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Indy67

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  1. "Can someone tell me where I can buy saddle of lamb, somewhere not too far from Silver Spring? I've tried Whole Foods and they don't have it" Have you asked the butcher at your regular grocery store? I've found that most stores -- even stores that are part of a large chain -- are willing to do special orders as long as you give them enough advance notice. Indy 67
  2. "I had dinner there on November 4 and was VERY impressed. " Ditto. I've never been to a restaurant so soon after opening, but my husband works in the area so we often eat in Crystal City. We miss the honest food we eat when we travel in Italy enough that we were willing to deviate from our catious attitude of stay-away-until-the-shakedown-is-over. Let's admit it. Maestro and Tosca are wonderful restaurants, but they don't capture the experience of eating in a typical trattoria in Italy. We used to bounce back and forth between Jaleo and Oyamel, but we've visited Bebo three times since its opening. And this from people who stopped going to Galileo some time ago because a succession of experiences made it taste/feel like the kitchen was merely going through the motions. There are some hiccups in the service. The tables get moved around routinely to accommodate the size of the parties dining at that moment. As a result, we've listened to quite a few conversations between waiters and runners asking where table X is located. It is also somewhat erratic whether or not diners are going to be offered olive oil to accompany the bread or grated Parmesan to accompany the pasta. These are small details -- and wholly irrelevent -- considering the superb cooking and the amazingly moderate prices. "Risotto del Giorno (happened to be one with Gorgonzola - the spouse LOVED it)" I ordered the butternut squash and crumbled sausage risotto. The taste of the dish and texture of the rice were amazing. "Lasagnette con Ragú di Carne e Besciamella ...Spaghetti alla Carbonara ... Bucatini all' Amatriciana" We'll agree to disagree; I liked the Amatriciana. If you like assertive flavors, you must go back to try our favorite pasta: Paccheri al Sugo di Costine Maiale (Tube-shaped pasta with sauce of pork ribs and tomatoes). The biggest bargain on the menu has got to be the roast chicken. This is a staggeringly huge portion of chicken in which the crisp skin sings with flavor and the meat is juicy and flavorful. Next day leftovers are almost as divine. The only negative I see is that the long-term future of Bebo is uncertain. Our waiter said there has been no decision about keeping Bebo open when Galileo returns to its renovated former home. Bebo has barely opened, but I'm already worried about its disappearance. I sincerely hope it stays; I can't think of a comperable restaurant in our area. Indy 67
  3. Indy67

    Our Italy Trip

    "A question, we ordered caprese salad quite often and almost always the tomatoes were very firm, not ripe and really hard. is this normal??" I'm surprised to read this since I think of Italian food as characterized by serving only what is fresh and at its peak. I do have an Italian tomato experience to share, although it isn't exactly on topic... Decades ago, on our first and second trips to Rome, I was suprised to see that the tomatoes in mixed salads were routinely hard and green. More perplexingly, if one of us ordered a Caprese salad in the same restaurant, the tomatoes were ripe and packed with flavor. The restaurants didn't seem to be fobbing under-ripe tomatoes off on the tourists since nothing else about our food in the restaurants seemed indifferent, and the Caprese tomatoes were luscious. Somewhat later, I became friends with a Tuscan woman who is a divine cook, and I asked her about the tomatoes in mixed salads. She explained that Italian cooks deliberately choose green tomatoes for mixed salads because under-ripe tomatoes have less juice so the salad dressing doesn't get diluted. Indy 67
  4. "Any suggestions for a nice place to eat Thanksgiving dinner in the metro area? Has anyone tried Maestro @ the Ritz in Tyson's?" Maestro won't be open for dinner. Curious, I called the restaurant and was told that the hotel will offer a buffet in the hotel restaurant, The Steak House, but Maestro won't be associated with the Thanksgiving food or service. If you go to Open Table and plug in the Thanksgiving date, you'll discover approximately 33 restaurants will be serving meals. The exact restaurants change depending on the time you plug into the search engine, but several names are particularly appealing: Blue Duck Tavern, Citronelle, Corduroy, and The Oval Room. 1789 is famous for its Thanksgiving meal, but I suspect that restaurant is fully booked. I think this is a book-a-year-in-advance kind of destination. Indy 67
  5. [broke this into its own thread -- Chas] "Oyamel has closed and is replaced by Bebo Trattoria - Roberto Donna's "temporary" home while Galileo is being renovated. Bebo opened to the public last night." Some folks in my husband's office actually had lunch there yesterday -- pastas -- and said the food was delicious. I didn't hear anything about how smoothly the place was functioning considering its newness. They brought a menu back to the office. The menu strikes me as a combination of crowd pleasers and more adventuresome -- very, very authentic Italian -- options. Reading this, I thought of Mario Battali's food at Babbo. Here are some offerings in each menu category: Antipasti Fried Mozzarella in Anchovy Sauce Homemade Cooked Salami slices with Green Sauce Roasted Peppers in Anchovy-Garlic Sauce with Grilled Polenta Three More Choices Salad Mixed Greens Romaine with Caesar Dressing Tomato and Mozzarella Two More Choices Soup Beef Stock with Cabbage, Fontina Cheese, Bread and Parmesan Cheese Wedding Soup Pasta e Fagioli One More Choice Pasta/Risotti Risotto of the Day Lasagnette with Meat Ragu and Bechamel Sauce Cylindrical Pasta with Tomato Ragu and Pork Ribs Spaghetti alla Carbonara Canelloni Stuffed with Ricotta and Ham with Pork Sausage Ragu Five More Choices Meat Fried Rabbit With Artichoke, Spring Onions, and Orange Mayonnaise Meatballs Sauteed and Simmered in Tomato Sauce Veal Tripe Simmered with Vegetables and Tomato with Pecorino Cheese Two More Choices Grill Entrees: Grilled Pork Chop Lamb Steak Grilled Quail Grilled Homemade Sausage Two More Choices Contorni Soft Polenta Grilled Vegetables Four More Choices Pizza Nine Set Combinations 19 Toppings for a Make-Your-Own Combination Indy 67
  6. " I just called Oyamel. They are still in place there, but in the near future will be doing dinner only. When specifically asked about these rumors, the person I spoke with replied that "nothing is set in stone." It sounds like there is some basis to the rumors and the future of Oyamel is in doubt." Some time between when this message was originally posted in late August and today, Oyamel closed. My husband and I had planned to go there for dinner; however, someone in his office gave him the news and suggested it was time to go to plan B. I don't know any more details than what I've shared. If anyone else knows anything, I'd love to hear. We will definitely miss Oyamel. Indy 67
  7. Indy67

    Little blue plums

    "I tried looking on epicurious and couldn't find the recipe you were referring to..... could you point me in the right direction please??" If you put the words "Marian Burros" into the search window on the home page of Epicurious.com, you'll bring up two recipes. The first one is "Plum Torte." If you put "Plum Torte" into the search window, you'll bring up one recipe. Both are the recipe I recommend. Indy 67
  8. Indy67

    Little blue plums

    "These plums are deep blue skinned with the usual whitish cast over top, (think blueberry) and the flesh inside is pale green. I was assuming of course that these were regular purple plums that just hadn't fully ripened yet, but they're falling from the tree already. I ate several and they don't really seem underripe at all, although they're different than regular plums. Taste wise they're more like a cross between a plum and a sour grape; very sweet and slightly tart. The texture inside is soft, but not as soft as a usual ripe plum. The flesh is quite moist like a ripe fruit should be." "And.... any ideas for preserving them? Never made plum jam before." Other than the size, they sound exactly like Italian plums -- also called prune plums. Italian plums are oval shaped and probably the size of 1 1/2 golf balls. Perhaps the difference in size is the difference between the product of commercial agriculture and a backyard tree. If your heart is set on making plum jam, I can't help you. However, I can recommend an excellent recipe for a plum cake that delivers much more taste and sophistication than the easy steps would indicate. Marian Burros is the author of a cookbook called ELEGANT BUT EASY. Until Julia Child burst upon the scene and taught all of us how to cook French food, many of us learned our first elegant cooking from this cookbook. I think I got the recipe from my original edition of ELEGANT BUT EASY, but a web search refers to the recipe as appearing in the NY TIMES since 1983. If you go to Epicurious.com you'll find the recipe. Indy 67
  9. "The restaurant is moving to the space where Oyamel was in Crystal City." Oyamel WAS? WAS? When did this happen? We ate at Jaleo within the last month, but we walked past Oyamel and it was full of happy patrons. Indy 67
  10. "On the subject of smaller RW portions: I work at a RW restaurant, and our chef decided to reduce portions a bit on a couple of the more expensive dishes in order to make them available for RW (sea scallops and lobster ravioli). The thought was that there's no way anyone will go home hungry, and we could offer more variety (RW diners have four or five choices for each course)." As far as this diner is concerned, your chef made a good call. Last night, we had a great RW dinner experience at Kinkead's. Everyone's meal evidenced a bit of portion reduction. For example, I had the soft-shelled crab appetizer as a first. The dish consisted of half a single soft-shelled crab, some green papaya slaw, and lime dipping sauce (pleasantly hot with some Thai chili slices). Now, when has Kinkead's ever served half a soft-shelled crab? A whole crab would have been nice, but that's only because it was so delish. Ditto to my friend's entree of braised short ribs. She was served one short rib. Now, this particular friend doesn't even stand 5' tall and never has eaten a whole meal of regular restaurant-sized portions. When she had finished eating, she rather wistfully said she wished she had been served more ribs. Then, she admitted it certainly wasn't because she was hungry; she was simply sad to have the good taste end. Here's a list of a couple more dishes from last night's RW menu. (The list does not exhaust the possibilities) First: Heirloom tomato salad with goat cheese Tuna soup (reminiscent of tortilla soup) Grilled squid Mains: Crispy flounder with Tasso Seared Tuna with soba noodles Chile rubbed swordfish with black beans and mango Atlantic salmon with pepita crust and shrimp, corn salsa Our take away verdict was that we were delighted Kinkead's had gotten into the RW dinner biz. If reduced portion size was one thing that made this possible, here's to reduced portions! Indy 67
  11. Last night, we went with another couple to Bobby Van's. Three of us weren't particularly enthusiastic about our destination, but we enjoy one another's company so we didn't refuse the fourth person's active lobbying to dine there. A steak house doesn't seem like a particularly good choice for RW; the basic ingredients are inherently expensive. Our concern was fueled by a post on another web site criticizing Bobby Van for RW. We were pleasantly surprised. The appetizer course consisted of two choices: Caesar salad OR field greens with vinaigrette. The entree course included pasta with pulled chicken abd andouille sausage OR crab cake OR petite filet mignon OR baked salmon OR a fifth choice I can't remember. There were two choices for dessert: chocolate cake OR cheesecake. I ordered the field green salad. When it arrived, it seemed like a pleasant surprise with some slices of Roma tomatoes, red onions, and a reasonably generous crumble of blue cheese. Alert readers will have noted the word "seemed." People who like the taste of balsamic vinaigrette won't share my criticism; however, I'm not a fan of sweet dressings. Furthermore, the strong taste of the vinaigrette made each component taste largely the same -- a tough accomplishment when one of the ingredients is blue cheese. My companions said that their Caesar salads were good with a nicely flavored dressing. We looked at the regular menu and noticed that Bobby Van's offers no Petite Filet among its offerings. So putting an eight-ounce Petite Filet on the RW menu was its way of keeping steak -- other than hangar steak -- among the choices. I ordered my steak seriously rare and the kitchen obliged. The remaining three steaks were ordered medium-rare. Here, the kitchen fell down. One steak was as ordered, one steak was rare, and one steak was almost as rare as mine. Finally, when you order your steak, ask the kitchen not to salt it. They use a heavy hand. Since salt is on the table, that's an easy thing to adjust yourself. Judging by the clean dessert plates, everyone was satisfied with dessert. The cheesecake was creamy without being too dense and a drizzle of fruit sauce added a bit of fruity freshness. Service was competent but nothing special in either a positive or negative sense. Overall, a positive evening -- definitely better than personal expections and advance billing based on other posts. Indy 67
  12. The starter's gun has sounded! How was your first meal for Summer RW? I have a positive report from Seasons restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel. The RW menu is quite limited -- two options in each course -- but we found something that truly attracted us so we weren't troubled by these restrictions. More significantly, the food we ate was truly delish! The service was gracious and attentive. We've dined at Seasons before -- most recently in May -- and the restaurant's excellence in the kitchen and in intangibles such as service remain intact in spite of RW bargain prices. The evening began on a positive note. The RW menu is placed inside the regular menu. However, the maitre d' took pains to explain that this was simply to make people aware of the range of the regular menu in the hope that they'd be intrigued and happy enough with their RW experience to return at full price. This was a really gracious gesture and in stark contrast to our experience at Taberna a year ago when the RW menu was not presented unless asked for, and, then, it was accompanied by condescension. The two appetizer choices include Yellow Gazpacho with Celery Sorbet OR Seared Scallop with Mussels in a bouillabaisse broth. The two entree choices include Roast Chicken Breast with mashed potatoes and pencil-thin asparagus OR Sauteed Red Snapper served over a Crab, Potato, Corn, and Pea Swith Meyer Lemon garnish. Desserts include a Vanilla-Lime Cheesecake or Pineapple "Raviolis" filled with Raspberries accompanied by Margarita Sorbet. The hit of the entire meal was the fruit dessert. After hearing our waiter wax rhapsodic about this dish, all four of us ordered it. Paper-thin slices of pineapple encase some fresh raspberries. Three of these pineapple raviolis alternate with scoops of Margarita sorbet. A basil sauce decorates the plate and lends a wonderful fragrance and sharp taste to the whole. The bouillabaisse broth was fabulous: gutsy and rich with concentrated fish stock. In fact, we thought this broth was better than bouillabaisse we've eaten at Le Miramar in Marseilles. Portions struck me as somewhat smaller than restaurant-size portions -- smaller than I recall portions at our May meal. Of course, much has been made of the ridiculously large size of restaurant portions. Tonight's portions were more in line with normal at-home portions. As a result, we left the restaurant full and satisfied but not stuffed. Assuming you can find something appealing from the limited menu, you'll have a great experience at Seasons during RW. Indy 67
  13. Indy67

    Jaleo

    We eat dinner at Jaleo with some frequency since my husband's office is nearby. Last night was one of those nights. There are some new tapas on both the temporary menu and the specials menu that are totally amazing. I thought egulleters would like to know. Special tapas include: o beet gazpacho with goat cheese o black pork charcuterie platter o toasts of squash blossom, Idiazabal cheese and ham Temporary tapas include: o sweetbreads with Pisto Machengo Don't order beet gazpacho expecting the typical tomato soup with a garnish of beets. This soup is a thick puree of beets accented with a couple of firm-textured diced beets and some crumbles of goat cheese. The natural sweetness of beet gets a bit of a jolt with some vinegar and the goat cheese serves as a creamy counterpoint to everything. Just fantastic! The portion is large enough for two people to share happily. Apologies for using the French word "charcuterie" for what is a Spanish dish. I could have written salumi, but that wouldn't be any more Spanish. My menu French and Italian are better than my menu Spanish. This dish includes three thin slices each of dry cured ham, chorizo, and salami. The meat is from black pork rather than from the more common white pork. There are two options: black pork raised on its regular diet (whatever that may be) and black pork raised on a diet including 60 days of acorns. The latter option is a bit more expensive, but we chose it. The taste was exquisite. Frankly, it was better than Mario Battali's salumi platter at Babbo restaurant in NY where we ate recently. Do not order this dish if you're going for cost-effective tapas choices. The diameter of the three types of charcuterie is no bigger than two inches and the meats are sliced appropriately thin. However, the taste was really special so we're happy we ordered it. The menu lists "toasts of sqush blossom with Idiazabal cheese." We didn't quite know what that would mean, but I'm a fool for squash blossoms so we tend to order them whenever they are offered. What arrived was a totally exquisite version of grilled cheese: a thin slice of intensely-flavored ham, a layer of squash blossoms, and cheese. The sandwich was cut into four small slices. I don't know if I can ever eat an ordinary version of grilled cheese again! My husband and I aren't certain that the veal sweetbreads are listed on the menu as Sweetbreads Pisto Machengo, but we are confident that they are among the temporary offerings and that they are the only sweetbread option. I like sweetbreads. When I see sweetbreads on the menu as an appetizer, they are among my final choices. However, they haven't won out in a long time. Some other appetizer is calling my name more. My husband will tolerate sweetbreads. Last night, he was willing to order them in a shared tapas-sized portion. We're glad we did; what a treat! Imagine wonderful ratatouille with a meaty, savory sauce and some bite-sized cubes. My husband described the dish this way: "Savory. The sweetbreads are really an accent and don't dominate the taste. Even someone who really doesn't like sweetbreads would like this dish." We ordered a couple more tapas selections, but no one needs for me to write about the standards like patatas bravas. The only negative in an otherwise wonderful meal is that we exerimented by ordering the white sangria instead of the usual red. We didn't care for the white as much as the red. Indy 67
  14. " However, just a few blocks off the inner harbour is little italy. Not all the places are great but few of them I thought were pretty good." Da Mimmo in Little Italy used to be a good old-style Italian restaurant. I say "used to be" only to accurately reflect the fact that we haven't been in a while, not that we have any specific information about its decline. Our allegiance has shifted to Boccaccio even though we have sentimental attachment to Da Mimmo for introducing us to Pepoli Chianti by Antinori. This wine was our first encounter with the modern style of Chianti, and it was a revelation after the straw-wrapped horrible Chiantis of our younger days. You're forewarned that dining at Da Mimmo won't be a cutting edge experience if you go to their web site. The background music is Dean Martin crooning "That's Amore." We were particularly fond of their veal chop. Boccacio, also in Little Italy, serves excellent Northern Italian cuisine. It is the top-rated Italian restaurant according to Zagat's. It is definitely a more polished experience compared to Da Mimmo in terms of food, decor, and service. We've had excellent veal and fish/seafood dishes at the restaurant. These two restaurants offer shuttle bus service to/from the downtown hotels. This is a real convenience considering that parking is a premium in Little Italy and tourists may not even have a car. (Of course, the distance from downtown/Inner Harbor to Little Italy is so small that a taxi couldn't cost that much if you're inclined to go that route.) Indy 67
  15. "Perhaps a more apt comparison would be the Bar Room of the Modern and Nougatine as they may share more similar characteristics." You're absolutely right. Still, I meant that Jean Georges and the Bar Room of the Modern share an eclectic approach, as opposed to the single-cuisine approach of Babbo. The next time we're in Manhattan, we're going to try Nougatine. Incidentally, our anniversary restaurant choice came down to a choice between Daniel and Jean Georges. First, we tried to get a reservation at Daniel since we've enjoyed DB Bistro Modern in previous visits to NYC. Our biggest hesitation about Daniel was that we aren't part of the in-crowd, and we'd read about two-tier treatment there. However, my husband particularly wanted to enjoy the opulence of Daniel for our milestone anniversary. Our decision was overtaken by events when we discovered Daniel would be closed July 3 and 4. We have pleasant memories of a wonderful meal at Vong in Hong Kong four years ago so it was an easy switch to Jean Georges. More important, they would be open. I'll keep this brief since I'm in the Modern restaurants thread, but our meal at Jean George was sheer perfection. The food was simply the most amazing food we've ever tasted. The combinations were interesting without being bizarre. There wasn't a single item in either tasting menu that we would have ordered if we had been choosing from the a la carte menu. Ultimately, we decided to experience the chef doing his thing so we selected the Summer Tasting menu. We were amply rewarded; each dish was fantastic. The wait staff was attentive and pleasant with no trace of two-tier treatment. A family including three little girls -- ages five to ten -- was in the last stages of their meal when we first arrived. After we had experienced the adventuesome combinations of several courses of the Summer Tasting Menu, I couldn't imagine what the girls might have eaten. I asked the waiter about children at the restaurant. His response was typical of the attitude-free experience we had. He said that the restaurant was prepared to modify anything on their menu and if that weren't enough, they would bring in -- albeit reluctantly -- something from the hotel's room service kitchen. He added that the palate of many of the children who eat at Jean Georges was more sophisticated than his was at their age. "Some of them even scare me when they come in demanding certain ingredients." Another example of the warm and charming service: I'm lactose intolerant so I travel everywhere with Lactaid. That way I don't need to ask any questions about recipes or restrict my choices in any way. Our waiter noticed I had some packets of Lactaid next to me on the banquette. When he set down the fish course -- fish in a buttermilk vinaigrette -- he said I'll tell you if there's any milk in any of the other courses. I'm lactose intolerant, too, and I need to be careful." Indy 67
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