Jump to content

Banco

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,211

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Banco

  1. Banco
    I enjoy small plates on occasion in places that do them well, like some Spanish(-themed) restaurants, and in the right company. But like charcuterie and other traditional European food forms, the concept has been abused in order to stimulate market share among the otherwise clueless great American eating public. Remember the fashion for fondue and smorgasbords in the Seventies? That's how "small plates" will be seen 20-30 years from now. To that extent I absolutely and wholeheartedly agree with this rant.
  2. Banco
    I wanted two cases of this for my party last weekend. I tried to get them through Sonoma's distributor, with no luck (and if they can't get it, well...). It was written up in the Post a few weeks ago, so maybe that explains the shortage. I can recommend an excellent replacement, though: Charmille Pays d'Oc 2012 Domaine de Malavieille. Available at Schneider's for about 12.50/bottle, which is cheaper than the Dragon, if I recall correctly.
  3. Banco
    What Waitman said. Jesus...
  4. Banco
    I guess I really need to get out more. I haven't heard of half of these places.
  5. Banco
    I recently hosted a big party and ordered about 5 pounds of charcuterie from Red Apron in Union Market. I had never tried their products before and had never even looked closely at them, either. I called them up and they sent me a list of their products, and I just ordered from it blind. Everything was excellent. I ordered coppa, lomo, fennel/verbena salami, sopressa, mortadella prato, duck rillettes, wild boar paté and paté de campagne. A good friend who, I think, smears pork fat on his nipples in his private moments said the wild boar paté changed his life. Everything was made to a high standard and it was gratifying to see an American (and local!) producer turn out such beautiful examples of these classic European salumi. Their service was also great. Rachel helped me with the list and got my order all ready at short notice, and everything was sliced thinly and carefully. The resulting charcuterie board that I was able to assemble was a big hit at my party. This experience restored my gratitude for the charcuterie trend, which at restaurants can sometimes get a bit ridiculous.
  6. Banco
    My sentiments exactly. I also prefer either for martinis (when I used to drink them). Did your bartender assume you meant Sapphire when you said Bombay? I hate it when that happens.
  7. Banco
    It seemed to me he was objecting to the gin, not the bubbles, but I do agree with you.
  8. Banco
    Rail or not, Beefeater's is an entirely respectable gin. Certainly not trendy or fashionable, but a fine product nonetheless.
  9. Banco
    Backstage Right at the Kennedy Center Opera House there is a huge poster of BP in Annie Get Your Gun. There are many other posters from many other productions on the walls there, massive things intended for outdoor display, 9 by 5 feet or larger. But I always end up looking at this one because it's right where I often wait for an entrance cue. She's holding her revolvers in the air, which provides a double-phallic counterpoint to her pert, gravity-defying breasts fairly bursting through the plaid gingham that proclaims the false "frontier" innocence of her character. Then I think, "Steve Martin was such a lucky bastard."
  10. Banco
    Myself, who turned 50 yesterday.
  11. Banco
    No mystery here. Banquo is an erstwhile ally of Macbeth, murdered by same. He later appears as a ghost at a feast, making him the ideal dinner companion. I use the Italian spelling because the character is also in Verdi's adaptation of Shakespeare's play, where he has a fine scena right before his murder, a standard audition piece for bass.
  12. Banco
    The rye from German Gourmet in Falls Church is the best I've had in this area. No seeds, but they have it in a wood-oven and brick-oven baked version. Dense, with a lovely crust. Toasted, with butter and fleur de sel, and I'm happy.
  13. Banco
    I have to confess that I am following this with relish.
  14. Banco
    I'm afraid I also must join in this collective "meh." I hadn't been to the higher-end predecessor, but this version struck me as a textbook example of what reverse-snobs think of when they deride "fancy restaurants." Charcuterie, no matter how good, is in the end a simple thing and should be treated as such. Here it is portioned fastidiously and with an almost comical fuss of plates and tableware. It made we want to see the whole charcuterie fad just die right now. My experience with the Tortelli was similar to Sthitch's, though I didn't send mine back. I don't normally pay a great deal of attention to decor in restaurants, but some of the things here are Cracker Barrel weird: sawn-off barrel bottoms mounted on the walls with steel brackets, garden implements seemingly fresh out of Smith and Hawken hanging here and there--an entirely failed attempt at "Italian country." I think perhaps all the way around that Elisir needs to more fully embrace its Osteria identity with more attention to simplicity and authenticity.
  15. Banco
    This is good to hear. I've never been but I have reservations for us and my parents (visiting from Wash. state) next weekend and am really looking forward to it based on what I've read here on DR.
  16. Banco
    Just came across a review of this book in the TLS, which describes it as "both an indictment of and a welcome addition to contemporary gastronomic literature." Poole's book looks like a bracing slap in the face to the food-obsessed, which I know I could use myself now and then. Amazon link here.
  17. Banco
    Last night I had a Halibut special. Delicate and tender, the fish was served over a small bed of onion-spiked spinach with a sunchoke sauce. This was a simple but beautifully prepared dish--a cut above most of the food I have had at Beuchert's, though most of my diet there has been liquid. Brendan proudly showed off the things that are springing to life at the family farm, so the season will bring interesting things.
  18. Banco
    That's strange coming from Beuchert's, though the confusion about white vermouth is understandable.
  19. Banco
    A surprisingly frequent foible: I order a cocktail (e.g., a Manhattan) "straight up" and am given the requisite ingredients at room temperature in an old-fashioned glass. No shaking, no stirring, no use of ice at all. The last time this happened was during a cast party at a hotel bar in Foggy Bottom. Sometimes the "bartender" even gets defensive if I try to explain what "straight up" means. Kids these days.
  20. Banco
    Wait a minute. You mean civilization really is coming to an end? I still cry, hopefully, April Fool.
  21. Banco
    Ah, April Fool...
  22. Banco
    Damn. I won't be able to go because I'm singing in Baltimore (Zuniga in Carmen. Also May 3. Details here for those who might be interested.)
  23. Banco
    Uh-Oh.
  24. Banco
    I'm glad to read this positive review. Not long after their soft opening began I started going to Beuchert's nearly every night for my customary post-performance rye Manhattan wind-down. I can tell you that no matter who happens to be making the drinks there, they are consistently good and well crafted. And because their kitchen stays open until 11 on weeknights, I've also been able to sample some of the food. On the excellent paté see above. The chicken the one time I had it was not successful (under-re-heated and not well roasted to begin with) but it sounds like they have since corrected that. Their salads have been winners: simple but inventive and carefully prepared. The fries are perfect and the charcuterie is some of the best I've had--sliced on a great beast of an antique slicer. The atmosphere is genuinely neighborly and friendly. Brendan, Nathan, chef Markert and their staff are making a great effort here and I hope they get the strong support from the neighborhood (and elsewhere) that they deserve.
  25. Banco
    Nice "First Bite" in today's Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/first-bite-of-bob-kinkeads-ancora/2013/03/18/4a9987d8-8cc8-11e2-b63f-f53fb9f2fcb4_story.html
×
×
  • Create New...