Walrus

Would anyone be interested in perhaps doing a joint brewing here? It's enjoyable (although HOT! so winter is the preferred time), and you get to go home with lots of beer (we had almost 6 cases out of the beer we made). I thought it might be fun to either get together a group to brew one batch together (shared costs, shared labor, shared beer) or to get a group together to each brew individual beers (individual costs, labor, beer, but a group of people to entertain each other as we went through the process). What do you all think?

Thanks, Dean! You are SO cool. And thanks to everyone who came! These dinners couldn't happen without the people coming to them

Do you still get charged if I have to cancel my reservation beforehand?

Dare to dream!

We, too, have been remiss about posting about this lovely dinner. A good time was had by all -- delicious food, as described above -- and friendly company, with nice wines to accompany it all. We're returning this evening to see what else they can do!

Hi all! Sign up for this event will close tonight! I'm really excited about pig and tomatoes See you all soon!

We'll be there!

This sounds fabulous -- and last year was both delicious and a blast! We haven't helped any this year, but if we bring beer, can we still come?

28th sounds good to me. We generally just all say "yes, please" to almost everything on offer and then utilize the Lazy Susan The bill is split at the end, and everyone pays cash.

Is there another Sunday, not counting this coming one, that works better for everyone (TheMatt, Dean & Kay...)?

Hi all!So, is anyone still up for this date? I've been watching too much political TV and am feeling a deep need for radish cakes and various other soothing delicacies...

First, a note that if anyone else is as confused as I was, Lavender Moon is a completely separate business from Grape & Bean -- different owners, etc. - though it is indeed pleasant having a cupcakery next to a coffee shop We tried a couple cupcakes each. I had the Mexican chocolate, and Tripewriter had the peach. He snarfed the peach right down -- not even a nibble for me -- so I'll just have to take his word for it when he says it was delicious I enjoyed the chocolate cupcake, but not as much as I liked the vanilla-lemon one I had later today, which was great. Tripewriter had a peanut butter cupcake later today, which he also enjoyed. If I'm brutally honest, I'd say that we each enjoyed two of the cupcakes -- the lemon cupcake and the peach cupcake -- better than the ones we had from Hello Cupcake, and the other two a little less. Still, it was a pleasant experience, and we're looking forward to visiting them again.

Hooray! Makes me feel even better about requesting CityZen for my birthday dinner in October

Hi all! Here is the list of attendees to date: Walrus +2 xcanuck +1 squidsDC Merry Mary +1 dcdavidm +1 Banco DanielK +1 DanCole +1 heather +1 MBK As you can see, we do still have some space available for this dinner, but this is the last week to sign up, so PM me ASAP!

Sorry to hear that you had such a disappointing experience. If it helps, we have had the standard service snafus, but we've always found them friendly, cheerful, and more than ready to fix any problems that might arise. We also tend to go in off-peak hours, though, which is definitely a good thing.

Can anyone give me a ride from Arlington? I won't be able to leave work early enough to be there at 5 pm if I'm taking public transport, and Tripewriter is no longer going to be joining us. No worries if no rides are available -- we'll just plan on next time!

Does anyone here know anything about Irene's Restaurant in Laurel?

If she's still baking, and if you can make it to the market to pick it up, Shoebox Oven makes a mean pastry!

FWIW, this is the complete opposite of our chip experience here -- ours were thick potato wedges that were hot and crispy with great potato-y insides. We're going back Sept. 3 with friends -- I'll let you know where on the spectrum those chips land...We had a great meal here tonight. We started with sweetbreads and pork belly with a fruit sauce -- loved the sauce and the pork! Others at my table -- including a sweetbread virgin! -- preferred the sweetbreads. We then had the butcher board, with pork belly, duck sausage (still my favorite), garlic sausage, and two cheeses. Tripewriter thought that the blue cheese went especially well with the fried olives that we also had -- yum. We followed this feast with fried oysters, which Tripewriter dubbed light and fresh, though the ham, egg, and cress made it a hearty dish overall; bangers and mash, which our friend loved (and finished), and which I may have next time -- great sausage!; and rabbit with curried peaches and very nice lentils, which I'll be finishing tomorrow. We were too stuffed for dessert, though tempted by several options. I had the beer flight and enjoyed it quite a bit, though I think I'll stick with a pint of one type next time round. Tripewriter had a cocktail and said it was "beautiful," made with fresh-squeezed red grapefruit.

We tried to sample their wares today, but they were closed, and with no phone number or Web site, we had no way of knowing without making the trip We will try again the next time we're in Alexandria during business hours...

We still have room for this dinner -- PM me to sign up and get PayPal info!

We, too, had an insert and didn't notice any problems with frosting spreadage -- of course, we haven't opened the boxes since yesterday, so we may have some humidity-induced melting going on without our knowing. Think my boss will buy it if I tell her I have to go home to check on my cupcakes?

It might be because I wasn't paying a lot of attention, but I would like to think that my editor's eye would have caught it if they had the wrong name up for the Bluebird, and I don't remember it being wrong. But, I'm 100% behind you on the session beer...something that would last, say, from 11 am to 11 pm? (hic)

Cool -- will you let us know what you think?

I. Love. This. Place. We headed here for dinner after our dessert at Hello Cupcake. We circled the block a bit, not realizing that there's a parking garage right across the street. We saw Antonio after we sat, and it was just great to see him so happy He gave us some advice on the meal, some of which we took (and all of which was correct!). We started with the charcuterie, which he makes all in house. I wasn't feeling as adventurous as others may, so I stuck with some of the "regular" options -- pork belly (mmmmm), garlic sausage (mmmmm), and duck sausage (MMMMMMM), along with a couple of cheeses. I had the Twisted Thistle (beer) to begin with, and Tripewriter had a cask-conditioned IPA. I then had the tomato salad with pig ear -- enormous, as Don mentioned, and with at least four or five different varieties of tomato. It was great -- room temperature, with a nice citrusy dressing. I might go as far as to say that perhaps there was a little too much pork for me (?!?), but maybe I was just enjoying the tomatoes that much more. Tripewriter had the watercress salad with the ham and egg on it -- the egg was perfectly cooked for him, exploding its oozing yolk all over everything. I rounded out the meal with some apps -- the Scotch eggs and the chips. The eggs were, as discussed above, much lighter than you'd think, and I really liked the spicy aioli. I also liked the chips -- big, honking pieces of good potato, cooked to perfection. I had the gravy and cheese on the side, and both Tripewriter and I agreed that they were real stars, tasting of, surprise, real meat gravy and real cheese. Tripewriter had the veal kidneys, and he and I both thought they were delicious. We had a Bluebird with this portion of the meal. Our server, Matt B, was outstanding as well -- informed, interesting, and interested. We rolled out of there very happy -- the most fun evening we've had in a while! I know that we won't be able to go back nearly as much as we would like, but I also know that I am (though still stuffed) eagerly anticipating the next time we get to sample Antonio's cooking in a truly pleasant atmosphere.