Pool Boy

Bonaparte's bread is excellent. If you have your heart set on getting the bread you want, better call a day ahead and order it. I go early and scarf up as many miches and pain de mies as they let me buy. Their pastries are excellent too.

In Columbia/Ellicott City, I'd also recommend Tersiguel's. But I like Cafe de Paris as well for something a bit more casual and fun. Trattoria e Pizzeria absolutely rocks. I still occasionaly stop by there to pick up a pizza even though I live in Laurel now (and get my pizza fix usually from Pasta Plus). Laurel is pretty much a culinary wasteland for a good steak and seafood place though, which is the question at hand. If you go east on 198, though, before you get to NSA, there is a place called Casey's Crab Co that makes some of the best fish and chips I have ever had. Really great. It is more of a place to go buy fresh seafood and order takeout though -- no place to sit and eat. For good steak and seafood, I'd really advise you to head in to DC. It's really not that far.

Another vote for Cellartracker. It is extremely useful and powerful.

Internet purchase of wine is useful as you can shop around and get the best deal. If you know what you ae looking for that is. Parker is Parker and knowing what he likes and doesn't (even if you do not match up to his style) is useful as you can determine if you'd like it based on his TNs or not. Ditto for any other person or persons that review wine. I purchase not too much on the internet, but when I do, I know what I am looking for and price/service are king.

I am wine storage challenged too. I only have two small wine storage units capable of holding about 80 bottles. The rest go in to the coolest and darkest closet I have inside of styrofoam and then a cardboard box. Home Depot generally carries a good, buut somewhat noisy, model by Sunbeam of all people that holds about 40 bottles or so for just $150 or so. Lowes carries a more expensive model that holds in the low 30s bottles and costs almost $300 (Haier?). Ideally though, imagine the most wine you could ever imagine having cellared. Got it in your head now? You sure? Ok good. Now triple it. That is how much storage capacity you should be prepared to buy. Seriously. Dual zones are not too important IMO but a light can be handy. A tempoerature gauge would be nice, but I don't trust mine. Just buy some cheap thermometers and keep them in the unit until you get a feel for the temperature differences between the top and bottom of the unit.

Not me. Credit cards and debit cards are enormously convenient and safe.

Personally, I am very glad to see this development in general as it means all restaurants will eventually be smoke free. However, I personally would not have a problem with there being a completely separately ventilated area of a given establishment where smokers could dine. Not sure what to say about those who would be required to work those sections as their job, but as long as I could dine smoke fre I would be happy. There's almost nothing worse than just starting in to a meal when the table next to you (assuming your non-smoking section table is right near a smoking section table) has some people light up as they are basically done their meal. That is an inherent problem with co-mingled-ventilation non-smoking and smoking sections -- every table is on a different dining schedule of their meal and those that smoke want to light up whenever they want to if in a smoking section. That said, I am still glad this is happening. And to whoever said that bit about child-free sections...I AM ALL FOR THAT!

Total Revenue: $236.75 Cost of Food: $52.35 Cost of Wine: $20.40 Total Cost of Goods Sold: $72.75 Gross Margin: $164 or 69.2% Restaurant's net profit: $13.25 or 5.6% Folks, 69% gross margin is amazing. A net margin of over 5% is not bad at all.

If he wants to own the place, it'll have to be probably someplace cheaper, maybe in a historical district (Ellicott City? Annapolis?). And then if he is lucky. Wherever he ends up I will go. Has he left already?! Say it ain't so!

If that is the case, I want to know when he's still going to be there so I can squeeze in as many dinners there as I can before it happens.

Went here for Thanksgiving dinner, as Mrs. TJ and I were on our own for Thanksgiving on the offical day anyway. Already been to one major dinner with family and we have two more, one of which we host. Not wanting to cook for ourselves (even though we have just redone our kitchen big time) since we would have to prep and cook the rest of the weekend, we decided to eat out. Ardeo did a pretty good job. They kept the menu reasonably limited and that may have helped. The pumpkin risotto itself was not all that inspiring, but the crispy duck confit sprinkled all over top was divine. Bites together were great. Mrs. TJ has some 'biscuits' with ham and oyster cream which smelled and tasted great. While Mrs. TJ opted for the traditional turkey thing, I went for some brisket with some herbed spaetzle. Very good. Very fall apart good and tasty. Desserts were just OK, but the coffee was GREAT. Bst cup of coffee at a restaurant that I have had in quite a while actually. All in all an enjoyable meal.

Mrs. TJ and I ended up at Ardeo as the other 3 Thanksgiving meals were (are) on different days. Not too shabby.

A bunch of my fellow wine-os and I descended on Dino about a month ago and we had a great time. The prosciutto was some of the best I have had since having it in Parma a few years ago. The things I got to taste were almost all universally good, with a particular mushroom pasta thing particularly sticking out in my memory. So good. We got to take our time and we shared our wine with, I think, one of the owners (Dean? Dino? Sorry dude, there was a lot of food and wine going on there, so I was a bit distracted). Nice guy. I need to bring back Mrs. TJ as she has not been.

I recently heard Corduroy has imposed a 3 bottle BYOW limit per party. Can anyone confirm this to be the case?

The Five Guys is Reisterstown is not bad. Their fries are better than the burgers, though, IMO and that is why I go there from time to time. But honestly, between Que Rico and EParaiso right next door (more or less), my trips to Fuve Guys are becoming fewer and fewer.

I like G&M too. Very unique and tasty crabcake. Another place to try up in way north baltimore-aka-parkville is Angelina's. It was recently sold, but the recipe is still supposed to be the same but I have not been for maybe 8-10 months.

It is very small and the waiting area is tight, too. But Bernard, despite now and again flare-ups is so nice and he'll always pour you a glass of rose if there's time. The bacon/frisee thing is worth the price of admission alone. So are the frites.

I searched but I did not see a thread about this place specifically (although there were a few mentions of it in other threads). Mrs. TJ and I headed there twice in the last couple of weeks while our kitchen and two bathrooms were being remodeled and we really enjoyed the place. The mussels are fantastic and there are quite a few different variations to the preparation. The frites are some of the best I have had, especially paired with the mayo/aioli/whatever. The 'Frisee Salad with Bacon' is so much more like 'Bacon Salad with Frisee' and it is unbelievably good. It was the main reason we went back a 2nd time within a week. The other dishes are very nice, some nice buffalo, duck and other entrees are all very tasty. We even had room for chocolate ravioli with raspberry sauce the 2nd dinner. The Belgian beer selections are quite good, I really liked the Watou Tripel particularly. Their wine list is good if you know European wines, French in particular. Definitely recommended. I suggest you call to make reservations, especially if you plan on a weekend dinner. Both times we went without reservations, but were seated reasonably quickly at the communal 'chef's table'. Bernard is a great character and we had good service each time we went.

I certainly hope there wouldn't be resentment. And I assume that OT is picking up the tab for these cheques right?

Just FYI, unless they make changes to the line-up for you, here's the Stinky Cheese lineup we had the other night -- I did not get the producer names in most cases (no need, as this will be my new cheese place hands down), but here's a list -- Morbier -- quite mild and not very stinky really, 'crispy' rind Esrom -- Whoa. Quite distinct and slightly ashy-tasting (no ash in it) Grayson -- Mmmm Salty-good &it'd be great in cooking too (fr onionsoup) Pont l'Eveque -- Terrific inside - so creamy, rind is ok Chimay -- 'brined' in Chimay Ale, this was great, but pretty sharp Taleggio -- a great producer here Origone(?) - so creamy & subtle&good Chevrochon -- bacon, meat and smoke SUPER DAMN GOOD La Serena -- Mrs. TJ *hated* this, but I loved it -- really nutty in a hazelnut and acorn way, a love it or hate it thing I think Muenster -- a real quality Muenster -- very delicious and rich Epoisses -- the first of this kind of cheese that I really loved so good.

Mrs. TJ and I went to the 'Stinky Cheese' tasting last night. You guys are in for a treat. Lots of fun and some of those cheeses really aren't that stinky. She focused on washed rind cheeses primarily. Very educational and eye opening. I had the best Epoisses I have ever had last night for example. Have fun!

Link Comments?

Wass it 'bruss'?

Sometimes my wife and I just decide to go out either as a spur of the moment that day, or plan on it just a day prior. The service is brilliant because you can very quickly see who has what without calling around as already stated. You can keep making changes, too, and the confirmation is basically instant. I know we go much more to OT.com-using restaurants than those that do not for the very reason that it is so much easier to do so.

OK...I suppose it is OK now for me to post my comments about the food at my recent experience at RE (now that the chat is over). My comments are not meant to slam RE or their staff or owners or chefs, etc. My comments are merely what they are. Take them for what they are -- just my own humble opinion. You mileage may vary. I think I have already commented that the food was good. I think I have already commented that the service was good as well as comments about the room (a bit too noisy, the tables just a tad too close together, the tables themselves a bit too long (so as to hinder conversation where you could actually talk with each other). All that aside....here goes. I do not remember every exact course as I did not get a copy of the menu nor did I take notes. But here we go ----- The amuse bouchee sampler was quite nice, tasty and inventive. Lost of nice and fresh tastes. The first course was a scallops thing that was probably the course of the night for me. Just great. There was a spring onion veloutte(?)/soup, that was nice, but nothing really special. I opted to pay the supplement to get the foie gras course and this was nice, too, perhaps better than most of the other courses, but it did not really wow me either. Still, good. There was a fish with jasmine-'sticky' rice that was probably the least desirable (to me) course of the night. The rice was not sticky, but perhaps that is why it was in quotes. The fish was barely warm and it was a bit flavorless and too sweet. Actually, a lot of the courses that we had that evening struck me as too sweet overall. I am not sure why, but that does resonate with me. Why did a lot of the stuff border on being too sweet (or actually cross that border)? Hmm. There was an acceptable quail stuffed with a foie and mushroom thing and it was tasty enough, and it was prepared well enough, but it failed to really make me revel in the food experience. There was also a gnocchi thing (I can't remember if it was on its own or as a side to something else) which was good. Still no wow, but good enough. I know we had a lobster cremem brulee thing in there as well and that was tasty. I also forgot about the drinks we had to stat the night. My wife had a very nice Sidecar (not the best she has ever had, but well made and tasty nonetheless) and I had a, what was it called 'Modern Gibson' or something like that which was just OK. I guess I went in expecting something.....different. The foodstuffs were fresh and were largely put together capably. The flavor combos generally worked (except for the general sweetness of things), but there was no real thing there that made me want to rave about the place. Except for maybe the scallops. Everything else about the experience was good enough, too. But I'd say that, based on this one experience, returning there is not a high priority for me. Perhaps choosing my courses next time might be the way to go if/when I go back... While I'll probably eventually go back to try things out again, I am not in any rush to do so.