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Banco

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  1. Banco
    My second time here, tonight with the kids. The lobster/popcorn soup seems to have transformed into a quite heavy, almost custard-like dish--delicious as everyone has said, but they should watch the consistency and texture, otherwise it will cease to be a soup. My son devoured a dozen of the kushi oysters with ginger-laced granita as I looked on in envy. Like the oysters and the quasi soup, sweet and savory seems to be the MO here. I loved the andouille/lychee salad, which was a witty improv on: sweet and savory. The pickle-brined chicken was a hit around the table. Who can resist perfectly cooked, deep-fried nuggets of (sweet and savory) chicken with that delectable, crunchy skin? I love the food here but wonder about its legs. I hope Rose's doesn't skirt too far toward the edge of elevated (and pricey) take-out. The kitchen has the skill for more subtlety and they should use it.
  2. Banco
    You just defended it, with your second clause. I happen to agree.
  3. Banco
    I lived on 13th and N in 1988-90. The boarded-up houses on Logan Circle looked like sets for the Addams Family, and Marion provided entertainment on the TV, although I could have seen the bitch-set-up live if I had just walked down the street a couple blocks and booked a room. I should have sluished my grad school scholarship toward real estate on the Circle and Vermont Ave. But at the time, I could not have done that without feeling like a pimp.
  4. Banco
    It's true, and supremely ironic, that this "corpse of cheese" (I forget the reference) was invented by a son of one of the great cheese cultures (sorry), Switzerland. His name was Walter Gerber. In Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe it is still often referred to as Gerberkäse. http://emmi-gerber.ch/index.php?id=1392
  5. Banco
    Rinse your mouth out, eat some Roquefort and Sauternes, and don't ever bring this up again.
  6. Banco
    I could get into this. Classical voice and cabinet-making. Sorry if I sound like I'm a hippie. Dude.
  7. Banco
    This story reminds me of when I was looking for Myer's Dark Brown rum and someone there steered me to Captain Morgan Spiced Rum as the better option--an entirely different and nauseating product that I had not even heard of (I'm obviously not a big rum drinker). Usually I buy wine there and in that area I think their service is first rate.
  8. Banco
    Eatruneat, thanks to you, I am now squirming in my seat while looking at the food porn on Jin River's website. I also need to get out of the District far more often to take advantage of the great ethnic (esp. Chinese) food outside the city.
  9. Banco
    We went on a Saturday (the 26th) and arrived a few minutes before opening at 5:30 to find a line of about a dozen people. That was not enough to fill the place, but it did seem to fill up within the hour.
  10. Banco
    I'm glad others have chimed in here with their experiences after my abortive post. Their comments are very much what I would also have written. It's only very rarely that my wife and I continue to think about and discuss a dinner we had three days ago, but Rose's is one of those rare occasions. Easily the best meal out--in all respects, from food to service to atmosphere--that we have had anywhere in a long time, including the Ashby Inn (which might be surprising) and Montmartre (which is less so).
  11. Banco
    I ate here for the first time tonight and loved it. I was preparing a detailed review but then accidentally deleted my comments in this rather unforgiving interface after a few paragraphs. Perhaps that is for the best. Go. Go and eat there. Get in line early. It is excellent.
  12. Banco
    We've taken the tour there twice, most recently just a week-and-a-half ago. I think they produce a unique and very high-quality whisky. (They export a good deal of it to Scotland, so that must count for something.) The smoking with fruitwood, plus the aging with same, gives the spirit a vinous, almost cognac-like character. All this fruitwood might sound overpowering, but I found the effect quite subtle. The rye in particular makes a beautiful Manhattan, with those fruit overtones, but all their whiskys are good sipping spirits. I'm not a fan of their gin, though I've only smelled it on the tour, whereas I've actually bought and tasted the other stuff. They like to experiment. When we were there last they were playing around with aging in Port barrels. This is one of those small, local producers we all like to rave about that really turn out something very good and interesting.
  13. Banco
    I'm sorry to hear this. I haven't been since last spring, so can't confirm or deny, but based on my positive experiences there, I was hoping this space had made a real turnaround thanks to Kinkead's helmsmanship. I hope this is not one of those "cursed" spaces in Washington, immune to any sort of talent or improvement, though I know that must sound superstitious.
  14. Banco
    Just tried the one at Brasserie Beck during lunch today. It's very lightly dressed with a mayonnaise, but has good acidity, somehat like Bistro Bis' version in that respect. Many of the condiments that are usually incorprated in the tartare are served in little mounds on the plate: diced cornichons, diced shallots, chopped egg yolk and egg white, etc. It comes with delicious gaufrette potatoes. Overall an excellent version that I would put up there with those of Bis and Bearnaise. (The endive salad I had as a starter was also excellent.)
  15. Banco
    What's to prevent an insider from denying this practice or confirming your view that it's rare? I'm more skeptical about this than you are, admittedly based on perceptions and not facts, hence my query.
  16. Banco
    A question for people in the restaurant biz; it will seem either cynical or naive: Do you delay firing food orders to make customers order more drinks? For example, I usually eat alone at the bar. I order a cocktail, then straightaway or shortly thereafter my food. I finish my drink, then after a time realize the food is delayed. Am I being kept waiting in the hope that the lull will make me order another drink? I don't yet look like a complete lush so most places would have no idea that this strategy would usually work with me, but I'd appreciate your insight nonetheless. As Algernon would say, I ask merely for information.
  17. Banco
    I picked mine up last week after also seeing Zora's post. So far I've done brisket and chicken legs. This was one of those "you can't afford not to buy it" sales. C&B even ran out of them briefly.
  18. Banco
    Pat, thanks for the link, which confirms much of what I was thinking during this banal/earth-shattering quest. In the end I managed to get a hunk of what I needed from a friend.. And who doesn't want that on occasion? At any rate, the dinner for a dozen tonight turned out great. I followed Madeleine Kamman's recipe for coq au vin. It prescribes "pork brisket" for the lardons. And it's "soigné" so I've been dreaming of pigs and chickens all day. We served a beautiful 2003 Chateau d'Arche just when people were making the usual noises to leave. That kept them.
  19. Banco
    Right, but the American butchering and curing practices in this particular area are so different from those in Europe that I find it difficult to find the right product. I am eager to be convinced otherwise.
  20. Banco
    Chaofun: Thanks for your post. I'm just trying to get a cut a of pork that can produce lardons somewhat like the picture (i.e., more lean than fat) not make it myself. It probably is the leg and in Europe is usually sold as such, though I'd really like to hear from a butcher about this. What's become clear, if anything, in this thread, is that "lardon" means many things to many people depending on their experience and how they have used them in their cooking. My experience with lardons in Italy, France and Germany is that they can withstand a long braise and still retain their character--in a well-made coq au vin you can still pick out a piece and say, "here is a lardon." They retain the geometry of the bladework used to produce them and are nice to eat. They play a similar role in salads and tarte flambées. In a braised application like a coq au vin a too-fatty lardon will simply render and you'll end up with bacon bits and a lot of fat you'll have to skim from your sauce later. Of course, some may prefer that, as well as the taste of smoke, but that's not how I read the classical technique, which is what I'm trying to follow.
  21. Banco
    Thanks, Zora. That's a fun little mini-doc.
  22. Banco
    Alright, here's what I mean. If this is pork belly, so be it, but I've never seen it that lean in the US: ETA: I'm thinking this comes from the leg rather than from the belly (Schinkenspeck in German). Usually it's turned into ham or prosciutto, but fresh, or lightly cured with salt, this might be it.
  23. Banco
    Mark, thanks. Pancetta is too fatty and is cured with spices. If I can find pork belly that's lean enough, that certainly seems the way to go. But the lardons I've had in Europe have always seemed to me to come from a different cut. Any butchers here who can clear up the confusion I seem to have caused?
  24. Banco
    Thanks! I will check this out on Saturday. I've never been to that market.
  25. Banco
    No, fatback is pure fat (also very hard to find fresh and not cured with salt), though technically you can make lardons from it as well. It's true in Europe what I'm looking for is very easy to find. You can get lardons (meaty ones) in practically any good supermarket, already cut and packaged. I might have to go with chaofun's suggestion and live with the smoke (as I've done before), though it's not really classical for a coq au vin.
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