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I'll admit my bias in that I'm a huge fan of Dan's cooking. Given that Seasonal Pantry is right around the corner from my job I probably pop in once a week on the way home to grab something to spice up my dinner. So far the highlights include: *Housemade Bacon - gives the bacon from Bar 3 a run for the money, so wonderfully smokey and tasty, makes a fantastic amatriciana sauce. *Pickled Cherries - spectacular with cheese, green, and pork *Ice Cream - all of the flavors were delicious, my favorite so far has been the balsamic, which was almost caramel in flavor. *Any of the pasta - seriously, do yourself a favor and get some, I don't care what shape. I haven't had pasta this good since Roma What might be the best part is how personable Dan is when you're in there. He's extremely gracious and knowledgeable, when I was asked him what to do with them and he explained to me how to use them in cooking swiss chard....I cooked chard for 3 days in a row using the cherries. It was that good. I hadn't been able to actually EAT at Seasonal Pantry until last night though as they had been sold out for several weeks following the Post review. Needless to say I was excited when they offered a "Dine and Dash" 3 course menu for $30 (or $40 for wine). I went with two of my coworkers and snagged a 9:30 dining time. You had the choice of: 1st Course: Pate de Champagne or peperonata 2nd Course: House made pasta with either: A) Smoked tomatoes and eggplant or B ) Rapini and italian sausage 3rd Course: Roasted Peaches with mascarpone and honey We all went with the peperonata as our appetizer, you could taste the hours of roasting that went into the stew of of peppers and onions served over some great bread that was made in store. The pasta was wonderfully al dente, with nice bitter morsels of rapini and bites of sausage that popped with flavor. I was equally impressed with my vegetarian friend's pasta dish, which had these wonderful little smoked tomatoes scattered throughout the dish. It was nice to see that someone took extra time and care to make sure that the vegetarian entree was just as composed and interesting as the rest of the menu. The peaches with honey was divine, I contemplated licking the plate to get every drop of the creamy, sweet emulsion of the cheese and honey. Given the price and quality of food, that would be enough as it is. But you have a really intimate experience at the place, the people serving you the food are Katie's parents. It just makes for a great time for all, both of my coworkers thanked me repeatedly for telling them about Seasonal Pantry.

So it might be overkill with the APDC posts...but my buddies and I just got back from a rather extensive bachelor party in Montreal. My friends are, should we say, less inclined to enjoy good as I am but they told me I had one night to plan that they would humor me. After reading this board (and watching Bourdain on No Reservations) I felt like we had to go to APDC right? We went on a Wednesday night (It was the Iron Man of Bachelor Parties - Wednesday through Monday) since we figured we'd be drinking most of the night we started with their house beer. It was ok but nothing special, best comparison I can think of is a decent american style lager. For apps we ordered the special of tomato salad with parmesan and foie gras poutine. The tomato was well seasoned, lots of oil and cheese, and the tomatoes were nice and ripe. The poutine was fantastic and rich, none of my dining compatriots had ever tried foie gras before and were suspicious of what I was trying to get them to eat but they quickly became converts. Both apps vanished before I could get my camera out to snap a picture. For our entrees we went with the shepard's pie, pig head and a special wild mushroom rissoto of the night. The shepard's pie came served in a baking dish with braised pork and lamb, it was good but honestly I don't remember much about it because as soon as we started digging into it they wheeled this giant wheel of parmesan over to the table...clearly my attention turned there. It was a pretty spectacular show as they finished cooking the rissoto in the hollowed out cheese wheel, I saw copious amounts of butter and mushrooms dropped in as they viciously stirred. Put simply it was awesome, really deep earth flavors with the mushrooms and you could definitely taste the parmesan in the background. As if our antics for the evening hadn't brought us enough attention, they then brought the famous pig head to the table. It was quite a spectacle, and it lived up to all the hype I had read about it on this board. The only thing that we didn't touch were the root vegetables served on the side...they were clearly inconsequential. Needless to say after such a meal my buddies and I waved the white flag, we simply lounged around out hotel suite in a food induced coma.

My family and I just returned from a Xmas vacation where we spent 4 days in Rome. Without a doubt our favorite meal of the entire vacation was at Ristorante pizzeria la Fraschetta (Via San Francesco a Ripa, 134 00153 Roma, Italy) in Trastevere. It was recommended to us by a friend of mine who lived in the Eternal City for several years. You'll probably have to grab a cab over since it's a bit removed from all the touristy destinations but it is most definitely worth it. Red check tablecloths, garlic hanging from the ceiling, and not a single word of English was spoken by any of the diners around us in the busy trattoria. I don't know if it was in season, but they brought me this amazingly sweet melon blanketed with fresh sliced prosciutto, and my mother refused to share her pasta e fagioli. I still remember my perfectly al dente cacio e pepe and the few bites of my sister's penne arrabiata were equally amazing. The best part? All five of us had apps, pasta, split a few entrees, drank house wine and finished it off with house made tiramisu and I think the bill came to something like $135 euro. If you want something quintessential Italian I don't know if you could find something better.

My friends and I researching companies that will do an on site whole pig roast for a buddy's birthday party in August. The only place I've been able to turn up is Rocklands at $5 a pound. Any suggestions for other companies that do this and how much we could expect to pay ??

After reading Tim Carman's post about Northside Social (and realizing it was only a matter of blocks from my house) I had to check out this pork belly sandwich for myself. I went there around 2 in the afternoon on Saturday and the place was pretty busy, not ridiculously packed but busy. You had your typical computer/coffeehouse crowd there doing their thing. I ordered an iced white peach tea with the pork belly sandwich and they called my name after a 10 minute wait (which was actually rather pleasant since I spent it outside on the patio). Personally I thought everything was pretty great. At the risk of repeating Tim's observations, the pork was nice and moist, the bread was nicely toasted, and I really enjoyed the bitter contrast of the broccoli rabe. There's nothing I enjoy more for lunch than a solid sandwich and I've already had everything on Earl's menu so another shop in the area is perfectly welcome.

Since the girlfriend is from Mexico I'm going to attempt to make a mole for her (this should be interesting to say the least). You think that either Biago or ACKC carries just plain Mexican bittersweet chocolate?

So I'm supposed to meet my father at the Baltimore train station before we head off to family functions for the 4th. Can anyone recommend a good fish monger/wharf area where we can get some good stuff for our family feast?

Any locations for recommended for buying duck confit? I feel like cooking it myself could be a complete disaster.

Where do places buy their spices and dried herbs down here? More specifically I'm looking for stuff like ancho chili, chipotle, and chile de arbol powders. The ones in the grocery stores look so unappealing (and yes I know I could make my own chili powders....but I'd rather find a place in DC that carries it).