goldenticket

This grower says it's a summer, fall, and early winter crop, but you can sign up for notification of availability.

This one lists several stores in the area that carry their products. May be worth a call to the customer service line to see if any are carrying finger limes.

Let us know if you are able to track any down in the area!

First they came for the elitists,

and I did not speak out because I was not an elitist.

Then they came for the people who eat only free-range organic chicken,

and I did not speak out because I cannot afford to eat only free-range organic chicken.

Then they came for the vegans,

and I did not speak out because who gives a shit about vegans anyway.

Then they came for a somewhat famous purveyor of mediocre pizzas and sloppy burgers,

and everyone spoke out, because....what was I saying?

Squirrel!

I call Godwin - or close enough

Maybe you can ask the place where you tried it for suggestions? It might also be worth asking a few of the vendors at some of the local farmers' markets if they are familiar with, or grow, oyster leaf. One of them might be interested in growing it for the coming season if they think there's a demand.

This company grows it, but the website doesn't indicate any local distributors - may be worth a call or e-mail.

One more time...

Please put me in for the lottery, too.

And again, thank you Fishinnards, Porcupine, and zoramargolis for pulling this together!

RIP Davy Jones.

As a wee lass, I passed many an early Saturday morning sitting on the floor watching The Monkees on TV and eating cold hot dogs. Good times....

The Art House Co-op has another project coming up that may be of interest. The first volume of their Things Found series is going to be The Fridge. Take a picture of the inside of your fridge and send it in. Click the link for more details and to sign up to participate.

Word! Eric, perhaps you will consider doing a Thai cooking class for us, sometime! I'm sure a number of DR folks would be interested, and would contribute to the cost of materials. Whadday say?

Even though I was one of the first few in, I think a lottery for spaces once the date is announced is the best way.

I would be VERY interested, and would like to be included in the lottery, or future class(es)! I drool every time I see your posts, Fishinnards!

I did try my hand at Kao Soi this weekend, using the recipe 22209 provided from a picnic a couple years ago. It was quite tasty and pretty easy, but I didn't go so far as making my own curry sauce!

posted this on Tom's chat this morning

we went to a performance there last week-beautiful space, btw. They offered a limited menu-we sampled the thin crust pizza and sushi which we liked. Nothing you haven't tasted before but well prepared. Good beer wine and wine list with lots of servers. They plan to be open 24/7-not sure how that will work.

The pizza was a spicy pepperoni and it was spicy. I didn't taste the sushi but my spouse liked it.

My first visit to The Hamilton was last night, also for a performance. It is a fantastic music space, in my opinion, a beautiful space, as mr food noted, with great sight lines, lots of seating, and two bars. I LOVE the fact that the ticket price you see on the website is the ticket price; no fees, add-ons, etc. $20 is $20. They have a simple check-in system, with no printed tickets, just different colored wrist bands for seated/standing room tickets.

The menu offers a more limited selection (salads, pizzas, sandwiches, sushi, cheese, charcuterie) than what you find upstairs, but I was perfectly happy with what I tried. We ordered the spicy tuna roll (6 pieces, $6) and a tiger fur roll (8 pieces, $12). Both were fresh and appropriately sized for the price. I also tried a slice of my friend's margherita pizza - it was good as well, with fresh mozz and basil, and a crispy crust. At $13 for about a 12" pizza, it was a reasonable value. Another friend enjoyed his pulled pork sandwich, which was huge.

The drinks menu has a decent selection of beers and wines, also at prices in line with expectations. The service was very good, as the wait staff work as a team and you can order from any of them. Food and drinks came out quickly and checks were processed tableside, so no long wait to pay after the show. My only disappointment was there wasn't a bigger crowd to get down with Big Sam's Funky Nation, 'cause he puts on a hell of a show!

I will be back and hope they continue to get some great acts in there.

The Meal is a free project sponsored by the Art House Co-op. The goal is to inspire community through a global meal AND create an exhibition of self-portraits. All you have to do is take a picture of yourself at noon tomorrow (Feb 24) showing (at least part of) you and your snack/meal. Send a 4" x 6" copy of picture (color or B/W) to the address provided on the website and it will be included in the exhibition. More details can be found on the website.

This sounds like a cool and interesting project. I'm going to do it - hope a lot of you will, too!

I thought this article provided an interesting perspective about how someone else in the food/restaurant celebrity business (Joe Bastianich) dealt with his own health concerns. Granted he is a paid spokesman for Lipitor, but he's no longer taking the medication and has "walked the walk" to getting healthy.

If I'm not mistaken, someone from our Friday lunch had a nice little overview of Bangkok Golden included in the chat (or they had another group of 11 who wanted more heat ).

I went last year and the lines (when they existed) were only a few people deep. They limit ticket sales to keep the crowd size manageable, and have a number of stations for different oysters so people are spread out. There were a few areas that were crowded just due to layout and the fact that several of the beer stations were in one place. Some of the more popular oyster varieties were gone very quickly (kumamoto), but there were more than enough oysters to keep everyone happy throughout the event. They did have grilled oysters, which came out as they were ready, so that station did have a wait and a portion limit. I don't recall any limit on the number of oysters you could take at the shucking stations. There were a few other food items (pit beef, some sort of stew) and some wine stations. If you like oysters, it isn't a bad value, especially with the discounted price.

Thanks Eric, for organizing this outing and getting the list of dishes up so quickly!

It was a fun meal and I didn't taste anything that I disliked. Lots of great flavors, not too much heat in anything (for my tastes). Some felt that they held back on the heat. I've not had "Lao Hot" before, so can't say for sure whether that was the case. I appreciated that the heat was an obvious component of several of the dishes, but not in a way that was unpleasant or detracted from the other flavors.

Brian, who was more of a guide than our waiter, helped put together a great sampling of dishes. His suggestions and information about flavors, heat, and traditional preferences were very useful.

Moak Normai and Ping Moo (prepared with pork neck for us) were some of my favorites, along with the Kaing Som Pah. I appreciated that they were willing to prepare the Larb Seen raw and Brian suggested adding some tripe to it when he saw that we were up for trying just about anything.

Edite to add: I also enjoyed the Nam Khao and am thinking it would be a great carry-out item, along with an order of soup...and several other things

I definitely would be happy to organize a dinner, for those who couldn't make lunch. I'll start a separate thread for that within the next day.

It's not part of the actual webpage; it's on the horizontal strip at the bottom of the iPhone screen (this is using Safari).

Thanks - I see it as a square with an arrow in it, which opens a list of options that include "add bookmark". Got it set up now.

Latest list:

Ericandblueboy

thistle

DanielK +1

porcupine

goldenticket +1

Fishinnards (+1?)

dean gold ?

noahcofc

Koolpaw

ktmoomau

Crackpot Gourmet (?)

Tweaked

Sparkycom

Now that the Dining Guide is available to the public, anyone with an iPhone can create their own "app" in a matter of seconds. Bring up the dining guide on your iPhone, and then hit the little plus sign (+) at the bottom of the screen. This puts it as a one-touch icon - I have all four from DC (DC, MD, VA, Multiple Locations) on mine, and use them every day.

Is it just me? I'm not seeing this plus sign... Do I need to be viewing the 'full version' to have access to this option?

It's links like the one above to New York Magazine that make me wish there was a LIKE button around here

Seems like a week day would be better and probably easier to schedule for a large group. Mid-March?

I've been curious about the Tuesday 'ethnic' theme, but I'm confident any of them would be fun and delicious!

(Wednesday is Chef's Choice, Thursday is Comfort)

I think calling is a good idea. If they normally serve mostly buffet at lunch, they might appreciate knowing a large crowd is going to want to order from the Lao menu.

I might be +1 - will let you know Thursday.

It IS Thursday

Looking forward to lunch tomorrow and second the idea of calling ahead. Eric - could you do that? Thanks!

We could be up to 13 people (Dean? Crackpot Gourmet? are you in?)

I would be interested, depending on the date, possibly +1.

I looked into a group reservation recently. The bookings typically open up 30 days in advance. With a group of 10 (12 max), they may be able to reserve something a bit further out.

We enjoyed a delicious, impromptu dinner at the bar last night. While the menu was limited, the creativity and flavors of our dishes were anything but.

The house cut fries are too good to resist, so we started with an order of the porcini version. As always, perfectly cooked and with the right amount of crispiness. I could eat these fries every day.

f.o.a. lamb tasting - white bean raviolini, baby root vegetables & fried rosemary bread

Fields of Athenry lamb: tenderloin (beautiful medium-rare), house made merguez (great seasoning, if a touch salty for my palate), and belly cut and cooked as lardons. It's always a treat to enjoy lamb that tastes like lamb should.The bite-sized pieces of baby veggies (carrots, fingerlings, onions among them) brought hints of color to the plate; the rosemary bread reminded me a bit of a mini pakora.

mustard crusted carolina mackerel - shaved fennel, winter citrus, caper berry & black olive vinaigrette

We knew we wouldn't go wrong* with either of the fish dishes (rockfish was the other option), but opted for the mackerel since it's not a common choice. While not having the strong, oily taste I typically associate with mackerel, the fish stood up to the other assertive components on the plate. The citrus (grapefruit and/or blood orange if I'm not mistaken) and fennel offered some sweetness against the briney/salty caper berry and black olive. A lovely plate to look at and to eat.

chocolate truffle tart - cocoa nib ice cream, cocoa nib tuile & mocha caramel sauce

The perfect size to share, an upscale chocolate pudding tart that filled a chocolate craving without being too sweet. From the tart pastry to the ice cream to the amazing caramel sauce, it all worked well.

A very enjoyable meal, made all the more memorable by the very special diners upstairs.

* To this day, the +1 still says some of the best fish he's ever had was a black cod preparation from Chef Chittum during his Notti Bianche days.

Another Alexandria restaurant given the nod by the First Couple. Chef Chittum is cooking Valentine's Day dinner for POTUS and FLOTUS as I type...

Friday, February 17

11:45 a.m.

Here's who responded in the affirmative:

Ericandblueboy

thistle

DanielK (+1?)

porcupine

goldenticket +1

Fishinnards

dean gold

noahcofc

Koolpaw

ktmoomau

Crackpot Gourmet (?)

Tweaked

If I missed you or you're on the list and can't make it, post here and we can update list.

I haven't been to the restaurant, so can't offer any ordering guidance. I would only suggest that we order a mix of Lao hot and not-so-hot dishes, to accommodate all palates.

I had another wonderful lunch there on Saturday, the highlight being the rabbit "steak and cheese" - full of tender rabbit with great flavor, caramelized leeks(?), and a cheese that I've forgotten.

I'm not the only one who likes that rabbit cheesesteak. Endless Simmer featured it on their 2012 list of America's Best New Sandwiches - awesome!

I'll be there!

Fri the 17th works for me for lunch.

And for me.

Maybe we can put a dinner together after the lunch. I will volunteer to coordinate that, but would like to hold off on setting a date until after Feb 15th (when I'm back in town)- or after scoping the place out at lunch on the 17th.