Rieux

Best world in Mt P usually has them, as does El Progreso, but call first

Thanks, I'll do 2 lbs! You are awesome!

Thanks, Zora. This is a good starting point for me, but I am going to have to try to figure out quantities on all this. I consider myself a good cook, but it's hard to figure out how many tomatillos, poblanos, and how much pork. On the other ingredients I can figure it out. Would you think: 1 onion 2 garlic cloves 1/2 lb tomatillos 4 lb bone-out shoulder 3 poblanos?

Does anyone have a good recipe for the green pork chile you find in Colorado? Not looking for the sauce, but the thicker stuff your eat from a bowl. Thanks!

Beau Thai had a 1 hour 30 minute wait for delivery, so we decided to try out the new Zabver Thai (which for now is only take-out, and 3 tables to eat at in take out containers) on Mt. Pleasant street (the old Adam Express location). WOW. First of all the place has had a total makeover - it is still small, and mainly take-out (with three tables) but it looks MUCH better and is WAY cleaner. Also, there is a whole new kitchen in the back. The owners, a husband and wife team, are two of the nicest people I have ever met in a restaurant - seriously. They really are happy to be in the neighborhood, want to get to know their customers, and are just delightful. When I got there they were busy with take out and a couple of tables eating in. The menu is a large assortment of mostly Thai dishes. A lot of things looked good - i ordered the Golden Triangle, curry puffs, veggie spring rolls, and Penang curry with chicken (thai spicy). The owner wanted to make sure I wanted it Thai spicy, and she seemed tickled pink I was ordering it that way. She was happy to show me where she wrote it on the order. I heard a lot of other orders being ordered Thai spicy, so I think the secret is out that you can get real hot food there. While I waited I chatted with the owner - they are planning on doing take out soon, and are also renovating the upstairs to become a dining room. They wanted to start small and grow into the space, which seems wise. The chef is the original chef from Kanlaya Thai (from back when it was great). The spring rolls and golden triangles were both better versions than the typical, but not revelatory. The curry puffs were the best I have ever had, and the dipping sauce was exceptional. The penang curry was indeed Thai spicy, and rich. It's the best one I have had in the city. I am really looking forward to ordering from them again, and I wish them a lot of success.

Tried the new Coppi's last night. Short version - fine, but I think it lost something in the move. We had a reservation, and arrived a bit early. The host seemed harried -- I think the reservation system was down. No biggie, we sat at the bar, had a drink, and eventually were sat at a table (right around when our reservation was - as I said, we arrived early). We ordered the wood oven roasted chard with ricotta, pine nuts, and raisins, which I remembered had been a favorite at the old location. It was excellent - I could eat this all day. I ordered the Siracusa pizza - sausage, hot peppers, feta, tomato sauce, olives. The combination of flavors was really nice, the crust was good (could have used a little more char), and I enjoyed it. At around $17 for a medium (which is basically a personal pizza), it may have been a dollar or two over-priced - but maybe it is because the ingredients are organic. My partner's spaghetti and meatballs with tomato sauce was, we both thought, bland and needed flavor. And, at a whopping $27 for an entree size - WAY overpriced for what it was. I could get a much better plate of pasta at Casa Nonna or Osteria Moroni for less. Also, my partner had a fever tree tonic water and a ginger beer and each (which were served in an airplane bottle size) was $5. I had two glasses of "sustainable" wine, which were fine, and reasonably priced. The old Coppi's always seemed a little more expensive than it should be, but the service, warm decor (with the wood, brick walls, and prominent wood oven), organic ingredients, and food made you feel ok paying a little more than you wanted to for what you got. The new location has the same photos as the old one up on the walls, but the feeling is just totally different. The lack of the wood floor (it is an ugly tile) and white walls make the whole place seem very pedestrian - almost like a airport restaurant. They might be able to bring the old warmth back by painting the walls a darker color and dimming the lights -- I could see how that would help. Our server was delightful, even if it took way too long between our appetizer and our entree and the general feeling of service was chaotic in the room. I was excited to go to Coppi's again - I had always really liked the U st location and had a lot of good memories there. Unfortunately, the new location didn't instantly fall into the same place. Maybe I'll try it again with time, but with so many other places in DC now to get pizza and pasta, I am not sure. If they could bring back some of the old feeling, I'd be more likely to return.

Forgot to add, Tierra Colorada is supposed to be the best restaurant in town, but we did not go as I spent a lot of time with our local staff and its a bit pricey for them (but normally priced by US salary standards)

If you happen to find yourself in Asuncion, I can report on a few places. One night we ate at the delightful Mercadito restaurant, where you can sit outside, have half a bottle of good Malbec a churrasco cut stuffed with cheese and peppers, and an appetizer of more cheese for $40. It's a good choice. I really liked the meat, and thought it better than the meat we had the night before at O Gaucho restaurant. O Gaucho is a chirrascaria with rodizio (think Fogo de Chí£o) which had good, if not spectacular, meats. I think its overhyped by the locals, but was ok. It's worth trying the local beer (Pilsner) and eating lots of beef (you won't have a choice). On your way out of town stop at the South American Football Association, FIFA's South American institution, to visit the very worthwhile museum.

For clams and mussels I usually do the sit in water for an hour method, which has always worked for me. The trick is to get all the mollusks out of the water without disturbing it too much so that you don't stir up the grit.

"For $1,000, Pop's Sea Bar Offers Free Beer For Life" on dc.urbanturf.com

I live right on the East side of the park in Mt. Pleasant. (Literally one block from the Park). I have a car. For some reason I feel like driving to Dupont or 11th street is closer than the quick spin down Park road or Klingle to Cleveland Park or Van Ness. It is not logical. I need to consciously fight this feeling.

Wouldn't it be amazing if H mart or even Yes Organic opened in this space?

Tom posted in his chat today that the Shack is now taking a limited number of reservations for weekend nights.

I ended up mustering enough energy to can them in two quarts. It was a nice way to get out of bed for a few hours! Thanks for the suggestions. I want to try that slow cook recipe.

I've been in bed since Friday am with a stomach flu, fever, so that's the limitant. I can't really eat most of the things I noramally would. At the same time, my inlaws gave us 20 perfectly ripe organic tomatoes last weekend and they will go bad if I don't do somethng soon (they are in the fridge). I could can them, but is there something else anyone can suggest I could do to make an easy on the stomach soup or something else?

I suggest ottolenghi in Islington and Dishoom Shoreditch. Dishoom's lamb is amazing. Also Tayabbs in Whitechapel for a curry joint with great grilled meats

You should open a restaurant with Sal Minella.

Sopa de ajo? (Garlic). I've never heard of sopa de oja. I've had sopa de olla, and maybe there could be something called sopa de hoja....

Their baguette with ham, cheese, and butter is horrible. With this classic sandwich I expect a nice boiled ham, not something smoky. The sandwich had thich, almost Virginia-style smoked ham instead of a classic french ham. It was not good. And the bread was leaden.

Exceprt from today's Kliman chat below. I can't stand him. He comes off as so judgemental of anyone who doesn't follow his strict ideas about what is right and wrong in dining. Would it be better if these folks ate the injera? Sure. But if they didn't want to, and the restaurant happily served rice, why should he call these people out? He comes off as a real dick. "ARM CHAIR TRAVELING ...: Todd - You posted something to twitter that I didn't understand. It was about an Indian couple eating at an Ethiopian place and you called them arm chair travelers. What does that mean? Isn't it nice or good that they'd try something different? I'm not sure I understand your issue with them and your comment. What'd they do wrong? Todd Kliman: It wasn't a couple "” it was a table of four. And you latched onto the phrase, but have left out the relevant part of the tweet. And the way I used the phrase "” making it a part of a more complicated thought "” you have botched that, too. Three errors in 140 characters. I guess it isn't any wonder that people continually take things out of context in longer, more thoughtful pieces of writing if this kind of a thing can happen with a tweet. What I said was that this group of four was not eating their Ethiopian meal "” which included, from the looks of it, two different preparations of wot "” with injera. They were spooning these wots over bowls of steamed rice. The restaurant is clearly trying to accommodate diners like this, otherwise they wouldn't have rice on hand. (I find that disappointing, but that's another conversation.) What struck me, here, was that the four people at the table were not meeting the cuisine on its terms. They were putting it into their own context "” in effect, eating Ethiopian food as if it were Indian food. I wrote: "Way to armchair travel, guys." Sarcasm. Meaning they weren't immersing themselves in the experience. They weren't armchair traveling as we all do whenever we eat immersively in a restaurant devoted to the cuisine of a faraway place."

I never got around to the Slovenia part of the trip - here goes. We spent several days in an apartment in Kobarid, in the Julian Alps, near the Italian and Austrian borders. Lovely mountain area with a lot of adventure sports. Kobarid has an excellent WWI museum, and they have nicely organized a hiking path from the museum, through the mountains, that takes you to the monument to the 2,000 unknown Italian soldiers who died fighting the Austro-Hungarians in WWI in the cold mountains, and then past some WWI sites, including armaments, trenches, gun towers, etc. Really cool. You also see amazing mountain passes, and cross over the lovely ice-blue Soca river and to a lovely waterfall. We spent the first day doing this, with a stop for lunch at a campground near the river called Campground Lazar. Really surprisingly great food and ambience. We both had very frest, huge greek salads, but the chef was also cooking a number of delicious smelling things in the open hearth fires. That night we splurged and at at Hisa Franko. WOW. LOVELY. Right out of town, we were seated outside on the terrace, next to a stream, with 180 degree mountain views. It's best to reserve right when they open at 7 so you can 1) get a table on the edge of the patio next to the stream, and 2) have light to see the surroundings. You can choose a 3, 5, or 7 course tasting menu. We went with the 5 course, and it was wonderful. I don't recall everything we ate, but I do remember some delicious local trout, excellent lamb, a gazpacho, and a frozen fig dessert that was to die for. The wine cellar is equally amazing, with many local choices. The chef came out to chat, the setting was great, nice company, and the bill was about 70 euros each - well worth it. We had wanted to stay in the inn here, but it was booked. Next time I would definitely try to stay in the inn, and have the breakfast. The next day we took a long drive through the valley to the Vrisic pass, a 50 hairpin-turn pass through the alps. Mountain driving at its best, with great views. We stopped at the town of Kranjska Gora for a late lunch after driving the pass, and had a pleasant meal on the main square at a place I cannot recall. Decent food, nice town - looks like an authentic version of what Vail, CO is trying to look like. We then drove to Lake Bohinij, walked around, and took the Yugoslav-era car train back towards Kobarid (Shaving off over an hour of mountain driving to get back!). The next day we made our way back to Zagreb, with a stop in lovely Lublijana for lunch at restaurant Julia. Lunch was good - I had a traditional dumpling dish, and the set menu prices at lunch are excellent. Lublijana is also known for its chocolate, and we bought some interesting flavors at some of the local shops (lavender, rosemary, etc). The last night before I left we ate in Zagreb at Vinodol, which has a large patio. When we arrived the chef was taking a long-cooked veal dish out of the open hearth oven, and the chef recommended it. It was great, with a nice veal flavor, some wine and herbs, and the smoke from several hours in the wood oven. With some Kozlovic white wine it was a nice dinner to cap my two weeks. In general, I highly recommend Slovenia and Croatia (beyond the coast). Slovenia had all the charm and efficiency of German and Austrian hill and valley towns with a more relaxed Italian culture (and good pizza).

Should have noted, the line grew quickly starting at 4:15 and was probably 125 people deep at five (including Carla Hall, who arrived around 4:45 and waited with the common folk)

We went Saturday. Got in line at 4:10 and were probably 25 people back. Got to host by 5:10. We could have had a choice of tables for three but we had planned to ask for the second seating. They had no issue and said we were likely to be seated around 7:15. I explained we were going home to NW and they said that if they texted us and we were not ready it was no big deal, we could ask to be moved to the next table. At seven we were on our way down there and we got the text. I explained we were about 20 mins away and they said no problem. We got there at 7:15 and were seated shortly thereafter. If you live in DC I think this is the way to go!

This coming Saturday two friends and I want to throw caution to the wind and risk the lines at Rose's. My idea is to get there around 4:30, wait in line, and then put my name on the list for the second seating (we don't really want to eat before 7/8. Is that possible?

Is the Whale Cove Inn still excellent? Thinking about staying 2 nights in Oct.