bilrus

That brings back memories of the earlier, less accepting eGullet days.

Not surprising considering the following quote from jhlurie on another hot thread:

I hope no one said this verbatim. [continuing] There was some of that attitude in the Semi-Homemade thread or the Rick Bayless thread. In most instances I think that if someone sees a trend in food that they think is flat-out wrong (as was happening in that thread), they should be encouraged to say so.

Epicurious is a pretty common site - it is the joint site for Gourmet, Bon Appetit and other Conde Nast publications. I use Epicurious and Food TV. Food TV especially if I have been watching one of the few shows I like (Molto Mario, Good Eats, Boy Meets Grill (I know, I know)) and want to make something they have shown. In a similar vein I also recently went to Rick Bayless' website - fronterakitchens.com - and downloaded several recipes from there. (again - I know, I know - but I have started TIVOing his show on PBS). I have also started using Recipe Gullet more and more. And some restaurants have some nice recipies on their sites as well.

For those of you who don't know you by anything other than your marvelous posts, describe a bit if you don't mind. Now I'm picturing Marge Simpson.

I really like the desserts at Palena (love the caramels on the cookie plate) and the desserts at Zaytinya are unique and very tasty. And I wouldn't imagine any problems in the bar area at either place.

Its kinda near Sterling just off Rt. 28 at Waxpool, north of the Dulles Toll Rd.

Wife and I went for the first time last night, so I can't compare it to its previous state, but I did like the room although it is less fussy than I would have anticipated (this is a good thing in my book). For starters we went with the cream of crab soup and the five onion soup (it was a soup type of night). Both were very, very good, but as I mentioned in the soup thread, not as heary and satisfying as you would want on a night when the soup would probably freeze after about two minutes outside. Our entrees were the stars of the night. Jenrus had the shrimp and grits and I had the Rockfish File sautéed with succotash of butterbeans, lobster, pearl onions, corn, bacon and dumpling squash. The shrimp and grits were one of the best shrimp dishes I have tasted (and all I was allowed was a taste). The rockfish was crisped perfectly and the succotash made up for the heartiness and satisfaction missing in the soups. Although the lobster was a little out of place and didn't add much to the overall dish. The desserts were a disappoinment. I am not a big fan of most pies but, given that, perhaps my two favorite desserts Pecan Pie and Lemon Chess Pie. We ordered one of each to split. They were both overwhelmingly sweet, and we both like fairly sweet desserts. I would have expected a place that serves sophisticated Southern tinged food to have a more nuanced version of these two items. I am normally not someone who pays much attention to service, but last night the service was particularly slow and inattentive. I don't like having someone on top mf me all the time, but when we are obviously ready to order or to get our bill, I expect to have someone within eyeshot to check if we are ready. In sum, the entrees and soups were good enough to make this a nice meal, but I expected more. It was the best meal we have had so far this year, but look at the calendar to see that that is not particularly high praise.

Wegmans Dulles store will be opening on February 29th. (Thanks to Joe H. for posting this on that OTHER site that won't allow mention of our cool site). They are having a drawing for five $5,000 shopping sprees for people who sign up online for their Shopper's Club card (why must every store use these damn things?) Wegmans Dulles Opening

We had the rabbit and lentils for the first time last weekend and you're right about the lentils. So flavorful that they more thanhold their own against the rabbit.

My soups at Vidalia lst night were both quite good, though not in that really satisfying, hearty winter soup way. The cream of crab was rich and flavorful, with just a hint of sherry. The five onion soup was full of the eponymous onions, with small shreds of duck mixed in with the broth. It was a little too sweet though fromteh combination of the duck and the (Vidalia?) onions. Sorry - no musical accompaniments available.

I like a restaurant that will focus on cleanliness.

What about the Ethiopian places? I haven't been but have been wanting to try some.

My wife and I are going to Vidalia this evening and this thread has inspired us to go for: Charleston She Crab Soup cream of blue crab with dry sherry, onion crackers and chives and Five Onion Soup rich duck stock with caramelized onions, duck confit, shiitake mushrooms and spoon bread as our openers followed by some grits and shrimp and pies. And a little wine. And maybe some cheese. I'll be sure to report back.

COuld you please describe the milkshake? It sounds delicious. That dessert is very similar to one I had during the summer with great white cherries in the cobbler. I loved the idea of the two very disparate parts of the dessert. The shake was a creamy, sweet version of the drink, tasting just like you would think, including the taste of the liquor. Very good stuff.

Stop it - now I want soups for dinner.

That first one sounds pretty good. The black beans in the Feijoda are the one thing I remember most about my meal there three months later.

How the heck do you make a vegetarian fajita? If you tell me that they use some kind of funky soy product, I just might hurl. That would be a terrible thing to do to an innocent burrito. It's the veggies from the fajita, if I remember correctly. Onions, Peppers along with the corn salsa, guac, pico, etc.

Well yeah... that'd be too logical.

All Rick Astley all the time.

THis thread spurred me to pick some up on the way home last night. We had a burrito with chicken and three tacos - one steak, one barbacoa and one carnitas. Although in the past I have always gone for the burritos, the amount of rice in the them is overwhelming - whole bites of rice and tortilla. I like the tacos much better. You can taste the meat instead of the meat being nothing more than a seasoning.

Are these people going to the party eGullet types who are into food and spent a lot of time at restaurants in the '80's? If not - they probably aren't likely to "get" some of the references. They might be more likely to "get" the cake with some '80's icon on it or something like that. Of course, since you'd have to eat it too - make it a really good cake. edit - For some reason I have been doing a lot of "air quotes" lately and it looks like it is spilling over into my posts.

How about lines of flavored powdered sugar on a mirror to be inhaled with a rolled up $100 bill?

I'm pretty sure they are right. I've heard a lot of people pronounce it chi-pol-tee (including I think, Emeril) but the spelling is chipotle.

It just seems to me that a lot of what she is doing is as difficult or time consuming as making things from scratch. Wouldn't it be better for those people's first step to be making something simple and good as opposed to something elaborate and half-assed?