bubbaque

Greetings all, The girlfriend (foodbunny when she gets approved to post) and I visited Cafe Ole, a casual favorite for some time, last night and found many of the mezzes seemed to be totally different recipes. About the only thing familiar was the bread basket. The lamb tangine, chicken shwarma, baddaganoush (?), calamari and Spanish Gold just weren't the same. Not bad per se (although the lack of merguez in the Spanish Gold rankled), but not what we were expecting. Have they acquired a new chef or ownership since our last visit in the Spring? Cheers, bubbaque

Sthitch and oliveDC: For my future reference, I read quite a bit about Calabash style dining while I was down there. Would it be worth a road-trip down the coast? Or will I find just as good in Carolina Beach, Holden and Topsail?

[Wrightsville Beach] I have recently returned from a week-long vacation in WB and, as a public service to others who may follow ,shall offer the following observations. First of all, we shared a beach house with three other couples so we prepared communal dinners four of the nights while we were there. As for restuarants, we had several trips out to eat. Sweet and Savoury is an excellent choice for breakfast (and from the quality of the ingredients, for lunch and dinner as well I would wager) and close to the beach to boot. I kinda regret only visiting it once. Hotdogs seem to be the ubiqiutouis lunch food. Several places, including the pick of the litter, the Trolley Stop (?), will actually deliver to you on the beach! The Palm Room (actually a divey beach pub on Salisbury Street) seems to hold universal acclaim from the locals for the best dogs in town. However on three trips to it, the "hotdog dude" never seemed to be available to man the grill. And the bartenders had no interest in filling in (however, if you just need to get out of the sun for a little bit, the Palm does offer free pool, foosball, darts and cheap beers until six). We visited three restaurants for supper (dinner if you prefer) and had a couple of good experiences and one disappointing: Jackson's Big Oak BBQ - seven miles from the beach on S. Kerr in Wilmington. Although I prefer my ribs with a KC or Memphis dry-rub, these unseasoned ribs were meaty and fall-off-the-bone tender, even if not as smokey as I expected. With a little bit of the good home-made vinegar sauce or hot sauces on the table it was quite good. The chicken was quite good as well. Excellent sides- especially the hush puppies and cornsticks. But the star was the pulled pork - one of the top five I've ever had. I took a side-trip on the way out of town and bought a pound to go. My only qualm with the place was the lack of a wood-pile out back (admittedly there was a huge locked shed right next to the back door, so who knows). The Fish House - right in Wrightsville on the Intracoastal with trawlers all around it. Sounds promising right? Fuggetaboutit! I'd rather have gone to a Shoney's. Only redeeming factor was a helpful and...well...cute...waitstaff. 22 North - on Lumina in Wrightsville Beach and finalist for 2005 Restaurant of the Year in Wilmingtonian(?) magazine. Superlatives fail me! One of the best seafood restaurants I've EVER been to. Since they buy their seafood from Motts Channel Seafood each morning the menu specials change with whatever Mott's trawlers brought in. Everyone at our table, with the exception of your's truly ordered the flounder and grouper entrees of the night and both dishes might well have been the best fish I've ever tasted. Although a rather odd combination, our waitress suggested people try the mashed potatoes with their entree. Excellent call! Buttery, just slightly garlicy and a hint of pepper as well. I would have ate a plate of that alone. I bucked the trend and had the shrimp scampi, mainly because I wanted to taste local as opposed to farm raised shrimp for once. Generous mound of shrimp serverd up on a fettucine which proved an excellent mop for the sauce (which might have been better served with a tad more garlic, but that would be a petty quip). Appetizers: and excellent crab and spinach dip and chicken wings which included a good traditional buffalo style sauce and a honey/ginger sauce that garnered 22 North the "Best Wings in Town" award from the local version of Washingtonian magazine. As an aside I should note the drinks. Most of our table ordered martini's. Each person got a glass and a shaker which held three glasses worth of martini! Price? $6.50! Heck, my gin & tonics were just $2.50. One further note on 22 North - it has a huge bar in the back (bigger than the restaurant in the front in fact) and after 10 p.m. they start clearing tables out of the front. Come midnight it is apparently the "in" scene on the island. Although we weren't in anyway rushed, by the time we left at 10:30 p.m. the transition was becoming very obvious. So, if you're ever there get seated by 9 p.m. Although I've never been to WB, NC before, I've already resolved to go again next year just to justify visiting 22 North again. However, food shopping in Wrightsville was a trial. Robert's Grocery Store (in business since 1919!) is the only grocery on the island and has a limited selection of fresh meats, but a serviceable selection of fresh vegetables. A similarly decent wine and beer selection as well. Fortunately, probably just about a mile over the Intracoastal Waterway (maybe three miles from the beach) is a Harris-Teeter that offers everything you need. Not walkable like Robert's, and kinda hidden off of U.S 74, but close enough. Mott's is very close by as well. I endeared myself to the housemates by firing up the house Weber and bbqing a boston butt (regular price just $1.89 a lb!!!) overnight and during the one day it rained and there was little else to do except play UNO and Scrabble anyway. It wasn't too bad, but not as good as Jackson's either - I couldn't find any oak or hickory. And a whole grouper (en papillote) and shrimp (skewered) fresh from Mott's on another evening.

Dinner on Tuesday night? Chili Shrimp over jasmine rice with a salad on the side. The recipe is from my favorite Chinese cookbook, "Chinese: The essence of Asian Cooking", by Linda Doeser(?) The only setback was the use of a couple of Fresno Chiles for the "fresh red chili" it called for - I probably should have used some of my dryed Thai chiles because the heat just wasn't there. It required some garlic-chili sauce to make up the deficiet. Not the most colorful of dishes, but with a glass of pinot grigio an excellent repast all the same.

...well, I'm just a newbie here, but if I can talk the girlfriend into it, I can make a couple or three racks of dry-rubbed ribs. And I'll whip up a chipotle bbq sauce, but only to serve on the side. They take about six hours to make. Would I make 'em at home and bring them or do it onsite? And no, I will never tell you the ingredients of my dry-rub.

...well, it turns out my query was much to do about nothing. Although cayennes have a considerably higher scoville rating than serranos, I was able to use an entire cayenne (probably 9 inches in lenght and as big around as my index finger) in the gazpacho last night with little more discernible effect than if I'd used two or three serranos. But, served with a baguette it made for tasty and colorful gazpacho. I just wish it had taken 35 minutes of prep time as the recipe suggested, rather than an hour. Lots of chopping! I am having some for lunch as we speak and there is considerably more heat on the tongue now than there was last night. The rest are of the cayennes are now in vinegar and refridgerated as suggested above.

...well, I wouldn't say it is my favorite spot because it's so damnably pricey (a deep sea bass(?) last night @ $20.99 a lb.), but the seafood counter at the front of Black Salt rocks. I've only purchased from it a handful of times, but it has proved first rate each time. Truth be told though, I usually just buy my tilapia or scallops at the Safeway a couple of doors down. Although afterwards, as I did last night, I walk over to BS just to gaze on the selection for a few moments. The meat counter at Wagshal's has the same effect on me.

...interesting subject. But, I'll bite: 1.) Dan's in Adams-Morgan - not really a favorite, but a helluva dive. 2.) VFW post on Capitol Hill (3rd and C or D, SE, right across from Folger Park) - a total dive I frequented while I lived on The Hill - every third beer seemed to be free. 3.) The Capitol Lounge - a quasi-dive - good bartenders, good conversations, and always a bevy of people watching to be had.

...I'm more of a dry rub man myself, but this might make a good substitution in the orange-chipotle wet rub I whip up for pork loins. Thats it: some will go into vinegar, some into a wet rub to take to the beach, one into a bottle of vodka (ahem, for the beach), and one (or maybe less) into tonight's gazpacho. I love this decision by committee process!

"100 differnet types" of peppers!!! Without disclosing my motivations, what the heck is his address? If these cayennes prove too hot for the gazpacho, I think I'll try the vinegar solution you suggested (pickling I guess). Though I must admit the pepper vodka idea is currently gaining some currency with me. It would be a excellent accompaniment on the beach.

'Tis a wry wit you display, shogun! And excellent suggestions as well. I'm sure my next salsa mexicana or pot of November carne chili colorado would be blazingly fiery with the substitution of these cayennes for serranos or chipotles (although what would provide the green for the salsa mexicana?). However time is of the essence. I either use them in the next 48 hours, or I'll have to freeze them (bad) or throw them away (abominable). Because not only are they hotter chiles, they're actually a heck of a lot larger. I guess I could always cut one into a half dozen sections and add to the food processor w/tomatoes until the gazpacho gets the heat I'm looking for.

Greetings all, I am in a bit of a pickle here. I bought some fresh cayenne peppers at a farmer's market last week-end. Mainly because I've never seen them fresh. I need to use them in the next couple of evenings before I go to the beach for a week, but I can't seem to find a recipe calling for fresh cayennes (they all seem to call for powdered cayenne). Although I've never used them before, I do know they are alot hotter than jalapenos or even serranos. Which begs the following question: Does anyone here know of a recipe requiring fresh cayennes? Failing any other option I'll make gazpacho tonight (four servings worth). If anyone has experience with fresh cayennes, would one or two of them overwhelm the recipe? Cheers, bubbaque

...three cups of joe, a multivitamin, and a fistful of Metrobus fare.

Well, sheepishly enough I didn't make it, but my girlfriend made an excellent and refreshing panzanella last night. Very simple to make as well. Pan-frying the baguette might have been the most complicated step for her. It was on par with the fresh sweet corn and tomato, basil, and mozzarella salad she made on Sunday evening. We went on a Southern Maryland roadtrip on Sunday to try out a bbq shack (quite literally a shack) and stopped at a farmer's market around Hughsville on the way back. We picked up a couple of grocery bags, a weeks worth I'm sure, full of tomatoes, sweet corn, cukes, zukes, various onions and whatnot for less than $8! Now we have to use them all before they expire on us. Which reminds me, it's now my turn to man the kitchen. Does anyone know here of a good recipe requiring fresh cayenne peppers? I picked them up at the farmers market, more as a novelty than anything else, but so far have failed to find a suitable recipe requiring them in the books at home or on epicurious.com. And if you like chiles (as I do) that farmer's market had a surprisingly nice selection, ranging in Scovilles from cubanelles to Jamaican Hots.