MC Horoscope

Thanks for the link (and nice meeting you at the picnic). I haven't read it yet, but I will do so and comment. Intellectual property issues make for some great discussions. I know that it's not food that can be copyrighted but "tangible expression" of a somewhat enduring nature. The natural process of digestion pretty much does away with enduring nature (ok, you try to phrase that in a delicate manner!). But a written recipe can enjoy some sort of intellectual property protection. The bar is very low for "creative expression," one of the criteria for protection. The phone book appears to qualify.

Oh yeah, meatloaf! I have to try that. I am not familiar with the powdered roux. I make it myself or get it in a jar. If you make it yourself, it shouldn't take but a half cup for a dressing with 2-3 pounds of meat. If you use too much, it makes a thick sauce. It should be fairly thin because you will be adding cooked rice. It sounds like you are familiar with the consistency it should be. I like it much moister than Popeye's dirty rice.

It seems to me that around the holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas etc. even Safeway and Giant sell packages of mixed ground meats. I doubt that people are using it for rice dressing (what do they make with it?), but that's how I use it. Otherwise I just buy small amounts of ground beef, pork and veal (or turkey) and put them in the mix. Brown that, add trinity and scallions and cook until soft, add stock and roux, then cooked rice at the very end. I bet it's the roux that makes it.

Never tried the fried chicken recipes you mentioned. Wish I had! There's no tomato in the rice dressing I know about. There's roux, which I don't believe goes in jambalaya, at least in my experience. And the shrimp are added along with the other meats (well, toward the end). I have also had this with oysters added toward the end instead of shrimp, but I prefer the shrimp with this dish.

What do you think of 1587 in Manteo? Turn at any of the streets marked waterfront, and it's down in that Festival Park area, in a bed and breakfast called Tranquil House Inn. My wife and I were there not too long ago and loved it! She had sea bass with pineapple compote and almond risotto, with Asian sesame sauce. I wish I could remember the name of my dish, but it was a veal cutlet rolled around a hearty Italian sausage flavored with hints of pistachio, nutmeg, clove and cinammon. It was almost middle eastern tasting. Dessert was a strawberry/banana creme brule that we absolutely scarfed! Wine was a California Voignier. Nice decor and soft, romantic lighting, soundfront! I had a great view of the kitchen. Service was very friendly. It was just one night, but we thought the whole experience compared favorably to what we get in DC. Oh and another one. It's not a new place at all (in fact it is on the location where the Wright Brothers telegraphed the world "Hey suckers. We just flew an airplane!"), but the Black Pelican at mile 4 on the Virginia Dare road in Kitty Hawk has great pizza! Not 2 Amys but still quite good! The one we like was called Chesapeake. Had crab meat, corn and bacon. Thin crust, not much white sauce at all. Go back in the smoking section by the bar and it has a real beach bar, relaxing feeling. I wish I were there tonight!

Deep fried chicken's great, with a rice dressing on the side. (Cajun "rice dressing" would be a meal in itself. Beef, pork and veal, trinity, scallions, roux, stock, and rice. We even throw shrimp in it when we have them. You get it with chicken livers instead at the plate lunch places, aka dirty rice. The Popeye's version does not compare.) Don't get me wrong. I love pan fried chicken and really mean to check out Crisfield's! But the Prudhomme Family Cookbook's recipe for deep fried chicken is something else! Seasonings really nail it.

They're often at Pesce, IIRC as an appertizer.

I chop them up and put them in freezer bags in the freezer. They keep very well, in my experience. Use gloves or you will be sorry!

We made it there Friday by metro from Silver Spring, taking the bus down from Tenleytown as suggested by Barbara upthread, no problems. Take bus 30, 32, or 36 from Tenleytown metro. There is a bus stop right at Macomb street. My wife had a salad of heirloom tomatoes with ricotta cheese, then the Abruzzee with Polpettine (little meatballs), Sliced Garlic, Parsley, Pecornio, and I had the Etna with Eggplant Confit, Tomato Puree, Olives, Capers, Sicilian Oregano, Grana, and goat cheese on top. Wow! Now is the time of year for eggplant!

We'll help populate the place tomorrow with the unprepared, so my question is about location. Can you get there from Tenleytown metro, walking down Wisconsin for a 10-15 minute walk, and by down I mean southward? Is that true? Thanks

I like to tease out of town visitors with a drive down 16th Street, then up New Hampshire Avenue in Maryland, and ask if they can spot a church! We joke that on NH Avenue, if you pass a block without a church, you're in the devil's land! Highway to Heaven, it's called.

No, that was the sign we saw. Looks like we were there at the same time as you. We got there at 5:30 and left around 7:15. Sat at the "booth" closest to the formal area.

One of the fish specials last night was a wonderful grilled sockeye(?) salmon that I had with a preseved lemon and olive sauce. Very delicious! My wife was disappointed by the size of the soft shell crab (one, from the appetizers), but I contend that it's pretty much out of season so I wonder why it is still on the regular menu. Better in June, I am sure. At $14, we do better at home, though it was delicious, she said. The gazpacho with crab was delicious! I wasn't sure what the sweet potato gratin was supposed to be. It looked like Irish potatoes formed in a cake with a few shaves of sweet potato on top. Not sure what I expected but that wasn't it. I think I will try another side from the a la carte menu next time. This was our first time to the Bethesda location. Recognized some wait staff from Addies and the Bistro in Garret Park. You know, they called me today for a "follow up" survey of my experience! That surprised me. And NO, I never mentioned DRocks! We'll have to be more adventurous with our wine selection next time. Keep up with the recommendations.

Oh my, they were so good! We went to the Saturday edition of the preview, and I believe our choice of fish was halibut, but nobody at our table ordered it. I'd try it. I was told that the veal was grass fed, hence not the pale variety. Great place!

It's hard for me to follow the whole North/South Civil War thing since so many of us in the DC metro area are transplants from somewhere else. We don't carry that baggage. In fact, it seems to me that people are genuinely surprised when they meet a native! It's the traffic, I guess. We live in Silver Spring but we're trying to eat in DC more often. Can you get to Palena by metro?

Thanks, Elizabeth and Dave. Are you the kind Dave with whom we shared a table at Ray's the Classics? That was a nice evening! I can imagine that you'd do that thing with the food processor outside or else get a psychedelic, hallucinatory hot flash! Knock you to your knees, I am sure! That pictorial for the okra gumbo is at eGullet. http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=37077&st=210 Scroll down to post 240. Am I ok with linking to another board here?

Hey Joe, did you know John Fahey, legendary acoustic guitarist who founded Takoma Records? He used to give a lot of local place names to his compositions, so it was like I already had a map when I moved here!

How do you do that? And how do you store the dried peppers? I guess my most labor intensive dish in shrimp and okra gumbo. You have to cook down the okra a couple of hours, maybe 3. It's like slow cooking a roux. You can't just leave it alone for long. But it is worth it!

At least you will be in a nucular free zone! Hit University Blvd from Silver Spring to Adelphi. Samantha's is good Salvadoran if you haven't tried it. I see several latin markets along that stretch. Hit Sligo and there's Jackie's and Vicino.

What dinwiddie said!

If you go to Cozy Corner, make it before 5. We went in early June for dinner and were surprised they close at 5. Better check Interstate's hours too. If you can make it there, the wet ribs are great!

I was thinking of Adega too. Good wine, nice sandwiches, some vegetarian IIRC.

McGinty's?

The dinner last night was awesome! Considering our $30 fee, we made out like bandits! Thanks for organizing this event. I am sure we will be regular customers once Ray's opens.

Where is South Street in relation to Marathon Deli? Do you know the outdoor parking lot at Route 1 and Knox? If you parked in the lot and faced Route 1, South Street would be on the other side of Route 1, a little toward Riverdale. Just a block maybe. For Marathon, face Knox from that parking lot and cross Knox down the alley, then turn right. There are some little shops on a sort of alley. Can't remember the name of the street or alley Marathon is on. Hope that helps.