MC Horoscope

I see furniture in the new place, at 8407 Ramsey. Looks like it is coming along. Any idea when it will open?

Thoroughly enjoyed our first meal there last night! We had the truffle frites, which were wonderfully crispy and salty; the Tête de Veaux terrine, which was small for the price but so full of flavor (I could order two of these); the beef bourguignon with roasted vegetables; and the sea scallops with the cremini and crispy pig's tail. Our server was very friendly. Too bad we were seated in the room off to the left when you enter. We didn't get to see much of the place, but it's a nice room if you want some quiet. Now that we've tried it, it will definitely be on our list to return. Can't see why it didn't rank higher in the Washingtonian. Our experience was outstanding! We are interested in trying the courtyard and maybe the stroll to the market. By the way, the thread title might say Verizon Center.

I am eager to get started! Apparently the rabbits are too! I see them all over the place. Look out at the nurseries this weekend and next. They may be busy. Last weekend I heard the sounds of chain saws all around the neighborhood. This coming weekend it will be tillers!

Comet Ping Pong (with tomato sauce) 2 Amys (ask for well done if you don't like a liquidy pizza) Mia's in Bethesda (a bit bland, so load up on a lot of toppings) Tommy Marcos' Ledo Restaurant in Adelphi, MD (favorite thick pepperoni slices in the area) Vicino in Silver Spring (white pizza with cheese, from the old AV Ristorante's recipe) Want to try Vace. Is it good in Bethesda?

Balducci's has La Valle brand in a can smaller than 28 oz. 14 oz. IIRC.

Twist and Shout in Bethesda then Tornado Alley in Wheaton. Great music venues! They let me MC the Cajun bands there in Louisiana French, which the bands enjoyed. Eventually the zydeco and Cajun dance crowd became the non-drinking crowd, and it was more of an exercise scene than a bar scene toward the end. The cognitive dissonance aged me three hundred years.

The author is on social media Nazi, Twitter?

The history of Ray's in the print edition I received didn't even mention Ray's the Classics in Silver Spring! Something against Montgomery County?

We go to Sergio's quite often. In addition to Dean's suggestions, the corbina is good. We are also partial to his ravioli specials.

There is a huge outdoor metered lot at the intersection of Fern (the street with Nava Thai etc. ) and Price (the street with Royal Mile Pub, Suporn, etc.). Never full at lunch time on weekdays. It's a block away from the restaurant. Just one block up Elkins to New Kam Fong.

My wife and I have been there! We had the chat samosa, the haleem (on Sunday), and some other stuff whose name I can't remember but it was a tender beef stew. We will definitely return. It was all Caucasians when we went around lunch time. We took our recommendations from the WashPo REVIEW

The Italian deli in the Wheaton Triangle is Marchones. They sell cookies too but I don't think they make them in-house, and I have never seen other desserts there. You might try calling Marchones for information. Don Phillipo is very nice.

My wife and I went to Marcel's for the first time last night. What were we waiting for? One of our best meals in DC. The descriptions above are really on target. Next time I go, I will try anything with a crust. My wife's lobster bisque and lamb were both served in crusts and were outstanding! My Dover sole was prepared simply and might have been the best fish dish I have had in DC. It was sliced in half so that there was a bottom piece, some potatoes, then a piece on top. We didn't go wrong with our desserts either: a pear baba with ginger ice cream and the chocolate soufflé. The soufflé is a small portion, so don't skimp on dessert. You can fit it in! Sorry we didn't try the coffee!

Okra and shrimp gumbo 2 pounds cut okra 2 pounds shrimp (season with salt, black and red pepper) 1 gallon shrimp stock (shells boiled with 2 celery stalks and 1 onion quartered) 1 large onion 1 large green bell pepper 2 celery stalks seasoning mix (salt, black and red pepper) vegetable oil Optional: tomato sauce Optional: peppers (I used 3 cayennes) Add okra, onion, bell pepper, and celery to hot oil and cook over medium high heat for ~2 hours. You are cooking this down to almost the consistency of a paste. This IS the roux or thickening agent for the gumbo. Frequent stirring to avoid scorching. Add a little stock if it is scorching but do not add more until it is dissolved. Once the okra is the right color and consistency (brown and like a paste) add tomato sauce if you like and cook ~15 minutes. Add stock and cook another half hour. Add shrimp, cook another 10-15 minutes. Dish in bowls, add rice. I put a pictorial of the process on eGullet a while back. It is here: http://forums.egulle...a/page__st__210 Scroll down to post #240, by My Confusing Horoscope.

Thanks to the organizers and to everyone who brought such great food! The park was just beautiful, too, with the trees at their peak. A nice autumn day following that tropical feeling Saturday; we were very fortunate! And thanks to the restaurants for adding some dishes! I had those wonderful clams on the half-shell. Amazing that anyone could bring them in chilled that way!

Your Profile: Easy & Approachable You believe that a BLT is the world's perfect meal. You like to eat cereal for supper (Grape Nuts for your entree; Cap'n Crunch for dessert). You consider sausage one of the 6 basic food groups. You named your cat after Rachel Ray. You fantasize about opening a pizza parlor. You often eat while talking on the phone/sitting at your desk/watching television/driving. So, does anyone here really have any trouble eating and driving, except maybe when parallel parking in the rain?

Surprised that Ristorante Tosca wasn't on the list! Was there a better place for pastas on the list that I missed? Still, it's just a personal list of 50 favorites, and I appreciate Tom's descriptions. Nice to know that some of his favorites are in the inexpensive range.

Did you see the front page story in the Post on Tosca, including a layout of the tables and who sits where on A12? Oh well, we can only go for dinner and the pre-theater deals. Wonderful food and service!

We went last night. My wife had fish tacos for $18 and I had sauteed trout with potato pancakes and stuffed heirloom tomatoes for $22. The gazpacho was $8 or $9, and we had a nice bottle of wine for $33. (Bonarda by Mazzolino). Peach cobbler, $7. We thought it was all reasonably priced for the quality we got. Delicious! The place was filling up, too. Burger was $14. It's not a cheap restaurant but I would like to try their burger! I noticed there is an 8 oz. steak for $18. Maybe it's not dry aged. I couldn't tell for sure from the menu. It looked like there were more courses on the menu than I have seen in the past.

Kielbasa Factory on Rockville Pike? http://kielbasafactory.com/ Give 'em a call to see if they have what you need.

If you get the appetizer called Pao, try the Kheema, which is a spicy ground lamb mixture. That was the highlight of our meal last night! It wouldn't be a bad idea to make a meal out of a few of the appetizers. Love this place!

I know! God bless 'em!

Somehow I get the feeling hideous is bad but sick is good. And they wonder why I drink like Batali!

Congratulations, chef, on such a wonderful dinner! I have had crab in the shell in roux-based stews before in Louisiana, so the two crab dishes with the sauces were familiar to me but so new due to the spices! And what a deal, to hear Monica speak and get her cookbook! We certainly mean to try out some of the recipes. It's good to know that all the ingredients we thought might be exotic can be found in our grocery stores, or in Indian grocery stores in the area. I meant to ask Monica if she could recommend a store or two in the Langley Park area, then come to find out that there is a spice store near me in the Colesville area of Silver Spring on Vital Way (near the Marymount Animal Hospital at Randolph and New Hampshire.) It's called Manna Sweets and Spices. Has anybody tried it? Shall I give it the old college try for the team? What if they even have the mysterious asafetida? I also was curious to know about other okra dishes in Indian cuisine. In Louisiana we cook okra a long time until it becomes almost a paste that we use as a roux in an okra gumbo, which does not have a flour based roux where I come from. We form the base of our gumbos either with a flour-based roux or this okra that serves as a roux after we have cooked it down to almost a paste. I wonder if Indian cuisine does something similar with okra? Thanks, Daniel, for organizing this!

I suspect that many of us are seeing different things depending on which browser we are using. I have never seen the orange icon just mentioned. I am using Internet Explorer 7 on Windows XP. Still, this is much better than the "lo-fi" version you can select in the lower left hand corner. Well, there's an option like that in what I see!