mnebergall

I would put Oceanaire Seafood Room and Old Ebbit Grill on the list. Oceanaire has fresh oysters at half price at the bar until 6:00 PM every day and I understand that the Old Ebbit has a seafood sampler (Orca?) for half price during happy hour and later at 11:00. The seafood at both places will be very fresh. edited to add: The stocks of fresh seafood in the DC area have been depleted by overfishing and water polution. There are very few if any oysters to be had from the Chesapeake Bay. Ditto on blue crabs. Many of the crabs you get from the crab houses on the bay are "imported" from other states. The major seafood joints in DC such as Oceanaire and Old Ebbitt offer oysters from the Pacific Northwest and the Northeast US and Canadien Maritimes (all very, very fresh). So, if it's "local" seafod that you are looking for, when it comes to shellfish and crustaceans, the pickin's are mighty slim.

Joe H continues to mischaracterize Ray's the Steaks is several respects. I get the impression that he thinks if he says it enough times, it will become true. Ray's the Steaks does NOT have a hard "90-minute" dining limit. One exists only in very limited circumstances, such as when the restaurant is fully booked in the 7:00-8:00 time frames and the diner wants to dine at say 6:00. In order to make sure there is a table for those who were their first (and by that I mean made their reserviations first), he will expect you to vacate the table before the next diners are expected to arrive. You will well notified of this limit and only one person I know of has a problem with it. It is not a difficult limit to meet. And the claim that a party of more than four can't get a table before 8:00 is patently false. With regard to the prices, once again, Joe H mischaracterizes. The prices are Ray's are well below those at the high end steak houses and the quality of the steak equals or exceeds those other establishments. With your steak, you get mashed potatoes and creamed spinich. Accompaniments at the other establishments cost extra. Landrum also has a more reasonably priced wine list than the other establishments. Those that have dined at the other places generaly remark that they had a better meal for what they consider a reasonable price. That is Landrums goal. Michael, don't change a thing.

Try Keith Ryder, he has been known to create "ventworm" cakes on the spur of the moment. http://www.bcakes.com/

The best way to introduce him to the Old Town area would be to get him a gift certificate to Restaurant Eve. Clickety

And I wonder how often they clean, if the job takes two days to do.

??????

I've lived in Alexandria for nearly 20-years and have never stepped foot in the Evening Star. I hear it is infested with democrats.

Although not on the menu, ask if the chef can make his scallops tartare for you. A breath of ocean air.

This decision only applies to shipments of wine into Michigan and New York. I would not read it as having an immediate impact on the laws of any other state. But it eventually will have an impact on those states that have differential treatment of in-state and out-of-state wine shipments when other cases start to bubble up.

There is a Taqueria Poblano on Mt. Vernon Ave. in the Del Ray section of Alexandria. Also, Po Siam on Mt. Vernon in Arlandria.

I believe the tributary on which the Suicide Bridge Restaurant is located is the Choptank River. It is upstream from Cambridge. I don't know if they have live music, but they do have wonderful food. I think it would be real hard to commit suicide by jumping off of the nearby bridge though.

Getting a bit late for tartiflette? Whole Food has good reblochon well-priced. Not a cheese you really need to worry too much about higher levels of quality. ← I ran across the word "reblochon" on here the other day and I immediately associated it with tartiflette and I thought, I have not made one in a while.

I think he is outsourcing the Italian sausages as well. The initial sausages appeared to have been house-made. The current sausages are different.

The crabcakes are not what I would call "maryland style." In my experience, most Maryland style crabcakes are made with backfin crab. The ones at Oceanaire are made with lumb crab and are held together by gravity. I had one on Saturday and I believe it to be the best in town. There is a appetizer portion; the entree is basically a double of the appetizer. A very tastey remoulade sauce as well.

Who in town has reblochon? I want to make a tarteflette (sp) and I pretty sure that I need reblochon for it.

This thred calls to mind the steak tartar deviled eggs that Michael Landrum did for the egullet dinner at Ray's the Steaks (has it been a year?)

Funny, I was thinking about eating the same two sandwhichs today, but as I have two meetings this afternoon, I figured I would spare everybody and just eat the pork shoulder ← I just have a couple of conference calls that I can sleep through.

In order to induce catatonia, I ate both the pork shoulder sandwich and the meatball sub. I should be real productive this afternoon. I need to rest up for my trip to Ray's this evening.

I'm going to take a stab and guess the '86 Tax Act.

Moving further upscale and a little further from Union Station would be the bar at Charlie Palmers.

Clickity Clack

The Dubliner, right near Union Station ought to fill the bill. More upscale would be the bar at Bistro Bis.

That sounds like some tasting plate. How about them innards?! Too bad he did not put some brains on the plate. Kind of makes me wish I stopped by there for dinner last night. ← He probably had some brains back there, I didn't ask. My guess is that the lamb will be around for a couple of weeks.

Expect to see spring lamb as a special in the bistro and on the tasting room menu for the next few weeks. They source whole lambs so you get to experience cuts seldom seen. For instance, last night, the lamb special that was placed in front of me included braised lamb shoulder, two nice rib chops, lamb sweetbreads, lamb kidney and lamb liver. Hurry before the spring lamb season is over.

I was thinking more along the lines of "Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts."