bilrus

Any weekday other than the 13th works for me.

Add me to the chorus. I have had the Santoku and the 4 inch pairing knife for about 9 months and they are my two regular knives. (I still use my Henkels 4 star bread knife and meat slicer). I have been very happy with them - much sharper and more "accurate". I sharpened them last week before the big Thanksgiving push and was reminded how nice they are. And I really like the handle shaape, even though I have really big hands.

I'm not sure anyone here has been doing that. I actually read the review to be OK.

A heads up from today's Ask Tom: Could be busy the following week...

Well, it's more upscale than buffalo wings, but it is pretty casual as well. It's a chain of 50 restaurants that is known for both having excellent prime rib and having super speedy service. Really, really fast service. And my greet doesn't sound quite like that, actually. I'm not allowed to say "and I'll be your server" because that's superfluous, and it really sounds dumb, anyway. I say, "My name is. . ." and then I'm supposed to ask if I can get them a beverage, but I usually offer something to drink. Beverage sounds a little strange to me. And then, this is the worst part. I can't say "Our specials today are. . ." even if the guest asks what the "specials" are. We don't have specials, because, of course, all of our entrees are special. We do, however, have "additions to our menu for the day." And then sometimes people stop me in the middle of it and say they'll just have the grilled chicken salad, because they always have the grilled chicken salad. Yup. It's really hard to be smiley and fun over and over again, all day long. Knowing that Jackal thinks I'm "begging" doesn't make it any better, either. ← It seems like this post could go in the "How you know you're dining in the wrong concept" thread. But Food Tutor seems to be handling it in the right way. I'm not sure Rachel is possible of being that subversive. In yet another movie reference (Office Space) - "I don't really like to talk about my Flair."

Bill: Glad I could help and such a happy coincidence that you already have a bottle on hand! It's tough to make recommendations not knowing if certain products are available in another city, so I try to stick to those things which I'm certain have national distribution before sending someone off on a wild goose chase for a product that is unavailable to them where they live. Cheers and report back with tasting notes!! ← We actually brought that one back with us from the winery tour in Napa. It was one of the samples in their tasting room. I'll be sure to let you know how it worked.

Mondavi Moscato d'Oro or Bonny Doon Vin de Glacier are both fairly readily available and would be delicious with pumpkin pie flavors. A nice Hungarian Tokaji might be nice too. ← Thanks for this post. I only have two bottles of dessert wines at home right now and the Mondavi happens to be one of them. You've given me the perfect excuse to pull it out of its slot.

I've already posted this elsewhere, but I am just cooking for my wife and myself this year, so its going to be be fairly limited: Some sort of Mushroom soup as a starter (I just decided on this about 10 minutes ago) Turkey breast with bread salad based on the Zuni Cafe chicken recipe Cranberry salsa (Don't know where this recipe came from) Pumpkin Ice cream from the Inn at Little Washington cookbook This all looks so easy after making all the traditional side dishes for us and another (half vegetarian) couple last year. I'm excited.

I'll be out of town that day, but I promise not to pout if that's the chosen day.

My wife and I (and Barkley - see avatar) are spending the day at home. No guests, no travelling, no having to make vegetarian side dishes to accomodate anyone else. Were going to sleep late, watch some movies saved up on Tivo. Then for dinner, I'm making a turkey breast with bread salad (a la Zuni Cafe's chicken) along with a small batch of Cranberry Sauce and a Pumpkin Ice Cream from the Inn at Little Washington cookbook. And maybe a few bottles of wine mixed in. Barkley will probably have some turkey too. Edited to add - I think I need to make a soup as a starter. Maybe cream of mushroom.

How about this one to see if anyone can help? My wife and I enjoy dessert wines and would like one to cap off our dinner. For dessert we are having a Pumpkin ice cream. Anyone have any suggestions of what type of dessert wine would go with those traditional Pumpkin pie spices?

It makes me happy to see this thread resurrected. Maybe its the looming holidays that brings it all crashing back to us.

Thanks but that was just me being wacky after not getting home until 1 after Restaurant Eve, which is still technically in Virginia. I think I can make the trek. I can always sleep in the back of my hulking SUV if I need to.

I'd probably be up for going, but that is almost far enough away from Loudoun County that I might need to find lodging.

Count me as a convert. I very much wanted to give Eve a chance and this meal showed what they can do. Highlights for me were the tiny lamb chop, the lobster creme brulee and the flavors of the gnocchi dish (no pictures, but it involved pumpkin and a chestnut cream sauce). The gnocchi wasn't the lightest I've ever had but one half of a miss out of the string of dishes put before us is a pretty damn good average. And the other hightlight for me (no wine expert here) was the chance to sample wines that I never would have (an Australian port-style wine?) unless someone like Todd was putting them in front of me and telling me to drink. Thanks to everyone who put this together.

***Sorry to hear about your disappointments as we go to Las Vegas to eat great food as much as anything else. I think it's a matter of trial and error. I've had some big disappointments....Aureole and Lutece for instance. I go again and again to favorites but that would become boring if I didn't try some of the new places. I do believe Las Vegas has amazing food...it's just finding the restaurants that really knock your socks off. Problem is the search can be painfully expensive if you hit a couple of clunkers: ←

I recieved an email about this on Friday, but by the time I called on Saturday they were booked up. They did say that if people wanted to buy the Bouchon book they could have it autographed.

I just returned from a four day stay and had a few good and a few very good meals. Sunday night we (my wife and I) went to Burger Bar in Mandalay Place. I really liked the concept (pick you meat and your toppings) although It wasn't as easy as you'd think picking out things that all worked together. That said, My wife had the Kobe beef burger with oyster mushrooms and carmelized onions and I had a lamb burger with feta, cucumbers, tomatoes and onions. Both were cooked a perfect (to our taste) medium. The sides of skinny fries and onion rings were hot and crispy as they should be. Monday was Bradley Ogden. I was a little disappointed that the tasting menu was not a more formalized thing - the wiater needs to ask is it is available and then you aren't told in advance what to expect. So we opted for alacarte ordering. I had their signature blue cheese souffles and a pork tasting. The souffles were rich and airy and creamy with a subtle (as opposed to overpowering) blue chese taste. The pork tasting consisted of a pork filled pierogie over a sweet and sour cabbage, a pork stuffed cabbage roll and a large portion of seard pork tenderloin served over brussels sprouts. All very good and a very unusual combination. But this was one of the two or three best pork dishes I have had anywhere. My wife had a salad (it was ok, but a little boring) and a gnocchi dish (I don't remember the other indgredients). These were good, but a little heavier than the best gnocchi I've had. Desserts were standouts. My wife had an over the top dessert with a white truffle panna cotta, a cold chocolate soup and something else, while I had miniature cinammon coffe cakes with cinammon ice cream. This turned out to be a very good meal despite my disappointment about the tasting menu. Tuesday was Lotus of Siam. IN am atmosphere not much different from any other strip-maill Thai place, the food was a step up in terms of quality, although I didn't feel that it was so head and shoulders above some of the better places I have been to warrant consideration as the "Best Thai restaurant in America". That said, the saur sausage appetizer was phenomenal and the price was a welcome change from the strip. Out whole meal was $50 compared with $300 at Bradley Ogden. Wednesday we wen't to Venetian to have a liesurly lunch at Bouchon, but we were disappointed to learn that they are only open for breakfast and dinner during the week. So we went to Pinot Brasserie and had a fine, but not particularly memorable lucnh there. The final dinner was at Jasmine at the Bellagio. Lovely room with a nice view of the fountains. The food was mostly very good and the service was excellent. I ordered an entree that I understood to be a soft noodle dish, but it came out with a crisp tangle of noodles served over the top of a brothy soup. As soon as I mentione dmy surprice to our waiter he offered to have the kitchen make me something different and returned with my dish re-worked into the best lo-mein style dish I have ever had. Desserts were very good - I had four mini-cremes brulle and my wife had something with bananas (which I can't stand, so I had no taste of this one) All in all we ate very well this week but came away a little disappointed. Maybe we picked the wrong places or maybe, like the rest of Las Vegas, the food looks better from a distance and doesn't quite live up to the expectations.

That's a bit of an understatement. Not very breakfasty, but damn tasty.

Fried Oysters, Lamb Minute Steak, Truffled French Fries

Sure - pick on me and my livelihood. My plans involve sitting on my sofa before 9 pm for the first time in about 3 months with my first home-cooked bowl of pasta in almost as long. And some sleep tomorrow (hopefully).

Unless the original was tired and wan (yeah - I like that word too now - thanks a lot Eunny) to begin with.

Yes - Ray's the Steaks deserves more than two stars.

JohnW's picture was followed by Muhammad Ali. Pretty heady company. Although apparently Ali was there for an article "For Whom the Bell Tolls" about Punch Drunk fighters. So I don't know what that says after all.

So how expensive was Bradley Ogden? I have reservations there next week and am curious as to what to expect.