mojoman

We had dinner at T.H.A.I last night. No starters but my vodka martini had way too much vermouth. Fiance had the Penang something (chicken curry) and I had the Wild Chicken. Folks, this was not good Thai food. Mine (a three chili rating) was mildly spicy although the sauce appeared to be a ferocious red. It didn't have any strong, Thai flavors either, kinda like Thai for midwesterners or something. My fiance's dish was terrible. It tasted like peanut butter/coconut milk chicken. Dessert was a bananas foster adaptation. The dish is flamed tableside. The coconut ice cream was very icy and weak in flavor. The bananas had little of the advertised ginger spice. Service was nice. The place was busy. Bottom line; there are far better options out there.

Thanks Al. I guess WP will get my meat dime now.

I am probably in the minority with regard to my attitudes about organic, localvore, etc. and I generally tune out to such messages. However, I find cruelty to animals that are raised for slaughter to be completely unacceptable. For those in the know, please provide information regarding where I can buy humanely raised and slaughtered meat. I don't have enough scratch to eat at Citronelle once a week but I am willing to pay more for meat that is ethically OK. Is any widely available (Whole Paycheck) meat OK?

My fiance and I make an above average DC income but nothing stupendous. Therefore, there are hard choices to make regarding how we want to spend such dollars when eating out. We do like the pricey places (2491, Citizen, Minibar, etc.). However, our sense of fiscal responsibility limits going to such places to maybe 3-4 times/year. We go to mid-high places (say Komi (which is getting more into the expensive area), Rays The Steaks) maybe about 1-2x a month. The rest of the time, we like to keep it under $75 for two, out the door, and preferably less. Except at quite high levels of income, regardless of your earnings, you face the same generic dilemma (I can only afford so many fancy meals, how do I allocate my resources?). What is my point? Generally, at the highest price level, we only give a resto one chance to wow us. We don't have the scratch to keep going back to a high-priced place and there are too many unexplored fine-dining places for us to try. Of course a well-regarded cheapie or mid-priced place can be retried. Discuss.

Get rid of stuff in the fridge night. Dinner of champions Fresh moz Pumpernickel bread Smoked turkey (OM or similar) Blood oranges Jack Daniels

Y Is this some kind of an initiation ceremony? (I typed two spaces but no enters after the "Y")

I didn't mean to rub salt in the wound. I merely associated vegetarian, Bethesda, and Thyme Square in my mind when the OP posted so I posted what my experience was. I didn't know it had gone out of business.

You can see streaming video of the old shows on gourmet.com http://www.gourmet.com/diaryofafoodie

Ate at Central last night. I started with a French 75. I've never had one before but I thought it was very nice. The gin flavor was subtle and it wasn't overly sweet or tart. The gougeres and cold ratatouille were as expected although I had hoped that the gougeres would have been a little cheesier. The texture was terrific though. I thought the baby arugula salad served with the ratatouille was too salty and I don't think there was any acid dressing the greens. I had the short ribs, my fiance, the bacon cheeseburger. I am at a loss why the short ribs are supposed to be so great. When I do mine, I try to find the meatiest ones possible. I braise them in red wine and mirepoix, sometimes adding other flavor accents. After braising, I excise the periosteum and excess fat and serve the chunk of meat in a broth-like sauce. These had been boned and trimmed but then were sliced in a weird way. The meat had a peculiar reddish color, as if they had been corned, maybe that's part of the 72 hour process. I found them too salty. If they're to be that salty, they should be served with a bland starch, not the delicious but well seasoned garlic potato puree. I also did not like the texture of the meat. It was rubbery, not melting the way my ribs are. Anyway, I was disappointed. My fiance's hamburger was OK. Personally, I prefer a more commercial, white bread type bun. The meat was strongly herbed with, I think, thyme. Meh. The salad served with the burger was very nice though. We shared the kit kat. Excellent. While I sound critical and like I didn't like it, I did like Central, especially at that price point.

Granted I haven't been there in several months (hence I didn't know it was closed). I had eaten there a couple of times in the past couple of years. The only edible thing was the pumpkin ravioli and even that was kind of bland. I found that was the problem with most of their food...bland. And it's overpriced. I didn't have any problems with service though. Good riddance.

I think Rock Creek is overpriced. Don't go to Thyme Square, it sucks. Faryab is not bad.

I went. I saw. I ate. This event occurred last night. In the end, I feel ambivalent. I probably wouldn't go again although it was reasonably fun. It is for a great cause and I applaud Chef Dionot for doing it. The event is $95/person and benefits LAC's scholarship fund. It takes place in three rooms: LAC's industrial kitchen (where you stand, chat with other attendees, and watch the chefs), a classroom where the judging takes place, and a large room with steam tables (where you get your food). I will cover aspects of chef interaction/watching the cooking, watching the judging, the food served to the proletariat, and other (raffle). The chefs (Pete Smith and Barry Koslow) are introduced as were the judges (Bonnie Benwick of the WaPo, Amy Brandwein formerly of Bebo, Ethan McKee of Rock Creek, and Shannon Overmiller of the Majestic). They randomly selected a guest judge from the audience. Those were the only people who got to eat the "competition food." The general rules are that secret ingredients are announced (the competitors were pre-advised of three possibilities for each) and the competitors have to complete each of three courses on schedule. The secret ingredients were crawfish, calves liver, and passionfruit. Chef interaction/watching cooking: They set up the kitchen into two prep areas and a common range/oven/refrigerated area. We got to see the chefs briefing their assistants (one from their resto, one a student at LAC). You're not allowed to ask the chefs questions but, if you kind of throw things out there, they will generally respond. Francois Dionot takes questions from the crowd and asks them over a microphone. Pete Smith's side was very busy, you'll find out why later. Barry's side was fairly calm and cool. So, for the most part, you can stand around, chat with the crowd, and watch. The judges were all very cool. They were all willing to talk to the public and answer questions. I had a fairly long chat with Bonnie, who was a lot of fun to talk to. Watching the judging I'm a food nerd but not a Black Belt Nerd so I didn't take any notes, nor did I get to eat the food. So, I only remember some of the elements from the plates. Generally, Pete Smith went with the intricate plating and more versions of the ingredient on a single course. First Course: PS - Crawfish broth, crawfish custard, crawfish dumpling (Man, PS can make a dumpling better and faster than an old Chinese lady in a dim sum joint), I'm not sure what else. IIRC, there were five preps of crawfish. BK - Crawfish/sweet potato ravioli in a simple butter/bacon sauce with some whole, unshelled crawdads. The judges preferred Pete's dish; most of the judges thought the crawfish flavor was too weak in the rav and that the rav was underdone. The judges tended toward verbosity; Francois had to bring them back to the schedule at times. Second Course: PS - Cut his liver into thinnish strips and, it looked to me, pan fried them. He also made a foie gras mousse that most of the judges really dug. I'm sure there were other elements but when I can't see the dish that well or eat it, it's hard for me to remember. BK - Butchered the liver into a thickish chunk. It looked to me that he put a hard sear on one side and crusted it with some kinda mustard coating. I don't remember what his sides were. It seemed to me that Barry's dish was the riskier; for some people the liver was underdone and some commented that the thick chunk did not have enough surface area that was really cooked. Pete won this round but less convincingly. Third Course: Regarding the schedule, we were a little behind here; it went fast. PS - Honestly, I couldn't tell what he did and I didn't look at the whiteboard where someone had written the menu. Again, it looked like a trio of desserts. I saw them making a phyllo tuille so, I think there was some kind of panna cotta ish element. BK - Made a tart consisting of (apparently an excellent tasting) chocolate shell and a passionfruit filling. The judges dug this. The judges felt that one of PS' elements was not sweet enough. People generally liked BK's dessert. All the judges liked the way the chefs used the seeds. The food provided: They had bottomless wine (a cheap chardonnay and merlot), OJ, and water. While the first course was being prepped, they served canapes (prosiutto/melon salad, blue cheese mousse, goat cheese mousse, and baccala croquettes). Meh. For the main, they had an eclectic buffet of duck pate on croute, beef flamande, a nice potato gratin, turkey lasagna, and pad thai. Apparently Chefs Smith and Koslow had provided recipes for a monkfish and rabbit dish. Those were the best dishes but neither were delish. The other food was average to meh. The dessert was the best aspect of the food. They did a mousse cake with a layer of raspberry and chocolate which was light and delicious. Other: They have a raffle to benefit the school's scholarship fund and Chef Dionot offered some very nice prizes. Everyone who won seemed very pleased with their prizes. Overall Assessment: It was a fun night. You got to hobnob a little with the chefs, eat some OK food, and contribute to a worthy cause.

I make a nice marinara sauce (I like the ATK recipe). I make some Parmagiano frico. I slice and degorge eggplant. Then flour, egg wash, and panko crumb. Shallow fry. I serve a ramekin of the sauce with some frico pieces jammed in there. Arrange the "parmaschnitzel." I also let some fresh moz come to RT, slice, and arrange to provide the moz component.

Tomorrow, I'm doing a small dinner party for a couple of vegetarians. Watercress/citrus salad Dates in the Komi style Leek and potato soup with crispy shallots Gnocchi w/ brown butter/sage sauce Grapefruit-Campari granita w/ confit lemon Deconstructed eggplant "Parmaschnitzel" "Hot chocolate" w/ confit blood orange whipped cream garnish I'm thinking of doing a pineapple caviar or ravioli amuse (alginate) but can't get a good recipe.

Turkey club from Ambrosia

Hi, New to the board and first timer at RTS last night. I read this most recent page in the thread and was most impressed to see the owner's generosity with regard to injured military. We had a great dinner there last night. My fiance and I were planning to go to the Pho 75 but checked RTS and were lucky; we got the last two top at that time. We weren't that hungry so we both just had the NY strip. The steaks were delicious, excellent char without the pool of butter like Ruth Chris. No room for dessert but I'm sure those have been discussed upthread. Michael, FWIW, I'd been to RTC before and I prefer RTS. The food was better at RTS; the decor better at RTC.

Lots of people like these places. I'm ambivalent. I've been to the Nicholson Lane and Rockville sites. As expected, the food is mediocre albeit pretty cheap.

Busara is decorated more like a nightclub than a restaurant. As Tweaked said, the food is sweet. I also didn't find it hot enough. OK if you're in the neighborhood and are jonesing for some sweet/mildly hot Thai but there are lots of better places.

I've been to the DC and Shirlington branches of B&P several times over the course of the last 9 months or go. The places are always crowded. Always. I ask myself why. Food Component: Mediocre which would tend to result in low customer loyalty. Service: The service is extremely slow. This has two potential effects. By being so glacially slow, the turnover is low and a relatively small number of patrons swells. On the other hand, people get pissed off at the slow service and don't return. Atmosphere: The place has that whole peacenik/hippy/counterculture vibe that many people like.

This is actually my second post but allow me to introduce myself. My name is Rob. I live in Rockville and work in Silver Spring. I'm not in the food industry and never have been save a short stint working the counter at Burger King in high school. I'm a Scorpio I love to cook and eat and I've been interested in food and dining since I was reading my mom's cookbooks at age 7 or so. I'll eat anything although my preferences lean against "gamey" meats and offal. My cooking tends to be Western although I can cook up a decent Japanese meal. My favorite restaurant in DC is Komi and I like Zengo at that price point.

I bought tickets. Anyone else going? Anyone been before?