edenman

(just did the research, and it's 5.1%, so on the high side. even in an 11-oz bottle, enough of them will still get you plenty drunk)

Excellent. anybody else? Yea, session beer has always been (to me, anyway) just an indication that the beer is a quaffer, something you can drink a few of and go back and write some code without introducing too many bugs more than usual. The english seem to have far more affinity for them, perhaps due to the far higher prevelance of the "local pub" where you can stop in and have a beer or two on the way home. However, there seems to be a bit of a resurgance of these beers in the US recently, at least in part a reaction to the surge of Imperial and Double styles in the past few years. Full Sail in particular makes a "Session Lager" and it has achieved a bit of cult status out in Portland, where it seemed to be at least as common as PBR at bars.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I ended up making celeriac soup with one of the leeks, chopped, and then I made a small batch of the "frizzled leeks" (thanks Anna) as garnish for the main. I've still got one leek left, might try to make the celeriac again, but this time with caramelized pears.

Had a large handful of folks over tonight, made the following: apps: dates stuffed with marscapone and yogurt - a total steal from komi. easy to make, garnered much praise baby radishes topped with mustard and then a sliver of bacon - a partial steal from komi...i wanted to make the radish+butter+roe teaser, but one of my guests was anti-seafood, so i had to improvise. turned out pretty well, but my homemade mustard sorta took over flavorwise. main: soft-shell crabs (farmer's market), roast beef (WF rump roast), plated on a layer of celeriac soup. I was trying to be creative, but in reheating the beef, I overcooked it, and I'm not sure the celeriac really went with the crabs and beef that well. Still tasty stuff (crab is crab) but I've gotta do some tweaking, maybe just ditch the soup base idea and use it with other elements. dessert: chocolate ice cream and some Kourambiethes from the Greek Deli on 19th between L and M. I spent all afternoon shopping/cooking for the rest of the menu, so dessert had to be a no-effort one, and it worked well.

Definitely still yogurt-based, but I'm not sure about the specifics of how the beets are used.

I'm headed up to NYC this weekend and looking for cheap eats recommendations up in the Washington Heights area (179th and Broadway, more or less). We'll be driving, so if it's a little ways away, that's fine. Ethnic is good. Anybody?

I'll be +2 bringing homebrew, year-old homemade gouda, and maybe other treats to be named later. ETA: I WILL ALSO BE BRINGING THE CAPITAL LETTERS.

Rustico has fried pickle spears on the bar menu. Are the ones at Del Merei Grill fried pickle slices? (I've been searching for a place that serves fried slices) --- [Note: As of Jun 9, 2016, I couldn't find any fried pickles on Rustico's menus, but they don't have lounge food menus online.]

I picked up a few leeks at the Farmer's Market today and I was wondering if anybody had a particular favorite recipe for preparing them. I've found a few braising recipes online, including some that call for finishing the leeks in the broiler coated with either parmesan or sugar. Any pointers? Also open to other cooking methods.

Decided to do a virginia day trip yesterday, and after a tour at Linden, and stopping in at Wasmund's, we decided to pop down to Charlottesville via Shenandoah. As always, the board was helpful in picking places to hit, and we found the following: Jinx's - closed for "catering" Shebeen - split a Sosatie: lamb skewers, mango chutney, rice, "voodoo yogurt". Pretty good, and they had St. George's IPA on tap, so a bonus there. Seems like a menu that would be very fun to work your way through. Fuel Co. - closed for private party (it was maybe at this point that we should've started wondering what was going on) The Virginian - Stopped in for a beer (Starr Hill Stout on tap) and finally figured out what was happening. Our chosen day had apparently intersected with the Foxfield Races, which means that the entire university was decked out in very entertaining apparel: girls in sundresses, guys in brightly colored ties and sometimes shorts. It was hilarious, in particular because they were all pretty intoxicated. Buddhist Biker Bar - Cool little bar, but they were out of the good taps, so Wasmund's on the rocks was the order of the day. Batch 6. Lots of laughs at the expense of drunk kids. Va Vino - stopped in here while we killed time before dinner, had a nice flight of white wines, and some prosciutto-wrapped dates. Zocalo - dinner here was pretty solid. Lagunitas Pale on tap. Smoky Tomato Grits were suprisingly good, creamy and smoky. Polenta fries were pretty damn good. The mains weren't as impressive, but far from bad: seared duck, grouper. I'd go back. Orbit - met a buddy (who was in town for the races) here and had a post-dinner drink. A dozen taps or so, with several pretty good choices, some Starr Hill and some St George stuff. I only wish that GW had a bar like this. It was a good day.

I should've added emphasis. It's the Spring [DR.com] Picnic English Mild

Ingredients are in the mail for my Spring Picnic English Mild, and I'll be brewing next weekend. Anybody else up for brewing something? I'm thinking session beers should be the target since people have to drive home. Thoughts?

I favor "beer manager" for someone in his position, but I guess maybe self-deprecation gets better tips? I've also heard "beer sommelier" which I like because of the connotation of pairing skill that it brings, but dislike for the fact that it just sounds like a more formal title, achieved by formal training. At least he didn't self-apply "beer geek".

Simply incredible. Went last night and had the Degustazione after briefly toying with the idea of ordering actual dishes, but then realizing it was only a few more bucks over the 5-course + wine pairing. Very similar menu to the one posted on that blog, but I'll re-iterate because it was glorious, and these things bear repeating. house-cured olives, dusted with fleur de sel - simple, but the texture was great and the salt was nice because the olives themselves were mild local radish with butter and salmon roe - an excellent little two-bite taste. sliver of radish, with a layer of butter and then roe. great mix of flavor, radish v roe, with butter in between wine: champagne rose - tart, fruity. don't remember the brand slivers of amberjack with chives, olive oil, and meyer lemon juice - this pairing of the rose was perfect, the salty oiliness of the fish vs the acidity of the wine dates stuffed with marscapone and greek yogurt, with olive oil and fleur de sel - as previously noted: incredible. waiter said that these are roasted at high heat for 2-3 minutes. will be trying these at home. muscat grape gazpacho with brioche breadcrumbs, thyme? - one of the standout dishes of the night. the gazpacho would have been perfect by itself, but the whole package was transcendant sunchoke pana cotta wrapping a quail's egg yolk, topped with caviar. on the side, some peppers that were maybe Pimientos de Padron - the server said that one in ten of the peppers was spicy, while the rest are mild and sweet? the sunchoke part was amazing, the blend of flavors with the yolk and caviar. i think i got the one in ten peppers, and they had a bit of heat. wine: txomin was the producer, from basque. no idea what bottle or year grilled baby octopus, shaved avocado, quail egg, over a bed of pig knuckles and lentils - just incredible. the avocado/egg/pig combination was luscious, and the octopus was perfectly cooked, tender and flavorful, crispy on the outside. whipped cod roe fritter, on saffron aioli - awesome. the roe contrasted nicely with the aioli pickled sardines, salad of carrots, capers, currants, golden raisins, pine nuts wine: martinenga nebbiolo '05 a single bite of celeriac puree, sea urchin, sweetbreads on a spoon - stole the show. the texture was perfect. the flavors were complex, and blended well. another one i'm going to try to duplicate at home, if maybe on a larger scale. oxtail mini-gyro, beet tzatziki, pomegranite glaze - the pita was delicious, and the pomegranite really brought the whole thing together wine: donhoff riesling '05 fois gras baklava, hazelnuts, arugula, phyllo crackers - a small round of fois. delicious, especially with the nuts and arugula wine: single-vinyard sherry (hazelnuts!) wine: greek, 3 varietals, vio... (no idea) pappardelle w/milk-roasted baby goat ragu - the ragu was rich and creamy and the pasta was excellent koumbya stuffed with fois gras, with a smoky brodo (broth) - delicious broth, little nuggets of fois goodness wine: conte rioja wine: st. joseph syrah? grilled venison, venison mousakka - awesome, but at this point my taste buds started losing descriptors. squab, morcilla, fried pig trotters, pickled date - the morcilla was great, and the squab was crispy and delicious. wine: olivares dulce monastrell '03 cheese: rumano ("not to be confused with romano," says our server), a 6-yr old gouda: peppery, buttery finish, but dry, almost chalky texture. intense flavor, delicious. cheese: a soft white cheese from goat, sheep, and cow's milks cheese: a blue cheese. no idea, but it was very good, sharp, similar to humboldt fog? the cheeses came with very thin toast and a fig spread wine: elio perrone bigaro - this was the only pairing that I wasn't crazy about...it was pretty sweet, and at this point of the meal I was starting to get over-sweet-ened. Still, good, but if I had to nitpick, this would be the place. blood-orange "creamsicle" - granita with a dollop of cream (yogurt?) on top. the creamsicle, elevated. flourless chocolate cake with olive oil ice cream panna cotta on chocolate shavings, rhubarb (candied?), an ice cream on the side? peach-saffron lollipop with the check It was the finest and best meal I have had in my life. Although I haven't been to some of the other "best restaurants in DC", the bar has been set high. They will have to work very hard to even approach how incredible this meal was. Derek's pairings were fantastic (the sherry and riesling in particular), the service was without fault, and I really need to stop raving about this or I'm going to go book myself another table before I have the money to do so.

Fwiw, the tap list is terrible, Magic Hat #9 being the standout. No other observations, since that means I didn't stay to check the place out.

$19 for a 750ml of any decent belgian is a totally reasonable price. The Scaldis Prestige looks amazing, and at $70 for a 750ml, is probably the equivalent of a whole bunch of DeKoninck price-wise.

I'll second that the aioli was too small, but I thought it was delicious. And admittedly, the burger could've been a bit juicier, but I still thought it was damn good (having never been to Palena, I cannot offer up a comparison). I was finished with lunch and back at my desk 45 minutes after sitting down for lunch yesterday. I think they must run a smaller crew during lunch, and I guess if they get unexpectedly busy, that might cause the delays you're referring to? I think if you stick to earlier weekdays and non-RW times, you're much more likely to have a reasonable delay between the order and when the food shows up. All speculation on my part, though.

The tap list, courtesy of a buddy of mine who went last night: Hommel and Houblon on tap? nice. Supposedly they have some nice bottles too. Will be heading there ASAP to check it out.

The burger is the size of a fist (no way it's 8oz, must be at least 10) and delicious. A steal at $9. Can we beg and plead and have this one stay on for May?

Please explain.

Bump. And boo on lunch meetings with no food provided.

I got a Global chef's knife after reading Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential (he has a ringing endorsement for them) and then doing a bit of research on the side. It's the only knife I own except for a serrated bread knife. Been meaning to get a smaller paring knife, but so far, the Global has been my workhorse. Bought it on Amazon.

If somebody finds a way to make Corona taste like something, count me in. Hence the aim of this thread.

I was misspelling it. It's Kavanagh's (no 'u') Pizza Pub. The aforementioned Bluegrass Brunch is played by between 3-5 members of Bob Perilla & the Big Hillbilly Bluegrass Band, the same band that does bluegrass night (Wednesday) at Madam's Organ. The food isn't bad, but it isn't very good. The bluegrass is fun, but decidedly less lively and more sparsely attended than a typical wednesday at Madam's Organ. PS can somebody change the spelling in the thread title? I think it's funny that this is one of the first google hits for "Kavanaugh Pizza" even though the official website has the following at the bottom: "And remember, it's spelled Kavanagh's, not Kavanaugh's!". Thanks, website. Thanks.

I heard the tale of this drink when I was in an airport bar in Houston months ago, and promptly forgot about it when I got on the plane back to DC. I was reminded of it last night when I saw someone salting their corona. Wikipedia cites a few different recipes, but most of them involve a bottle of beer, hot sauce, worcestershire, lime, and a salt-rimmed glass. Anybody else heard of this? Or know where I can try one (no matter how foul it sounds)?