Walrus

Ok, so the final count is:

Ericandblueboy

ema

Merry Mary

perrik

sphere777

Soup

Heather/Emma

Walrus/Tripewriter

Dean/Kay

I'll call today and make the reservation for 12 people at 11:30 am this coming Sunday, November 9.

See you all then!

For the love of Pete, go get the chicken. We're taking a third plate home for Tripewriter's lunch tomorrow, and the car has never smelled so good. Go. Now.

I don't talk alot about what we do at the restaurant very much, but I thought it might be nice to let you guys in on a little secret, we're opening on mondays starting tomorrow, and to celebrate that fact, I will be serving fried chicken on mondays only.....just thought you guys might like to know.

(woo hoo! we're on for 7:30 pm!)

Great response! Only 16 seats left, so PM me now to get your spot reserved!

Mmmm...these reports are making me eager for 11/9 (this Sunday!). So far, the list I have is

Ericandblueboy (+1?)

ema

Merry Mary

Porcupine/Mr. P

perrik

sphere777

Soup

Heather/Emma

Anyone else? I'll call this week and make the reservation.

I concur with Escoffier and want to publicly thank him for reintroducing us to the Evening Star & for letting us meet Chef Will. We have, as noted, been back several times and eagerly anticipate many return visits. I'll tell you, being in Del Ray last weekend made me put this neighborhood at the top of the list of neighborhood I'd want to live in if I were buying a house (and tired of having free housing in Arlington...).

I think the address is

Hollywood East Cafe on the Boulevard

2621 University Blvd. West

Wheaton, MD 20902

240-290-9988

See you there!

Check out the Events thread for the DR.com dinner at The Liberty Tavern!

DR.com Dinner at The Liberty Tavern

Amuse

First

Housemade Cotechino

Cider zabaglione

Jenkins Orchard-Stayman apple mostarda

Second

Handcrafted Maccheroni “carbonara”

Polyface sunnyside up egg and housemade juniper and hickory smoked bacon

Black pepper

Third

Wood oven roasted Arctic Char

Delicata Squash puree

Pumpkinseed-apple-thyme brown butter

Pickled squash

Fourth

Stewed Lamb Neck Wellingtons

Lamb jus, Oregon porcini, Meadow creek Dairy Grayson Fondue

Braised mustard greens

Fifth

Roasted Pear and Hungry Hill Farm Comb honey Upsidedown cake

Goat cheese ice-cream

Pine cone vincotto

Come join your fellow Rockweilers at The Liberty Tavern on Wednesday, November 19, at 6:30 pm for a five-course meal by Chef Liam LaCivita, with GM Mark Fedorchak, and Wine Director Sean Lowder!

The cost is $65/head, which includes a five-course menu, wine pairings for each course, tax, and tip!

There are only 24 places available for this amazing event, so sign up now! PM me with your name and the number of people in your party.

The menu is posted below.

For more information about The Liberty Tavern, see http://thelibertytavern.com/about.html.

See you there!

It was awesome I'm going to let someone who wasn't on powerful drugs last night give a blow-by-blow, but my thanks to Chef RJ and the rest of the crew at Vidalia for a great dinner.

That's what I like to hear! Yes, North China on 11/2 and HEOTB on 11/9

I thought we'd responded -- we're both in.

Just a quick reminder for our 14 guests, from Chef RJ:

"Please remind all that dietary restrictions for this dinner are a minimum. There will be Bacon and bacon fat used as well as other fats."

Mmmm. Bacon.

We had brunch here today while watching the Del Ray Halloween parade -- what a great afternoon Tripewriter had the beef brisked with poached eggs and toast and a bloody mary, all of which he heartily enjoyed, and I had a fabulous breakfast sandwich: fried eggs, fried toast, bacon, and cheese. Not for the healthy diner, but for anyone who wants a hearty, delicious, and amazingly satisfying meal

I had a different experience with the fish tacos -- I thought the flavor was good -- however, the cold and not-so-soft shell did the dish no favors. We enjoyed our first meal here, though, and will definitely try it again after the hard opening!

We had a somewhat unexpected meal here today -- lunch at 3:45 -- but ended up being very happy to be at Commonwealth, even after what it took to get us there.

We started with the lobster bisque -- delicious -- and then moved on to frogs in a puff, which were spicy and great, and the basket of chips. Tripewriter stole all the cheese sauce, but that was ok, as they gave me a little pot of the spicy sauce that normally comes with the Scotch eggs, so neener neener. I then had the chicken pot pie, and Tripewriter seized the moment and had the egg in a hole. Both were good. My pie had too many carrots for my tastes, but then, more than zero carrots is too many for my tastes. The meat was great, and it was in a lighter sauce than I had envisioned, which meant that I went home full, instead of miserably stuffed -- a good thing. For beer, Tripewriter had the Newkie Brown, and I had the ESB. Yum.

We thought that we might just stay for the rest of the day, but we were hot after being out in the yucky rain and then eating all that food, and so just came home to collapse and wonder if we'll ever eat again

Saw both Jamie Leeds and Antonio there -- hope I didn't get you in trouble by saying hi, Antonio, but didn't want to ignore you (and always enjoy seeing you)

Eureka.

I'm going to make a quick note here because a certain someone is about a month behind in his promised postings

We ate at Adour at the end of September -- date night! It was pleasant but really felt...off...to me. I was inspired by hmmboy's post and since then have read more glowing reviews here, and again, our meal wasn't bad, just...ok...so we will probably be back at some point in the future.

We've also eaten at Evening Star Cafe a couple of times since the DR.com dinner there. If you're looking for cold-weather comfort food, look no further! The short ribs we had were excellent -- literally falling off the bone -- and despite what others have declared an excess of creaminess, I love Chef Will's mac and cheese like I love no other. There's just this slight hint of heat to it that I can't resist. Excellent.

We had an excellent meal at Hank's Oyster Bar -- I loved both the lobster roll and the fried calimari rings (so light! not chewy! and the spicy dipping sauce was great with the fries that came with my lobster roll!). I think we've added a new restaurant to our must-return list. I've been thinking about that lobster roll a lot lately...

We were very pleasantly surprised by a meal at the Cafe Promenade at the Mayflower in Dupont Circle. The chef is brand new -- as in 9 days new when we were there this weekend -- and a real charmer Plus, his food was outstanding. He sources everything he can locally (which I didn't know restaurant chefs could do!) and then cooks it well. We both loved (and finished!) the signature crab cakes, and we also enjoyed his seared fish (I want to say black cod, but I know for a fact that this is wrong...).

We also had an unusually good meal at Restaurant 3. We keep wanting to love this place -- it's local, it's friendly, the service is good, etc. -- but the menu has stayed the same (as in, identical) since it opened, and its Sysco desserts just make me sad BUT, I had the steak there the other week, and it was GREAT! As some of you know, I was a vegetarian for 11 years (Tripewriter blames Chef Armstrong at Eve for converting me ), and I'm still not really into big pieces of red meat, but I almost finished this steak! If I hadn't promised it to Tripewriter for his lunch the next day, I think even that last slice would have gone... Plus, I've always loved their spinach (yes, me -- loving cooked spinach!) -- it's the cheese and the cream that do me in

We stopped by the Bistrot du Coin for the first time recently as well -- Tripewriter just loved it. He said that it just felt really right to him. The only other restaurant I've heard him say that about was Proof, so I'm feeling we'll be back here, too

We also ate at Mandu for lunch one day -- what a great spot! We were thinking of maybe organizing a DR.com dinner here, but then saw that one had happened already -- too soon for another? The dumplings were some of the best we'd ever had, and Chef Yessoon and Jesse were both incredibly charming and friendly. We will definitely be back there!

We also have sampled food at Mourayo and La Tomate recently and even got to speak with Chef Stefano at La Tomate -- what a character He believes very strongly in what he's doing, though, which is lovely to see -- and very nice to taste

We also stopped for a drink at the Odeon Cafe on a weekend afternoon and loved the bar -- a good feel to the space, and a very comfortable place to sit.

Eve welcomed us for dinner at the bar one night (after I forgot to sign the check for the DR.com dinner...I think Tripewriter's going to have to be in charge of paying from now on!!!), and I splurged (SPLURGED!!!) on the white truffle risotto. It was divine. Perfect. Outstanding. If you like truffles, you should try this dish. It was amazing and completely focused on the flavor of the truffles. I followed that with the rockfish, which I think is one of the best dishes I've had this year, anywhere. Happy food! And Ken and Tami took excellent care of us at the bar -- thanks!

I'm sure I'm forgetting something somewhere, but this is a fairly good record of our dining adventures from the end of September until now

(I recognize that this was only one aspect of the equation for Heather, but I wanted to note that there is a nondrinking option for this meal )

... And Kostas winked at me.

Hee hee -- I love Kostas!

Just a quick reminder -- we have just 6 places left available for this dinner, and Thursday is the last day to sign up, so PM me now to put your name down for the bird feast!

Wow -- sorry to have missed the ice cream! Though I don't think either of us could have eaten anything else!!! That chicken.........wow. Worth waiting for! And now I'm counting down the days until the next picnic Also liked the zucchini fritters with feta and, of course, all things pig. Jake, your ham ROCKED! My apologies for not realizing that leaving the cupcakes in the car overnight would result in them being so chilled But blame me, not Hello Cupcake! I snuck a couple home and enjoyed one this morning at room temperature (the way they were sold to me) -- boy howdy, do I like those cakes...

It was lovely seeing you all there -- and such a fabulous day for it!

One simple way we can all help, too, is to pay in cash -- remember that every restaurant has to pay a fee each time they run a credit card, so if we all paid in cash, we could painlessly save them some dough. Are there any places that prefer to be paid for with a cc?

I think I'd be happier sticking with what we know is an excellent, inexpensive meal -- for me, dim sum is about comfort food, and part of the comfort is knowing what you're getting -- so HEOTB is really what I'm dreaming of, but what if we tried having a dim sum elsewhere for Nov. 2, so DanielK can go, and one on HEOTB on Nov. 9?