mnebergall

The chicken soup at Oyamel is sure to warm the tummy on a damp, chilly fall evening. Shreds of chicken in broth with a hit of lime flavor and plenty of chunky vegatables.

Eau de Vie, loosely translated, means "water of life." Aquavit I believe has the same meaning. I equate the terms with fiery, high alcohol drinks, not sweet liquours.

I forgot to add: And oh yeah, I had dinner at the bar as well (somewhat difficult as the place was packed and I had to fight for a bar stool). I ordered the bacon, egg and cheese salad, which I will continue to do so long as it is on the menu (unless some special appetizer seduces me away). I love the way the yolk of the poached egg adds to the flavor of the dressing once you piece it and it runs all over the rest of the salad. I also ordered the duck leg confit off of the bistro menu. But before the duck came, Chef Cathal Armstrong honored us with a taste of his special "wild scottish partridge." These clearly were wild birds because I had to pick a round or two of bird-shot out. These are tiny birds, on the order of a mourning dove. It comes plated with a piece of breast meat on one side sitting atop a smidgen of something with the consistency of a sabayon (Chef told me what it was, but today is Sunday and I had it on Friday, and now I can't remember what it was, suffice to say it was good and complimented the partridge breast)(now I remember, it was pureed turnips). On the other side of the plate was the leg-thigh portion that had been roasted with a jus along the side. I had to look around to make sure no one was watching when I picked the bone and started knawing (I did not want to let any of this go to waste). The partridge was fabulous and leads one to wonder just how it is that Chef Armstrong can source "wild scottish partiridge" in Alexandria, VA. On to the duck leg confit. I won't mince words. The crispy skin with the succulent dark meat underneath is out of this world. It comes on a bed of lentils. This is clearly a keeper on the fall menu. You will go home feeling warm and satisfied after partaking of the duck let confit. Definitly comfort food. Suffice to say that Chef Armstrong is not resting on his laurels. The man continues to innovate and bring to the Old Town palate (and that of the DC area in general) new and unexpected gifts.

Well, I had the pear/fois gras cocktail Friday evening. Stretch's characterization of the method of its creation is not far off the mark. It clearly is a labor intensive drink, what with all the squirt bottles of essence of newt's eye and and fermented bat lice and eye dropper full of ogre snot that they used to make this thing. The drink arrives in what a would call a downsized pilsner glass with a communion wafer lid. The wafer has a disk of fois gras on its top. You hold the fois gras-topped wafer in one hand and the drink in the other (definitely you should order this drink early in the evening before the hand-eye coordination begins to fade). You take a bite of the wafer/fois gras and chase it with the drink, which is this pear flavored concoction that only God and Todd know how to make. The fruitiness of the pear drink perfectly compliments the wafer/fois gras bite. Who else but Todd could think up such a thing. You better get there soon to try this as it will go away as soon as fresh pears are no longer available.

A feature of Charlie Palmers you should be aware of. They do not charge corkage if you bring in a bottle of wine that is made in the US. The trick is to head over to Schneiders before dinner and get a nice bottle of Napa Valley Cab and bring it to the restaurant. edited to add: The Caucus Room is another place you should consider. PS: What's the difference between a caucus and a cactus? Answer, on a cactus, the pricks are on the outside. (Paraphrasing "A Man In Full" by Thomas Wolfe).

Damn, I went into Eve yesterday evening expecting to have one of their fois gras drinks and they tell me that they are so popular that they ran out of the ingredients. They expect to be back up and running with them this evening. I guess I will just have to go back.

I did a comparison and contrast review of Ray's the Steaks and Charlie Palmers. It's under the Ray's the Steaks thread. Here about a third of the way down the page.

You should PM Todd Thrasher at Restaurant Eve (DC DelMarVa forum) and ask him how they do it. They serve a lobster creme broulee from time to time. I've had it and it is very good.

No matter who loses, there's sure to be lawsuits. PS: I like that "thicker than a Ray's ribeye" line.

Lizzie: Welcome to eGullet. Glad to have you aboard. Please post early and often.

Good God, where to start; I guess at the beginning. Started out in the bar with a few other eGulleteers. Stretch and Chef Shogun, naturally, had on "corduroy" trousers. I had a nice glass of Olivier LaFlaive Burgundy. Before I could finish, we threw a bunch of cash on the table and retired to the dining room. We all sat down only to have to get up and "mingle" while the staff passed glasses of Champagne and platters of (1) goat cheese in a fried potato "spaghetti" nest, (2) duck egg rolls with a dipping sauce, and (3) little crostini with chunks of lobster on them. The appetizers were all excellent and right now, I can't say one was my favorite over another. Once the Champagne ran out we took that as the signal to sit back down. When we did, a nice glass of white burgundy appeared as did the first course of scallop with chanterelle and chardonnay sauce. Very nice, but only a warm up for the next course: The scallop tartar. To my mind, this was the star dish of the evening. I am sometimes amazed at the transportational effects some foods occasionally can have on me. The scallop tartar had such an effect. At the first bite, in my mind's eye, I was "beamed" to the rocky shore of a Penobscot Bay island with the salt air and fog blowing in my face. I can still taste the oceany flavor of the tartar this morning as I write this. The only other dish to have this effect on me was the diver scallop I had at Restaurant Eve a month or so ago. Tuna tartar you see from time to time; I have never encountered scallop tartar before and I hope to have it again the next time I dine at Corduroy. My guess is that you have to have incredibly fresh scallops in order to pull this off. Next came the peppered rare tuna. The tuna was seared over high heat which left a nice crust on the outside and very rare in the middle. I think mktye got some good pictures of this which I'm sure she will be posting soon. The polating was spectacular with the redness of the tuna showing atop the rice and hijiki. A very complex mixture of textures and flavors. There was not a bit left on anyone's plate. Tweaked said it was the best tuna he had ever had. The Oregon pinot noir was an excellent wine paring with the tuna. When the confit of range chicken came, I began to sense I was in for trouble. I should not have had that second sandwich from Galileo in the afternoon. After the tuna I was beginning to get a little full. I sort of viewed the chicken as stop along the road to what I was really anticipating, which was the pork and beans. The confit of chicken was very good but what I really liked was the Rasteau, which I thought was the best wine of the evening. There were six people at my table and the next course was split up. Three people got the pork and beans and three people got the Wagyu beef. I considered myself lucky as I got the pork and beans. After the scallop tartar, I thought this was the best dish of the evening. The pork belly had been brined and braised and had a nice "glaze" on top. It sat atop a mound of some kind of white beans with a nice gravy. I saw Stretch moping up the gravy with a piece of bread. He was not about to let a bit of go to waste. I also shared a bit of my pork and beans with cjsadler in exchange for a bite of his Wagyu; one of the most tender pieces of non-tenderloin beef I have ever had. The reduction sauce was wonderful. The Cabernet that was paired with the last course was excellent. Then came the three chocolate deserts. I think my favorite was the one with the banana in it. The Spanish wine was port-like in its density and went well with all the chocolate. To sum up: This was one incredible dinner. The quality of the ingredients, the preparations and the plating are on a par with Restaurant Eve, in my opinion. Chef Power is one of the most talented chefs in town and I thank him for the tremendous effort he and his very capable put into the event last night. Also thanks to Mike for organizing and to DonRocks for the calvados.

Perhaps people generally eschew restaurants in chain hotels. Also, there are so many good places to eat, the Sofitel is not something that would come to mond. I think Rocks tried to suggest hitting their bar after work one time and I don't think he got any takers. Corduroy perhaps has a similar problem.

That's the dragon fruit that we had at Oyamel last week. They are unbeliebably tasty.

OK, now that lunch time at Galelio is over, who wants to meet at Firefly for a pre-Cordury warm-up glass of wine?

OK Rocks: Roberto Donna is doing his grill thing again today and I plan on going early, to beat the rush. I'll try to be there by noon. any body else? If so, I will try to save a couple of seats.

I'm there, assuming it is not raining. edited to add: And gettiing there early is key. The seating on the terrace is limited and the place fills up.

At least on weekends during soccer season, there are three taco trucks that park at the soccer field on Alabama Drive in Herndon (a few blocks north of Elden St). I was there for a soccer game on Sunday and bought one of my kids a taco from one of the trucks. He said it was the best taco he ever had. $2 per. They also have pupusas (what is a pupusa, anyway, the kids want to know) and carne asada. We bought some more tacos after the game. What are some other regular taco truck locations? Is the quality of the tacos pretty consistent from one truck to another?

I suggest a pre-event warm-up at Firefly. Also, I seem to recall mdt making some comment about validated parking at Corduroy.

Ray's will give a little dish of the diablo sauce on the side.

I have found a regular location where three taco trucks pull in on weekend in Hernson, VA. There is a soccer field on Alabama Dr. in Herndon, right off of Elden street (North). One of my kids played soccer there yesterday and the three trucks were there. My other son (13) , who was not playing soccer, wanted to try a taco. He said it was the best taco he ever had. $2 each and they give you two tortillas, the stuff falls out of the first taco onto the second tortilla, making a second taco. We had to get some more when the game was over.

What is liquor 43?

Damn, the sausage sandwich was good. No fishy flavor on mine. Very lean Italian pork sausage with the same dressing as on the pulled pork shoulder.

What a gorgeous afternoon to sit on the patio at Galileo and munch on a pork shoulder sandwich. I had mine all the way wet, with lettuce, tomato, peppers and sauce. I had grease/sauce/juice all over my hands and running down my chin. Thankfully, napkins consisted of paper towels from the roll by the grill. Donna seemed to be pulling out all the stops today. He had a big pan of pizza, a pot of some kind of soup, ribs and the chicken wings which he served with a piece of the foccia bread. When we left, the line was around the corner. I tried to steal Nadya's second cannolli but I couldn't get her to look the other way. I have a sausage sandwich sitting on my desk for possible consumption during my afternoon conference call. What a pleasant way to spend a lunch hour.

And, there is a Metro stop roughy a block away (I say roughly because it is a somewhat long block).

$20 million for a 45.4% stake values the business at about $44 million. They have only 5 restaurants and plan to add 4 more. That's almost $5 million per restaurant. Edited to add: They seem to be pretty smart with how they replicate their restaurants from city to city. I know that when they opened up their Indianapolis location, Jason, the former manager of the DC location moved to Indianapolis to open it up and manage it. The DC location is generally packed on any given evening. Further edited to correct the third-grade arthmetic.