bilrus
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Posts posted by bilrus
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What would you suggest me do--ask the sommelier to choose two glasses for me?
If the others you are dining with are also drinking, you could ask the sommelier for a half or full bottle of red and a white for the table. Or you could do the same for yourself by the glass.
And if you have a budget for your wines, give the sommelier your comfort range. You won't be the first person looking to avoid breaking the bank at French Laundry.
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only 2 months ahead? I would have thought 3...
They only accept reservations 2 months ahead to the day.
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You have to read Ray's commentary with a grain of salt, I think. Landrum doesn't have customers so much as groupies
, But it is also the rare restaurant that has both the food and concept to inspire groupies. Think about how many good restaurants don't inspire that sort of passion.
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Washington Post article on the Sterling Grand Mart from this weekend's Loudoun section, including quotes from Malawry and Pork.
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Firefly (in the Madera hotel) and Nora are smaller places on the pricer side, but both are fan-tastic. 12 might be a really big number for them though.
Not to speak for Firefly, but I'm pretty sure they can handle 12 in the back room with enough advance notice.
But like a lot of places - 12 or more might trigger you going into a limited menu. I'm sure they'd do a good job with it though.
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Trader Vic's (awesome poo-poo platter!)
I truly love a good poo-poo platter and haven't had (or seen) one in about 15 years.
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As was mentioned upthread, I've always liked Joe Thiesmann's,
Strange that this place would be getting any love around here, and granted I haven't been in years, but I remember having several better than decent meals at Thiesmann's as well.
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It may be that I haven't been paying attention (I don't watch TV, so I don't have any exposure to Batali's shows), but I thought the point of Babbo was sort of, "this is what a first-class Italian restaurant is like if it's located in the United States, with access to U.S. rather than Italian ingredients and cooked for a U.S. audience." In other words, I thought a salutory inauthenticity was supposed to be part of the deal. As I said, though, I could have misconstrued.
I was just about to make a similar point.
I think if you were to ask Batali about this discussion he would say "it is what it is."
All these qualifiers - "authentic", "best Italian restaurant", "not subtle enough" - are all projections from individual diners pre-concieved notions. The fact that Babbo is a "famous" restaurant only serves to elevate the expecations.
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"An off night" just doesn't happen. More likely, an off patron.
Au contraire. Off nights do indeed just happen, as dinner service, like so much else in life, tends to accumulate momentum. Once the rhythm gets thrown off, it's hard to get it back -- though I'm certain that happens rarely at Citronelle, and that they recover quickly when it does.
I'd bet even Mr. Slater would admit to their having an off night every now and then.
It happens to the best of us. Just less often.
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Made my first visit this weekend. I was impressed, especially with the meat section and the prices in the produce section. I was also pleasantly surprised that I was able to do almost all my shopping here, including a box of Frosted Cheerios and Fritos for my Super Bowl dip. Most of the (albeit smaller) Asian markets I've been to didn't have much selection of "Western" items.
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Hey Pork, I'm having a hard time picturing where this place is. What else was near the Food Lion that Grand Mart replaced? I go to Wegman's once or twice a month down in Sterling and would love to swing by Grand Mart as a supplement--usually produce and things like frozen ducks are so much cheaper at those places!
It is on Route 7 east of Sterling Park. Across from a Ford dealership, just down a bit from a shopping center with a Chik-fil-a out front. It is behind an IHOP and there is a decent Thai place called Tup Tim Thai in the same center.
I haven't been yet. Pork - do they carry fresh rice noodles in addition to dried?
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Bill, I see your Sriracha sauce in the photo. How is it? I bought a bottle of that brand yesterday without looking closely at the label. I've done some reading that says it's only "real" Sriracha if it was produced in the Sriracha region of Thailand. The bottle I had prior to this one was from Thailand and delicious. I haven't tasted this kind, from the US yet, but I am expecting that a Thai person might not think it is Sriracha sauce. And, I'm not much for hotness; I much prefer to taste the flavor. That's why I liked the kind I bought before. Whatever, it was only $2.99, so if it isn't as good, I can keep it on hand and go buy some Thai produced Sriracha. Please excuse me if I offend anyone about brands. If my husband reads this, he will say I am being a snob. I mean no offense.
I did the cook-off tonight, but I am not near ready to post the photos and write it up. I'll be back!
My answer would be the same as Pan's - this is the same brand that most of the Pho places here in DC seem to have on the table, so it is the only one I know. It is also the only one that they carried at Wegman's when I was there this weekend.
I don't use a lot of it in my soup anyway. I do find the flavor to be a bit more "harsh" than "Western" hot sauces. But I feel that way about most Asian ones like sambal oelek or garlic-chili pastes.
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Served my Chicken Pho that I started a few days ago upthread -
Fixins ready for the bowl
Noodles being warmed up
Everything in the bowl
This turned out to be a good recipe. The broth was surprisingly rich and had a good flavor. A heavier hand than I'd usually use with the fish sauce, soy sauce and salt helped perk it up quite a bit.
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I clipped this recipe for Pho Ga from the Washington Post a while back and have been meaning to make it. Pho 75, the restaurant the recipe is from is one of the best pho shops in the DC area. This thread got me off my rear and motivated.
Today I made the broth. Probably going to have the soup itself tomorrow or Wednesday.
Shallots and ginger to be roasted:
Chicken cooking - much quicker step than traditional stock making:
Star Anise and cinnamon being toasted:
This is a huge bowl of broth - probably 5 quarts. It is surprisingly rich given the relatively brief cooking time:
Chicken ready to be cut up for the soup:
More pictures to come when the soup is served...
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Another great meal at Ray's...finally had the Chateaubriand with my husband.
We always wanted to have it, but always went with friends that we just had to introduce to the beauty that is a steak at Ray's. Fred and I had promised ourselves that we could only have the Chateaubriand on just a night with the two of us. Hard to do, when we always wanted to bring our friends to the place!
Finally made it last night...excellent as always.
Thanks Michael for another wonderful evening. Company really is 90 percent of a great meal, but the perfect food is a HUGE 10%.
If you were sitting along the wall back by the kitchen, I was sitting next to you in the "wine cellar" finishing my sirloin diablo style when your Chateaubriand was served. I had never thought about the Chateaubriand, but it looked awfully good and I was a bit envious.
Not that I'm complaining about my steak by any stretch.
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I find cod rather mild and untinteresting in flavor (though the chorizo did wonders for the dish).
See what I'm saying - pork and fish. The new surf and turf.
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Can't believe I missed this thread the first time around.
Funny - I was about to post about my worst meal ever in DC and then I looked up thread and realized I already had - over two years ago. Good to know my answer still hasn't changed.
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Old San Juan is a 10-15 min cab ride..but well worth a trip. Try to take some time and wander around. El Morro is worth a look. We ate in a good restaurant in Hotel El Convento..heard good things about both Parrot Club and Dragonfly..but we never got to them..next trip.
Drangonfly is fun and is probably the best "fusion" place I've tried anywhere. It is "Carrib-asian" but it works there. It is almost directly across the street from Parrot Club (with teh same owners) on Calle Fortaleza.
I ate at El Picoteo in the El Convento - don't know if that is the one you're referring to. I don't think it is their main restaurant, but is a pretty nice tapas bar in the courtyard of very cool old hotel near the cathedral in old San Juan.
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I've never felt more authentic than eating at the food shacks at Luquillo Beach about 45 minutes or an hour east of San Juan near the entrance to El Yunque.
Considerably less rustic, but a favorite I've been to four times in two visits to San Juan is the Parrot Club in Old San Juan.
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I'm glad I had a chance to go one time before it closed.
It never dawned on me that it was kosher until we considered ordering the "cheesecake". The waitress who looked like she had been there since they first opened said "Sweetie, you won't like that. You'll like the cheesecake around the corner at Venerio's much better." Thanks for the tip.
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I only made one trip to New York this year, but the chorizo crusted cod I had in February at the dining room at The Modern was one of the two or three best things I had to eat all year.
This was one of my first indications of a great trend I've been seeing more and more of on restaurant menus this year - pork and seafood, mostly with a Spanish or Italian accent.
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Naan. Even reheating in the oven doesn't work because it ends up too crisp and over cahrred.
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the carrot-apricot fritters, which we weren't nuts about.
This is the one dish I've had there that I found really, really bad in probably a dozen visits. Yet people rave about them as the answer to "What should I order at Zaytinya?"
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Does anyone out there know if this whole, uh, oh Hell I don't what to call it, came up in today's live online chat with the Washington Post's Sietsema?
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Washington, D.C.: Would you like to weigh in on this week's big foodie controversy? A blogger (dcfoodies) took photos of Carole Greenwood's food at Buck's. After dessert, she told him not to. The next day he was served with a cease-and-desist letter telling him he could be sued if he posted the pictures. He has not posted them, or his review, but he has posted the letter.Curious to hear your thoughts (and I've tried to recount the incident in as neutral a tone as I can! I am not either of the parties involved.)
Tom Sietsema: I think the whole thing is pretty darn amusing.
The blogger is a nice young man who just wants to record a meal he's enjoyed. The chef is an exceptional cook known for her (how do I say it?) occasional odd encounters with customers.
Maybe the blogger shouldn't have been so obvious. Maybe the chef should have left him alone. Maybe this is a tempest in a teapot.
Maybe it's time for another question ...
I would have liked to get more reaction from him and the other readers.
Noshing in Nashville
in Southeast: Dining
Posted
My wife is returning today from a conference at the Opryland Resort and I think would echo the comments others have had here.
She did get away for a meal at Radius 10 and the food was excellent.