Jump to content

Bart

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,520

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    63

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Bart

  1. Bart
    Hahaha! Yep, you nailed. You have a better memory than me. Thanks!!
  2. Bart
    Two questions: 1. What is the proper consistency for risotto? On Top Chef Tom Coliccio says is should be runny and spread/flow over the plate when you put it down (not sit up in a pile like rice). 2. Do you have to constantly stir it the entire time you cook it? I've heard that said many times, but recently I read an article or website or recipe that said something like "contrary to popular opinion you DO NOT have to constantly stir it to make a proper risotto. I learned how to make it the proper way in Italy and........"
  3. Bart
    After getting shut out at Bastille on Friday night, my wife and I drove up King Street looking for some place to grab quick bite and got a bit of a surprise when we saw the sign for Vaso's. I knew they were opening a second location, I just didn't pay attention to where it was. It has quite a different vibe from the original location which to me seems very mom-and-pop/family owned and very casual. It reminds me of the opposite of a lot of DC restaurants. This one is a much sleeker, maybe hipper, certainly more upscale looking and feeling. People were very nicely dressed and it had the feel of a downtown place. It's very small downstairs - probably about the same size as the original location - and very loud. VERY loud. When given a choice between the main room or the back hallway, we picked the back hallway because the front room was so loud. It was a nice little area, but there's a lot of traffic as it's the route to and from the kitchen. All in all, I prefer the look and feel of the original place to the new one because the original seems like a one of kind place, where the new one seems very similar to 100 other places in the area. We weren't very hungry so we just got a bottle of wine (!) and a Greek sampler appetizer plate. They had a bunch of Greek wines on the list and all of them were very reasonably priced. The sampler plate was very good with the usual suspects being represented. It wasn't as refined or subtle or layered as what you'd get at Kapnos, but it hit the spot. The waiter told us they have been open since November and that Chef Vaso is spending his time here in the new location. They also had an upstairs area with a band playing but we didn't go up there (too beat). The new location is closer to my home so we'll probably hit this one more than the original, but all things being equal, I like the feeling of the original place better.
  4. Bart
    Can you expand on that a little? Why would they have to support Assad in Syria to run a restaurant in VA? Do the embassy diplomats bring in so much business that they couldn't survive without them?
  5. Bart

    Ramps

    Bart replied to Sthitch's topic in Shopping and Cooking

    Amazing dishes! Amazing photos! Did you prepare the dishes and take the photos? I'm drooling.
  6. Bart
    Again I'll draw a comparison to Little Serow...............they don't even have a phone!!! At least not one on the website for public use. They have an email address but no phone. And I have no doubt that the dishes you describe are fantastic, but when I read them, I think to myself, "hummmm, I can get oysters and caviar at 10 other places and I can get spaghetti at 100 other places" (obviously of varying degrees of quality and perhaps none equaling Fiola Mare) but when I look at the weird mashups at Rose's it seems more interesting to me. More different. More unique (yes I know something can't be "more unique" since unique means one of a kind!!)) Aside: How do you catch a unique rabbit? > You 'neek up on him. How do you catch a tame rabbit? > Tame way
  7. Bart
    I'm not sure why you think this. Little Serow has been open for a few years now and they haven't changed their "no reservations" policy. I'm looking at it from the restaurant's point of view: it's easier and cheaper not to have someone work the phones and the reservation book and the door. Not to mention dealing with cancelations. All stuff costs money and takes time that they presumably want to spend elsewhere. Even if they have some empty tables from time to time it may not be worth it for them to take reservations. This strikes me as a little funny and very much inside baseball. It maybe true for cutting edge food junkies like the inhabitants of this assylum but I think for most "normal" people a place like Rose's is still brand spankin' new, if they've even heard of it at all. I haven't been to Fiola Mare but from looking at the menu it seems to be a much more expensive place with perhaps little overlap in clientele except the aforementioned food junkies. I get your point about the waterfront location and the time of year in Fiola Mare's favor, but when I look at the menu it seems very standard and normal where Rose's has exciting and bizarre combos like "asparagus, jalapeno and pineapple". If I had to go to one or the other tonight I'd probably pick Rose's just because it seems so different
  8. Bart
    I had the bar of ivory soap shoved into my mouth once or twice. I have distinct memories of scraping pieces of soap off of my teeth when it was over. Not fun or tasty
  9. Bart

    Ramps

    Bart replied to Sthitch's topic in Shopping and Cooking

    Very good point. I was poking around on sites about hunting ramps and only one out of the 5 or so I looked at mentioned anything about over hunting. Here's an excerpt: If you are lucky enough to find some, please be respectful. Harvest only from large, healthy beds and take, at most, a fraction (some things I've read suggest 15% max) of the patch you've found. Due to the fact that the demand for these wild plants has been, shall we say, ramping up (sorry, I couldn't help myself) in recent years, there are concerns about overharvesting. If you want to know more, read this recent New York Times article on the topic. The good news is that these things are potent so you will not actually need to take very many plants. Above paragraph is from here: http://www.thegardenofeating.org/2011/04/harvesting-wild-ramps.html I suppose it's not a big deal if people who know what they're doing are out harvesting them for restaurants and farmers markets. Presumably they tend/hunt/maintain the same productive area(s), and only take a certain amount and leave the rest. But when idiots like me start doing it, it could be bad news.
  10. Bart
    And yet you note you work at Black Ankle Vineyards in signature block in your post. What the heck?!?!??! Somehow, I suspect you have another employer that you're really talking about!
  11. Bart
    PS - I doubt it's Eve because they just went through a major rennovation. Would they actually spend all that time and money on that effort just before their lease was up?
  12. Bart
    I started writing this response 3 different times and then deleting it, but everytime I come back to this thread I get annoyed and start it again. So here I go.......... I don't. What's the point of this thread? Are we playing "I've got a secret"? Is the whole point of it to be able to brag about being first to break the story once there is an actual story? So far here's what we know (excluding the post about Palena which everyone seems to be ignoring): "Something is about to happen somewhere around here to someplace that some of us like. And it's probably not good news since grieving will be involved." I guess my issue/point/complaint is: Either tell us or don't tell us! Don't dance around in tease-ville!! Thank you, I feel better now.
  13. Bart

    Ramps

    Bart replied to Sthitch's topic in Shopping and Cooking

    Bumping this thread because ramps are back. I just bought a couple bunches at the Crystal City farmer's market. If anyone has any new revelations since 2008, post them!!
  14. Bart
    I never intend to go to Salamander because of the review in the Post where they said Johnson insisted on everyone calling her "Doctor Johnson" when she only has a honorary doctorate from some university. I don't need to support that kind of pompus BS, but I had to look up the 2009 incident because I didn't remember it. She's a real class act: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2009/10/sheila_johnsons_macaca_moment.html Excerpt: "In a campaign appearance on behalf of Bob McDonnell, the Republican candidate for governor in Virginia, Johnson, the zillionaire founder of Black Entertainment Television, explained that she'd endorsed him because -- well, because he doesn't stutter. In a macaca moment now going viral on YouTube, Johnson mocked McDonnell's opponent, state Sen. Creigh Deeds (D), by imitating and wildly exaggerating the very slight stammer that characterizes his speech." "When rich entertainment TV moguls are mocking decent, self-effacing candidates for public office such as Deeds, you know we've reached some sort of new bottom in the slime wars. Naturally, Johnson apologized -- not because she cares a whit for Deeds, or Virginia or stutterers, or the other people she offended, but to try to patch her own tarnished reputation. Just like in high school, that's how the nasty kids roll."
  15. Bart
    Lunch was great. The flavors were so bright and different from "normal' food (whatever that means). We just threw ourselves on the mercy of our server and asked for the best loved dishes. What we got was sort of a blur, but we had to ask for the watercress salad which wasn't on the menu. LIke Dean above, our least favorite dish was the noodle soup. It was fine, but it didn't stand up next to the rest of the dishes. Bottom line"¦"¦.at lunch or dinner, this place is a winner.
  16. Bart
    Thanks folks! If anyone wants to do an impromptu DR lunch there today, head over. We'll be there around 1 - 1:30! ;-)
  17. Bart
    So does this mean one should avoid Bangkok Golden for lunch if you want the full Lao experience? Has anyone gone there for a LaoLunch?
  18. Bart
    Thanks porcupine! From the article: Personally, I like this "new style" of cooking. I like not having to make any choices and letting the chef serve whatever they think is best. And I like small plates because instead of trying one or two dishes/flavors/tastes all night long, I now get to have 5 or 6 (or 24). I might get annoyed with it if every single meal I ate was that way, but I'm lucky to go out to dinner once a month and when I do, I'm happy to give total control of the evening to the chef. The line I cut and pasted above would sound downright bizarre if you switched the word "cooking" to "music" and switched the word "chef" to "musician". Would he make the same complaint about the new Rolling Stones album? "This album just coddles Mick and Keith, and not me, the listener"
  19. Bart
    Is there a back story to this? I'm confused. But anyway, are you familiar with the Anthony Bourdain book with the chapter titled "Alan Richman is a Douchebag"?
  20. Bart
    A mere 6 years after the start of this thread and 3 years from now. WTF?!?!?!
  21. Bart
    YES! I picked up a case of Goldrush apples yesterday. Glad the market is back in the original location (in the shade)
  22. Bart
    Yeah I agree. My wife and I hit up this place every once and a while and we noticed the prices on everything jumped up between two of our visits. This was maybe 2 years ago, but it was very obvious at the time. It went from "these prices are reasonable we should come here more" to "damn, this place is expensive and over priced" Even the salads seemed very expensive for what you got.
  23. Bart
    I saw that too and wondered why he even bothered posting it. And talk about a pointless complaint. I would have liked to see examples of how he is prissy, prententious and has no clue about food. Instead he basically said "you're old and you suck".
  24. Bart
    I was poking around their website today, which I must say is horrible, and I found this: "Chef Tom Power has one of the best and most versatile medium-size lists in town, a good by the glass program, and interesting, small production digestifs." --Don Rockwell, The Washingtonian What gives? Don - did you ever work for the Washingtonian? Or is it another website problem? What's wrong with the website?..........There is no actual description of the place! I was trying to find out if they had a bar you could have a happy hour drink at, and I found no information at all! So I did the next best thing and called them on the phone from the number listed on the website..........FAX machine! My ear is still ringing! I don't need a high frills website, but a couple photos of the place and some very basic information would be appreciated! Thank you, rant over. (PS, I can't turn the italics off. Sorry, I tired)
  25. Bart
    YES! They've been re-airing them nightly on HBO so I've been getting my fix that way. I think they're nearing the end of the series and with any luck, they'll start from the beginning again. That's probably too much to ask, but if they do, it would be an easy for people to play along at (providing they have HBO of course). Either way, I'm always up for a Sopranos chat. One word of advice, if you do decide to watch, you should try to watch each episode (at least) twice. I know that's a big commitment, but this is one of those shows where you catch tons of additional details the second time around, not to mention the great acting.
×
×
  • Create New...