KeithA

Per my 5 year old comment above, I continue to live nearby and regularly frequent Vace. Hands down if you love onions - go and get the white onion pizza - by the slice or like me a whole pie. It is the bomb! So good when I lost track of time today reheating a piece from last night thereby burning it - it still tasted better than most other pizza. Not burnt - it is divine (note: they never burn it, that was butterfingers here).

I'm not a sushi chef by any means, but I think it is pretty common practice to pre-cut raw fish - but a good place will do this on a daily basis. Not sure if really high end places cut fish per order - "a la minute." More importantly - how did it taste? I've always been very happy with Kaz over the years and usually go a handful or more times each year. My favorites are the seared salmon belly and salmon with mango sauce.

Went for lunch today for the first time - had a pastrami on rye. I agree with Pork Belly's comments on the pastrami - good but a bit too much fat. Although for an extra buck they'll give you lean pastrami (or lean corn beef). Definitely better pastrami than most, but I still think DGS is the best in town. Happy to report that they now serve pickles (as many as you want in a bowl that will get refilled for free) and I was asked whether I wanted half or full sour. This is where they shine compared to DGS that gvies you 1 measly half sour with a sandwich and requires ordering a separate pickle plate (albiet an excellent pickle plate). Meat is made or at least cut in house and pickles seemed homemade too - rather good traditional sours, if a bit extra salty. Rye bread was rather good too. The sandwich was $11 and a rather generous portion of meat and small cup of coleslaw. Rather good value. Overall a nice addition to the DC deli scene. What they need to work on is the service. It is odd you enter and are immediately in the small dining room with tables and a bar midway back. No one greets you and you don't know whether you are supposed to sit or wait to be seated. Then, the 2 bartenders and 1 waitress are running around nuts covering too many tables. There were several tables at lunch, but the place was still only 2/3 full and so they should have been able to handle this lunch rush. Hopefully, they'll get the service issues worked out. Regarding the value, if you are a real fresser (big eater) get the Russo's Tower which is this huge triple decker selection of deli meats and coleslaw that the guy next to me at the bar was thoroughly enjoying.

I've been meaning to try this dish and am going back soon. What was creative about it?

Great lunch today - had the $15 special which comes with 3 courses and a soft drink - nice value. Better than the value was most of the food was really good and only 1 small quibble. The starter is a sample of 3 dips - hummus (a bit too heavy with the tehina leading to chalky taste - but this was the only minus the whole meal), htipi (great feta/bell pepper combo), and cacik (yogurt similar to tzatiki but different spicing) - last two were great. Also the fresh, pillowy pita was excellent (and I'm a bit of a pita snob). Main course has lots of choices - I opted for the Adana kebab - lamb/beef combo with a bit of heat - was really good and lighter since the meat wasn't packed too tough. Dessert is a small pistachio baklava which was served a bit warm and very nutty flavored (less honey syrup than is commonly over used). The pita also comes with fruity olive oil and bit of olive tapenade that was also very tasty. Going to have to add this to the lunch rotation. Also I see no one has commented on this place in over a year. This was my second time here, the last one being sometime for an early dinner several months ago where I was also impressed but don't remember the details.

Last week stopped by for lunch and had the lamb chili for the first time. Rather good - it is a mildly hot, tomato base with chunks of good lamb, a mix of beans, some cruchy chickpeas, and a good dollop of their yogurt harissa. Good deal at $6 for a bowl size. They also now have milkshakes. I opted for the salted caramel nutella cookie shake - which was good but needed a more even ratio of nutella cookies to caramel ice cream. So it had too much caramel flavor and not enough cookie. I have yet to try the nutella cookies on their own but definitely worth a munch on my next visit.

Last weekend we got a carryout feast from LT in Woodley Park/DC and everything was very good as usual: different schwarmas sandwiches with great turnip and carrot pickles on the side, baba ghanoush, hummus, fatayer b'spinach (really good as always), falafel (extra good tehini sauce and I don't really like it), and chicken kabob. I also tried something new which was very good - Ouzi with meat/rice grape leaves. A braised lamb dish on rice - super moist, tender and flavorful meat and the meat grape leaves were very good too. Nice new addition to the rotation - especially because I love lamb ;-)

I recommend you do it half-way, use Trader Joe's cornbread mix - super simple to add extra ingredients and make. It is on the sweeter side but still a good bread crumb, we love it and when we bring it for potlucks people all love it.

I've never had it either but I used to work with a bunch of people from Buffalo and the main difference is the special weck roll. I would say if you like your typical horseradish sauce or french dip roast beef - give it a try - but it may not be all that different. I agree there are lots of regional specialities with unique names that aren't very different from standard fare - like Tiger Sauce in Baltimore is basically horseradish mayo whereas I believe Beef on Weck is usually just prepared horseradish.

Where is Bangkok Garden? How different is it than your typical Thai place - different regional food? better quality? or just more heat? I'm all for better quality and different/less common international cuisine, but I could care less if I get the "authentic" level of heat. So many chiliheads out there are desperate for super heat that I find just burns and masks all of the other flavors.

While I love Number 1 Sons and other pre-made pickles they are too expensive so this summer I grew my own veggies and went pickling mad. Here is a link to my post in the Canning topic on the lessons I learned from the Summer of the Pickle (my poor wife - she doesn't even like them): http://www.donrockwell.com/index.php?/topic/379-canning-and-preserving/page-6#entry274957

My kirby cucumber plants are starting to wane but I'm not done making pickles just yet. Anyone know of a good farm stand (or even a farm) in DC or not too far outside where I could get a large quantity of kirby/pickling cucumbers? I've really gone a bit nuts making pickles this summer. I experimented with all different kinds of brines and spices, but since I didn't know which ones I'd like I didn't can any of them. So I have about 8 pints of assorted pickles in my fridge that are getting devoured. Now I want to make some more with the flavors that worked best and actually can them for eating later in the year. Here are some of my trial by error tips I discovered by reviewing and breaking the rules in recipes: 1. Don't use premade pickling spice - it is boring. Make your own blend of whatever you like. I found that I like about 5 black peppercorns, 2-3 garlic cloves (whole or crushed a bit, but not chopped), a big heaping TB of mustard seeds and another TB of coriander seeds were great as an all purpose blend. 2. Don't slice vegetables into rounds (except for same hour/day quick pickles) - they get floppy and there is no need. If the cucumber or other vegetable is too big, then slice into spears 3. Don't use dill seeds, celery seeds or other spices that you don't really like just because they are traditional. I did use dill seeds in some recipes and found them to be ok. 4. Be adventuresome with your spices - fresh or ground spices both work (if ground you need to shake it up occasionally). I liked using ground curry powder, garam masala, cumin, turmeric, pieces of ginger to make Indian spiced pickles (worked especially well with zucchini spears) and I also add fresh rosemary, thyme, oregano for an Italian spice blend. 5. Add heat - 2-3 dried fiery chili peppers like chili de arbol worked great in a pint jar (possibly a bit hot for some) - sliced jalapenos don't work as well. Or add some heaping TBs of prepared horseradish for horseradish pickles. 6. Try all kinds of vegetables - I had great success with cucumbers, zucchini, okra.and Vietnamese style carrot/daikon radish. This was a great use for oversized garden zucchini (you know that spawn on you all of sudden when you are out of town or that hide under a bush till too late) - just cut them down to size and cut off a bit of the extra seedy center. Next batch is beets. 7. When not doing more complex spice blends, it is better to ferment for a cheaper and tastier sour pickle. Out of 4 fermented pints I made, 3 successfully fermented (I think I messed up the covering on the 4th) and were some of the best pickles all summer. 8. Use a variety of vinegars - I found plain white vinegar to be too harsh, so I switched to cider and milder rice vinegars depending on whether it was a sweeter pickle (cider) or more sour (rice). Also, I found blending in balsamic with white vinegar to give a flavor boost. I'm sure you could use other more expensive vinegars too. 9. Don't cook the vegetables in the boiling brine - some recipes call for this and it ruined the crispness of the veggies. It is much better to cook the brine to dissolve any sugar and infuse liquid with whole spices, and then pour over veggies packed into jars. Finally, I know I sound like these guys: http://youtu.be/yYey8ntlK_E

Stopped by for lunch today forgetting it was RW - but I managed to find an appetite for the 3 courses (it helps to be a chazzer). I got the brussel sprouts side as a app which were very good. Similar to alot of places roasted crispy sprouts with thin onion slices but significantly elevated by the addition of lightly roasted grapes - salty, crispy and sweet - great combo of flavors. Then for my sandwich entree I had the Andrea's Delight - corned beef, coleslaw, russian dressing (minus the swiss) - a classic deli sandwich. It was very good - but I think I missed the pastrami. The corned beef was very good, but that aggressive smoky pastrami is some of the best I've ever had (right up there with Langers and Katzs). For dessert, chocolate babka bread pudding with salted caramel ice cream - similarly rich, but not too much so and delish. Not really sure why it was called babka as it was basically baked bread pudding with chocolate chunks in it - but no need to quibble over the mislabeling (fyi - babka is typically a bread like cake swirled with chocolate, cinnamon, etc. so I was expecting a thick slice of babka missed with cream, etc. and baked, but just letting others no - no complaints). The ice cream wasn't too strong on the caramel and mildly sweet so that added good balance to the dish, but avoided being cloyingly sweet. My one complaint (and it is a deli, so customer have to have at least 1 complaint) is that they still bring your sandwich with a half-sour pickle spear. Half-sours are basically weak pickled in my book. Why oh why can't I get a real full sour pickle (I should remember to ask next time) That being said, their half-sour is much better than the salty, barely pickled cukes you find at most places. Now I just need to avoid taking a schluf after all the essen :-)

Actually, the link above provides a dough recipe with no cheese - it is pareve/dairy free. Most of the knish dough recipes I looked at are very similar - typically they have oil or chicken schmaltz and no cheese. A few replace these fats with butter. The link does provide two fillings - traditional potato onion and a more modern one which uses cream cheese, potatos, kale and leeks. I've seen some references to sweet knishes with cheese and/or fruit fillings and I bet some of those recipes use sour cream or cream cheese as part of the dough - kind of like a rugelach or cinnamon roll dough.

You know you are a food-obsessive when you keep getting and reading more books about food and restaurants and then you try to make them. I've recently been reading "Knish" so of course I tried my hand at making these Jewish filled dough delights. I used the recipe from Smitten Kitchen - but since I only have enough 2/3 of the required potatos, I used sauteed parsnips for the final third of the filling. I also was a bit lazier and didn't fully carmelize the onions. Also I only baked them for about 25-30 minutes, not the seemingly too long 45 minutes in the recipe. Regardless they turned out awesome, and were surprisingly easy - the dough is not very sticky and very stretchy - my 5 year old loved helping to pinch it together. My wife and I really thought the parsnip added a nice accent flavor to the potato. I also did some research comparing recipes and found this one to be the best for traditional baked knishes that you get in at a deli. Now I need to come up with some more fun filling options for batch #2. Any ideas? Also if anyone has any tips for kasha knishes, please send they are my mother in law's favorite and likely to be in a batch soon.

The meats tastes are very different. Stachowski is very peppery and aggressively spiced (probably more than any other pastrami I've had and one of the reasons it isn't my favorite IMHO) whereas Singer is almost under spiced. When I ate Singer's at the pop up I asked them to double check they hadn't given me the corned beef. In terms of pricing, Stachowski is definitely less expensive even a bargain for artisanal pastrami (isn't that an oxymoron ;-) in the DC area. I think Singer's pricing is pretty normal compared to other specialty cured meat places like DGS and Wagshal's. All of it is more expensive than mass-produced meat. All of that being said, I think they are both good quality products, but different tastes that will appeal to different people. Here is my personal ranking of local deli meats: 1. DGS's pastrami - rich, smoky, spicy and supremely flavorful (I haven't tried their corned beef yet - it is too hard to pass up the pastrami) 2. Wagshal's smoked meat - smoky, not spicy 3. Singer's corned beef - melt in your mouth but with some good fat 4. Stachowski's roast beef dip - not spiced, but great beefy flavor (the pastrami is good too but I think its flavor is mostly pepper and I don't like the gargantuan sandwich) 8. Parkway Deli - corned beef and pastrami are reheated, mass-produced Saval but they are tradition - still good, but much less so hence the #8. I also used to love Attman's in Baltimore for corned beef, pastrami and hot dogs but I haven't been in years (nor made it to the Cabin John one yet) so it doesn't make the list. I'm sure I've left off some good ones here and there are some local notable places I've never tried like Deli City but these are the one's that I regularly return too - DGS just makes my mouth water.

I concur with all of the suggestions above especially add good quality jams/jelly to plain yogurt for the best fruit yogurt ever. I'd also say you can cook down the sweet jellies and jams a bit with some water and make a very nice fruit syrup topping for vanilla ice cream or other desserts. Or mix and simmer a bit with maple syrup for a fruited breakfast syrup. Good jams/jellies/etc shouldn't go to waste.

My sandwich wasn't pressed but they may use it on some other ones. When you walk in you can see them making the food so I'm sure you could ask for an unpressed sandwich,.

First time ever at Lunchbox (never made it to Frederick) and was disappointed. Had the Southern Fried Bahn Mi sandwich - fried chicken, liver spread, pickle, herbs, and bread. I think I may have chose badly and they need to work out the kinks. I got a to go order even though I said it was for here (not busy either as it was well after the lunch rush), then opened my box to find a good size very soft bread roll (not sure how that is a baguette at all - more like a soft, bit sweet portguese roll) with about half filled with the rest of the sandwich. $10 for literally a smallish fried chicken tenderloin that wasn't anything special, maybe 2 pickle chips, 2 cilantro leaves, a mayo spread and liver spread. The liver spread was not at all to my taste, but even when I removed most of it - the rest of the sandwich was meh. It looked like most of the fillings were on the smallish side to for the sandwiches. maybe next time a salad. Hopes for another high-quality lunch spot - dashed (at least temporarily till they get their act together and I find something better to try).

Ok, so who else is up for a trip to Kos to try that great looking gyro! This is how it is always traditionally done and how you end up with lamb and beef combo - they put different layers of different meat on the spit. Completely different than your standard pressed meat cone that many shops buy pre-made. Always look at the spinning spit to see if you can identify the layers of meat (typically still visible even after carved down a lot) - if it is all uniform then you know it wasn't made the traditional way like in this video.

I've been a big fan of the Greek Deli for years, but I've always thought their gyro was weak. They do much better at their long baked and roasted items like the casseroles, chicken, and lamb (hmm...the lamb is so good). So despite the similarity, I think GRK with its spits and yogurt might be more complementary and less competitve.

I've tried sliced cucumbers in a few different leftover brines and mostly been failures. I think if you have a stronger brine and maybe cooked the vegetables in it for a bit (as I've seen some recipes call for 3-8 minutes of simmering before ladling into the jar) that you might have some success. I do need some help here too as I'm about to finish eating through 3 jars of great homemade pickles and would love to not waste what is likely a quart plus of brine.

I agree. I went to the Hamilton for the first time several weeks ago and pleasantly surprised by the good quality and tastiness of the bento box. The desserts were decadent and good too. Nice venue and pretty good food for decent prices - definitely worth a visit.

Had lunch here today for first time. Not too impressed except with the cheap prices. Lunch specials are $7-9 with a good variety of meat, seafood, and vegetarian choices and come with naan, rice, and "vegetable of the day" (today it was a chickpea curry). The food was passable but somewhat bland for Indian. The rice was super plain, the naan lacked flavor (even though it appeared to be made to order), the Aloo Gobi (cauliflower/potato curry) had some spice but i think it mostly turmeric for coloring, and the chickpea curry was ok. I may try again to at least see if the meats are worthwhile. If Indique would be open for lunch M-Th I would never come here but alas they are not. So for dinner or Friday lunch, I would definitely stick to Indique for pricier, but much better Indian food.

I recently posted under Zucchini about a new recipe I tried/modified for Italian-spiced zucchini pickles - I've also been making somewhat traditional cucumber pickles with white vinegar or by fermentation with common pickling spice recipes (mustard seeds, coriander, peppercorns, garlic, dill and sometimes add jalapeno slices). So far these dill or garlic pickles have been ok, but after the zucchini ones I'm seeking more unusual spice combos to maximize the fun of doing custom homemade pickles instead of merely recreating pickles you buy elsewhere. Anyone have any good, unusual pickle recipes? (I'm thinking different spices and/or vinegar combos). Preferably good for cucumbers or zuchini since i have lots of those in the garden this summer. Also, when you make spicy pickles how do you like to add the heat - fresh, dried chilis (if so, what kind?) or dried red pepper flakes? Thanks.