silentbob

I think the ESPN feature linked upthread dispels the notion that LeBron is merely throwing money at wine.  Seems like anyone who spends their free time tasting grapes at vineyards and displaying curiosity about terroir is trying to walk the walk too.

As if on cue, a thorough piece from Laura Hayes in the City Paper today on 77.

My head hurts.  I sympathize with certain aspects from both sides (but also don't get to vote on this).

MLB is one sport where it's not hard to go from rock bottom to WS champions if you have a great front office and supportive ownership (which I know doesn't exist in Baltimore and may not for a long time).

The Cubs won 61 games in 2012, 66 games in 2013, then 103 and the WS just three years after that.

The Astros averaged 54 (!) wins from 2011-2013 before a jump to 101 and the WS last year.

Both are among the most data-driven teams in baseball.  It starts with the right culture.

11 hours ago, Pool Boy said:

When you settle, it is pretty much admitting guilt. Pretty much.

The world of litigation is way too complex to make sweeping statements like this.

Often, it is pretty much admitting guilt as you say.  Just as often, it's to avoid litigation even when you're 99.9% sure that you'll prevail in court.  Going to trial is painfully expensive.  The discovery process is even worse than that.  Big companies settle all the time for financial, risk mitigation, and other reasons.

2 hours ago, Simul Parikh said:

Rental car status - this is something that I can never take advantage of. If you rent from Kayak or Hotwire, you CANNOT use your status. But, the prices from the third party tend to always be lower. So, this doesn't help me.

Depending on whether you have access to a company rate/AAA, it's often not that much more expensive than Kayak/Hotwire (and sometimes cheaper) so worth it to get potential upgrades (at most major airports) to larger/nicer cars either through National's Executive Emerald aisle or Hertz's Five Star/President's Circle aisle.

Plus the Chase Sapphire Reserve offers primary car rental coverage (as opposed to secondary for the AMEX Platinum).

On 11/18/2016 at 3:03 PM, Pat said:

I've noticed that most, if not all, of the Bell and Evans I see at the Old Town Whole Foods is vacuum sealed.

We are recent converts to Bell and Evans.  The easy peel-off vacuum sealed containers are superb.

We have both the Chase Sapphire Reserve and AMEX Platinum.  I don't mind paying the annual fees when they're effectively only $150 each and we "recover" the value through lounge visits, sync offers, status, purchase protection, rental insurance, etc.  Having access to a wider range of transfer/redemption options is good too.

There was a more recent analysis of premium travel credit cards that tends to reinforce my view that the CSR is slightly better than the AMEX Platinum.

On 4/26/2017 at 10:08 AM, Keithstg said:

Following on to this, there is an excellent documentary on Jeremiah Tower out now called The Last Magnificent. I believe that it opens in DC soon. Saw it in NY - they do a great job capturing a complex guy, and don't gloss over the fact that Alice Waters plagarized her entire first cookbook from Jeremiah.

"Review: Jeremiah Tower Doc 'The Last Magnificent' Sizzles from Start to Finish" by Joshua David Stein on eater.com

CNN aired this last fall, and it was collecting dust on our TiVo until last night. Fascinating documentary. Some of the fictionalized reenactments of his youth were a bit heavy handed though. Also clever of the filmmakers to weave in archived footage of Alice Waters when there was obviously no chance she’d agree to take part otherwise. From what I’ve read in interviews, it sounds like their so-called feud is way exaggerated.

How much would Spoken English charge for the duck if it were in a Bailey’s Crossroads strip mall or Bethesda? How much would Peking Gourmet or Peter Chang charge for their respective ducks if they were located in an Adams Morgan hotel? It’s not really an apples-to-apples comparison otherwise.

23 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

would you cite some references for my reading enjoyment?

https://www.vox.com/2018/3/13/17109874/ncaa-scandal-fbi-basketball-march-madness

https://www.vox.com/conversations/2017/9/5/16180862/college-football-ncaa-student-athlete-mike-mcintire

https://theintercept.com/2018/02/22/ncaa-student-athletes-unpaid-prison/

All the corporate money that's gone into major college sports (i.e., football and basketball) without the players seeing a dime has turned me off almost completely as a fan.  Too much shady recruiting, warped incentives, and a governing body that's arguably as corrupt as FIFA or the IOC.  No thanks.

P.S.  I am a Duke basketball hater.  Not afraid to admit my biases.

12 hours ago, Ericandblueboy said:

I'm pulling for Liverpool now!

Words I never expected to see from an Everton supporter.

So impressed that you tried.  水煮魚 is one of those dishes, much like fried and smoked foods, that I'll leave to the experts.  My mom has never attempted it either, and she's the best Chinese cook that I know.

So we're thinking about a week-long trip to Japan next year, this time without the kids!  Which, food-wise, opens up tons of options that weren't available during our prior visit.

Of course, high-end sushi is at the top of the list.  I can totally live with not experiencing any of the two or three-starred Ginza places.  Based on the initial research thus far, the impression that I get is that an inability to interact with non-English speaking sushi chefs about the fish/nigiri/etc. being served -- and of course we don't speak Japanese -- will inevitably limit how great the dining experience can be.  Does that sound about right?

P.S.  We actually have no prior experience dining at sushi counters, whether in DC or elsewhere, so it seems like that has to change as well before our trip, otherwise it would likely be a waste of time and money to want the high-end sushi experience in Tokyo.

44 minutes ago, DanielK said:

It's unfortunately Germantown and not Gaithersburg, and not right off 270, so that much further out. My couple of visits there have been underwhelming (lousy food from court, cheeses not stored properly), so I never consider going.

This should probably be moved to the Wegman's thread, but my experiences with the Germantown location have been fine to good (typically go a few times per month, though never for food court or cheese).  Their milk is super-cheap, they sell Sun Noodle ramen kits and Jeni's ice cream pints, and the generic brand groceries are surprisingly decent.  The Germantown location will still be closer to our house than the new one in Rockville, though we may end up going to the latter more because it's closer to our schools and on the way home from work.

22 hours ago, astrid said:

Have anyone seen poke in their deli section lately?  We really miss them, especially the spicy version.

We miss the poke too.  No luck finding it recently at the Gaithersburg, Wheaton, Pentagon City, or Chantilly stores.

I'll always prefer Costco because they reportedly pay their employees much higher wages and provide better health insurance benefits than Sam's Club.  Plus they don't close stores with basically no notice to employees.

21 minutes ago, Al Dente said:

For the record, the leading batting average is held by Kendrick (.277), which is pathetic for a team of this caliber.

Offense is down all over the league so far, most likely a function of the cold weather.  The Nats are 8th out of 15 NL teams in OPS, which correlates better with runs scored than batting average.  For reference though, NL teams in the aggregate have a batting average of .238 so it's all relative.  My guess is that the Nats will be fine eventually.

On 2/21/2008 at 10:06 PM, laniloa said:

Leonard's for malasadas

Anyone know if there's a place in Kauai or Maui that makes malasadas as good as Leonard's?  We're not going to Oahu this time.

Thanks -- the part of this article saying how the menu of each evening's offerings are posted on the website by 6 pm led me to think some items may not be available until then.

Mar 19, 2018 - "What To Order at Serenity Now, the Back Bar at 2 Amys where Peter Pastan Nerds Out" by Laura Hayes on washingtoncitypaper.com

We stopped by the other day, and in re-reading this thread, I didn't realize that it was possible to order a double full scoop.  The menu on the wall only gave the option of a full scoop, two half-scoops, a flight of minis, or kid-size.  Is it simply twice the price of a single full scoop?

That said, our one scoop of wildberry lavender was superb.  Five year-old didn't like it, almost two year-old loved it.

What time can we start ordering from the wine bar menu?  Is 5 or 5:30 too early?

Many of the so-called "top" pizza places in the U.S. follow an until-the-dough-runs-out model, like Beddia and Una Pizza.  Maybe that's how they do it in Naples?  I think some ramen places are like this too, until the noodles run out.

On 3/1/2015 at 4:56 AM, reedm said:

I've also had their excellent lobster rolls as well as their clam chowder.

We're going to be nearby for a birthday party this weekend.  The website seems to suggest that you can only order online for pickup.  Is that true for the lobster rolls and clam chowder too?

On 4/14/2017 at 2:29 PM, silentbob said:

Sounds like a new store is opening in Gaithersburg/Rockville (Travilah Square) either late this year or early next year, thus leading to the recent closure of Michael's Noodles and most likely other places soon too.  And apparently the TJ's near Lakeforest Mall is closing on the same day that this new one opens, so basically a move across town of sorts.  Selfishly, this is a great development because what was a 15-minute trip is now only 4 for us.

Based on posts that I saw on Nextdoor recently, there have been delays and the Travilah location likely won't open until later this year at the earliest.  Which sounds right, because even driving past the site a few weeks ago, the construction looked quite far from being close to done.

On 4/4/2018 at 5:52 PM, Escoffier said:

The new concept is CLOSED.  Windows papered over, Del Campo seems to be no more.  i guess even Taco Bamba didn't help.

"DC's Now-Permanent Taco Bamba Open April 6" by Warren Rojas on eater.dc.com