Waitman

If you're down here in the snow you have no choice but to wander through the Dupont Circle/Kalorama area until your ninnies are beginning to freeze up and then head into either A) Bistro du Coin for an onion soup Sette Osteria and a seat near the wood-fuled pizza oven (you can feel the heat from the seats) for a pizza or the cheese and meat platter or C) the lounge at the Tabard Inn for a seat near the fireplace and something warm and chewy from their excellent winelist.

Was Papillon - just off 20 headed toward route 40 -- open in your day? It was a linen-tablecloth place in old farmhouse, and the barn had been turned into an informal watering hole with not-to-loud music with a country/folkie bent (some older locals may remember the band "The Horse You Rode In On," a Fells Point favorite) called Pauvre Papillon. It had a bohemian feel and a certain lassitude toward drinking-age laws that made it a great date spot for would-be Kerouakians like myself. In the summer they'd set the tables under a huge oak tree and play the music outside under the leaves and stars. Great spot.

Buy yourself a big old bag o' bones a bottle of wine and an indulgent quantity of stew beef (plus leeks, onions, etc), brown the beef (not the bones), add about ten gallons of water and everything else and boil the bastard down to about three thimblefulls of the most decadent beef stock ever while skimming compulsively. Drop a couple of sawbucks on chanterelles, black trumpets, hedgehogs or $40/lb cepes/porcinis. Have Ray's pachage up one -- only one -- raw uncooked cowboy steak, hold the diablo sauce just this one time (or get the dry-aged stuff at Whole Foods). Combine in classic fashion and eat naked. Maybe with a half bottle of old, old Bordeaux. It's not "lite" but it's relatively low fat and brings a warm romantic feeling that -- as much as I love it -- grilled fish just don't give you. And it's sure as hell indulgent.

Didn't Viridian just have massive chef/management turnover? I might try Bistro Francais for the hell of it -- they have a pre-theater menu which tells me they may not be busy early on. Or Mendocino, in the sme 'hood.

Patrice at Tonic. Babelicious -- and an excellent bartender. Also, my favorite ex-marine.

I believe you're referring to this well-known cookbook author. Heather and I will be convening a brief, gin-fueled literary debate as to the exact category into which Hemingway's "The Short, Happy Life of Francis Macomber" falls later this week.

Did the same mission myself tonight. I think there was some wishful thinking as folks whizzed by and caught a view of the forgettable storefront delivery joint immediately next to Buck's. Vace: 363-1999.

I will point out that, of the four (of 12) people at the table who had read the book, all were "chicks." And that it appears to spend a lot of time talking about relationships -- one of the key warning signs of chick lit.

Trio's Pizzas and, alas, their gloriously disgusting cheesesteaks are gone.

It was olive oil in the Brandade. It's a very traditional peasant dish, so it would be out of character for it to be served other than as you had it, gussied up with pesto or whatever -- not that there's anything wrong with that. (Now officially craving brandade).

Interesting to note that DR himself posted a little further down the thread. Rox on Rocks. Or Vice Versa.

Don't be bringing up my age, you whippersnapper. I don't get back to Columbia much, but my first job was washing dishes in the restaurant that was in the Clyde's space before Clyde's was there. I was on little league baseball and went to Oakland Mills High School with Steve Wecker, the guy who owns Iron Bridge, so I guess my career as a ranting food freak began right about where you live now.

Wow - King's Contrivance is still there? I think I ate dinner there the day my parents closed on our new house in Columbia -- in 1970. I had friends who were dishwashers there in high school. If someone's wandering over to Columbia, Cafe de Paris might hit the spot. Edit: Having grown up in the 21045 zip code, I'm pretty sure that the map next to the post review drops you in Laurel, a good 20 miles from the restaurant's actual location which is just off Rt. 108 between 175 and 29.

There's no excuse, at any place where you're likely to spend upwards of $100 a person, for substandard service, however you want to describe it.

I have always had good service in the cafe, but find the back room to be an underachiever. I do love dining in a well-run formal room, but at Palena I'd just as soon order off the "back" menu in the front room and enjoy the bustle of the place and worry less about the service being up to snuff.

It's been a consistent, albiet low-level, criticism. It's showed up on the Sietsema chat, with Tom more or less seconding the notion that there's a gap between the quality of the food and the quality of the service, and it's showed up on the eGullet Palena thread, as well.

I've been to a slew of these (my Christmas present from Mrs. B last year) and I can assure you that Michel is a blast, the lessons -- more a demonstration than a hands-on thing -- are informative and the lunch that follows (highlight: the wine lesson by crack sommelier Mark Slater), featuing the menu you just watched being prepared, is delicious. If you're nice to Mark, you can almost make back the cost of the lesson in the wine. They usually open the champagne about 11 o'clock and Michel usually has a dram or two himself. Added bonus: sometimes you can pick up a swell baseball cap if you're qick.

I don't need no stinkin' slicer. Note also that, unlike most Euro-pork, country hams come bone-in, so a slicer may be of limited utility.

It's my impression that prosciutto hangs longer than country ham -- over a year being standard -- so that's not the reason. I guess they just use more salt in Virginia. There's some good dicussion of country ham here, and a couple of other sources if you want to get some to try. Or you can just bring a couple of ficelles and some vino over to my crib Saturday afternoon and we can experiment with the ham I have stashed in the fridge -- Calhoun's, an excellent producer in Culpepper.

The ham I've been buying lately -- though hardly fit for our hypertensive brethren -- far from overwhelmingly salty, especially the first few weeks after you buy it. As time goes by, it loses a bit of its velvet texture and the salt concetrates, but if you can slice it as thin as they slice proscuitto, you can still use it for most of the things the more effete European stuff gets used for. It's not the same, but it's pretty good.

I have to disagree on Le Central - we tried hard to like it when we lived there, but we couldn't. Best get your French fix at one of DC's many fine Bistros and look for something else in Denver. If you want low-end Euro Chow, better to find The Saucy Noodle (motto: if you don't like garlic, go home) for something in a red sauce, followed by good homemade 'scream at Bonnie Brae ice cream four doors down. Tattered Cover in Cherry Creek, (NOT the one in LoDo) btw, aside from being a legendary bookstore has a great restaurant on the top floor, the aforementioned Fourth Floor, and is walking distance from Mel's and the Cherry Cricket (and a 2 minute drive from The Saucy Noodle). The tattered cover in LoDo is close to the Cruise room (on 17th) and the Chipultapec's, the Mexican Jazz bar as well as whatever's hip in that 'hood these days.

No substitute for Petrus, but one of the great bottles I ever had in my life was '76(?) Trotanoy, back in the day. And back then, there were a lot of pretty decent Merlot's arounf for $15 or so. St. Francis was a favority, and I seem to recall Clos du Bois being pretty good, as well. And you could get Duckhorn for maybe $25/bottle on sale. Alas, as many have pointed out on this thread, the bargain wines are not bargain wines any more and the inexpensive wines now available can never be a bargain as long as they taste that bad. Yeck.

yep. You just don't stuff as much in. Also, it cooks a LOT faster.

Like, one of those cute skinny pork tenderloins that come two to a cryovac at Safeway, or one of those twine-wrapped fire logs bound with butcher's twine? Porc Stephanie: Pork Apples Cream Sage Wine Shallots Mustard If it's of reasonable girth, slice the loin lengthwise, stuff it with chopped apples and sage until it looks right (not too thick), re-roll it, salt and pepper the liberally, and brown it on high heat on the oven top. Twine helps, but isn't critical. Turn the oven on to 300 or so. When the oven is hot and the loin is brown, shove the whole sautee pan into the oven. In the mean time, in a small pan, melt maybe a tablespoon and a half of butter and sautee a shallot or some very finely chopped onion until clear. Splash a couple of glurgs of white wine (a quarter cup?) in, and reduce by 2/3. Take off the heat and let the pan cool for a bit. Check the pork with a meat thermometer, if you have one. You're looking for about 145 degrees. This could take a while. Pour in what appears to be an unhealthy quantity of cream on top of the cool-ish wine and shallots. Maybe a cup. Bring the heat back up and boil the cream until reduced by at least a third -- boiling Elmer's glue is a bad image, but it gives you some idea of what to look for. Take off the heat. Stir in mustard to taste. If you have the whole grain mustard, it makes you feel very European, but Dijon or, likely, any old deli mustard will do the trick. Check the pork again. If still underdone, drink some of the wine and watch Seinfeld reruns for a bit. Once you get 145 (150 if you're queasy about pork) let the meat sit for 20 minutes in the pan, "tented" with a bit of foil. If there are crusty bits (but not burned) in the bottom, feel free to scrape them off with the help of that wine, and add them to the sauce (cook the wine down as much as possible before adding to the sauce, so it doesn't get runny). Warm the sauce, slice the pork and put them together in an artistic and delicious assemblage.

It was on South Federal, just below the point at which the Latin neighborhood turned Asian. BYOB, as I recall. Sadly, I can't come up with a name.