Yentruoc

While not a bakery per se, the coffee shop on the same strip (forget the name, dark red awning) had one of the best baguettes I've ever bought in a store, along with a good selection of other breads.

These are excellent ideas. I use ground venison for tacos, chili, anything calling for ground beef. If you want to make burgers, you'll need to get some fat to put in there or they'll fall apart. Just ask your friendly meat guy at the supermarket for some suet and they'll hook you up. Venison also goes very well with berries- cherries, blueberries, juniper berries (an amazing amount of recipes call for this combo). Enjoy!

Good to hear- we usually do Hunan Garden in Clarendon (or Hunan something...whatever it's called), which is fine with me cuz I'm not a chinese food snob. But TNR is closer and I've been curious about. Thanks for posting the number. Did you get a menu with your order? What are the entree prices like? Now only if I could find a good Thai delivery....

Glad to hear you enjoyed it Schust. I love this place- nice servers, good cocktails and yummy food too. This place is a welcome addition to the Clarendon "scene"- if sports bars and grown up frat parties are NOT your thing. (And who knew? Sietsama didn't even like it.)

For me, this is more "fit for easter challenge"- I'm going to have to be in a bathing suit in front of my SO and his friends (and their wives) by April 4. I'm going to attempt this feat via Weight Watchers, which when you follow it (surprise!) really works. I've been able to lose about 2 lbs. a week by following WW for 4 or 5 days a week- taking the weekends off of course. I'll post any recipes that I think are yummy and healthy, including points and calorie counts. Tonight: good old fashioned Chicken Pot Pie. Exported from MasterCook * Chicken Pot pie Recipe By : Serving Size : 6 Preparation Time: about an hour and a half. Categories : Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 12 ounces boneless skinless chicken breast 2 tablespoons butter 1/4 cup flour 1 cup chicken broth 3/4 cup 1% low-fat milk 3 tablespoons white wine 1 cupCo flour 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup butter 1/3 cup ice water 1 medium onion 3 medium carrots 2 stalks celery 3/4 cup frozen peas -- thawed 3 tablespoons fresh parsley -- minced Poach the chicken until done; remove and dice into small chunks. preheat the oven to 400 degrees. To prepare crust, lightly spoon 1 cup flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine 1/4 cup flour, ice water, and vinegar in a small bowl. Combine 3/4 cup flour and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a large bowl; cut in shortening with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add vinegar mixture; stir just until moist. Press mixture gently into a 5-inch circle on heavy-duty plastic wrap; cover with additional plastic wrap. Chill for 15 minutes. Roll dough, still covered, into a 13 x 10-inch oval. Place dough in freezer 5 minutes or until plastic wrap can be easily removed. Melt the 2 tbsp of butter in a large saucepan over med-low heat. Add the 1/4 cup of flour and whisk until smooth. Cook, whisking constantly for 1 minute. Add 1 cup of chicken broth and whisk again until smooth. Whisk in the 3/4 cup of milk. Increase the heat to medium and bring the mixture to a bare simmer, whisking constantly. Stir in the cooked chicken, along with the 3 tbsp wine; add salt, pepper, and a dash of nutmeg to taste. To finish the potpie: Microwave the celery, carrots, and onion for 2 minutes or until tender. Stir the veggies, including the peas and parsley, into the chicken mixture. Pour the chicken mixture into the pan. Roll the crust out and place it on top, leaving room for it to shrink a bit. Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until chicken is bubbly and the crust is nicely browned. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 322 Calories; 13g Fat (37.6% calories from fat); 19g Protein; 30g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 65mg Cholesterol; 699mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 1/2 Grain(Starch); 2 Lean Meat; 1 Vegetable; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 2 1/2 Fat.

I was at Majestic Cafe for lunch today. They are offering their entire menu as part of RW, no restrictions or upcharges. it was crowded, but the staff seemed to handle it well- and our server was doing double duty at the bar, too. I had the garlic and goat cheese flan with beets for the first course- outstanding. the pork loin sandwich was well prepared, too. I guess I was expecting more of a traditional cuban witht the pickles, but this sandwich still fit the bill. We ended up skipping dessert b/c we were so stuffed, but everything sounded lovely. This was my first time there, but I certainly would come back if in the neighborhood.

Exactamundo Jm Chen. I do agree that small amounts of full fats probably keep you fuller longer, but 1) i've been drinking lowfat milk all my life, so whole milk tastes WAY too heavy for me; 2) I use OO and vegetable oils because I want to keep my saturated fat intake relatively low. And Diet Coke IS nasty. Coke Zero is much better.

posting late, but i'm also in. I've been doing WW on and off for the past couple of years. It will be nice to share the results of healthy dinners with such sophisticated palates (in contrast to those on the WW site where every recipe consists of lean ground beef, fat free cheese, and cream of mushroom soup). Tonight: Zuni roasted chicken (without the skin) steamed asparagus rice for those counting, a very filling meal made very satisfying by the lovely flavor of the chicken. Damage: 7.5 points.

bread with butter and colored sprinkles (or just sugar if in a pinch). An old aussie neighbor of mine served it to her kids and called it "fairy bread". I say it's good for grown up kids too. Extra points for crustless wonder bread!!

We tried Bebo last night as part of a friend's birthday party. The food was great- I had the prosciutto and fig appetizer and the papparedelle con funghi, my SO the caesar salad and the spaghetti bolognese (he's a classic italian kind of guy). For a party of 12, our waiter was excellent- patient, friendly, and knowledgeable. Overall, however, the service was seriously lacking. We too had plates "auctioned" as well-the runners clearly had no idea who was to get what, and we had two or three dishes brought to us that no one had ordered. They forgot my entree and we had to flag the waiter down to get it after everyone else had been served. Dessert orders were taken for one half of the table and not the other, and the check was brought before the other half was given a chance to order dessert. And a waitress, who I saw serving dishes to other tables, left the bathroom without washing her hands. Ew. The food was delicious, the wine list super reasonably priced, but come on Roberto!! I would expect better trained staff from such a seasoned restaurateur. The grace period is over.

I have to say that baking this bread was one of the greatest culinary misadventures I have ever had. I was so excited to try out the NYT recipe for the first use of a recently inherited 40 year old Le Crueset dutch oven. I consider myself a pretty adequate bread baker; I regularly bake my own bread and have had more good results than bad. I used King Arthur Flour and filtered water, like usual. After mixing together all the ingredients, I had a flour soup. I added some more flour to get the shaggy consistency desired. And more. And more. I think I probably added about an extra cup of flour when all was said and done, and it still looked more like pancake batter than a bread dough. So after 18 hours, it was still so soupy that I added more flour to get it to a point where it would form a (very sticky) mass. I liberally floured a kitchen towel (the only one that is not terry cloth) and soldiered on, letting the dough rest on the towel, covered for two hours. I heated up the Le Crueset in the oven. I felt optimistic- this could work out Ok afterall!! Time to take the Le Crueset out of the oven to flip the bread into. Hmm. Can't get the lid off. After twenty minutes and the use of a screwdriver, I have pried the lid off the dutch oven. That's not a good sign! So back in the oven it goes, this time sans lid. When reheated, I attempt to turn the dough into the dutch oven. About 1/3 of it sticks to the towel; I pry what I can off with a knife; leaving my towel with very well ingrained hunks of dough. Soo...into the oven it goes. The result after 45 minutes? A nice looking little boule that has the moisture content of and tastes like wet paper towels (or what I imagine them to taste lik, anyway). the dish towel survived after a nice hot bath in the washer. I applaud everyone else's successful efforts- the photos are beautiful. For me, I think I'll leave the no knead, no "trouble" method for another time.

Umm...I might be alone here, but don't most of us (more enlightened ones at least) not enjoy "chewy meats, gritty berries, rubbery cheese or mushy tomatoes"? As for picky eaters, whatevah. If they want to be weird, they're missing out! I have a friend who seems to live on canned tuna, crystal light and the odd chicken breast. She also happens to be 5'11" and about 120 pounds.

My boyfriend arrived back in town just in time for him to change his clothes and run out the door to Corduroy- whew! My beet salad was amazing- such a surprise to have the goat cheese as a thin layer on the plate rather than the chunks you usually see, with the hidden pickled onions just waiting for you below the microgreens. His corn soup was the better of the two though- very smooth, yet with huge corn flavor. yummy. I had the famous scallops, which were excellent- I was surprised to get 4! I wasn't expecting the dish to be so earthy, with the mushrooms, but I liked it. He had the lamb sirloin, which was (at least according to the one bite he gave me) tender and perfectly seasoned, with creamy herb raviolis. The desserts were fine- I'm not a big dessert person, so I could have gone just as well without them. The only thing that was off putting was I regularly had bites of my entree that were gritty- I don't know if that was the 'shrooms or something else. A surprise considering all the kudos on this board. Of course, I didn't let that stop me.

I have a reservation for 2 tonight at Corduroy for 7 pm that I will probably have to cancel, since SO is sitting on some runway somewhere... PM me if you can take the reservation. I will let you know at 6 pm if it's yours.

Holy mole! who knew people felt so strongly about Guajillo??? I admit my bias and say that I probably eat out here more than any other place, because 1) it's good, 2) it's close and 3) we don't eat out that much anyway. I've never-never- had bad service and never had anything other than excellent (to me) grub. Especially when accompanied by a pitcher of patron margaritas. Skip the chicken mole and try the lamb tacos. As for Ray's next door, if people are waiting for RTS, want a drink and go next door, so what? How does Guajillo not benefit from this arrangement? Who cares? gee whiz.

I really, really want to be able to say that I buy organic and local all the time, but I can't. I do buy organic milk sometimes, am a member of a CSA, try to buy in season, and buy organic produce when it doesn't seem to be too exorbitantly priced. I've just finished Planck's book, and it made me think quite a bit about the pros and cons for me regarding buying local/organic. The problem is the last point- price. If the local/organic food movement could come up with a way to ameliorate the fact that only the "rich" can afford good food without completely erasing the meaning of it in the first place, it would be a lot easier to swallow. I understand- and agree- with the premise that it's not so much that local/organic is overpriced, it's that industrial agriculture has depressed prices. But most of the time I just can't justify spending $4 a lb on local tomatoes in season. Not to mention the hidden costs of going all over town or ordering onoline to source meats/dairy, vegetables. What should I do? How can we support local/organic and not go broke in the process? I don't say this to be disrespectful to other's viewpoints, but am looking for candid, openminded opinions.

Our rotation tends to skew towards what's walkable or in the zone that our car is permitted for: Guajillo RTS (once in a while, when we decide to be daring and put our name on the list) Cafe Asia (its proximity rather than excellent cuisine puts it on this list) Faccia Luna Singh Thai Sette Bello Minh's Italian Store Wish list RTS (all the time) Restaurant Eve Komi good Chinese delivery (why is it so f.ing hard to find this in Arlington????) ...and most of the other places that are on most of y'alls normal rotation!

As I recall, the Wu family sold the place a couple years ago. Wu's holds such a special place in my heart- my dad and i went there at least 1x a week when I was a kid, and we always had the same great waiter, Chi, who made sure I got 4 maraschino cherries with my shirley temple. I don't think I could ever go back now- best to keep to the old adage and not try to go home again.

Just across from National Place is High Noon, which to my taste does very good custom made salads, as well as better than the usual sandwiches and soups. You can get out of there with a drink, sandwich and chips for about $10. http://www.highnoonalways.com/

My vision of banana creme pie is of a taste of banany-goodness, but with somehow MORE than the taste of fruit itself. My pie at Talulla was pretty much as if I took a banana, put some cool whip on top, and put it in a bowl.

If you're cooking for WW'ers, they will probably ask you the Nutritional Info so that they can calculate points. Cooking Light provides this info, as does the recipe sections for Shape magazine and Organic Style- and I've had very good luck with these sources. You could also buy Mastercook or another kind of kitchen software to calculate your own calorie counts for the recipes you already have. I got mine for about $20 a year ago.

We hit up Willow last night as the closer to our Restaurant week. It was my first time there and the experience was positive. We did stick to the RW menu, although I was tempted to get the scallops (not on the RW menu), partially just to see how many scallops I'd get. I had the salmon with potato latkes as a first course- very good, but the latkes were too small to add anything other than a textural element. For my main I had the lentil ragu with goat cheese and baby artichokes. I'm not a vegetarian, and I almost never choose the veggie dish when going out, but my entree was GOOD- hearty with a bit of tang from the artichokes and creamy from the goat cheese. I would go back just for this. The apple cheesecake for dessert was good- not too sweet, not too rich, but I'm not a big dessert person, so I just had a few bites. Service was competent, although by the end of the night our waitress looked very busy. Bottom line for me: Willow is a bit pricey for me for an ordinary night out, neighborhood restaurant kind of place, but I'd return if we're feeling a little flush and don't feel like going into DC.

Nah, we just hung out at our table, drank the whole thing and tottered home!

The first (and only time) we dined at Sette Bello we ordered a bottle of wine with dinner, but didn't finish it. Since we're in freewheeling Virginny, the law says we can take that wine home with us. I told the waiter our wish, upon which time he informed us that "there is a $20 corkING fee" to take any bottle of wine that YOU'VE ALREADY BOUGHT home. Thanks, but no thanks f*ckers.

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