mrbigjas

hwerther--what happened when you did this? i've always wondered if cast iron on a regular (i.e. not super high power restaurant style) gas stove would reach a state of equilibrium after a while.

these were on their nightly specials menu (which i suspect doesn't actually change all that much)--they were the mini chicken dumplings. probably also not really the ones they're known for. i've only been there a couple times, ever... true, and for like $4 it's totally worth a shot, really.

i didn't actually like the dumplings that much. the duck was great. pea shoots are good if you like that sort of thing, although they're kind of salty--eat with plenty of rice and it evens out. edited to say: i don't know how they'd handle a coming-and-going party of ten. it does fill up in there, but i also saw stairs going up in the back--does anyone know if there's another dining room up there? either way, if you explain the situation and are taking care of the check, i can't imagine it would be that big of a problem.

sure, i'll give it another shot. i mainly remember it being... well, kinda boring, for lack of a better term. there wasn't much of that kinda just a little rough rye-y-ness to it, to my mind, and nothing that struck me as of interest in any real way--mainly it reminded me of an uninteresting canadian whiskey. like CC or something. kind of an unremarkable generic unidentifiable 'whiskey' taste. but it's under $15 and at worst made for an inoffensive manhattan or other whiskey-based cocktail, so i'll give it another shot soon if i don't decide to go ahead and order the rittenhouse. after all, i won't deny that it could be that at the time i bought and drank the bottle i was really expecting or looking for something different.

i've had the beam rye and it's not great. rittenhouse is available in pennsylvania, but by special order only.

the bread at django reminds me a LOT of the bread my mom used to make growing up, so i have kind of a soft spot for it...

you make them! at least that's what i do. none of the ingredients are hard to find, and for those dishes, they aren't difficult to make.

a friend of mine had it in a tasting where he also tried a 1977 port of some sort. he thought it was more interesting than the port. and this isn't a novice like me--he's old school edumacated wine guy. unfortunately it's not available here in PA or i'd give it a try myself.

marlene, i don't know if the waring 70th anniversary is in their 'pro' line or not: here it is--it says it's a williams-sonoma exclusive, so i don't know how that works in canada--do they have w-s stores there? it says it has a 500-watt motor. but i don't know if the 'pro' designation has to do with the durability of other parts, or the motor itself, or whatever.

my parents-in-law do, to some extent. after 35+ years in washington as relatively frequent diners, they have their own opinions, but they always get the mag and read its recommendations, and mark places they haven't been, and whatnot. from my admittedly limited experience, it seems to me that it's kind of like zagat's: more useful as a directory than as a real hardcore food lover's guide.

well, in case you're wondering, we went to ardeo on friday night, johnny's half shell on saturday lunch, and bistro d'oc for saturday dinner. i enjoyed all of them, with a special highlight being the combination of a 2003 minervois and cassoulet (ch. coupe roses cuvee vignals). it's like they were meant for each other.... oh wait they were. thanks for the help y'all.

no it won't! come on, you know you want to... come on.....

everybody speaks funny to someone else, the way i see it. i thought this thread would be more about getting by than about being super-precisely correct--i mean, if you're an english-only speaker and see the word mille-feuille, there's just no way that you can guess how to pronounce it, but if someone gets you close, maybe you can order one sometime. i guess what i'm saying is there's kind of a lot of nitpicking going on about various types of nasal fricatives and postdental labiolars and whatnot, but if we can give each other an idea of how to say things, we can generally get close enough that a native speaker could comprehend what we want and give it to us--and after all, isn't that the point? now, i'll help you folks out with one: in philadelphia, the word 'water' is pronounced 'wooder.' but if you order a 'water' we'll know what you mean....

cool, thanks folks. jennyuptown, it's pretty funny, i did a little search for arucola on here when you mentioned it, and one of the only things i found was you mentioning that it was nearby and you hadn't been, and you really should head over there sometime... from mid 2003. haha... ok maybe only i find that funny. maybe it's because i'm the same way...

My Mom just ate there last week and gave it a very good review. ← i ate there a couple months ago and it was indeed great stuff. mmmm salade lyonnaise...

i'm looking for something good in this area for tomorrow night. preferrably something not too popular so we can get reservations, and flexible in case we're a little late (coming from philadelphia, picking up someone up by chevy chase circle, and you never know about traffic and whatnot). we'll be with someone who can't stand for very long, so a bar-type waiting for tables thing probably isn't the best idea (which is why we aren't going to the bar at palena or 2 amys or something). 'ethnic' foods (by which i mean anything non-french or italian or american) are pretty much out, not by our choice. price isn't really much of a consideration, although something at like maestro or citronelle level would probably be a bit much. does anyone have any ideas for us? how about ardeo? that's near there isn't it?

linda, you got it--basically roast the peppers, skin them and marinate them in olive oil and vinegar with some herbs. you might want to use a few other herbs besides parsley--thyme is most common in my experience, although marjoram or oregano are also used sometimes.

cool, thanks y'all. we ended up going to sang kee, because lee how fook is closed mondays. had peking duck (delicious as always), mini chicken potstickers (mine are better) and snow pea leaves with roasted garlic (very salty, but good anyway). here's a similar situation to this thread that i'm thinking of: when we were in barcelona we went to a fancy restaurant and ended up talking to the chef. he asked us if we'd gone on a tapas crawl yet, and when we said no he described to us what he said was the #1 rule of tapas crawling: each tapas place has a specialty or two. go to the place, get a drink, get their specialty, and then leave--even if the other stuff looks good, don't get it, because it's another place's specialty. so in a way, i picture this thread about chinatown like that. sure, you can order szechuan chicken at every restaurant in chinatown, just like you can get a tortilla at any tapas bar in barcelona. but do you want to? no, you get what they're known for. anyway, that's all. thanks for the tips.

edited to remove double post

about every 10 minutes at that time of night. the ride to 30th st takes about 10 minutes. you know, actually at 8 p.m.+, a cab might be a little faster. but it would only be a matter of a couple minutes, i think.

livengood's in the terminal carries them in season too. i think it's just a little early right now; they still have dandelion and poke and asparagus, and squash blossoms come after that stuff. anastasio, the specialty produce place in the italian market, might have some.

my wife and holly both recommend them pretty highly, so i gotta say yes. i was basing that suggestion on their recommendations, since i've never had one.

excellent, thanks!

quick question: is this place still packed, and is it no-reservations? we'll be in DC this weekend to visit my mother-in-law, and i'd like to check it out, but if it's packed and a long wait we won't be able to (she's sick and not able to handle situations like that).

ok here's one: when you're preparing stinging nettles for cooking you wear gloves so you don't get stung. what is VERY IMPORTANT to not forget is, after dinner when you're cleaning up and you see a big pile of stems in the sink, PUT THE GLOVES BACK ON before grabbing them.