ustreetguy

I tried, and loved, the beet salad the other day. The horseradish and dill sauce balanced it perfectly without overpowering at all. The rest of my meal was wonderful as well, but I have been craving more of the beet salad ever since.

It's also a great foil to the stir fried shrimp with candied ginger which had more of a kick than I was expecting.

I can do either day (although I'm assuming his offer does not apply to Wednesday, February 14).

Because of my schedule that day, 12:30 might be a bit late for me. Could we aim for noon?

That's fine with me.

Let's stick with the original plan, then: Passage to India. Larry, you name the time.

If 12:30 is too late, noon would be fine. And if anyone else is in the area, please join!

Passage to India - would Thursday work better for everybody?

I can't do Thursday unfortunately - have a lunch meeting that day for work.

I can do Friday!

Not in any order....Pho 75, Joe's Noodle House, or Passage to India (though I'd be willing to swap this for Bombay Bistro if people want to go the buffet route).

I you all ever decide to go to Passage to India for lunch, give me a day's notice (I normally eat lunch pretty late) and I'd love to meet everyone there since I work only a few blocks away.

Have I correctly deduced that the Dreamy Derek Brown has moved from Citronelle to Komi?

I believe you are correct (at least as far as I've been told it has been officially announced).

I need the beverage choices of the following people. I apologize if you have already sent them.

ustreetguy (who should be holding his head in shame)

As if there was any question as to whether I'd be drinking or not

OK - it's officially time to come out of the "pantry".

Starting weight 190 lbs (boy I had really been putting it on over the holidays).

Goal weight 170 lbs which is about what I weighed before joining DR.com (and happens to be about the weight I am in the pic in my profile).

Like some of the other people, I've had a bit of a delay in getting started. I managed to get sick the day the whole thing started. On the plus size, I dropped a few pounds during that time from not eating as much as I used to. However, I had already been going to the gym regularly before I got sick and stopped going for a couple weeks so I suspect most of the weight I lost was muscle weight.

Anyway, I'm back at the gym as of Friday and as of today I weigh 185 lbs. We'll see how long that lasts as I attempt to find the balance between increasing muscle and the cardio intensity of my workouts while trying to be a little better about what and how much I eat when I go out for dinner.

Count me in for Bombay Curry and Etete. I'm a tentative yes for Los Tios depending on whether I go away that week or not.

Consider what you like to drink first. Then I would just ask your friends (or whom you generally plan on having over) what they drink and start from there. As a starter cocktail bar, you could probably get by with just a bottle of vodka, tequila, rum, gin, and whiskey or bourbon. Make sure you keep club soda, tonic water (those mini-bottles are great if you don't drink a lot), orange juice, cranberry juice, rose's lime juice, a sweet & sour mix, olives and a bottle of grenadine on hand. If you know your friends still drink cosmos, get a bottle of triple sec or cointreau. If they're apple martini people, get some sour apple schnapps.

By the way, I can't stand Smirnoff.

I feel like Richard Simmons. Where are all the GUYS?

All right - fine. Count me in too.

Koji and Mourou, out of how many?

While 2 out of 10 (or was it 12) may not be representative of the demographic makeup of the Washington DC area, my response was to the comment regarding white males on the cover - not on the entire list.

No offense to those on the cover, some of my favorite chefs are there, but how about someone who isn't a white male?

In addition to Koji (who you can see if you open up the cover flap), Morou Ouatarra is on the cover as well.

Modest Proposal: .....Mount Pleasant, Eckington, Dupont...Shaw

I'd be up for San Marco, schedule permitting etc...

I was trying to figure out an "E".

I'm in for San Marco.

I always knew you West of the Park people were snobs.

Me and U Street Guy and Barbara and Logan Circle are going to have a party and you're not invited! And it's gonna be real cool, too!

Yeah - we could include Logan Circle, Adams Morgan, Mt. PlEasant, Dupont Circle, U St Corridor, Columbia Heights & Kalorama. We'd be the LAME DUCKs

How about Gerard's Place? Maybe there hasn't been much of a crowd since apicius left.

Has anyone else seen the shrine to Wabeck they have up?

So long as your first decision is not to eat at Flanagans, then you're off on the right track.

Not to worry about that. Flanagan's has been closed for almost a year. In fact the strip of stores it was in has been completely knocked down.

I heard from Danny Lee today that the opening will likely be delayed until early November. Stay tuned!

It looks like it is finally happening. As I walked past the restaurant tonight, it appeared they were having a staff tasting.

Anyone know if Cesare is still actively working there? I have heard many rumors to the contrary.

I believe the last few times I've been there, Massimo has been helming the kitchen. Despite this, I haven't really seen a decline in the food (a quick note - I usually only order an appetizer, a half order of pasta, and dessert at the bar so my comment doesn't really apply to entrees). I recently had a delicious appetizer of snail croquettes served with a celery root sauce, a drizzle of reduced balsamic, and tart microgreens.

Just remembered another place: Oriental Regency in Tysons Corner... it's right by the Sheraton off Rt 7, near the interchange w/ the toll road. They carve tableside... and the skin is nice and crispy. But again, a few years since I've been there (but at least this century I was there - it's been at least the last century since I'd been to Duck Chang's).

Wow - Oriental Regency is a name from the past. My parents used to take us there back in the early 90's for Peking Duck. I do remember the tableside carving, and it was quite good back then - succulent and moist meat, crispy skin without a smidgen of visible fat remaining. I wonder if it's any good now? For those that want to venture there for a try, it's right across from Shamshiry on Rte 7.

I'm just curious - what does everyone look for in a good Peking Duck? Personally I think that Peking Duck is one of those dishes where even when it's bad it's still good.

Sometime between 6:00 and 6:30pm depending on the vagaries of Friday rush hour traffic.

I'll try to make it tonight, but I most likely won't be there until the late side of things.