Gary Tanigawa

Wanted to try this place since seeing it on Tyler Cowen's current favorites. Tiny dining room (15), small kitchen with three family members, limited menu, and most items were below $8. I was told by a friend that this is typical snack food eaten by schoolchildren in South Korea on their way home. Yelp has photographs of the place and some dishes served. No bbq dishes like what is served across the street at Honey Pig.

I would recommend the round (Chinese-style) mandu over the more usual scallion-stuffed mandu, but both have nice thin wrappers. Only a couple banchan (kim chee and danmuji), but the kim chee seemed to be crisper than what is usually served. The soup served as a starter was a flavorful broth. Also recommended are the jjolmyenb (chewy noodles) and I suspect most of the noodle dishes would be good (the udon and ramen, however, are only okay). I preferred the spicy tofu stew here to what I had at Lighthouse Tofu, although the latter had more variety in the other ingredients added to the stew, because the flavor of the broth shone though its spiciness and heat.

The donkatsu was also pretty good and very reasonably priced. I did not try any dishes with rice cake, kimbap (hot dog and cheese variants are listed!), or bing soo.

Probably go with at least one Korean because the menu translations are not very descriptive. They recommended the specials posted on the wall and those are probably dishes to try if you don't read/speak Korean. One of them is a bibimbap made with fermented soybeans that tasted good.

The chef's name is on the cover of the menu - Chef Shinmoto. I believe that he was the chef at Yamazato a while ago. I will try chirashi sushi next time if the chef is Shinmoto san as I am thinking.

Great find if he is the same chef. I had lost track of him since Murasaki. If there is a list of sushi/sashimi specials similar to what was at Yamazato, I suspect they are the same person.

Didn't Chef Yasuda leave at the end of 2010?

Instead of a manual food mill or ricer, I would like to use an attachment driven by my KitchenAid stand mixer or MagiMix food processor. Has anyone compared the latter attachments? I am interested in mashing/pureeing fruits and vegetables, not grinding meat. The difference in price between the attachments is not a consideration since the combination of KitchenAid grinder and strainer kits appears to cost about as much as the MagiMix mash/puree kit.

Chefs Catalog (no affiliation etc.) is selling the Magimix 5150 food processor for $300. There is also a coupon (CW4PF4204) you can find on the interweb for another $25 off.

I posted this somewhere else on dr.com but I like Panda Cafe at the intersection of Wilson & George Mason Drive.

I agree with the recommendation. I pick up an order two or three times a week when I'm working late because Panda Cafe is close to my office.

Looks like VA Great Wall is in trouble

NY Times covers the same story here

here's my long CH post

OK, I should have read your CH post before replying. But if you are adventurous enough to eat poke, you should wander around Waipahu sampling at the different places. I was at Tamashiro's Fish Market in February and it was only 10% as interesting as I remember from the 80's.

Near HNL is Mitch's Fish Market, which I like to hit for dinner after arriving at the airport and lunch going back to the airport. Sushi, sashimi and cooked dishes. Open seven days a week, from lunch to 8:30pm. I recommend the spiny lobster miso and abalone specials.

Look for izakayas, especially if you like small plates of food and sake. If you are at Ala Moana, try Rokkaku but it's the rare Japanese restaurant where you don't want to sit at the bar. Ichiriki for nabe and sukiyaki.

Helena and Ono are safe bets for Hawaiian, try Highway Inn if you're in Waipahu. Side Street Inn for "local" comfort food. Try saimin (it's a variation on ramen, but definitely different) at Palace: order wonton min and BBQ stick.

Are you a fan of greasy spoons? Find Jane's Fountain (Jane died in Jan after 101 years) and and Violet's Grill.

Hank's Haute Dawg can be fun. If you want to have a picnic, get a recommendation for an okazuya (since everyone has a different favorite), and make your selections early in the morning.

Then, on your last day, pick up bentos to eat on the plane.

I've seen it several times on WETA's Create channel. The DVD set of 13 half-hour episodes is also available for $17.95 (shipping included) through H Mart's website. FWIW, the producers are related to the people who did "Spain: On the Road Again" - the programs are more travelog than cooking show.

David McIntyre reported on the format for the Governor's Cup Competition, but from a press release: The competition judged all Virginia wines, red or white, together. Any wine made from 100% Virginia fruit was eligible. Entries included an affidavit with a certification of 100% Virginia fruit and vineyard particulars, including grower names and location, as well as information on alcohol, acidity or basicity (pH), and residual sugar. A new aspect of the competition was the educational component of the judging. After the competition, regional forums for the winemakers will be held with the head judge. Notes with the judges' blind comments will be shared with individual winemakers, so that they will get direct feedback on how their wines were received. Jay Youmans was the head judge of the competition. He recruited the judges from the professional wine buying and wine media community. The judges were compensated for a rigorous schedule of judging ensuring the competition will have the highest level of professional evaluation of the wines.

http://www.virginiawine.org/governors-cup-2012 (more details on the judges and their criteria)

Preliminary round (400 wines): Over the course of two days, each wine was tasted by no fewer than six judges. This was a single-blind tasting, meaning that judges only know the grape or category of a wine, but the vintage, winery and name were hidden behind coded-glasses. Individual judges' scores of a wine were averaged into one score. Final round (135 wines): Over the course of three days, three 5-judge panels assessed the highest ranking wines from the preliminary round. Unlike the preliminary round, each judge sampled all of the wines. Each wine in the Final Round received a final average score. The 12 wines with the highest average score were identified as the "Governor's Cup Case." The wine with the highest overall score (2009 Glen Manor Hodder Hill) was the Governor's Cup Winner.

For DC, Weygandt Wines and World Wide Wines list restaurants permitting corkage on their websites. Since the latter list is seriously outdated, you do know to call the restaurant and confirm the current policy?

The Gold Medal winners:

2010 Jefferson Vineyards Cabernet Franc

2009 Sunset Hills Vineyard Cabernet Franc

2010 Bluestone Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

2009 Keswick Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve

2010 White Hall Vineyards Gewurztraminer

2007 Delfosse Vineyards & Winery

2009 Glen Manor Vineyards Hodder Hill

2008 King Family Vineyards Meritage

2009 Potomac Point Winery Heritage Reserve

2010 Veritas Vintner's Reserve

2010 Keswick Vineyards Merlot

2008 Trump Winery Kluge SP Blanc de Blanc

2010 Tarara Winery Honah lee

From The Wine Guild, a list of restaurants in Charlottesville: http://www.wineguildcville.com/charlottesville-restaurants-corkage-policies/

Congrats, Ferhat!

I can't make it over Friday or Saturday, but will try on Sunday. Do you have hours yet?

Ferhat posted 5pm - 10pm Friday on FB.

Interesting article by Joe Satran. One quote:

"My view is that the first three months of a restaurant is best. Even though they're green, there starts to be turnover after that. Then you have to train the new team while the bus is running – which is obviously much harder," Jean-Georges said.

Echoes a comment DR sometimes makes in reviewing restaurants that were "imported" to DC.

Sorry for being obtuse. I was playing off: "or maybe it's just because another ordinary Middle Eastern restaurant does not advance the cause of heralding the contributions of this important ethnic culinary tradition to its rightful place among the world's gastronomic pantheon." I found the views on ethnic cuisines amusing for personal reasons (I guess).

I love this place. Wu's Garden and House of Dynasty in Hayfield are my favorite Americanized Chinese places in northern Virginia. Wu's not only has waiters in tuxes, but the decor is definitely unique. You just won't see those ornate ceilings and that intricate wooden lattice work at the dying breed of Americanized Chinese restaurants any more. This restaurant is one of our treasures.

I've eaten at Wu's Garden. The food is fine. But tuxes, ornate ceilings, and intricate wooden lattice work do not advance the cause of heralding the important contributions of Chinese cuisine Fortunately, I suspect they are merely trying to do well as a small business serving locals in Vienna without imagining that their efforts could have global effects.

Agree, although I wish they had longer hours, it's a good lunch place. I've enjoyed the soups and crab cake.

From Fat Guy's comments on Didier Elena's return to Adour (NY):

"I don't think there is a better use of sea urchin anywhere I've tried it than Elena's house-made fettucine with fennel, garlic and creamy uni sauce. But it's not just the deep flavors of the dish that are noteworthy, not just the first-rate products and execution. It's the dish's soulfulness and, in at least a sense, rusticity. Elena's father was a fisherman, so he grew up on and around boats. When his father would bring up urchins, the family would remove the meat and mix it with pasta and butter. The dish as served at Adour is a fine-dining version of that childhood memory, and it feels that way. While it is attractively plated, it is not ornate. While it has a great balance of flavors, is it simple and focused on just a couple of flavors (urchin and butter). It is a triumph in so many ways."

Thank you. My book arrived in the mail today.

I'll have to try the extensive selection of wursts and schnitzel on a subsequent visit

For your next visit, you can try a variety of the sausages if the sausage sampler is still on the menu.

I didn't know libel is a criminal offense in this country, much less this state. It's a little shocking to find that is the case, although I think it should be.

But the offense is only a Class III misdemeanor. In the comments of The Volokh Conspiracy, someone identifying him/herself as a Northern Virginia prosecutor says, "Our office does not even prosecute most Class 3 misdemeanors, certainly not this one. I imagine that the judge would laugh me out of court if I prosecuted one of these." There might be a regional difference in whether the offense is charged: "I have been an Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney in southern Virginia for less than 10 years, and I don’t think I’ve prosecuted more than 5 (probably not even more than 3) of these offenses in that time. Usually, when people want to prosecute others for insulting words they end up getting warrants for using profane or threatening language (Va. Code 18.2–416, a class 3 misdemeanor) or using profane or threatening language over the phone (Va. Code 18.2–427, a class 1 misdemeanor). These situations usually aren’t isolated incidents and there are frequently violations of the latter statute along with any slander. And since jail time under the latter is something complaints want as a sentencing option, they seldom bring criminal slander charges." Appears unlikely that criminal libel would be the only offense charged.

I've liked the hot and sour soup at Panda Cafe (5021 Wilson Blvd), although I never had it delivered. There is a $10 minimum, but I don't know how far they deliver. Call 703-524-1988.