reedm

Well Harumph... "Amid Deal with Anheuser-Busch, Craft Brewery Gets Kicked Out of Its Own Festival" by Fritz Hahn on washingtonpost.com

Very sad to hear.

Lambs and clams...

I don't recall what I had a few weeks ago, but it might have been a White Ghost from 3 stars. I'm happy with just about anything from that brewery.

Thank you for the tips. Fortunately, we will be departing Friday morning, so we won't have to deal with the back to school madness. I suppose my request was a bit vague, and that's because I'm looking for just about anything other than Indian. (My son is not a fan. ) Your suggestions look great, and are much appreciated!

Heading to Charlottesville next week, and we will be first-time visitors. Three of us are older than 21, and one will be 19 next week. (The youngest is a vegetarian.) We plan to stay in an Airbnb a few miles outside of town, and our itinerary will include the typical attractions of Monticello, UVA, etc. Sadly, it won't be a wine-tasting trip, but I will survive. Would be grateful for any tips/advice to maximize our two night visit.

Wanted to see people dogpile on the wine list. And go!

Please delete my post...

Where did I see this wine list? (This is secretly a ploy to get the oenophiles to provide feedback about the selection and pricing.)

I highly recommend the sushi bar close to the United gates in Narita. It can be expensive, but I enjoyed it. As a side note, If you have United lounge access, bypass the horrible United Club and visit the ANA lounge instead. They have quite a variety of real food and drink. Let's just keep it our little secret, though. NRT

Found this frozen gin and tonic recipe on Serious Eats. Trust me when I say you need to try this. As the recipe's author notes, it's based on an idea from Rob Krueger of Brooklyn's Extra Fancy. Fair warning--It's exceptionally smooth, but it contains the same amount of gin as a traditional G&T. Frozen Gin and Tonic Recipe

Thanks to Uber Eats and Hill Country, I avoided the oppressive heat that I would have encountered today while making my usual journey to the nearest set of food trucks. 30 minutes after ordering, the driver appeared with my order of 1/4 chicken, a pork rib, and a side of barbecued beans with burnt ends. Also included were two corn muffins, white bread, crackers, sauce, and honey butter. The ribs and chicken were perfectly cooked, and while the smoke was evident, it was not overpowering. The pork was tender but featured a good chew, while the chicken was moist with a crisp skin. Both were 10/10 on my highly subjective scale. The beans were very good, but could have benefited from a bit more seasoning. Thanks to a promo code, the price of my $16 (plus tax and delivery fees) was quite reasonable, even by DC standards. (If you've never used Uber eats, send me a message and I can share a code with you.) Very pleased Hill Country continues to put out barbecue that makes this native Texan proud!

A year after my first visit, ABC Canteen remains an excellent option. One of today's specials was a fried shrimp platter, consisting of nine perfectly cooked shrimp coated in the same batter they use for the fish, fries, cole slaw, and cocktail sauce. I followed my instincts and ordered the shrimp, and they were delicious. Perfectly cooked, without a hint of grease, they didn't really need any sauce. I was happy to witness a steady stream of customers on hot Sunday afternoon, and the owner was hospitable and friendly as always.

I had the best intentions of providing an account of my visit a couple of weeks ago, but I failed to follow through. Other members have provided outstanding write-ups already, so I'll try to keep this short. The hospitality was evident, and Chef Yu was very welcoming. I brought my daughter, who is currently a vegetarian, and she thoroughly enjoyed the food as well. We sat at the sushi bar, and Chef Yu was kind enough to provide me with somewhat of an off-menu omakase. Each and every piece of nigiri was fresh and delicious, and I really enjoyed some of the creative versions of the sushi as well, such as tuna nigiri with an olive "tapenade". Chef Yu also recommended a couple of the Italian and Mexican rolls for my daughter, and they were also excellent. We were both a bit skeptical about the Italian roll, as it featured sun-dried tomatoes, portobello mushrooms, cream cheese, and basil, but it really worked, and it turned out to be a nice surprise. Chef Yu has a great concept with broad ranging appeal. The menu will certainly appeal to less experienced/new sushi eaters with some "basic" items, while it also offers creative sushi as well as fish that's not often seen in this area. Looking forward to a return visit.

Probably the funniest line on this site. Bad visual though!

Don, Not to be argumentative, because I find this very interesting, but I'd like to know why you disagree with the author so strongly. While I'm no expert with regards to the beer industry, I enjoy beer quite a bit, and have a reasonable amount of experience with the beverage :-). I'm not concerned with InBev buying up smaller breweries as long as they don't change the product. If InBev uses their power to displace some of the budlimeorangewhatever in order to replace it with Lagunitas, for example, isn't that a good thing? I get tired of overly hoppy beers after a while, as well. As long as Kolsch-style beers don't become trendy, though, I'm not too concerned about the prevalence of hoppy beers.

Don, While I agree with some of what you're saying, the numbers you provided don't necessarily tell the entire story. I certainly do not like the fact that mass-produced beers with crappy ingredients (Shock Top, Blue Moon, etc) are often passed off as "craft beers", but I've never seen them offered as growlers in a 7-11 or anywhere else. (Watch "Beer Wars" if you haven't already) While a craft brewer must indeed brew 6M bbl or less per year, the entire craft brewing market in the US is 24M bbl. While Yuengling (ugh) is technically a craft brewer, they produce 2.8M bbl per year. Compare that output to the output of Oskar Blues (150k bbl), Anchor Brewing (132k bbl), and Lagunitas (640k bbl) in order to get a better idea of the craft beer industry. I've been very skeptical of smaller breweries that have sold out to the multinational corporations, but fortunately, there are so many other good choices that it doesn't bother me. (Sorry Goose Island, but I've moved on). Here's an interesting article that goes into much more detail: Sep 8, 2015 - "It Doesn't Matter Who Owns Your Favorite Brewery" by Aaron Goldfarb on esquire.com I agree with the author's assertion that the quality doesn't necessarily decrease after breweries are sold, and I also find it hard to fault those who profit by selling to larger Thanks to your post, I perused https://www.brewersassociation.org/ for the first time, and discovered it offers a wealth of information about local breweries as well as the industry as a whole. Slightly off topic; Finally, if you want a great place to fill a growler or enjoy a frequently changing tap selection by the glass, check out the Whole Foods at Fair Lakes. The sports bar offers 20 beers on tap, including two nitro taps. Inside the main store, they offer an additional six taps at the cheese counter, and a few more at the barbecue and seafood areas. Oh by the way, they have a wine tasting room upstairs with 80 wines on offer.

The Whole Foods "flagship store" in Fair Oaks offers a good selection of bulk spices, many of which are unground.

Founding Farmers has taken plenty of hit lately, but their cucumber cocktail recipe produces a drink that's perfect for summer. http://www.wearefoundingfarmers.com/ff-recipe-cucumber-delight-cocktail/

Went to the game with my daughter today. Lucked out and snagged incredible seats in 214, so I had a perfect view of the action. Stras certainly lacked some control, and his misses were consistently to the first base side of the plate. As a result, he threw a ton of pitches--at least 100 through the 6th. Even though there was little chance of a no-hitter, it was a lot of fun watching the team try to get him there. 5 home runs? Awesome. Checked out two Isabella spots, and both produced winners. The cauliflower sandwich had sold out right before the game, but I returned later and snagged one for my daughter. (Note to Mike; it was not apparent that half of the sandwiches were not available.). In addition to the cauliflower, they offered a chicken parm, a roast beef, and one other option. Sadly, the Italian coldcut was not on the menu. At $12, the cauliflower sandwich is a great deal. I ventured up to 301 to check out Catchfly/Kapnos. It's an odd location, so the line was non-existent despite a 37k crowd. The Kapnos menu was uninspiring, so settled on Catchfly. The ridiculous price of $18 for what appeared to be four pork ribs made me move on to the Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich, which was a relative bargain at $14. (A side of waffle fries was $7, but the indifferent service was included.). The chicken sandwich turned out to be quite tasty. The bun didn't quite hold up, but the flavor of the chicken was great.

There are some great suggestions, but I don't really expect to see many hidden gems here either. This thread has to be judgement free zone. My guilty breakfast pleasure is a smoked sausage biscuit from Hardee's. Both are solid choices. During my AF days, I was at Seymour-Johnson many times, at ate at Wilber's once or twice. It's directly under the flight path of the base's runway, so you'll probably see and/or hear F-15E's taking off or landing.

I've traveled I-95 many times, but I've yet to find any places worth a relatively brief detour between DC and Jacksonville. I've stumbled across a few crummy places, which I've erased from my memory, but I've found only a couple I would recommend. Recently, my college-aged daughter decided to eat a vegetarian diet, and I'll just say that complicated matters ten fold. Smithfield's Chicken and Barbecue is solid, if not spectacular, but their pork sandwiches and chicken represent the NC style fairly well. / (Not for vegetarians unless they will be ok with slaw and hushpuppies). During my most recent trip, we stopped at Broad Street Deli and Market, located in Dunn NC. It's a small town place with friendly service, homemade food, and it's a quick detour from the interstate. Compared to DC prices, it's shockingly inexpensive. Lunch for two was just over $16. On the southbound leg, I made a detour into Florence to try Wholly Smokin', where I sampled SC's version of bbq. The pulled pork was well cooked and moist, but overly salty for my tastes. The mustard sauce couldn't really save it. The sides, though, were excellent; baked beans were tangy, and not overly sweet, while the corn and lima beans were fresh and delicious. I would have like to explore more of the menu--perhaps next time. Service was genuinely nice, and it was a good pick to relax for a bit. I'd really enjoy hearing about great spots along the way.

Location and Rates for Tonight - Website somehow missed your post, but thanks for your kind offer. I ended up staying at the Residence Inn Historic District, which was is conveniently located to SCAD. The property seemed to be very new, so the condition was quite good. I stayed in a "cottage", which is more of a quadplex than a cottage. Overall, the room was was fine. Very large and comfortable, but the TV channels were terrible. (Yes, first world problems) The front desk service was lukewarm, but that's not unexpected for Savannah. I'd asked about the advertised mixing hour, or whatever it is called, and was simply told that it is Monday-Wednesday. I experienced some door issues, and despite the fact I had trudged back and forth in the pouring rain, the same desk clerk expressed the emotions of a klingon. Breakfast is included, but it's the same mediocre fare offered by most places. I'd recommend Foxy Loxy for great coffee and delicious house made pastries (including some fantastic kolaches). http://foxyloxycafe.com/ In fact, because it was my daughter's hangout, we stopped there for dinner the night before. It has Texas roots, and in the evenings they offer some outstanding tacos. The shrimp tacos were simply perfect. There is no bar, but there are snacks available for purchase in a small area next to the front desk. Valet parking is recommended, even at the outrageous price of $12 per day. (sarcasm). I didn't have time to explore the area, but there is a cuban restaurant a very short distance away that looked interesting. http://ranchoalegrecuban.com/

Great points. The prospect of driving in Rome was a bit terrifying (this was many years ago). The Italians are notoriously disobedient drivers; at one point, they attempted to synchronize traffic lights, but the Roman drivers would drive twice the speed limit to take advantage of the timing. They also loved to TRIPLE park. I'll never forget the sight of someone backing up on the shoulder of the Autostrada because they missed an exit. (The exits tend to be several miles apart in places.) One of my favorite cities!

Dropped in for lunch Sunday, and three of us very much enjoyed every dish. They are offering a seasonal menu in addition to the regular menu, and we picked two items from that section. The cucumber with garlic sauce was a hit. Cucumbers are smashed into large chunks, then served in a smooth sauce that is a bit garlicky, but in no way overpowering, and it did not have any "heat source". I asked our server about the sauce, and he was only able to tell me about the smashing technique. I thought I tasted some sesame oil, but the sauce was creamy, and it didn't appear to have any oil in it. (Perhaps an emulsion?) We also ordered the salt and pepper shrimp, which was recommended by our server. The dish consisted of least a dozen butterflied shrimp that had been coated with a light batter and fried. The shrimp were cooked perfectly, and there wasn't a hint of grease. The shrimp were served with something that resembled an aioli which was light red, a bit tangy, but not at all spicy. From the regular menu, we chose mapo tofu, grandma's noodles, and bang-bang shrimp. All were excellent, and although I was hesitant to order the shrimp solely because of the name, I'm glad I did. Once again, the shrimp were nicely cooked, and the savory sauce worked perfectly. Chang's version is not even close to any other version I've had. The noodles provided the signature numbing effect, which was a surprise to my wife, who is not the most adventurous eater. Finally, the tofu (ordered without beef for my vegetarian daughter) was delicious as well. I've not had that dish very often in any restaurant, so I don't have much to compare it to, but provided the mala I was expecting. Service was friendly and efficient, and I seemed to have forgotten how large the portions are. I think you'd have to have a large group in order to be able to sample more than a few items. And yes, the rice was served in individual bowls...