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My family and I ahd lunch there last Thursday prior to a tour of the Capitol. I was certainly impressed for cafeteria food. It is a great concept with excellent execution. I just wish that it was easier to mix and match from the different areas. I had the chicken tamales with peanut sauce, great plantains with cheese and a pickled green mango salad. I could have shot my middle son as he was one of those who went for the chicken fingers and fries! At least the fries had some chili on them!

While the timing of my visit to DC unfortunately did not coincide with the party for DonRocks, I was fortunate enough to get to Corduroy this past Thursday night with my family. In a word our dinner was outstanding. I had the lobster and basil appetizer while one son had the buffalo mozzarella "porcupine, both of which werre fantastic. The only dish of the evening that I was at all disappointed with were the oysters with mignonette my wife had as an appetizer. Mind you, they were still quite good, but they were a small asian variety, difficult to slurp out of the shell and missing the brininess I so love in oysters. Thw mignonette was good, but my preference goes to the natural brine and a little lemon squeeze. This criticism is all about personal preference and should be taken as such. The mains rocked. I had the grouper with lentils and pureed potatoes. My dish was clean by the time I was done with it.. My wife had the scallops, one son the Wagyu and another the lamb steak with the goat cheese ravili. Our five year old had the kids ravioli. All of these dishes were amazing. I normally despise kids menus, but these raviolis were so good i could have eaten them myself and been happy. Our wine was a Chapoutier white hermitage from 1998 - an outstanding wine and outstanding value. Desserts consisted of an apple tart, chocolate "sabayon" pineapple sorbet and chocolate tart, once again all superb. A criticism of the restaurant that I had read was of the decor. While it certainly isn't the incredible decor I have ever encountered in a restaurant, I certainly have no complaints about it. I was quite comfortable and would sooner have this level of food regardless of the decor than a place with an incredible decor and mediocre food.

My family and I had a great meal this past Wednesday evening at Firefly. We had the dumplings, mussels and tuna appetizers -all superb. For mains we had the trout, the lamb sirloin and chicken - all delicious and beautifully presented. Wines consisted of a 1/2 bottle chenin blanc (of course!) and an Aloxe-Corton half-bottle. Unfortunately, I didn't write the names down, but they were both excellent and nicely priced. Shared desserts included the mango sorbet and the Panna Cotta - yum! Very cool restaurant!

Just to throw my $.02 in. My family and I had a great meal thee last night. The food is as superb as most of the posters indicate here. My primary dish was the hangar steak. Yum. The blackened scallops and grilled shrimp fantastic and the key lime pie, the best I've ever had.

I just returned from an incredible trip to DC and had an awesome lunch at Jaleo downtown on Wednesday where I had the pleasure of meeting Chef Andres. I would like to welcome you, Chef Andres, to posting on eGullet. Based on my meal at Jaleo and dessert at Zaytinya, the news you mention here is very exciting indeed! I also agree that I see nothing inherentlywrong with the association with a particular marketing council if it helps defray the bills. If it causes the quality to suffer itwill have been a very bad business decision. If not, then it is not a problem. A side note about athletic endorsements. The wrong products can indeed adversely effect an athlete's play. If the golf clubs or ball aren't the best, the performance may not be either.

It should be thick enough to eat with a spoon without it being "soupy". It should be somewhat gelatinous.

An interesting contrast to the discussion here of The Atelier de Joel Robuchon is presented by Mark Bittman of The New York Times (Registration required). He actually considers it a bargain.

What are you specifically looking for?

Wylie is cooking like Aaron Heilman threw for the Mets tonight - Lights out! The restaurant got some knocks in the press out of the box. I was surprised but was unable to get there at that time. I have been a few times since and the kitchen is rocking!

Some of the clear Arabic contributions to Sicily and the rest of the Mediterranean include citrus, raisins and saffron. I'm not sure which direction cous-cous travelled, although I suspect it is of Arab origen. Wright is undoubtedly correct about the linguistic connections, although those aren't always so clear.

Do either of you speak French? If not maybe this could inject a little more adventurousness into her dining.

I don't begrudge anyone like Robuchon cashing in. I just wish he would do it with quality. The restaurant was on my list for my upcoming Paris trip, but now I think I'll avoid it. We'll see what happens between now and then. I never got to try his cooking in his heyday so this is truly disappointing news.

Here is the link. It looks good.

The history of the region is remarkeable and fascinating. It really is a web of influences on both coasts and in between.

That is disheartening to hear about Robuchon. Any other recent experiences to indicate a trend or was it simply an off day?

That is an interesting book and it has a lot of truth to it. Clearly there was major Arabic influence upon Sicilian cuisine as well as other facets of the culture. The difficulty in untangling the Sicilian web, however, is the fact that due to its location in the Mediterranean Sicily always has been the original melting pot as it has taken up aspects of so many cultures including Greek, Roman,Norman, Spanish and even French. To see Sicilian cuisine as a product of any one of these influences would be too simplistic, although Arabic influence is probably as significant as any.

Smaller livers may not be quite as good as larger livers, but they are better than no livers. If that is what it took to assure good animal husbandry and the continued existance of foie gras as a culinary item, I could live with that.

That may very well be the source of the problem. We didn't reduce the milk or chocolate. Somehow that didn't register from Dorie's post - maybe because the units of measurement for thee milk are different than in the book. I will probably have to try the recipe again with the corrections.

I also loved the old Union Pacific space. the food wasn't too bad there either in Rocco's heyday.

The coolest interior I have seen is Kittichai on Thompson Street in Soho. It is absolutely beautiful. I did not see it in the collection linked to above. I have yet to eat at the restaurant, although I would like to. I hear the food is good.

Cool site.Here is a link that will take you directly to the photos. There really are some amazing restaurant spaces in NYC. Interestingly, most of the restaurants were unknown to me. Some that I am familiar with were made more appealing by the photos.

With a little imagination I could place that at Arzak - well maybe not the ostrich egg!

OK, Now I'm salivating!

Still a bargain. Thanks.

I was at my local grocery store yesterday. They didn't have any "wild" salmon, but did have some labeled as "organic", that was twice the price of the regular farmed stuff. The supermarket had no written information on the fish. When I asked the attendant where the fish was from, he said "Alaska". Figuring that by labeling it "organic" rather than wild, the fish was farmed, I told him that was unlikely. I actually bought some to try since the quality at least looked fresher than the regular stuff. It wasn't bad on the grill.