zgast

19 hours ago, deangold said:

I saw a couple of really goood bubbles that most folk may not know about:

Spoletino Blend Pét Nat, “Sui Lieviti,” Moretti Omero, Umbria

Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro, “Monovitigno,” Fattoria Moretto, Emilia-Romagna, NV

Just out of curiosity, how do you try new and different wines?  Is it just random selection?  Any great wine shop that can steer you towards hidden gems?

10 hours ago, DonRocks said:

This story spooked me:

"Credit Card Benefits for Travelers Are Vanishing. Here's What To Do about It." by Christopher Elliott on washingtonpost.com

So I checked the Chase Sapphire Reserve card and found this:

"Significant Changes Confirmed for Chase's Sapphire Reserve Card" on thepointsguy.com

It sucks, but there's not much we can do as travelers except reward the programs that continue to provide benefits.  There aren't many, though, and those tend not to be ideal for DC based travelers.  For example, AA was the last US airline to go to dynamic pricing for redemption fares (they still haven't officially done, this, but just try to get a ticket and see how many miles it takes).  With the new, absurd pricing basically the only remaining benefits are related to status - but for business travelers those are huge.  My only advice would be to not hold onto points - simply use them as you can since they're devalued constantly.  

20 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

I was pondering Newton's Three Laws of Motion (particularly the second), and an idea popped into my head.

In an emergency automotive braking situation, why can't a car shoot out grappling hooks - from the front of the car, or the back, or even both - which will dig like wedges into the road ahead, and come as close as possible to being a direct counter-force to the auto's forward motion? Disk brakes are fine, too, but they only stop the wheels from turning; I'm talking about a life-threatening situation where the entire vehicle needs to stop ASAP.

Even if they don't go into the road, front-shooting, 45-degree-angle, non-jointed "rods" (resistant to snapping) would perhaps apply the maximum stopping pressure.

Picture a car extending rods forward-and-down like this: oo^oo\\\

It does sound like Batman, and admittedly, I can visualize this causing the car to flip over the rods, but has anyone at least thought about this? If you're about to ski off a cliff, wouldn't you stick your poles out, forward, into the snow, even if it meant breaking your elbows?

Or maybe there's some sort of "tire-retraction" mechanism, that would make all four tires retract into the chassis, allowing the entire bottom of the car to make contact with the ground and skid, maximizing friction?

Expensive, but in certain situations, worth it. Think about an airplane landing, and about to roll off the end of the runway - better to have the wheels instantly retract and have the entire plane slide along the ground on its belly, no?

Back to the skiing analogy: If you're about to ride a bicycle off a cliff, wouldn't you hit the deck, and take your chances with a few broken bones, rather than continue to roll forward?

I don't know. Kind of sounds like pole vaulting to me.  But with a car.

On 1/14/2020 at 2:54 PM, ktmoomau said:

I was talking to the CheeseMonster at a recent class, and she was saying that for cheese- while European cheese are subsidized- that if you have no cheeses at those lower price points, it is hard to get people in the door to a specialty cheese shop, and because the selection will be lower overall it will be doubly hard to get people in the door to better cheese shops.  Also they will be paying more in freight that was often distributed with other products which now won't be as high of orders.   It was a very interesting conversation- I wish I could recall more of it.

Sounds like I should take one of those cheese classes - are there any you'd recommend?

23 hours ago, DonRocks said:

I don't remember this!

If you're in Rite-Aid, want a Sauvignon Blanc, and have less than $20 to your name, then Kim Crawford is the wine for you, but I can't imagine I'd either recommend it (if you're serious) or completely trash it (if you're kidding). 

? 🤪

I am serious about having read it in the comments of a Washington Post article.  I just spent 20 minutes trying to find it and couldn't, so I could be slipping into an age of lesser memory facilities.

As far as Kim Crawford, I think it's a quaffable white at the $12 price point.  It's not a serious wine - and the commercials are atrocious - but it's fine.  Everything on a sliding scale with price as the ultimate yardstick. I'd love to devote more time and energy to finding good wines at a similar price point, but I'm not going to shift my spending to everyday wines costing more than $25 or $30 at this point.   

1 hour ago, Mark Slater said:

If you want to drink corporate,  generic NZ sauvignon Blanc, sure. Kim Crawford sold his winery and his NAME to Constellation Brands some years ago. He started a new company, Loveblock Vintners that he makes the wine for. Try that instead. The tariff price increases should take some time to become obvious as distributors empty their current inventory on the market. 

That was actually a joke - the Washington Post had an article about the wine and Don let his true feelings show....

I'd love to try the Loveblock, though.  I'll have to keep an eye out for it.

Well - we can all just switch to new world wines instead.  I recall reading in WaPo comments that Don highly recommends Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc😉

Hank's Oyster Bar as well is on 17th Street.  Alternately, walk up a few blocks to Annie's Steak House.  Food isn't high end, but it's been a neighborhood stalwart for a long time and even earned a spot in the James Beard Hall of Fame if I'm not mistaken.

If you take him to Fox and Hounds for drinks, you can pretty much take him anywhere after that and just tell him he had steak. In that case, I'd hit up Little Serow.

2 hours ago, DonRocks said:

Thanks - in case you're curious, here's Andy's review on Lung King Heen. It's quite the kick in the teeth that he rated it a poor value for the money at only 90 quid per.

In the Four Seasons - well, I guess the atmosphere was at least beautiful.

I've actually eaten there several times for dinner. Always just an entree and glass of wine, though, as it tended to be my last meal with my college roommate before I flew out.  While I always found the food very good, I had no idea that it was Michelin 3*.  That seems - excessive.  

Echoing @eatruneat - Had a pre-Nutcracker dinner at Alta Strada with the family.  Three appetizers - meatballs, calamari, and garlic bread - were all completely devoured by the crew.  We each only had half of our pastas - the portions are quite large - but my son polished off his pizza and made room for desert with everyone else at the end. Easy, perfectly fine dinner option for pre-theater.  I could think of a dozen other places I'd go to first if I were alone, but this one met the needs of the whole group.

On 12/9/2019 at 1:30 AM, DonRocks said:

Why would that be if the seasoning is already in the bag (presumably mixed in with the item being cooked)? Is there some sort of dialysis membrane in the bag that transfers the seasoning via osmosis?

I think it's due to the nature of the post sous-vide cook.  It's typically high temp, short time.  I burn whatever herbs or spices are on the outside going for that maillard.  If I put them in the bag for the sous vide, they permeate and aren't affected by the sear on the outside.

Made Tom Sietsema's 7 Favorite Places piece.  I've still never been - worth going to?

15 hours ago, NolaCaine said:

I've been gone awhile and would like to return to the theme of school lunches. My kids, those wonderful darlings, now want to look at the school lunch choices BEFORE deciding if they want to pack a lunch. Nice. Also, they have, in their kid wisdom, decided that they should not have the same thing two days in a row. FWIW, in my day, this was not an option. Mom got stuff for the week...same stuff, all week.

Finally, they like warm lunches in their thermoses. Bless their hearts. Upside, they stopped loosing stuff.

Part of me likes it. I think school lunches are where I place my creativity right now.

 

All this. Except the part about liking it.  OCD eating tendencies make any meal difficult.  At least we got him to agree that the turkey can go between the bread slices (I'm sure he pulls them back out at school).

23 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

(Personal communication devices that are controlled via satellite, I would think - being able to communicate from Antarctica, etc.)

I'd always thought cell phones were different than the Sat phones you take to those remote areas where there isn't cell service.  Actually, having covered the companies that own the cell towers, I'm almost positive they're different.  But point taken - mobile communication.

23 hours ago, DonRocks said:

I'm looking forward to reading that article. I was also hoping to stimulate discussion, as I put literally less than one-minute of thought into my list.

I just thought of "cell phones," and looking at the list, I think they might need to replace "television," which has really gone archaic in only seventy years. 

An interesting way to approach this is to think, "Would I trade X for Y?" I'd rather have cell phones than television.

Certainly, you could also say "computers," but I'm curious what others think (this is obviously a non-binding list). 

Anyone who wouldn't include anesthetics has never had surgery before.  This is an incredible tale.

Maybe something to do with breathing, drinking (affordable water purification and distribution would certainly be a candidate, assuming it even exists), eating, and shelter?

I'm pretty sure this list would look very different fifty years from now.

Perhaps semiconductor replaces television?  Flip phones aren't what you're talking about - you're talking about the personal computer your friends use to talk to you (I think -maybe I'm being presumptuous here).  

I used to live at 46th St. and 10th Ave for a couple years.  Favorite haunt was Casellula - just up the street off of 10th.  Cheese with unique pairings and good wine.

6 hours ago, Bart said:

Thanks for bringing this up.  I'm taking my college aged kids up to NYC for a few days before Thanksgiving, and I'm looking places to eat....both "famous" places like this, as well as the little hole in the wall joints.

Which part of the city are you staying in?  Breakfast, lunch, dinner?  Meals in between?

2 hours ago, DonRocks said:

Thanks to Daniel for the China Bistro recommendations (we had exchanged text messages before I decided on ordering). The meal:

A terrific, inexpensive meal, made more expensive with five orders of uncooked dumplings to-go. Pan-fried is the way to go here, as the boiled (steamed?) dumplings were very watery and somewhat bland despite the great combination. (All dumplings will look alike, with the only difference being whether or not they're pan-fried - three different sauces on the table should be combined to-taste).

NB - Frozen and recooked, the dumplings were better at home than they were in the restaurant - for filling up your freezer, you can't do any better than this. Boil them until they rise to the top of the water (taking out each one individually), and then pan sear them all at once.

We actually prefer the pork and dill or pork and nappa here.  Steamed or fried. Never had anything watery.

7 hours ago, DonRocks said:

That was Pedro and Vinny's!

Had to do some sleuthing - turns out Pedro and Vinny's replaced the burrito cart I was thinking of.  Honest to Goodness Burritos was - as I recall it - started by a lawyer who worked in the building right at that corner. There was an interview in the WaPo where he said he actually made more running the cart than he did working as a corporate attorney.

And here's a completely random paper on food regulation in DC (not the WaPo one) with the lawyer's background I just found - page 4.  I hadn't realized he was re-opening the cart when I started going there rather than just opening it. Or that DC's street food regulations were that absurd.

5 hours ago, DonRocks said:

A Del Taco bean burrito with green sauce is better than anything in the DMV.

Next time I fly to Michigan, I'll try it out.  

Does anyone remember the burrito cart at 15th and K St. from the late 90's?  That was great food.  And cheap.  And I was poor.

Finally got around to dining here.  Really enjoyed the meal and think I'd head back again in the future - certainly to try the duck and burger that everyone raved about.  We shared:

Scallop crudo - similar to the above comments.  Enjoyed the dish - particularly the little garnishes that hit the tongue with little bits of lime.  Not sure if these are natural or made by the kitchen, but I enjoyed them.

Clam and crisped rice salad - This was just ok.  Definitely the least favorite dish of the night.  The lemon sort of overpowered all the other flavors except the dairy.

The bread - It's dark multi grain bread, but we enjoyed it enough that we almost ordered a second.

Agnolotti - Lotus125 described this well.  It had a cream sauce but ate fairly light.  The fish flavor was there but the roe didn't overpower anything.

Lamb - This was the favorite dish of the night.  Really well cooked rare lamb that ate almost like a pastrami - that tender.  So, so good.

Cherry Granita - This was over something that I can't recall right now but served as a very tasty end to the meal.  

We migrated through wine glasses with the meal, trying a sparkling rose from Spain, California Chardonnay, and the Brouilly.  All were solid choices.  The service staff were excellent.  Casual but welcoming.

3 hours ago, curiouskitkatt said:

Whiskey Pods

Today’s dose of WTF. I’m on board with wine , and possibly cocktails in a can, but this is just ridiculous, IMO.

No - just no.  I love the part about how they're perfect for the physically challenged?  Pray tell who can't lift a shot glass but can insert one of these in their own mouth?

My own anti-whiskey views played no role in this review.

2 hours ago, RBeats said:

I have lived in Woodley Park three years now and the dining scene depresses me. New and exciting restaurants seem to cycle through neighboring Cleveland Park all the time though Woodley is stuck with the same, uninspired characters which seem to subsist on unaware conference attendees and zoo traffic.

Was excited to see a new restaurant going in over the summer only to discover it was another Indian place (Naan Wise) of which Woodley already has one (Rajaji-okay) and Cleveland Park two (Indique, Bindass-very good ).

Why is Woodley dining so stagnant and bad? Any thoughts? Or hopefully contradictions...  

Probably because it has the same demographics as Bethesda (which you should visit before you complain about your choices) and even closer proximity to the great new places opening up farther east.  

1 hour ago, Poivrot Farci said:

There are about 24,000 restaurants in Manhattan alone and the New York City Hospitality Alliance surveyed 324.

So customers are ok paying $17 +$3 tip but the idea of charging $20 and eliminating tips is somehow unpalatable?  Americans seem to like the idea of free shipping with the shipping cost factored into the retail price.  How are restaurants in countries that don't rely on tipping able to stay in business?

To rely on tips when making $8/hr in Manhattan is medieval, assuming the kitchen staff got tipped.

“We started by having to let go of the ladies who hand-made our tortillas. It’s certainly better when you can make your tortillas fresh for every taco,” Nat Milner said. “It made sense at $8 an hour but not at $15.”

These moves make no sense (IMO) until back and front of the house are paid equitably.  These moves just make the more highly paid FOH even more highly paid and leave the back of the house massively underpaid.

1 hour ago, ktmoomau said:

Well that will be an interesting one to follow- it doesn't seem to be narrowly tailored enough to me, plus given he was terminated, but who knows...

Non-competes are horrible, horrible things and should be made completely illegal.  I wish him the best of luck.  No clue on the chance of success in DC, but under MD law, being fired vs. quitting isn't relevant to the suit.