wmsmurray

My wife and I are going to be in town President's weekend and Fork was recommended. Anyone been lately?

Chef Andres, Thank you for your response to this. Hearing this from you, it makes perfect sense. Yet another example of media spin changing the meaning of the story. Keep doing what you're doing - I (and my wife) enjoy your restaurants very much.

OK. I get your point and I agree with it totally. My only objection is when the chef is told what to do by his sponsors and it results in an inferior product. I don't frequent Jose's places enough to be able to judge if this is having an effect yet so this is all hypothetical on my part.

And Shaq makes $15 Million a year and does Icy-Hot commercials. Money is money. ← Not to add fuel to the fire but an athlete endorsement usually does not have an effect on his/her game while a chef endorsement (a la Jose Andres' avocado deal) usually does. ← Shaq gets paid to put balls in the hoop. None of his sponsors are telling him how to play basketball. Andres gets paid to cook dinner. His sponsors are telling him how to do that. That's the difference. ← Exactly

And Shaq makes $15 Million a year and does Icy-Hot commercials. Money is money. ← Not to add fuel to the fire but an athlete endorsement usually does not have an effect on his/her game while a chef endorsement (a la Jose Andres' avocado deal) usually does.

While I stick with my recommendations earlier in the thread, it occurs to me that I haven't mentioned a couple of stores that I enjoy going to in addition. The first is The Curious Grape in Shirlington. Small selection but friendly, knowledgeable staff and most of the selections are not the mass market stuff you see in a lot of places. They seem to put a good deal of thought into their inventory and the prices are good as well. The other store is a store that may be more for wine novices but I still like to check it out. It is a chain called Best Cellars - I usually go to the one in Clarendon but there is one in Dupont as well - friendly staff, usually good knowledge, great prices and definitely interesting selections.

I've found myself at Bell Liquor on M Street and Schneiders most often. I especially like Bell for the friendly people and their selection of wines from the Sierra Foothills and El Dorado County in CA. Schneiders just has an incredible selection and very knowledgable people. Lately I've also been going to Arrowine and really like them as well.

Red Chardonnay? (third bottle down) ← Why?

The parking was a nightmare but the nice thing was they had guys with flags at each row and only let you into rows that had spots and waved you in. Made the situation a little better. I wasn't at the Dulles opening but how crowded it was depended on where you were in the store. The section with meat, seafood, prepared foods, etc. was cheek to cheek. The section with things like table linens, stemware, etc. was empty and other places were in between. Nice to have one of these closer to me though. The only thing that dismayed me was the apparent lack of a wine section. It may just be that I missed it in the crowds but all I saw was a wall about 10 feet long with a few shelves of random wines. Nothing like the Dulles section which I think is pretty good for a grocery store.

I was lucky enough to get called for jury duty for the City of Alexandria yesterday and then get struck from the jury pool. I'm guessing the defense attorney didn't like the fact that I was related to a law enforcement officer. Anyway, with $30 bucks (courtesy of the City of Alexandria) burning a hole in my pocket and it being only noon, I decided that lunch at Eve would be an ideal way to spend the early afternoon. I had been to Eve once before - my wife and I had dinner in the tasting room. Ever since then I had meant to come back and try the bistro. I am glad I did - everything was great. I decided to eat at the bar and there were only two other people there at the time, so it was quiet and the service was perfect. I had the pork belly and what a revelation! I've never had that dish before but reading about it here, I wanted to try it. The skin was perfectly crisped and browned, the meat was juicy, the layer of fat was just the right thickness and the sauce was (for lack of a better word) yummy. I have no idea what was in the sauce but it was such a perfect accompaniment to the pork and the veggies. I had a glass of pinot noir (OK - I had two) that fit perfectly with all the flavors. A great way to spend the afternoon. Thanks again all those at Eve for a wonderful experience.

Thanks for this recipe Samuel. It is perfect - exactly how I like it. I tried making them once before using generic triple sec and the Cointreau makes ALL the difference.

Had lunch there this weekend and was pleasantly surprised. I figured it would be on par with a TGI Fridays or something. The interior was pretty much what I expected - dark wood, paintings of the west, a bison head. I had a bison burger and it was much better than I expected. As was noted above bison is a much leaner meat than beef and is easily overcooked. I asked for medium and it came perfectly pink throughout. The burger didn't crumble on me and was very juicy. They had an OK beer selection, good service and I enjoyed the fries. All in all, someplace I would go back so that I could try other items on the menu.

Jack in the Box Sourdough Burger. I haven't lived in a state with one for almost ten years and still get one everytime I get the chance.

Anyone been to the Bistro lately. Is the menu that is online pretty close to what is currently being offered? What is Thrashers drink du jour?

I just hope that this glut does not produce the French equivalent of Two Buck Chuck. *shudder*