Pete

I ate at Emilio's about 4 weeks ago. The pizza was serviceable enough, but not worth a special trip.

Can good Pho be found in/near Vienna (Virginia, not Austria)?

I'm sure that this is not a regional specialty in Italy: Lasagna Pizza

We had already put the cheese in a rubbermaid container and have an open box of A&H in the fridge yet the fridge still smells like feet. Oh well. Maybe we need to double-up on the baking soda and give the fridge a good cleaning. Thanks!

I have not tried using this, but if you have an American Express card there are a few area restaurants that you can get discounts at. AMEX Dining Offers

Yes, but they just call it "thin crust".

Last night was leftover night: Gazpacho with grilled shrimp. Cheese course including Epoisse and a smoked cheddar Note: stinky cheese + refrigerator = stinky refrigerator

I found the 2005 Horton Viognier for $13.50 at Wegman's. They offer 5% discounts for case purchases.

The previous owners of our house spent a lot of money remodeling the kitchen, which included knocking down a couple of walls to open the kitchen up to the living room/dining room, double oven, stainless appliances, granite, etc. However, there are 2 things that really bother us about the kitchen: 1. Flooring - they put in white ceramic tiles, which show lots of dirt, and are incredibly slippery. I have almost whacked my head on the countertops several times in the 7 weeks we have been in the house. In addition, the flooring was probably put directly on top of the previous flooring. As a result, there is a large threshold that separates the flooring from the kitchen with the flooring in the living room/dining room. Therefore, when you sit at the island in the kitchen, you cannot move the bar stool without bumping into the flooring threshold. We are eventually going to rip out the flooring in the kitchen/living room/dining room and put in hardwood. 2. Sink placement - the sink is placed in the corner, which is, in theory, a good idea. However, THEY DID NOT PUT IN A CORNER SINK!!! They bought a regular sink and installed it on an angle. The sink sits too far back from the edge of the counter. As a result, you have to lean over quite a bit to wash dishes, which puts a tremendous strain on your back. Unfortunately, I don't think there is much we could do about this without destroying the granite countertops.

Willard's Real Pit BBQ in Chantilly serves burnt ends. I think it is a standard item on their menu.

Per their website, Schneider's is selling the 2004 vintage for $15.99. I find it interesting that on Horton's website they are only selling the 2001 Viognier ($10/bottle).

Paula and I had an amazing dinner at the CityZen bar on Saturday night. It was the last night of service as they are closed for the next 3 weeks. As others have stated, the 3-course dinner at the bar is a steal. We were there for 2 hours at primetime on a Saturday night, yet we were the only ones eating at the bar. The bartender (Scott) was very friendly and personable, helped by the fact that we were basically the only people in the bar for most of the night. The breads that they were offering included a bacon and cheese bread, a Guinness rye, and a sourdough. All 3 breads were very good; however, the sourdough was the best of the lot with a firm crust and soft interior. My pleas for Parker House Rolls were met with empathy; however, they are only available in the main restaurant. Our amuse was a mushroom fritter with white truffle oil. One small bite that exploded in your mouth and was full of flavor. My appetizer was a carpaccio of Japanese Hiramasa with avocado, mango, and shichimi (a 7-spice seasoning). If you are a sushi fan you will enjoy this dish. Slices of hiramasa were laid out on the plate along with additional cubes of hiramasa, avocado and mango. The combination worked very well together. Paula had the Sweetbreads with mascarpone potato puree and a poached egg. She proclaimed the sweetbreads as the best she has ever had. My one bite that I was allowed reaffirmed her proclamation. Entrees consisted of the veal shortribs for me and the John Dory for Paula. The shortribs were served with glazed baby carrots, fingerling potatoes, all surrounded by a spinach puree. The veal looked tender but was actually a little tough to cut; however, I think that might have had more to do with a dull knife as opposed to a tough cut of meat. Regardless, the shortrib/spinach puree combination worked very well together, and the baby carrots had a very bright, fresh flavor. Paula enjoyed her broiled John Dory, which was served with squash in a smoked vegetable broth. For desserts, we split the Peach Melba and the cheese course. The Peach Melba was served with a brown sugar cake and a vanilla sabayon. Very tasty. The cheese course was fantastic. Prior to bringing out the cheeses we were asked if we had any likes or dislikes. I quickly said “we like stinky cheeses!” They brought us out a tray with about 4 generous servings, which consisted of a gorgonzola, a sheep’s milk cheese, a gouda, and something else (memory is a bit foggy). One of the managers explained each of the cheeses in great detail, and also apologized because they didn’t have a lot of stinky cheeses that night (which was not necessary). One of the cheeses was a dark orange color that both Paula and I thought resembled dried mango. It had the texture and mouthfeel of a parmigiano reggiano. Hopefully, Paula can shed some better light on the cheeses served. Two glasses of wine for each of us plus a cup of coffee quickly inflate the $45pp 3-course menu; however, I still feel like we got a fantastic deal. I am looking for any excuse I can come up with to go back and eat at the bar (or the main restaurant) once it re-opens. I apologize if parts of this write-up read like bad porn.

Apparently, he has also introduced "the now famous Salad Bar concept" to the Washington, DC area. Squire Rockwell

Quite the opposite! Put out the good stuff first and then the plonk. Once people are good and toasty they won't taste the difference between Opus One and Black Opal.

I really enjoyed the Morey Saint Denis 2000 Pinot Noir on my last visit.

Restaurant Eve is closed on Sundays. What about Firefly or Corduroy?

Looks like José Andrés and Katsuya Fukushima will be competing on Iron Chef America this fall. Weekly Dish

At least they got the Best Steaks award correct. Congratulations, Michael! Great, now Ray's will be so popular that we will never be able to get a table there.

Some writer at the Washingtonian named Don Rockwell wrote an article about Sake a few months back, which might be of help. A New Rice Age

I ate once at the Fairfax location. I found the burritos to be fairly bland. I much prefer Baja Fresh or Chipotle despite all of the California Tortilla coupons that we used to get in the mail.

Wow! I didn't know that they had a Vienna location. We used to go to the Fairfax location every once-in-awhile when we lived 5 minutes from there (Apparently, we now live 5 minutes from the Vienna location. They must be following us...or we are following them). I enjoyed going there for dinner, as it was fairly quiet and the servers were very friendly. We were always fairly happy with what we ordered. I can get a nice, big pastrami sandwich on good rye bread with a Dr. Brown's black cherry soda and a very tasty potato knish. Breakfast is also pretty good there as well. I was not a fan of their Matzo ball soup, though. One of my favorite sandwiches is the Bucko 46, which is roast beef, grilled onions, and mozzarella chees on toasted garlic bread. They also make a very respectable Weiner Schnitzel. Deli meats can be purchased by the pound, but I have never ordered them. However, they do sell Fox's U-Bet chocolate syrup, which always puts a smile on my face. It is not a kosher deli by any stretch, but it is a very good deli in an area where Subway and Quiznos are considered the standard.

Not much talk about Colvin Run around here. Has anybody been recently?

Oh well. I guess I should cancel the U-Haul that I rented. All kidding aside, this is a very generous offer and we hope to be able to stop by on Saturday.

The following stories are 100% true. I would like to state for the record that I was a newbie cook for the first two stories and an absent-minded cook for the third one. I am posting this with the full understanding that any credibility that I may have had (or imagined that I had) on this board will be lost and can never be recovered. Shortly after college my roommates and I were hosting a New Year’s Eve party. I made my “trusty” baked ziti (boil ziti, add sauce, add cheese, bake), but wanted to make something else. I saw a recipe for black bean dip that sounded interesting. The recipe called for 2 cloves of garlic. However, given my limited kitchen skills, I did not know that: A. 1 clove of garlic is not the same as 1 head of garlic. B. Taking off the outer paper from the head of garlic is not the same as pealing the garlic. I put all of the ingredients into the “Rocket Chef” (yes, I was the one person that bought that contraption) and gave it a whirl. The end result (which I served, but never actually tasted) was a chunky unpeeled garlic dip with black beans. Not surprisingly, it was not exactly the hit of the party. Around the same general time as the black bean dip disaster above, I decided to make a pineapple fritter-type dessert. This was my first experience deep-frying anything. I bought a bunch of vegetable oil, heated it to the correct temperature, prepared the pineapple per the recipe, dropped them into the oil, retrieved them, and drained them. Everything was going well up to this point. I wanted to clean up the kitchen fairly quickly; however, the oil was too hot to handle. I figured that I could drop some ice cubes into the oil to cool it down. BIG MISTAKE! Next thing I know, it is like the 4th of July in the kitchen. Oil is shooting out of the pot all over the kitchen. I grab the lid, shield my face with a towel, bravely make my way over to the pot, and slam the lid onto it. 8 years later, I can still see the oil stains in the kitchen when I visit my friends who still live there. I was fairly disaster-free for several years until about 6 months ago (although Paula may feel differently), when I decided to make BBQ sauce. All the ingredients were simmering away in the pot when I went to watch TV. I forgot to set the timer, and 2 hours later I go back into the kitchen to discover a cloud of smoke and a ruined pot filled with BBQ cement. I will now go sit in the corner and suck my thumb.

Mickey's Malt Liquor - half the taste, but twice the hangover.