dmaddox

We've just moved to the area within the last several weeks, and have been slowly but surely working our way through the wineries in the Northern Virginia area. We've still got about a dozen left on the list, but we've been really surprised by what we've found so far. We've always made a habit of stocking the cellar with local wines, whenever possible. Even in Ohio, Georgia, and Nebraska, we've been able to find wines we'd be happy to serve guests. OK, in Nebraska we actually went across the river into Iowa or stopped in Missouri when we went to visit our son. But at least the wine was regional. We've also made a point of finding local wineries wherever we've traveled across the US. We've sampled wines in several areas of California, New Mexico, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Indiana, New York, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida. And, of course, Virginia. In my opinion, Virginia wines are among the best being made anywhere in the US. There are several things which have become quite apparent as we've tasted our way around Virginia. Merlot grapes really, really like Virginia. Most merlots are rather insipid and bland, good for washing down pizza but not good enough to star on its own. Not here. I've not had a bad merlot in Virginia. One was a little on the bland side, but most are nice hearty wines full of rich berry flavor. In an incredible stroke of genius, the vinter at Fabbioli Cellars outside Leesburg has blended his merlot with raspberry wine. The resulting dessert wine is incredible. He does the usual trick with chocolate in his tastings, but his wine just explodes with flavor when tasted with the chocolate. Very nearly a religious experience. Viogner wines in Virginia are excellent. Although we've run across one or two wineries that put their viogner in oak, most of them just let the wonderful character of the grape shine. While most of the viogners we've tried (and bought) are quite dry, the natural floral qualities of the grape are really apparent. It's like drinking a glass of honeysuckle. Our favorites so far? In no particular order, here are the wineries that are currently represented in our cellar: Fabbioli Three Fox Pearmund Sharp Rocks Village Naked Mountain Rappahanock

I quit subscribing to both Gourmet and Bon Apetit years ago, when they started having those thick cardboard perfume ads stuck in the middle of an article about roast chicken. Do you realize how hard it is to think about a succulent, perfectly roasted chicken with gravy, when some cloyingly sweet perfume is wafting from the pages? If anything, they should have vanilla scented perfumes advertised in those magazines. For years I've depended on Fine Cooking and (more recently) Cook's Illustrated. During the holidays, Fine Cooking gets a bit repetitive. During the rest of the year, though, they've got a lot of good ideas and recipes. FULL DISCLOSURE: I do have a complimentary subscription to Bon Apetit right now, courtesy of Sur la Table for buying $25 worth of stuff one Saturday. It's not a bad magazine when it's free!

My wife and I ate well while in DC for our recent house-hunting expedition, but there was one common disappointment: the bread. So, I thought I'd ask you folks: 1. Are there restaurants that do their own baking and turn out really good, toothsome breads? 2. Is there a supermarket that bakes anything other than Wonder Bread? Whole Foods is a good start, but even some of their breads are a little short on character. 3. Are there actual bakeries that are worth driving across town for a baguette or a sack of croissants? Believe it or not, all of the above are easily available here in Omaha, and I've gotten out of the habit of baking my own. I'm going to be really surprised if it's not available in DC.

All those places are still around. VMertz is well liked by some folks, but I wasn't really impressed. The meal was good, but not enough to draw us back again. Zio's is probably the best of the local pizza joints, but we've resorted to making pizzas at home in order to get a properly cooked crust with just enough toppings. Haven't been to Drastic Plastic, although there seems to be a steady stream of customers through there every Saturday when we're downtown.

Before I leave Omaha for the move to DC, I thought I'd identify some of the better restaurants in Omaha. These aren't necessarily the fanciest places, and certainly not the most expensive. But these restaurants do offer some of the best food in Omaha. La Buvette 511 S 11th St, Omaha, NE 62102 402-344-8627 La Buvette is one of Omaha�s hidden gems. The restaurant is unpretentious, set in a wine shop and deli with a dozen or so tables. The service is friendly, the pace is relaxed. But the food is why you go to La Buvette. The fixed portion of the menu offers a variety of salads and sandwiches, along with ever-changing meat and cheese sampler trays. The rest of the menu changes each week. Mussels and clams prepared in different ways, braised pork and lamb shanks served with polenta or flageolets. Always an adventure, always delicious, and always served with their own freshly baked artisanal breads. A la carte, with soups and salads in the $5 - $7 range and entrees averaging between $9 and $12. An extensive selection of wines by the glass, and (you�re sitting in a wine shop) a wide array of bottles are available. Sorry, no reservations accepted. Vivace 1108 Howard St Omaha, NE 68102 402-342-2050 http://www.vivaceomaha.com Vivace bills itself as �contemporary Italian� cuisine. The menu includes a variety of Italian classics, some with a slightly modern twist and others just the way you�ve always loved them. The entrees, however, offer some unusual items and the specials list can always be counted on for a few surprises. At least, unusual and surprising by traditional, fly-over country Italian restaurant standards. The braised pork shank is one of my favorites, rich and earthy and perfect for a cold winter night. The wine list is nice and broad, offering bottles in all price ranges and a rather extensive selection of very nice Italian wines. The service is excellent, with some of the most brilliant and helpful wait staff in Omaha. Reservations are recommended, especially on weekends. A little pricey, with entr�es priced between $20 and $30. Pastas, pizzas, and salads are considerably less expensive. Lo Sole Mio 3001 S. 32nd Ave. Omaha, NE 68105 402-345-5656 http://www.losolemio.com A little out of the way and hard to find, but well worth the effort. Lo Sole Mio is the very definition of �traditional Italian� dining. From the minute you sit down at your table, the staff of Lo Sole Mio make it clear that they will NOT let you leave the restaurant still hungry. While you peruse the huge menu, plates of freshly sliced, hot bread appear along with bowls of bruschetta and caramelized, roasted garlic. The toasted ravioli are a must-have appetizer, and the calamari are light and tender. All the entr�es we have tried have been excellent, with the common theme of �generous�. Huge bowls of pasta, enormous cutlets, they seem to dare you to eat it all. The house wine is (or was last time we were there) a Gallo jug wine, but a wide variety of American and Italian wines are available by the glass or bottle. Prices are reasonable, with most entr�es coming in around $15. The place is always busy but on weeknights you might get by without a reservation, especially for a small party. On weekends, though, reservations are recommended. Drover 2121 S 73rd St Omaha, NE 68124 (402) 391-7440 The Drover is the quintessential steak house. Although they have chicken and fish on the menu, I�ve never seen anyone order those dishes. This is a place to eat what Omaha is famous for � steak. Although it�s not on the menu, a regular special is the bone-in ribeye. Absolutely wonderful, especially dipped in their signature whiskey marinade before being grilled. And the steaks here are grilled to perfection, just the way you want it. Steaks are accompanied by rice, fries, or baked potato, or steamed vegetables (usually broccoli). Presentation isn�t a strong suit here, plates being decorated with a bit of lettuce leaf and a slice of those strange red cinnamon apples. A small salad bar (which advertises itself as being one of the oldest in Omaha) is reasonably well stocked, and helps pass the time before the main attraction arrives. The wine list is short and uninspired, but several suitable reds are available. A cocktail waitress makes her regular rounds to replenish your drinks from the full service bar. A popular place for business dinners, and definitely short on romantic atmosphere, the place fills up every night so reservations are recommended. Entr�es are in the $25 to $35 range. Vietnamese-Asian Restaurant 7212 Jones St Omaha, NE 68114 (402) 397-9125 One of those �hole in the wall� places that serves up the most excellent Asian food in Omaha. Located in a small strip center immediately adjacent to the behemoth Nebraska Furniture Mart, Vietnamese Asian has an extensive Vietnamese and Thai menu. Their pho is the best in town, with a variety of rich broths filled with noodles and bits of meat and seafood. A particular claim to fame by the restaurant is their six course beef dinner. Bring lots of folks to help eat it, though. Their beef dishes are quite good, with the beef and tomato stir fry being one of my favorites. The Thai menu has several curries, all of which are rich and wonderfully spiced. My absolute favorite from the Thai menu, however, is the basil chicken which has generous amounts of mint and Thai basil. DO NOT order it extra spicy unless you enjoy serious pain. Vietnamese Asian is also a great value, with most meals priced at less than $10. Espana 6064 Maple St Omaha, NE 68104 (402) 505-9917 Espana is the only tapas bar in Omaha, but it is a good one. It is located in the heart of the historic Benson area of Omaha, and parking is somewhat limited, but well worth the effort. Weekends are insane at Espana, but on weeknights you might get by without a reservation. I wouldn�t recommend it, though. The menu offers a variety of hot and cold tapas, and every dish we�ve tried has been wonderful. A house favorite is the garlic shrimp, served on a sizzling platter with plenty of bread to dip into the olive oil and garlic. I�m sure that every time a platter of shrimp weaves its way from kitchen to table, another five orders go in. Another house specialty is paella. There are four or five versions offered on the menu, each taking about 45 minutes to prepare. We�ve tried the seafood paella, which had plenty of fish and shellfish and just the right touch of saffron. What was missing was the socarrat, that wonderful crispy, caramelized layer of rice from the bottom of the pan. Other than that, though, the dish was wonderful. A fairly extensive wine list, with plenty of Spanish reds and whites. The wine list even provides a bit of a tutorial on Spanish viticultural regions and the characteristics of each area�s wines. The house sangria is extremely popular, and can be had from a special pitcher which makes drinking it quite a challenge. The owner is always willing to demonstrate the technique, holding the pitcher high over her head and directing the stream from the spout into her mouth. Looks like fun, but don�t try it wearing your best white shirt! There�s live music on most nights, and flamenco dancers on Friday and Saturday nights. The tapas dishes are between $6 and $10 each, and plan on three or four dishes per diner. Brother Sebastian�s 1350 S 119th St Omaha, NE 68144 (402) 330-0300 http://brosebs.com Another of Omaha�s fine steakhouses (it�s really hard to get a bad steak dinner in Omaha), Brother Sebastian�s was recently voted the most romantic restaurant in Omaha. I don�t know about romantic, but it is a fun and interesting place to eat a really good meal. With a monastery theme, the wait staff all wear robes and the different rooms of the restaurant each have a different twist, with a library room, a chapel, a bottling room, and so on. The menu is a bit more extensive than the Drover�s, but the specialty is still steak. While you can get your steak simply grilled to order, there are also several selections of stuffed steaks and several sauces offered for topping, such as the Filet Oskar or the New York strip with a crab and shrimp stuffing topped with hollandaise. I particularly like the New York pepper strip, which is crusted with crushed peppercorns and served with a mushroom pepper sauce. Brother Sebastian�s has a very good salad bar, with some interesting and unique salad dressings available. The entr�es are priced between $10 and $20, although the chateaubriand (for two) tops out an $54. There is an extensive wine list, with bottles from all over the world in every price range. Reservations are recommended, although on weeknights you might get lucky. Darwin�s Bistro 650 N. 114th Street Omaha, NE 68154 402-933-6600 http://www.darwinbistro.com Darwin�s Bistro is a rather new entry to the dining scene in Omaha, and a welcome one. This is the only restaurant in Omaha, to my knowledge, that even knows what an �amuse bouche� is, never mind offering one. In our case, we were offered a miniature eggs benedict, with a poached quail egg served on a toast round with prosciutto and a mustard hollandaise. The amuse bouche served its purpose, letting us know that we were in for a really good meal. There is a close association between the chef at Darwin�s and the local culinary arts school, and many of the kitchen staff are students or recent graduates. We have only been to Darwin�s on weeknights, and the place was pretty quiet. I understand it gets pretty busy on weekends, however, and is a popular place for business lunches. The wine list is relatively short, but offers a few bottles in every price range. Entr�es are generally $20 to $30. The Jaipur 10922 Elm Street Omaha, NE 68144 402-392-7331 http://www.jaipurbrewhouse.com We have eaten in Indian restaurants all over the country, but have found few to match Jaipur. And, apparently, we�re not the only ones that think so. Even though this is really a family restaurant, there are a lot of families trying to eat there so reservations are recommended every night. Let�s start with the beer. Jaipur runs a small brewery, where they make four or five beers and ales. I�ve only tried their India Pale Ale, but it works perfectly with their food. The lentil soup (creamy, made with yellow lentils) is subtly spiced with a nice, gentle heat that builds to the end of the bowl. The rice is stunning, perfectly steamed with cloves and cardamom. They offer a wide variety of traditional Indian fare, but also have a �fusion� menu. Everything is delicious, serving sizes are generous without being enormous, and the seasoning is really well balanced. The lamb vindaloo, however, is really, really hot. Delicious, but fiery with peppers. Those who can stand the heat will be well rewarded. Meals at Jaipur are in the $15 range, with some of the fusion specialties running into the mid-$20 range. Hiro 3655 N 129th St Omaha, NE 68164 (402) 933-0091 http://www.hirosushiomaha.com Hiro is one of our top two or three favorite restaurants in Omaha. Located on the north-western edge of town, it is well worth the drive. From the moment you enter their doors, everything about the restaurant is geared to provide you with a restful, wonderful dining experience. Hiro is more than just a sushi bar, although we think their sushi is just about the best in Omaha. There is a Japanese dish menu, as well as a Chinese menu. Ben, the Chinese chef, works in a glassed in kitchen so diners can watch as he puts their meals together. Which is only fair, I suppose, since the sushi chefs work under the same conditions. Hiro offers the standard sushi and sashimi choices, but also offers a variety of special rolls. The Hawaiian poke roll is unusual, with tuna, sesame oil, scallions, and a spicy pepper. Several rolls on the special menu are tempura fried after having been rolled. Off the regular menu, I especially like the salmon skin roll. The skin is broiled to the perfect crispiness and, if you get Graciata as your sushi chef, she might just roll some sliced jalapeno into the roll. That�s one of the hidden secrets of Hiro. Most of the kitchen staff, and one of their sushi chefs, are Hispanic. My wife adores their guacamole. Not on the menu, not even a special, but always available in the kitchen if you know who to ask. A wonderful restaurant, with attentive and helpful wait staff, Hiro is an absolute must when you�re in Omaha. Like most sushi bars, the individual dishes at Hiro are reasonably priced (averaging about $5 each) but the total bill depends on your appetite. A decent wine list and an excellent sake selection are available. Upstream Brewing Company 514 South 11th Street Omaha, NE 68102 402-344-0200 17070 Wright Plaza (171st & West Center Road) Omaha, NE 68130 402-778-0100 http://www.upstreambrewing.com Upstream is a great restaurant. Period. Good food, good beer, great atmosphere, friendly service. They brew six or eight varieties of beer at a time, with some standard offerings and other seasonal brews. They�ve recently started barrel-aging some their beers, and are now offering some high-point ales. I�ve never had a bad beer from Upstream, and I�ve tried most of them. Despite being known for their brewing, Upstream offers a very nice wine list as well. The food is excellent, ranging from sandwiches and burgers to steaks and pasta dishes. There are always several interesting specials to add to the decision matrix. Upstream recently (within the last year) added a pastry chef to their staff, and now desserts are well worth saving room for. Saving room is hard, though, since the dinner portions are quite generous. Most entrees are in the $15 range, with steak dinners running up to around $28.

Murphy's and I are old pals from my younger, wilder days. What little I'm able to remember about that place is good. Good beer, good music, good food, good friends. And you're right, it's just around the corner from the yarn store.

The short answer is "no". Unless you live somewhere so totally distant from a decent supermarket or butcher, Omaha steaks are way over priced. We currently live in Omaha, although we're soon relocating the DC area. There are only one or two restaurants in the area that offer "Omaha Steaks" on their menu, although it is damn near impossible to get a bad steak dinner in Omaha. Our first home in Omaha was just around the corner from the Omaha Steaks store (yes, they do actually have brick and mortar stores). I was so excited. Until I went in and realized that even in their storefronts everything was frozen hard as a rock and cost a bloody fortune. I went across the parking lot to the supermarket, where their case was full of local Nebraska and Iowa beef for much less. And it didn't need thawing! In the three years we lived in Omaha, we never once purchased Omaha Steaks for ourselves. Now, we did buy some to give as a gift. My nephew is the youngest of three boys. As is often the case, he gets the hand-me-downs and leftovers. But the boy loves steak better than life itself. We gave him a box of strip steaks of HIS VERY OWN for Christmas one year. You'd have thought we'd given him the keys to Ft. Knox. Save your money. Get thee to a butcher for fresh beef and be happy!

Is anyone familiar with La Refuge, in Old Town? My wife is taken with a yarn store down the street, and I may truly need a refuge while she sits and knits on Saturday afternoons. The menu looks good, but is this a place where a guy can go with a good book to sit for a couple of hours with a bottle of wine and some good bread to while away the time?

OK. The wife and I were in town this last week for our official house hunting trip, and have discovered that there is hope for the dining scene in Chantilly. Maybe not FINE dining, but with what houses cost out here our definition of fine dining might need some adjustment! What I did find was a plethora of hole-in-the-wall type ethnic restaruants and markets. There is an especially promising little cache of storefronts on US 50 just west of the highway 28 interchange. There are Indian, Mexican, Italian, Vietnamese, and Pakistani restaurants, along with a few "normal" fast food joints. We at at the Pakistani restaurant on our first day in town, and enjoyed watching the cricket world cup with one of the co-owners. He's from Bangladesh, and it just happened that Bangladesh and Bermuda were playing at the time. The food was really good, although there were some offerings we were unfamiliar with. Sadly, I didn't notice the weekend special of goat biyrani until AFTER I'd placed my order. Fortunately, this place is within 5 minutes of my office in Chantilly, so there'll be plenty of time to catch up. We also at at Pho 98, which offered a satisfying array of Vietnamese soups and noodle dishes. I'm going to hold off real praise until I get a chance to try at least a few more of the dozens of Vietnamese places around. Once we get moved and have a chance to explore more, perhaps there'll be a hidden gem somewhere in a strip center. I'll keep searching....

We finally showed up in DC for our official house hunting trip. Bistro d'Oc was a bright spot in an otherwise depressing week. It simply boggles the mind what people are willing to pay for a house in this part of the country!! We played hooky from the housing market on Tuesday, and took the opportunity to stroll around the Mall and up to the Bistro for lunch. A delightful experience with only a few disappointments. Let's get those out of the way so I can rave about the rest. As I've seen in this forum already, the bread was really disappointing. It was fresh, with a crispy crust, but a Wonder-bread consistency inside. Where's that toothsome, chewy texture I've come to expect from real French breads? A mixture of breads would have been nice, too, instead of just slices of white baguettes. The wine list I was offered was a little anemic, although this might have been just a communication problem with our waitress. A little folding placquard was given me, with the complete red wine list being comprised of "syrah" and "merlot". Just syrah and merlot. No labels, no countries. The syrah was perfectly serviceable as a luncheon wine, but I have no idea what I was drinking. I will be really disappointed if that is all they offer by the glass at lunchtime. The food, on the other hand, was extraordinary. I started with the pate, which was generously crusted with pepper and served with almost enough croutons to get through, and my wife had the house tossed salad. For lunch madame enjoyed the veal blanquette with a lemony cream sauce, one of the specials from the seemingly endless list of specials. The veal was tender and flavorful, and the sauce was perfect. I had the crispy duck confit, served over potatoes pan roasted in duck fat with mushrooms and garlic. Heavenly. We were too stuffed to try dessert, but there's always next time. And there will be a next time. I noticed on their dinner menu that they offer a cassoulet. Has anyone out there tried that? Derek

Not a fan of Brussel sprouts, but even I might like them the way you describe. Heck, a sprinkling of bacon can make anything edible! As for roasted veggies, I like roasted root vegetables best. I especially like a blend of carrots and parsnips roasted with just a bit of olive oil, salt, and rosemary. Potatoes are my next favorite, especially if you can manage to get the nice crispy edges without them getting wilted. In the summer, I really like roasted tomatoes. Fine Cooking magazine did an article several years ago on slow roasted tomatoes, and I do several huge batches every summer through the tomato season. I've had roasted asparagus at restaurants, and it was delightful. When I've tried it at home it was a limp, greasy mess. (I've had similar problems with green beans.) Anyone have the secret to perfectly roasted asparagus?

I've always had the best luck with bistro food. Some months ago I was served a simple meal of perfectly sauteed duck breast sliced over a bed of truffled polenta and creamed leeks, with a simple pan sauce of white wine with cherry tomatoes and mushrooms, with a side of roasted asparagus. After a couple of tries at home, I got it just about right. It works well with small filet steaks as well. The first time I tried it, though, the leeks were way to assertive. I've since learned to sweat them for quite a while (15-20 minutes) in broth or wine to tame them down before adding the cream. Now, the one thing I've tried desperately to recreate (and failed every time) is a dish my wife had while vacationing at the Grand Canyon. We ate at the El Tovar, the old hotel right on the rim of the canyon. She had pheasant with a rice, pecan, and dried cherry stuffing, served with an unsweetened vanilla sauce. It's the sauce that kills me. If anyone out there has anything that might be close, I'd be willing to try again. That meal was 15 years ago, and she still puts that at the top of her all-time favorite meals.

This is a most encouraging thread! My wife and I are relocating to the DC area from Omaha within the next few months. I KNEW this website would help us find a place to live. The office I'll be working in is in Chantilly, so we're trying to find somewhere we can afford that isn't in a complete culinary wasteland. Sounds like we're picking up some good information here. So, I would also like to hear a description of this dream kitchen. Mine (here in Omaha) isn't exactly my dream kitchen, but is close. A 36" gas cooktop, double wall ovens (one convection, both self cleaning), a huge LG fridge with French doors, and a super-quiet Asko dishwasher.

Adding on here... Make sure the foil is the "extra wide" variety. The ordinary, garden variety width foil takes two sheets to get all around the pan to the right height. Naturally, that leaves a seam that water can get through. I buy foil from the restaurant supply, and it's the perfect width for wrapping a 9" springform pan or lining a half sheet pan.

Brains! Sweetbreads! I'm getting more and more excited about moving from Omaha. I asked the butcher at our local supermarket here if he could get sweetbreads. He directed me to the bakery.

OK, this is not all bad news. We adore Asian foods of all types (all right, Korean is not at the top of the list). We can keep ourselves entertained for quite a while finding the best bowl of pho in the area. As for the drive, we drive about 30 minutes from the western edge of Omaha to downtown each Saturday for our luncheon treat. Once a week, that's not too bad. So we'll probably also check out many of the places that have been mentioned here. It's looking like a GPS device might be a good investment before we move!

This is a great site, and I'm sure the more familiar I become with the landscape there, the more useful the guides will be. You've got most of what we're looking for - seasonal ingredients and changing menus. But we also really appreciate the laid-back, casual atmosphere at our place here in Omaha. The food is outstanding. But it's not a production. There's no affectation. The cooks are genuinely pleased when you tell them (over the railing that looks into the "kitchen") that your meal is perfect. We've moved several times over the years, and have had to find new haunts to replace old ones. But we've never lived in such a target rich environment as DC and its environs. I'm terribly afraid that we might eat out several nights each week, never stop in the same place twice, and STILL miss out on a hidden jewel. I've gotten a few hints from this thread, and I'm really enjoying reading through the rest. The dining guide, at least as pertains to the western suburbs, is somewhat disheartening. Still, there are enough interesting places to keep us out of the chains forever.

Upstream, maybe? No stairs to get inside, but they've got a downstairs bar. Local brewpub with remarkably good beer. Unfortunately, we're no longer in the nightclub market, so I'm not an expert on downtown watering holes.

Ahmad's, also downtown. Tiny little place with a great menu. Tehran Chicken seems to be the eternal special, but it's really, really good. Once the owner decides he's going to talk to you, he might actually pull up a chair to the table and sit with you while you eat. We like to eat there when we can sit outside on the patio. OK, so maybe its too much to hope for to find anything actually in Chantilly. For that matter, we have to drive half an hour to get to downtown Omaha. A good meal is worth driving a bit for.

I'm new to the board, and have been trying to catch up on a lot of reading. But I've just got to ask a question. We'll be moving to the DC area (specific location TBD) within the next couple of months. While we're excited about a whole new food scene to explore, we're understandably saddened by leaving our favorite haunts here in Omaha. (Believe it or not, there really are some great restaurants here. It's almost impossible to get a bad steak dinner.) The place we'll miss the most, though, is a little bistro-style place called La Buvette. In an old building in downtown, with mismatched tables and chairs (all old), and a tiny kitchen, this place turns out some amazing food. The kitchen consists of a couple of portable propane burners and a couple of countertop convection ovens. They have a bakery in the basement (the stairwell is lined with photos and articles by and about Man Ray) in which they bake a variety of artisanal breads. The staff (except the senior chef) are all students at the local culinary arts school. The wine list changes regularly (it is a wine shop, after all) and always has a couple dozen varieties available by the glass. But the menu. The menu is different every week. Mussels, in a different sauce each week. Sometimes sweetbreads. Maybe lamb shanks, or pork bellies. Beans and lentils so good you'd be willing to have just a bowl of them with a slice of bread for lunch. In the summer, the table is full of fresh vegetables and herbs from the farmer's market next door. Everything perfectly prepared by a good, if not highly experienced cook under the careful eye of the chef. The owner of the restaurant is a developer who owns several buildings downtown, and who is a major patron of the arts. So the restaurant is sort of a hangout for the artsy crowd and intelligentsia, Plus those of us who come in from the chain-bound suburbs for a taste of real cooking. There is just no better feeling than opening the door to La Buvette on a stunningly cold winter day to find a warm, cozy atmosphere redolent of braised meats and roasted vegetables. Now, the office I'll be working from is in Chantilly, so we'll probably be living out on the western edge of town. Is there any hope of finding anything to replace our beloved Saturday lunch place?