Pool Boy

We made some pizza on the grill tonight. A classic margherita and another with plenty of oregano and garlic. P-U! Yes, we stank. Should have taken a picture.

Really cold bean salads (fridge it for a day).

Yogurty sauces along side your meats.

Good call on the bean salads.

My wife is treating me by taking me here for my birthday, my 40th. We'll be staying in the hotel as well, so all we have to do after the meal is roll ourselves upstairs.

Sweet!

I am eagerly counting the days down. heh heh heh

What was the internal temperature when this was complete?

I winged it making a shrimp scampi variation like I usually do. Light and refreshing.

I'd say maybe a delicious, and cold, German Riesling from the Mosel. Perhaps a spatlase...

Hi Meaghan,

In early 2008, Jared and I will be opening up a new restaurant in the latest addition to Bethesda Row, on the site of the old Giant.

I think there may be a thread on the topic somewhere on DR, but the idea is we'll be bringing a seasonal, organic, and locally-driven menu to Bethesda, with our usual wine-centric orientation.

See you up there soon!

Question....how are you going to handle the challenges of sourcing some great and interesting wines given the MoCo control of the liquor scene? I'm really curious.

TIA!

I think I need to head back there soon before they move or shut down and transfer. Thanks for the heads up!

Mastellone's Deli in NE-Baltimore/Parkville

This is part of a trifecta of good food up that way. It's a ride from DC to be sure, but worthy of a food-themed micro-road trip. The trifecta includes Mastellone's above, Angelina's Restaurant, and the Fenwick Bakery. ANgelina's changed hands a few years ago, but I hope their food is still up to snuff (combo seafood, Italian and 'local' joint/tavern/bar place (it is semi-near where Dead Freddy's (of Homicide fame) is located)). And Fenwick bakery has amazing bakery products (especially their donuts!), but I digress.

Mastellone's makes lots of fresh pasta, but especially various ravioli's. Every time we go we bring a cooler to load our haul in to. They also serve up some mean deli meats and cheeses. And they have a great wine selection as well, often offering up older vintages that have been stored properly for a while, sometimes years, holding them away from sale until their drinking windows come up.

I haven't been in a few years now, but Pasta Plus in Laurel, at the center of the Route 1 and Route 198 tic-tac-toe board, has a warming, casual atmosphere, a charming owner, really good homemade pasta, tasty white pizzas and fresh fish specials worth getting.

Cheers,

Rocks.

Actually, it's hard NOT to order one of their many daily specials. I have to fight with my own brain sometimes to get *just* the lasagna (which is fantastic)....

Anyone know if the one that is supposed to go in to Columbia, MD is open yet? Or at least under construction?

TIA

I haven't eaten here, but I thought, overall, the selection was only slightly above average. I did like that they had a much better than average selection of 375ml bottles.

For my schlepp (I live in Laurel) I'd rather head to IronBridge in Columbia.

Been here but once and keep meaning to head back. The beers are great (both what they offer of their own plus, IIRC, the Belgians selection). The food is good and so is the service. I think I sat in the in between zone, not at the bar and not downstairs. I'd go back, especially for the beer.

I have found Bill Bateman's (the one in Owings Mills) to be pretty average. JMHO.

I thought the same thing when Clay said that.

It would have been funny to see the guests' and judges' reactions to Sara's dish if she'd used the scotch bonnet pepper marinade, but I guess she left it off.

Sara...what to say about her. She's a cook or chef or whatever and she has no idea that Scotch Bonnets are a ridiculously hot pepper? AND, she doesn't know how to light charcoal briquets? Puh-leeze!!

Well....dang. This is one of the usual places me and my friends hang out to catch up every several months drinking lots of pints.

I hope they stay open even if it is somewhere else.

we got a slow start this year due to a couple of vacations and some business trips not to mention spreading 8 yards of mulch.

We've had a lot of salads and spinach, but everything else outside of herbs is just barely in the ground here. I'll be harvesting late late late

The point that Harold McGee's article was making was not that those flavors don't exist in the wine, just that specifically the quality that people refer to as "minerality" comes from certain strains of yeast interacting with the grapes; those flavor elements do not come from rocks in the soil.

Interesting. But let's look at it like what it is then, if this is the case. If these flavors come from certain yeasts, couldn't one argue that, if at least some of the yeasts used in making wine are the natural ones found on the grape clusters themselves (extremely likely), then the yeasts themselves are imparting the terroir. Right? I think so. The yeasts that naturally occur where they occur must be a part of the area and region that the grapes are grown. And the yeasts must also lay or get attached to the grapes in part by the weather, micro-climate and soil conditions of the particular site.

Isn't that terroir?

He is - apparently recording an American version of Kitchen Nightmares and he's already being sued

Thanks for the link, theakston!

I am not surprised Sandee was given the axe, what with it not even really being BBQ. But Joey and Howie have issues and will need to drastically change if they expect to last more than a week or two more.

So far, I am liking the fact that they are not asking these guys to make food out of vending machines and other bizarro experiments. Give them 'real' food challenges and let's see what happens, so more of what they have been doing please is fine with me.

Not really left-overs, but I wanted a side to my filet mignon done on the grill last night. So, lacking bacon, I cooked some corn in beef broth. I dumped that in a pan of sauteed onions (olive oil and a bit of lard (just a 1/2 tsp!)) and squeezed the last dregs of a tube of sun dried tomato paste in with it. Added salt, pepper, garlic powder and a dash of chervil for color. Dumped the filet juices that accumulated while the steaks were resting in too. It turned out great!

Figs usually ripen in August/September in this area. The fruit starts to get soft and when ripe and will detach from the branch with little resistance. They may also start to split open or show a bit of "nectar" on the bottom. You should be a bit cautious to not get too much of the milky sap from the plant on your hands -- it can make you itch something fierce! The variety I grow is a nameless green variety that has traveled through cuttings with my family through four moves.

Thanks zora and slim. Maybe I will take a picture of my 'tree'. It is definitely more bushlike this year than ever before. I don't think my figs have ever 'blushed' much if at all. More likely they will droop, and that is my sign to go pick.

My wife still digs Kylie Kwong's shows. They are enjoyable enough and she shows how to cook some things I am weak on (basically lots of Asian foods).

I kind of like Chef At Home, but I can't stand the jerky fluid camera style the show is shot in. So often I'll 'watch' it while I read the paper (read -- I listen to it).

Alright, I broke down and registered for the August 25th risotto class. We're REALLY looking forward to it!

Curious. I am a bit out of it with news on Roberto Donna, Galileo and Laboratorio, but wasn't his place under reconstruction for a while? Is that all over now?

I have already commented on Top Chef and The Next Food Network Star, so I guess I should talk about this show too, huh?

I hate this show, I really do, but I still watch it. These people are not chefs, they aren't even close, they pale in comparison to anyone on Top Chef. Hell, they pale in comparison to anyone at Ruby Tuesday down the street from my office! Just awful.

I completely agree...

Gordon Ramsay should go back to his Restaurant Rescue Show. That was entertaining and it was actually interesting at times and mildly educational. You really wanted to root for the places and people he was trying to help.