blakegwinn

Beth and I saw an advance screening tonight and really liked it as I think anyone who enjoys cooking will. I am a little young so my memory might be a bit off but I really thought Streep nailed Julia Child (or at least my memories of her). It was just a fun, well made movie that I especially recommend to anyone on this board. I don't want to be a spoiler so I will just leave it at that.

YES! The biggest snub on this list. I couldn't believe it. Especially since it seemed like the famous Naples style pizzas (UPN for example) were handicapped. Should have been top 5 at the very least. I also prefer Bleecker Street to Joe's if I am in the West Village

I love and often miss living in DC but right now the yeasty smell of bagel baking is wafting up from H&H (down the block) and through my open window. Point to NYC...

You can get stumptown a few other places and it is good but also kind of pricey. They trick you with those not quite a pound bags. Thanks for the suggestions though. I will definitely try a few of these.

I grind and french press our coffee every morning. For the last year I was in DC, I always used Mayorga coffee beans. Usually the Kenyan, Colombian, Panama Hartmann or Ethiopian. When I moved to Jersey for a year and a half I had Mayorga beans shipped to me. Since moving to NYC I thought I would try to find some good beans here that I wouldn't have to have shipped all the time (since I live in a walk up and having them shipped to work is a pain). I have tried 5-6 different NYC coffee brands (including oren's daily, irving farm, porto rico and a few others) that I have found through various research or recommendations, and nothing has come close to toppling Mayorga. The last chance NYC has is Gorilla Coffee, and if that doesn't pan out I am switching back to Mayorga. All of their coffees have a strong COFFEE (not roast!) flavor without ever being too bitter or acidic. Mayorga beans just make the best cup of coffee you can get in my opinion.

I made 3 gallons for a party a few weeks ago and opted for Charles Shaw Cab from Trader Joes. I know and usually abide by the "get something cheap but drinkable" rule for sangria (or cooking with wine) but the financial implications of buying three gallons worth of good wine drowned out the voice in my head that was telling me to get something better. I thought with the sugar, brandy, triple sec, splash of oj, fruit and cinnamon sticks that you wouldn't notice it. The final product did taste like sangria but there was very little "wine" flavor coming through the punch flavors in the final product, if that makes any sense. All in all not nearly as good as my usual sangria made with superior wine but once I am using 6 or more bottles I think the cost difference starts outweighing the benefit of more expensive wine.

I am not sure if this is the case at Joe's but I know the first time I went to New Green Bo I was similarly disappointed. I ordered every variety of dumplings and none contained broth. I found out the next time I went, after asking an adjacent table who had what appeared soup dumplings, that they weren't listed on the menu as dumplings. They are listed as buns. Maybe this is the same at Joe's?

Do any of you with gardening expertise know what herbs might have the best chance of surviving on a windy, near shadeless rooftop?

This season is boring. I think there is a fundamental problem with a lot of reality "contest" shows after the first 3 seasons or so in that a lot of the people have seen the show, are fans of the show, have researched previous seasons/judges and are coming on with less pure, more celebrity focused intentions. The first couple seasons, even up until last season, seemed to attract some serious chefs. I wonder if the show has reached the point of saturation and pop culture popularity where serious chefs would consider going on "selling out" or something. Also if any of these contestants had watched previous seasons they would have realized that you can cruise a looong way by playing it safe. Maybe all the chefs have realized this when studying past seasons and figured they could just make easy, comfortable dishes and coast through to the last 4-5. Then they would bust out the good stuff in the home stretch. Bottom line I think the judges need to start enforcing a "safe dish" policy similar to diving calls in soccer. If it is obvious enough to be an insult to the judges intelligence, you are booted. Even if someone else mistakenly served raw chicken, you are out. Do that once or twice a season and I think we would see more interesting adventurous dishes being served every week. This same rule is applied to the people who just disregard the entire challenge, make a dish they wanted to make anyways, and then find a way to explain how it fits the challenge.

Yes, no, yes. The part with the spy guy was a complete waste of 10 minutes, and Chadwicks? Really?

I know it can be overpriced but when I was in Baltimore I used to just go to the whole foods down by little italy. It is expensive but you can get things personalized (cut wise) much more than standard grocery stores. Whole foods meat department is usually very accommodating if you ask nicely. The other suggestion I had is a ways out and I can't be very specific because it was a long time ago and I only went there once. There is an awesome butcher in Laurel. I think I actually went there on the suggestion of this board (or maybe it was in a Tom chat or something). Everything was fully customizable as they had the major heavy duty bone saw and large uncut pieces of beef. I can't remember the name or the exact location but I am hoping someone else can help fill in the blanks. The prices were much cheaper than Whole Foods but I also don't remember them having any aged beef if that is what you are into. Whole Foods would be able to help you there.Oh and I have always found the quality of beef at Whole Foods to be top notch. Even when the budget is tight and I get everything else at Giant, I have always gone to WF for beef and seafood. I know a lot of people love Wegmans but I had 2 bad experiences with their steaks. Very gristly. However the prices were so good last week that I bought a family pack of strip steaks for the freezer. Hopefully third times a charm.

There is a really good Mexican place I have been to a few times over there called Zarelas. If you are talking about a group of more than 7 or 8 it might be kind of tight though.

I am coming back to DC this weekend for the Marine Corp Marathon and was thinking about hitting that special menu up as a pre-race dinner. Just FYI Dean, the link on the website for the mushroom tasting goes to a Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur menu. I think my mind is already made up but I just wanted to make sure there was a good dose of carbs on there.

Isn't that an oxymoron?

I hope to God you will be open Sunday the 26th. I am running the MCM and will probably spend a good portion of the 26 miles thinking of different combinations for the burger I am going to demolish when I am finished with the race.

I think I have said this in another thread somewhere but for breakfast in Bmore, I am ALL about Spoons.

Damn you are an industrious home drinker.

The thought of BLT had never entered my mind as a breakfast item. Heather's post inspired me and I made my version this morning, wheat toast, turkey bacon, Miracle Whip (prefer this over regular mayo on a BLT) half inch thick slices of probably the best heirloom tomato I have had all summer, huge portion of iceberg lettuce and a healthy dose of cracked pepper. Due to some kind of pavlovian response, I ate a half dill pickle immediately after so it still felt kind of like lunch. Regardless, I am still on board the BLT as breakfast bandwagon now. Too bad I didn't realize this at the beginning of tomato season instead of the end...

Wanting to wait less for a table and sit for longer once you get there seem mutually exclusive to me. If they didn't move people along wouldn't the wait be longer? On a side note I am always disheartened when I see the crazy waits at some of the crappier chains. There is a really rundown looking TGIFridays near me that routinely has giant giant crowds out front. I have never been in but I am sure the wait has to be at least an hour and a half judging by the crowds on weekend nights. It's craziness.

Today was Beth's first morning run since the VA beach half marathon on Labor Day. So I decided to giver her a little treat. After a quick shower I whipped up some buckwheat pancakes with real maple syrup (Grade B, my favorite) and sauteed apples with cardamom and cinnamon. We ate them at the counter, over the newspaper, one by one as they came off the stove. Chugged down some awesome french pressed, Kenyan coffee that we procured at Mayorga (on our way back to Jersey a few weeks ago) and headed out the door. Not much but it was a nice break from the usual weekday smoothie and cereal routine.

Yeah that bugs me also. I have heard that a lot. What the hell is it? Somewhere in some office some suits designing the script for the servers thought that up and I can't for the life of me figure out what the line of thinking was. I mean I could see if they were actually keeping tabs to measure repeat customers or something but that is ridiculous. Is it all just to be able to say something along the lines of "glad to have you back" or some other insincere crap? Them saying it doesn't really piss me off, I just can't figure out why it is such a standard line.

Just consider this the equivalent of the charges for bags, pillows and blankets on planes. Instead of jacking up their prices retailers are passing along the increases in costs they are experiencing through these new charges and, in the case of many grocery items, slightly smaller portions. I am guessing someone somewhere did some market research that showed like 80 percent of people noticed the price hike while only 40 or 50 percent notice a slightly smaller box or .20 cent surcharge.

Has anyone ever in the history of humankind died because they ate pickles that were canned by someone without shoes on? Just curious, I would love to see some statistics on that.

I really like the Blind Tiger on Bleecker. Been there a few times and always been happy with the beer. http://blindtigeralehouse.com/

Definitely going to try and stop by there. What about cool places to get drinks on the oceanfront? We have a few young singles in our mix so I am trying to find out where there is some nightlife. I am really new to the whole area, I went down once but I was staying close to Norfolk so I didn't really get to try out any restaurants or go out at all.