Pete

Bump. What wine is everyone planning to drink this Thanksgiving? I'm tasked with bringing wine and am planning on bringing 2 reds (TBD) and 1 white (probably Horton Viognier).

I just noticed an Elevation Burger sign in Vienna next to Norm's Beer & Wine in the shopping plaza on the corner of 123 and Branch Road. Based on the construction going on, it will be awhile before it opens.

Waitman, my thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. I met Mrs. B at a few DR events and she was always so warm and friendly.

The CIty Paper got it wrong with Restaurant Eve. The Tasting Room at Resaurant Eve was dropped from this year's list. The Bistro at Restaurant Eve was added this year.

After pumpkin picking with my 5-year old at Great Country Farms, we stopped in Purcellville for lunch on Monday. I remembered having a nice meal at Lowry's 4 years ago. However, I was not in a seafood mood, did not know about their fried chicken, did not realize that Market Burger was closed on Mondays, and did not know that this place existed. Instead, we wound up at McDonald's.

Our children's pediatrician is a few blocks from Pastry Xpo, so I use this as an excuse to get over to Pastry Xpo. I have been happy with most everything that I have gotten here, including the raspberry bars and fruit-filled croissants. However, I can't resist the Herb Thyme Croissant, which is a "must-get" every thyme I am here....so good. Prices seem a little bit higher than they should be. I don't know how much of a lunch rush they get, but it has never seemed busy in the morning. Hopefully, when the rest of the Mosaic district opens up they will get some more foot traffic. For those that care about these things, they serve Illy coffee.

Paula and I had a terrific lunch at Sea Pearl back in July. I forgot that I didn't post about it. This was my first time at the restaurant, and I could not believe how large a space it is. To start, we split the PEI Mussels with white wine, jalapeno, garlic, ginger, and soy sauce. There were a couple of mussels that did not open; however, this was an extremely generous portion and would make a very nice lunch on its own. The jalapeno provided just enough eat to compliment rather than overpower. Any leftover sauce was mopped up with the remaing bread. For our mains, paula had the "Pork Belly Tiger Bites", which was served in a steamed chinese bun. The pork belly was very tender and flavorful. I had the Grilled Yellow Fin Tuna Tortilla, which is basically a tuna burrito (props to the server for asking me how I wanted the tuna cooked). I really enjoyed this dish, as the tuna was properly cooked and was not overwhelmed by the other ingredients. This was served with garlic fries, which were delicious. Service was attentive but not overwhelming. The lunch portions are ample and the prices are reasonable, especially given the quality of the food and ambiance of the restaurant. This is a great lunch option for those who want a relaxing atmosphere and can spare more than 30 minutes for a lunch break.

Yes, it was nice to see you both again, at a sushi joint. This was only the second time that we have dined in at Sushi Yoshi given our 18-month old's affinity for throwing food (and plates and chopsticks) when she is done. Other than the obligatory cucumber roll for our 5-year old, we tried their "small plates" menu for the first time. My memory is a little hazy but, although nothing "wowed" us, I remember the pork dishes were the strongest. We order carry-out from here at least once or twice a month. Our usual carry-out order is the sushi combo for 2 and seaweed salad for the grownups, and the katsu and cucumber roll for the girls. We have always been happy with the quality and freshness of the sushi, and they take great care in packing the hot items separately from the sushi. The a la carte sushi and special rolls menus have some interesting items when we want something other than "our usual". Although we miss, dearly, Sakana Sushi, we are very happy to have Sushi Yoshi for our carry-out sushi cravings.

On Saturday the H Mart in Merrifield was carrying pine nuts that said "Product of the USA". I can't remember the name, but I think they were $18 for 14 ounces. They were located near the registers on the right side just before you get to the produce section.

Good piece by Dave McIntyre. Less acidity, more interest in Nortons.

My Weber Performer got a workout over the Labor Day weekend. We had several neighbors over for dinner Sunday night, which included ribs, pulled pork, and a couple of beer can chickens. I grilled the corn for the Corn and Avocado Salad the night before. I thought about doing a brisket as well; however, some of our neighbors are from Austin, Texas and I knew there was no way I could compete with that. I've put this on my holiday wish list until I get a separate smoker.

FYI, not everybody wears a jacket in the Tasting Room at Eve. Last month I saw a couple of men wearing khaki's and a polo shirt. A year ago a couple was seated next to us and the man was wearing shorts, a t-shirt, and sneakers. Both of these meals were mid-week so perhaps they enforce it more on the weekend.

Thanks for all the recommendations. My friend made a reservation at Lebanese Taverna before I had a chance to give her all of my suggestions.

My friend had booked a dinner for 8 of us for tomorrow night at Sea Pearl. However, she just got a call from them that they are closing tomorrow due to exhaust issues. I know it is last minute, but can anybody recommend a place in Northern Virginia for 8 people at around 8pm? The only other (known) requirement is that it can't be seafood-exclusive. Per OpenTable, Liberty Tavern has some availability. Any other thoughts?

It looks like the boil water advisory has been lifted. We happened to be out of town all weekend and got back yesterday morning, knowing that our power had been out all weekend (we live in Vienna). Early yesterday evening I dumped the contents of our fridge and freezer into the trash (which will thankfully be picked up today). The soy sauce, liquid smoke, and some freezer pops (which somehow were still frozen) were the only items that I didn't pitch (yet). Even though it was double-bagged, the stench from the wedge of grayson cheese in the fridge was overwhelming, and borderline nauseating. We packed up a couple of days worth of clothes and headed to my mother-in-law's house in Fairfax Station since she has power. I got a call from our alarm company last night at 9pm indicating that the gas sensor alarm was going off and 7 fire trucks were outside my house. This definitely was an interesting way to find out that we had power! I raced home and, fortunately, the gas sensor was just a false alarm. After the fire trucks left, I checked the contents of the downstairs freezer, and saw that most of the homemade stocks were completely thawed, and a whole chicken was almost completely thawed. A couple of ribeye steaks still seemed frozen; however, after almost 72 hours without power I will probably pitch everything. The instant read thermometer indicated that the temperature in the freezer was about 44 degrees. There are many tree limbs down in our yard. We lost several hundred dollars worth of groceries (we had just done a big Costco run last week....ugh!). However, seeing the destruction and hearing the horror stories of others, we count ourselves lucky.

I agree completely with Waitman on this. There are 5 words out of a 167 word post that could be questionable, but to characterize the posting as "unacceptable" is a bit much. NovaLawyer's post read as legit to me. Given some of the other posts around that time, it appears as if there were valid service issues here. Don - there was no need to apologize for NovaLawyer's post. It is both the positive and negative feedback from the board members that make this website special.

The Veal Chop is now $50 and the least expensive pasta (one offering) is $28. The tasting menu is also at least $10 higher. My wife and I ate here Saturday night to celebrate her birthday and, given the prices, had a mixed experience. As others have noted, the restaurant is really loud. In addition, some of the 2-top tables are extremely close together. To start, we shared a 1/2 dozen oysters and the steak tartar. The oysters were fairly mild, but were delicious and impeccably clean. There was not a bit of grit to be found and each oyster slid right out of the shell (no bits of oyster clung to the shell). There was a lot going on with the tartar, but it worked well together. On its own, the steak had a wonderful flavor, too. For our pasta course, I had a half portion of the ravioli, which was fantastic. Each of the 2 ravioli contained a nice chunk of lobster surrounded by a very delicate pasta and served with a separate lobster claw. The lobster had a wonderful sweetness to it. This dish is definitely worth ordering again. Paula had a half-portion of the Bucatini. This may have been the first time that a pasta dish was staring at us, as it was topped with a large, head-on prawn. The sea urchin was indistinguishable; however, the sauce had a nice heat that sneaks up on you. For both pastas, the seafood was cooked nicely (i.e. not overcooked) and the sauces had an incredible silkiness to them without being heavy or greasy. For our mains, I had the Veal Chop, while Paula had the lamb. Both dishes were overcooked (more on that below). Despite being overcooked, the veal chop still had a decent flavor, which was enriched by the wonderful Ossobuco sauce. The lamb contained both rib meat and loin, braised onions and a reduction/sauce with bacon (guanciale?). In addition, there was one piece of lamb that had an olive (or perhaps artichoke) tapenade on it. For dessert, we had the Zuppa Inglese, which was basically a riff on berries and cream with a little sponge cake on the bottom, then blackberries, then the sabayon/cream, and topped with a lemon & basil granita. There were many different textures and temperatures going on that didn’t seem work at first but grew on us and proved to be good. We also enjoyed a chocolate dessert (can't remember specifics), which also included a salty/savory ice cream. Service was mixed. While our waiter offered up some nice advice on a wine for my entree later in the meal, and it took awhile for our initial drink order to arrive. 5 minutes after we ordered our starters arrived. That seemed fast, but was OK, as we chalked it up to the fact that oysters and tartar don't require cooking time. 5 minutes after our starters were removed our pasta dishes arrived. We were really feeling rushed. At this point I told the waiter "the first 2 courses came out pretty fast. We are not in a hurry and would like a more leisurely meal. Can we slow things down a bit?" He said yes. Less than 1 minute after we finished our pasta the dishes were cleared and I see him holding our entrees! I asked the waiter if those were our entrees, and he said yes. I had never done this before, but I told him to take the entrees back as we were not ready for them as we had just discussed. He took them back but did not offer up an apology. We had been at the restaurant for 45 minutes total and were already being served our 3rd course. I don't know if our entrees were re-fired or just held until more time passed, but as I noted above, both of our entrees were overcooked. The rest of our meal was more leisurely and relaxed. I still can't decide what this restaurant wants to be. While much of the food was worthy of the price tags being charged, the ambiance and service do not.

Although it is a tasting menu, Eola would be a great option, as I found the service to be low-key but professional. Another option would be to pick up provisions at Society Fair (including a nice bottle of wine), head south on the GW parkway, and find a nice spot along the Potomac for a picnic.

Does anybody know if this Farmer's Market still exists? We went a couple of times last year, but there were only about 5 vendors and very few customers.

On the retail front, Costco is advertising Copper River Salmon for $9.99/lb.

It looks as if Bourdain is leaving the Travel Channel for CNN.

I got mine without any problems at the Chantilly location, which is only a few miles from the Fairfax store. We usually shop at the Chantilly location because the parking lot is less chaotic (relative to Costco) and the store seems cleaner/nicer than Fairfax. Having said that, my wife had no issues when she got her tires at the Fairfax location (Chantilly location did not have hers in stock).

The Bratwurst King food truck is in Tysons Corner on Mondays and Tuesdays. I have been twice, ordered the same thing both times, and plan on returning as long as my waistline allows it. The menu is small but includes schnitzel, currywurst, bratwurst, and a couple of other items. Most sandwiches are $6 (and come with 1 side) and most platters are $9 (includes 2 sides and a pretzel roll). The sides are usually potato salad, sauerkraut, and red cabbage. On both of my visits I have gotten the shnitzel platter ($9) with potato salad and sauerkraut. The shnitzel is huge, dredged in (I believe) panko, and is fried perfectly. It remains crispy even after a car ride back to my office. The potato salad is terrific, with just enough dill and mustard to bring it together. The sauerkraut is delicious as well. I definitely plan to explore the menu more. This is the type of place you hope succeeds, as the owner is incredibly friendly and his food will keep me coming back. I only hope that the off-beat location (near the Hilton Garden Inn on Boone Blvd where it intersects with Howard Ave) can support his business.

When I had a pizza stone I stored it in the oven without any problems. Mine busted when I used it on the grill. Since then I switched to using unglazed quarry tiles, which I got at Home Depot based on mdt's suggestion. None have broken yet, they were dirt-cheap, and I have many back-ups in case I need them.

We spent 4 days at Disney last week and, with the exception of a mediocre meal at IHOP, ate (and were gouged) exclusively at the Disney parks. Boma–Flavors of Africa: located in the Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge. There were several African-inspired dishes; however, the macaroni & cheese probably doesn’t count. Most of the dishes we had were pretty good, particularly the prime rib and the basic roast chicken. There were some interesting side dishes, and the desserts were good. This was probably one of the better meals on our trip, which is kind of like picking the smartest Kardashian sister. Magic Kingdom: Collectively is a culinary wasteland. The best meal here was, at best, acceptable. The food is designed to feed the masses. Our low expectations for food here were not met. The food here is staring up longingly at the Mendoza line. Akershus Royal Banquet Hall: Located in Epcot. We had Breakfast with the Princesses which our 4-year old loved. Don’t go in expecting good food and you won’t be disappointed. Just keep telling yourself “we’re here for the princesses” and you won’t feel like you were ripped off when you get your check. Restaurant Marrakesh: Located in the Moroccan pavilion at Epcot. We had a spur-of-the-moment late lunch here that was very good. The roasted lamb shank that I had was surprisingly flavorful (if a bit dry), while my wife’s Lemon Chicken was prepared nicely, as the lemon flavor was present but not overpowering. Boulangerie Patisserie: Located in the French pavilion at Epcot. Decent ham & cheese baguettes, tarts, and croissants. Fairfax Fare: Located in Hollywood Studios. They are “known” for their “gourmet hotdogs”, which we did not order. We did have an acceptable pork sandwich and a surprisingly good smoked turkey leg, which had a good smoke flavor and was not the least bit dry (given the size of the turkey leg, I would be scared sh*&tless if I ever met the full-sized bird).