chickenlover

Items that were not in stock at the 14th St. Whole Foods last night: rice, limes, water. Man, I hate that place.

I'll be trying to cook dinner for a family with one vegetarian member and one on a very low fat diet. Any suggestions? Nothing comes to mind that is both vegetarian, low fat (no cheese) and actually tastes good.

If you're willing to mail order, try josephsons.com out of Astoria, OR. I visited their shop in September and they've got some pretty good stuff.

Does anyone know where to find it? I have tried Litteri and Eastern Market, no dice.

Can anyone recommend a good bottle shop in the District? My local wine shop doesn't have much for beer and Whole Foods is making me crazy.

I am glad that others have had good experiences at Saint-Ex. I've been there once and the service was so bad I vowed never to return. Maybe it's time to give it another try.

I haven't been to Cleveland in a long time, but Max's Deli in Rocky Road is really good--although it is kind of a deli for yuppies. For an authentic Jewish deli, Corky and Lenny's on the east side is the real deal. Great Lakes Brewing Company, near the market, is the best microbrew I've ever tasted and I lived in Oregon (beervana) for 7 years.

I'll be dining at Dino this weekend to celebrate my GF's bar passage. Any dishes that we should not miss?

Went to Viridian last night for their Tuesday all night happy hour. They were offering 4 apps and a small list of wine and cocktails at $5. The apps were fried deviled eggs, a scallop dish, citrus cured baramundi and duck parfait w/ pickled blueberries and mushrooms. The barumundi was the only dish that really did it for me, but all of the food was at least decent. My GF loved the duck parfait. Their happy hour is a great deal and the bar was nearly empty. More people need to get there for HH, especially on Tuesdays.

I walked by on Saturday. They were painting the interior and there was no sign or anything like that.

My family was in town last week and I made reservations at Ardeo based on Tom S's strong review. I have to say I was not terribly impressed. It was a Sunday, and maybe they were just having an off day. I tried most dishes on the table and nothing really blew me away. Salads were pretty solid and they did a nice presentation with their hamachi tartare. However, duck breast and pork tenderloin were both dry and relatively flavorless. I tried their signature dish of Mahi Mahi with almond foam, and the foam was too sweet for me--as was the tomato confit that accompanied my tenderloin. The strangest dish of the night was a 'lobster', vanilla, orange rissotto. Everyone else said it was "interesting"; I thought it was just plain wrong. The highlights of the meal were a nice affordable Cabernet and fennel ice cream that was out of this world. Seriously, the meal as a whole wasn't great but I would go back just for the ice cream.