Busboy

A couple of years back, a Congressman introducing legislation that would require more exactitude in frozen chicken labeling went "bowling" with "non-frozen" chickens. Apparently chickens chilled to something around 25 degrees are still considered unfrozen, despite their being cold, hard and solid. Another crime against nature by the chicken industry, aided and abetted by friend in high places. I think it's clear that freezing a chicken makes it cook up dryer, espcecially the breast meat, and thus avoid them whenever possible.

Sounds like an excuse to get a jump-start on the weekend and hit the Penn Quarter Market -- and cowgirl -- this Thursday.

As far as I know, you can get wonton wrappers in almost every grocery store in the area. For the more exotic stuff, have you looked at Great Wall or one of the other big Asian groceries out in the suburbs?

If WF believes their completely unsupported (and unsupportable) belief about lobsters then they should simply not sell lobsters! It is the preachy Whole--ier than thou attitude that rubs me the wrong way and the fact that they are clearly attempting to capitalize on this approach. That is why many people rightly suspect a bit of marketing hype at play. ← Whole Foods did a seven month study, decided they didn't like what they found, and, apparently issued a press release that gotpicked up by the Associated Press. There's no evidence of any particularly preachy press campaign - beyond the release -- or an attempt to particularly capitalize on this. The said they will continue to sell frozen lobster. They left the door open to re-introducing live lobsters. I'm having trouble getting particularly outraged our findingany evil motives in this.

I certainly think it's silly to end loster sales. But I also think it's silly to attack Whole Foods as opportunistic, hypocritical and delusional, or to compare lobsters to fictional aliens is equally silly. I'm guessing that most of us support humane slaughter, the move away fromfactory farms, non-bound veal and so on, even if we're going to kill and eat the animals, on both humane grounds and the assumption that the food will taste better. That Whole Foods takes this idea seriously enough to encourage, however imperfectly, a movement towards this type of production is to be applauded. If they get carried away every now and then, well, there can certainly be legitimate disagreements. Hurling names and questioning, without the least bit of evidence, the corporation's motives, does little to resolve the debate.

You are positively uncivilized. I don't even like to look at the menu until I'm half-way through a crisp martini, and I am coming to think that no dinner is complete without cheese and at least two desserts -- that's an hour right there without even counting the courses in between drinks and cheese. I am what they call in the trade a camper, though I do most of my camping in my own back yard. I think my longest was a five-or six-hour brunch at my place, one where I left twice to do work and came back to find things still going strong.

I was talking with a local restauranteur recently and, unless I misunderstood him, he disliked the check-splitting thing because credit card companies charge a minimum in addition to their percentage. In a small and fairly-priced establishment (though high-grossing, I expect) he was out over three grand a month in credit card fees -- enough for a new employee or a new car. He was considering going to cash-only (he has lines out the door, so he could certainly get away with it), but the second fee seemed to be particularly galling. On the larger issue, I can only get so worked up about how well waiters are tipped when I'm not in control of the check. I hardly think 20% is mandatory, though I usually tip at least that much, and wouldn't worry much about my co-diners unless they're being particularly asinine (fortunately, though my friends, colleagues and I have many faults, we're pretty goodabout tips). Tip variations come with the territory, I've got other things to worry about besides whether the waiter got 15% or 20%.

The Red Lion would hold many fond memories for me, if I could only remember them. Red Lion trivia: back in the day, when Red Lion Row was an actual row of houses rather than an office building with facades stuck on, the bar and the burger operation were separate, the latter being called Bonne Apetite ("The Bone," serving "boneburgers") and run by a woman named Diamond Lil, who was rumored to have been "friends" with Jimmie Hoffa. My favorite was the 19, "The Robert." Lil had also run a bar in the Row called, naturally enough, Diamond Lil's. After renovation, the bar and the Bone were bought by the same individual and combined.

What do you consider "off the beaten path?" We have one of the few -- possibly the only -- "Little Ethiopias" -- in the country. We have Central American, rather than Mexican, for our Latin food. And we have the Mini-Bar, serving avant-garde 40-course meals. There's a smattering of Soul Food, the great Vietnamese strip mall and, of course, all the little neighborhood joints. Let us know what sounds interesting and we'll see what we can turn up.

Generally speaking, if you want a good meal you need to get out of Ocean City, heading north to Rehoboth or one of the more upscale towns in Delaware. This thread might have some tips. In between OC and Rehoboth lies Bethany Beach, I seem to recall a decent meal or two at Sedona. I'm sure there's something decent in OC, but I'd resign myself to burgers, pizza, fries and beer -- and some crabs, of course -- and be pleasantly surprised if you get beyond that. The only golf I have any experience with in the area is the mini-golf, so I'm not much help there.

Another resource for the budget-minded is, surprisingly, the Guide Michelin online. You have to register to use it in the way I'm going to describe, but it's well worth the occasional e-mail you get. Go to www.viamichelin.com and register. Once you're registered, get to the homepage and click (in the upper right of the screen) on "The Michelin Guides" and then on Restaurants. Type in Paris, France and then in the box next to the location box click on "Services" and then on the "Good Value Menu" box, next to the image of coins (under the "Categories" heading you can aslo search for pubs, tapas places and other inexpensive spots, as well). The guide lists 30 places in and around the city, with lunches in the 11-16 euro range, including Brasserie Thomieux in the 7th, which looks pretty interesting and, since it has no English on its website, may be "undiscovered" by the ten cities in eight days folks. I can't vouch for any of these, but my few experiences with Michelin have been good, sometimes more than good. Just a thought.

It split when it was in the oven. My best guess is that it's some interaction with the cheap brandy I use when I'm making it. Especially distressing because the thing looks so dang wonderful when you pull it out of the oven. The other variable that's changed is that we're making it -- per instruction -- in a cast-iron skillet, rather than the glass pie plate we've used in the past.

OK, I've made the clafouti twice, and both times it broke. Edible, but not pretty. This has never happened with other clafouti recipes. Now that the cherries have hit the market, any suggestions or explanations would be deeply appreciated.

Having done Paris on a budget a couple of times, I strongly second (third?) picnicking as a budget stretcher. If you're staying in the 7th, an afternoon spent shopping on Rue Cler would be time well spent -- it's a market street with every conceivable portable (and non-portable) food or beverage available. Don't let the fact that it's been "discovered" turn you off. It's a glorious couple of blocks , just around the corner from the Ecole Militaire metro. From there you can walk to the Tour Eiffel for a picnic, or, if you don't mind strolling through the Left Bank (and who does?), over to Luxembourg Gardens (where Jean Valjean hung out). Better yet, catch the metro over to the 5th, and picnic on the quais. There are few things better in life than spreading good cheese on good bread, sipping wine from a plastic cup, and watching the way Notre Dame's reflection in the Seine changes as the sun goes down. Then you can walk over to the island for ice cream at Berthold's. Also in the 7th: au Petite Tonneau.

Off the beaten path? No city in America has more or better Ethiopian Restaurants than DC; we even have a "little Ethiopia" now. And, to the uninitiated, it's a fairly exotic cusine -- eating without utensils and all. Call for details. Drop by for a guided tour.

This is too, too funny. You've got to tell me what "B&T types" do to muck up your good time at your restaurants! Wear odd clothing, smell funny, stick you with the bill, chew with their mouths open, scratch their nether regions, what? And do you include Brooklyn, Queens and SI in this group? ← Bad haircuts give me gas. When I go someplace clubby or totally cool, especially in New York, I definitely expect the crowd to be hipper than I am, or I'm terribly disappointed. Last time I was in the meatpacking district, even though I tripped over a model (all black clothes, wafer thin - -they should have to wear flashers after dark!) the crowd was mostly just boring -- catalogue clothes, young professional haircuts and glasses that haven't been cutting edge since Seinfeld's third season. Blecch. I can get that at home. ← Isn't this what all the B&T's are looking for also in these places? ← That's the irony -- the real scenesters are looking at me and thinking "why do they even bother putting a velvet rope out front if guys like this can get in."

This is too, too funny. You've got to tell me what "B&T types" do to muck up your good time at your restaurants! Wear odd clothing, smell funny, stick you with the bill, chew with their mouths open, scratch their nether regions, what? And do you include Brooklyn, Queens and SI in this group? ← Bad haircuts give me gas. When I go someplace clubby or totally cool, especially in New York, I definitely expect the crowd to be hipper than I am, or I'm terribly disappointed. Last time I was in the meatpacking district, even though I tripped over a model (all black clothes, wafer thin - -they should have to wear flashers after dark!) the crowd was mostly just boring -- catalogue clothes, young professional haircuts and glasses that haven't been cutting edge since Seinfeld's third season. Blecch. I can get that at home.

Signs of imminent amination? Click here.

I was googling around looking for info on "Cuisine Nissarde" -- the traditional cooking of Nice -- and l'Ane Rouge caught my eye for the rather pedestrian reason that I'd picked up the word "ane" in a recent French lesson: bonnet d'ane -- donkey's hat or, cooloqhially, dunce cap. Anyway nice website here, and, to the extent that the Cusine Nissarde movement survives as anything beyond an old website and a perhaps not wildly successful tourism driver, one might expect an "authentic" meal, as well as a good one, there.

Truck Patch Farms at the Mt. Pleasant Market continues to turn out the most astoundingly delicious strawberries on earth -- people pop one in their mouth and do a kind of double-take thing, and then begin babbling accolades. I am a serial sampler and am convinced that no other vendor in DC has berries this good. Big news of the week, though, was the appearance of cherries, slightly sour Raniers, in Mt. Pleasant (can't remember the name of the farm), which we turned into an inauthentic clafouti; and the annual Dupont Circle in-migration of Heinz's fabulous favas, which are perhaps destined to be married gnocci's, cream and some smokey bacon. Anybody seen any peas (and not those vile shoots?).

I was so pissed to see this article: I'd been hoping to jump-start my lame little freelance career with, among other things, a piece about eating in Nice, after I spent a week there this summer. I'm gonna get this Bittman guy! Looks like some useful information, though, centered on the kinds of places our low-budget/high euro family will be seeking out, so maybe my wounded ego can handle it, after all. On question for the PACA veterans among us: what are dining hours in Nice? I assume everything will be packed in late July, especially if they've been freatured in the NYT, but we are just as happy to eat relatively early (and head up for the jazz) or relatively late (jet lag and all). What's a good window of opportunity after the crowds are thinning but before the waiters start stacking chairs on the tables?

Others will know better than I, but I thought that L'Universe Christian Plumail, website here, was a very relaxed and relatively inexpensive Michelin 1-star.

You know, I've got two different Alice Waters/Chez Panisse cookbooks, and I doubt I've cooked seven recipes between them. Zuni Cafe was a big disappointment, though I flip through it as a reference every now and then. I wonder sometimes if that's not just because the lessons taught by Alice and embodied by what's-her-name have been so internalized that one hardly needs their cookbooks any more. I spent a good deal of money not only buying the Aquavit cookbook but going to a dinner at which Samuelsson spoke. Dinner sucked (he wasn't cooking that night) and neither my friends who attended nor I have ever cooked a thing from it. Ditto with the seafood cookbook written by some Japanese-Australian chef which looked quite good in the bookstore but seemed way too austere at home. Edited to add that while think ford porn books are too expensibe and take up too much damn room in a small kitchen, I've cooked the hell out of the French Laundry and Bouchon. I've also done a few from Kaminsky-Kunz's The Elements of Taste, and hope to do more. Despite their pretentious, or at least boring, theorizing, the recipes tend to be, well, tasty.

When I think of stem-cell beef, I think of the protenous analogue to those unfortunate hydroponic tomatoes.

We just dropped a couple of Benjamins on this baby, hardly a status symbol but fine for us. Whether we just accidently cooked the steaks more perfectly than usual, or they were unusually good steaks, or searing them at 650 degrees made all the difference, the first experiment with the new toy was wildly successful. As my wife is not keen on the smoke flavor (and occasional carbonization from fires that break out while I duck inside for more wine) we get with our official "The Simpson's" baby Weber, the gas grill is a nice fit. I feel like that if I had five large for a grill, I'd have something made out of brick and iron, and lay in a couple of cords of hardwood to stoke it with.