DTBarton

We had 12 people. Started at 7:30 and served courses gradually, last non dessert course at about 11:30PM. Everything served hors d'oeuvre style, no sit down dinner. On arrival: Kir royale (supplied by a generous guest) Salmon roulades - diced fresh dill and green onion in cream cheese rolled up in Nova lox Steamed asparagus and brussel sprouts marinated in EVOO and balsamic and garlic with dijon sauce Cheese straws Hot courses: Baked brie with honey, balsamic vinegar, toasted walnuts and pecans, cranberries Pan seared foie gras on buttered toast points with fig/pear butter Sauteed lobster chunks flamed with cognac with lobster cream sauce Sauteed tenderloin of beef with wild mushroom demi glace Dessert: Bouche de Noel Bourbon balls Dark chocolate covered dried cherries and blueberries

Can't help you in Cleveland Park, but if you want to make a day trip to Annapolis (a fun thing to do) we have a couple of good butchers. http://www.mybutcherandmore.com/ http://www.thebutchersblock.net/

I don't have anything against chains philosophically, it's just like any other consumer decision. If you like it, you patronize it. Most chains, to me, produce uninspired, overprocessed bland food. Most eaters, however, are not as aware of what they eat as egulleters. They view the perceived repeatability of food in restaurant chains as a positive because they're not particularly adventurous diners. I say perceived because most chain restaurants are franchises and they can vary in quality a lot based on local management so a lot of the appeal is the menus are all the same at each location. That being said, there are a few chains that I like. Our local (Annapolis, MD) Bertucci's makes the best pizza in town, has decent fresh salads and sends you home with some really good yeasty rolls. People in better pizza towns will say, correctly, that that's because you don't have any really great pizza joints. True enough, which makes me appreciate even more the effort Bertucci's goes to to make a good pie. We also have a Mexican place called Baja Fresh that makes a very good burrito with all fresh ingredients and a bevy of decent salsas and condiments in a salad bar set up so you can get as much as you want.

Growing up, it was called a gashouse egg at our house. Seems similar to firehouse egg. Wife did a Google on it and came up with a little credibility (not that any other names aren't credible, except maybe that toad one). Recent Saveur article: http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Gashouse-Eggs Explanation of name: http://www.of2minds.org/spice/archives/000306.html

I've never lived in any of those 3 cities, but I've lived near them most of my life. They all have great things to offer. I'd give Philadelphia a slight edge over DC, but they're really different. Philadelphia has the best markets and street food (Reading Terminal, Italian market, cheesesteaks, Chinatown) and a really happening BYOB restaurant scene. DC has a great variety of restaurants recognizing the international nature of the city. So, I'd go low brow in Philly and high brow in DC. Baltimore is fun, but can't compete with the other two. Again, I like the markets (Lexington, Cross Street) and no other city I know is as completely wedded to one food as Baltimore is to crabs. They are essential eating to Baltimoreans of all colors and income levels.

I make oven fries a lot. I just spray the foil with cooking spray and don't have a sticking problem. I cut the potatoes to the size I want, shake them in a plastic bag with a little peanut oil and stack them up on the foil in a crosshatch pattern with space between each fry trying to expose as much surface area to the heat as possible. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put in a 400 degree oven until the potatoes are cooked and hit them with the broiler until they brown some. You get a nice mix of textures and colors. The top layer is browner and crisper than the bottom layer. As good as deep fried? No, but very tasty and easy.

I use the Penzey Chesapeake Bay Seasoning, which is THEIR clone of Old Bay. I find it to be less salty and more savory and balanced. When picking crabs, I take a small dish of rice vinegar and add some Penzey Bay seasoning. Great stuff to dip your claws.

I give the box a sniff. You'll often get a bit of rotten greens smell. Usually, it's only a few leaves that are rotting at the edges that give the whole box the scent. I go through the leaves quickly, remove the ones with bad edges, and the rest is still good.

I agree with Holly, you can't do much better than the Italian market area. Lorenzo's (9th and Christian) makes good pizza and cheesesteaks, George's a few doors down 9th for sandwiches, Sarcone's deli a couple blocks north for hoagies, the Vietnamese places nearby, Taqueria Veracruzana near 9th and Washington, lots of good eats on the streets. Or do some shopping at Claudio's and DiBruno's and make a free lunch out of the samples.

FWIW, we went to Lombardi's for the first time about a month ago and had an excellent pizza. Definitely not undercooked, beautifully charred, and the mozarella had great fresh flavor. Only complaint was there wasn't much basil on the Margherita. This was on a Friday at the start of lunch rush

It's been about 2 1/2 years, but we had an outstanding meal at FIG. http://www.eatatfig.com/home/default.aspx

Based on ast13's comment and this Washingtonian review from 2005 http://www.washingtonian.com/restaurantreviews/856.html we went to New Big Wong last night. Should go based on the name alone, but those jokes are too easy. We had an excellent meal. Basically followed the reviewer's suggestions. Don't know if this is the same group as 2005, but the recommendations were good ones. The place was full of mostly round eyes as there was a concert at the Verizon Center and they were pretty much ordering the American type stuff. The shrimp dumpling soup was not on the regular menu. When I ordered it, the waitress lit up a little and then was interested in helping us get some good stuff. They have a tank with live shrimp, so we had a half pound of steamed shrimp. Small, sweet, heads on, delicious. Served plain steamed with a little dish of soy sauce with some scallions in it. The shrimp dumpling soup was outstanding. The broth was rich and complex and shrimpy, dumplings tender and shrimpy also. We put some of the steamed shrimp in with the soup to finish them off. Next was crispy roast duck and baby bok choy with garlic. The duck was the best I've had in a LONG time, including at the Peking Duck house on Mott street in NYC. Most of the ducks out here in the hinterlands are deep fried, not roasted. Now deep fried duck is tasty, but the fat gets sealed in and it's often overcooked. A lot of people give lip service to roasting and rendering the fat, but this duck nailed it. Fat all gone having made for moist, succulent meat and paper thin crispy skin, fantastic. The bok choy was a great raw ingredient, tiny with vibrant green leaves simply sauteed with a little garlic. Perfect foil for the rich duck. I ordered the bok choy with oyster sauce (like in the review), but our helpful waitress said "get it with garlic". Good call. Anyway, I'd go back there in a second, 604 H Street. I guess you'd have to call it expensive by Chinatown standards ($50 for the whole meal), but if I could get that kind of quality for 50 bucks every time I went out, I'd love it.

Here's an Asian inspired fried oyster recipe that many of my friends and family have really liked. I got the idea for this from a dish served at a long gone (and sorely missed) Chinese restaurant called the Ming Gate in, of all places, Hampton, Virginia. Make a Chinese style dressing any way you like. I use soy sauce, rice vinegar, a little fish sauce, brown vinegar, diced garlic, diced ginger, diced cilantro, a few diced hot peppers (serrano works well), a little hot bean paste and a little sesame oil. Make the dressing early and let it marry for a while, stirring occasionally. Shred a nice bed of iceberg lettuce. Put hot fried oysters on top. Spoon the dressing over it all. The cold crunchy lettuce with the hot crunchy oysters and the spicy sauce are a great combination.

For opening oysters in the shell, you don't need to steam them to make it easier. Wash the oysters and put them in a bucket. Cover them with hot tap water. Within a few seconds they will be much easier to open. Put the knife to the oyster at the hinge end, not the sharp thin end. And a towel or glove is a good idea. Also, I really like the knife to be stiff, some of the thin knives in the stores are too flexible. All that said, I use already shucked oysters when frying. Here in Maryland, we can get very nice shucked oysters in pints and quarts. Oysters hold up well if they're kept in ice in the jars. I like to buy the larger ones (or selects) for frying. I'll eat one raw and see if they need some salt. Oysters from the middle Chesapeake Bay are nice but not salty like ocean oysters. I bread them like I did years ago at a seafood restaurant. This also allows you to do the first breading ahead of time. Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper. I use a blend of corn meal, self rising flour, and panko bread crumbs in about equal amounts. Add some salt and pepper to the breading. Dredge the oysters thoroughly in the breading and put on the cookie sheet. Cover the breaded oysters with plastic wrap and refrigerate until you're ready to cook. I use a large skillet with about 1/4 of an inch of peanut oil in it. This uses much less oil than deep frying and I've found it doesn't hurt the finished product. It does mean you have to turn the oysters once while they're cooking. Make a fresh batch of breading mixture. Dredge they oysters in the breading again and put in the hot pan. About 2 minutes a side should do it. The oil should be hot enough that the oysters start frying and bubbling immediately when you put them in the pan, so try one first and if it's not hot enough, let it heat up. Fry in small batches without crowding the pan. Drain on paper towels and enjoy.

We will be staying in the Chinatown/Verizon Center area for a night next week. I know Chinatown in DC doesn't have the reputation of New York or San Francisco as a dining destination. Still, I wondered if any of the DC folks out there had some favorite spots for Asian food in the neighborhood. Chinese would be the first choice as our local area (Annapolis) has some pretty decent Thai, Vietnamese and Japanese restaurants, but we're pretty challenged in the Chinese department. Thanks for any ideas.

A nice thick cut of top round steak works well also. I've found that it holds the shape of the pieces you cut it into while getting nice and tender in the braise.

My grandmother always baked hams in a paper bag, I remeber them as being pretty tasty.

We also really like Pepe's http://pepescafe.net/, particularly for breakfast. Sit at the bar and you can watch the bartender squeeze your fresh juice. Try El Siboney http://www.elsiboneyrestaurant.com/index.htm for Cuban food. Some might quibble with their description of location as the heart of Old Town, they're a little off the beaten track, but worth it. Decent Cuban food in a more touristy atmosphere can be had at El Meson de Pepe http://www.elmesondepepe.com/ near Mallory Square. We had very good ceviche there a couple weeks ago A fun happy hour is at Alonzo's oyster bar http://www.alonzosoysterbar.com/ with drinks and apps half price. We always enjoy B.O.s, but our meal there recently was not up to previous standards. Everyone has an off day, I guess. On your drive down, here's a few possibilities. If you like conch fritters, Alabama Jack's http://www.alabamajacks.com/ on Card Sound has the biggest and conchiest I've ever had. A fun honky tonk kind of place on a canal. You have to turn left on Card Sound road just south of Florida City to get there, just an alternate way to Key Largo versus staying on Route 1. We had very nice fried snapper and ribs at Rib Daddy's in Key Largo http://www.ribdaddysrestaurant.com/. Again, nothing fancy, but a lot of locals and good food. Have fun!

You know I'm a jaded eater when I have to ask: carpaccio of what? Brick dough is something akin to phyllo. Any sweets? ← Didn't specify as it was, in fact, beef. Great dish. Certainly had the mouth feel of phyllo, have not encountered brick dough before. We had the Baked Alaska and Bread pudding on my birthday, good as always, and I like the non-lumberjack portions. Didn't mention due to repetition. Tried a red velvet cupcake special the second night, thoughtfully served with a small glass of milk. Fun and fine, not up to the level of the Alaska or Bread pudding.

Hit Michy's again for two dinners last week. Still very enjoyable and the food maintains a high standard. Service and sommelier great as always. Highlights: Carpaccio with kimchee vegetables - loved by everyone at the table, should have gotten a whole. Charcuterie - Serrano ham one night, speck the next. Served with cheese, fig marmelade and grapes. Simple and good. Foie Gras en brick - Foie was wrapped in something (phyllo?), crisp on the outside and it kept the liver from getting runny. Garnished with cherry syrup and whole cherries, to die for. Oysters - the name escapes me, from Boston. Medium sized, briny, delicious with apple mignonette. Ordered a second half dozen. Skate wing with brown butter and capers - highlight for me, others found it two fishy/salty. They're allowed to be wrong. Good goods: Pasta Carbonara, Gnocchi lasagna, Ceviche, whole poussin. Lesser light: Arugula salad with braised rabbit - A little bland, particularly the rabbit had not much flavor. Still a great time. A little disappointed at the repeat dishes from previous visits only because we like to try new things, but this is a nit pick. If you like Alsace wine and feel like splurging, they have a 2004 Boxler Brand Cru Riesling that was fantastic. Final thoughts: They've just opened a new tapas type place in Miami (block west of Biscayne and 40th) and are getting ready to open a fish restaurant in Palm Beach. Will be interesting to see how all this goes. I think if anyone can expand and maintain quality, theses guys probably can, but a tall order for anyone.

We just returned from a trip to Florida that included a brief stay in Marco Island and Naples. In Marco, we had an excellent meal at this place: http://www.verdisbistro.com/ All the food was very good and well prepared. Nice service with a good wine list, I'd go back if I found myself on Marco Island again. This may be unlikely as we found Marco on the whole to be kind of sterile. Pretty, but sterile. In Naples, we had a nice lunch here: http://www.seasaltnaples.com/seasalt.html The prosciutto and parmesan were excellent, all the charcuterie looked good. The lunch dishes were a bit uneven, but I got the feeling that this place has some real potential. They were a bit distracted as they were hosting a wine tasting event in advance of the Naples wine festival. We had two dinners, one at Truluck's http://trulucks.com/naples_location.php and one at Bice http://bicenaples.com/naples/index.html Both of these places have multiple locations. We really enjoyed Trulucks. It's like a cross between Joe's Stone Crab and Ruth's Chris. Pricy, but what we got (stone crab, mobkfish, ribeye) was very good. Attentive service and nice wine list. Had two flights of wines with dinner, four small glasses each and a bargain at about $18. Bice was a disappointment. Had heard of these places (NYC particularly) and wanted to give it a try. Food ranged from lame to just OK. Service was a bit disjointed and rushed. We did have an excellent Italian white wine that I would search out again.

Having been there many times and lived there briefly, I would say that Charleston is definitely more of a seafood town than a BBQ town. Sweatman's is worth the effort, do it if you can. Given that they're in season now, go for the local oysters. Bull's Bay oysters are my favorite and they're pretty impossible to get outside the SC low-country. Folly river oysters are great too. Go back in the summer for the local shrimp. Got me to thinking, I can't come up with any coastal town that excels at barbecue. Memphis, I guess, but that's riverfront, not coastal. Perhaps proximity to inland pig farms drives that. We tried Maurice's in Columbia a couple years ago, the food was very good. There was some info in the window addressing the controversy, but the customers covered all shapes, sizes and colors so I guess at least some of the locals aren't too worried about it.

Over the last few years we have been enjoying a combination that was dubbed (I can't remember by who) "Redneck surf n' turf" Ribs and crab cakes, haven't had a complaint from any of the recipients!

I occasionally eat a snack at Taco Bell (cheap and fast). But speaking of their sauces, many years ago (would have been early 90s given where I was working), they introduced a sauce in the packet called "Wild" sauce. It tasted kind of like their regular hot sauce in the packet but with a heavy shot of cilantro and it was very good. Bean burrito with wild sauce was a regular bargain lunch in those days. I did notice that no one but me ever got the wild sauce, and as expected, it disappeared.

Excuse any repetition, I didn't read all the other posts. I had a job as a co-op student that paid $2.10/hour (in 1979). About $300/month after taxes. Basement apartment was $175/month, so had to get by on $125 for the rest of everything for the month. Home cooking saved me. Homemade bread was great, a taste treat and seems like it was about 15 cents a loaf 30 years ago! I was a righteous follower of grocery store sales. Get the Wednesday newspaper in most areas to get grocery store fliers advertising sale items. I'd go right to the cheap proteins and produce, seemed like every week you could get a great deal on chicken, turkey, chuck roast, ground beef, etc. Made big batches of chili (lots o' beans). Always some veggies on sale too. Saw the recommendation for ethnic markets. Great idea and an option not available 30 years ago. Asian and Hispanic markets have great deals on staples, cheaper than grocery stores. Good luck.