hillvalley

Matchbox on the Hill eats beloved, long term resident of 8th street, Las Placitas.

The very first picnic was organized through egullet before dr.com was created. It was held at Montrose Park in Georgetown and set the bar high for future endeavors. The second picnic was a cheese tasting at Meridian Hill/Malcolm X park. If memory serves there were 8.75 of us (a peanut was still incubating) and we had to make more than one run for wine. We were still over at egullet; I can't find the thread for more details. The first official dr.com picnic was held at Belle Haven Park. We had to hide the wine and it took the effort of a number of members of the Don Rockwell Society to reserve the space. The location was fantastic but a pain in the ass to pull off. We had one or two more picnics there before they moved to the current location. What most people probably don't realize is that one of the primary reasons the board was created was because egullet, where the "old timers" came from, decided to change the nature of their forum and in doing so changed the rules about social gatherings. Being the group of miscreants that we were we left. When Don created this forum the social gatherings increased and the picnics became regular events. Over time though people change, the board evolved, and with it the events. This is neither a good nor bad thing; it is just different. The "old timers" didn't stop attending because new people arrived, we just moved on, which happens in life. My advice is to not compare each picnic to those in the past; enjoy each one as they happen. Personally, my favorite picnics were the smaller ones. If you are bored, or have been on the board for a while and are feeling sentimental, you can read about our first few years of picnics and events here, where this post probably belongs.

The Four Seasons DC now only does tea for catered events.

Get thee to Driftwood. Antonio is firing on all cylinders; we would order everything we enjoyed tonight when we go back. And we will be back. Soon. We started with the lamb tartar, which I have been dreaming about since he first posted pics of it elsewhere as he prepared to take over the kitchen. A generous sized portion, the seasoning of the lamb, which was on the spicy side, was accented by the micro greens that was scattered on top. Next was the white asparagus Caesar with a 63 degree egg. Perfectly cooked asparagus with Caesar dressing which you dip into the running yolk. Delicious. The beef ribs that arrived could have come from Wilma's kitchen and Fred would be happy. I only had a few bites but those I did were tender, punctuated with pomegranate seeds. The ribs were served with sweet potato puree and sweet potato and greens. The potato and greens combo countered perfectly with the ribs. I would eat a bowl of this without the meat accompaniment. Finally, the fried chicken arrived. I love Antonio's fried chicken. Crispy on the outside, succulent and juicy on the inside, the chicken was all that I remembered. Half a chicken served in two pieces, it comes with a creamy potato salad and honey with zatar. I'm not sure why the honey is needed, but my friend enjoyed it so to each their own. Service was attentive and happy. Both our waitress and runner noted without prompting how much they like Antonio's food and watching their customers enjoy it. I don't remember the last time that happened. It says a lot about what is coming out of Antonio's kitchen.

Soupergirl, who does not get enough attention here, is kosher.

I, a petite white woman, would walk around that neighborhood without any more concern than I would any other neighborhood in DC. Moroni would keep me away before safety concerns. I wasn't that impressed with my one visit; the pasta was fine and the octopus unremarkable.

I know you posted this in jest but I absolutely do this when I travel. I have no problems admitting that I ate in fast food restaurants throughout Europe. It is a way to explore culture when you are on a tight budget and craving some fries. I have bribed students with the promise of Starbucks if they would just shut up and listen to yet another tour guide. McDonalds in Switzerland, where the meat is actually meat, is fantastic albeit expensive at about $15 for their version of a medium fry, cheeseburger royal, and a soda.

I'm not going to defend my review: negative opinions of beloved restaurants are never fun to read but we aren't all going to love the same place. I used to have similar reactions when people posted negative opinions of my beloved Palena. With one exception, see below, I'm not going to go tit for tat with you. The beauty of America is that we can have opposing opinions, state them, and move on. You're right, we don't talk about carbon footprints of restaurants on this website and I think that is something that should change. After living abroad and seeing what the rest of the restaurant world is doing it is something that I am more aware of now. I'm sorry I picked a restaurant you like to use as my first example but it is what it is. We create a lot of unnecessary waste in this country, and DC itself is covered with litter from the Lincoln Memorial up the Hill to RFK and over to Nats Stadium. It's time we started talking about ways to change that.

If they were only using disposable for everything, I would feel differently about the bowls. And I realize and appreciate that with Chinese donuts and soybean milk the milk is traditionally served in bowls. But if you are already washing dishes for beverages why not buy an extra dozen or two bowls to use and save some landfill space? The bowls that they use are awkward to pick up and drink out of. And yes, I expect actual napkins, not bathroom paper towels, from a restaurant.

I wasn't impressed with the space or the food. Admittedly they are going for a look and feel that I don't enjoy: urban, hipster, sparse, uncomfortable chairs, loud music. I ordered the soy milk and Chinese donuts and the pork buns. The donuts were greasy, heavy, and bland. The milk was served in a big, plastic soup bowl which was awkward to drink from. As mentioned above the pork buns were fine. I found them on the spicier side, which annoyed me as there was no warning about the spice. My biggest pet peeve about the place was the use of plastic bowls, disposable plates, and bathroom paper towels. How hard is it to buy real napkins? Why serve the soy milk in a soup bowl that is going to be thrown away and take up space in a landfill when you have mugs for coffee? The less than polite reply from the manager type person when I inquired if the disposable bowls were temporary or permanent will keep me from returning any time soon.

The charcuterie I tasted a few weeks ago is as close to what I found in Switzerland and Paris as you can get around here. Their dedication to the craft and willingness to take the time needed to create a quality product comes through.

It's not a Middle Eastern market.

Back to eggs tasting better in Europe... To me, there is absolutely a difference in taste between eggs in the US, farm fresh or otherwise, and eggs in Italy and Switzerland (the only two countries where I can speak based upon long term personal experience). There is no question that for me there is a huge difference in taste. The eggs tasted eggier. The flavor was richer and bolder. Even in the dining hall of the school where I worked, where meals were mass produced for 200-400 depending on the day, the eggs were better than what we can make here. American eggs, including organic and/or free range, are bland in comparison. When dealing with Swiss eggs it was because Swiss laws prohibit chemicals that are free flowing in the US. Swiss customers were more demanding as well. Each egg sold in Switzerland, whether purchased at the local butcher or at the mega grocery store, had the date it was laid stamped on it. Eggs more than eight or so days old would not sell. When I found eggs eight days old I was encouraged to write the conglomerate to complain. (Migros for those who know European grocery stores) I should note that said eggs were never refrigerated. In orientation at my school they had to teach the Americans staff to Not refrigerate their eggs. Italian eggs, while subject to less stringent regulations (Switzerland is not part of the EU and therefor can be as nutty as they want about things such as chemicals used in their country), were better than most of what you can get here. Again, Europe does not use the amount of chemicals we do in the US. Eggs were not refrigerated there either (at least in northern Italy). All over Europe I found that fruits and veggies tasted better, even when over steamed or under ripe. In the US most of the veggies I eat, when I have control over where they are purchased, are from local organic farms via CSAs. I believe that Americans, even those of us who eat a combination of fresh, seasonal, local, and/or organic vegetables, fruit, and eggs have forgotten what they are used to taste like. Depending on the company you worked for, I live with the guy who was in charge of the PR campaign to convince the public that irradiation was a good thing.

Major Trader Joe's fail: I made their Israeli couscous for the first time tonight. The recipe on the box calls for 1 1/3 cup of couscous but the box provides 1 1/2+ of couscous. Anyone need a futile amount of couscous that will now just take up space in the cabinet?

No, I'm saying that you should be prepared to wait more than an hour if you walk in later in the evening.

Pat, I'm not sure I would agree with the Rose's wait time. Monday night at 8:30 the wait time was over an hour. Some days people are in line at 4, other days later. With the exception of cold rain there seems to be no real predictor as to how long the line will be before they open and therefor how long you will wait. As for best meals of the past year, both were in Paris. One was a picnic of a dozen freshly shucked Breton, Trou du Cru (a soft, runny cheese), a baguette, and a riesling drunk straight from the bottle in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower on a perfect fall day. The other was at L'Avant Comptoir, the little sibling of Le Comptoir Relais. Caramelized pork belly, pig feet, haddock mouse, and whatever Eric poured was amazing.

You'll have to work hard to find bad seafood in Lisbon. Even around the touristy areas you can walk into a restaurant, point to a fish that was swimming the day before and have a great meal. If you were coming from the States I'd tell you to make sure to eat the over steamed carrots and green beans that you may encounter as the flavor is above and beyond most vegetables here. Given that you are traveling with a baby, Time Out's Mercado da Riberia is going to be a must do a few times. It is a food connoisseur's food court dream: stands that serve gourmet meals using the best ingredients around. At one stand I did a five course food tasting that was fantastic. At another I had sauteed clams that were sweet and briny. I brought home a bunch of tins from Lojas Das Conservas, which specializes in tinned fish. They have selections from about a dozen different producers, some of which use processing methods that are historic. The prices were very reasonable and each tin has been delicious. When you sit down at most restaurants they will bring you bread and other little snacks. You will be charged for these so you should feel free to send them back. Finally, make sure you try garfish. It is similar to the sardine but smokier.

When Mr. Nurman died last year it was covered throughout Europe. I think it's fair to say he is the inventor of the modern day Donner Kebab but that there is a long history of cooking meat in this tradition throughout Middle Eastern cuisine.

I love celeriac. Besides the soup I treat it like a potato and make a mash or make oven fries. Sounds like the start to a perfect afternoon. Word of warning with the apple though-I find it can over power the celeriac.

I just lost a nice long post (not due to any fault of the software) so here is the short version: Go. Highlights from what was lost include: *I made a reservation for 7 on a Saturday night but it was not needed. *Three of us shared the medium sashimi and seafood for $79 and it was plenty. The seafood included fantastic abalone, uni, and sea squirt. The waitress checked a few times to be sure we wanted the seafood and understood what we were ordering. *We did not specifically ask for flounder but it came with three pieces of belly and about 18 pieces of fillet. Both were a hit. pras, I'm curious if you were asked about the flounder before hand as I did not see it differentiated on the different sashimi choices. Unfortunately we only got two pieces of escolar. With the exception of the tuna, the fish was all of high quality, cut thicker than you would find in a Japanese restaurant. *A few of the panchan were different than listed above but for the most part were the same. They came in three waves: before the sashimi we received panchan from the sushi bar, then from the kitchen. In between the sashimi and the soup we had two types of kimchi and a sprout dish. *The flounder bone soup comes with the meal. *The waitresses were very attentive and concerned that we enjoyed our meal. Every waitress in the place checked in on us at least twice, including bringing us over business cards and takeout menus. When they weren't checking in they were watching to see if we actually ate everything, which we did. I think they enjoyed watching us enjoy their food. One waitress even took a few moments to try to teach us how to say the name of the restaurant, a feat we did not achieve. *If you are trying to find the place on a dark and rainy night, it is in the same mini strip mall as Cafe Tu-Ahn. There is a brightly lit sign with the name of the restaurant surrounded by colored lights but it is easier to find the Cafe sign. *The only language barrier was when one of the waitresses couldn't come up with the word belly when describing the flounder. I pointed to mine and said the word, she confirmed, and we all had a nice little laugh. *Go

Last February I had five gyros in seven days in different parts of mainland Greece. Only one, at a random gas station/restaurant somewhere between Athens and Olympia, was worth remembering. The gyro I had in the Latin Quarter in Paris this past fall was as good, if not better, than most I had in Greece. It had a perfect ratio of crispy to succulent meat and the meat was better seasoned, whatever that means. The Doner Kebab was invented in Germany by a Turk, so the prevalence makes sense.

You would be wise to make a reservation where ever you decide to eat or be prepared for a very long wait.

You should have been around in the 80's when it wasn't even safe for the muggers. Today, the idiots who leave their bags sitting on the table while dining outside for easy grabbing deserve to get their stuff stolen. That being said I don't know of any incidents of this happening. Parking is still a nightmare. Kudos to DC parking enforcement for making regular visits to the side streets to ensure residents can find a spot. Sunday is the worst day for parking though, between the brunchers and those who attend the church on 8th street. At least the brunchers bring money to the community.

I volunteer to take porcupine and agm's Christmas Eve leftovers.

Saturday was ikura oroshi. I don't have access to a grater right now so the daikon was not as fine as it should have been. Last night was clams in a homemade red sauce and TJ's dark chocolate covered marshmallows. I didn't bother with pasta; in this case there was no need to waste the stomach space. Tonight was stew, arugula salad, and roasted acorn squash. We are still working through an absurd amount of squash from the fall CSA. I'm done with squash. DC's finest local H2O was enjoyed all three nights.