Biscuit Girl

Quattro fromagio risotto! I hope Roberto has this tomorrow night when my wife and I, Jacques and possibly several others invade the bar. The crudo was outstanding on our first visit last week-I think one of his best dishes.

Yes, quattro fromagio and it was so good. The Crudo is also wonderful.

We just found out my dad is flying up for a visit this weekend and we have to take him there just for the crudo.

We just got back from Bebo's and found the crowds to be at a much more normal size. We sat at the bar and enjoyed several little dishes and a couple of entrees. Service is still a little slow (yet courteous and friendly) and a far cry better than it was on Friday night. The food was wonderful. I posted pictures of our meal on my blog if anyone is interested in looking at them.

The result is that in their first week of operation, having been full apparantly every night, they are going to be overrun. And they have. Perhaps badly. Most restaurants start off much slower or have a great deal more practice. Bebo has not had that opportunity.

I'm looking forward to their starting to serve pizza, by the way.

QUOTE(porcupine @ Oct 21 2006, 08:18 PM) *

For Chrissakes, man, will you tell somebody - like Chef Donna - about this? Instead of just writing about it here? Please?

For Chrissakes, man, will you tell somebody - like Chef Donna - about this? Instead of just writing about it here? Please?

I would at least call or e-mail Bebo and talk to someone about this especially if it was the same server at the bar that we had. She was wonderful even with all the frustrations of the evening. We told her that we were in no hurry whenever she appologized for the slow food service or when the bar was getting slammed. Throughout our meal, she was always courteous and friendly to the customers. I even commented to my husband on the way out that when we come back we should sit at the bar again if she's working.

Meringue stuffed with mascarpone and hazel nut ice cream- Out of this world

I was in shock when we got the bill, as it was only about $70 before tip for all the food we ate. It was also good to see the Roberto was in the kitchen tonight! Go now before they increase the prices!

Shit, my father in law won't have a reason to visit anymore. I'm sure that's an overexaggeration, but he loves that place. Divey Irish pubs are pretty rare.

Nah, I'm sure as long as the old man can get a pint of Smithwick's somewhere else when he comes to visit, he'll be happy.

For me it's Mac and Cheese or Oreo's and a big glass of milk.

I have two methods of keeping track of recipes. One way is for ones I find in my magazines. I'll tear the page out or dog ear it then go the the magazine's web site, find the recipe and do a cut and paste of the recipe into a Word document. And if I'm lucky, there's a picture of the finished product as well.

I have a folder set up on our computer that has sub folders for the recipes (bread, fish, meat, dessert, etc). Then all I have to do when I want a recipe is print it out. And if it gets messed up while I'm cooking I can just toss it out.

My other method is similar but instead of a file on my computer, I have an expandable folder that I'll put recipes in. Every once in a while, I'll go through it and put some on the computer.

As for old family recipes, my mom bought some of these cloth bound diary type books and hand wrote her family recipes in them for each of us kids. Thank goodness there are only three of us or she'd probably still be writing.

Roberto "formally" opens Bebo to the general public on Thursday @5:00PM.

So.....is Bebo open yet? Tomorrow's my birthday and I'd really like to go there and celebrate?

Did you read some of the replies? There are some real gems-- like this one:

QUOTE

What an absolute nutjob. I've raved about Ray's the Steaks often; I WAS THERE LAST NIGHT. It's a shame we so often attribute intelligence to those we like when in reality there are so many people who do good things that do not require being smart at all.

Michael Landrum apparently doesn't realize that people who slaughter animals simply to consume their flesh are worse than Nazis, because at least the Nazis didn't EAT their victims. The Nazis at least didn't enslave their victims and force them to selectively breed over the generations to make them more satisfying to murder. Not even the Confederacy did that. Animals are very intelligent and have feelings and feel pain and therefore have the same rights as people if not more because they are better than us. Anyone would be perfectly justified in vandalizing Mr. Landrum's property and/or assaulting his henchmen, because they are perpetuating the continued Holocaust of our animal brethren in an immoral fashion that no self-respecting American can support. Serving animal flesh for human consumption is indisputably repugnant, despicable, and abhorrent and should be stopped by any means necessary, just like the campaign for Civil Rights.

Doesn't Mr. Landrum (who I still think provides great food with great service at a great price) realize that there are a lot of good people out in the world who hold views contrary to his own and that those views have varying degrees of legitimacy? He has a right to ban Posties from his business, he has a right to be a provincial effete living in an NPR-fueled bubble far removed from reality, and he has a right to hold and express arrogant, insulting opinions that a majority of Americans reject, but he has no basis to proclaim a moral superiority over the rest of us.

Posted by: athea | October 13, 2006 10:03 AM WTFF?!?!?

That was my thought too! What then did this pious person person have to eat at Rays that didn't have feelings before it met it's untimely demise? Perhaps mothing more than some lettuce or a spcy cashew?

The whole exchange is a bit tedious at this point. I think folks should lay off both guys and let them sort things about themselves (and not in the media).

Maybe a duel with steak knives would be in order?

The chicken breasts there are pumped full of some sort of artificial 'enhancer'.

Sorry if someone else has already written about this......but has anyone heard a rumor about Wegmans coming to Alexandria? I heard that they are looking at the site on Rt 1 in FX County where the old Micheal's used to be (and where Chucky Cheese still sits).

Just in case you don't know what shabu-shabu is, here is a link to the Wikipedia entry. Basically a Japanese hot pot in which you cook thinly sliced pieces of beef. Great stuff in the winter time.

Or if you're really hungry, you can get the Shamu Shamu. But be warned it's usually enough to feed 100.

QUOTE(synaesthesia @ Oct 9 2006, 11:47 PM) Some of the stuff did come out a bit cold... so I would say try to stick to the steam carts.

We went there for dim sum yesterday. I think the key to Mark's for dim sum is having a 'watcher', someone at your table who is in a position to watch what comes out of the kitchen and onto the carts, then get the new stuff while it's still hot. That's what we do, anyway.

And if you see something on the carts that you want but it's cooled off, ask them to reheat it.

Biscuit Girl's blog contains a wonderful description of the meal. My only quibble is a matter of taste--my favorite wine of the night was the Chateau de la Negly, La Cote Rouge, 2003, which so wonderfully complimented the duck confit. My goodness, what a dish!

That was my second favorite wine although I'd be happy with either one

The duck confit alone caused me to commit three of the seven deadly sins.

Gluttony: I want more duck confit

Lust: Oh, the pleasure of eating duck confit

Covetousness: I want my wife's duck confit

(the last may have lead to anger on her part, but we're talking about my sins here)

And now, after a late night (for us suburbanites anyway) with much good food, good wine, and good conversation, I'm hitting the fourth: Sloth

I liked all of the wines, with maybe the Chateau Gree Larogue Bordeaux Superior 2001 being my favorite of all. BiscuitGirl's pick was the Mas d'Auzieres, Le Bois de Perie, 2003.

Joe,

I read this yesterday and meant to reply. It sounds like you got a good camera for the job. I use a Konica Minolta DSLR for the job. With a fast lens, image stabilization, no flash, and high ISO, I can have a picture of a dish quickly and unobtrusively. I can get pictures in dim restaurants down to 1/10 of a second sometimes. Only problem is occasionally missing the focus and not having enough depth of field to compensate. That, and of course I'm carrying around a big honking camera. A smaller sensor will have less of a problem with depth of field, and a smaller cam will be easily pocketable. Good luck with it, and post us some pics to see how it works out.

Years ago someone gave me the "Mayberry Cookbook." I thought it was cute as it claimed these were Aunt Bea's actual recipes and if anyone has watched the show, you know how much Andy and Opie loved her food.

Well let me tell ya........Andy and Opie could not have had tastebuds. I tried at least four recipes from that blasted book and they were all just awful. Now I would say if I only tried one recipe and it didn't work out, then it was simply an editing issue, but four? I tossed that bad boy in our booksale at the library. And I pity the poor soul who bought it.

From time to time they will be on the menu at Corduroy. The last time they were, my husband had them and said they were great.

Has anyone been to Cosmopolitan Bakery & Catering, on Kings Highway in Alexandria?

I read about it on Tyler Cowan's blog and elsewhere, and it sounds like I might like it, but I can't tell if they are strictly take-away or if they have seating. Anybody know?

The food is very good. Chavapi are little beef sausages that come on this wonderful bread served with sliced onion. Burek come in several varieties and remind me of a phyllo pastry coiled into an oval and filled with meat, cheese or spinach. Breaded chicken breast is quite tasty but HUGE. Ditto when you order fries. There are enough to feed an family of four.

It's well worth a trip.

Rather than just come here and write about how good the food is (which would be redundant by any account) which has already been done to death, I thought a few pictures might be more enlightening. From the dinner that the four of us had last night a short trip through a lot of really good food is here.

The owner said that they doing some work on their Dupont location and are hoping for an opening around Sept. 15 (but you know how that goes)

I've clipped all the leaves off leftover cilantro then placed them on paper towels to air dry. Takes about a week depending on the humidity levels. Once they're dry, I put them in a jar with a good sealing lid. The flavor should stay fresh for several weeks and it saves you a trip to the market the next time you need just a pinch of cilantro.

Last May while vacationing on Florida, we tried this cute little place called The Patio for our anniversary dinner. The place was the size a shoebox. We drove by earlier that day and made reservations for that evening. When we arrived the place was packed (all 8 tables) plus they were catering a large birthday party out back. We should have taken this as a sign to turn around and run....but alas, we didn't.

First, we were squished into a tiny little table next to the front door. We waited over 15 minutes before anyone came to the table. When someone finally arrived, we ordered a bottle of champagne. Were told 10 minutes later that they were out but would gladly substitute the one kind they had left, Asti Spumante. Uh, no thanks. We asked about a bottle of red wine. 10 minutes later, we're told sorry the big party out back used the last bottle of red but they did have a nice house we could get by the decanter. Sure, why not.....how bad could it be? (pretty bad it turns out.....it must have been a bad day for boxed wine at the vineyard).

We then proceeded to order an appetizer and the Chateaubriand for dinner. Nearly 30 minutes later the appetizer comes out and we're also told the the chef is too busy (with the party out back) to be prepare the chateaubriand. UGH! So we politely order other entrees. Normally we'd be peeved at this point but the cheap ass wine has kicked in and we've mellowed a bit.

I ordered beef wellington but what I got (45 minutes after we ordered) was equivelant to the tongue of a well worn shoe tucked inside pastry. I forget what Jim got but it was equally disappointing.

Throughout the meal our server was as apologetic as she could be. She comped the wine (phew, that saved us two bucks) and offered us dessert. And the dessert my friends was the highlight of the meal. Not wanting to spend anymore time there, we ordered their chocolate cake to go. When we got back to our place, we opened the box and the angels above sang with joy. Dark, dense, insanely rich cake that made my cheeks flush. It was delish.

Nowadays we can look back at the night and laugh about what a major trainwreck the evening was and it is certainly an anniversary dinner we'll never forget.