Steve Klc

"Ok, this is the most imporant thing anybody will ever tell you about Korean food: Pay special attention to the gae jang panchan, and ask for it if it isn't offered. Berate your hosts if there is none to offer, then leave. Simple halved blue crabs, placed raw in chili paste, scallions, garlic and vinegar. You pick them up, the shells having become a little softer from the quick cure, and work the silky raw meat our with your teeth. Repeat until your lips are blistered from the spiciness of the chili paste and you can't take it anymore. Ohhh, man." That's one of the best things I've read in a while. With apologies to When Harry Met Sally fans, "I want what she's having."

Commercial almond flour cannot be duplicated at home--you might be able to duplicate the fine particle size (though I have not been able to myself--you need special commercial equipment to grind almonds as finely and evenly) but you cannot duplicate pressing the almond oil out of the almonds, as almond "flour" usually has been pressed. This matters in some applications, less so in others.

Oh, sorry, anyone can become a member, it's a not-for-profit Foundation: http://jamesbeard.org/membership/index.shtml Here's the breakdown on awards judging and who votes: http://jamesbeard.org/awards/policies.shtml

Actually, Katie, restaurants like Cheesecake Factory and other chains and franchises often "win" best restaurant awards when voted on by the readers of local big city magazines or newspapers--much to the chagrin of the food savvy in those cities. It wouldn't be hard for me to argue that precisely what Cheesecake Factory delivers is "stellar service, great ambiance and mediocre food" in consistently huge portions but that would be off-topic. This may not have happened in Philly, but last year in DC the Cheesecake Factory won a reader poll for best fine dining restaurant. I kid you not, we may even have had an eG thread about it and people weighed in saying the same thing happened all over the country. Also, take "chef-driven" out of what I said and my question remains--has the chef of a BYOB ever received a regional Beard Best Chef nod? I guess my larger point is--how much of a role does wine or service or ambience or crystal creep in when deciding who gets the Beard Best Chef nominations because, when you get right down to it, it is for being a "chef"--right? I'd hope those factors wouldn't play much of a role--and instead focus on his or her performance at the plate: ingredients sourcing and technique, taste, flavor, creativity, execution, plating, etc. According to the Beard website nominated chefs can be from any kind of dining establishment and they're supposed to have set new or consistent standards of excellence in their respective regions. Plus, there are other Beard award categories for most outstanding restaurant, for service, for wine programs and service, for design, etc. which address those issues anyway. "Who are the Beard voters, BTW?" Members of the James Beard Foundation vote in certain categories after various awards committees meet to determine the nominees. There are different submission requirements and processes for chef, restaurant, journalism, etc. Tom Sietsema recently disclosed on eGullet that he serves as vice-chair of the restaurant awards committee. Most of the awards are "sponsored."

Did you get the pecan-smoked pulled pork that was packaged and for sale near all the D'Artagnan duck and sausage stuff? It's by a local outfit called "Texacan Beef & Pork Co" and seems reasonably priced. I only tried their beef brisket and what I got was high quality especially for something pre-packaged. The company is based in Ashburn, Va I wouldn't be surprised if Wegmans uses these products as well.

I picked this Dominion Spring Brew up at Wegmans the other day, for the bargain price of 4.99, and while I find myself agreeing with Jake as far as the perception of alcohol, it did pair beautifully with the jambalaya we made that night. Thank you for the suggestion LJ.

I wonder if the chef behind a chef-driven BYOB restaurant has ever received a Beard Best Chef nomination in any US region--we'll have to do some digging. Also likely mitigating against Django is that it achieves a relaxed, seemingly incongruous, informality--in dress, in atmosphere--yet puts delicious, decidely creative and interesting food on the plate. There are diners and Beard voters distracted by things which have little to do with the achievement of the chef: like the false notion that a "serious" restaurant somehow requires one to dress up "appropriately" in order to sit in the dining room. Jacket and tie or not, Django makes you feel right at home.

Did you bring your own wines Holly--and how did that work, trying to anticipate what might go well with the meal? Did you have the menu in advance? Also, would you care to address your sense, after finally dining there, of the price to value ratio Django offers to a diner?

Stephen--thanks for opening the door a little wider as far as how you do business--and how you view the nature of your business. Your courage to address certain issues publicly and specifically is to be applauded. If more salespeople and distributors had specific answers to specific questions when asked--rather than typcially replying "I'll check and get back to you"--and didn't make working pastry chefs jump through hoops to get pricing and/or "special" deals--we'd all be a lot better off. It sounds to me like you're rising above the status quo.

Yeah, there's a lot of fat in this--butter plus the cocoa powder has fat, more than you might think, and so does unsweetened chocolate. Herme has both a nice grue nougatine tuile and a cocoa powder/almond powder nougatine tuile in Patisserie. His base is 100g milk, 250g butter, 100g glucose, 300g sugar, 5g pectin. I like the crunch of nibs/grue in tuiles, in general, because the cocoa butter doesn't seem to melt out as much. Here's an old recipe of mine which gets very thin and crunchy: http://204.57.86.137/new//recipes/recipe_a...late_tuile.html We've also mentioned this before, but as Michael hinted at, the Bau book has been very influential on serious pastry chefs in the US--when it came out in 98 (I think) you just knew it was being bought by everyone French or French-leaning in NYC because that book's influence was being seen all around town. It was the next worthwhile pastry book to arrive on the scene after the Herme Patisserie book and it is still an essential reference. No American pastry chef has come close to achieving in print what Bau does in "Au Coeur des Saveurs." It was the first--and remains the best--book in English to attempt to discuss chocolate, bon bons and confectionery seriously. The other excellent book which arrived at about the same time--which remains widely-emulated and just as essential--was the Brunstein petits fours book. There are some excellent tuile and macaron recipes to be found here as well.

Kyo--first, welcome, and second, there are facts and then there are opinions. Hopefully all of our opinions can be backed up with some experience, but to a certain extent this is always going to be subjective and we can disagree respectfully. I'd sincerely like to find out more from you, based on your experience, why you think I may be mistaken. But facts "on paper" or on a label don't necessarily tell the whole story or reveal themselves in performance--which is why reading about chocolate off of some sales sheet versus using and understanding chocolate can be two very different things. If you read the El Rey label or sales sheet years ago you'd think their dark chocolates were fluid and could be tempered easily. (Not.) That's also why we tend to talk about chocolate here on eG a lot because, well, we often disagree. (You also won't find discussions like this in the pages of Chocolatier or Pastry Art & Design--too dependent on advertising from said chocolate companies.) In my case, I've been lucky to work for both El Rey and Cluizel--I was proud to cash their checks and proud of most of their products--so you might say I'm somewhat familiar with their products and their "facts." But I've even been critical of their formulations. I analyzed their chocolates, figured out what was best to do with each blend, toured the country giving demos to other chefs and students on how one might best appreciate their chocolates and even spent time in the Cluizel factory in France. I haven't ever worked for Guittard--but I know them well, hold their management and sales teams in the highest respect and I feel like I've come to know their products inside and out. You should realize, though, that Guittard has only made "good" or "serious" chocolate for a few years now--that's right, the E. Guittard line. The other stuff is, well, industrial and really pedestrian. But, their commitment to high-quality chocolate in this country cannot be challenged and I've only used E. Guittard in my restaurant desserts. I've also very frankly expressed my feelings about their chocolate to them--so it's not like I'm taking a cheap shot nor do I think what I said warrants being chastised for criticizing a century-old American company. The product is either good or it isn't, it's either special or it isn't. They know how I feel big picture as well--when I served as the educational consultant for the American Museum of Natural History Chocolate Exhibit in NYC this summer--guess which chocolate manufacturer I invited in to sponsor all of my master classes and events? That's right, Guittard. When is say "pedestrian" in this context I really don't mean to be unkind, I just mean workmanlike, serviceable, not really distinctive--and unfortunately the semi, milk and white E. Guittard varieties I'm speaking about are just that on my palate. When you taste sugar first that's a problem. Want to know the milks and whites I don't think are merely pedestrian? That's right--the El Rey milk, which is a 41%, the Cluizel milk when it was at 45% (now it is a 50%) and the El Rey white. I also found the Carma white a clear step above the pack but haven't used it since Carma was bought out. The Valrhona milks would fall in this category, I just liked the taste of the El Rey and Cluizel better. That's it--just about everything else can be shopped for on price and used practically interchangably--they use the same deodorized cocoa butter, the same high amounts of sugar which you taste upfront and are overpaying for. I'd give the edge to Cacao Noel within this second tier pedestrian category because of lower price and greater ease of temperability--but that's subjective. Yes I usually also have a box of E. Guittard milk and white in my cabinet--but again, they're nothing special. I wish they were--I wish they'd come out with a higher percentage milk. If they did, and I liked the taste, I'd trumpet it from the highest tower. Right now the E. Guittard milk tastes and performs closer to the lowest common denominator milk chocolate than it does the special or distinctive ones. I'm not dissing E. Guittard blindly--I choose to use their 61% and 72% chocolates because I believe those are the best in the country at the moment in their category--when price to performance to palate is taken into consideration. They're fantastic in desserts, easy and forgiving to temper and work well in molding and confectionery applications. If someone wants to overpay for the sugar percentage in a chocolate that is fine by me, but I'll stand behind recommending using higher cacao percentage chocolates, from better quality beans and then adjust by adding sugar in the recipes. It will help make your work more distinctive. Sugar is much cheaper that way and you'll get a more pure, more interesting chocolate flavor that way. You'll be able to buy better, more expensive chocolates that way--and it will go a lot further. (Of course, you could also use a good cacao powder this way as well.) With the lower cacao percentage/higher sugar percentage milks, I've also had some good results by adjusting my recipes to accomodate adding some high-percentage extra-bittersweet chocolate to the mix. Works wonders in a milk chocolate creme brulee or flan--you still get all the malt or caramel from the milk with just that slightly greater cacao kick you might be craving.

We had really good Ethiopian restaurants, had being the operative word. When I had my first meal out in Adams Morgan back in 1982 it was Ethiopian (Red Sea) and it was wonderful, eye-opening, really, on many levels. Adams Morgan rocked 15-20 years ago and over time people argued which Ethiopian was better amongst those mentioned but all of them were damn good. I went back many, many times to the usual Ethiopian suspects over the years until they just sunk too far toward mediocrity and inconsistency; it was either poor ingredients, less deft spicing, inconsistent service and/or declining value--even the two Ethiopian places which later opened promisingly in Georgetown declined or closed as well. Sad to say it's about as difficult to find quality Ethiopian as it is quality Chinese in DC these days--but recent reports here might give renewed hope. (It's not like I'm alone on this--the usual Ethiopian suspects once showed up often on the annual Post and Washingtonian Best lists--alas, no more.) But then I feel that way about Adams Morgan in general--I find I'm in the bilrus camp on this: there's little reason to make a point of going there, Adams Morgan and environs isn't what it once was culinarily-speaking, not even close. It doesn't present the depth, value or distinctiveness it once did and it just might be the most unimpressive dining destination of our metro area--with the fewest good options available high and low. Bethesda is even a better dining scene than Adams Morgan now. Cashion's underwhelms me, set against the backdrop of creative and interesting "New American ingredients-driven comfort food" going on around the country, but I'm in the distinct minority on that: chef Cashion was nominated again for Beard Best Chef in the Mid-Atlantic region and Sietsema, the Washingtonian critics and many here speak highly of her work. (I also haven't had the dish Mark recommends.) Given what you're looking for, sabg, Yanyu and Spices might be better options for you, and if you liked DC Coast you'll probably love Ten Penh as well. Hope that helps.

Catching up with this, I just realized I never actually answered the original post--where Django ranks. I should have--for then LaBan wouldn't have been able to so easily paint eG as "upset" by his ranking--Django ranks right where LaBan placed it--it is one of Philadelphia's most special restaurants and I agree with him assigning 4 bells, stars, whatever. I've been lucky to have dined there 3 times in the past year--stellar, personal, charming culinary experiences all--and a value to boot. I'd return to Django in a heartbeat--even given the drive up from DC--rather than eat at a Cashions or an Obelisk here in DC, two Beard award nominated chef-driven DC restaurants which aim for but do not achieve what Django provides on the plate. Neither restaurant adds what Aimee adds in the Django dining room or with that cheese plate. It took 6 weeks for a response piece to run after we raised these issues here on eG and in "old media" time that's fairly quick--kudos to Katie et al for prompting this and to Laban for another interesting, well-written article. You may just have had a hand in sparking greater consistency and you just might see more of a willingness to recognize creative cooking at the BYOB level for what it is. If this were the NY Times their "old media" response would have been to ignore, completely. Katie--I'm also sorry to appear to disagree with your perspective on the appropriateness of Django's ranking but it is with the most sincere respect. I see that there are other nuances. But you're all lucky to have such a critic--he seems a passionate advocate of your city but is neither too boosterish nor too much of a homer. His two telling but not-very-arguable points: 1) "Philadelphia, where all the usual assumptions about what constitutes "fine dining" are being reconsidered," and 2) "BYOBs - urban yet accessible, with the personal scale that still distinguishes Philadelphia from its East Coast rivals" In this group I've only eaten at Django, Pif and Chloe (anyone been to Next yet?) but you know what? He's right. And yes herbacidal, good catch, the Beard journalism awards committee seems to agree. My only regret is that Sikora (with Aimee Olexy and Django) didn't get one of the Beard Best Mid-Atlantic Best Chef nods in addition to Vetri.

15 ria might fit the bill nicely for a "business" breakfast. Some things are worth spending a few extra bucks for. It might be too far away, though.

Resist that cranky old man impulse Bill. It really has nothing to do with chronological age or being "ballsy" but more the age we live in and where we live. This can be a very self-important, self-entitled region. Take a Monday off from work sometime, go out to Wegmans or check out the As-is room of Ikea or visit Tysons Corner mall or whatever you'd be tempted to avoid during "prime time" and revel in the sheer sanity, the tranquility, of the experience. Think about it--do you go out to dinner on Valentines Day or do you know better than to do that? This new Wegmans with only a two-third's full parking lot is a hard-to-describe joy. You have no guilt whatsoever asking the sushi counter to make you up a $4.99 dynamite roll (one of the only rolls they never make up ahead of time--it's very labor intensive and a real bargain) because you're the only customer standing in front of them--you know they'll have to stop and run over to the salad bar station to pick up a handful of scallions since they never have them stocked at the sushi bar--and you don't mind because they don't mind--it's very zen like when you purposely avoid the crowds. And you get that dynamite roll in record time and can move on to the Herme patisserie or the Kobe beef or the Zweigles or the D'Artagnan andouille or wherever your thoughts have drifted to anyway.

Ted--I think the main thing is Jose intuitively understood his customer base here--he'd been cooking and creating and serving them for 10 years and he "knew" what they'd want and what would sell. When he brought me on I merely benefited from that intuition. And yes, my bringing the PacoJet to the project was key to the success of certain things there, like the olive oil ice cream, the pistachio ice cream, etc. and I do think the dessert program (with PacoJet) played some small role in the restaurant getting nominated for the Beard Best New Restaurant award last year. But, as a consultant, I wouldn't necessarily put a PacoJet just anywhere because it requires a certain, different, way of approaching things--it's more technologically advanced, it's less forgiving, it requires better freezers and a different way of working, and most of all a pastry chef or consultant aware of the vast differences between batch freezer and Paco methods--all of which came together at Z. Every restaurant is different--in some it might be better to outsource frozen items, in others one Paco might be fine for a dessert program--that is if the chef doesn't become too attracted to what he can do with the Paco--and in that case one Paco might not be enough! And in a high volume place, the Paco is going to require more maintenance over the long term than a batch freezer would--so those costs have to be factored in. (Jose felt--and the perception in the industry is still--that Pacos will not hold up as well as batch freezers and will end up being more expensive. We'll see how that plays out when more data is in.) It also takes an executive chef onsite equally committed to the Paco system, which Z. has in Jorge Chicas--he is consummate and attentive and cares about freezer management, going so far as supporting the purchase of a separate freezer just to store the Pacojet beakers properly. But even here, over time, we brought in a tabletop batch freezer for ice cream (and moved one of the two PacoJets to another restaurant) to better keep up with the volume. The things that "need" the Paco are still done in the Paco; I developed other, more standard, recipes to shift some of load to the batch freezer. The challenge of any consulting chef or pastry chef is to implement a system which works over time--and the right system for each venue, each unique set of circumstances, is different. I'm happy Tom Sietsema, our lead local restaurant critic, mentions this dessert program often in his chats and that little notes, like from Curlz or Ted, arrive like little gifts out of nowhere to validate the good work and thought behind it. It speaks well of the system and of the team behind it as well.

"I don't want to quote prices openly here. That just feels soooo wrong." I wonder if that is because there are different pricing structures for different clients within the same market area? If that "feels" wrong, it just might "be" wrong. In Washington, DC I've paid between 3.28 and 3.78 per pound for the 61% and 72%, over the past 2 years, depending on the distributor and market fluctuation. As you know, these are the darks I use most of the time. I'm impressed with their overall performance. Wendy, in the E. Guittard line these are the only products which are special--against the competition--the 72% and the 61%. So start with them. Everything else--the white, milk, etc.--is pedestrian and/or has too much sugar.

That's just outsiders looking in, Tom, on a process that's so inherently difficult to come to grips with anyway. I have much more of a problem with someone saying "he should have won last year when he was nominated in the same category"--when that person has not seen or tasted the food of all those nominated in the category, including the eventual winner, Grant Achatz. It would be like touting "Titanic" at the top of your lungs for best picture and not having seen the other 4 films nominated. At least the committee process mitigates against that kind of parochial self-interest somewhat. What I'd wonder instead--did Fabio Trabocchi get much consideration for Best Chef Mid-Atlantic--he should have in my book--and was it decided more due to age alone that he should still be considered in the Rising Star category? I realize that probably cannot be disclosed. Oh, to have been a fly on that political wall... Tom, is the full makeup of your committee disclosed? That might go some way toward dispelling concerns as far as representation, travel and awareness. Also, as much as possible, let's try to keep this discussion focused on the local aspects of the Beard awards as the initial poster specified--our local chefs and writers nominated and the issues affecting them. Let's continue discussion of non-local aspects--and talk of Chinois, Chicago area restaurants like MK, chefs like Wolfgang Puck, Miami--elsewhere on a Beard award thread in the Food Media board. Like this one: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=38849

Not everyone raves. The burgers are good, gray and greasy, fairly cheap and that's it. Now, if you want a slightly more special burger, ask for the "chopped steak" at Ray's the Steaks in Arlington. Imagine steak tartar, seasoned, seared. A blend of different cuts and trimmings, ground once or twice, depending on the age and cut. I had it the other night, it cost 14.95 I think, and was delicious. If more people ask for it when making reservations, maybe it will find a place on the regular menu. Like everything on their menu at the moment it is served with very nice mashed potatoes, creamed spinach and if you like, roasted garlic and sauteed onions. Best burger I've had in months.

babka--I'm a fan of Belgian/French/Dutch twice-cooked fries myself. (Though I like the 5 Guys fries more than the limp ones I had at the much-lauded In-N-Out burger chain in California this weekend.)

Reading through this thread, there's been one thing I've wanted to ask--so I will: how many of these places are special enough to you, or distinctive enough against their competition elsewhere, that you would make an effort to drive to them if you didn't live or work near Arlington? And how many of them are "favorites" more due to proximity? On my list of Arlington best restaurants that I'd make the effort to drive to even if I didn't live here would be, in order of merit and likely frequency: Ray's the Steaks Minh's Singh Thai Rocklands Boulevard Wood Grill Italian Store (pizza, subs) Rio Grande (just for the fajitas and iced tea) That's probably it. I've stopped going to Mexicali Blues, Harry's Tap Room, Guajillo's or any other place in that Ray's the Steak's strip, which I used to think were decent; I've stopped going to any of the many other Mex/Tex-mex/New-Mex places, any other Viet place besides Minh's, any Chinese, any Indian, any sushi, any other Thai besides Singh Thai, because they're not as good as they should be. I drive elsewhere for those cuisines when I get the urge. The chicken places mentioned here seem somewhat better than elsewhere but I've had really good South American-style chiicken all throughtout NoVa--I doubt I'd need to drive back to Arlington if I moved. Too many of the other restaurant types or genres mentioned on this thread seem, at least to me, to be done better elsewhere. I still drop into some of them though because of convenience. For instance, I like Hard Times--and have liked what they do for decades and doubt they could do what they do any better--but I doubt if I lived in Herndon that I'd make the effort to drive to them. Am I just too jaded or do some of you agree to a certain extent? What makes your "worth a regular drive" list?

Jay--I think you have hit on something--an unstoppable force--but it is something which is already here and well underway. Modern cooking and pastry are well into overthrowing the supposed heirarchy of these formal French forms and what have become labelled as "architectural" desserts championed in some media outlets--and "messy" desserts are part of the future. (All desserts are inherently architectural.) It just seems the French pastry folks have been allowed more of a stranglehold on pastry form and perception than the French savory cuisine folks have. I think, though, that even with successful messy pastries, as you term them, there is a very calculated design and artistry behind the mess--there's just as much aesthetics to the mess, in other words. It's not spontaneous--and often requires much more thought and work behind the scenes precisely because you are not aping other codified forms. First we have to keep shooting down this canard in the minds of some media and many diners that form itself necessarily and/or generally dictates flavor somehow--it doesn't, at all. We have to do a better job educating and raising awareness of dessert, of what it means to be a creative pastry chef, of what it means for something to be "good." Something isn't rewarding or good-tasting because it is in the form it is. Just like organic produce doesn't necessarily taste good because it is organic. Messy, avant-garde, architectural, formal French, whatever style--a good, rewarding dessert is just that--good-tasting and rewarding, it follows the meal which preceded it and flows well with the ethos of the chef or cuisine. One thing we've talked a lot about on eG pastry--is a la minute construction of components more like a savory chef--which is largely antithetical to this older-school, more traditional French/Swiss/German dessert method of almost entirely assembling the core of a dessert in advance and then holding it for service. Come in early, do your work, go home. I won't go over that but likely embracing the tenets of this method will be a key to your developing successful "messy" desserts--you do also have to start thinking differently but it seems you already have! Well done and welcome to eG pastry. A lot of your options will depend on your venue--be it a patisserie/takeout shop or a restaurant. It's difficult to serve messy pastry in a shop--you often have to entice with form--your customers have to carry it away and sometimes consume it later. It has to travel well--so you build something in a glass perhaps--you even see this in France now--Herme or Conticini with little pre-layered cups of cream, sauces, cake, etc--some very messy to eat, but very unctuous. Conticini tried some a la minute things, like little messy parfaits or sundaes as desserts in a glass, at his little Petrossian NY pastry shop with Chris Broberg, even using the Pacojet for a la minute servings but that proved too troublesome in the end. Creamy, flavorful, but according to whose definition are they "sacrificing good looks for good taste?" Only those who have rigid rules or a very narrow view of form. It does get more interesting with plated desserts, another area the traditional French factions have lagged behind because they're stuck on form--it's an ingrained part of their dessert culture and very few dare to step outside it. They're only now discovering the freedom other countries have shown them in form--like you see with the Spanish and the US. "Jack Daniels soaked bread pudding meets my criteria for a messy pastry." I agree, and I think if you were working in some modern american restaurant down south you could easily serve this as an a la minute parfait, perhaps, with a warm anglaise in the bottom, some traditional bread pudding mixture scooped in the middle maybe with some vanilla-molasses gelee, some caramelized pecans for crunch, topped with a warm caramelized Jack syrup and sea salt. You could take all those ingredients and spread them out on the plate as well--arranging maybe toasted cubes of cake in a row along a rectangular plate--and then saucing, drizzling and sprinkling along the length of the plate. As you said: "one might break a cake into chunks and serve it with creme anglaise." Do it that way and guess what you have? That's right, a presentation Balaguer and Adria did 10 years ago. Why not arrange a dessert like a chef might arrange several sardines freshly grilled and sauced on a plate? Why not? Well, form and convention was holding you back, that's why. Desserts weren't supposed to look like a plate of sardines. Look in any of the Spanish pastry books--say the Albert Adria Postres book, which directly threatens this old-school French formula and which seemed to some like an atomic bomb being dropped on the stuck in time nature of French pastry--look how avant garde, organic and messy some of them are? Like his very simple coupe glass of raspberry espuma. Damn if that doesn't look wonderfully messy yet ethereal and inviting. Realize, though, that there's often a very personal, very expressive plan behind the mess--artfully arranged and conceived so when you scoop it up with your spoon you get 3 or 4 elements at once--a cube of cake, a creamy sauce, an infused sauce, a gelee, a crunchy bit sprinkled on top, etc. You find that hidden surprise inside or on the bottom. It uses the same components familiar to anyone who grew up in a French patisserie--but twists and turns them creatively. I think one thing is paramount--the form of a "messy" or free-form or rustic presentation doesn't guarantee anything either--your skill, your sense of flavor, of palate, your staff, your audience, all blend together to guarantee that. As far as ideas--they're limitless--start with something you know that exists in some sort of codified form--like a slice of baked apple pie. What do you like eating it that way, what don't you like? It might be the sameness of the apples--so twist that around. Disassemble that--get at the core components and flavors and then reassemble it as an a la minute plated dessert which expresses your idea of flavor and taste. An apple pie "magnified" in a glass, an apple pie stretched out in a bowl, a liquid apple pie which you drink but which says "Mom's apple pie" on your taste buds all the way down. Use apple juice, apple gelee, apple croquant, sparkling apple cider, Calvados if you happen to like Calvados, maybe little diced cubes of warm pie dough crumbled on top, etc. Then think about how you want your customer to eat it--scoop it up with a spoon? Then figure out a messy way to present it but that which also somehow invites your customer--presented with this mess--to somehow scoop it up the right way and get all the flavors you want them to get. Start with a thin layer of creme anglaise or a thin layer of apple gelee ladled into a wide shallow bowl and build a "mess" upward. Make sure they'll say "Mom's apple pie" and you'll get some media exposure and hopefully more encouragement to go further down this road--if it is good.

Sara--Mexicali Blues does a pretty good pupusa with loroco--an edible flower--have you had those?

Ray's right now is the best restaurant in Arlington; at its price point, and even given its few flaws, it just might be the best restaurant in all of Northern Virginia. Service and attitude are impressive, lots of interesting wines at fair prices, reds are served too warm, desserts are not worth ordering. We've dined there maybe 5 times--as recently as last week--and finally tried our first appetizer: the shrimp scampi. It was so excellent I'll have to order it from now on. I missed the charming little demitasse of hot chocolate, which they've stopped serving, presumably because it's getting warmer. I'm most partial to the hangar steak (medium rare) there, one of their "butcher's cuts," which change from day to day. Ask for it when you make your reservation if you're interested. If you are willing to eat early, you often can talk or walk your way in at very short notice by promising to give up your table by 7:30.

And if you were to seek them out locally, where would you like to buy your Terry Theise wines, Don?