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Everything posted by bilrus
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Something that I have found interesting from this meal. When people ask about it and I describe the meal - the dish I invariably bring up is the "Irish Coffee". The reactions I get when I describe it make me feel like I am crazy- Me - "It's served in a champagne flute" Them - "That's cool" Me - "Well, it has a rich mushroom broth" Them - "OK" Me - "and then there is a smooth potato foam on top" Them - "Oh Yeah?" with furrowed eyebrows Me - "And you drink it with a straw" Them - silence with aghast stares Me - "Well, it was really good - beleive me" Them - "I'll take your word for it"
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That's great, but like I said, we're taking this as our chance to celebrate our anniversary without the kids, and wanted to hear what others were doing as inspiration - not get a lecture about how overhyped it is. In all seriousness (and it seems like the DC members are particulalry giddy today) - the biggest advice I would give, given the fact that we are all into food more than noisemakers around here, is to look for places that aren't doing some sort of fixed or limited menu. If you can find a nice place that isn't cranking out simplified versions of their biggest sellers, you'll be much more likely to enjoy it. That said, neither of our most recent New Year's Eve's at restaurants have been too bad. It's not quite the "teeming with people" rip-off if you stick to the Food and stay away from the Party.
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If I remember from an earlier discussion it was "Eat First, then Big Wong"
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That does sound pretty bad, even though it seems like you are trying to look on the bright side of things. "OK" "Passable" "would have been Decent" "Views of Anacostia were scenic"
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Let me take a Stab at answering this (har har har) $100 for the 10" chef is pretty okay. For a Chef's Knife: definitely go for a Forged blade (dropped forged is even better). Other knives like a breadslicer, paring knife or fillet knife you can get away with Stamped. Kai's good line: Shun (they also have a Damascus line) cheap but reasonable: KaiCut Cheapooooooo: Steeler KAI is HUGE! they're like the Seiko of the knife world. One sided edge: need a left handed knife if you're south pawed you can get a keener more acute angle with one sided edge. straighter cuts with one sided edge[?] you can cut thinner slices cuz the other side is perfectly flat advantage of two sided bevel....erm...dunno is there? other than the fact that it's more common. Thanks. That's what I figured. I really liked the handle on the Shun - it is shaped to fit a right hander (like me). There is one of the Hattori ones discussed above on eBay for $150 that looks pretty nice. Does the two sided hold its edge better?
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We went out the last two years - Ten Penh and the Caucus Room, but were planning on staying in this year and making our own nice dinner out of the French Laundry Cookbook. BUt our plans changed and we will now be in St. Louis for New Years and driving back on New Years Day. Hopefully good food and some of my friends from back home will be in the plans.
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I was looking at some of these today (the ones pictured about two thirds of the way up in this thread) - since this thread has made me want to look into the Japanese knives. These are the only Japanese knives I have seen at the general equipment stores I looked at today - Kitchens Etc. and Chesapeake Kinfe and Tool. What are the good ones they make and what are the cheap ones? These were selling for about $100 for the 10 inch chef's. ALso what are the advantages / disadvantages to the one-sided edge vs. the more traditional two sided bevel? And will the Japanese knives work as well (or better) for Chopping as the Western Knives (I currently have Henckels 4 star 10 inch chefs) or are them more suited for slicing?
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If you're anything like me that will make you want to eat too.
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I feel pretty fortunate to have the Washington Post. Their weekly food section is normally pretty good - covering cooking, food issues wine and restaurants. And with a pretty good mix of simple to complex stuff.
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Fun. Vengroff was right about this being a fun place - not at all the stuffy image that some people have of Citronelle. And the staff, especially Mark, were friendly and helpful. The feel of the room - with its bold colors and subdued lighting invites you to descend the staircase into the dining room. We opted for the three course menu (I was going to add the fourth cheese course, but couldn't quite swing it). We were greeted and taken to one of the two front row tables looking into the bustling, but surprisingly spacious kitchen. We were started with a nice glass of champagne to accompany the delicate egg with a tomato water gelee and caviar. I'm not a fan of caviar, so this wasn't up my alley, but the gelee tasted of tomatoes despite its transparence. Our appetizers were the Crab Cromesquis and the scallop tart. The most interesting thing to me was the play of all the textures that was going on throughout the meal and the crab appetizer was where it started. These were breaded fried crab balls served over a remoulade on individual spoons. You are instructed to put it all in your mouth at once and when you bite down you get a blast of liquid crab (or lobster) consommee. Very cool. The scallop dish had a buttery crust and the thinnest slices of scallops. Before our entrees we were served the "Irish Coffee" - another fun dish that involved drinking a decadently rich mushroom broth and potato foam out of a champagne fulte through a straw. The first sip drew an "Oh. My." from my wife. Our entrees were the Lobster with Citronelle Sauce and the Veal Shank Pot au Feu. The Veal was a hearty filling portion of braised meat and root vegetables with the hint of ginger in the broth poured over the top. It was the perfect complement to a cold night. If there was a miss on the evening it would have been the lobster. The meat itself and the sauce were both very good, but I'm not sure they complemented each other as much as I would have hoped. (This may not be the fault of the dish itself - it may be that we were comparing it to two great lobster dishes we have had this year - one at the French Laundry and one at the Inn at Little Washington. Neither places are exactly Denny's). Dessert started with another "egg" - this one a hollowed out shell that looked just like a three minute egg - Merengue white with a passionfruit yolk. This was the dish that my wife lit up and said - "this is Kick Ass" and I agreed. I went back to the breakfast theme with the above pictured Breakfast at Citronelle while my wife had the signature "Adult Kit Kat bar". The textures of the "Breakfast" were again playing tricks. It was hard not to expect the taste of Home Fried Potatoes and Ketchup when eating the sauteed diced apples with raspberry sauce or pok when biting into the puff pastry "bacon". Each bite was a surprise. We still haven't gotten around to eating the plate of goodies brought at the end of the meal (although I did sneak a chocolate covered peeled grape on the way out this morning - don't tell Jen). Of course Mark paired several excellent wines by the glass (that unfortunately I don't remember what they were) that made the meal go down that much better. Looking back I realized that we spent a good deal of the meal laughing because of the fun and whimsy they put into the food. But not whimsy for the sake of being whimsical - it all made sense. This is what we had been expecting from our earlier meal at French Laundry but didn't quite get that night. We got it last night at Citronelle.
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Riiiight.
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How'd the plant do?
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Is that the first three star he has given out in the magazine?
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Didn't everything taste like apples then?
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I think there are some things you can do to things to reduce the fat that doesn't change the nature of what you are eating. It's similar to the posts about Cooking Light on here. The recipies in there that succeed are teh ones that are either A) low fat to begin with or B) use the fats where they are necessary, but in moderation. There was a recipie in CL a while back for Fettucine Alfredo that is a regular at our house. I love Pasta and Cream Sauces, but they might be the single worst thing for your health that you can eat aside from eating cake frosting with a spoon. Their version calls for just a little butter and replaces the heavy cream with half and half. If I got this in a restaurant I wouldn't be happy, but for a weeknight meal at home it works.
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Isn't that BOILING?
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Bilrus, I agree with your country club analogy, but that would leave the problem that most country club food is not really great. In fact, while I was pondering this, I came to the conclusion that Tony Bourdain's description of the Rainbow Room and his employment there would extend nicely to most about any Country Club I have ever spent any time in. The old guys, the reused food on the steam line, losts of "meat slicing stations", etc. Hopefully the food will be better. Does anyone have any idea what kind of food you will get to spill on your ascot and who is preparing it? Yeah, - I was really thinking of the country club in strictly golf terms.
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Don, you sure do eat out aften and at nice places. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I'm envious.
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My wife likes to drink cranberry juice when not drinking. I am a (tap)water man myself.
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At our recent DC area eGullet dinner at 2941 we were served Strawberry Marshmallows - interesting change of pace.
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I guess this isn't much different than a Country Club - and at a much lower price than most country clubs. You pay the extra money for a less crowded course, the posher surroundings and to be a "member" with the preferential treatment that comes along with it. But in a lot of cases the golf courses at Country Clubs are better than their public counterparts. The bottom line for someone who cares about hte food is - is it good? But if that isn't a consideration then it is probably worthwhile.
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Ohhhhh. I thought the Ozark folks just didn't know how to spell "compote." I've always known the "concrete" thing as a Blizzard, having grown up in DQ country. Ted Drewes predates the Blizzard by about 40 years. It's good and decadent.
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I am very spoiled having grown in up in St. Louis where very good Italian-American places are commonplace. I usually just wait until I am back in town to get my fix, but I haven't been home in over a year. I'm sure I am going to be in a carb and tomato sauce induced coma after Christmas.
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I didn't really like the Popocorn myself. It tasted good, but the texture of the coating (more dry and powdery) wasn't what I like in caramel corn. But I do like it when a place gives you the little extra at the end - like the cotton candy at 2941 or the little basket of cookies at the Inn at Little Washington. It makes it feel like a more 'special-event' type of meal.
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I knew I could count on everybody to make me see the error in my thoughts. I guess the bottom line for me is that I need to drink more wines and experiment and learn what I really like. I've heard of worse ideas.