DonRocks

Soccer is for people who aren't athletic enough to play tennis.

So last night I walk into Circle Bistro and order this hamburger. Jayne apparently alerted Brendan that I was there, and so he came out and said hello just before the burger arrived. "So I'm here on rumor that your burger has surpassed Palena's," I told him. He gave me the sort of knowingly resigned half-smile that Andy Roddick would give if someone asked him if he had surpassed Roger Federer. Shaking his head, he said, "this is a hotel - I can't do Palena's burger here." Well maybe not, Brendan, but you're making a pretty good run at it. Palena's burger and fries are $10 each, whereas Circle Bistro's is $12 for both - 60% of the price. Palena's is made with a housemade bun, and house-ground scraps supplemented by purchased ground beef; Circle Bistro's is made with a purchased bun and purchased ground beef only. They're two different burgers at two different price points, and both are at the very top of their respective levels in quality. Incidentally, Tom Power once told me the same thing about his excellent burger-and-fries at Corduroy: it's a hotel, and he's not going to try to match Frank Ruta when it comes to the hamburger. Nevertheless, Tom's version is great too, and in the "Hotel Ramekin-of-Ketchup" genre, it's right up there with Brendan's at Circle Bistro. I'm glad we have all three options in this city. Right when Brendan was turning to walk away and let me enjoy my burger, I tried a french fry. My eyes got wide, and I let out a primal "MMMMMM!!!" He smiled, cupped his hand around his mouth, and told me as if he were telling me something secret, "We have GREAT french fries," and then he walked back into the kitchen. Cheers, Rocks.

I know some people who went last night. It's open, and from what I hear about the food, you'll wish it wasn't. Cheers! Rocks.

I got bumped up once on Air Chance, and I've had that torchon de foie gras, not to mention all-you-can-drink classified Bordeaux and Rhones from good vintages, real silverware, multiple courses, etc. It was a two-hour fine-dining experience that was good even by restaurant standards. But I also wonder if it might not have been more expensive than any restaurant meal in the world - whatever it cost, I was glad I didn't have to pay it. And I was r-e-a-l-l-y glad it was on the westbound flight! Flying in sardine class, as usual, Rocks. P.S. It also did not make up for my cancelled Lyon-Paris flight, after which I was rerouted to a Lyon-Paris TGV on which I purchased, and ate, a tainted ham sandwich: a piece of processed pork slapped between two slices of white bread. I knew it was raunchy when I took the first bite, but I ate it because I was hungry. About an hour into the Paris-Washington flight, the food poisoning crept up on me, and I began literally counting the minutes on that damnable flight-status screen with over seven hours remaining. Upshot: fever, chills, shaking, and me finally going back and pleading for help, eventually collapsing prostrate on the back row of the airline while the flight attendents threw a blanket over me and occasionally came over to poke me to see if I was still breathing - and they were having a jolly good laugh over my plight, too, even joking about it in French thinking I didn't understand! A truly hellish experience that I wouldn't wish on anyone.

The Cheap Eats chat with Todd Kliman, Cynthia Hacinli, and Ann Limpert.

A buddy of mine lives in London, and wrote the following response to an inquiry (not my inquiry) for a "top notch restaurant with exceptional food, opulent room, and a great wine list." It wasn't intended for publication, but with his permission, I'm reprinting it here because I think it may be useful. He lives in London and knows what he's doing. Cheers, Rocks --- Very difficult ... I assume this is for a business dinner .... Some compromises: Tim Aitkens (not opulent) Fat Duck (not in London) Also Maze Sketch Gavroche The Square Ledbury Gordon Ramsay at Claridges Connaught Locanda Locatelli (I think Plotnicki's forum opinionatedabout.com is pretty fair on the whole for London comments.) (1) exceptional food None perhaps! In a strange class ... St John or StJ B&W (for interest) In a stranger class ... Tayyab (for those on a £14 budget inc tip) Italian (of sorts) ... River Cafe or Locanda Locatelli Michelin types ... Gordon Ramsay, RHR (Royal Hospital Road ... lots of varied reports lately ... GR is busy empire building) Le Gavroche (comfy, if not amazing) The Square (an ugly room - I can't recall an amazing meal here) Pied a Terre (cramped poor service, ok food) Capital (variable, v expensive wine list that isn't great) Tim Aitkens (perhaps the foodies favourite atm in central London ... but variable) Best food of all (but may not be totally enjoyable) ... Fat Duck ... (also a 30 min train + taxi ride FROM Paddington, so not exactly London) (2) opulent room None of the above! Sketch (sort of) Hotels now run by GR group (Claridges, Connaught etc - see www.gordonramsay.com - virtually a monopoly atm) (3) great wine list ... virtually none ... some quirky exceptions ... none have great food ... RSJ (not as good as it was, Loire) ... Tate Britain (only open for lunch) ... Andrew Edmunds (but a pale shadow of its former self, terrible food) Many of the michelin starred places have long lists, you can find a number on line, e.g., GR RHR. Certainly no Cru or Veritas. Good luck, [Mr. X] P.S. the restaurant I seem to have enjoyed most this year is Moro (River Cafe-influenced Spanish / Moroccan) I visit Defune quite a lot for Sushi, but it is pretty expensive and you may be disappointed if you typically dine at Kuruma or Masa in NY

For awhile now, I've wanted to write a thank-you to Koji for joining us, but the right words just haven't come. Two years ago, I wrote this about Koji, and nothing has changed since then: Nabbing one of the coveted seats in front of Koji at Sushi-Ko is one of my very favorite dining experiences, and Koji never fails to come through with an interesting, thoughtful presentation and progression, not only within the same plate of sashimi, but also over the course of the entire meal. Koji, thank you very much for joining us here. Not once did it occur to me that your written English was this good; otherwise, I would have asked you to do this a long time ago. This chat was both entertaining and educational - very much like one of the meals you orchestrate at Sushi-Ko. Thanks Koji! And cheers! Rocks

It's not like you're creeping down Fairview Park Drive at 5 mph, squinting to see the house numbers as you try not to sidescrape the parked cars.

I think it's a good idea!

Who is bringing this? I GUARANTEE it's the best butter that will be there. Click

I've hesitated to post much about Dino because Dean is so active here, but I'm going to call a spade a spade: Dino has the best Italian wine list in the city, with Maestro and Galileo the only restaurants I can think of that possibly have more interesting Italian wines (and Galileo's are priced in the stratosphere). And even then I'm not certain, because I've never thought to compare them until this evening. Vincent Feraud of Maestro is one of the greatest sommeliers this city has ever seen, and there's no questioning his overall expertise, but I think Dean Gold may have a better mastery of Italian wine, and the list itself - the actual verbage in the list - is a product of genuine passion and commitment. The "Wine Madness" promotion currently running through Labor Day is something I've dismissed as marketing, but the truth is that it's one of the best deals in town: 33% off all wines priced over $50 Sunday through Wednesday nights. I scanned the reserve wine list at Dino tonight, and there were 30 wines priced $50-59 (and a lot more priced less than that), which means that during this promotion, there are 30 wines priced at the Dean-like numbers of $33.33-$39.67. Try the 2001 Ca'Rome' Barbera d'Alba, and I promise you won't be disappointed. I won't be biased for a restaurant based on participation on this website, but I work hard not to be biased against it either. It's a balancing act both ways, and it isn't always easy. How was the food tonight? Bountiful, and well worth the trip. Not everything was sublime, but everything was at least very good, and some of it was excellent. It's easy to fake quantity, but it's harder to fake quality. (FWIW, the one dish this evening that Dean sent out for free, we took a polite bit of, and then sent back. There's nothing wrong with this; I just don't think I should accept it.) But this post isn't about the food; it's about the wine list, and the Italian wines on the Reserve List at Dino are great. GREAT! If the Palena chicken, Ray's onglet, and 2 Amy's pizza are considered among the great treasures of the Washington restaurant world, then the wine list at Dino must be considered to be the same. Cheers, Rocks.

May I safely assume they've changed their baguettes in the past year? The one thing that stands out from my last visit is how drearily industrial the bread seemed. Cheers, Rocks.

Their website says they're opening in May, 2006. Unless they open in the next ten minutes, it's not going to happen. ETA: Guess they didn't make it.

Don't bother. I tried it once, and Frank threatened to call the police. He came upstairs waving a cast-iron pot and screaming something about 'nobody is going to smuggle any of my chickens out of this place and haul them into a chemical lab for analysis, by cracky!' Cheers, Rocks.

Nah, don't bother. Just leave your server an extra dollar next time you're out at a restaurant. It all works out in the end. Cheers, Rocks.

Sounds like my kind of oil. Do you guys want to try it at the picnic?

As of last night, I'm the proud owner of a bottle of Arganöl The person who gave me the bottle claims that it's an oil made from nuts: nuts that were eaten, digested and shat out by a goat, and I don't believe it. What is this stuff?

[Aargh, I went away for thirty minutes and forgot to lock this thread. Just to clarify a couple of messages I've gotten in the past few minutes: Nope, nothing has happened that was an impetus to this, other than the upcoming picnic. I've avoided dealing with it, and have been reprimanded and scolded for procrastinating. I hate dealing with stuff like this and prefer not to. Cheers, Rocks]

Dudes, I held off doing this probably longer than I should have, but with over 100 people attending the upcoming picnic, I was "urged" (to put it mildly) to institute a new Registration Agreement and Rules. In essence, the last thing I need is to have my ass sued if someone gags on a pumpkin seed at the picnic. Thank you VERY much to the attorneys who drafted this policy. I'm not much into legalities, but I'm glad I was talked into it. (Don't worry, nothing on the website is changing. I hate that I have to bother with this type of stuff, but I'd be foolish not to.) Cheers, Rocks. -- Click here for all the cold, hard details.

[if it's any perspective on how busy I've been, I still have them saved in my Inbox, unopened (along with over 6,000 other messages ). I'll get to every one of them when the time is right for me to focus on this.]

I really enjoy reading these.

So would I. Although I was rushed and hungry, I did have a master plan: this was mostly protein, and had a lot less sodium than a Chipotle burrito. Plus, with the burrito, there's an almost pathological need to finish the whole thing, whereas with this slop, I knew I could just take a couple bites and jettison the rest. Cheers, Whore Mel.

Today I had homemade "Michigan Style" chili for the first time. If you must know, it was at Lynn Street Cafe in Rosslyn - a typically dreary office-lunch place, complete with a basket of bananas, apples, and oranges by the cash register (I couldn't stand the thought of going to Chipotle Grill or Baja Fresh. The chili was lame, and served at icebox temperature in parts as they had clearly just carted it out from the refrigerator shortly before dumping it into the cauldron). Anyway, does anyone know if there's such a thing as Michigan Style chili? The only thing notable about it was that it was beanless, with mushroom chunks acting as surrogates. Cheers, Rocks.

I've heard this chain is joining forces with The Palm. (They're going to merge and become The Palmolive Garden.) Soap whore, so sew pore. Rocks.

[Not pejorative but descriptive of style and feel - see Desperately Seeking Strip Malls. There are also seven locations of Mama Lucia throughout Maryland, most of them in strip malls I believe. Yes, I'm scornful of strip malls themselves, but not necessarily the restaurants in them. Restaurants in big enclosed malls, on the other hand, are almost never family owned and are almost always corporate and wan. Cheers, Rocks.]