The Hersch

I believe this is the post that will confer ventwormhood upon me.

I hadn't been to Kinkead's in a couple of years, and had never eaten lunch there, or eaten at the bar. Today I had lunch at the bar, and I must say it was a less than stellar experience, especially considering the cost. I ordered the 6 oyster sampler, fish & chips, and a glass of wine. The place wasn't particularly busy, although it was far from empty, but my oysters took a full fifteen minutes to arrive, which seems a bit long. The oysters themselves were lovely, but they were inexpertly shucked: each mouthful had broken shell in it, and the oyster bodies had not been cut from the shell. At $14, that isn't good enough. The fish of the fish & chips was excellent, all it should be. The batter-coating was puffy and crisp and light, and the fish itself was perfectly fresh and perfectly cooked. The cole slaw was pretty good as cole slaw goes. The fries were way over-fried and suprisingly over-salted, given how salty I like fries to be. Had the fries been perfect, this would have been a pretty good deal for $18. All in all, a minor disappointment, but a disappointment.

That's our favorite, too. We like it better than the more renowned El Pollo Rico, as well. Unfortunately--unless this has changed--plantains are not part of the menu. So I usually go to El Pollo Rico to pick up an order of those, then down do Super Chicken for the rest. (Including fried yuca, something El Pollo doesn't have.)

There's another Super Chicken in Falls Church, on Washington Street near the intersection with Hillwood. I haven't been there in several years, but it used to be very good. The place was kind of a disgusting dive, but the chicken was wonderful. They charged extra if you wanted extra containers of their excellent sauces, and since the amount they gave you for no extra charge was tiny, I always used to cough up the $0.25 for an extra green sauce.

But speaking of chicken and cheap, does anyone remember El Pollo Primo, on 18th St. just south of Columbia Road? I think they closed sometime around 1995, very suddenly. I used to go there for a very cheap carryout meal once a week or so. It wasn't Peruvian; I think it was supposed to be Mexican, although the owners seemed to be from India and the workers were all Salvadoran. They grilled marinated whole chickens on this enormous brazier, and a quarter chicken with rice, beans, three corn tortillas, and a cup of house-made salsa cost, I think, $3.65, and it was awesomely good. One evening I rode over on my bike to pick up a quick dinner, and the place was dark and locked, and it never reopened. Pizza Movers moved into the space eventually, although I can't remember what's there now. I miss Pollo Primo.

Can I just mention again how mad I am that Food Lion has stopped carrying Duke's mayo? 

Is that Food Lion throughout the area, or just one particular Food Lion? I know it's not all Food Lions in the world, as all the Food Lions I used to visit in North Carolina (until last week I was sort of living down there) carry it. I'd have to say actually that every grocery store in NC carries it, not that that does you much good here. Is there a reliable source of Duke mayonnaise in this area? There is an excellent alternative, though. Trader Joe's house brand of mayonnaise is, if anything, even better than Duke's. Oh, and Food Lion sucks.

Now that I think of it, I didn't try Chevy Chase, but rather Circle Liquor on the other side of the street on the same block. I just called Chevy Chase on the phone, and they have some in stock. Thanks!

Does the Bethesda WF carry these regularly? As I mentioned in my original post, the Tenleytown WF has them, but only once in a blue moon, and a stewing fowl is not a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing. As to the hen/cock distinction: I don't know if my experience is typical, but the hens I've cooked have had quite a lot of fat in them, whereas the one cock I've had, after about four hours of simmering, had rendered out AT MOST a half teaspoon of fat. My intuition is that the cock was a much older bird than the hens, which might account for the difference more than the sex would, but I don't actually know.

Does anyone know of a liquor store in Washington that carries the Luxardo brand of maraschino liqueur? Calvert Woodley carries the Stock brand, but Luxardo is much better. Maraschino liqueur is the sine qua non ingredient in the excellent Aviation Cocktail. I've tried Central and Pearson's. Central's website claims they have it, but they don't really, and boy is that an inconvenient location anyway. I also tried Paul's and Chevy Chase, I think.

I find many uses for white vinegar, but mostly not in cooking

If you have a VERY GOOD DOG who once in a long, long while has a little accident in the Number One department, white vinegar is indispensable. I don't know if this would work if your dog is not a VERY GOOD DOG. (Mine may be reading this.)

La Fourchette is open Sundays. A reliable old standby (which I love).

I wrote the following to my sister after a trip to Italy last May:

I'm afraid we didn't follow any of your suggestions for dining in Venice, Diana, although I'm sure we would have been happy if we had. But we ate at two magnificent places, which I herewith recommend to you. The first is called Al Mascaron, the second, which is even better, is called Alle Testiere. They're both on streets that run into the Campo Santa Maria Formosa, which is quite near where we were staying. Mascaron is on Calle Longa Santa Maria Formosa, Testiere on Calle del Mondo Novo. Alle Testiere is tiny (about 20 places), and booking is necessary--but we got a reservation by popping in to ask for one at about 10 pm of the night before. They have two seatings, at 7:00 and 9:30, and a limited menu that the waiter will convey to you orally (in English, French, German, or Italian). I had moleche to start. These are tiny little softshelled crabs that are a specialty of the northern Adriatic, and are wonderful. Each one is only about one bite. They were fried and then marinated. These were followed by gnocchi so light they nearly floated off the plate…the best I ever had, and then a wonderful John Dory with fresh herbs. Wonderful. I had some grilled fresh sardines in Murano the next day.

I think the "waiter" who recited the menu at Alle Testiere was actually one of the owners.

I don't know why I'm curious, but I am. Was the zinfandel Kosher for Passover?

Another wonderful source for bread-baking is the section devoted to it in volume 2 of Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child and Simone Beck.

Mmmmmm, pork belly. Thanks for the info. The local NC butcher where I get stewing hens is also an excellent source of fine pork belly. I figured I'd have to venture out into the suburbs to one of the big Asian markets to get it in/near Washington. Glad there's a closer source.

Dude.  Go to a Latin Market -- we have a couple in Mt. Pleasant, if you're up that way.  Look for what they call (Mrs. B, help me) a galena (pronounced guy-ee-na). 

My online Spanish-English dictionary tells me it's "gallina", and thanks, that's an excellent suggestion. Although I live not very far from Mt. Pleasant, I don't know it at all well. Where would I find these markets, and is there one you'd recommend over another?

Does anyone know of a food purveyor in the Washington area that is a dependable source of stewing hens (or cocks)? I've been living in exile in semi-rural North Carolina, and I have a butcher shop here that usually has old hens (and occasionally cocks), and these are among the vanishingly few things I'm going to miss when my exile ends in a couple of weeks. I've seen stewing hens at the Tenleytown Whole Foods maybe twice in all the years I've been shopping there. Does any place have them regularly? You can't beat them for making soup.

Two collections (18 episodes each) of The French Chef with Julia Child are available on DVD. They're all from the color series.

Correction: I wrote the above after I had ordered the two collections, but before they had arrived. Both collections were listed as being in color, and I assumed that that applied to all of the episodes in each. It didn't. Both collections are a mix of b&w and color shows.

I dined at Zola as planned on Sunday. I have to say, the place looks smashing. And some of the food was very good. I started with tuna tartare, which was topped by a nice, fresh-tasting dice of cucumber and accompanied with crisp taro chips. The whole dish was very nice, and beautifully presented. The main course, however, was trouble. It was chicken cooked under a brick (I forget the exact lingo on the menu), and the chicken itself was beyond excellent--beautiful crisp skin, and succulent, flavorful meat. Unfortunately, it was all but ruined by the gluey sauce it was doused with, which was so sweet it would have been more appropriate on pancakes. And surrounding the chicken was a really remarkable quantity of green beans so undercooked they were practically raw. My friend and I shared a basket of french fries, which are surely among the best in the city, just wonderful. Service was friendly and attentive without being intrusive: just right. On the other hand, dinner was as expensive as my previous night's dinner at Corduroy, and that included stuff like foie gras and lobster and Chateauneuf du Pape.

Please forgive me. I didn't intend to nag. I actually will be dining at Zola this coming Sunday, and was hoping to get some idea of what to expect, what to order, and so forth. So I'll tell you what: I'll post comments on Zola myself, after I've dined there.

Oh, and another thing. Many, many years ago I walked down to Wagshal's from AU where I worked and ordered a liverwurst sandwich with onions and mustard. After I had walked back to my office and unwrapped the sandwich, which I was eagerly anticipating the devouring of, I discovered on the first bite that the counter person had mis-heard me, and instead of mustard had given me...butter! Now, I'm of the school that holds that butter improves most foods, but liverwurst with butter is actually kind of repulsive. I ate it anyway.

I always used to love their #300 sandwich, which was turkey, Smithfield ham, some kind of cheese, and coleslaw. I haven't had one in probably 10 years, but if they still offer it, it's probably still good.

you really can't go wrong with any of these choices - we have dined at Maestro and Eve and they are both excellent - I would concur with others that the setting at Maestro exudes a little more grandeur, but honestly I think I prefer the understated elegance of Eve

"A little more grandeur" is itself, perhaps, understated. I dined at Maestro once, and make no mistake, the food was glorious. But everything is such a production, from the horde of servers doing the simultaneous thing to all the (rather fussy, in my view) special-purpose crockery for unique presentations. I found it all a bit much. At the tasting room at Restaurant Eve, however, the food was equally glorious, but the atmosphere was one of quiet and unostentatious pampering. If it were my choice between these two for a really special occasion, I'd certainly go with Eve.

In its day and at its best, Quigley's wasn't a bad place to get a burger and a beer. It wasn't any good for anything beyond that, but it wasn't bad for that. I worked at AU for a very long time, and there wasn't anything else within easy walking distance of the campus, so Quigley's got a lot of default business. There still isn't anything good in that neighborhood, of course.

If any teenagers--no matter how well dressed or well behaved--were to have pisco sours for dinner, they would be Breaking The Law.

El Chalan (Across from Aroma): Tasty Peruvian!  This might be a good option, but probably at the upper end of their budgets

Has El Chalan gotten expensive? I would have said that it's within the budget of anyone whose budget allows eating in restaurants. And wonderful food.

In the late 1970s, it was a unique adventure, especially given the banal Chinese-American joints that dotted that part of upper Northwest.

Speaking of joints in that part of town, remember Cafe Burgundy (I believe where Buck's is now)? That place was a trip, especially the plastic fruit chandelier.

I remember a La Nicoise on the east side of Wisconsin, just north of R, where the waiters were on roller skates and there were two lions in the front. As for Napoleon, that was up towards Woodley, on the east side of Connecticut, down from the Wardman Towers, and called itself "La Maison du Filet Mignon."

The place I'm thinking of was on the west side of Wisconsin, a block or so south of Calvert Street (and south of Pearson's, Old Europe, Austin Grill (if that was there then), and Germaine's). The location you describe for Napoleon... am I correct in understanding that's the block and side of the street currently housing Petits Plats, Lebanese Taverna, Cafe Paradiso, etc.? I don't remember that at all. But then, if it was in the early to mid 80s, I was rarely in that neighborhood.

Speaking of that neighborhood, for a time I thought Thai Town, which closed a couple of years ago, was the best Thai place in the city, so I miss it, even though in its later years it had gone to the dogs. To return to Arbaughs, when Thai Taste first opened in the same space, I thought that was the best Thai place in the city. It went to the dogs rather quickly. But I miss it as it was at first. I've eaten at the current Jandara in that space, and it was a not-bad Thai place, but that was a long time ago and it's probably gone to the dogs. Thai places all seem to. Remember Thai Room, on Connecticut just below Nebraska? I believe it was the first Thai restaurant in the city, and it was the first Thai restaurant I ever dined in, and it was very good when it first opened (some time around 1977, I think). Years later it was still there and just awful.