mnebergall

I you were below DuPont, it might have been Firefly, right next to the Hotel Madera. On the left as you are headed towards the circle. Since the weather was so nice, I expect they were in full outdoor mode. Pretty good brunch, nice selection of champagne cocktails.

Merkado Menu ← Wow, what a menu. What do you call that kind of cuisine, ConFusion?

What kind of swan are we talking about here: the ones that hang around ponds all the time or the migratory Tundra Swans that only come around in the winter. Tundra Swans have become plentiful enough that a few states, such as Virgina and North Carolina (I believe) have a season on them. You have to draw for a tag and the limit is one per season. I see flocks of them all the time when I'm out goose hunting. My guess is that they would taste pretty good, depending on how you cook them. I'd probably just take the breast meat and roast until medium rare (seeing as how it would all be dark meat).

I thought the "other board" was chowhound and the parallel board was something else. I see nothing on the parallel board on this.

I think this is a close question and there is merit to both sides of the argument. The restaurant review section in the Sunday Washington Post Magazine is valuable real estate and should not be wasted. I don't agree that Baltimore and Washington are now part of a single metropolitan area. Baltimore has its own paper and whether their reporter is up to the task is not relevant. It should not be the job of the Post's reporter to make up for Baltimore's shortcomings. And I don't agree that this issue raises implications regarding the breadth of the Post's reporters experiences. I agree that the reporter, in order to properly judge DC restaurants in context with what is going on in other cities and countries, needs to travel but this has nothing to do with what restaurants he chooses to include in his published reviews (and probably has nothing to do with whether he can deduct the cost of the travel). Personally, I think we have enough restaurants in the DC area proper to occupy all of the available real estate. I think this is the tone of the original post and I don't think that position deserves derision.

4 Seasons?

Jesse: Welcome to eGullet. Your experience with bone marrow sauce just goes to show that there is no accounting for taste. Some would have been attracted to it, others repelled. I imagine that some restaurants get the same reaction from pork belly.

OK. I'll bite. What AnWa?

Does the Herald ever review any restaurants in Del Boca Vista?

Didn't Stardust use to be Marco's Steak House?

Le Bergerie is another one of those "old line" Old Town french restaurants tha tyou just don't hear much about any more. I somehow get the feeling that they are just resting on their laurels. Perhaps that impression is unfair, but it's my impression none the less. There has been sort of a mini-explosion of new places in Old Town in the last few years that seems to have left the old guard in the dust. Perhaps some excavation is in order to see how the old guard is holding up. Edited to add: I would put Landini Bros. in the "old line" category as well. Half its regular bar crowd migrated to Eve when it opened. But I always had good meals at Landini's.

I would look into Restaurant Eve and Vermilion. Also, perhaps the Majestic Cafe. Edited to add: I've always like Le Refuge as well. Chez Andree is not in the Old Town area, it is a bit north, at the northern edge of Del Ray. Chez Andree has been in business for a long time, but I've only been there once, many years ago, and I don't recall what I had. It, Le Gaulois, and Le Refuge have you general run of the mill French fare. The three restuarants I in my 1st paragraph are all what I would characterize as innovative. The chef at Eve is one of the best in town.

Is this where the Calvert Grille used to be located? In the ground level of that high-rise apartment building?

Well, last Monday after work I was having glass of wine at the bar at Firefly when my cell phone rang. It was Tami, one of the bartenders from Eve calling to tell me that they had the fresh sardines on special that evening. I said to Tim: "check please." This is the third time, to my knowledge, that Chef Cathal has had the fresh sardines. If you look up thread, you will find my commets regarding the first time, I apparently was not around for the second coming, but made it for the thirt. Chef Cathal sources his sardines from Portugal and he says that they arrive fresh on Thursdays and that they are at their best when FOB. Getting there for them on Monday after they were fresh on the previous Thursday gave me some pause but I went anyway. I will have to say that I wish I had been there the previous week as the ones I had were a little past their prime, but still good. A buddy of mine was there for them when at their prime and said they were delicious. The next time I hear that there are fresh sardines on offer, I will put out the word so that all can experience them, they are not to be missed. What with the house made aiolo. Alas, I was out out town when they were at there peak of freshness. But the preparation was nevertheless, outstanding. Some sort of batter and then flash fried.

[sound of foot tapping] [still waiting for woodleygrrl and Gastro888 to report back]

Actually, I use the medium/low heat method using butter. I generaly use a strip steak (very thick 2 1/2"), I trim the fat of and cook 5 minutes on eah of the resulting 4 sides and finish in oven until 120 in the center. Rest for 5 minutes under foil and then sliced on the end so that you get this nice squares of meat. No need for ultra high heat. I do use either cast iron or carbon steel.

Keep in mind that on busy nights he runs out of the butcher cuts, so call ahead and reserve your steak if you want a butcher's cut.

Defintely better than the filet. Although my favorite is the flatiron. Texture is more like a filet, but with more flavor. ← Michael will tell you that the only reason he serves filets is becahse he has to. There is too much customer expectation. Bil lis right that either the hanger or the flat irons would be much better than the filet. My favorites are the rib eye (cowboy cut, so big it hangs over the edges of the plate) and the 20 oz. strip. Consider getting either the crumbled bleu cheese or the diablo sauce, both available on the steak or on the side. And do not forget the blackened scallops. They are not to be missed. Go with a half order as an appetizer.

Reminds me of Michael Landrum's Ni-Burger idea where HVAC system is modified to ciruclate the aroma of miniburgers througout the establishment. You don't actually get to eat the miniburgers, you only get get to smell them.

God, it's great to have high friends in low places. Edited to add: What would I look like at 6'3", 210 lbs and a size 42 jacket? (Answer: the pants and the jacket would be the same size). And, group events are organized at another place the name of which is a mouthful to say.

Depends on how you define "dumpy." If 6'3", 210 lbs and a size 46 jacket is dumpy, then yes.

Another good reason for a 90-minute limit on seating.

And I will agree with Nadya with regard to the minestrone soup with fennel and sausage. Possibly one of the best bowls of soup I have ever had. The stock was rich and flavorful, the vegatables a perfect consistency and the sausage an excellent accompaniement. And the potato gnocchi with ragout, excellent as well. The gnocchi arer light and fluffy and melt in your mouth, they need no chewing. The ragout was so good that both laniloa and I used the bread to mop up any that remained in the bowl. And the lime tartlet for desert, tart and creamy in a nice crust with some preserved lime peel on the top. Man, dinner at the bar at Palena doesn't suck.

Harris Teeter has a decent fish counter. Also Canon's in Georgetown.

AND, welcome to eGullet ju12.