edenman

If that place has a pool table, YES. I highly recommend it for that spell when you've finished your meal at Cyrus but are to blissed out to go home. The divey-ness of pool and longnecks was really pretty perfect after Cyrus's orgy of excess.

That's the place. I still need to get to Cyrus.

Other than Cyrus (already have reservations) and Willi's (trust Dean's opinion on such things) are there any other recommendations for the town of Healdsburg?

If you at all enjoy beer, Bear Republic is a necessary stop. If you are in bare need of alcohol, B&B Saloon served as a pretty divey bar last time I was up that way (when Bear Republic happened to be closed).

Try browsing through this to see if any deliver to Arlington:

http://www.eatwild.com/PRODUCTS/virginia.html

Although I'm sure the above stories are true, for anyone looking for Yelp's side of the story, it's here. They don't address the "conveniently timed Yelp Elite hatchet job" aspect, but they make soothing rebuttals on most points and offer up a token salesperson sacrifice who once violated their policies. I'm inclined to think most of it is BS, but it's worth a read for someone interested in this stuff.

I completely and whole-heartedly second this suggestion from above.

"'t Brugse Beertje (pics) - no food here, but our favorite beer bar in Brugge. A great list, and unrivaled atmosphere."

A few years back, we dropped in for a quick beer on a rainy day and ended up playing cards with some locales while doing serious damage to the beer list. In the top ten on my list of best days ever.

Fond, fond memories of that bar.

Also, flygirl tipped me off to the fact that all the links in my above posts are broken. The map application is no longer online, but all the photos can be found here. And the relative URLs are still the same, in case you happen to want to go to photos of a particular place I linked to above. (ie synik.myvnc.com:8008/~eric/pics/073/09-14-Belgium/page03.html translates to www.ericdenman.com/pics/073/09-14-Belgium/page03.html)

Our very own "Smut Lady" in the Atlantic: Click.

Dunno if it's too late to respond, but I didn't love SPQR the last time I was there.

Also worth noting: they just re-opened with a new chef. I haven't been since he took over.

It depends on the beer. I would check the brewery's web site.

As a general rule, I wouldn't expect beer at cellar temps to stay tasty for more than a couple of months.

Plus, if you are going to store in basement, don't buy it cold.

Higher ABV beers will keep (and sometimes improve) longer, but Pipeline is only 5.3%. Probably best to keep it no longer than a few months as JPW wisely recommends. Also, fwiw, I remember seeing that beer around this Spring, so it may not be as limited release as they'd like you to believe (or maybe your retailer has already had it for several months?). All the more reason to buy from a knowledgeable retailer you trust (cue Joe Riley, stage left)

Genevieve (most of bottle)

but oops, this is the stuff I didn't like.

Braise. I like tomatoes, tomatillos, onion, garlic, chiles, and a broth of your choosing.

It's not difficult for me to use up the last of a bottle of wine when I'm cooking. If it doesn't go into the sauce, it will be used for deglazing. Beer and spirits are another issue altogether. Neither Mr. lperry nor I drink beer, and we end up with bottles of it in the fridge because we bought it for guests or they brought some over when they visited. I have one recipe for beer bread, and I don't like it a whole lot. I've been eyeing a recipe on Epicurious for a Guiness cake with a leftover bottle of stout in mind, but I've been trying to limit baking to breakfast.

Then there is the last bit in the bottom of a bottle of spirits that has been deemed no longer sippable, so it languishes in the cabinet taking up a bottle's worth of space. Bourbon is less of a problem because I'll use it to soak dried fruit when making a cake or stir some into the bananas for banana bread (that one is really good). But then there's the scotch, and the Canadian whisky, and various other things that were part of very nice evenings with friends.

I'm hoping that some of you have wonderful ideas for using up the last bits of various bottles of booze.

For both beer and spirits, I cook primarily with bottles that have plenty of flavor. Leftover American Lager and Vodka get stowed in a back corner of the fridge/freezer and I wait until some poor sap comes over who wants to drink them.

For a good flavorful beer, I like to make mustard with a beer base (lately w/a smoked porter), and if it's a sweet enough beer you can even reduce/thicken to make a beer sauce for roasted/grilled meats and veggies. Even sweeter? Beer ice cream?

Whisky is a bit trickier, but I imagine it could work well in an already flavorful braising liquid in small amounts. Google also turns up plenty of results if you're adventurous.

I'm turning to this board for help again with a search for some beers, specifically the Pumpkinhead Ale from Shipyard as well as their limited edition called "Smashed Pumpkin" which is in 22 oz. bottles.

Ace beverage came through with Summer Ale so I'm hoping they'll have the Pumpkinhead as well...however, the Smashed Pumpkin apparently is a limited release so I'm curious if it'll make its way down to the DC metro area. If anyone has any insight to this (I know Hop and Wine is a distributor for the brand in this area, but very few stores around here actually carry the seasonals).

Never saw either of those beers in the DC area, but that doesn't mean you're necessarily out of luck. I'd try calling H&W to see if there's any hope.

I've find that this varies with the store. The Gainesville store, every time I've gone there the fries have survived the 10 minute drive home no problem.

At the Centreville store, they didn't survive the trip to a table.

Hot Or Not: Five Guys Fry Oil Edition

I want to try a Keller place at some point in my life.

I've got a good buddy who works at Ad Hoc, so I'm not the most impartial advisor...that being said, they do fried chicken every other Monday night and it's supposed to be great. If your Monday night is friedChickenNight, I'd recommend that. If not, take a look at the AdHoc menu (it's posted a day before, usually) and make your decision based on that. Also, Ad Hoc is closed on Tuesdays/Wednesdays so you're gonna be limited to Monday night. If the Monday menu doesn't tickle your fancy, you will have no problems finding delicious things to eat at Bouchon. You'll likely spend more money on food and not leave quite as full, but if you want the classic French dishes, Bouchon is where it's at. </ramble>

Going to Napa for the first time. Two days in October. I guess the question is...

Ad Hoc or Bouchon?

Just you, or with other folks? What days of the week?

I have an impromptu trip coming up. Any recent recommendations for dinner? Not too worried about price. Thanks.

1550 Hyde or Nopa for classic seasonal Cali cuisine. Jai Yun for fantastic fixed-menu chinese (caveat: I've only been for lunch). Incanto for offal.

this place looks like it has a decent list....bit of a drive though

http://www.friscogrille.com/beer.php

Yup, it's a great spot if you're in the Columbia area, but not worth making a special trip from DC, imo.

Nope, unfortunately Port Brewing/Lost Abbey beers are not distributed around here.

Saw Hop15 in Philly once. It was a happy day. Check with Monk's in Philly. Or maybe State Line Liquors if you're heading up to NY anytime soon.

I missed the showings in SF, but it's opening at E Street theater tomorrow and running for a week. Looks good.

Trailer and ticket info here

I'm not a fan of celebrating my birthday and tend to do it only once every several years. So I'd like to do this right on such rare occasions.

Given my projected party size, which place is easiest to secure on a Saturday night? I'm definitely willing to reserve for an earlier time if necessary but not TOO early (i.e., before 6:00). And if reservations aren't available, which place would require the shortest wait? Am I better off calling/visiting and speaking to one of the managers beforehand?

And of course, are the food and drinks fairly comparable at these three places? My impression was that the reviews here all tend to be pretty good. I've only been to Cork, but that was well over a year ago on a weeknight when the place was slammed with folks.

For the last question, I'd put StEx a notch or two below Cork/Pilar on the food front.

For the primary question, good luck. You're probably going to have to call each of them to see what the options are.

Every half an hour. I've sat on a really nice one, and a really gross one.

The X2 is another option for getting out there, but it doesn't run all that frequently late at night...I used to just cab back once sufficiently fed and drunk, but now that you guys have nextbus, the X2 might be an option for return trips too.

(Rolling Rock Draft, $3.00)

Breadsoda to start. (sure i'm biased since I put together the tap list, but I still think it's the best spot in glover park for beer)

Not sure when the Birreria opens on Saturdays, but if it's open, that should be stop #2.

I know people hate on it, but Kramerbooks has some good taps and they're open all day.

Commonwealth is another good option that's open all day, albeit a bit further north than you want to be heading.

And then definitely Belga right when they open at 5:30 for dinner, more beer.

All good to know. I've been informed off-thread that a particular Bosch model has a "quick" cycle that can handle the between-courses wash and is quiet enough to run during the party.

I've also just checked the bay that this would live in, and found that it's only 20" or so wide, which rules out the majority of built-in dishwashers (24" wide seems to be the standard). There are a few 18" options...or maybe a portable one? Whoever designed this apartment's kitchen is, well, not a cook.

In restaurants/bars, the dishwashers/glasswashers are ridiculously fast (a few minutes). Although they may not be the most thorough, as long as you get all the food chunks rinsed off before loading, results are generally acceptable. These machines are also quite expensive (4K+). Is there any middle ground between these restaurant types (fast and expensive) and the typical home dishwasher (slow and cheap)? When hosting a dinner party, I'd love to be able to clean the plates/glasses from course 1 and have them ready for course 3 or 4.