Walrus

We had been before the new owners bought the place, and we enjoyed it. We went back after and didn't find the same quality of ingredients or the same care put into cooking them. We, too, prefer Me Jana (thanks, folks, now I NEED a Me Jana chicken shawarma! Agh!)

(Tripewriter can second the cocktails -- he said it was the best whisky sour he'd ever had )

We had a nice meal at RTC last night. It was my cousin's birthday, so we started with a sparkling rose. The Gruet -- a sentimental favorite for us, as we served it at our wedding in New Mexico -- was out, but we substituted one made completely from pinot noir, which was very blackberry We started with salad and deviled eggs (wow!). She and Tripewriter both had steaks, and I had the fried chicken. We also had a crab cake -- not really a cake, but what crab! We finished with key lime pie and a deadly chocolate cake. Breakfast this morning was a slice of coconut cake that I couldn't resist ordering to go with our leftovers...

We had a lovely brunch here today. First, it was SO nice to be able to debate our local Clarendon dining options and to come up with several desirable locations We were lucky enough to be seated right away, although it was Father's Day -- I guess not as many dads get taken out as do moms! i had the Low Country option -- eggs, grits, and house-cured bacon. Man, that bacon was good. It was meaty and intensely flavorful. With the grits, it was perfect. Tripewriter had the eggs Benedict and liked them enough to polish them off completely This is our third time dining at Restaurant 3 (I know, not nearly enough!), and it was the third time we've had good food and enjoyable service.

We had a wonderful, comfortable, just lovely time at Corduroy last night. It was our first, long-delayed visit to the new location, and it was worth every minute our 20 minutes circling the block trying to find parking. MelGold and Ferhat were both charming, as always, and very good care was taken of us throughout the entire evening. Now for the food! We were fortunate that Chef P. allowed us to split a main of scallops for our first first course -- divine. The potato sauce is amazing, with a great taste and a unique flavor that perfectly complemented the scallops and the bok choy! Next Tripewriter had the beet salad, which he really enjoyed. We both loved how the goat cheese was laid onto the plate under the salad -- as Tripewriter said, it was like a doily of cheese I had the crab soup -- it was absolutely delicious, but I was very glad to have Tripewriter help me to finish it, as it was REALLY rich! For mains, he had the veal, I believe -- I got a couple forkfuls of potatoes off his plate, but that was it -- and I had the fluke, which was GREAT. It was crispy and salty and just lovely. And the potato salad worked very, very well with it. For desserts, he had the creamsicle, and I had the flourless chocolate cake with coconut sorbet. Nothing was left on our plates at the end of the meal -- not a crumb! It was nice to see the restaurant fairly busy -- we stopped to say hi to the JPWs across the room -- and it was seriously one of the most relaxing, enjoyable meals we've been fortunate to have lately

They seem to have a pretty good variety. This week, we're having fish curry, miso-glazed chicken, lemon & basil pasta (sounds good for a summer day!), tofu curry, and a presumably heavier pasta with tomato sauce and ricotta. Plus, I get hummus and crackers for lunch, and we get salads with each meal. And cookies Next week, I think we're getting harissa chicken with bulgur, pine nut, and raisin pilaf; sesame lemon tofu salad (again, a great-sounding summer dish), dan dan noodles for the two of us, Yemenite fish, and a pork chop with rhubarb compote. Plus hummus, salads, and spicy chocolate cake...yum. We may have more feedback after this week, but we have not had a bad meal yet from these folks, and it's just SO nice to have fresh, healthy, home-cooked meals without having to, you know, cook them...no hot kitchen, no slaving over the stove after a 10-hour workday, no grocery shopping, no clean-up.

Thanks to Mark, Haidar, and Sebastian for a fabulous dinner experience and light show! The food, wine, and company were all superb

Last chance to sign up for our DR.com dinner at Proof!!! We're almost at maximum capacity, but as Mark said above, he will make every effort to fit in any Rockweilers who sign up by 5 pm Friday. To sign up, please call Proof and speak with Karen. To date, the list of diners is as follows: agm notquickdraw Youngfood + 1 Tripewriter walrus Banco + 1 Scott Johnston cucas87 Nashman1975 Jagd + 1 Malawry Marcus Aurelius + 1 Erik Ox + 1 Atenna + 1 goodeats Sthitch DanielK Cooter + 1 See you all soon!

Last chance to sign up for our DR.com dinner at Proof!!! We're almost at maximum capacity, but Mark has said that he will make every effort to fit in any Rockweilers who sign up by 5 pm Friday. Bites Gourgeres "PLT's" Lemongrass Grilled Shrimp with Avocado Foie Gras Torchon on Toast with Pickled Rhubarb & Pistachio Proof Charcuterie Board Veloute of Spring Garlic with Morels, Ramps & Veal Sweetbreads, OR Salad of Chilled Asparagus & House Smoked Duck with Black Radish & Parmesan Sautéed Soft Shell & Blue Crab Stuffed Red Lentil Crepe with Hearts of Palm Slaw. OR Lamb Loin & Spiced Lamb Sausage with Garbanzo, Eggplant, Mint & Feta Selection of Artisanal Cheeses with Accoutrements. OR Local Strawberries with Pink Peppercorn Shortcake & Vanilla Bean Ice Cream To sign up, please call Proof and speak with Karen. To date, the list of diners is as follows: agm notquickdraw Youngfood + 1 Tripewriter walrus Banco + 1 Scott Johnston cucas87 Nashman1975 Jagd + 1 Malawry Marcus Aurelius + 1 Erik Ox + 1 Atenna + 1 goodeats Sthitch DanielK Cooter + 1 See you all soon!

Hello new folks! Please do take a gander at the thread on the DR.com Proof dinner -- on the Events forum. A DR.com dinner is a great way to start easing into the DR.com community, and we would love to meet you all!

Come join your fellow Rockweilers at Proof on Tuesday, June 10, at 7 pm for a multicourse meal by Chef Haidar Karoum -- with optional wine pairings by Sommelier Sebastian Zutant! The cost for those who choose the pairings is $100/head, which includes food, wine, tax, and tip. For nondrinkers, the cost is $85/head. The pairings will be the equivalent of about a half bottle of wine per person; for those who want more, a double pairing is available for $15 more ($115/head). We'll start meeting in the bar area at 6:30 pm for complimentary hors d'ouvres. We will be seated at 7 pm. There are only 30 places available for this fabulous event, so sign up now! PM DON (DonRocks) with your name and the number of people in your party. Payment will be required in advance. For more information about Proof, see www.proofdc.com. See you there! PLEASE NOTE: I am leaving the country for a couple weeks, so please PM Don to sign up! It's looking like a great group of people -- and you would only make it better

June DR.com Event at Proof Come join your fellow Rockweilers at Proof on Tuesday, June 10, at 7 pm for a multicourse meal by Chef Haidar Karoum -- with optional wine pairings by Sommelier Sebastian Zutant! The cost for those who choose the pairings is $100/head, which includes food, wine, tax, and tip. For nondrinkers, the cost is $85/head. The pairings will be the equivalent of about a half bottle of wine per person; for those who want more, a double pairing is available for $15 more ($115/head). We'll start meeting in the bar area at 6:30 pm for complimentary hors d'ouvres. We will be seated at 7 pm. There are only 30 places available for this fabulous event, so sign up now! PM DON (DonRocks) with your name and the number of people in your party. Payment will be required in advance. For more information about Proof, see www.proofdc.com. See you there! PLEASE NOTE: I am leaving the country for a couple weeks, so please PM Don to sign up! It's looking like a great group of people -- and you would only make it better

Waaaay too early to be thinking about the fall picnic (but how about a Potato-Fest?)

It's not really a restaurant, but we've recently started ordering meals from Urban Tastes (http://www.urbantastes.com/). They make and deliver some really fine food. They have a number of entree options each week, and you can pick to have any number of the entrees delivered on either (or both) Tuesday or Friday. The menu for next week's deliveries, for example, includes Walnut Pasta (Fresh pasta covered in a creamy, walnut sauce), Braised Chicken with Lemon & Honey (Juicy braised chicken on a bed of herbed couscous), Fish Laksa (A creamy, curried laksa [rice noodle soup]), Chipotle Meatloaf "Sandwich" (Two pieces of meatloaf with a dollop of garlic mashed potatoes between; made with chipotle for a spicy twist) -- which I would be all over if we weren't going out of town, and Harissa Chicken with Bulgur, Pine Nut & Raisin Pilaf (A spicy, harissa coated chicken breast served on a bed of bulgur pilaf; a healthy choice). It all sounds good and -- better yet -- in our experience, it IS good. The entrees are about $9-$11 each, with a flat $7 delivery fee, so Tripewriter and I were each able to get two entrees (and we'll probably be splitting them from now on -- they are generously sized), a salad, cookies (sooo good), and a lunch for about $95 total for the two of us. That's about the cost of one order from Me Jana It's so nice to have someone else cook once or twice a week without having to venture out into the cold, cruel world. We've had soft tacos with chorizo and black beans, with hand-made tortillas; chicken noodle soup -- with the noodles kept separate from the broth to avoid their soaking up too much liquid with really amazingly good homemade crackers; fresh hummus -- just the way I like it, with nice chunks of chickpea for a little texture, so you don't feel like you're drinking it; a really lovely onion tart with a great crust that survived reheating in the oven and then another reheating in the microwave (sorry -- I was hungry!!!); some nice salads with a great, tart dressing; and both mesquite chocolate chip and chocolate cookies (with salt!). Tonight we'll share some hoisin beef strips and some ginger tofu with black and white rice. I'll have the leftovers for lunch tomorrow (unless Tripewriter gets to them first, that is...oh, and sorry, babe, for eating almost half the chocolate cookies already...see above: "with salt!"). We have yet to be disappointed with a dish

Nooooooooo...we had to delay our return because we're going out of town...sniff. I was SO looking forward to some scallop loveliness...maybe they'll be back? Boo hoo.

It was lovely to see everyone and to sample all your fabulous wares. Antonio's chicken was just the BOMB! I was very sad that I got only one bite -- not even a full piece! So I made up for it with pork As for recipes, I believe that Tripewriter's posted his turkey chili recipe here already, and my cupcakes were from the Joy of Cooking yogurt cake recipe, with frozen black cherries thrown in. I normally make the cake with cranberries and then frost it with a lemon buttercream, which is even better! (The store was out of cranberries -- none fresh, none frozen!)

I've had a good -- if slooooow -- meal at Artisanal in NYC and have ordered their frozen gougeres (which, although good, are no match for the fresh ones at the place, darn it!), and this weekend, we ordered a million pounds of cheese from them for our friends in Maryland. It helped that they have a free delivery special going, and it was just SO much fun to search through all the cheese options to find some new cheeses, some old favorites, and some new favorites. We do prefer shopping locally -- Arrowine is our fromagerie of choice -- but for sheer convenience, Artisanal is doing it right. http://www.artisanalcheese.com/

As mentioned above, I'll attempt cupcakes as well. And I think you missed that JParrot will be bringing water

Oooh. I was all excited to share our find in Edinburgh, but it's definitely not cheap eats... In my experience, pubs can have wonderful food, and pubs can have awful food -- it's worth looking for pubs with a number of people noshing rather than taking a shot in the dark (though my pub experiences have never been regretfully bad). Indian is v. popular and v. good in the north of England, so perhaps it's spread even farther north? You could always ask on the Fodor's forum -- they get a fair number of folks who live there who are happy to pitch in on such queries.

Delicious -- particularly loved the shrimp wrapped in crispy bacon! We got out for $19/person, including tax and tip -- boggles the mind, really! To those who missed this time, don't worry -- we'll definitely do this again (just have to wait for the radish cake craving to hit )

I will see what I can do about bringing cupcakes -- trite? Never!

Rats! We don't have any Sunday evenings left in May!!! Edited to add: Ehhh, who needs Mother's Day! We'll be at the Maj instead

To address the issue of restaurants being able to put faces and names to avatars, I'm here to tell you that it's already done. I made a reservation at a DC restaurant using OpenTable, with my own name and information. After dinner, I posted about it here, with a minor complaint about one dish. The next day, I got a phone call from the restaurant apologizing for the dish and offering to comp it for me if/when I came back. It was done with the best of intentions and with only appreciation for the fact that I'd discussed our meal here. However, and I hope I don't offend the person who called me, if he reads this, it was a little...disturbing. A little too familiar, perhaps? I think it was getting a phone call that did it, rather than a response via PM or something board-centric. It fully rent the veil between my real life and my Walrus life. I was also in another, well-beloved, restaurant earlier this month, and we were discussing means of contact with someone there. I suggested that he PM me on DR.com and provided my Walrus name -- his response? "I know who you are." Have no allusions -- you are known! So be nice

I think this was probably Elio Perrone, who makes a dandy Barbera d'Asti as well..

It is very reasonable for the sheer amount of hot, delicious food you get. I would recommend bringing cash, instead of using a credit card. Maybe bring $30, which should be way more than enough?