brr

Its different, thats for sure! When I worked in the Ford building we used to stop by every so often for drinks after work. Never ate there. Apparently, its a very popular brunch spot on weekend.

coupon?

nah, its ok - I just get a bit sensitive to the 'paddywhackery' that accompanies St. Patricks day! I guess I should be glad that the occasion is celebrated so, erm, enthusiastically

that would be my choice in the circumstances

aaarrrrrrrgggggghhhhhhh

whats the word? will there be a lottery in place for this one? (I hope not as I really want to go!)

Which Irish cheese specifically? Please don't include the sage derby!

We just returned from a very nice trip to New York that, looking back, was mostly about food. Saturday lunch was at the MOMA cafe....assorted meats and cheese washed down by a nice pint of Brooklyn brown Saturday dinner was at a place called Cuban in the village - I foolishly ordered a seafood stew, while the rest of my dining companions stuck with meat and fared better for it - the stew was a little bland Sunday breakfast was at Good Enough to Eat, an upper West Side spot popular enough to make lots of people stand in line in the blisteringly cold temps (luckily, we got there just in time to snap the last open table). They have thick cut bacon that is to die for and some of the best chocolate chip pancakes I have ever tasted (made w/ Belgian chocolate of some sort). Sunday afternoon featured two quick trips in succession to Pomme Frites and the Dumpling Man. Both were very good. Perhaps reflecting our differing origins, I preferred the fries while my wife preferred the dumplings. Fries came with lots of sauces....we chose 6 including rosemary garlic mayo (delicious), wasabi mayo, curry ketchup. We had a late meal at Babbo Sunday night. To be honest I approached this with some trepidation as I have a natural distrust of celebrity chefs, especially one stretched as (seemingly) thin as Mario Batali. However my fears were completely misplaced as we had an excellent meal from start to finish. The restaurant itself is quite the scene with lots of people and loud alternative music playing (I liked it but could imagine it grating on others). Service was very good and the food was divine. I started with warm Lamb Tongue on a bed of mushrooms and topped w/ a poached egg.....as I commented to the waiter afterwards, everything else could have sucked and the meal would still have been worthwhile. This was followed with a shared portion of the goose liver ravioli in a balsamic and brown butter sauce.....very rich and very good. For my main I had sweetbreads - I had never had them before but really enjoyed them - they were served in a very sweet onion sauce. We also enjoyed a few great bottles of wine. Monday meant a pilgrimage to Murrays where I picked up some Stinking Bishop, Epoisses, Strathdon Blue, Livarot, Pecornio Ginepro, and Under Milk Mood and generally acted like I had died and gone to heaven! After that a quick trip to the Chelsea Market so some bit and pieces incl some nice take-out sushi and we were on the road back to DC

stopped by for lunch yesterday they had a special of lardo on garlic rubbed crostini - delicious - my first time eating lardo (very thinly sliced, translucent cured pork fat) - nice subtle taste and a norcia pizza and some nice almonds to snack on......

brings back memories....

its not local but we use www.foodireland.com

Happy Birthday Hell's Valet!!

A few weeks ago we spent a lovely weekend at The Inn At Easton. On Friday night we ate at Out of the Fire which I posted about elsewhere. On Saturday night, we had the tasting menu at The Inn. Its been a few weeks and I am crazy busy at work but in general the meal was very good. I am embarrassed to say I can't remember all the courses we had but stand outs included cornmeal-crusted fried oysters, a prawns on a bed of lentils and pheasant. Chef Evans was extremely flexible and allowed us a choice of several desserts for the table. We also enjoyed a pleasant chat with him after the meal. We did go for the wine pairing with the meal, and at $50 per person we felt the pours could have been a little bigger, but then again maybe we've just been spoiled by the 'bottomless' pours available at Joe H's blowout dinners at the Lab and Maestro. Three if us went for the wine pairing but by the end of the meal we were wishing we had instead just bought two good bottles of wine from the wine list. The Inn itself is beautiful and a perfect place to unwind for the weekend and when you stay there you also benefit from the delicious breakfasts (fresh made granola, pastries and sausage rolls to DIE for). I also thought that the DR.com community might be intersetd to know that Andrew is hosting a 'guest chef' dining series this year for which several of the more popular chefs on this board will cook a dinner at The Inn. The Chefs and dates are below. ROBERTO DONNA Sunday, March 5 KAZUHIRO OKOCHI Thursday, April 13 ROBERT WIEDMAIER Wednesday, May 10 ERIC ZIEBOLD Sunday, June 25 JEFF TUNKS & DAVID GUAS Friday, July 21 CATHAL ARMSTRONG Sunday, August 13

Ditto - been meaning to try this place out

is the second night still restricted to DR members plus 1 guest? (assuming yes, but want to check)

There is a large construction bin out back and there was very active interior demolition work going on this morning....

my first bottle of Chateauneauf du Pape....I can't remember the maker or vintage but it was more of a 'whoah, thats good' moment than an 'a-ha' moment

You're perfectly entitled to not want to go there, but again in this thread about Bucks I fail to see these generally accepted terms regarding awful service... We could go back and forth on this all day long, but she makes very good, sometimes great food that is generally very well reviewed.....as this thread, with one or two exceptions abundantly demonstrates...

the reviews on page 1 of the thread are uniformly positive (with the exception of the one on the bottom) with lots of use of words like great, delicious, the best etc etc by a variety of different posters....I would consider that well-reviewed (ignoring the whole photo brouhaha) yes, its expensive, and yes, she's a bit of a diva/inflexible/whatever you want to call it....but to say it hasn't been well-reviewed for the food, not only by DR.com'ers but other critics and other boards is a little unfair.....people are perfectly entitled not to go there because of the bad press.....just means more good food for those who do!

yup

will there be any additional detail on whats exactly on the menu?

thats great intel! thanks

our neighbors, who are accomplished home bakers, were flabbergasted that he had never used fondant icing

We stayed in Easton a few weeks ago and enjoyed several fine meals. One of them was at Out of the Fire, a beautiful, high-ceilinged space in downtown, oldtown Easton. While the menu does extend beyond pizza, that was our main focu so we can't comment on the other dishes on offer. The first sign that this place might be good was the fact that the only slot for 4 they had available on a Friday night was for 8.45. We settled in and split a few salads, while choosing a nice Chianti Classico from a very reasonably priced wine list and then ordered the Mushroom, Spinach and Goat Cheese pizza and the Italian Sausage pizza with smoked mozzarella, roasted red peppers and olives. Both were delicious, thin crust and clearly made with fresh ingredients. For dessert, they were out of a bread pudding concoction that sounds delicious so the 4 of us split a pepermint fudge type thingy, and some type of meringue thingy (sorry, I didn't take notes, it was late, and, well, I was drunk) - they were good, but obviously not good enough to indelibly imprint themselves on my brain. They also have an extensive and ever changing selection of wines by the glass. Service was relaxed, friendly and excellent, highlighted by the fact that when we inquired about wines by the glass our waitress gave us generous samples of 3 different wines so we could better make a choice. Oh, and its cheap. 2 apps, 2 pizzas, 2 desserts, a bottle of good wine and 3 glasses of wine came to a little over $100, not including tip. This place is a real gem, and you can get there in about 80 minutes from DC.