Rieux

Pepe's pizza in New Haven.

I work nearby. I have to say I LOVE going to Grant's bar (the one in the back) at lunch, sitting at the bar, and having a beer and either a walrus burger, fish and chips, or chicken sandwich. It's not gourmet but it is tasty, the bartenders are great to talk to, and it's a nice place for a bar lunch with a colleague for less than $20, all in. it's also got great DC atmosphere and is great for parents, out of towners, etc. It serves a purpose very well, and I'm not sure why people disparage it.

Let's give our hemisphere some love. Tour Brazil (Rio, the Amazon, Bahia, Ilha Grande). Spend a weekend in the middle of the Rupununi in Guyana with Diane McTurk at Karanambu and see giant anteaters, giant river otters and the arapaima, the largest freshwater fish in the world. Go to Patagonia (eat at Mallmann's restaurant) and Antarctica. Visit Macchu Pichu. Spend a weekend in Mexico City and eat at some of the best restaurants in the Hemispherr. All of these are among my favorite life experiences (I've done them all multiple times, except Antarctica and Patagonia which is on my list).

Thanks!

I'm picking up my sister at LaGuardia at 6:45 AM on Saturday morning. We will stop for breakfast afterward somewhere between LaGuardia and our turn-off for CT in Katonah, NY (route - 87N to Saw Mill). Any suggestions on good diners or other breakfast options?

"Rogue 24, Chef RJ Cooper Sued By Partner For Breach Of Contract" by Tim Carman on washingtonpost.com

Sad about this: http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/youngandhungry/2013/12/13/cowgirl-creamery-closing-at-the-end-of-the-month/

Love my fagor.

I've taken a long time to report back on our dinner at Mandalay DC earlier this Month as I've been super busy, but I also needed time to digest (figuratively) the experience. After some reflection, I realized I have a hard time characterizing what I think of the place. As I mentioned upthread, we went for a 1st anniversary dinner on Dec. 1 (the Sunday after Thanksgiving) for the early seating (5:30) of the tasting menu. We were greeted warmly, and brought up to our table. For the entire time we were there, we were the only people in the dining room, which may not mean anything given that it was early on a Sunday, but it did make us feel a bit strange. I'd say that 5-8 people came into the bar downstairs in the 2 hours we were there, but no one was upstairs. Ambiance-wise the room upstairs is also a bit strange. There is nothing on the walls, which makes for a stark scene, (especially with no other people in the room). We both thought that some nice artwork or photos of the Irrawaddy river delta or something similar would have been nice. Or some saffron colored drapes that echo the monk's robes, or some wooden sculptures, or, well, something, for decor. It's not minimalist cool like Komi, right now it feels like a run of the mill place like Spices or Nooshi in terms of decor, furniture, flatware, paper napkins, etc. One really annoying thing: The upstairs and the bar were playing different music and you could hear both (as well as the bar patrons) at the same time. It is maddening hearing two different styles of music simultaneously, especially in an empty dining room with NO ambient noise. Service was excellent. Our server was knowledgeable, helpful, engaging, warm, and attentive. He knew when to engage us in conversation and when to leave us alone. I really liked him. Only slightly irritating thing about service was that I had emailed in advance to let the chef know that I don't eat shrimp (but it's fine as a flavoring agent) and that we would like the tea leaf salad as a course. In the same exchange I mentioned that we would do one non-alcoholic drink pairing and one cocktail pairing (the reservation form tells you to email in advance if you want to reserve this). Our server didn't have the information on the drink preferences (but did have the food preferences), so we had to make it clear when we ordered what drinks we wanted (and I switched to the wine pairing instead of the cocktails). Not a big deal, but if you are going to ask me in advance, it would be nice if it was noted. That said, again, it was no big deal and I really liked the service, and appreciated the email dialogue on food preferences in advance of the meal. The food was overall good to very good. It's been several days so I don't have a pure memory on what we had for all the courses, but I recall liking the spring roll-ish things we had, loving the spiced peanuts, loving the soup (which was served a tad too cool for our taste), enjoying the tea leaf salad (and really appreciating that they accommodated our request for this dish), loving the beef curry, finding the pumpkin curry cold and bland, and thinking that the "street-food" noodle dish (which we took a bite of and decided to bring home instead of eating it there -- you get a LOT of food during the course of the meal) was oily, and at about the same level of what you would expect for a pad see ew at a run of the mill Thai place - not special at all. We had two desserts - a coconut pudding cake, which was great, and another sorbet-based custard dish that was also good. It was nice that they gave us an extra dessert, knowing we were celebrating. Wines were fine - nothing special, nothing bad. Non-alcoholic drink pairing was good, and interesting, but several of the drinks tasted very similar - there was not a lot of major variety. Overall, I left with several passing feelings: 1) Let me start by saying that I want them to do well. I love Burmese food, and much of the food was excellent; 2) Value for money was not great. The food and service were good, but the total cost of the meal was about $250 for two people, and I did not think that the total value package was there. We could have had the tasting menus at Cityzen, Eve, or Obelisk for the same price or an a la carte feast at any number of excellent restaurants (including The Elephant Walk in Boston where I could have had three Cambodian courses in a white tablecloth dining room and several drinks for much less). At close to $125 pp I expect a little more luxury, a few more "Oh my god" moments. While I appreciate the care that went in to preparing the food, a lot of it reminded me of slightly better versions of dishes I could get a lot cheaper elsewhere, or make myself with the Burmese and Cambodian cookbooks I have. Perhaps one factor in the cost is that I understand they only buy enough ingredients for the reservations they have -- with so few reservations there can't be much economy of scale in purchasing. It's not like there were many, if any, naturally pricey ingredients I could see, such as foie gras, etc. (not that I would expect foie in a Burmese restaurant), but my point is that it seems the money from the price is not going into special food costs. 3) The rent on that building cannot be cheap so they need to get more business in there; 4) Mandalay needs to decide on a path -- if they want to keep the tasting menu only focus, they need to work on making the total package more "luxe" to justify the price. It could be as simple as better decor and more buzz, more elegant plating, I don't know.. but they need to do something. It does not need to be "fancy" but it needs to be "special" (quoting these terms as I cannot fully define what I mean by them, it's a feeling). Or, they could decide to move to a traditional menu, which would lead to more repeat business. We left stuffed, and took one dish home. It was a bit of overkill in terms of too much food. If I could come in, get a starter, a main, (say the tea salad or soup and the curry beef?) and a glass of wine and leave $35-60 lighter, I would come back several times and probably become a regular. As it is, I don't see myself going back for the tasting menu any time soon. Wow, this was long - probably my longest post ever. And it's clear I have mixed feelings. I want them to survive. I want them to thrive. Maybe their upstairs model can work if they get more people downstairs in the bar, and even offer a larger a la carte menu there to subsidize upstairs (although then, noise traveling upstairs may impact the tasting menu feel), while making the upstairs feel more special. Lots to like at Mandalay, especially the server, but it does not all quite come together yet.

Don, this is fascinating.

These Nutella-stuffed brown butter chocolate chip cookies with sea salt. Ohmygod! http://thebitesizedbaker.com/2012/09/18/nutella-stuffed-browned-butter-chocolate-chip-cookies-with-sea-salt/

Strange, amazing. I love how they play with 3/4 and 4/4 time. "Some Velvet Morning" by Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra

Yeah, I was already planning on replacing the rice milk with regular old trickling springs 2% Thanks for the invaluable advice you provide on DR, Zora. I have never met you, but from what I've seen on here, I'd trust your advice over most famous "experts!"

So, now I have a Vitamix, and I also got about 2 lbs of jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes) from my parther's parents' farm. I am thinking soup. Anyone have any good recipes? I found this one on the web http://eagleloftkitchen.blogspot.com/2010/10/sunchoke-soup.html but was hoping to find one where I did not have to cook anything in advance and it would just heat up in the blender...

I went to the dc store and got one Friday. No crowds, no lines. Looking forward to figuring out what to make now, beyond smoothies.

Just FYI - Dana Milbank is a man.

Just found this fantastic guide to the ethnic markets of the area online. Really handy, divided by country. Thought I'd share. http://thisfordiplomats.org/media/newsletters/Gourmet_Grocers_finals_final2.2_compressed.pdf

I have heard good things about Alton Brown's turkey recipe http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-roast-turkey-recipe/index.html Has anyone made it? If so, how would you adapt it for a larger (22lb) fresh, organic bird?

I still think that Mount Pleasant would be a great home for Dino.

This is my favorite Cranberry recipe: Spiced Cranberry Sauce with Zinfandel 1 3/4 cups red Zinfandel 1 cup sugar 1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar 6 whole cloves 6 whole allspice 2 cinnamon sticks 1 3x1-inch strip orange peel 1 12-ounce bag fresh cranberries Combine all ingredients except cranberries in medium saucepan. Bring to boil over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat and simmer until reduced to 1 3/4 cups, about 10 minutes. Strain syrup into large saucepan. Add cranberries to syrup and cook over medium heat until berries burst, about 6 minutes. Cool. Transfer sauce to medium bowl. Cover and refrigerate until cold. (Can be made 1 week ahead. Keep refrigerated.) On another note, any suggestions for good stuffing recipes? I made Bittman's recipe last year and it was awful.

I had a similar experience last week when making tuscan white bean and kale soup. I forgot to soak the beans, and also forgot to start cooking early in the day, so there was zero chance that the dried cannellini beans I had bought would be cooked enough before dinner. 20 minutes later with the use of the pressure cooker and dinner was saved. I've only had it a year, but it really is handy.

I can never find spicy enough Dijon (except for when I bring it back from France, but it runs out quickly). I have found that the best dijon easily available seems to be trader joe's. Seriously. My French friends who live here now say it is the only one they will buy.

Made a reservation for our anniversary on Dec 1 in the tower. Looking forward to Burmese food as we had it in Cambodia and it was great. I'm hoping that we won't experience the same service issues and that we will be able to take our time. I'll report back.

Hmm. My oven was at 450 and the extra thermometer verified this. I think I went wrong on two things -- First, I used a Le Creuset roasting pan that might have been a bit crowded and, second, after I arranged the chicken in the pan I poured the marinade over it, rather than on the sides of it (and thought that what I was doing was dumb, right as I was in the middle of it). That combination of factors probably did me in. Next time I will also use the convection setting in my oven. That should help.

Try Cause: A Philanthropub on 9th st. I attended a bar night for a friend's charity there recently.