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I consider the happy hour specials at Ocean Ave Seafood in Santa Monica a great cheap eats deal. You get 6 great oysters and a flight of wine for $8.95, plus other deals like a $2.50 cup of manila clam chower, etc. And happy hour isn't just during the week, but Saturday and Sundays as well.

Here, finally are my and Carman's wines from Fuji: Red: 2002 Beauchene Les Sens de Syrah ($14) Sake: Star Filled Sky Mantensei ($38) Both purchased at Corkscrewed in Cherry Hill. Both lovely matches for Matt's food.

Not terribly long gone, but greatly missed on my part-- Orfeo on Walnut St--lovely, reasonably-priced Asian cuisine Guru on South St--$10 duck confit! New Joe Shanghai--see the soup dumpling thread

What a great discussion--I had limoncello in Capri about 5 yrs ago, dreamt of it ever since. Definitely going to try your recipe this summer Katie!

Actually, Carman has received a lot of press, possibly even in the Times I think--no reason he shouldn't be aware of it, tho maybe that's why he didn't revisit.

Yeah, those columns always make me wonder where journalists get their suggestions--was this guy in town visiting uninformed friends who pointed him to destinations? These are by no means the 'it' places now, nor the best--particularly Pasion and Audrey Claire, both of which have slid a great deal in recent years. I hate to say it, but what about dinner at Salt? I'm with you on the brunch thing, Holly, Carman's is the best, and I think others would also say he should've gone to Sabrina's or Morning Glory. Brunch in Center City is about the scene, not the food, for the most part. And as for BYOs-as you said there are SCADS of other places getting more press than Audrey lately. So how did this guy come up with his list??

Yep, I worked there 4-5 nights a week from 1996-1998. Maybe I waited on you for burger night??

Oh...Hibiscus Cafe--that was the one under the bridge in Georgetown, right? I loved that place--went there for a fabulous 22nd birthday. When/why did they close?

It really was a delicious meal--I had sushi at Kaz tonite in DC that didn't compare. But my wine notes are at home in Philly--I'll post when I get back there next week!

Whitlows on Wilson used to have a good cheap brunch and Eggs Benedict--at least when I was working there 6 yrs ago. Still true? Also, I recommend the thai brunch at Rabieng.

Hi I just enjoyed a lovely rainy day lunch at 2 Amys. It began very well with a free neighborhood parking spot just a block away (always a big plus for me!). I arrived to meet a friend at 12, and the place was barely half full. Nice, calm, not noisy, the room smelled great and the grass boxes on the window sills really gave the place a nice springy feel. We started with a special little dish of roasted beets, orange segments, and sea salt. Huge portion for $5 but we devoured it. We then moved on to a pizza santa-some-woman's-name with fresh mozarella, cherry tomatoes, and argula. Perfect! I usually leave my pizza crusts behind (like all bread crusts, see the Nectar thread), but I ate every last bit of this pizza. We finished with the special apple crisp and homemade vanilla ice cream and honey ice cream. The crisp could've been a bit warmer, and the crust on the crisp was a little overdone for my taste, but the ice cream was great. Prompt, polite service, delicious food, easy parking--I know it's a rainy April weekday, and is usually much more crowded but I still nominate this for a top lunchspot.

Last night Mazman and I were treated to what was perhaps, in John W's estimation, the first time he's done a tasting menu at Firefly. We were celebrating the recent completion of my dissertation and the acquisition of my first job by opening a bottle of 2000 Archery Summit Renegade Ridge Pinot Noir that I had been saving. So, we had (I apologize in advance, I'm going to get some of this wrong or incomplete--the wine just kept flowing last night ) 1. Crispy oyster on a bed of shredded carrots 2. Miso soup with asparagus and shitake mushrooms (this was a great great dish) 3. Roasted beets with goat cheese dressing and market greens (fabulously creamy cheese, forgot the name tho) The above were served with a bone-dry Riesling--2002 Schloss Gobel Burg Langenlois--this went especially well with the salad. 4. Sauteed spiced cod with potato puree, braised Belgian endive and parsley oil (great colors in this dish, lots of bright green and white, lovely cod) 5. Roasted chicken with bacon, cabbage and prunes. We had the Archery Summit with those two--it opened up a great deal and its fruitiness was an especially good match for the chicken. 6. Reblochon, served with a California Cabernet (name escapes me) We then opted to drink our dessert (my favorite way to end things!): 7. Late Harvest Vidal Pearmound 8. Broadbent Colheita, 1995 YUM YUM YUM to those last two!! It was a very busy night at Firefly last night, but John still managed to find his way over to us quite often, even fitting in a glass of wine. Our server was very tall, and thus a little hard to hear (does anyone else ever have the distant server problem??), but other than that he was very good. All in all, a great evening--thanks John!

Hmmm... How does El Agave Tequileria compare to Candela's??

How long do you think it'd take to get our rental car, drive to Point Loma, eat, and drive back to LAX to pick up Liam on his 4:45 flight in?? I have about 3 hrs total...

Sounds fab- I'm going for Easter brunch!

Hi Going to dinner at Fuji Sunday night and have been instructed by Matt to bring a cold sake and a red wine. Any suggestions--especially from past visits?? Thanks!

Holly, Thanks for that lovely description and the pictures--I'm drooling, and can hardly wait--I'm Carman's next dining partner at Django, following my dissertation defense!

John, Looking forward to checking out your culinary genius stylingz in that new spring menu at dinner w/ Mazman next week!

Oh wow, pasilla chili chocolates! Gotta get me some of those... I am also interested in going to Chino Farms--I read about it in a Steingarten book. Anyone have information on going there? I know it's in Rancho Sante Fe and is open 10-4--that's what I found by googling it. More info? Is it shopping only--do they have a cafe or anything, etc? I'm thinking of stocking up on veggies to cart home to Philadelphia. Any must haves?

These suggestions are great, thanks! It looks like I'm going to have to kill about 3 hrs in LAX waiting for Liam to arrive on our first day in town. I'll have defended my dissertation the day before and be looking to celebrate. However, I'll also have plenty of luggage with me. So, any suggestions for where to have a nice long lunch in the airport?? (I'm flying US AIR)

Hey everyone, This Philly Egulleteer and her DC gulleeter boyfriend are coming to San Diego for a conference--we'll be in town for a week & need plenty of suggestions. Most importantly we need ideas nearby 3 hotels: the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego and the San Diego Marriott Hotel and Marina (where the conference is being held) and the Westin (where we're staying). Here's what I'm looking for: 1. Good inexpensive lunch spots near those conferences hotels. Any kind of food, no more than $10/per person. 2. Places for happy hours drinks near any of those hotels, but not IN the hotels. 3. Fantastic sushi--anywhere in the area or La Jolla. Big creative selection like that I struggle to get here in Philly. 4. Fish tacos!! 5. Wine bars Thanks in advance. We get to town April 12th.

I did a similar swing through SF a few years back, and I highly recommend stopping at Swan Oyster Depot for a light meal of perfect oysters and dungeoness crab. http://www.epicurious.com/erg/sf/swan.html

Hi We enjoyed a wonderful dinner at L'Etoile, a perfectly decent dinner at Tornado Club, and a delicious inexpensive breakfast at Lazy Janes. I even got to try french blue--and it's edible!! Plus we had some great coffee at Ancora, and Michael's Custard. It was over a cup of lemon meringue custard that I decided to accept the job. I'll be moving to Madison in August, and look forward to meeting fellow Egulleteers there.

Hi Well, I got the job offer! So, fellow Egulleteer LiamDC (my boyfriend) and I will be returning to Madison this Thursday for 2 days to make a decision...I need to sell Liam on the place, so what are your top suggestions for restaurants? Thus far I know we'll hit L'Etoile for one dinner, and Michael's for one lunch. That leaves one breakfast and one dinner to fill in... thanks!

Don, I'm totally confused by this report, as Liam and I went to Sushi Taro (at least I'm 90% sure that's what it's called) last weekend and it was quite good. I've eaten sushi all over the country since I was 7 and have very high standards--best is at Morimoto, I thought Nobu was only ok, Kaz pretty good, and this was more than decent sushi I had last week. Granted, we didn't try too many different things, but the amaebi, unagi, toro, hamachi--all were very fresh and good. The place was packed, the couple next to us had a gorgeous huge sashimi sampler they loved, I saw the edamame--which wasn't brown at all...I suppose everywhere has an off night once in awhile, and with sushi that's particularly intolerable...but I'm surprised at your experience. Mark- I understand your take on things, but if those of us not in the biz only ate at places where people 'knew' us, well, we'd have a paucity of places to eat at. You know I'm friendly as hell and eat out a lot, but in DC, that limitation would restrict me to less than a 1/2 dozen spots and no sushi restaurants. What do you suggest I do??