bilrus

One of our favorite light dinners is what we call "Bistro Dinner". French Onion Soup and a salad of some sort. Tonight I made the salad with baby romaine, pear, walnuts and goat cheese and a vinagrette of pear vinegar and grapeseed oil. Tonight's soup wasn't my best effort (no homemade stocks, just storebought broth) but onions bread and cheese are always OK, aren't they?

But, like most things, food is not a black or white issue. I'm much more interested in hearing about individual successes and failures the way Sthitch described the meal than overall praise saying "everyone thought this was great".

I overheard a manager at Dulles a few weeks ago telling a customer that there will be a full service restaurant on the third level of the Fairfax store. No idea on timing.

I read elsewhere that the wine section is more separated than at the Dulles store and even has its own entrance.

I'd order the pasta tasting menu again, but since that isn't an option I'd be sure to try to Mint Love Letters as my pasta course.

I was reading on Chowhound that the Police were turning people away from parking in the garage, but that the inside wasn't nearly as crowded as the Dulles opening a year ago. I'm not sure how it could be more crowded than it was at Dulles.

I have been pretty good lately about watching my rice and pasta (even though I've been slacking in other areas), but I've been craving some pasta and looking to make something other than Cooking Light recipes for a change. So tonight I made Rigatoni with Tuscan-Style Cauliflower from the Babbo Cookbook. This recipe only takes 20 minutes to make and it is very good stuff and different with the mint and cauliflower together. I haven't made a recipe out of this cookbook yet that I didn't like.

One fact about Mayonnaise that I remember from a colleg emarketing class is that brand loyalty for Mayonnaise is higher than for any other consumer product - something like 97 or 98 percent. In other words - if you like one brand you most likely won't be switching any time soon. I'm a Hellman's man myself.

I don't like to talk about my flair.

Chinese Chicken Salad with Red Chile Peanut Dressing , a recipe from everyone's favorite Iron Chef - Bobby Flay. The recipe seems like a mess but it comes together pretty well.

Ducasse's Mix has already opened a branch at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas in the last month or two.

I've been one of the sick people this week and haven't been cooking well or eating well. I tried to get back in the swing of things tonight by trying to make something simple and satisfy my craving for cranking up the grill. So I made chicken kabobs. Of course my grill ran out of gas midway through so I had to finish them inside on the grill pan. I started with a very garlicky marinade and just toasted some store-bought flat breads and threw some onions, lettuce and grape tomatoes on top. I tried to make a low-fat version of the Lebanese restaurant-style garlic sauce. I ended up throwing low-fat mayo with garlic and lemon juice in the food processor. Turned out OK to put some zing in the sandwich, but obviously not like the real thing (all oil and garlic with a dash of lemon).

Hard to believe I'm the first to post on a meal at 21P, but I stopped in tonight to have a solo bite at the bar. The bar was full, so I ended up at a table ahving a full-ledged meal - not that there's anything wrong with that. I ended up ordering a braised appetizer and a braised entree. I guess if they had had a braised dessert I would have been in the mood for that too. Appetizer of beef cheeks with a garlic flan-type thing. I liked the texture of this - not completely melt in your mouth but very tender nonetheless. Entree was a cilantro braised lamb shank served with white bean raviolis. Loved the flavor of the lamb (of course - what lamb is really bad) and the cilantro cream dabbled on top. The ravioli were nice, but a bit of a strange texture - mostly pureed beans with some whole beans mixed in. For dessert I had a bread pudding that was gooey and crusty and sweet. Service was friendly from everybody - including several people who recognized me from frequenting SBC Cafe even though this was my first visit here. I'd always enjoyed SBC and am glad they have a space that matches the cooking and doesn't need to be prefaced with "Despite what it looks like - the food is really good."

It's just interesting to see the variety of ways people cook and eat on a day-to-day basis - even among a self-selected group of people who love food. That's why I'm glad I've started following and posting in this thread after two years on eGullet.

Some of these dishes make my cooking seem very lowbrow and plain.

Although I read that Gov. Rendell's wife who is a trained opera singer will do the honors if the Eagles lose. I'll take a cheesesteak but lobster rolls are pretty tasty too.

I posted this on the Dinner thread but thought I'd add it here too. I know it's not completely authentic Thai, but it is defintely in the family. Tonight I made a recipe that I never really liked but my wife did. It is recipe from Cooking Light - Glass-Noodle Salad with Chicken and Shrimp. In thinking back about the recipe I had the same complaint that I had with so many Americanized Thai type recipes. Too sweet!!! Even from Cooking Light the recipe had 1/2 cup white sugar and 3 tbs brown sugar. I dropped it down to 3 tbs white and 2 tbs brown and added an extra chopped serrano and some red pepper flakes - it made a world of difference. And to touch on the previous discussion - I also took a look at my bottle of Tiparos. It looks like this: Ingredients - Anchovies, Salt and Water.

Tonight I made a recipe that I never really liked but my wife did. It is another Cooking Light recipe - Glass-Noodle Salad with Chicken and Shrimp. In thinking back about the recipe I had the same complaint that I had with so many Americanized Thai type recipes or restaurant dishes. Too sweet!!! Even from Cooking Light the recipe had 1/2 cup white sugar and 3 tbs brown sugar. I dropped it down to 3 tbs white and 2 tbs brown and added an extra chopped serrano and some red pepper flakes - it made a world of difference.

While I recognize most of the Chefs' names on this list - could anyone fill in the restaurants with the corresponding names. Maybe I'm not as big a restaurant geek as I thought I was.

Sounds like this should go right on the eGullet Calendar. I'd be willing to write a dissertation complete with pictures. Not sure it would be furthering the mission though. I do remember a while back there was a fairly interesting thread on strip club food and Sietsema occasionally gets asked for the best place to eat at a strip club.. This could fill a niche.

Dinner tonight: Grilled Flank Steak with Green Onion-Ginger Chimichurri with roasted blue fingerling potatoes.

Worst for me was a LARGE fingernail (toenail?) in the last bite fo a gyro at a now closed Reston restaurant. Needless to say that meal was free.

I made soup over the weekend and pulled it out of the fridge tonight. Or rather I made Wegman's (grocery store chain) Red Lentil Chili. This is one of their regular prepared-foods items, but they had the recipe in their magazine and, of course, I like it even better out of my kitchen. The picture doesn't look too nice - just trust me that it tasted good. Pretty filling too.

I know it happens, but if one bad review causes a restaurant to close, then the restaurant was probably in trouble with or without the review.

Don't the ads say to call your physician immeidately if you experience those symptoms?