Hope the same thing doesn't happen to Villa Bella. WR ---

I don't recall any moles on the menu, but I haven't been back there for a while due to my publisher having assigned me to a 2-week gig in Honolulu. I'm back now, so I'll go by again. WR

Well, Sicily isn't all THAT far from Spain. Actually, it's a fairly short commuter flight. It probably explains why their Mexican food isn't TexMex, though. And Villa Bella is one of the most authentic Italian restaurants around. I talked to the cook there, and he told me that they import the ingredients from Italy, which helps explain things. It's still not as good as the best places I've been to in Italy, but it's not bad. WR

"But if it were a documentary about a restaurant....now that's another story." Remember the NBC "Reality" series that fizzled earlier this year? Just count the safety violations, food and otherwise. No wonder they had trouble keeping staff and customers. I'm surprised the death rate wasn't higher. WR

I think El Pueblo has actually been open for a few months, but I just now got around to eating there. The restaurant bills itself as an Authentic Mexican and Spanish Restaurant and offers a range of specialties from both countries as well as a few standards from north of the border. The first thing you should know is that this is not another clone of Anita's. It's not Tex-Mex, and it's not Southwestern. The food in this Burke Town Plaza spot more closely resembles the seasonings and contents I've had in Mexico away from the border, and in Spain. Yes, you can get the standard stuff, but it tastes like it does in Mexico. For example, I had a chicken tamale which was very similar to one I had long ago prepared by the wife of a Mexican farmer near Veracruz. The tapas are simple, and seasoned as you'd find them in Spain. There's a lot of garlic on the scallops with garlic sauce, as there should be. The dish is adorned with two rounds of toasted garlic bread which is useful for soaking up the leftover garlic sauce. The sauteed mushroom caps were also simply prepared and tasty. You should note that these are also not like the tapas at Jaleo, which, while wonderful, are more elaborate than these. The tapas at El Pueblo more resemble those I've had at some mid-level bars in Cadiz. Sadly, there's no Spanish beer. But you can get what appears to be some nice pitchers of sangria, although I didn't actually have that. I'm planning to return soon. This place bears further investigation. WR

I ran across a place in Southern Maryland this past weekend that was a pleasant surprise. Piggy Wiggy Barbecue is located on MD rt 4 in the town of Dunkirk on the right as you pass the somewhat seedy shopping strip on the right, about two-thirds of the way to the end as you're heading south. It's really easy to miss. The actual address is 10092 Southern Maryland Blvd. I didn't see a number on the building, though. We had the pulled pork barbecue and the NC BBQ. Both are excellent. They're tender with a smoky fragrance and smoky taste that demonstrates that their claim of smoking their meat for 12 hours is true. They also sell beef brisket and some other items that I ignored. ambiance is just right. The restaurant was clearly used for some other purpose, the furnishings are clearly salvaged. The staff is related to the owner. There are random unrelated posters on the wall. It's worth at least a short trip. WR