Busboy

In hopes of jogging my memory I found this web page but, rather than helping, it kind of confirmed the nagging suspicion I had that -- for reasons unclear to me -- Metro Center far from ground zero for "tasty, cheap and filling." One stop down the Red Line, at Gallery Place/Chinatown is actually a better bet. You might consider throwing in the towel and going to the Old Ebbitt for a burger. Bistro d'Oc isn't bad and serves up a tasty dish of calves brains, but it's not cheap in the sense that a Chinese carry-out is cheap. The old Reeve's Bakery has many fans, though I can't say I've eaten there in 20 years. And heck, if all you want is an OK club sandwich and cold beer, Harry's has a certain Formica'd charm.

What are you interested in eating and how much time do you have? No real point in getting off at Metro Center (as opposed to the other stops you pass through) to eat as it's a large station and you might have to walk blocks below ground, rather than finding a spot within seconds of stumbling off the train at a smaller station.

I know that Abra lives in Washington State and is used to endless rain, but I wonder if Brittany's climate is too wet and cold to spend a year's getaway in. I don't know, but my limited experience in that corner of the hexagon has been damp. Spent three weeks in Languedoc this summer and loved it. The food isn't as good as Provence (so they say, I ate and drank quite well) but the countryside is lovely and tourists are few. Uzes has a classical music festival if you're into that sort of thing and there's a (bloodless) bullfighting culture that I am dying to explore. And Costieres de Nimes wine are cheap and swell. What a lovely dilemma to have. Have fun figuring it out.

Look at the crap that most people buy in the grocery store and then resolve now and forever to trust your own judgment.

I assume that butchers with the rest of the English language, what butchers in Oz speak is a little different from what butchers in the U.S. speak. Nonetheless, I offer up this long-shot suggestion, given to me by an old-timer in Denver, Colordao who followed it up by saying that in 50 years in the business, he'd never heard anyone ask for it. Try "butcher's hangar." And, as you've already guessed, you'll a;most certainly have to find an old-time, real butcher to get what you need.

Probably too late to help, but I'd add Rasika (Indian) to the Jenny's list and -- just to piss her off -- strike Zatinya as being the most overrated place ion the city. Not bad, just not 3-stars. I'd go to Matchbox but not to meet parents for a first time on a Saturday night. Atmosphere-wise, it's as much a bar with very good food as a restaurant. As always, check and see if there's an event at Verizon Center and adjust your schedule to avoid the hour immediately before face-off or opening number, and just after whatever time you think the thing will end. And, if someone in the party says, "oh the hell with it, let's just get a burger at Clyde's," slap them and run away. (Note that no one's reccomending the Chinese.)

My wife and I had the good luck to babble with the beloved and legendary restaurant critic emeritus at Washington Post, Phyllis Richman, after a Russ Parsons book reading and when my wife suggested that the three best restaurants in town were CityZen, Citronell and Komi, she said "I could go with that." Me, too. In fact, not to say one is better than the other, but I enjoyed a recent dinner at CityZen more than one at the French Laundry.

On the other hand, tomato sauce and strawberry preserves taste pretty good all year 'round without diminishing the joy of the first fresh arrivals of the real stuff at the local markets. Same with truffle oil, I'd suggest.

Who knew there were so many farmers markets in the area? Go here and punch in your zip code in the search engine (or 2009, which is Dupont Circle and the center of the universe, I mean roughly the center of the metro area) and it lists dozens around the area. Markets I hit regularly include Mt. Pleasant, which is pretty small, Saturdays 9-1; Arlington/Courthouse, Saturday 8-1(?); Dupont, Sunday 9-1; Penn Quarter, Thursday 3-7 (?). There is a lot of overlap among producers, but every market seems to have one vendor in particular that draws me there, with Dupont being the largest that I go to. I've only been to Alexandria for the ham, in fall, so I don't know if it's worth the hike into town for the other markets (although combining people watching and a bit of breakfast rose at Bistro du Coin with a Dupont market run is a great way to spend a Sunday). Since you're from California, you probably won't find the breadth of stuff you're used to (especially with the cool spring we've been having), but there are a lot of committed farmers out here selling excellent produce and meat, and the scene gets better every year. Write us a report from Alexandria! PS to All: Do me a fava: report in if anyone is expecting fresh legumes this weekend.

Good lord -- you have to cook in other people's kitchens in New York City. You must have sinned in a past life. The one thing that killed me most cooking in someone else's kitchen was one that had been modernized with all the latest bells and whistles, including a slate floor that absolutely wrecked my feet by the time service had finished, and a lovely sink stuck picturesquely in a corner of the granite counter top, where it was almost impossible to use quickly and efficiently. But at least the water boiled. What's the line from David Brooks' Bobo's in Paradise? a stove that puts out as many BTU’s as “the space shuttle rocket booster turned upside-down and a freezer so cold it approaches absolute zero..."

Almost every time I see chef types eating out, they're chowing down on something like steak-frites. I expect that they're after something simple after all the fancy-schmancy stuff they spend their days with. The only time I actually had a chef or two over, I cooked cassoulet, because most if it is done in advance and because, of the many things that go into a good dish, it rewards time and quality ingredients -- both of which I could easily provide -- more than high-level technique, of which I have a lesser supply. Parallel question: what wine do you serve when a couple of Master Sommeliers are in the house?

It might mean that the restaurant is so popular that they can book two seatings on their own terms to maximize turnover. What it probably means, though, is that everybody in the area code wants to eat at 7 o'clock and neither the kitchen not the floor staff can handle a huge elephant-through-a-snake-type service. Different cities I've spent eaten in have different times (Denver: 7PM; Washington DC: 7:30; Athens, Greece 9:30 or so) but every city seems to have one time at which everyone wants to eat. At any rate, don't assume that you get 2-and-a-half hours if you take the 6PM reservation. They probably booked 7PM, then offered 6:30 and 7:30 to the next round of callers, and so on. They'll have allocated you the same amount of time as later arrivals. If you like to linger (as I do) best to get the earliest "late" reservation available, 8 or 8:30 say, so that the restaurant doesn't expect to turn the table but you don't make the staff sit around for an extra hour with your party as the only diners.

The blogsite Gridskipper (which I've never heard of until now) has had the gall to publish it's list of DC's Best Burgers without consulting me. No wonder they they included the overrated Palena burger (doomed by too-lean meat; burgers should not be health food) and the gimmicky mini-burgers at Matchbox and every other bar in the metro area. In addition, no human in the history of The Sign of The Whale has ever eaten a burger there and not been paying more attention to the quality of their buzz or the cutie at the end of the bar, so any praise is suspect. And Five Guys just sucks. These people are living in the 90s. Worse, they dissed the $18 burger at Central (I haven't eaten it, but it Cannot be Ignored) and the excellent smoked-bacon-cheeseburger at the riotously cool -- if too often underpopulated -- Temperance Hall. Also Clyde's on a good day. Anybody else got any shout-outs or put-downs?

There was a discussion about this awhile back (that I can't seem to find) and I spent a good deal of time Googling around (and even left a message on the Dean & DeLuca customer service hot line) but could find no good answer either way. The most persuasive argument in favor of real truffles being used is the vastly superior flavor of some oils compared to others -- what I always a assumed was natural rather than artificial flavoring. Rather than find out something I don't really want to know, I've adopted a "don't ask, don't tell" policy on this matter. (BTW, anyone in possession of high quality truffle oil and the French Laundry Cookbook should consider celebrating Spring by making his pea soup with truffle oil. Unbelievably good. And if truffle oil is good enough for TK....)

What, the food court in the basement of the Reagan Building not good enough for you? Depending on your budget and time, there are a number of mid-to-upper price restaurants near the Maison Blanc, including the brand new Cafe du Parc , which is almost next door to the recently revitalized Occidental Grill. Les Halles still puts out a reliable Steak Frites and in the evening the outdoor cafe can be quite pleasant. Also in that direction, the Old Ebbitt Grill is a reliable spot for a burger or a dozen oysters and a cold beer. Directly across Lafayette Park from the White House are The Oval Room the Oval Room (which has a hot new chef), Equinox (which has never really grabbed me), and The Bombay Club (very good Indian in the city's most gracious dining room). As long as you're in the 'hood, consider sunset cocktails on the roof of the Hotel Washington, 15th St. across from Treasury. Spectacular. For good, cheap fun: Ethiopian. More suggestions here. As for the night you arrive: I suggest packing a half-bottle of Cabernet and a Sandwich in your suitcase. Late-night Bethesda is not a happening place. (Though someone may know better than me).

My wife and I are not professional chefs (though we do have cool looking jackets that my father-in-law bought us and can pass if not actually expected to cook ) but we have put ourselves up for auction every year for the last six years in support of our kids' school. We've never had to worry about people butting in during our cooking, they're usually too busy doing what people normally do during a social occasion, socializing with one another. It also helps to get hors d'oeuvres out early, to, as people generally prefer eating to watching.

Heh, sorry! I was eating leftover Thai vegie wraps for breakfast while posting, and trying to hold the begging dog off with one foot. I guess I was just focused on the "bacon," as usual . . .

I know that there are dozens of "what do serve with..." threads on eGullet, but, as I was pondering posting my own query this AM I thought it might be nice to have one "go-to" topic on the subject (if the wine folks approve) so that the collective wisdom of our more knowledgeable oenophiles can be accessed more easily. My challenge this weekend is a mushroom quiche. To complicate things, I'll probably want to bring a red and a white. Any help? While I'm on the subject of eggs and wine, I once wandered into a respected local wine shop during their Saturday tasting and suggested that I was looking for a rustic red wine to accompany a bacon-cheese omelet and garlic fried potatoes (pommes persillade) not only the owner, but the whole chorus of tasters lined up at the table denounced my preference on the white wine went with omelets. Undeterred, I picked out something Rhone-ish anyway, but I do wonder if this "white with eggs" thing is considered a general rule of thumb and I need to change the color of my breakfast beverage.

Why is that sad? Maybe they are taking the "old" part and thinking "aged" or "concentrated." Sounds like an opportunity to educate. (And I'll freely admit to not knowing much about the differences myself.) ← And, not to be even denser, I thought the reason people bragged about the age of their vines was that old vines were supposed to produce a "heavier, richer, more condensed" wine (because the yield was lower?).

Not to be dense, but what is "blue fruit?"

The last two people that quoted me that line ascribed it to Twain and to Benjamin Franklin. Now you say Fitzgerald. Maybe these guys should get together around a dinner table and sort out who *really* said it. I've decided to go with the quote "When we risk no contradiction, it prompts the tongue to deal in fiction." By the same author who wrote "Where yet was ever found a mother, who'd give her booby for another?" John Gay. But back to boring reviews. Gee, they do seem to happen. ← My Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations credits Fitzgerald, in an article entitled "The Crack Up" published by Esquire in February, 1936 with the passage: "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function." Franklin -- bah! (Twain -- maybe). Indeed, I have been working shortening my humble reviews posted herein. However, like so many critics, I do so love to hear myself talk that I can hardly stifle the urge to add yet another paragraph. In a life defined by the responsibilities of parenthood, the toil of work and the imposed self-abnegation of a meager income, my time on line becomes the modest self-indulgence that keeps me going. I also labor under the disability of not being a known quantity. I can summarize my opinion of a restaurant to my wife in two sentences, to a friend in a paragraph, but to strangers stumbling across a web-review who know me not from Adam, I essay to add a little more detail, so they might judgethe insight (or lack thereof) I bring to my views. **** Being a card-carrying member of the Colbert Nation, and needing something to read on the bus, I picked up GQ the other day and, of course, turned almost immediately to the article on San Francisco's Ferry Building and the "food court" it houses. Richman is not well-liked on this board, having taken big swings at New Orleans New Orleans (article here) and Las Vegas (article here). But, love him or revile him, he uses his reviews to explore larger issues: has New Orleans cooking been coasting for decades, or can one arbitrarily and successfully transplant a culinary culture into the desert. He's gone beyond the formula to add value that other writers do not. The Ferry building piece is an affectionate, tongue-in cheek look not so much as individual stalls but at the collision between idealism and commerce. ("[A]n idyllic monument to culinary conscience where all living creatures—those that eat and those that are eaten—are assured of compassionate treatment. The place enlightens. It enthralls. Of particular importance, it nourishes, although patronizing the shops within or the farmers’ market that encircles it twice weekly comes at a price: Should you wish to purchase eggs laid by chickens that dine exclusively on biodynamic cow poop, expect to pay as much as $8 a dozen.") It's funny, informative makes one want to patronize the place not because this stand or that stand offers excellent breakfast ("The stone-ground grains of my griddle cakes were without peer. I don’t know if they were milled or panned for, like gold.") but because there's something larger and interesting going on. It also has a nice shout out to an eGullet contributor: "I quickly found the farmers’-market producers I most admired, all Elite Organic: Della Fattoria breads, June Taylor conserves, Rancho Gordo beans." Not being within the circulation area of the LA Weekly I can't comment in detail on Gold's Pulitzer, but here, too it seems that he is being recognized not for the quality of the reviews but for his tireless legwork in pursuit of the obscure, authentic and eccentric. (Russ may have a more informed opinion here). In either case, the writers go beyond what is usually found in and required of a restaurant column -- something that is done all too rarely, in my experience.

Nay, Sir Charles. U Troll Non. It was just that I happened to remember this from several days ago, which I enjoyed at the time. But that was on Friday and of course we know one must believe Ten Impossible Things Before Breakfast each Friday, (and on Mondays and Wednesdays, too, for those of us who are so inclined) so I am assuming that your charming review simply was part of a Friday morning madness. Michelin never need know of this. ← As Fitzgerald -- a concise little scribbler himself -- once said: “the true test of a first-rate mind is the ability to hold two contradictory ideas at the same time.”

Was Charles was advocating those? ← It sounded rather close to it, to me. Stars plus minimum verbiage, anyway. ← I have an extremely close relationship with my Guide Michelin, save for the occasional accusing glare it shoots me from her resting place on the cookbook shelf, when I haven't carried her off to France and paid her proper attention, in too many months. The Red Guide is ruthless, illuminating, consistent and a firm believer that brevity is the soul of wit. It neatly sidesteps the cult of the critic by not naming them (no statues for these anonymous toilers). As it concerns only restaurants, one needn't worry that an establishment is recommended based on the quality of its celebrity guest or the taste of its cutting edge martinis. It delivers addresses, credit card and phone numbers; marks those places offering significant wine lists, patio seating and bargain menus and tells you whether to wear a jacket; and points you generally in the right direction as far as the food. It does not micromanage your dinner. It is not perfect, but offers a great deal of information, in a space less than the size of this post. And all of France, plus hotels, in one relatively portable book. What more do I need? I also like the little Cliff's Notes summaries at the end of Bruni's NYT reviews. So, more than stars, less than art. But I'm not sure if I believe he really meant what he wrote. :raz: Trolling? Moi ?

Looks like the restaurant/bar community is coming together to help: tonight a whole slew of eating and drinking spots on the Hill will be contributing a percentage of their gross to the restoration effort.

I wonder what wine Monsieur le Sommelier recommends on the occasion of receiving well-deserved national recognition. Congratulations to both Mark and Michel.