anhdeluxe

Duck confit reuben sandwiches (grilled, messy, good) and a cream of cauliflower soup for lunch that was more cream than cauliflower. I miss the gelato but the food so far seems like a nice splurge for workaday folks.

I just picked up some cook-at-home jumbo lump crabcakes from Annapolis Seafood Market. A half dozen of the smaller size (they also had cakes that were big and round like baseballs) cost a little over sixty bucks. I also added a pound of colossal spiced shrimp that were going for a little over twenty bucks a pound but they were truly huge monsters, fresh, not overcooked and well-spiced, not too much. The crabcakes I fried up in butter five minutes a side but the guy at the counter said that I could also have baked them for fifteen minutes at 350. They are really great crabcakes, full of meat and huge lumps of crab. Perfectly seasoned and not even a speck of cartilage anywhere. They make them on site and you just take them home. My first time venturing to Annapolis for seafood, not my last.

Clam chowder. Rhode Island-style, but I'll let my guests add cream or milk if they want.

I just got swamped. Have to give up my spot!

Just had dinner at Cashion's tonight for the first time in years. The food was fine - the mushroom ragout was delicious but if they really are advertising it to come with lumps of crabmeat, it was really stingy and microscopic shreds of crab. The pickled cauliflower and peppers on the charcuterie plate were much tastier and remarkable than the meats... my partner had the goat entree and loved it but it did not really go with his cote de rhone (his fault, not the restaurant's) I had the bass which was crispy skinned and Asian-influenced with the ginger and sesame flavors. We got the best dessert on the menu - chocolate profiterole - and loved the salty finish on it. Service seemed a little off, in that they kept on trying to take our plates before we were finished but were nowhere to be found/really slow when we wanted to order additional food items. The bread service was fast and polite. Overall, well-prepared food but a little overpriced for what you get.

I'm in and will also try to scare up a couple friends.

Stopped in for their first Saturday Brunch opening last weekend. I was with a small crowd of 7 people. We all oohed and ah'd over the new brunch menu while snacking on moist pumpkin bread and great coffee. I am loving that we get the whole pitcher of coffee or water to stay at the table now. We ordered the smoked salmon eggs benedict, the green tomatillo chow chow eggs benedict, the quiche of the day (sundried tomato, caramelized onion, manchego cheese) the breakfast sandwich, the fried chicken and waffle, and the duck hash. Everything was tasty and the fact that so many poached eggs came out perfectly runny at the same time was very impressive. The smoked salmon benny came slathered with a dill pesto that was awesome. The duck hash (with fried duck egg and duck confit) was very ducky and delicious but could've used more potatoes. There was a server mistake and we were gifted with a free order of buttermilk chicken and waffles that we all promptly divvied up and devoured. The old/pre-renovation version of this dish had a sweet tea reduction syrup, but the kitchen decided to go spicy and serve it with a hot sauce butter with syrup to pass at the table. It's pretty hot and spicy if you like that flavor! The waffle was also crispy and fluffy. Good job kitchen! After we paid and moseyed over to the wine shop next door (there's a hallway that connects the two establishments now) the hostess came running up to us to ask us if everything was alright. The server had gotten her math wrong and thought we hadn't left a tip! After some confusion, we all pulled out our tickets and phone calculators to show that we had left more than 20 percent on top of the full bill, so that was resolved, but awkward. We'll be back though - the food is great and aside from that little server hiccup, friendly and helpful. I am looking forward to trying out dinner and lunch - brunch is back on Mt. Vernon Ave. hooray!

http://www.goodstuffeatery.com/menu Good Stuff eatery lists their handspun milk shakes first thing on their menu, if that accounts for anything. They have interesting flavors but I've never moved past the toasted marshmallow. Not sure where they source their ice cream. Buzz Bakery on Slaters in Alexandria makes their own ice cream in house and since they also do espresso, you could get your affogato there. I've had their milkshakes last summer and they were perfect for the season, but I'm not that huge of a stickler for milkshakes. And the frozen custard shakes at Shake Shack were alright, nothing earth-shattering, but not bad. Just overpriced and overhyped.

Thanks DanielK, I looked in the mirror this morning and found some dried on bits of carrot peel stuck on my glasses... testament to a good time volunteering...

I have two friends coming with tonight. Just confirmed with them.

Me plus a friend for this month. It was fun in December. I hope I get to make pie crust and cookies again!

Roto pollo chicken carcass stock in the oven. First time I'm trying this method.

Days later, I am still fondly thinking of how great the special New Year's Eve tasting menu dinner at Urbana was. The only other time I've eaten here was last year for my birthday happy hour and everyone seemed pleased. The dinner New Year's Eve was spectacular though. Not sure if any of these tasting menu items will be finding their way to regular lunch or dinner menus but just in case, here is what we had (I was part of a party of 9) Amuse: raw tuna slices with radish, serrano chile, and smoked caviar. Soup: Oyster stew with lemongrass, coconut milk, chile threads, kaffir lime leaf, kumquats and potato. Knocked my socks off - kinda like a tom ka soup with kumquats - it shouldn't work, but it totally did. I nibbled on some housemade headcheese with frisee and runny poached egg and of course , how can you go wrong with that - it was tasty. Third course: perfectly seared scallops, pickled onion, salsify, radish sprouts Fourth course: olive oil poached venison tenderloin with kale and crosnes - the first time I've had crosnes and now I'm obsessed. They look like insect grubs but taste like a water chestnut. These were lightly pickled and tangy. Even then this wasn't the best dish of the choices offered. The beef short ribs melted in your mouth. Finally dessert - I had the chocolate pudding that was delightful but the eucalyptus meringue it sat on was unpleasantly medicine-y tasting. The boozey frozen strawberry cylinders were better. Best of all was the Sauternes our server poured for us! He hustled his fanny off to get us bubbly and glasses for the midnight countdown. I can't wait to go back in the new year.

Sad. Unless I get back to Chicago before the end, I suppose it really will have been a once in a lifetime meal.

Just received my overdue Winter issue. I am now carrying it around like a security blanket. There's a recipe for burnt miso butterscotch that sounds really unappetizing, but the other dessert recipes seem much more intriguing. I've only read the article on Central Asian apricots so far, love the sheet of funny fruit stickers inserted in the middle of the issue. I like the one that says "picked by robots."

Went to Thai Pavillion at National Harbor for a birthday brunch last weekend. I'm in no hurry to return. Pretty ambiance. Tucked away on a side street, but the food was really mediocre and the service was spotty. Calamari was underdone and tasted flour-y. Tom Ka soup has stealth spice (it creeps up on you, in the back of the throat!) and they still loaded it up with cilantro even though I asked to omit it. The duck version I got was different but blah - chewy dry slices of meat. Other plates around me looked generous and generally well received but the second server/"assistant manager" was a real piece of work - when the birthday girl asked for the complimentary ice cream as previously agreed upon when she made arrangements with the manager, she was pretty flatly denied and we were pretty much ignored after that. The place wasn't busy and we were surprised at the lack of service. If you do end up here, get one of the noodle dishes - the wide flat noodles looked good. and portions were big enough for leftovers. I don't go to Thai places for sushi so I couldn't comment on that.

If you are a beerhead and need a place to stay, consider on of the McMenamin's hotels. http://www.mcmenamins.com/Hotels you've got your microbrewery, public house and hotel all in the same place! I also like Hopworks for beer. http://hopworksbeer.com/ If you want a more conventional hotel, I have stayed at the Jupiter, the Avalon, Moderna, the Westin, The Paramount and the Governor. All were fabulous in their own ways. One advantage of staying at the Ace Hotel is the deli downstairs, Kenny and Zuke's.

Thanks for organizing DanielK! My friend and I had a lot of fun, although I have to say that I probably had the best job, making pie crust and cookies instead of breaking down the raw chicken... Looking forward to more good times in 2012. FYI, we ended up going to Luke's Lobster for my favorite lobster rolls afterward. - another option when the wait at Toki seems overly long...

one more friend is tagging along with me, tentatively.

I really enjoyed the hammered beef and was happy to see the shrimp paste and duck liver! That's a starter that is pretty polarizing - either you love it or hate it! The pork rinds were much more fun to dip into everything than the sticky rice, which seemed a bit mushy. I loved the side salad of cabbage and herbs - fresh and crisp and fun to roll up little bundles of food in. Service was great - casual and smart but attentive. My friend and I were lucky to snag a spot at the big bar/table in the middle at 6:30 on a Tuesday night - everyone else after us had to wait a bit...

Me and a friend can help out on 12/12 if you still have spots. This will be our first time volunteering but I've wanted to for a while!

So I have been to Spa World in Centreville three times now and I am starting to look forward to trying out the different food offerings in addition to the saunas and super jetted swimming pool sized hot tub. The most basic dish is the roasted egg served with salt and sesame seeds. It comes three to an order and is basically a brown-on-the-inside hard cooked egg. Inside the sit-down cafe are more various offerings. i have gotten the beef short rib soup as well as the chicken ginseng soup. They both come with panchan - the assortment of lovely Korean nibbles like kimchee and salted dried anchovies and other picked veggies and a bowl of white rice. The chicken soup is an entire tiny game hen stuffed with short grain rice, ginseng, and a jujube (Korean date) and salt with broth. The short rib soup has a thick slice of tender simmered daikon as well as big pieces of beef short rib with the bone. The chicken wings are fried and crunchier than Bon Chon but not spicy. Other offerings that looked good and I can't wait to try are the Russian dumplings, the chicken teriyaki, the clear bean noodle soup, and the bi bim bap. There are boba drinks and various teas offered at the snack bar as well as instant ramen -- this is the least healthy spa-food I've ever encountered.

I love this place. I love the fact that he will and can grind the meat you want to your specs in front of you (I have gotten both ground lamb for shepherd's pie as well as ground pork for Laotian sausages) and that he calls them chicken boobies. He cheerfully takes special orders - heritage turkeys, ducks, duck fat, caul fat, geese, unsmoked marrow bones... just give him a day or so. His shop carries both D'artagnan Duck Bacon, and Trickling Springs Milk (omg, their chocolate milk tastes like a shake) as well as Amish rolls of butter.

I can do a literal translation - Mi means any kind of noodle (which is confusing because pho, which looks like a noodle is called banh pho (banh also means cake) and is not called mi pho) However Hu Tieu can refer to the clear chewy noodle itself or the cooked dish which can also be served with or without broth, as in a dry dish. La Cay means leaves of a tree. Cho Lon is a district in Saigon that is a big Chinese-centric marketplace. I just went to this place in Eden Center because I was craving hu tieu with the clear chewy noodles. I had gone to other Vietnamese places (Ba Le in Falls Church for one) and I realized that I wasn't ordering it right! You have to specify that you want the clear chewy noodles otherwise you'll get pho flat rice noodles, and to me, that just ain't right. I ordered the Hu Tieu Dac Biet (which translates to hu tieu deluxe) and it came with both tender, scored squid tubes, three huge shrimp, slices of char siu pork, ground pork, a slice of beef or pork liver, a quail egg, a mysterious but tasty meatball, a slice of fishcake, a few leaves of lettuce and bok choy, fried shallots, and a really lovely shrimp toast to dip into the chicken broth or nuoc mam. I loved it. I am going all the time now. Be warned that they close at 9:30 and stop serving after 9 pm. My friend had the duck noodles and it was also really good - different broth, richer and darker. She got a whole quarter duck leg in her bowl! It was 8 bucks and change for each bowl. Cash only.

Thank you for the insights! I was just having a mooncake craving and now I know where to go tomorrow!