Andrew Fenton

What's so pathetic about this is that the sins that Mr. Ripp is accused of making are both so piddling, and so pointless. In particular, I don't understand walking out of a restaurant without paying: surely he could charge it to the paper?

Watermelon- Feta Salad Serves 6 as Salad. An amazingly simple and refreshing summer salad. Obviously proportions can be adjusted however you like, and chopped tarragon makes a fine substitution for the mint. It's worth it to spend a little more and get some really good Greek ewe's milk feta for this dish. 6 c watermelon, seeded 8 oz feta 3 c arugula juice of 2 lemons 1 small red onion, cut into thin rings 1/4 c mint, chopped 3 T extra virgin olive oil ground black pepper Cut the watermelon into thin wedges. Do the same with the feta. Lay the arugula as a bed on a wide bowl, and layer the melon, cheese and onion over it. Pour the oil and juice over as a dressing and garnish with mint and pepper. Keywords: Salad, Easy, Vegetarian, Fruit, Cheese ( RG1067 )

Watermelon- Feta Salad Serves 6 as Salad. An amazingly simple and refreshing summer salad. Obviously proportions can be adjusted however you like, and chopped tarragon makes a fine substitution for the mint. It's worth it to spend a little more and get some really good Greek ewe's milk feta for this dish. 6 c watermelon, seeded 8 oz feta 3 c arugula juice of 2 lemons 1 small red onion, cut into thin rings 1/4 c mint, chopped 3 T extra virgin olive oil ground black pepper Cut the watermelon into thin wedges. Do the same with the feta. Lay the arugula as a bed on a wide bowl, and layer the melon, cheese and onion over it. Pour the oil and juice over as a dressing and garnish with mint and pepper. Keywords: Salad, Easy, Vegetarian, Fruit, Cheese ( RG1067 )

Out of curiosity, how are non-chain restaurants in your town doing?

On the other hand, stay away from brine shrimp. At least at dinner.

Yeah, I can think of a number of family-style places I've been to; but they've all been Southern style. Interesting.

You know, I've been to John's a couple of times (most recently last week) and haven't been too impressed. The lemon ice (my metric for water ice) isn't especially intense: too much ice, not enough flavor for me. Haven't tried Italiano's. I've always been pretty happy with Rita's: lemon and mango in particular. It's gratifying to see a chain maintain quality, as well...

Before seeing this topic, I had just finished my breakfast: English muffin with TJ's natural unsalted crunchy peanut butter ('Ingredients: Dry Roasted Peanuts') and beach plum jelly. Wonderful. It actually tastes like peanuts; plus, it's far superior for cooking to the sickly-sweet versions of PB. Actually, I live in a two-peanut butter household: my wife is a Jif partisan. I love her anyway.

The answer, of course, is "yes."

Word. A wonderful evening; each course was just enough to experience the different flavors, without being overwhelming. I finished each course wanting more. I'm with Sara; the beginning and the ending were the high points, bracketing the meal. I was blown away by the diver scallop: huge! like one of those giant clams that trap a diver's leg. Definitely the biggest scallop I've seen, and also the best: juicy with a nice crust. Vanilla lobster butter; a revelation. Ah, the fried rice pudding wonton. You know, you can put any two parts of that together and it'll sound good. Fried rice, of course; pudding wonton; rice wonton; fried pudding. All four together? Marvelous. And I'm going to put cilantro and onion in all my desserts from now on.

Holly Moore: Semi-Secret Aaaaaagent Maaaaaan!

I had them as an hors d'oeuvre at a wedding reception at Davio's last year. They were... disturbingly good.

And here I was, misreading the thread title as "Fugutive". I thought maybe you were being pursued by an angry sushi chef, Holly. How does the 'cue compare to Sweet Lucy's?

You know, I just don't like crepes very much. Especially savory crepes: they're just too heavy and eggy for me. Nonetheless, I get dragged to Beau Monde every so often; fortunately, I like their salads, and they have a pretty good French onion soup.

All RIGHTY! Just made my reservation. Looking forward to it...

Groovy! Thanks for passing this along, Katie! Snagged a couple of GC's, for Sansom St. and Devon. And Beth often has lunch at Pikkles Plus, so that will save her a few bucks as well. Not bad...

Word to that. Pretty ballsy move. On the other hand, it's a different level of experience from El Vez (I'm basing this on reports rather than first hand knowledge) and will appeal to a slightly different niche. And hell, plenty of businesses do fine with other similar places right near them. Think of Pat's and Geno's, after all... Likewise, it's sort of an apples/oranges comparison with La Lupe, Veracruzana, etc. They'll will always be my go-to spots for some hot quick taco action. But I'll probably take my parents to Lolita. [edit: subject-verb agreeement. It's a good thing.]

Congratulations, Sara! WI will treat you well...

Yeah, that Meadow Run lamb is tremendous, isn't it? They were doing monthly deliveries over the winter, but that sorta dropped off. Maybe I'll head on over to RTM next weekend. After all, grilling season is upon us, and there's nothing better than grilled lamb...

Sounds like a debris sandwich... Or burnt ends, KC style. Oh man, that's some good stuff.

Yup. Deposited the ddiss ("The extra 'D' is for 'Damn, that took a long time!'") this afternoon. And now I'm back, hooray!

So after Pizza Club on Sunday I walked by Lolita, the new upscale Mexican BYO across from Capogiro and El Vez. Decided I'd give it a try at first opportunity, so we headed on over there last night. We started off with some guacamole con totopos mixtos: very nice fresh guacamole with a whole buncha fried dipping stuff. You got your sweet potatoes. You got your plantains. You got your taro. And yes, you got your corn chips. About that time we also ordered a pitcher of margarita mix. Fresh squeezed, good quality, though a little sweeter than I like it (I'm all about the sour margaritas); you bring your own tequila, natch. We were in a festive mood, so the margaritas were oh, so very strong. Because why drink a margarita that doesn't put hair on your chest? I ask you. Appetizer numero dos was ceviche: thin- sliced sea scallops and li'l chunks of lobster, swimming in a coconut-lime broth, with some cilantro and pineapple. I tend to be wary of ceviche, because all too often it's overly acidic, and overwhelms the fish (and everything else.) But this was just right; the coconut accented the sweetness of the shellfish, and the cilantro (culantro? I guess there's a difference, but I can't tell) provides an herbal fragrance to it. Finished margarita pitcher #1. Ordered #2 about this point. Things started getting more... festive. Anyway, this was the blue guava margarita. What's the difference, you ask? Well, it's two dollars more. I couldn't tell if it actually tasted different. But it was festive, oh yes it was. I had the lomo de cordero con mole rojo Oaxaqueno. That'd be the lamb, buddy, crusted with sesame and cumin, grilled medium-rare, and served with a mole sauce and frijoles borrachos on the side. The cumin/sesame combination works well with the mole; the toasted seeds sorta blend in with the nutty flavor from the sauce. And I'm all about beans. Any time, any place. Beth had the chicken & mushroom enchiladas, with a green mole. Spicier than the lamb, but sorta less exciting. They were goooooood, but not greeeeeeeaaaat. I just like the enchiladas at Plaza Garibaldi just as well, and they're like half the price. I'd say, stick with their fancy-schmancy hipster BYOB offerings. One of our dining companions had the carne asada, which looked great. Didn't try it, though. And we didn't get dessert... as I said, Capogiro's right across the street. I bet that Lolita's gonna have a hard time doing a lot of dessert business, actually. I tried to make a case for ending things with a round of tequila shots, but was shot down. Probably that was for the best, all things considered.

See, I come back to eG, and this is what awaits me. I can see it now: the DDC boat... soon will be making anoooother run! With... Tim, your Chef! Katie, your Booze Director! Rich, your Activities Director! et cetera... Bring on those magically thymulicious sweetbreads, and let the DDC Adventure Cruise 2004 begin! This'll be awesome...

Went to a reception tonight that was catered by Frog Commissary. Asian-themed food: cold noodles (some with chicken, some with pickled vegetables), summer rolls with a garlicky dipping sauce, smoked salmon and cream cheese rolled in nori, and really good banh mi (complete with some very nice pate). The food was all very good (well, I didn't like the cream cheese rolls, but others did); I have no idea what they charge, but they'd probably be another option. Also, I saw that Sweet Lucy's caters... but... naaaaah, probably that's not what you'd want.

I've been to both Ocean Harbor and Lakeside; they're both fine and do the trick. Bear in mind that Lakeside isn't a traditional, with-carts, dim sum experience: you have to order the food you want.