DanCole42

I love science and I love innovation.

I do not love molecular gastronomy.

I think it's cool for what it is: a unique style that allows some very creative chefs to do things with food. The one thing I do not see it as is an evolution. I've seen people talk about the transition to MG and sous vide and antigriddles as no different from the transition from fire to oven. False.

The transition from "traditional" to "MG" is not the same as the transition from, say, print to digital. It is not a change in medium, it is a change in expression.

An evolution represents a better way of doing something, not a different way. Photography evolved from film to digital, but first year fine arts students still take shitty pictures of old people on benches. It didn't make better photographers or better pictures. MG doesn't allow someone to cook better, just different. It doesn't make better chefs or better food. Just different.

Sure, some of what MG develops has far-reaching effects: the best temperature to cook a steak, the exact number of nanograms of salt to add to a brine, the optimal temperatures to favor lactobacillus versus yeast growth in a sourdough. Knowing those things can make better food.

MG isn't a fad - I think it's going to stay and continue to change (evolve, even). But I don't think it's the next step beyond the oven.

What about freezing jalapeno peppers? I bought more than I will need at Lotte recently and don't want them to go to waste.

Why freeze when you can pickle?

Eventide was an EXCELLENT choice.

Spent four hours chilling at a booth by the bar.

The signs that formerly covered the windows proclaiming BLT Burger/Go Burger are now gone, replaced with "for rent" signs, and it's clear on peering through that absolutely zero work was done inside.

What now?

So Eventide's pretty empty? Do they have couches or quiet booths?

Heading out with my bestie tonight. We were going to hit up the bar at Vidalia, which is perfect for me because it's not packed, you can relax and spend hours there drinking and eating and people watching on a couch, the food is delicious, and I know the staff. However, due to some circumstances, we find ourselves on the other side of the river.

What would I like in the Ballston-Clarendon-Courthouse-Rosslyn corridor?

American Flatbread: Clarendon would have been perfect, but... alas!

I thought about Lyon Hall given my recent hankering, but it seems noisy and crowded.

What do you think? Relaxing, lounge-y atmosphere, good drinks, great food, no pressure?

"If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse." -Henry Ford

You know there is a space with a pizza oven already in it right in Clarendon, might not be from Italy, but it does have a DR.com member's wedding ring in it. Just sayin...

You mean this happened to someone else???

Your characterization of Washington manages to be both cliché and false. Congratulations.

The parts I'm in, then.

After being crestfallen since my latest discovery of a French "bistro" in Middleburg, I turn now to crowdsourcing.

Is there a French bistro/brasserie anywhere in NoVA? With potted foods like rillettes and olivade, tartines, charcuterie, frisee with lardons and runny eggs, and all the good homeyness born of frugality and connection to the neighborhood that makes a real bistro so special?

I'm guessing no. Nowhere in the Metro area. DC and its environs are a transient town. There's no sense of continuity of belongingness, no neighborhoods. It's a federal district in the truest sense: one without any identity beyond what happens to be passing through. People come to DC when they're young, move to the suburbs as they grow up, and never put down the deep roots you would need for a bistro culture to flourish like it would in a more organic city.

It's a shame I kind of like it here.

I could see one of our younger, more talented chefs like Rachael Harriman heading out to fox hunting country and opening up the Bouchon/French Laundry of the East...

I've been looking high and low for an authentic French bistro experience in NoVA. Is this it?

According to GOG, Chris Ford is leaving Trummer's to go to Rogue.

Last I heard, permits for Rogue were for April. We all know how quickly and assiduously DC moves on those permits, but still, could be soon(ish) ... Q2 at least.

Intrigued. Now I just need a *reason* to do 24 courses again ...

This part thrills me: "The space will also host a side salon, where diners can enjoy cocktails and small plates when they don't have time for a three-hour meal."

Went to Heritage. It's literally next door to my office.

Not that I have a lot of experience with Indian food, and maybe it was the MASSIVE martini I had at Cafe Citroen, but I really couldn't find fault. Everything was tasty.

Are there any edible plants (vegetable, fruit, herb...) that will do well in almost complete shade? (north side of house under oak canopy)??

Going out with my bestie tonight, and she has a craving for Indian food. Looking for someplace stellar near my office (South Dupont) preferably, or as a fallback somewhere on the Wilson Blvd corridor no farther than Ballston.

I know zilch about Indian food.

Unfortunately it's really the only decent "Mexican" near my house (compare to Chevy's, Don Pablo's, etc.), unless I want to drive the 30-45 minutes to Guajillo in Arlington or El Paso in Springfield.

People have already gushed plenty about the dry aged, and the pornographic case of transmogrified cow parts is now filled to the gizzards with soon-to-be-steaks, but I just wanted to relate something my wife said after eating the dry-aged porterhouse: "this is the second best thing I've ever eaten."

FWIW, the first first best (ichiban) was the A10 grade kobe beef from the DR.com event at Vidalia a couple years back. I gotta say, the RTSDAP-house is in good company...

Anyone know where I can find some blood orange juice in the DC metro area (preferably the VA side)?

The Fairfax Wegmans is the highest dollar volume grocery store of any in the U. S. It is somewhere north of $100 million a year. At one point I knew the exact figure but have forgotten it. ($120?) The Fairfax store also carries a number of items that no other store Wegmans has in the greater Baltimore Washington area (i.e. their cheese department).

I think we also have the highest volume Lowe's Hardware (the one off 28 and 50).

Fairfax $pend$!

So do you turn your oven to broil? How far away is the pizza from the element? Do you keep the oven door ajar when it is under the broiler? Once you close the oven door the thermostat regulates the heat and will turn off the element when the oven gets to temperature.

That all said, convection and upper and lower layers of tile works really well in my oven. The layer of tiles above the pizza radiate heat pretty well.

I do a couple of things. One, I run the broiler for several minutes with the oven empty so the top stone gets screaming hot.

Then when the pizza is on the top rack I run the broiler IF NEEDED. Very often the coil (I have an electric oven) will be plenty hot off to crisp up the top of the pizza.

Dan, yer making some fine looking pizze these days..Keep it up!

I've always thought the only way to make a pizza at home, is in a wood burning oven. Few are so lucky.

Some day. Some day.

And if you have a convection oven there is no need to move the pie.

The point of moving it is to expose the top to the radiant heat of the broiler. Convection wouldn't do it.

Happy Birthday DanCole! I wish for you lots of American Flatbread!

I have a freezer full of doggie bag leftovers.

Your pizza looks super-how did you get the great brown parts on the crust? The best homemade pizza I've tasted recently was when my sister did some on the grill last fall, I'm tempted to get a pizza grill pan, in lieu of building a backyard pizza oven...

Get your oven super hot. Leave it hot for at least 30 minutes. Use two pizza stones: one in the middle, one right under the broiler. Start your pizza on the bottom. Finish it on the top.

Bam.

Latest and greatest:

Homemade sausage made from Steve Baker's pork shoulder, San Marzano tomato sauce, homemade ricotta...

Dry aged NY strip (from Ray's the Steaks), St. Pete's blue, San Marzano tomato sauce. (SWEET MERCIFUL CRAP)

Roasted garlic, spinach, mushroom, homemade ricotta.