synaesthesia

Jack Rose - applejack, grenadine, lime (or lemon, if you are feeling less sassy)

Was just there a few weeks ago. In the square in front of the Palladium mall they have spit-roasted pork, sausages, cheeses, and sweet dough rings baked over coals. The rings taste great with some of their glogg - very yeasty. They have a similar set up on certain days in the same square as the astrological clock.

ETA: Don't forget to try the Becherovka, and if you can find it there's a red-label Becherovka that you'll struggle to find outside of the Czech Republic.

When in Berkeley, are there places worth visiting besides Chez Panisse? Maybe somewhere more casual? Or should I just go to the cafe?

Cheeseboard!!! Cactus Taqueria.

What is the attraction to the fancy rice cookers? Perhaps because my mother was from the low country of South Carolina I grew up having steamed rice. And now that’s the only way I fix rice. It seems so easy and fool-proof to me. Put water and rice in the top of the steamer, and water in the bottom, and put it on the stove. About a half hour after the water starts boiling, the rice is ready. If you’re not ready to eat it, just leave it on the stove and it stays warm. Impossible to burn or otherwise ruin. If you cook much rice you really should get a rice steamer and give it a try.

This is pretty much technically the same as old school electric rice cookers, which I have. The fancy, new ones work on the same notion technically aren't any different.

The rice cooker is for people who eat rice almost every single day. It also doesn't take up a burner that can be used for cooking, and gives me one less thing I have to pay attention to if I am cooking multiple things at once, or if I want to cook some rice while I go to the gym. I don't have to worry about all the water on the bottom from completely evaporating, and eventually burning the rice or ruining a pot - yes it is still possible to ruin if you are inattentive.

I find that most charity events in this town are targeted at the well-funded. There are a lot of charities trying to raise money via big ticket events. (I almost never see press releases for fundraisers that cost less than $100/tix.) The way I see it these expensive events miss out on a very large audience of people who cannot or will not pay over $100 for an event. If you could host an event or extended promotion that was less than $50 for people who would like to donate, it would capture a new audience that may not be in the system. Those events may not raise the $500K that Cap Food Fight did, but additional tiers of opportunity can add to that tremendous base and build long-term donating relationships that could increase in value.

It sounds like someone is trying to graft a fine dining concept onto Old Glory (which certainly isn't any crazier than trying to graft a fine dining concept onto a night club). Unfortunately, I predict only one of these potentially-conflicting concepts will survive, if either. In that neighborhood, my money is on the latter.

That's why if we like it we should say so with our money, which is totally feasible if you eat there prior to 9:30 on weekends, and even later on weekdays. Some potential menu items I tasted a few months ago were fantastic.

Clementine is in a unique area of Baltimore that is unpopulated by the usual hip restaurants. This place has the feel of a general store, and they cure their own bacon and make other charcuterie. It's a great spot to bring kids; there's a cute play area off in the corner. Great assortment of sodas from rosemary lemon fizz, lime basil elixir, Cheerwine, and other drinks.

We went for breakfast. The waffles are fantastic - almost fried and funnel cake like with strawberries and whipped cream. There's an Elvis version with bacon, bananas and nutella as well, which I did not get to try. We ordered catfish with grits, corned beef hash, and their regular scramble. Be sure to ask for their housemade hot sauces that come in both green and red. Catfish was cooked to the right texture so that it didn't end up tough with great grits. The corned beef hash is unlike any other hash - the meat was high quality and came in chunks, lovely chunks of squash and potato. And I'm not sure what they put in their scramble of eggs, potatoes, red cabbage, onion and duroc bacon, but yum.

Definitely want to return to try their version of bi bim bap and charcuterie. This has definitely unseated Miss Shirley's as my favorite brunch spot in Baltimore.

Have to head up to Towson University for a thing Saturday and am desperately searching for something in the general vicinity of good food. I actually resorted to Yelp. It does not look promising.

Alas I probably have to get to the site and deal with some stuff THEN go eat THEN come back so anything further away than 10-15 minutes is probably out. Anyone have any good ideas?

Sushi Hana isn't too bad for "fun" rolls. Also Strapazza does some decent subs - I like their prosciutto and fresh mozzarella. These are the places I typically eat when I'm in Towson. Sadly Purim Oak closed down long ago =(.

The happy hour that Masa 14 runs from 5-7pm is a pretty sweet deal, especially for the 'hood. It includes the choice of a spicy tuna or vegetarian hand roll, a fairly sizable portion of mussels, or some other dishes that are less of a value. Margaritas, mojitos and boozy strawberry lemonade are also available for $4 or a choice of a few run-of-the-mill drafts.

DCist posted some pictures, if you want a preview: http://dcist.com/2010/10/bacon_week_returns_to_restaurant_3.php

Couldn't decide which meat I wanted more this morning, so smoked salmon on one half of the sandwich, Palacios spicy chorizo on the other, with a fried egg, green tomato, fresh cracked pepper on a baguette.

And this is what happens when people don't make phone calls:

Not closed.

In Pike's Market:

The Crumpet Shop - hidden away a little bit, but really great crumpets with fresh preserves... nicely browned and slightly crisp on the bottom

Uli's - great sausages and wurst. They mostly do a take home and cook it yourself business. But you can choose what type you like and they'll cook it and top it to order, and get a decent German beer to go with it.

Mini doughnut guy - around the corner from the seafood stand that throws fish... powdered mini donuts... mmm...

DeLaurenti's - If you can't make it to Salumi they have their meats available as well as a solid selection of gourmet items I've never seen before

Zig Zag Cafe - great place for cocktails

Tavern Law/Needle and Thread - good speakeasy, solid drinks, and I have it on good authority the food is very good.

While in Seattle tried Scrappy's Bitters. The Batch #27 of the chocolate are fantastic. They also have rhubarb, lavender, grapefruit, orange and lime. Lime is pretty rare since it's hard to keep the aromatics in, but Scrappy's are fair. The key is to get the right batch numbers, as he continues to improve upon the bitters. Not cheap at around $22/bottle at Delaurenti's, but you can also grab them at Cocktail Kingdom.

Paseo - The sandwiches are just as good as they were when I first visited a few years ago. Sweet roast pork loin with great aioli and roasted onions. Excellent Cuban with really good, but maybe a little bit too sweet roasted pork shoulder.

Mistral - Good meal. Some items were a bit hit or miss for me, and the service was bizarre: bringing first course before we had a chance to order wine, receiving the same recite-a-spiel twice, dishes brought to the table and described while guests were away at the bathroom. But the foie gras was heavenly with huckleberries, cacao nibs and a rose gelee. Loved the overall concept, but just frustrated by the service since I had brought guests as a treat.

Now that this is floating up. Worth adding The Source for brunch.

If you're in Soho and just want a bite, I really like getting a slice from Numero 28 on Spring St. I think their other locations are sit down, and the style of pizza might be different. The slice of margherita that I had reminded me of the pizza I would buy on the street in Italy. Nice crisp crust, not a lot of cheese, but more would just obscure the flavor from the tomato sauce. The other pizza options looked pretty interesting as well.

Agreed. The tacos are solid, but not wait in a long line good. The bulgogi isn't so much bulgogi as sliced steak, which was surprisingly cooked to medium rare. Given how thick each slice was, the marinade didn't really permeate enough. It's a nice option, but being down the street from a Food Chain cart that sells tacos with less of a wait, I'd rather eat there.

True, although Epicurious is celebrating 15 years in business and has an entire huge section on "Bests" of that time. Not that that makes them any more well-thought-out or genuine, but at least there's a putative reason, and it's not merely a random revenue grab.

Funnily enough, at two of the lists-- including this one -- are "top 16 of the past 15 years" -- which just seems odd to me.

Maybe I shouldn't find it odd, given that it is a Conde Nast site, but that there's very little to imply the impact that the internet has had on food or the fact that this is an internet-only dealy.

I hit August on my last (first, only?) trip in June, details above in Choirgirl's post. One of my companions has Emeril on his brain for one of our dinners so that can't be helped.

Regardless of what the public image of Emeril might be. Yes he's cheesy. Yes he's all over TV. But I gotta say that the level of service at the original Emeril's was excellent, even at lunch. And I was throughly surprised at how much I liked what I had - a fried green tomato BLT with shrimp aioli; they were big chunks of shrimp. Not sure if you've been to one of his places before or not, but I get the sense the places he owns are better than what might be implied by his level of fame.

This place is closed. I forget what replaced it.

I call this place 'Bangkok Joe's - U Street'. It has the same dumbed-down flavor profiles, the same pumped up prices on very simple items, and I feel the same disappointment every time I leave.

I think that's a real insult to Bangkok Joe's from what I've had there. At least ingredient-wise, Joe's is far more respectable. $12 for insipid barely "spicy" broth, tough out-of-the-pack overly thin egg noodles, weirdly shredded beef, sugar snap peas (?!) was a waste. My money would have been better spent down the street at Taco Bell.

I opted for the hamachi / yellow tail sashimi ($6.50) which ended up being 3 pieces of fairly thick cut tuna. Unfortunately, I was reminded (since I had obviously forgotten) that I am not a huge fan of yellowtail. I need to stick with regular tuna in the future.

Umm.. hamachi and tuna are two totally different types of fish. Umm... did you mean toro (fatty tuna)? Yellowtail is white with tinges of rose color, regular tuna is obvs bright pink, and fatty tuna is pink with white lines/ribs.

When I was there once, a family with kids came in and sat in a booth. There's also a dining room upstairs.

My suggestion is to try and get there right when they open. That tends to make a big difference.

From Tom's chat today...

I have seen this comment several times on the chat and this site. Are younger looking folks really getting treated worse? I wonder if it is a response to how they are acting as I have seen plenty of boorish behavior from diners.

I've never had much of an issue, and I've definitely met a lot of people who think I'm still in high school. It probably has more to do with the likelihood that they will tip generously.

And really, the boorish people I've seen in restaurants (aside from brahs) have been older. They're way less ashamed of themselves, and far more uncouth. Lots of loud, dirty jokes. When I went to The French Laundry, my friends and I were the well-behaved diners, and the old folks were being boorish and discussing really gross stuff loudly. But they have the $, so no one's going to give them poor service for the sake of losing out on a generous tip.