jigones

We had movie and a dinner night. I had the burger and the liver mouse. The burger was spectacular....so good I did not put ketchup or mustard on it. The liver mouse was out of this world, I had pry myself away from it. The only downside to the dinner was the cheese plate, which ahhhh and the bread just did not do it for me. The service was impeccable. I'll go back for the burger and a Bordeux any day.

I am a little perturbed at the fact that restaurants around the area are running out of Trappist beers, which by the way is only beer that you should drink

Anyways, I have been told by several establishments that there seems to have been world wide shortage or some type of distribution problem. I was back in the burgh (Pittsburgh) and I had no problems there.... any word from the experts.

Being force fed hundreds of cheap GV ain't fun, but some of us have to do the heavy lifting so the rest of you have it easier. One of the main rules of wine tasting smacked us all in the face again this time: shitty wine aged 30 years is still shitty wine, just old.

yup, my friends love to buy wine and age it for years....it goes from real shitty to shitty. LOL.

Was it worth drinking cheap shitty wine to find a gem (I am hoping you did.)

Oya makes the best Chilean sea bass in the east coast. Other then that....I think the food is not all it is cracked up to be and overpriced. Their wine list is also rather limited and the servers are also a little too snotty for me. However, the bartenders are quite nice and pleasant. With all that said, I will go back and get the Chilean sea bass along with a shot of tequila anyday .

Ate at Positano (Italian) in Bethesda. I was a little bit weary because of some reviews that I read at different places. However, I have to say that the food was decent. I had Salmon with vegetables and pasta. The salmon was cooked perfectly and marinated. The veggies were a little oily, but other then that, everyone really liked the food. No comment on the pasta (I only comment when someone messes it up.) The service was excellent on that occasion. The price to food quality make this place worth visiting again.

Where is this located?

Based on the exchange rates, expect all imported products to double in price in the coming months....cheeses, wine, etc. Time to try your local products. The effect of the exchange rate takes some time to work through the system, but it will..... People will have to think about spending money before they do. Also, I expect wheat products to significantly increase in price.

I still don't understand why the farmers markets around the area so expensive. Please explain.... you cut out the middle man which has significant overhead and profit margins built into the product. I still pay the prices because, in general, the produce is better, but the cost does not justify the price being charged (besides the fact that we are dumb enough to pay such prices.) Farmers market used to be a friendly affair where you got to know your vendors, you chatted awhile, got samples, hung out and knew what was happening in terms of quality....now like everything else it's become a large business and less friendly (people seem to be impatient and pushing you to keep moving.)

In our recent honey moon we went to Buenos Aires. Unfortunately it was during the farmers strike, which means the quality of the food was not the best in certain places. However, even during that time period we has some fabulous meals. I'm from there so I know my way around pretty well so here is a list of places one should eat at:

Cuartito- The pizza is sublime and the empandas are a must.

Bristo or Mercado (in the Faena Hotel)- The Bife the Chorizo and Patagonian lamb are the best I ever had. They also have a chocolate cake with molten chocolate and dulce de leche on top of a raspberry sauce with vanilla ice cream.....this was a once in a lifetime desert (i've had similar, but nothing like this.)

El Desnivel- great barbecue, but I had a problem with the amount of/lack of seasoning. Great chimichuri.

Marriot Plaza- Eat here....good all around.

Cluny's- The lamb ravioli, chocolate flan and chocolate mouse were brilliant.

Other thoughts:

Drink every malbec over $7 possible. They are all marvelous....why does wine cost so much over here??????

Drink the coffee at every coffee house, it was all good and the atmosphere was great.

I want my TOSTADOS!!!!! Eat as much of these as possible. Basically grilled ham and cheese, but the bread is completely different.

Pastries....well we need some more locales that see real/good pastries at a decent price.

I can't say enough about this place. Every time I go, it gets better. I had my rehearsal dinner there three weeks ago and they put on a class act. The seared scallops and lamb are still being talked about by many of my friends. The creme brulle was oh so delicious. I can't say enough about the service provided and the attentiveness to detail.

I know this is probably taboo for some, but I tried the new Pikes Roast from Starbucks and it is actually quite good. Thoughts?

Overall experience: Well, what a let down. Let me start out by saying that the decor while it made me feel as if I were in the 1950's, was nice and the service was excellent. HOWEVER, the food is something that I could make on a normal day and does not justify the price. Sometimes you go to a certain restaurant for the experience, but the food is just not good enough. I would much rather eat at Bistro d'Coin then here any day.

Starter: I had pumpkin ravioli with a jumbo seared scallop. The ravioli was dry and the seared scallop was overcooked. I have had Wholefoods ravioli that is much better. There is no excuse for the scallop.

Main Dish: Braised lamb with mashed potatoes. The lamb was dry and did not have the proper seasoning. I am still wondering if the potatoes had salt in them. I also took a bite of the fillet mignon that my wife had. While it was actually tasty, it was very tough. No excuse for that either.

I was so disappointed, I am going to stop writing. Not worth my time.

Going there for a family dinner. I have never been there, but would like to know if anyone has any idea of what to order or if they do anything particularly well. I'll report back on our experience Sunday or Monday night. watch out for the wind this weekend.

Thank god they are thinking of putting in some decent places to get lunch. Besides one or two places, the food court should be condemned.

Stella and Corona are two very very overpriced beers. The are the Virginia wines of beers.

The District Chophouse and Brewery. I had chards of glass in my mashed potatoes during a work lunch event. The manager argued with me that they don't have glass in the kitchen. I then proceeded to take two pieces out of the mashed potatoes and hand them to him. He said it was large pieces of salt. I told him to put them in his mouth and eat it. He declined. Meal was comped, but I will never go back again. Glass in food is a serious issue, but even worse was their attitude. At least they supposedly dumped that batch. Actually we never went back for lunch ever again.

SUB PAR- if their prices were $10 lower, then it would be reasonable.

All of the meals were overcooked.

Vegetables were soggy and packed to the brim with oil.

The Tiramisu tasted like the Tiramisu my mother makes when in a hurry.

This is the recipe I use:

Pizza Dough

2 tsp yeast

1.5 c warm water

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

4 c flour

Cornmeal

Combine water and yeast. Whisk in oil and salt. Gradually add flour. Push together and knead by hand until smooth. Put in oiled bowl, cover with plastic, and let rise until doubled. Punch down and let rise overnight in refrigerator. Scatter cornmeal on peel. Pull dough into a round of desired thickness. Place on peel. Top as desired and shake onto stone. Bake at 500 degrees in a stone oven, usually about 10 minutes.

This recipe makes two medium-sized pizzas with a nice, not-thick not-thin crust.

Be sure you heat the oven with the stone for at least 45min before you bake the pizza. Also, jerk the peel with the dough on it around a few times before you top the pizza to be sure the pizza is moving (if not, take the dough off and add more cornmeal). Top it quickly because if it sits on the peel with a bunch of wet toppings for too long, the dough gets wet and sticks to the peel. Also, I don't own a peel so I use a medium-sized wood cutting board instead (use wood because if it touches the hot stone it won't melt). I usually slide an offset spatula under the pizza before I pull it out to make sure it's not sticking to the stone.

Used the recipe above and it was GREAT! Kudos!

Whatever recipe you use, make a large batch. After the first rise break it up into 1lb. portions and freeze them for future use. You can take it out of the freezer in the morning and have it ready to go by dinner.

Thanks! The dough is done and i will certainly do that. First pizza comes out of the oven at noon today. WOHO!

Thanks! I plan trying one of these recipes over this weekend.

So, I recently received a pizza stone and I was wondering how to best use it and if anyone had any good pizza dough recipes. OR if it would just be easier to purchase the dough (please list good brands or locations to purchase.)

Ate here last weekend and we had two pizzas (one margherita and one veggie.) I thought the pizzas were well done and I am a fan of their dough. However, I think pizza is much like wine. It's all in your palette and preference.

However, the best part of the dessert. Their Tiramisu was delicious, though a tad bit too sweet and needed some alcohol added to it (not sure what my nana used to add to it but it was wonderful.)

Wow, just read this and it blows my mind. Spent a lot of time in Amsterdam and if you are not experienced at drinking the "Green Fairy" you can overdo it. I hope bartenders remember that a few can ruin it for the masses and they keep people from getting utterly wasted.

My family and I had a fantastic dinner at the Oval Room last Wednesday night. The service was impeccable and the food surpassed my expectations. I had scallops to start the dinner and they were perfect (texture, moistness, smell and taste.) My wife got a salad of some sort with fruit which was also great. I went with the chicken and my wife the tenderloin. They were both perfectly cooked. Though I have to say the tenderloin kicked the chicken's behind. No knock on the chicken, the tenderloin was just that good. We ended dinner with a devil food cake with coffee ice cream (complimentary) which was the best devils food cake I have ever had. The only knock on the whole experience was that the after dinner drinks were overly priced and they did not have much of a port selection. I will be going back very soon! KUDOS TO THE STAFF AND THE CHEF on that particular night. Lets see how consistent they are.

Great little thread...

Lamb Chops ala Juan

Step one:

Warm up that broiler....

Step two

Salt the lamb chops and also add a pinch of pepper.

Step three-

Prepare the Glaze by doing the following:

Chop up a handful of Fresh Mint (large handful) and Basil

A medium sized clove of garlic- I cut it into small squares and mash it.

Cut a sun dried to tomato in very small pieces

Mix the above ingredients very well with a 1/4 cup of honey

Step four:

Glaze the lamb chops and broil until the fat begins to pull back from bone. I usually broil them 10 minutes on each side (very meaty chops.) Make sure you use you hands to glaze and get them all sticky- its half the fun (make sure you wash them too!)

If anyone makes them, let me know what you think. This is a dish my friends force me to make when they come over. I did not get this from a cookbook, but just thought it would all go well together. And...I think its best lamb dish around...haha