Lydia R

There's a free-access article in today's on-line Wall Street Journal that discusses some of the infrastructure changes happening late next week over at Chowhound and larger changes at C-Net in the next month.Laptop Critics:Where the Web's Foodies Dish Not sure if it was fair of the author to "test" Chowhound by asking the board for Acton, MA restaurant recommendations and hoping they'd mention his personal favorite.

True, but I wonder how the twenty metro-area restaurants already on the page got there? It's strange that there isn't a DC Chapter -- almost eight years ago, according to their website, Robert Kinkead was one of the organization's founding fathers. Kinkead's is one of the 20 restaurants listed on Open Table's DC-area independant list. I just want a few extra diners a week to find their way to the local independants. It's like the bar scene in Bull Durham when Kevin Costner's character describes the difference between a Hall of Fame baseball career and an also ran -- it's just a few extra hits and a few extra bases...

After reading the threads about supporting independant and mom/pop restaurants I hit the "Independant Restaurants" button on Open Table to spur some recommendations for the coming weeks. Hey - is there an extra charge to be listed as Independant? If not, would Dino, Notti Bianche, Corduroy, Dahlia and Galileo please get themselves added to that list?

How many can its dining area fit? From the CityPaper profile (bullet proof glass partition) I had initially visualized it as "carry-out only." Is it big enough to handle a $20 Tuesday invasion?

Lunch today was the carne asada special, beans/rice and a tamarind drink (just under $9 before tip). The meat was spiced and piping hot with a nicely arranged lettuce, tomato, cuke, radish, lime and avacado on the side. Entertainment was, of course, World Cup (USA v. Czech Republic). Both of the little HD-TVs had Univision's coverage, but only one had its sound on. It was loud enough for the kitchen, but not blasting for me. Didn't have a chance to ask whether they'd have all the games on, but it's a safe bet.

Looks like no Friday lunches this summer...

They've been getting a lot of press lately:Post wine column Seattle Times Thanks for pointing me to the Post food section today. I need to make sure have Copper River salmon before I fly back east.

It's fun to eat with people who appreciate good food AND have brain cells to spare for other things. I'm not sure what makes anyone a "serious foodie." Maybe it's someone who knows the outcome of the Top Chef finale and knows nothing about American Idol - Britney Spears indeed.

Thanks Joe. Does anyone know which "upscale grocer" they're referring to in the press release?

I've eaten at the Germantown location a few times with non-foodie friends. Agree with Joe H's post about the chicken. Pollo Rosa Maria has Fontina/mushrooms and the Chicken Bryan has goat cheese/sundried tomatoes. This is in a shopping area near a multiplex so the lines can be horrific. On the bright side, they have: Area Locations

After reading about it in Tom's Weekly Dish about two weeks ago I wondered if it was worth the detour. Thanks for the map, it's off the main arteries.

Bump. I'm heading back to Seattle for a lazy week and wonder if there are any new places I should check out. I'll be exploring new parts of town because my friend moved from Belltown to Magnolia and I can't just walk a couple of blocks to Pike Place Market. ETA: We're trying to get into Crush- anybody been to Jason Wilson's place?

If anybody's lookin' for somethin' doin' HH today...

Looks like Anne's piece is in the May 12th City Paper.Did anyone catch the April 30th NYTimes article about San Francisco's take-out friendly Ferry Building on the Embarcadero? OK, another cool dining option we don't have in metro DC. More info in the Ferry Building's web site.

Got there for a quick, late lunch away from the office today. Had the aforementioned three tacos: chorizo, goat and al pastor. Fresh, tasty and only a bit messy. Got a side of beans & rice - topped with a nice slice of queso. Rice was right taste though not steaming hot. I agree with Mt PleasantEater that, when the timing is right, I'd welcome a broader menu. I do feel comfortable comparing the noise level to most of the Riverdale places. I thankfully didn't get my ears blown out today. I saw the CD stereo set up in the back corner - silent. There are two small flat-panel TVs. One set to Spanish TV (appropriate volume level for the size of the restaurant and tile walls) and the other on English programming (silent with closed captioning). Today, the English show was 1994's Little Giants with Rick Moranis and Ed O'Neill - perfect as an away from the office EEG smoother. Thanks, nice find y'all.

From yesterday's eNewsletter: Overall, Colorado Kitchen will be closed: - Sunday, May 14th thru Thursday, May 18th - No lunch Friday, May 19th, but open for dinner - Thursday, May 25th Didn't report earlier, but we were able to get a reservation for Easter Sunday Brunch and had a nice, relaxed meal - the staff seemed more relaxed too. After reading this newsletter, I'm looking forward to the salads, small foods and fresh corn.

Here's a scan of the two page menu. Great meal and wonderful company.ETA: Sorry, still having trouble uploading even from a different network...

Thank you for decloaking or really just shifting down from warp speed Mr. Porcupine. He's correct about the Guffanti Eborinati Di Pecorino. The menu states: "Screamingly strong, cave aged blue served with honey." Be sure there's honey on the plate or the screaming will be all you. Even with the honey, this pecorino will command your full attention and wipe any other thoughts that may be bouncing in your head. The two goat cheeses we had were really solid. The Buche has a white mold skin and snappy taste- you know it's goat. The Brunet is described as being "not unlike a double cream brie." It was soft, velvety and more like brie for grown-ups. The Reggiano is about to be seven years old and has been a good little cheese. It definitely deserves a birthday party (May 11th). This was my first visit to Dino and it lived up to the expectation driven by posts on the board. Mr. Porcupine was polite and didn't inventory the Cinco de Mayo potent potables, the Tonno (seared tuna), Funghi e Gorgonzola (mushrooms/blue cheese), Fettuna (sounds like more tuna - but it's grilled garlic bread), Polenta con Salsiccia e Angello (polenta with sausage and artichoke), the Strozapretti Gorgonzola e Peperoni Rossi (strozapretti is a relaxed, gemelli-esque pasta), desserts, and most dreamy Asparagi e Prosciutto (no translation necessary). Thankfully, the food and company were comforting enough to cushion the loss of one of my big foodie crushes - he looks nothing like he sounds...and the drumbeat thumps got slower and then faded to silence.

For those who missed Chris'/Happyguy's list o' concoctions in celebration of the holiday... De La Dino indeed - my grandmothers are weeping.

Hope you're right, but the Wegmans in Hunt Valley (north of Baltimore) doesn't have a wine department - it might be a Maryland thing...

Not Kaiser Sosa, but his evil cousin Rolo Tomasi.After reading Todd's piece about Chef Zhang in the May Washingtonian I had little sympathy for Jerry. He'd been watching Zhang for years and planned to bring him to his restaurant - but he just couldn't implement correctly. I'd gone through the DR Sunday dinner disaster (too many tables, not enough restaurant) excusing the issues by thinking that Jerry didn't know what he had on his hands (a chef with a following). This is better than a soap opera or a B-school case study (or B-movie).

One of my favorites! Finding it at Shoppers Food Warehouse and not Giant was the turning point in my relationship with Giant...

A girlfriend and I had lunch on a rainy Saturday April 8th at Addie's. It's an old favorite (from 3+ years ago) and we went in a nod to nostalgia and in spite of the comments above. The most memorable issue was the poor service. Personable server, but I don't think diners were "cared for" in a way we'd been in past years. I felt horrible for the elderly (75+ y.o.) women sitting next to us. We ended up reading the menu to them because the server was MIA for an extended period of time and later had to give them our creamer/sugar because their coffee was delivered w/o condiments (for >10 minutes they tried to flag down some coffee help). OK, I've seen service in small places where servers notice that you're missing a utensil before you do or anticipate when you might need, oh say, cream/sugar - not here. The creepiest thing was that the tall busman wouldn't indicate his presence behind me before reaching straight down in front of my face to clear plates - it's really startling - even the third time. Foodwise I have to confess that my previous steak at been at Ray's (Farewell Dinner Version 1.0) and most places' Steak Frites would pale in comparison -- but hey -- Addie's steak was sliced down like London Broil, close to room temp (over-rested?) and coupled with hot fries that were soggy in au jus. The dessert was OK, but can't remember what it was... We'd eaten at Black's Market nearby (in Garrett Park) a couple of months ago and would choose to eat there in the future. Hopefully Addie's dinner service is ready for primetime.

I included the wine web shopping info from WSJ upthread because some members of this community live where the grapes roam relatively free (compared to Maryland & DC). I hope we can spin the wine shopping via local purveyor v. the internet posts into a separate thread. Back on topic: I’m interested in splitting a case of a wine Joe Riley recommended here and I subsequently bought at Ace Beverage - Altos Las Hormigas Malbec. “Ant Hill” complements beef and someone who shared this wine with us in January remembered (!) and pointed out that it's ranked # 42 on the Wine Spectator Top 100 Scoring Wines 2005 list. Wine Spectator lists it for $24 / bottle. Joe sounds a bit slammed (busy at work), but I’d like to approach him/Ace for this buy. Anyone game?

It's been that kind of week here too. Could NOW mean Legacy (Last Friday) HH at Notti Bianche? CresentFresh posted a similar question in the NB thread: