MMM

The Pines of Rome has a separate room for groups, but I'm not sure how many it will accommodate. While it's not quite in Bethesda, Matisse on upper Wisconsin Avenue in the District has a nice upstairs room for parties.

Thanks for the suggestions! I'm passing them on to the owner.

A close friend has a cache of Thomas Hardy Ale that her now-deceased husband collected in the '80s and '90s. She wants to get rid of it. Here's her description of what she has:

Four-packs in their carrier:

1986

87

88 88 88

89

90 90 90

91

92 92

94 94 94

95

Two Silver Anniversary 1993 three-packs, in special silver packaging.

4 larger bottles (ll.15 oz each) 1996

Any suggestions?

This is the current name of the original Elmer Breeden and Sons Plumbing business, now run by the son and grandson, Danny and Jason. We have been using this firm personally for over 30 years and my husband uses them in his contracting business. They are capable, honest and reliable: MVP PLUMBING & HEATING LLC, OFFICE: 301-262-3882

They are located in Mt. Ranier, MD.

Molly Merrill

But here's what I'm wondering. If Cesare Lanfranconi is actually the chef at Lia's now, the food should be really good. No?

We ate at Lia's several years ago and were unimpressed with the food - sounded good, looked good, but was just sort of tasteless. Now I hear that Cesare Lanfranconi is the executive chef which leads me to wonder whether the food has improved. Has anyone tried Lia's recently?

Gi metal is good has a website

Look at "Who We Are" - Carlo, Giovanni, Marco, Salvatore, Edoardo, Gaetano

Federico, Daniela, Andrea, Andrea, Donatella, Fabio, Claudio

I love them!

Thanks for the Forno Bravo suggestion and Dave Konstantin. I e-mailed him and he replied that he knows of no place local - must order. Oh well.

We're building a wood-burning pizza oven (what a project!) and looking for accessories, specifically an oven cleaning brush. Has anyone bought such locally?

What did you like about the roasted cod? Cod can be quite boring. BTW, I shot an email to Nate about parking, and he said that dinner guests can park in the Wachovia lot.

It was served with very nice spinach and a sort of lobster hash. The cod itself was tasty, roasted very crisp on the edges. We lucked out and found parking on the street right in front.

Salt & Pepper is somewhere you want to go ASAP because if you don't, one of three things will happen: it will become more expensive, it will become worse, or it will become crowded. What a wonderful surprise this place is! (And don't hesitate to get the $6 glass of Riesling "on tap.")

Took Don's advice and went this evening with a couple of friends and enjoyed it immensely. We had lots of things - chicken wings (tasty!), french fried onion rings (quite good - the coating was not too greasy, and did not fall off), burger and fries (also good). You can see this was a low-cal meal! Actually I had the roast cod with lobster sauce which I enjoyed. We all shared a brownie sundae for dessert which was delish. We also all had the draft Riesling (Finger Lakes) which hit the spot. Good suggestion. What a very pleasant neighborhood place. Oh, and our very pleasant young waiter was exceptionally good.

I've never been there, but what about Girasole in The Plains, VA?

I wonder if you called them and asked for real Italian food? Maybe?

My husband and I just had a lovely meal at Grapeseed this evening. We were brought warm bread with a yummy dipping sauce of olive oil and garlic and tomato, followed by our starters of fried oysters for my husband which got high marks, and gnocchi with morels for me. Normally I don't order gnocchi because they're generally heavy and doughy and unforgettable. I took a chance on these because they came with a morel mushroom sauce and they were delicious. The gnocchi were surprisingly light and the morels were wonderful. My husband had scallops next which were beautifully seared and generally perfect and I had rockfish with roasted asparagus and Israeli couscous which couldn't have been better. Our servers were friendly and professional. Gotta say the whole experience was a "10!"

Am I alone in thinking that Chateau Ste. Michelle and Domaine Ste. Michelle produce reasonably good wines for the price? No matter who owns them.

Just returned from a short visit to Vancouver. Our standout meal there was dinner at La Quercia, an Italian restaurant in the Kitsilano area - http://laquercia.ca/. Searching the internet, I found it was named "Best Restaurant of the Year" in 2010 by a Vancouver magazine, so decided to give it a try. Apparently the 2 young chefs spend a few weeks in italy every summer and their cooking shows it. Theirs is the best Italian food I've had outside of Italy.

My husband started with a sort of very fresh mixed seafood salad that he's still dreaming about, followed by an excellent pasta amatriciana and a lovely veal chop. I was just thrilled to see that morels were in season and they were featuring them on their menu, so had a tajarin with morels - actually LOADED with morels - incredibly delicious! I followed that with house-smoked salmon and an interesting vegetable combo - very nice. Then the chefs sent us out a little treat of risotto with more morels - Wow! We ended the meal with a serving of camomile & honey yogurt panna cotta with citrus fruits that was perfect.

If you're going to Vancouver and want to try La Quercia out, you should probably book in advance. I went on Open Table and found a reservation only at 5:15 pm, but as it was our first day there and they are 3 hours behind us, it made it a reasonable time for us to go to dinner.

Sorin is good again this year, of course. And Williams Corner Wine, a Charlottesville-based importer/distributor has a winner with their direct import rose from Domaine Rouge-Bleu.

Too bad about the Avondale, but thanks for the other suggestions!

I loved the South African '06 Avondale Cabernet Sauvignon Rose. Wonder if there's another vintage floating around here somewhere?

We ate with another couple at Mussel Bar on Thursday evening - during Happy Hour - before the theater (everybody go and see Amadeus at Round House!). 2 people had the basic mussels and frites. They enjoyed them and the frites were great. Our friend and I had flatbreads (which are $10 during HH). Can't remember what mine was called, but it had mushrooms, cheese and arugula and was tasty. He had a daily special with avocado and something spicy and gave it high marks. We liked the food and pleasant service. Our server even turned the blaring music off when we asked if it could be lowered. Still this place is very noisy. Definitely have to talk with raised voice. Sitting outside on a pleasant evening would be preferable.

HomeGoods stores have lots of nice, inexpensive glassware. There are several of them sprinkled around the area.

I've had lunch a few times at the Black Bull Tavern on the main drag in Rockland and found it to be very good. Friends have recommended Lily Bistro in Rockland, but I haven't been there. My husband and I did have a wonderful dinner at Primo last September. It is expensive, but the food, service and atmosphere were great. It was a kind of quiet mid-week night and just very nice.

We went to da Marco for dinner last night. Got there early - shortly after 6 - and found it half full. By 7, it was full. I thought the space was comfortable and attractive. We had a good view of the oven from our seats and it's performing like a champ! The pizzas cook in mere minutes.

I ordered a Margherita Classica and my husband had a sausage and rapini. We have eaten at da Michele in Naples, and I think this Margherita comes close to theirs. The crust was tasty and sort of bubbly with a little char here and there and the topping of home-made mozzarella, tomatoes and basil was good. They will bring you pepper flakes and Parmesan. I also asked for olive oil and got a little pitcher of that so I could mop the un-topped pieces of crust in it.

We shared one mixed salad which was nice if unremarkable and one scoop of chocolate gelato. They only had vanilla and chocolate for now. The gelato was pleasant but not intense. They have a good list of wines (all Italian, I think) and I was impressed to find quite a few priced in the $20 range!

For now the pizzas are all half-price. Not sure if that promotion is for the rest of the week or the rest of the month. A great deal anyway!

Had pizzas there again last night and I still like them a lot. Tastes like Neapolitan pizza to me!

We'll be in Honolulu for a few days in June. Anyone have any updates?

We went to da Marco for dinner last night. Got there early - shortly after 6 - and found it half full. By 7, it was full. I thought the space was comfortable and attractive. We had a good view of the oven from our seats and it's performing like a champ! The pizzas cook in mere minutes.

I ordered a Margherita Classica and my husband had a sausage and rapini. We have eaten at da Michele in Naples, and I think this Margherita comes close to theirs. The crust was tasty and sort of bubbly with a little char here and there and the topping of home-made mozzarella, tomatoes and basil was good. They will bring you pepper flakes and Parmesan. I also asked for olive oil and got a little pitcher of that so I could mop the un-topped pieces of crust in it.

We shared one mixed salad which was nice if unremarkable and one scoop of chocolate gelato. They only had vanilla and chocolate for now. The gelato was pleasant but not intense. They have a good list of wines (all Italian, I think) and I was impressed to find quite a few priced in the $20 range!

For now the pizzas are all half-price. Not sure if that promotion is for the rest of the week or the rest of the month. A great deal anyway!

My husband and I happened to walk by the Wisconsin Avenue site of Haven Pizzeria last evening. The front door was open so we peered in to check out the renovation progress. New Haven born chef and pizzaiolo and partial owner Mark Bergami was there and he invited us in to look around. We saw the piles of bricks for the 2 coal-fired ovens as well as the larger slabs which will be the ovens' floor. A lot of work has been done, but there remains a lot to do. They will serve New Haven-style pies and make their own gelato (the Italian gelato machine is en route). It's a nice space and will be a great addition to eating out options in Bethesda and to the expanding pizza scene in the DC area. Yay! Mark was very cordial and estimates they may open by the end of June, or barring that, by mid-July.

Sietsema is reporting that Logan Cox is going to be heading up the street (from New Heights) to helm the stove at Ripple at the end of April.

Wondering whether this happened and if anyone has eaten there recently?