mdt

I'm not sure, but some hints here are:

1) Disposable all the way

2) Ketchup squirted from an industrial container

3) Brioche-style bun

4) Red beer coaster ending in "l" but not Duvel

5) Sloppy-topped burger with BBQ sauce

Billy Ray Cyrus karaoke:

But don't tell (what) my burger (is), my sloppy-toppy burger

With toppings that come from a can

And if you guess my burger, my sloppy-toppy burger

It might THESE LYRICS SUCK AND CAN'T EVEN BE PARODIED.

So no idea?

Maybe this should go in the dining thread, but do you think you will be open for lunch in the future?

According to their web site, they already are open for lunch.

Sunday – Tuesday: 11:00am – 9:00pm

Wednesday – Saturday: 11:00am – 10:00pm

Sunday Brunch: 11:00am – 3:00pm

Monday – Saturday: Tea Time 2:00pm – 5:00pm by reservation, please.

Where did I get this burger?

Really? My dogs have been remarkable for their taste for strawberries, tomatoes, oranges, apples, peaches, but I've never tried broccoli or cauliflower or any other member of the mustard family. You give these to your dog plain and raw? (My current dog has been eating grass off and on for the last two or three weeks and also having diarrhea off and on for the last two or three weeks; I wonder if broccoli would be good or bad in this context.)

Feed him pureed pumpkin or sweet potato, that usually helps.

My dog enjoys carrots and apples. The funny thing is that he eats them much more slowly than meat based treats.

Ocean City

Well, I'm about 8 months late on this - my apologies. Manco and Manco (formerly Mack and Manco) gets my vote for best pizza in OC. They pump the sauce through a tube and onto the crust. OK, so it wouldn't stand up to some gourmet offerings out there. It is simply beach pizza - always consistent and fresh.

Of course, I've had many other pizzas in OC and I don't recall any that were really bad - such a thing would be run out of town. Hope you enjoyed your stay - being right on the beach is OC in August is pretty close to heaven I'd say.

There is a wood fired place called Piccini on 13th and West that is pretty good and provides a good option to the shore pie.

And Voltaco's for subs, not their hot dishes, is a plus.

There's an adage I repeat often, but is only peripherally related to this thread....the best French food in the world is in France, the best Chinese food in the world is in China, and the best Italian food in the world is in New Jersey.

I think you mean Italian-American. Not much resembles the excellent food found in Italy.

I would make the serious argument that this is the single best diner for breakfast in the entire state of New Jersey: http://www.silvercoindiner.com/ Relatively close to the NJ Turnpike and the AC Expressway. Specifically, a Spanish omelot made with shredded cheese, good ham and home made salsa (!), outstanding crusty home fries, thick, luciously rich chocolate cake and, at 11:00 in the morning on a weekday, a half dozen NJ state troopers having breakfast. Not a single one was slender, either. Implication is that with half of the state to invest their calories in, they chose the Silver Coin.

Its about 25 miles from the NJ Turnpike, but right off the AC Expressway.

If we are going to use staties for deciding where to eat I think we would have a rather interesting Top 100 list.

Yeah, it's gross. A few months ago I heard that the USDA was considering allowing Chinese chickens to enter the US food chain. Is that still in the works? I didn't realize, but they've been used in pet foods for years. Personally, I will not willingly eat a chicken from china.

There have been many pet food problems traced to those chickens from China. I would certainly hope that they are clearly labeled if they are going to used for human consumption.

Finalizing plans and just want to check one more time whether anyone has been to Root? My friends preferred their meal there to the one at Cochon just slightly so at this point, I am deciding between Root and Coquette for dinner Saturday night. Would be a no brainer if Coquette were open for lunch on Monday like I thought, but I looked at the site again and apparently was mistaken.

You may want to try La Petite Grocery instead of Coquette. I did not get a chance to try it when I was there, but the chef has been nominated for a Beard award for Best Chef South.

Thanks for the response. Despite the fact that I live <5 miles from here I have still not been. That will be remedied shortly.

Had dinner here on Friday night and left very happy. The ceviche was enjoyable and surprisingly spicy. Had the porterhouse for two and it was certainly easy to tell it was dry aged from the wonderful aroma. Our waiter brought us a selection (all?) of sauces since it was our first visit, but the kitchen still sauced our steak (veal demiglace IIRC). The top three were the chimmichurri, horseradish, and black peppercorn. The sides were green beans (ok) and roasted mushrooms (good).

Dessert was an almond tart with vanilla ice cream that made for a pleasant finish to the meal.

We will certainly return.

The steaks are the star. Ironically, Todd Kliman's review just came out in the Mayissue of The Washingtonian with a different caption. It will be posted online at some point, but the headline reads, "OLD MEET NEW". I feel Todd's review does Monty's justice, whereas Tom seems to like almost everything about us except the steaks.

In a recent post, Todd makes a good point on one of his blogs in response to why his & Tom's reviews vary. Tom said, "As for two people having differing opinions on the place — why is that so surprising? Happens all the time in theater, with books, with music."

With regard to our beef supplier, A.M. Briggs is our beef supplier and we use their facility (only because we do not have the necessary "foot print" to dry-age in-house). We age the beef 21-28 days, then hand trim and cut our own portions in-house. Their source consists of some 200 local/family farms, with a foot print from New Jersey, Ohio and South Carolina. None of the farms use animal feed, and the like, to raise their cattle.

I'm not fond of "name dropping", but Bobby Van's in DC, Greenbrier Resort in WV, and the Homestead are all dry-aged in the same facility. So, Tom 'implied' that the beef is not dry-aged. He did not assert it. His inability to distinguish between dry-aged and non is surprising, but not offensive to us.

Most important, I think, as I explained to my sons who love basketball, no player in the NBA "sucks". Fans may be thoughtless in their comments of them, but only a finite number of players qualify to be in the NBA. Therefore, the worst player in the NBA is better than the best player who didn't make it.

Monty's, a startup founded on principals instilled in my sister and me by our parents, is being compared with some of the finest restaurants in the area...indeed outside of the area as well. Regardless of the ratings, we know who we are. We know who we serve. We will continue to "under promise, over deliver".

We appreciate Don Rockwell and all of the other fine friends we are making along the way. Posts from the community are what make Monty’s special. National recognition feeds the ego, yes. But a supportive community, employing unemployed community members, being considered an extension of our diner’s homes….that’s the stuff that builds communities.

Thanks for the response. Despite the fact that I live <5 miles from here I have still not been. That will be remedied shortly.

Should be pretty interesting to see how it is received by the community.

"A Sushi Bar Fit For Adults" (WTOP, 4/26/13)

"Preparations Underway For Upscale Sushi Bar in Del Ray" (Del Ray Patch, 4/9/13)

Love to hear that it made the trip home with you successfully and you found it easy to use! Now if I could just get used to the idea of not seeing it on our porch every time we arrive home

Details on how you prepared the chicken and the lamb? Recipes are always appreciated!

Both were very simple.

Rubbed the chicken with some garam masala, S&P, and lemon wedges in the cavity. Trussed and roasted at 375F for about 1.25 hrs.

Butterflied Leg of Lamb was marinated overnight with onions, garlic, oregano, lemons, parsley, fennel seed. Rolled up and tied and roasted at 400F until done.

Once I get my stone setup, smoking a butt and some ribs I will go.

We find ourselves with an extra BGE, inherited from family when they moved. We really don't have a use for two. Seriously, if anyone is interested in a BGE pm me and we can talk!

And Mr. S just bought that plate accessory thing online a few days ago. It hasn't arrived yet though, so can't comment on its use. I hadn't even heard of it before--how funny to read about it here just after he ordered it!

ETA-it hasn't been ordered yet, I am informed. Now he's looking at a contraption at the Ceramic Grill Store (online) instead. Oy. I can't keep up!

I was lucky enough to PM squids quick enough and am the new owner of the previously owned BGE. Two meals so far, whole roasted chicken and roasted leg of lamb, and I couldn't be happier. Certainly a big difference from a regular charcoal grill, but much easier to use. Looking forward to making pizza at high temps.

The English Pea Agnolotti (ramps, cream, shaved grana) was pretty tasty on Saturday night.

I thought the review read more like a 2-star review. I guess the big issue was that Monty's bills itself as a steakhouse, but does not excel at that very thing. Plus the desserts got dinged.

At a glance, it could turn someone off to trying Monty's if they just saw the paltry 1 1/2 stars, but if you read the meat (sorry!) of the review, I think it makes Monty's sound like it is a worthy eatery to at least give a try and see for yourself.

The reports on the staff always sound lovely.

Exactly. You bill yourself as a steakhouse then the steaks better be the star, period. I am happy to hear that there are many other dishes worth ordering.

And since Khash is posting here, where do you get your beef, local farms? Do you do the dry aging in house and for how long?

How is missing an entire inning of a 9-inning game not unbearable?

Most don't care about the game. From games that I have attended, there are a large number of folks that don't mind missing an inning or two to get food, beer, or whatever they are doing as they move in and out of the row.

We'll use credit cards for most things, but we are renting an apartment for the stay and need to pay in cash or check. Banks are the worst for charges, so we figured we'd see about exchanging first.

Depending on what bank you have and the type of account they may provide foreign currency with low or no fees.

I have this one and it works very well.

Wegman's in Fairfax and Whole Foods in Fair Lakes always have whole fish of some sort including Bronzino. Red snapper also works well with this prep and switching gears, so does chicken parts and small potatoes.

I can't get the taste of two horribly cooked slices of really incredible bacon out of my mouth.

Cooking over fire is elemental.

Cooking over coils is unnatural.

Anyone else out there accustomed to a stove powered by electricity with how-to advice for someone who has spent most of her life turning knobs to left and right, controlling the heat under pots and pans with speed, ease and judgments based on visual experience?

I need to become okay with cooking on an electric stove.

Thanks.

Like anything else it takes time to get used to the equipment. Are you using coils or a smooth top?I have a smooth top radiant that I have no problems cooking on, granted I have been using it for quite a few years. The heat is not instant, but fairly quick and when its turned down goes out instantly, with residual heat on the glass. You will get used to what number, or position of the knob, means what amount of heat over time.

I'm not a huge cocktail drinker and feel like there are several restaurants that do interesting non-alcoholic 'tails. At least I've seen some in recent months with R24 just one example at the higher end. Of course, the reality is that booze is is the big margin opportunity for any restaurant.

Might be a big margin, but they get zero if someone orders nothing. Seems to me that profit on a non-alcoholic drink would be pretty good.

You know, in Cincinnati's Great American Ballpark, they just instituted a return policy by which you can leave, grab a bite wherever and return. Can also bring in food without too much trouble (though have done that at Nats Park too). Sometimes it feels like the front office is as indifferent to its customers as the team is fantastically fan friendly and entertaining.

Don't folks go to watch the game anymore? With the high price of tickets I don't understand why would anyone spend the time to leave the (any) park to go get food.

Mr. MV and I enjoyed breakfast at SF a couple Sat. ago. Mr. MV got the biscuit sandwich with bacon, and I got one with ham. Excellent biscuit. I'm not from the south*, so I can only comment that the biscuit was buttery, flaky, soft and amazing. Totally worth the calories.

Excellent lattes too.

I like that you can wander into the Demo Kitchen area and grab a table. I'm looking forward to enjoying the outdoor seating (wonder if they allow dogs.. hmm (we like to bring one along to the markets afterwards)).

*Mr. MV and I lived in Richmond for a few years and have a familiarity with Southern foods from that experience. We are always on the lookout for excellent biscuit egg sandwiches that rival those at Strawberry St. Cafe's Market in The Fan.

I have seen plenty of dogs there and have taken mine there, folks usually keep them outside of the fenced in area.

After having a few of the sandwiches here the D.Q.M. W (Braised Beef Shoulder | Horseradish | Spicy Pickled Leeks | Ciabattini) runs a close second behind My Turkish Cousin.