Seanchai

I would throw in Beer Run as a very nice lunch option and weekend breakfast (Sat)/brunch (Sunday) option. The food is better than it needs to be and is quite the Belmont neighborhood draw. The Horse and Hound is also very nice as a mid-level lunch and dinner option right next door to Maya on West Main Street.

I used a day off of work on Wednesday to make an attempt at making Pulled Pork using my Weber Performer grill. Overall, I think it was a fairly successful first attempt. I followed the recipe from Steve Raichlen's The Barbecue Bible (which is a fantastic book). I purchased a 7.5 lb Boston Butt from Macgruders, covered it with the dry rub, and let it rest in the fridge for 2 hours (the recipe has you rest it for 3-8 hours, but I didn't have time). I put the pork on the grill at 11:30AM and fed the grill more charcoal and wood chunks hourly. At 5pm the pork was at 190 degrees so I removed it from the grill, let it rest 15 minutes, and shredded the meat by hand (will invest in heavy duty rubber gloves for this part next time). The shredded pork got a moderate dose of vinegar sauce (recipe from the book) and I put it back on the grill to keep warm until serving. Next time I try this I will let the dry rub sit for longer. The 2 hours was probably not enough time. I will probably try a different sauce, as the vinegar sauce needed a little more sweetness....perhaps a Memphis meets Carolina sauce (BBQ purists reading this right now are probably throwing things at the computer screen).

Here's my (good) dilemma. I have lots of leftover pulled pork. More than 2 1/2 people can eat in a reasonable amount of time. Does cooked pulled pork freeze well?

I freeze my leftover pulled pork all the time with no discernible drop-off in quality.

As part of my CSA I have a pork subscription, getting 10 pounds of various cuts each month. This month I got in my stash 2 three poundish bone-in fresh ham roasts. Aside from, you know, roasting it, anybody have suggestions for fun ways to cook with this cut? My Google and cookbook searches aren't turning up too much variety aside from salt and pepper and throw it in the oven.

Will be near Columbia University very briefly this weekend. Anybody have any favorites for the area? Could be anything: a great cup of coffee, slice of pizza, beer joint, specialty store, etc. Thanks!

Over on the east side, one of the old coal-oven warhorses, Patsy's. 2287 1st Ave (between 117th St & 118th St). One of the few places you can get coal-oven pizza by the slice.

Good call. Didn't seem like lunch was a strong suit there.

What pub?

I spent many, many weekends commuting up to Philly to DJ weekends at a place called the "Irish Pub" on 20th and Walnut - one of the greatest bars ever. But bars outside DC are off limits, so I won't mention it.

Murphy's of DC - tourist trap by and large but really the only bar in Woodley Park for a long time, so by default it became the local for a number of interesting folks.

I love this post! Dave surely has a second career awaiting him in droll comedy. He's "fired" more people than the Donald.

Hate to be one of those "me too" posters, but dude, that was awesome.

Hey, how come no one warned me that their calzones were the size of a toilet seat? Stopping by for a late lunch this past Saturday, I thought I'd have a quick beer and a calzone. Very tasty version with pepperoni and their house-made sausage, but it certainly curtailed any dinner plans I had made. Like giant shrimp alluded to, the place has a very nice neighborhood-joint vibe. Radius certainly makes me want to come back to the hood to try the non-pizza/calzone items as well.

Having a glass or two while cooking seems to make it less functional and more convivial, more organic. I'm more likely to be more fully engaged, tasting and seasoning more, veering away from marching lockstep with a particular recipe. Of course, taking pulls from the neck of a bottle of Popov vodka while reheating my frozen pizza tends to upset that delicate balance and tilt it more to the pathetic and potentially criminal.

Baker's was the ferniest of fern bars! All wood, brass and ferns in there - like a Clydes.

Baker himself was cool. He had Goldy playing records there a lot - Goldy (Jeff Goldberg) later became a DJ on WBIG-Oldies 100 for many years, not sure where he is now. And the Dewey beach crowd used to have their annual matchmaking party at Baker's this time of year - house owners (or seasonal renters) would hold a kind of open house and people who wanted weeks in the shared houses would sign up over a beer and some 45s.

I worked at Mike Baker's for two lunch shifts while working full time in an Irish pub at night back in the early 90s. After paying more for dry-cleaning and Metro fares than I made in tips, I subsequently ended my tenure there forthwith.

Outstanding play-by-play, thanks for the intel. Portland is one of my favorite cities in the US. Reading your mini-reviews reminded me of the many reasons why.

(fingers crossed for climate change)

(erase their winter cloud cover)

(a stunning loft in the pearl district is calling me)

I'm going to be there for the first time in March for a whole week. Very much looking forward to the beer, food and vibe.

I’m interested in trying something new for my book group – a cook book. However, I’m not necessarily interested in the traditional books. Rather, something with quite a bit of narrative that also includes recipes. (We have dinner while discussing the book and I thought it’d be a great idea to have everyone cook a recipe – either explicit or based on some suggestion – from the book.)

I’ve not read any MFK Fisher books; does that fit the bill? Any one of her books in particular? Any other suggestions?

Louise

Ruth Reichl's memoirs include some recipes (I know at least the first, Tender at the Bone, did). link

Andrew Carmellini's and Michael Symon's new cookbooks have a bit of narrative to them and are entertaining reads, although hardly literary.

WF on P St now carries the full range of Butternuts offerings. Aside from the aforementioned Pork Slap and Moo Thunder there are a weisse beer and an IPA (I haven't tried either).

Their Snapperhead IPA is very tasty as well. I get it at Beer Run here in Charlottesville as well as at the Red Derby

Thanks for posting the carryout menu. It would be interesting to know how it compares to the sitdown menu.

Just came back from dinner tonight. The sit-down menu we were given was a bit longer and actually had an Americanized Chinese section labeled as such. My Chinese food experience is seriously in remediation as I've been in Charlottesville for 14 years now. Nonetheless, we really enjoyed the cilantro rolls, scallion bubble pancakes, Singapore noodles and crispy chicken with carrots, scallions and chef's special sauce.

Had dinner last month at Circa 1922 in a nice bistro-type atmosphere on Front Street downtown. The menu is a bit all things to all people (tapas and sushi!), but what we had tapa-wise was very tasty.

Carmine's in NYC is an enjoyable tourist trap, serving decent red sauce pasta for big urban crowds. Taken out of NYC though, I'm not sure what it brings to the table that other Italian chains don't.

I've always been interested in the myth of Peter Chang. I might either join a road trip or take one some Saturday afternoon...

Um, I live like, two miles from this place. So, you think I should check it out?

Just wanted to comment on some good eats I had this weekend visiting the in laws:

Saturday morning we stopped by Breadworks to pick up sandwiches for our day out. I love their veggie sandwich, and their curried chicken sandwich. I also think they have really good molasses cookies- very soft with a good, but not overwhelming molasses flavor.

We went across the way to the little Italian Market- Oooh the pizza smelled so good, I might have to try it on the next visit. Bought some rosemary, garlic angel hair that I will cook tonight that smelled phenomenal. I really like their variety of fresh pastas. If I wasn't away for most of this week I would have also picked up some squid ink pasta. They also had some nice small portions of cheese in the back fridge- we got a soft creamy cheese with cranberry that I forget the name of, not a blue or gorgonzola or glouchestire as it was smooth and creamy... We also got a small piece of Reggiano Toscano and some sesame crackers for our day.

Next we headed to Carter Mountain to pick apples- JEEP AND CONVERTIBLE OWNERS please note that road is gravel and it was REALLY dusty, I saw a couple jeeps and convertibles go up with top down and I am sure they will have to either put in a lot of work to clean their car afterward or spend a pretty penny on some detailing. This place was packed. I got a variety of apples, we picked up some cider and fresh apple cake doughnuts. These doughnuts are really good! Make sure to get them warm from the bakery section (they have an express doughnut line). Hubby thought the cider was a little to sweet, I thought it was very appley and just made from a sweeter variety of apple (almost honey crispish, but they don't have honey crisps there).

We then headed up for Barboursville's special tasting day. They have two of these each year, and they not only have their normal tastings, but they also have vertical tastings of their Cabernet Franc and Barbera lines. You can also participate in Octagon Barrel tastings. And we nabbed the cville for the coupon for the 1999 Octagon tasting. It was such a nice day we pulled up and ate our sandwiches out on the grass. Then did the tasting. If you taste every singe wine offered you would have drank a whole bottle of wine. We did many, but not all of the tastings. I love Octagon, and they had one Chardonnay the Reserve that I liked, as well as some of the Cab Francs int he vertical tasting, but I was also shocked by their Rose- I hate Rose normally, but this one was surprisingly good.

Ended the night downtown at Zocalo. Hubby's steak was fantastic and my grouper with pea risotto was really good too. I have now had a couple nice meals here. I want to figure out how to make the ancho chille sauce that was on his steak.

I wanted to add that we ended at Splendora's and I highly recommend getting a half maple half pumpkin gelato.

Just in case anyone tries to track down the Italian place, it's called Mona Lisa Pasta.

Sadly, history tells us probably neither. My dark horse pick is Kevin, who appears to be very flexible in his approach and very focused in the execution.

Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America's Farmers' Markets by Deborah Madison. Surprisingly, there are decidedly non-veggie options as well.

I stopped by Commonwealth for the first time post-Antonio the other evening, and the bar is as fun as ever. Have you ever noticed that at this bar - this bar in particular - people really drink. And I mean they drink, and they keep drinking, and then they drink some more. I think that says a lot about 1) the atmosphere 2) the beer 3) the staff 4) the nearby residences 5) the Metro stop. Love it!

I had the good fortune of Commonwealth promoting a new beer, "Commonwealth Ale," which has (thankfully) replaced Newcastle on their fine beer list. Brewed by Williamsburg AleWerks, they were selling this excellent brown ale for only $3 a pint, although I'm pretty sure this was a one-night-only special.

It's a good sign when an employee visits a restaurant on his day off, and such was the case with my bar-mate at Commonwealth, who recommended the current Mug Of Soup ($5), a Smithwick's and sheep's-milk cheese broth with wild mushrooms and croutons. A little watery at first; towards the bottom of the mug, this tasty, cheesy soup became denser and wonderfully hearty.

A "Fried Chicken Sighting" makes me in no rush to order that dish, however - I think Antonio can rest comfortably on that front.

Cheers,

Rocks.

Last February I was bouncing around to a number of places on a Saturday afternoon looking for a cool place to have a pint and watch college hoops. While not inexpensive, I really enjoyed the laid-back but classy vibe (and the Bellhaven Thistle IPA). Can't speak to the food, but a very nice place to wet your whistle.

I always think of Kramerbooks as that place that always smells like quiche. For me, that's not a good thing.

A buddy wants to go beer hopping on an upcoming Saturday afternoon from Glover Park around lunchtime and culminating at Nationals Park around 7. Included in there (I hope and pray) will be lunch and dinner. Looking for any place roughly on that footpath that serves good microbrew and imported beer. A surprising number of places are closed during the day, like Brasserie Beck.

Thoughts/suggestions?

We joined a CSA last year for the first time and had a mixed experience with it. I am trying to decide wheather to join this year or not. I love the idea of getting fresh local produce with the added benefit of getting to know the farmer and supporting a local farm. The problem was that it was really hard to plan a menu since I could never be sure what I would be getting and in what quantities. I had weeks where I, and every member of my family, was consuming our body weight in tomatoes or greens...and then two weeks later...very little. The farmer had a lot of issues getting enough labor to help in the fields so what we got was often determined by how much got picked and not on what was there.

I felt like, on average, I got my money's worth and think I paid less than I would have at the farmers market. However, I am not sure if I would do the same CSA again. So...to my question...Does anyone have any suggestions of CSAs on or near Capitol Hill that they were happy with and that was consistent?

Living in the Charlottesville area, I am lucky to have access to a number of CSAs and we joined our first one last year. However, my experience was very similar to yours in that the quantity and frankly quality of the produce would vary wildly. I don't know if this option is available near you, but for this year we joined what I guess would be called a farm collective where the produce is culled from a number of area farms. We'll have access to wider range of vegetables (and fruit) and they at least promise to have consistency in what they deliver. We'll see ...

Horse and Buggy Produce

I last had New Haven pizza over 20 years ago so I can't compare Pete's to that. What I can say is that the slice pizza I had the other day was better than the Pizza Paridiso, 2 Amy's and Comet I've had. I don't know if the crust is authentically New Haven or not but damn, it was tasty.

OK, I just agreed to buy 1/4 of a farm-raised, grass-fed cow. I'll be getting 118 pounds for $256 already butchered and packaged. It seems like a great deal but hopefully it won't turn me into a vegetarian in a few months time. Anybody ever do this? Any words of advice?