weinoo

Once again on the cutting edge of jouranlism, the Wall St. Journal notices that cocktails are getting smaller. Well, knock me over with a feather. Or, preferably, a properly sized Manhattan...

Cafe Katja recently reopened after a summer of renovations, which involved their doubling in size. They did a great job on the newly expanded space, and the kitchen, which is now fired by gas as opposed to being all-electric, has allowed for an expanded menu as well. Food remains excellent, wine list is unique and they know how to pull beer properly - every beer even has its own glass. Here's the blog I recently wrote about my local gem.

I trust Pete Wells implicitly...also, I never go north of 14th Street. Heck, to see your review of it, I'll happily stand you a couple of drinks (or a fifth of Jack?) first, to get you suitably primed for the experience! I'd prefer to have a few watermelon martinis. I'll bet they have a couple of high-priced bourbons at least. We have a motion and a second. I call the question even though that's not really proper procedure. See - that's the problem; I need proper procedure. I'll take the kickstarter for a visit to my cardiologist and gastroenterologist after it's all over. Also, my shrink.

As Woody Allen once said..."and such small portions..." Which I'm sure is not the case here. Let's face it, Fieri got what he deserved, in my opinion.

Interestingly enough, here's what I wrote in July, 2008 - when he was on TNFNS... To be the biggest d-bag possible? And even if he cooked for the show, he doesn't now, does he? I can watch that diners show for about 1 minute. Funny thing, the other day there was an early episode of Molto Mario on, and it was so great.

You should have: A bagel and lox at Russ & Daughters. A pastrami sandwich at Katz's. And a few blocks away, the Essex St. Market. Doughnut Plant on Grand St. A slice or two of pizza at Joe's on Carmine Street You can head to 'ino Cafe - and see where the whole panini craze in the United States got its start. Some cold-skin noodles at Xi'an Famous Foods. And/or some 4 for $1 dumplings - I like Prosperity Dumplings on Eldridge Street, and it's right around the corner from one of the Xi'an locations. And there's some decent street meat right at the Beijing street carts right under the Manhattan Bridge near Xi'an as well. Others like Vanessa's for the dumplings, but if I'm headed to Vanessa's, it's the Peking duck sandwich that I go for. Maybe just a hot dog or two at Gray's Papaya (72nd & Broadway). Or Papaya King - 86th and 3rd. A visit to Eataly - just because. Have an assortment of salumi - it's good! The Union Square green market is wonderful to wander around - Friday and Saturday all day. Sunday you can check out the New Amsterdam Market- down in the Old Fulton Fish market area - from 11 AM. Good eats to be had. And a great view of the bridges. The bar thing at WD-50 is a very good deal, but you'll likely spend $75 or more when all is said and done. There are plenty of lunch specials all around town - Gramercy Tavern at the bar is one of the nicer ones. It's announced daily on their Twitter feed... https://twitter.com/gramercytavern Shake Shack...well, why not? That's a start...

A respected friend of mine tells me that he first boils the egg in the shell for 10 seconds, then poaches it. Seems to work great. It was on an old Julia show, iirc. I now see that David has touched on this above.

Sounds good! There's another brand new ramen place (ramen becoming the new burger maybe) on Columbia Road in Adams Morgan that we tried last night - which looks like it may turn into a zoo at some point, since upstairs is a lounge area. It's called Taan, and it was all high tops and uncomfortable stools downstairs. The ramen was okay, but I prefer Sakuramen on 18th. And the night before we were at Mintwood, where I had one of the best game dishes I've had on this side of the Atlantic - wild Scottish wood pigeon breast, wrapped in a force of its own liver, heart and dark meat, then wrapped in Savoy and bacon, cooked perfectly rare and a real slam-dunk. Place was packed, as was Cashion's.

Vanilla. Philadelphia style.

Nice collection. Are Campari and Aperol both considered amaros?

But he will, he will :laugh: . Cafe Kaja, after a summer long renovation, is now double the size and looks great inside and out. The menu has grown too, only slightly at first, but expect it to continue expanding. As a matter of fact, I had a new trout dish on my first visit back, but what I'm really waiting for is the schnitzel!

What is the conventional wisdom regarding shelf life of various amaros? Should they be refrigerated? What are everyone's favorites?

Two classics: Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art - Shozuo Tsuji The Japanese Kitchen - Hiroko Shimbo

Dave - are you using fresh herbs in the herbs de Provence, or are they a dried mix, as is typically sold? You make reference to garlic granules - same question - fresh or dried garlic?

Yes...I'm trying to remember where I first had it in a cocktail, after which I picked up a bottle for home use. Went through it fairly quickly, mostly as an apertif, with a squeeze of lime or lemon and topped with club soda. It's fairly sweet.

That'll be a couple years at least. In the meantime, shop at Net Cost.

I'm hoping that the food at Seki is quite a step up from the food on St. Mark's. But I haven't been yet, so I can't say.

I think this is just looking for an excuse. We have members here who go to cocktail bars where the drinks are $14, and we hear no such thing.

Yes, but so are bistros. And so are burgers... .

Per Todd Kliman, in The Washingtonian:

The two thermometers in the oven, and pretty much everything else I cook in the oven coming out right, would seem to point to an accurate oven temp.

That's what I think he meant. This issue, as I see it, is that nothing is really that hip. That will also work for a bunch of people of, ummm, a certain age. Birch & Barley is my favorite restaurant in the district, and the chefs have lots of tattoos. Churchkey is awesome, but also annoying enough just to get a seat. Evidently, the bar manager from the Gibson is now at the newly reopened and renovated Firefly. I look forward to giving it a try next week.

Mintwood Place in Adams Morgan, perhaps? Little Serow is as hip as possible, but you'll have to stand on line for an hour or more as they (sadly) don't take ressies. Isabella's Graffiato draws them in.

350°F. In the shell. That's what the recipes I looked at claimed. Should I go hotter?

So I bought a couple of pounds of raw peanuts in their shell - it's the season, adn they're all over Chinatown. In the past, I've done some Szechuan boiled peanuts, after removing them from their shells. They cooked for about 1.5 hours. Recipes I've read today for "southern" boiled peanuts call for boiling them in their shells for 4 to 5 hours. And then I read a recipe or two for roasting that calls for roasting them for 35 - 45 minutes and they're done...no way. These peanuts have been in the oven for 1.5 hours and are barely done. So, what's the deal...how do you roast your peanuts and... what do you do with them once they're roasted? Other than just eat them out of the shell, by the way.