jm chen

I don't know if they've got the flagelot specifically, but the not-too-far-up-the-road Tenleytown Whole Foods still had by-the-scoop offerings as of Monday night, so that would be the first place I'd call.

The Trader Joe's in Bethesda is within walking distance of the Bethesda Metro station, though it is not exactly close to the station. Maybe a 10 minute walk? Bethesda is just a few stops from Shady Grove on the same line, so maybe you can talk him into stopping there periodically...

Funny -- I made the Chicken Fricassee last night too! Left out the creme fraiche at the end, and as someone mentioned earlier in the thread, it's just fine without it. It was my first time flaming brandy, though, and she is NOT kidding about how high those flames go! Wave a match in the general direction of the pan and get back! I thought it was a very solid dish, and tasty. But not as good as the previous recipes I made from this book -- then again, both of those were simply out of this world.

I found the sea salt right there in the salt section in Safeway. Guess I needn't have worried. Thanks!

I have not found them markedly superior to grocery store steaks. I bought some of their top sirloin and burgers on megasale but don't think I'll have any cause to go back for another helping. Curious to hear others' thoughts, though.

Anybody seen La Baleine sea salt (the blue canister with the whale on it) in DC stores lately? I can find it for about $3.50 online... but then I'd have to pay something like $7-10 for shipping, which makes it a good deal more expensive than necessary. I'll check when I'm at the Safeway tonight but if I don't find it there, anyone seen it around? Has to be Metro-accessible, I'm carless.

It's a very informative thread. Also, just like the cookbook, it makes me hungry every time I look at it! So far I've made two recipes from AAB and both have won raves. Didn't see either mentioned so far here. Whole Chicken Braised With Pears and Rosemary : Although I used a larger chicken than the recipe called for, didn't truss it, and ignored all that stuff at the end about straining the sauce, this was a huge hit. Moist and delicious, and that pear flavor really does give a sweetness to the meat. Instead of serving it with the pear garnish I just threw some carrots into the sauce after I took the chicken out, and boiled them a bit. The chicken was immediately called "The best chicken you've ever made" by my beloved dining companion. I can't really recommend trying to brown a untrussed 7-pound chicken on all sides, as attempting to turn it over repeatedly is a recipe for frustration, but I eventually managed to get much of the skin browned up. Since we don't eat the skin anyway it's more for presentation. Soy-Glazed Chicken Thighs With Star Anise and Orange Peel: A good excuse to buy fish sauce, first off. And a great way to serve chicken with a very different taste to it. The anise and orange flavor in the sauce -- which was thick but not heavy -- compelled us to lick our fingers. I would pretty much recommend making the recipe exactly as written, although I did take the skin off the thighs before browning. It's only in the oven for half an hour, so the recommended temp (325) seemed about right. Next time I'll make a double batch so we have lots of leftovers. Next up: probably will make the Chicken Fricassee With Mushrooms and Artichokes later this week, though maybe without the cream, as someone upthread did.

Yep. I found the same. This will come off as a negative and I don't mean it as such, but the chocolate layer between the bread and the chorizo tasted just like Nutella to me. It was a sweetened chocolate, which I am not used to tasting with savory.

My +1 enjoyed the deviled eggs (3 for $3.) We also dug into lamb skewers, patatas bravas, chorizo y jerez, chorizo con chocolate, and paquetitos de jamon. I had a glass of sangria ($7) while I was waiting so that wasn't included in the $40 price tag, though that does include tax and tip.

I was going to mention how different Jaleo is but figured most people have not been to both. Jaleo does indeed have excellent tapas -- I love their chorizo and their croquettes in particular -- but it is a loud, bright, convivial atmosphere. As is Zaytinya, which is a little more elegant and more Turkish/Greek in their flavors. Tia Pol is much smaller and more intimate, a bit more rustic in the preparation of the food. The day's specials are chalked up behind the bar. And yes, we had a half-hour wait at 6:30 on a Saturday, which I should have mentioned. It made the Top 100 list in New York Magazine so the hype vs. delivery question may become even more of a problem for them.

I was a tourist in NYC last weekend -- not for the first time, and not for the last -- and tapas at Tia Pol in Chelsea felt very New York to me. A small, dark restaurant full of wonderful smells and delicious food. Two of us ate at the bar for $40. I'd recommend it to anyone, and as a visitor, it felt like something I couldn't get at home (for me, Washington DC -- which has excellent food but nothing quite like that.)

Good luck with the altitude sickness, it hits some worse than others. The best restaurant we visited in Cuzco is a little place called, I think, El Grano or La Grana, had really good Asian/Indian/international food choices in a warm, welcoming hippie cafe environment. Definitely try there. If your stomach is bothering you (as mine was when we first arrived) you can have a baked potato. Most hotels will offer you a cup of coca tea upon arrival. I even brought some back with me, after asking the people in the duty-free shop about 83 times if they were SURE it was legal to carry to the US. It's relaxing and settles the stomach, as others above have said.

I just ordered this cookbook and it arrived in the mail last night. What a pleasure! Am really looking forward to trying it out. The chicken with cider and parsnips looks particularly tasty.

I have had several such conversations with Dean Gold, and I have no doubt that he would be happy to have them with any interested party at the restaurant, and if you really want to survey Italian cooking in DC I think you definitely need to visit his place. He wants the restaurant to be an enoteca , so very much about the wine, and with cicchetti , snacks, as the Venetians would have them. Okay, I went to the Dino website to check the spelling, and saw this, so I might as well just paste it in: The cooking may not all be traditional to that part of Italy, but what he seems to be doing is creating an atmosphere and style of eating that is faithful to that area. And cucina, I think you're spot on about why more Italian restaurants don't try to stay 100% faithful to one region's cuisine -- I for one wouldn't be able to tell the difference, and there are lot more customers like me out there. I'm not proud of my ignorance, but it's factual. The education process is slow, and can't be accomplished solely bite by bite. But: smoked Tuscan cheese? Sounds like something I need to try...

I enjoyed it a lot, with the "What You'll Like" and "What You Won't" serving as a handy, skim-through way to set things up. Every place has its pluses and its minuses. Best to set the summary up so both can be easily addressed. Man, they were harsh on Corduroy's decor, though. "Airport lounge" just doesn't seem accurate to me. And I sort of found it odd that restaurants with a couple different types of pricing (Palena/Palena Cafe) and Galileo (Osteria/Laboratorio/original flavor) took up one spot for each incarnation. I can't think of a better way to do it -- certainly eating at Palena Cafe is a completely different experience than eating at Palena -- but it still struck me as somehow not quite right.

I definitely thought it was a good idea for a piece. I have almost no firsthand experience with the places he picked, though. I can definitely say that you would need at least two tapas at Mantis to make a real meal. But he's right about that delicious pumpkin stuff at Afghan Grill, it's really tasty. Other than that, dunno. I would steer tourists low on dough to Julia's Empanadas, first and foremost. What do those things cost, $3?

My family spells it "pierogi." The cabbage rolls I think we spell something like "glumpki." Which may not look like it's the same word as "holobshy" but I think it is.

Top 5, all in DC: opening night at Dino (July) Restaurant Week at Corduroy (August) Minibar! (September) Tasting Room at Restaurant Eve (September) Ray's the Steaks (October?)

Veto Corduroy? Heathens! Dino usually has a whole broiled fish of some kind. And that tasty baby octopus appetizer besides. Then they can have fish, and you can have wild boar, and everybody can have lots and lots of wine. But possibly, not formal-ish enough. But you might be right about Old Ebbitt. It won't soar, but it won't sink.

Sounds like the manliest option in DC to me. If Northern Virginia is OK, Ray's is also suitably manly. If you don't want to spend that much, you can have burgers at Bourbon and then storm Good Guys and/or J.R.'s. They're right across the street from each other so you can even afford to get thrown out of one.

If it weren't so far out of town I'd go there just to sit at the bar and eat housemade potato chips and dip. On my one visit to Lightfoot they were exceedingly delicious.

I've had decent luck getting in on Sunday nights. If you get an early reservation, say at 6, they may let you know that you'll have to vacate the table by 7:30 to make way for the next reservation, as it is a small place. But I've never felt rushed. The Ray's the Steaks thread is only a few lines down from this one -- check it out for more info.

Nah, the hanger steak at Ray's. That said, I still like the feature -- most locals are not as slavishly devoted to the food scene as we here, and I find it very likely that there are people who hadn't heard of Palena's fries or Corduroy's spring rolls before the Post brought them up. I went to Corduroy at least 10 times before I tried the spring rolls, and that was only because I had heard about them from website foodies. It's a nice counterpoint to the Best Of lists on washingtonpost.com that point to Maggie Moo's as best ice cream or Starbucks as best coffee. The "Worth the Trip" folks may be calling our attention to great things we already know about, but at least they're calling our attention to great things. If they feature Maggiano's veal parm or Outback's Bloomin' Onion, of course, I will apologize profusely for ever defending them.

Heh.

Thumbs-up for the Diner (my dad still raves about the $7.95 fish special he had there two years ago) and Matchbox. Have had great food in both places. This "centrally located" business is bunk, though. Tourists aren't going to Adams Morgan, where the Diner and Left Bank are, and I wouldn't try to direct anyone to Lauriol Plaza from the Metro for love or money. Ben's, I think might be somewhere near a Green Line stop? Also nowhere near the monuments or other attractions. You want good food on the Mall? Go to the cafeteria in the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian. That's a much more practical find that better matches the lead-in to this article.