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PollyG

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Everything posted by PollyG

  1. PollyG
    I grew up with blender latkes after I learned to make them myself in 5th grade. Before then, they came from a packaged mix from the Kosher section, one of my mother's few real failings as a cook. We tried the Frankenstein Latke recipe in last week's Washington Post, which called for grated parsnips, parboiling waxy red potatoes, and using the oven to bake the latkes in a small amount of oil. The verdict: Oven frying sucks. Pan frying is faster and produces better results. The parsnips were very hard to detect in the finished product. We omitted them from the batch we made for the chowpup's Sunday school class. We really liked the results from parboiling the potatoes, which eliminated the crispy outside, undercooked inside problem I typically have with grated latkes.
  2. PollyG
    A friend has celiac disease and was fine during our trip to Korea, despite the fact that most of the red pepper pastes and soy sauces do have some quantity of wheat in them. He just avoided noodles and pancakes. Vietnamese may also work for you since fish sauce is used more than soy. Our local Vietnamese restaurant's owner was kind enough to consult with me when I went gluten free for a few weeks this summer to see whether that did anything for me. (It didn't.) But on the whole, language barriers are likely to sabotage your efforts in Asian restaurants.
  3. PollyG
    Dolce & You would be a nice place to meet someone to catch up over coffee. While the coffee is relatively expensive, about $3.95, it is served with a small square of pastry, a mini madeline, and a sugar-crystal studded stirring stick. In my book, that is way better than a 1500 calorie latte extravaganza from $tarbuck$. The spouse and I had about the same reaction to Dolce &You--"why wasn't a place like this around when we were dating?" Special bonus: If you purchase one of their cakes to go, it comes in a sturdier-than-usual box prominently labeled "Fancy Cake" and they provide a plastic cake knife. We're easily amused.
  4. PollyG
    Some of the Grandmarts carry them. My Sterling Grandmart dropped them, but the E-mart/International Foods (Grandmart) in Reston Tall Oaks had them the last time I looked. My freezer is stocked with several, trimmed and separated prior to freezing. We like to use a teriyaki marinade (soy, sake, honey, ginger, & garlic) and then grill about 3-4 minutes per side, leaving them quite red inside.
  5. PollyG
    Happily, my in-laws were just passing through and didn't see the health inspection results. They enjoyed a very nice late lunch and were really wowed by the food. Rather than go with any of the suggestions from the reviews we'd armed them with, they got help from their waitress. That could have been a disaster, as they're in their 70's and don't look like the kind of people who enjoy food adventures. They managed to convey that they do enjoy spicy food. She steered them to Sizzling Rice with Seafood Soup, Chicken with Bell Peppers in Hot Pot, and Braised Beef with Tomato and Curry Sauce in Pot. They didn't have much to say about the soup other than to describe the ingredients. The chicken with bell peppers was also laced with sichuan peppercorns and appears to have been served on a platter rather than in a hot pot. The braised beef dish was more of a thick stew, and was more subtle than the chicken. They'll be going back again.
  6. PollyG
    Great Wall had lobsters at $5.99 a pound about 2 weeks ago, as well.
  7. PollyG
    I think A&J is too small for what you are planning. We love A&J and are there at least once a month, but it is not dim sum as most people think of dim sum. It is small plates, no carts, and no seafood. This is Northern Chinese, from the wheat-growing inland regions, so it is more noodle than rice. Many of the most delicious dishes are probably too "strange" for a 40 person gathering, particularly if they're not all food adventurers. Let's put it this way: our parents, who are well-traveled and fans of Hong Kong style dim sum, aren't thrilled with A&J. Try a scouting trip and be sure to order: pan fried pork dumplings (8 to an order) won tons in spicy sauce beef and pickled long bean cucumber salad There is no plain sliced pan-fried turnip cake--the turnip pastry is in flaky dough if I remember correctly.
  8. PollyG
    October 18-19 is the annual St. Mary's Oyster Festival. http://www.usoysterfest.com/ We went there years ago and it was a low-key event with plenty of different ways to eat oysters. Our favorite preparation involved dredging in cornmeal and frying.
  9. PollyG
    You are going to have to ask for the sawgrass or sawtooth leaf. Some of the waitstaff have language issues so you may need to be more descriptive. When you ask for it, you get a pretty generous portion. The only time I got it without asking was on our first trip back in 2006.
  10. PollyG
    It is possible they are open until 11:30 pm. They are certainly open fairly late. They are absolutely, positively, NOT a lunch-only operation.
  11. PollyG
    Does that mean Neisha has expanded? There was a Bistro 123 next door to Neisha, though there may have been a nail salon/laser hair removal place between.
  12. PollyG
    We're on Maui now and while Sansei was excellent and we may return, the restaurant that has blown us away in terms of quality and value is Izakaya Matsu in the ocean-side of Azeka Place in Kihei. This place should be packed to its tiny gills. It has all of 6 tables and about a dozen bar-type seats left over from its former incarnation as a shabu-shabu shop. The menu is extensive enough to make you suspicious that they went for variety rather than quality, but everything is good to outstanding. Most of the menu is small dishes, though you could order a sashimi bowl or sushi platter if you weren't distracted by at least a dozen likely choices on the menu. The balance is about 30/70 raw/cooked. On our two visits so far, we paid less than we would for a comparable meal in the DC area. The waitstaff are friendly and efficient, too!
  13. PollyG
    Ben & Jerry's recipe book has 3 different variations on ice cream base, plus numerous recipes. The bases work well enough in my similar unit.This year, for Passover, I made charoseth ice cream, using one of the B&J bases, Penzey's Vietnamese cinnamon, half a can of apple pie filling, rinsed to remove goo, and a small amount of Concord Grape wine. I served it in tiny balls inside a hollowed out persimmon, with persimmon balls as well. It was a big hit. (We make Sephardic charoseth, using dates and figs, for the actual meal, because everyone prefers it to the old apple/walnut stuff.) For sorbets, I puree fresh fruit and add simple syrup to taste and texture, with a teaspoon of rum or vodka to prevent it from freezing too hard. The peach sorbet I made this way was particularly stunning.
  14. PollyG
    And her kitchen skills. I have no doubt whatsoever that the cafeteria crew at my child's elementary school could take fresh, organic ingredients, and cook them into tasteless mush. For the past two years, I've attended the Thanksgiving lunch at her school, which seems to be specifically designed to convince parents to pack lunch for their kids. I can only assume that they're trying to show off for the parents, but the overcooked green beans are the most edible item on the platter. My kid's a potatovore, but even she won't touch their mashed potatoes. And let's not get into the vile scraps of turkey drowned in some brown stuff. She even concluded recently that the frozen pizza served on Fridays isn't good and is now at 100% lunches from home. I really feel for the kids in the free lunch program. They deserve better. If we are going to reform the school lunch program, drastically improved cooking skills are required.
  15. PollyG
    When we went to Kam Sam this morning after lunch at A&J, I immediately noticed some suspiciously bare shelves. A chat with the cash register staff confirmed it--they are closing the Annandale location after June and not reopening. The Rockville location will remain. There is still plenty of food left, and there are some markdowns. The tableware has been marked down, and been pretty thoroughly picked-over, though there are utensils and such left. I'm hoping this doesn't mean bad news for A&J---back in 2004, someone reported on Chowhound that the A&J location was rented from Kam Sam.
  16. PollyG
    We had a small chowhound gathering a few weeks ago--results were mixed. The Vietnamese dishes were pretty good, the plain seafood, less so. I have relatives in Louisiana and have eaten at crawfish houses several times; the crawfish were just not up to Cajun snuff. They were too waterlogged.
  17. PollyG
    We're still going there once a quarter or so. I believe they may have changed ownership, possibly combining with one of the other restaurants in the K-mart plaza. The original menu is still intact, and still just as delicious, but they're also offering a lot of what I believe are Salvadoran dishes. Generally, it seems to be a good addition, particularly at dinner time. The pictures-of-food thing may be to (1) help out some marginally literate diners and (2) help some literate but confused-about-what's in a dish diners.
  18. PollyG
    We had lunch at the Tyson's location on Sunday. They were perhaps 1/4 full, but this did not stop the kitchen from taking an inexplicably long time to fill our simple orders. The potato knish was made with red-skinned potatoes, including skin--definitely NOT traditional. My cheese blintzes were oddly gritty, as if someone had used dried ricotta cheese. Grandma Emma's were much, much better. Not sure what was wrong with the sticky cinnamon bun, but when an 8 year-old doesn't take more than 2 bites of something sweet like that, it isn't a good sign.
  19. PollyG
    The Lemon Ice King in Corona is nearly as good as ever---I could swear that when I was last there (in a prior century), the lemon ice had bits of lemon in it, absent this time. I tasted the lemon, mango, cantalope, and chocolate. The chocolate and cantalope were my favorites; the lemon wasn't as assertive in its flavoring. (Note that the Ice King doesn't give tastes or mix flavors in one cup. We were a group of 5). I love the reasonable portion sizes and intense flavoring. Rita's Philadelphia Water Ice doesn't even come close.
  20. PollyG
    The dining room in Rockville is slightly bigger. The food preparation is remarkably similar.
  21. PollyG
    Neisha Tysons has become the Thai delivery of choice in my office, which provides lunch for us on Wednesdays. They have a few dishes that are standouts---the Yum Eggplant appetizer is my single favorite eggplant dish anywhere, hands down. The leaf-wrapped dishes are also good, though a bit awkward to eat. They do a good job on hoi obb (lemongrass steamed mussels), though I haven't had those delivered. On the whole, the appetizer menu is probably a bit stronger than the mains, but the main courses with seafood and cellophane noodles are generally winners. Considering how fusiony some of the dish presentations are in the restaurant, some of the dishes are surprisingly spicy. Our last encounter with live music there was a few months ago. It was a pleasant enough flute and acoustic guitar duo, playing snippets of classical music. A suspiciously high number of their selections appeared in books 3 and 4 of Suzuki method violin lessons.
  22. PollyG
    Temari Cafe in Rockville serves it. (1043 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852) Temari is a gem.
  23. PollyG
    Pho Hot in Annandale serves plump, moist wings Asian-style, without sauce. I've always had them served so hot from the fryer that we need to let them cool a bit. You could douse them in rooster sauce at the table next time you're satisfying your craving for pho and wings or just bring your favorite sauce. They also have one of the best phos in the area, so it is an all-around winner.
  24. PollyG
    As it turned out, I need not have worried about what to order at Woo Lae Oak last week---my client did all the ordering and we ate family style. We had kalbi and jap chae. The kalbi was cut into cubes, which was the first time I've had it in cubes rather than slices. The upside was that it was nice and pink inside; the downside was that it didn't have as much of the bouncy texture I enjoy in most versions of this dish. The jap chae may have had the most deeply flavored noodles I've ever had in this dish; they had really soaked up some broth. I also liked the tiny slices of baby bok choy (or similar green, I'm not positive of my green skills), which were not overcooked. I think there actually is a contender for quality of kalbi beef in the area. Soowon Galbi (14102 Lee Highway, Centreville,) has the most highly marbled pieces of kalbi I've ever seen. They grill on a wire screen and the fat just melts into the meat.
  25. PollyG
    It's a business meal being arranged by a Korean company. I know that one thing that makes it attractive to my client is that they have a more private back room for business discussions, and some sort of VIP status for companies who use them frequently. The Korean breakfasts for breakfast meetings are also attractive to my client.
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