Al_Dente

i gotta ask: how so? I can see his point. "Top 5" does go into a lot of minutiae about food. Recent Top 5 episodes: Top 5 Culinary Cures for Bladder Infections Top 5 Restaurants for Constipation Relief Top 5 Episodes of Top 5 for Making You Want to Stick an Icepick in Your Temple

Sorry, I had a roommate with a fatal weakness for British prog rock. I've heard enough ELP, Yes and King Crimson to last me a lifetime. Although "Still... You Turn Me On" is a pretty good song. For ELP. This was about 7 years ago-- it was a bit surreal, but it turned out the owner of the place was a Turk ex-hippie who lived in London during the sixties. When I inquired about his choice of music (I was the only non-Turk in the place) we starting chatting and I ended up being invited to his daughter's wedding the next day. Not entirely confident I wasn't being set up as the husband, I had to decline as I had a bus ticket to the south coast the next morning. I regret not going. Could have been fun. I can't remember the name of the place, but it was something strikingly similar to that picture that made its way around the internet with a name like "Ufuk II". Food was excellent, as it was at most out of the way restaurants in Turkey.

Okay, I'm fairly imaginative and open to some ideas, but what in the F! do you do to involve Belgian waffles in any sort of sexual act? Just give me a hint, that's all I need....

Il prezzo e buono?

Emerson Lake and Palmer's Brain Salad Surgery at a restaurant in central Turkey.

You don't even have to knock, just walk right in.

... the bartender refills your water glass with the soda gun WHILE YOU'RE DRINKING FROM THE GLASS! True story-- happened a few nights ago at an Old Town restaurant known to some local eGulleters.

... any item on the menu is described as "World Famous". Like a common topic of conversation in Mongolia is the quality of the World Famous Nachos at Restaurant X.

"Numb" is too strong a word. Would I have a sharper sense of taste if I quit, sure. It's all relative anyway. If we could somehow definitively quantify our ability to taste, each of us would have widely varying abilities to taste different things regardless of whether we smoke, don't smoke, swallow flaming swords, etc. I like the smoking license idea, perhaps. Maybe smoking patrons would pay $5 to "rent" an ashtray-- $8 for a really nice ashtray.

They had a braised lamb shank that knocked me out last time I was there.

I'd like to see "crow" on the menu. Amen to that.

I'm happy to give BBhasin a plug-- he runs a great place in the Delray section of Alexandria. Affordable, delicious, and friendly accomodating service. Not sure about how much veggie stuff he has on the menu, I'm too busy enjoying the butter chicken and lamb vindaloo to notice what the veggie options are.

I love all kinds, but one of the faves that I make is with NO beans and some big cubes of skirt steak. I render bacon , reserve the bacon to add later as garnish, drain some of the fat, brown the steak in that grease. Then most of the usual suspects are added along with chipotles and garlic. Makes for a beautiful smoky rich chili.

well put...

Better start working on your rat, toad, and snake recipes for the afterlife: "Your punishment in Hell will be: You'll be force-fed rats, toads, and snakes." The Seven Deadly Sins

Ahem. AHem. ahEM. Cough. Despite the fact that I'm an evil smoker, I can sympathize with those who would like to see it banned. Ideally, I'd like to see it remain up to the owner/mgmt, but I've seen only a handful of totally non-smoking establishments (at least with a bar) that appear to be trying to cater to the non-smoking crowd. If the demand was really so great from non-smokers, I'd expect to see more places ban smoking on their own. Unfortunately, leaving the decision to the owner might work for how smoking affects patrons, but it doesn't address how it affects employees. In other words, it might be fair to tell a patron they can choose to go to a smoking or non-smoking establishment, but it doesn't seem fair to tell an out of work bartender that if he/she wants to remain out of the cloud of smoke, they'll have to limit their job market to the few places that are non-smoking. If a ban were to occur, I'd still go to Firefly-- not only because I dig it more than enough to put up with a little inconvenience, but also because, to me, it isn't the type of environment where smoking seems to fit in. My limited experience with BdC, however, makes me think it would have to be off my list of places to go. Dammit, ya gotta smoke at a French bar.

Interesting that Guajolote is "happily" married, and I'm just single-- no accompanying adjective.

and i thought you were a good girl That IS a good girl.

Will there be an eGullet member discount?

#4 in top kitschy places to go is South of the Border on 95. Let's have an eGullet outing to this mecca of fine food! I'm buying! Must. Go. To. South of Border. To. Buy. Fireworks. To. Blow. Self. Up.

I just learned that the SPAM museum is #1. As a bonus, I was told that SPAM can be served with either red or white wine. My life is complete. Oh wait, top 5 kitschy food joints. Just starting. Must. Run. Out. To. Be. Run. Over. By. Speeding. Bus.

Friends of mine did an excellent job with a indian spiced turkey, dressing with collard greens and sausage (it really did work) and a number of other dishes. I made some soup for a first course that was so simple yet so tasty. Pea Soup with Toasted Cumin Basically, just start sweating some onions in EVOO (1 medium), brown them a bit if you want, and meanwhile toast some cumin seeds (2 tbls). Grind the seeds to a powder, add to onions for a minute or two, add turkey or chicken broth (3 1/2-4 cups), and then frozen peas (10 oz). Once defrosted, put in the submersion blender and let her rip. Season to taste and serve. I didn't make it thick like your typical pea soup, about the consistency of something slightly less viscous than NE clam chowder. For just a few ingredients, it had surprising depth and taste.

Now I'm watching top 5 fab food museums. Must. Jab. Icepick. In. Temple.

Why am I watching this show? Today I've managed to see top 5 dishes named after famous people, top 5 decadent dishes, top 5 lunchbox favorites... Somehow this show is all that is right and all that is wrong with FTV at the same time. I really need to get out of my apt.