Waitman

Hmmmm...Ma Peche, which I was unaware of, is in my hotel and I was idly perusing the menu when I noticed that the fine print on some of the promotional material name-checked Momofuko and I was meaning to nose around critical opinion (NYT two stars). Maybe I'll just pop downstairs.

Hip, elegant, ethnic, hallucinogenic, whatever... Eating alone, will spend money but not a zillion dollars, hotel is in midtown but a location convenient to fine menswear or a decent museum considered. Grazie.

"Sourcing," when all you're doing is shopping. If you get into a pickup truck and drive to a bunch of farms, you may say you've "sourced" your peaches. If you went on the internet, you shopped. If you get out of your pickup truck and go into the woods to find mushrooms, you may say you "foraged." Otherwise, avoid the temptation to do so. Almost all uses of the word "artisanal" are now suspect; artisanal products should involve no more than three people in their making and should rely on pre-industrial technology. Nothing made in a stainless steel and tile kitchen environment, especially if it involves commercially available ingredients, should be called artisanal. You either "frequent" a restaurant or you do not. You cannot "often frequent" a restaurant or "sometimes frequent" one. Use of the word "program" to describe a restaurants offerings in some elitist subset of dining (wine, cheese, coffee, cocktails) suggests that the offerings in question were determined by a group of marketers in a windowless hotel meeting room during a PowerPoint presentation. Use of the term "mixologist" used to be considered a poke at the pretense of some in the business, and the sort of bartending academy that advertised on late-night pre-cable UHF TV. It still is by the right sort of people. People who use the terms "evoo," "veggie," or "foodie" should be slapped.

Awfully confrontational regarding someone who had perfectly reasonable gripe. Stipulating that ad.mich is perfectly wonderful in all other respects, I, too -- like The Hersch -- find jargon-y writing (particularly when the jargon is arguably mis-used) annoying. Food writers/aficionados are terrible offenders as a group. We do call these things "discussions," right? Let's discuss grammar and usage. I mean, jeez, can't we all just not get along every now and then, and maybe have a little fun and enlightenment while not doing so?

Wait, it's Tom Sietsema whose supposed to be the internet troll? Pot, meet kettle. As far as Tom is concerned, I prefer to see him blast away. That's his job.

When I used to travel for politics I'd often find myself in the kind of mid-sized burg that you don't generally visit for pleasure and won't draw you there for work (Kalamazoo, Modesto, Sioux City) and I'd always ask the locals where a good place to eat was, in search of the increasingly rare Hidden Gem. And they would always, always, always recommend the Olive Garden or the Ponderosa or what what have you, never a Ma's Diner or even the local bar that happens to serve great burgers. On the other hand, the number of laughably bad meals I've had at small town restaurants with a pretense of "sophistication" suggests that, outside of major metro areas, you may as well just throw in the towel and head to the nearest interstate exit, to see what laminated menu restaurant concept has sprung up, like grocery store mushrooms on horse shit.

Headed to an oddly-timed (4PM Friday -- at least it gets me out of work early on a gorgeous day) wedding in Boyd's, MD, near Germantown. As I am the guest of the groom's boss, we'll be pealing off early, so the other guests can misbehave without inhibition, and will likely be paralleling Rockville Pike down 270, past G-town, G-Bur,g R-V and other MC metro areas about 7PM, hungry for having had to subsist on wedding food. Any thoughts? Is Joe's Noodle House still swell? Anything else?

I detest Founding Farmers and distrust all Washington Harbor restaurants, so figured an FF sibling located in Washington Harbor would be pretty awful. I don;t mind drinking outside down there, though. Of course, I ended up at Filomena, so my dinner could hardly have been any worse. (My friends LOVED Filomena. I still love them, but....).

I was pretty sure that they they were tongue in cheek, but wondered if you'd seen something there that I hadn't. The use of the word "awsome" should have tipped me off. Plus, with Don apparently seriously recommending Farmers, Fishers, Bakers I was a little off my game. The Village recs I did recognize ads real.

I agree. Anybody who can produce a masterpiece like "Pet Sounds" can surely cook up a storm, as well.

I've spent many an hour in La Ruche -- a go to joint when the kids were small enough that an afternoon in Georgetown was a big deal. Good call. However, Georgetown has been taken out of my hands -- it's Filomena, for better or worse. Thanks everyone for the suggestions (though, Eric, Tony & Joes? Really?) and I will pass the NYC thoughts onto my friend.

Dropped into Bistro 7 -- a well-regarded BYOB in Old City -- Saturday night and ended up having what I've come to expect at well-regarded Philadelphia BYOB's: a very good but not great meal in a comfortable setting for -- given that you bring your own B -- a reasonable price. I was disappointed that they do not offer their $65 vaunted tasting menu on weekends, as it apparently slows turnover, but a friend and I cunningly schemed to order enough of the menu that, by sharing, we ended up with a mock tasting menu for what turned out to be exactly the same price. A chilled green vegetable soup with buttermilk stuff and tomato sorbet may have been the big winner, though my companion pronounced the relish garnish "too sweet." Gnocchi was fluffy, fried and accompanied by a fresh vegetable ragout, and worked. And foie gras with a cocoa marshmallow may be an idea whose time has come. Jacketing oysters in quinoa before frying probably isn't. Entrees were fine. The peach and blueberry thing with cinnamon pastry crust would have been excellent at a more earthy-crunchy place; here it seemed to lack refinement. The setting was small and pleasant and very green, the service perfectly fine. A decent spot if you're in walking distance. Sunday, I had dim sum for the first time in ages at Ocean City Chinese Restaurant, 234 N. 9th, .and enjoyed it thoroughly, although the selection seemed limited and, as for the Chinese broccoli my friend had a taste for: "It coming later." Or, maybe never. As one who seldom dim sums, I will say assign little weight to my words, but I think it's worth a trip to what's left of Philly Chinatown, as did a a virtually all-Chinese crowd.* get there early, it opens at 10. And remember, there are no Thrasher's fries at Ocean City. *A gruesome debacle at Mr. Tang's in New York's Chinatown taught me that a room full of ethnically-appropriate diners is no guarantee that the dining at an ethnic restaurant will be any good. But, thought he head is skeptical, the heart likes to see extended families spread around tables and chopping into their sticky rice. And, unlike intrepid reviewer Mike G , I like to feel like I'm in a foreign country sometimes when I go out to eat.

I do love Dobie Gillis. I thought that statue was just something a set designer came up with. I did. Thus ensuring that I will indeed pass through them.

Looking for a decent mid-priced joint in G'town/Northern VA that has outdoor seating. Also looking for a very good Mid-priced (by NYC standards) restaurant, preferably around the Village. I suggested Lupo, but I know there are more. Also, if my friend just decides to find herself meandering, do we have a block or two to guide her to, as being es[ecially thick with undiscovered gems?

This is like a Joe H. comment..."if you've had the Truite Bleu anyplace but le Veranda de Mon Cul 24 kilometers up a mule track from Courchevel in the French Alps, you have not really had Truite Bleu." I think it's too busy. It's like dinner at Bucco de Beppo -- more is not better. I prefer the simple compositions where he had the space and time to capture the extraordinary way a woman's body glides and curls. This sort of thing.

See them? I walk through them every day.... Yep. Though, not my favorite thing, impressive as they are.

This is disappointing, as several important posts have been deleted. At any rate, I found myself in the Rodin Museum this morning, looking at "Naked Balzac." Those who need to know, will. No one needs to know.

I believe Tony Luke's is for the pork sandwich, not cheesesteaks.

Apparently you are unaware of the former New Hampshire Congressman Richard Nelson "Dick" Swett.

I'm more literate and Frankophilic than that. I prefer Harry Balzac.

One more place that's safe for you now: The Cheesesteak Joint Formerly Known As...

I refuse to surrender my excuse for being a sick, spiteful, unattractive man who believes his liver is diseased. Besides, I seem to recall from the earliest days of the site, an official diktat proclaiming that names could be changed only in the direst circumstances.

I was "Busboy" on eGullet. Since eGullet's relationship with other food websites tends to be tinged with hostile paranoia (particularly if said websites were founded by a dissident former Senior Official and populated by Known Malcontents) and since I had agreed to become a Senior Official for eGullet in the wake of my predecessor's self-imposed exile, I thought I'd low-key it by taking on a different name for DR. Being uncreative about these things, I inflated my former syllables -- bussing becoming waiting, boy becoming man. And am now stuck with a handle I have hated almost since the instant I typed it in. This gnawing resentment over my name (as with that boy named "Sue") is why I am such an asshole.

Brasserie Beck serves it, I believe.

I'm bummed out and surprised. On my first trip to Taan a couple of months ago, Bisagni kind of randomly wandered behind the bar towards the end of service, and my friend and I had a long and illuminating chat about noodles, broth, life and stuff. He was quite a friendly and committed guy, and I liked his ramen quite a bit. The bartenders was pretty pleasant, too. We were back in on Friday night and Bisagni remembered us, chiding us for not having been in for a while in a friendly sort of way (we had been, but it's always nice to be appreciated). Nothing seemed amiss, but in retrosepct, maybe the reason so very much food and drink was left off the tab was that the bartender was trying to rack up a few extra bucks (we tipped about 80%) before the place closed down. I am no ramen expert, but as an all-too-rare source of moderately-priced, tasty cooking in Adams-Morgan, served by charming staff without attitude and with real enthusiasm for their product, it will be missed.