treznor

I keep meaning to make it to Horton, but keep not making it. I guess it's a bit further than some of the other wineries but I'll get there sometime soon! Horton more than likely delivers the highest quality/cost ratio of any winery in Virginia. There are others that I like better, but few that deliver at the cost that Horton does. And a winery setting it's sites on beating KJ is admirable I think. Virginia doesn't have the large body of knowledge about the local environment as CA does about it's wine. Putting out a wine that competes with a wine that is consistent and good (not great, just good) and beats that wine on quality and taste is a good goal, especially at the price point that Horton puts alot of it's wine out at. One of the more memorable wineries for me at Vintage Virginia this year was Afton. I really didn't like the wines all that much this year at Vintage Virginia. Not sure if it's because of the weather, or because I had just gotten out of a football game, or if the wine this year just isn't great, but nothing really stood out to me. I do remember the Horton Viognier and the crowd that it drew. I remember Afton mainly because they had a Gewurtztraminer, a grape that I have a fondness for, particularly because I like spicy food and Gewurtz goes so well with spicy food. Unfortunately Afton's Gewurtz didn't do it for me at all. Don't know if the climate and soil in Virginia would produce good Gewurtz at all and I don't think I've seen another Viginian winery producing the grape. I did think the Cab Franc from Afton was their best wine, though I didn't pick any up as my GF isn't a fan of Cab Franc in general.

Though to some (many?) people that level of complexity may be lost. Doesn't mean they are "sophisticated" or even "foodies", just that at some point the level of complexity goes past some/many people's ability to taste that extra complexity. For those people (of which I am more than likely one) the extra cost associated with this level of complexity may be unneccesary.

Haven't seen it on any of my recent trips...

So it appears my hunch may have been right, considering the above information. Mainly a marketing thing. Doesn't mean you shouldn't get it though as it won't damage the countertop, just don't factor the MicroBan into the decision heavily. I have long been of the opinion that we have too much antibacterial soaps and sprays and what-have-you. To my mind the proliferation of antibacterial products is going to end up escalating the arms race that goes on in the household. We already are seeing resistant bacterial infections in people due to the overuse of antibiotics There's a natural cycle that's gone on for decades where the product that worked last year probably won't work as well this year because the bacteria has built up a protection against it. However, some other antibiotic would work against it just fine. This is one of the reasons why there are so many antibiotics on the market. However, now we are starting to see bacteria where we have to ratchet up the dose higher or it's just resistant to all existing antibiotics. Sooner or later I feel this is going to start happening in the household and then we won't be able to contain them. For those reasons I leave antibacterial products out of my household wherever I can except where they are needed. That having been said though, the kitchen is the primary place that I would consider them needed. The bacteria in the kitchen are just too nasty and too dangerous to not try and kill off every bit of them.

I've probably tasted 150-200 wines from Virginian wineries. Some of it's plonk, some of it's good, but very little of it is $10. There are a couple producers that put out $10 wines, but for the most part the economy of scale just isn't there for VA wineries to be able to do that.

If you ever buy country ham in somewhere that it's shabby and nondescript, then it's more than likely "citified" country ham. This coming from someone that helped raise pigs when I was growing up and had many of our hams cured

Again, take anything I say about it with a grain of salt in that I know little about kitchen countertops and nothing about that specific product. Looking at the pictures it looks like it's a non-smooth synthetic anyway, so microscopic pitting wouldn't change the properties of the countertop too much. Most granite (which is just a combination of quartz and feldspar basically) countertops are polished smooth which would give "gunk" less of a place to build up. Granite naturally has a very low absorption rate which is why it is difficult to stain. Quartz is easier to stain, though the quartz used in countertops is only marginally easier to stain. This is mainly because "quartz" used for building material is really mineral quartz with a binder and it's the binder you have to worry about staining. Since Silestone is "synthetic" quartz, meaning in it's case that it's actually made with real quartz but with a different binder than you'd see naturally occuring, manufacturers can make certain that stainability in Silestone approaches natural or synthetic granite. All this means is that it looks like Silestone is a quality countertop material. If you like it, go with it. I wouldn't let the MicroBan sway you too much though. From the descriptions I've found it certainly doesn't look like it would degrade the surface over time, but I don't see how it could do too much to fight microbes either though. As they point out on their website, since Silestone is non-porous (as are most/all synthetic or natural granite or quartz countertops) it inherently helps fight off microbes as they don't have a place to collect in the surface itself. From the MicroBan website (www.microban.com), it appears that they claim it works by puncturing the cell wall of the microbe as it comes in contact with the surface. That seems kind of iffy to me as that's just not as easy to do as it is to say. Basically it's kind of like a stone fence that is always there protecting a piece of property, the act of protection doesn't wear away the fence (okay in real life it does because of erosion, but let's skip that in order to complete the analogy). It seems to be used in a number of applications, though most of the information I found about the product was based on information from the maker, with a couple independant studies thrown in that back up it's claims. It looks like MicroBan -may- do some good at fighting microbes, and at the worst will do no harm to the countertop. I think it comes down to if you like the surface, get it. But don't factor the MicroBan protection into the equation too heavily. It's more than likely just being used as a differentiator for Silestone to set themselves apart from the competition (since they are the only countertop to use it). ETA: Since it's a kitchen application any microbes are potential problems. So you're going to have to clean it just as often anyway to make sure there are no microbes floating around... I guess it's just a way to hope that the levels of microbes between cleanings stay a bit lower.

I've been to Landini once. The ambiance was definitely there, the food wasn't. It certainly wasn't bad, it just didn't wow us at all. It's the kind of place that if someone wanted to go there I'd be up for it, but I doubt I'd be jumping to suggest it.

I'd be very leary if that's what's being advertised. A smooth non-porous surface should have better microbial resistance to start with as there are less nooks and crannies for the microbes to rest and fester in. However, anything that actively fights microbes would have to have some sort of antimicrobial agent that leeches out of the surface to counteract the microbes sitting there. This could lead to mcroscopic pitting which could end up trapping more microbes than the smooth surface to start with. If the surface is porous, the anti-microbial would probably be laced throughout the surface and would work more than likely by biding to the microbe and trapping it inside the surface, also something that doesn't sound wonderful to me. All of this is based on generic engineering knowledge, I know nothing about the material you were referencing. Maybe they found a way to get rid of all the downsides and still keep the upside.

From the link in the first post: http://www.frenchwinesociety.org/ which leads to: http://www.frenchwinesociety.org/BURG/pop1.html which then directs you to buy tickets at: http://www.instantseats.com/index.cfm?fuse...nue&venueid=145

I've been to Cafe Salsa a number of times (at one point it was almost monthly). It's one of my favorite places to go in Old Town. Their mojitos are some of the best I've had and their tres leches is THE best I've had. Every appetizer I've had I've thoroughly enjoyed. The main knock on the place is that the entrees are -very- spotty. Sometimes they are okay, sometimes they aren't. I rarely order entrees at all anymore, instead getting 3-4 (okay, normally 4 but that's mainly because I have trouble narrowing it down) appetizers for the two of us and just skipping the entree altogether. You certainly will have no problem coming in under $100 there.

Chick-fil-A has always been my number #1 go-to restaurant in that class of fast food restaraunt, i.e. the class of "places that normally have drive-thrus or are found in mall food courts." The waffle fries are salty and crisp, the standard sandwhich (which I always get without pickle as I don't like pickles at all, even though many say that's the key to a chick-fil-a sandwhich) is juicy and tasty, and the lemonade isn't the worst I've ever had. If I'm branching out sometimes I'll pick up the nuggets or strips instead which are similar to the standard fried sandwhich, though with a higher ratio of breading to meat since the meat is smaller. Still delicious though. Basically the only restaurant in that class of restaurants that I don't grumble about if I have to go to.

Well, you can order of the menu a la carte instead of as part of the prix fixe menu, which I don't believe you can do in the restaurant (though I'm not certain as I've only been to the cafe). I guess that's a cafe menu "rule".

Just got back from dinner at Dino. A few minutes after we sat down Dean came over and introduced himself to us and pointed us towards a bottle of wine (more below) to go with the entrees we had picked. Nice to meet you Dean! We had: Fettunta - Tuscan Toast- grilled bread with roasted garlic & olio - Toasty and light, it was probably a bit too crunchy for our tastes, but the roasted whole clove garlic was wonderful. Nothin like spreading out a whole clove of garlic onto a piece of bread :-) Burrata - Others have described this so I won't go into it too much. We both thought it was wonderful, the olive tapenade setting off the creaminess of the bufala and ricotta. I'm not a fan of tomatos but my GF thought they were very good and went well with the cheese. Tomino alla Diavola - "This is everything fried cheese should be". Light and crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside. The sauce with this (a tomato coulis) went wonderfully with the cheese. Clam Linguini - The clams were done well with the basil oil and garlic sauce a good complement to the linguini and the clams. Tonna - This was probably the hit of the evening. The tuna itself was quite tasty, though not that much different than what one would expect of seared tuna. The roasted red peppers and the white beans were both the best of each that I've had in quite some time and complemented the tuna very well. The portabello mushroom was meaty and soaked up the juice of the garlic and rosemary sauce. The only service problem we had was that we didn't end up with any bread (other than the Fettunta that we ordered). We would have liked some to mop up the sauce from the clam linguini and the tuna. Dean had mentioned earlier that they were operating down two people and the lack of the bread wasn't really such a thing that we sought the waitress to bring us out some. Just the only thing we really noticed that went wrong. 2002 Le Due Terre Sacrisassi Bianco - Listed in the "Perfection of Imperfection" section, I doubt I would ever have chosen this wine on my own. Dean pointed me in the direction though and both I and my GF were very impressed. A bit outside of my normal price range for wine, but the Wine Madness savings made it accessible. Dean's description was "if you close your eyes you'll almost think it's a red" and I'd probably have to agree. Served at cellar temp, the flavors in the wine were much more of what I'd expect from a red than a white. I'm not a wine guru and don't know how to describe it all that well, other than I know what I like... This was very good and went well with dinner. Unfortunately for dessert the canoli and the bread pudding was gone. We split the tiramisu and the chocalate tort. Neither was outstanding, but both were done well. Overall I give it a thumbs up :-) Dean and the whole staff were gracious, the wine list was extensive (and I believe well priced, especially with the Wine Madness specials), and everything we tried was good. Dessert was a bit of a downer, but my top two options were evidently everyone elses top options as well, so that may have had something to do with it.

1) Basically lots o' crab with a thick sherry sauce. We found the sauce to be similar to the crab bisque, but I'm almost certain that it is different by a bit. I wouldn't advise getting the crab bisque and the crab bomb though.. My GF did when we went and though they were both excellent they were similar enough that you should probably aim somewhere else for an app/soup (especially since there are so many good options). 2) Answered above, sausage is mixed in and there's a delicious sauce to go with it.

I wasn't trying to imply that the only New York whites that are good are sweet, only that the "sweetier" varietels are what they are best at, i.e. they excel at Riesling, and have good Gewurtztraminer, eiswein, and I'm sure I'm missing a varietal or two since I'm not as familiar with New York white as I am Virginian wine. Granted Riesling can be made in a dry style, but I'd tend to call it a "sweeter" wine than a Chardonnay, though that may only be a classification that I use. I don't believe I'd rush to try any New York Chard though :-)

Went to TenPenh for lunch (a party of 10!). We were very pleased with their menu. I had heard of course that the TenPenh/DC Coast/etc group does RW well and TenPenh lived up to the expectation. Had about 5-7 appetizers to choose from , all of their lunch entrees to choose from, and three desserts. I had the spicy grilled calamari salad which was very good, the calamari were very tender and the srirachi sauce added a nice kick. We covered most of the entree menu, I had the crab three ways; the crab cake was decent though a bit too much filler, the crab ravioli was decent but not special, the softshell tempura was very well done with a nice softshelly taste and lightly breaded and the wasabi mashed potatoes that came with it had a nice wasabi zing and were of a firm but creamy texture with the softsell crab stuck in the top so it looked like the crab was clawing out of the potatoes... Overall, a very good experience, especially considering it was a party of 10 and it was RW.

It's NC law that unless you ground the meat that day you cannot cook a burger under medium well (maybe it's medium, had people tell me both). So that may have been the reason as well... Not sure if Fourth Street Filling Station is the kind of place that would grind all their hamburger fresh every day or not.

Though great hilarity may ensue if you try and hand that sentence to the Mexican restaurant and see what happens.

Virginia Wineries There's already a thread on Virginia wineries, and since DC and MD make diddly for wine... I've been to a number of the Virginia wineries (oh, maybe 20 or so) and tasted a number of others (another 20 or so I'd guess). I love the Virginia countryside and the scenery at alot of the wineries. The actual wine is decent, though you'll more than likely not find anything truly earth-moving. Alot of it is over-priced for what it is, but I'm willing to pay a bit more to be able to go to the winery and try all their wines and pick what I want (which is how I buy almost all of my Virginia wine). The New York Finger Lakes region has been producing good white wine, particularly the sweeter white wines, for long enough that people that turn their nose up at Finger Lakes Reisling are either ill-informed or just plain silly.

BEST STEAKS: Ray's The Steaks Okay, soooo, people have heard about this Ray's The Steaks place? Because we've been worried that the owner hadn't yet jackhammered it's existence into our subconscious yet. Good, good. Maybe, you know, the beatings will stop. If you want good steaks without the attendant melodrama, drive another half mile up the road from Ray's and discover the Boulevard Woodgrill, which didn't make the list because not enough asshats eat there. I have a mental image of Michael (wearing a suit nonetheless!) holding up a jackhammer with one arm while in the other hand is a riding crop. It's really a disturbing image. Didn't agree with a few of the comments, but almost all of them were funny. By the end I was having trouble holding in the giggles since I'm at work :-)

I went to Bistro Bis last year for dinner during RW and was underwhelmed. Granted I know better than to judge a restaurant from RW, but it didn't make me want to rush back either. I always try and hit up a couple places during RW that I haven't been to, including a lunch with the work people (this year is a 10-top at TenPenh for lunch with the work people, and a dinner with my GF at a couple places if we end up being in town this weekend). I'm of the mind that if they can put out good food during RW then they definitely are somewhere I'll be back to. If the food isn't great (as it wasn't at Bistro Bis when I went last year, though the cheese course we had was very good) I wouldn't really nock the restaurant as many restaurants just aren't setup to handle RW well, but if I see something that shows promise I'll definitely come back. On the one hand I feel like restaurants do the RW diners a disservice by limiting the menu alot. On the other hand, I feel like the restaurants do the RW diners a disservice if they can't handle making the entire menu at a lower price point up to the same standards as normal. It's definitely a balancing act that I understand (and that I hope other diners during RW understand) when dining out during RW. The menu at Bistro Bis for RW last year didn't really wow me at all but it definitely felt like it was just because of the extra load from RW and so I'll more than likely end up coming back at some point or another. Just haven't made it yet :-)

Unless you're using the new math, that's 80% off, not 60%... Not sure if you meant to say they cost $4, or if you meant to say they were 80% off. I've noticed a number of pretty good deals, but it's never to restaurants I particularly want to go, which I guess is really the primary point behind the website. Places put up gift certificates at a discount to try and bring in the traffic that they aren't getting already. I even have two locales to choose from (I work in Raleigh, NC during the week and of course live in DC Metro during the week) and still really haven't seen anything I wanted. I keep checking back every now and then though just in case.

I had completely forgotten about the bread! Firm with just a light crust, just the way I like it. All of the spreads were good, though I did like the liver as well. My GF liked the parsnip spread the best as she doesn't like liver at all. I did like the milk and cookies, though it may have been the novelty of the egg creams which I liked most as I don't have them often. If I make it back (it's pretty far away from where we live) I'll probably try something else instead.

This may be too late since the event is today, but I doubt it would be a huge deal regardless... Manavano touches on one area that I think is somewhat important. Depending on the people at the party and the style of party, it may be good to go a bit overboard with the food. What I mean is that if people are going to sit around and drink for a couple hours people WILL keep nibbling (especially since it tends to absorb some of the alcohol) and you should probably prepare a bit more than you would for say a dinner for 20 people. Maybe an extra 25% at most, but it's something to keep in mind possibly.