DanCole42

So I went to their website, and at first I was like... OMG... this is PERFECT. I've been looking for a place like this! The space and property looks gorgeous. The chef is actually from Italy. They wanted a place that reminded them of Tuscany. Lots of Virginia wines. Local ingredients. And then I got to the menu... fried mozzarella? Fried calamari? Veal scalloppini? Veal picatta? This is the kind of lowest common denominator pseudo-Italian I can get at Tony's in Fair Lakes. Am I missing something, here? It's like going to Frontera Grill expecting mole and chicharrones de queso and instead getting a Taco Bell meximelt... I'm very confused.

My wife and I are looking to do a date night on Friday. We're want Italian that's either good and authentic or just great. We don't want to head inside the Beltway, or into any Friday night traffic clusterfucks like Tyson's Corner. Any ideas?

Vidalia's "French Fried Onion Rings" ($3.00 @ the bar during happy hour) are pretty great...

Pollo a la brasas con cebollitas, from Rick Bayless's Mexican Everyday.

Angelic Beef skirt steak grilled with bearnaise sauce. Potato truffle puree. Romaine and dill salad from our garden with figs, Worcestershire vinaigrette, and aged feta. Leleboo said there was too much bearnaise. I said there's no such thing.

Oops, I forgot a bullet! Deep personal significance. Ideally, like American Flatbread, I will have first gone to the original location of this restaurant when I was seven or eight, and it should have been a formative culinary experience that shaped not only my tastes, but my very values.

I wandered the wastelands with the same checklist in hand, only to find all of my criteria met by American Flatbread.

I suppose not!

I am 80% certain that song is being sung by a native Japanese speaker.

That would be the opposite of relaxing.

Leesburg is a bit of a hike. I'm in the Fair Oaks area. But it could be worth checking out.

With American Flatbread closed, I need a new place to go to when I have a bad day at work. Here are the things I loved about American Flatbread that I'd like to find in the new place: Local ingredients. Not just one ingredient they slapped on the menu to capitalize on the local movement, but pretty much everything. With farmers stopping by now and then. Local staff. Hostess goes to nearby high school, waiter is owner's friend's daughter, pies are made my sweet neighborhood lady, etc. Cozy. A fire is good, especially if the food is cooked in it. In Fairfax/Loudoun, but not off 66. The Greenway was a much swifter drive, and a welcome respite from my usual commute. And something in DC or Arlington isn't ideal either, since there'd still be plenty of traffic waiting for me after dinner. Less than $50 per person with drink, tax, tip, and leftovers. Good beer and wine selection. Not too crowded. Never have trouble getting a table (preferably a "usual" table), but of course not so uncrowded that they have to close. Visible and accessible proprietors and cooks. A tall order, but what can I say? I like what I like.

Despite a painful bout of alcohol poisoning the previous night, I managed to make the trek to Ashburn for one final Flatbread binge on Sunday, the last night they were open. It was bittersweet for so many reasons, some personal, that I won't get into here, but I just wanted to post one final thought in this thread: It will be missed!

I'm sorry, but poo-pooing something just because someone is passionate about it seems unwarranted.

From the official announcement: Thank you to all our loyal supporters over the years. We will be closing our doors for good Sunday at 8pm. Come out and say goodbye and share a special memory with our staff. All day Saturday $3.99 Lagunitas Drafts Noon to 9pm in celebration of our 4 years of providing Great food and service and making some amazing friends along the way.

Do you work for an angel cap firm?

After exactly four years in operation, American Flatbread in Ashburn will be closing their doors this weekend. Saturday and Sunday will be their last days open, so I encourage everyone here to trek out to Ashburn and give them one last taste. It's a shame that in the age of "locavore" bumperstickers and restaurant websites everywhere boasting "local ingredients" that an establishment that really and truly walks the walk is forced to shut down. I hope to see you there.

My new rustic dough formulation (uses 10% rye flour and whey left over from making the ricotta instead of water)! Topped with: 1) Pork confit, Black Mission fig, balsamic drizzle, truffle oil, 2) San Marzano tomato sauce, homemade sausage, homemade ricotta 3) artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, goat feta, roasted garlic, 4) plain cheese. Exact toppings from my notes this morning: PREBAKE Salt Artichoke heart Feta Moz Rosemary Olives Red onion Moz POSTBAKE Lemon Olive oil Thyme PREBAKE Salt Red onion Truffle Moz Fig Pork confit POSTBAKE Truffle oil Thyme PREBAKE Salt Tomato sauce Moz POSTBAKE Olive oil Thyme PREBAKE Salt Tomato sauce Moz Sausage Ricotta POSTBAKE Olive oil Thyme

I have a recurring dream where I travel southwesterly from my house. The specifics are always different, but the gist is the same: just a few minutes in that direction is something magical. Mountains that rise up tall as the Rockies, a wonderful steampunk city with entire blocks of model train stores, a stellar observatory run by a wizard, a place where gravity goes in the wrong direction. It turns out that these dreams were just prescient metaphors for the magic happening at Trummer's on Main, which is literally fifteen minutes southwest of my house. I'm not even sure where to start, mostly because much of the evening was a blur thanks to the generous pours in the Paradise Springs Winery tasting room. With a five course tasting menu, plus cocktails, plus wine pairings, plus the various amuses and palate cleansers, plus tax and tip, our bill for two came to just under $300. Please note that the tasting menu is no where on the website - I think it was $70-something per person. The tasting menu was advertised to us as utterly unique. Literally. The chef gets a chance to really push the limit and explore, with every tasting menu being different for each table! As near I can remember it, given my blurry memory: Deconstructed Greek salad. I always say the mark of a great chef/cook is one who can cook an ingredient that someone doesn't like but work with such stellar ingredients and with such skill that the person becomes a convert. Well, my wife hates cucumbers and any sort of goat cheese or feta. Not anymore! Softshell crab. Some kind of fish on some kind of eggplant. Lamb leg with peas and ramps. This was the highlight. It was a definite holy shit moment. I believe my exact words on the first bite were, "it's like eating Spring!" Cinnamon ice cream with graham cracker crumbles. Chocolate ganache cake-thing with nuts and mint ice cream. This was mint ice cream unlike anything I've ever had. Chocolate chip cookies. ... I really need to start bringing a notepad or something. I've been eating a lot of fine dining lately where the dishes are technically flawless but lack passion. Think a robotic violinist. The food at Trummer's was like Joshua Bell playing a Stradivarius, except Joshua Bell's brain, talent, and passion were put into a genetically-engineered í¼berfrau with the body of Christina Hendricks and the face of January Jones. This was absolutely the best meal I've had since Komi. Oh, and the service was impeccable, balancing the line between professional dignity and friendly rapport, much as Christina Hendrick's breasts balance perfectly on either side of her cleavage. The space is as beautiful as the food: modern without being tacky, traditional and classic without being old-fashioned, all those things without being trite; much like Christina Hendrick's breasts. Frequent visitors to DR.com know that I'm always lamenting the lack of fine dining in this part of NoVA, my only balm up to this point being American Flatbread and Passionfish. But now I say to you, residents living west of Tyson's Corner, you are blessed! And to everyone else: it's worth the trip.

Does anyone know where I might acquire some fire brick locally? Is this something that Merrifield Garden Center might have?

This is a continual battle between me and my wife. When we go to Wegman's to buy seafood, I tend to reach for the frozen stuff based on my assumption that, "it's frozen pretty much right after it's caught, and is therefore fresher than the 'fresh' stuff in the counter." She says she can "taste a difference" between the fresh and the frozen, and prefers the fresh. I inform her that most of the "fresh" seafood in the case is simply frozen seafood that was thawed and then put in the case. Hence, not only is my frozen seafood "fresher," it's actually identical to her "fresh." Who's right and who's wrong?

It just puzzles me that no one else seems to have ever asked this question. Maybe I'm a pioneer...

How come you never see beef confit? It seems to me that brisket or short ribs or any other commonly braised cut of cow would respond well to being confited (for ultimate use in, say, a taco - kind of a carnita-like preparation). What strikes me as equally puzzling is that, after several Google searches, no one else seems to even be asking this question... So... why not? Is there something about beef that, unlike pork, chicken, or duck, makes it unsuitable to being slow-cooked in its own fat and left to develop in the fridge for several weeks?

I forgot about this... So what?

Homemade corn tortillas Pork confit crisped with bacon, chipotle, lime, and spices (allspice, coriander, cumin, cinnamon) Tomatillo and avocado salsa Cotija cheese A squeeze of lime Several tequilas