JPW

My boss gave me a leave pass Friday, so I'm in for happy hour. Edit to add - While I want the tartare at CB, all this Palena burger talk has me hankering for a stop at some point there during the night's festivities.

To go completely off topic... Isn't the Georgetown branch where the diamond dealer got robbed? About 10 years ago now wasn't it?

That's the funniest thing that I've seen all day.

Perhaps. need to check with my boss.

Never tried Pho 75 there. Nguyen is North of Shady Grove. Across from King Farm.

Pho Nguyen. Rockville Pike about 2 miles north of downtown Rockville.

Bronxville, NY: You guys did a wonderful job highlighting eateries in New York City. Now where can a tourist get the best eats in Washington DC? Tom Sietsema: It all depends on what you're looking for. Give me some perimeters. One perimeter is the ring road around Atlanta. Sorry, just feeling goofy today.

I do have an unfilled Percoset prescription at home.

For my money, the best Latin American food in the metro area is located just outside my back door in Langley Park (University/ Piney Branch/New Hampshire ) Just 3 examples 1)El Golfo,Flower Ave -- plugged by Tom on his chat. THe Tex-Mex food is good, but try the Peruvian/El Salvadoran dishes. 2)El Gavilan, Flower Ave - Very similar to el Golfo 3)Samantha's University Blvd - Only have had a couple of things here, but they were quite good, especially the Empanadas. THere are several other Latin American places around this area and a couple of taco trucks that I have seen once or twice. Explore. PS - There are also two good Indian restaurants in this neighborhood.

While picking up my dry cleaning yesterday, I saw that the door to Upstream was open. Poked my head in and talked to the construction manager. His best guess was opening in 6 weeks. He seemed very impressed with the owner. The owner is currently the seafood manager at the Silver Spring Giant with 25+ years experience in seafood retail. Has evidently ordered top of the line equipment for everything.

Culprit - the Research Cafe 1801 Research Blvd. The following items, and the following items only, belong in a club - Turkey, not smoked turkey If you're being fancy some ham, but nothing too sweet A couple of leaves of lettuce, not shredded lettuce A slice of tomato Plain mayo, not thousand island or French dressing Slices of bacon, not bacon bits White, whole wheat, rye are all acceptable, BUT TOAST THE FUCKING BREAD!!!!! Man, my food luck just sucks this week. 1)Sat night - burn my hand and go to emergency room (after I ate dinner). 2)Sun morning - no bacon in the house 3)Monday - see cafe spice report 4) Tuesday - see above 5)Tuesday night - spill pizza ingredients in oven, smoke sets off alarm (but the pizza turned out well) Calgon take me away!

I know that this was rather tongue in cheek, but... Several people out there may view our little merry band of pranksters as some high school clique with inside jokes and all the other accoutrements of teen-age torture. Well, there are some inside jokes around, but to tell you the truth, I don't know a lot of these people any better than you do. The first time I met any of them was at the eG outing at Sette Osteria which occurred about this time last year. The first time I met Rocks face to face was the day after Thanksgiving last year. In short, don't be nervous that you're trying to break into some group of long standing friends. We're merely a bunch of people who love good food and drink that are just starting to develop a community and getting to know one another. We don't bite. At least we don't bite humans. Well, unless asked to. I would, however, get a little nervous if you see a guy walking towards you wearing nothing but chaps and a Fat Albert t-shirt.

Does that make us his nuts? Thanks.

Crackers, Thanks for your response. For the record, I am a great admirer of most of the Niman products, especially the pork tenderloin (I don't really care for the bacon, but that's more a matter of personal taste than quality). I have indeed looked through the web site as part of my earlier investigation into Chipotle and appreciate the business model and the care that Niman puts into approving (for lack of a better term) ranchers to work with. So, it's not so much ghoulish schadenfreude that causes me to ask the question, but a matter of wanting to keep something that I enjoy. With Chipotle expanding so quickly, I fear that the choice inevitably will be for Bill to cut corners or cut Chipotle. The purely selfish side of me would want him to cut Chipotle. I'm more than happy to pay the extra few bucks a pound that his vastly superior meat costs than buy the stuff from IBP. However, I would more than understand if the decision was to cut corners. As always the conflict between art and commerce. edit to correct acronym

Continuing with the Mediterranean theme, count me in for 1) greek salad of some sort 2) Whipped Feta 3) A yoghurt dip (probably dried apricot and garlic) 4) Some other dip 5) Pita

Given the member labeling scheme, we would have to be -- Rock Lobsters Do we all get matching towels?

If memory serves me right.... DCMark is a big shroom hunter.

To pile on.... My own explorations of the sodium content of Chipotle provided for some interesting exchanges on eG. The threat of expansion on quality that interests me isn't so much about Chipotle, but Niman Ranch(es), which CHipotle advertises using. How many ranches can they certify before the standards start slipping? Anyone notice any decline in their stuff? (For the record, you can get several Niman products at Whole Paycheck)

Peanut tells me that she will be happy to attend. Unfortunately, she feels that she has to bring JPW and Mrs JPW or they will feel left out.

I know, but I was at Rio anyways. I go there about once a month when the mood hits. Usually drive past it on my way for pizza at Giuseppe's. The tandoori chicken is quite good.

Any number of cheap ethnic places in the city. Happy Hour -- Filipino Spring Rolls, $4, need I say more? But since this should be our last bout of bad weather the following equation works great for me when my wallet is light. (1 Sandwich of your choice + 1 beer in brown paper bag+ 1 picnic bench in the shade) x people watching = great meal

For you? NO!!! welcome back man

So there I was this morning sitting in my office, sipping my first coffee of the day, reading the accumulated e-mails from last night, wondering what I wanted to have for lunch today. (Mrs JPW thinks I'm nuts for this. At the breakfast table I always start thinking about lunch, right now I'm thinking about what I want to do for dinner.) I was sick of the lunch rut I'd fallen into -- pho at Pho Nguyen, Pizza or a hoagie at Giuseppe's, Gyro at Tribes Grill, salad bar at Safeway -- and needed a change. The light clicked on - somewhere in the Post I remember seeing notice of Cafe Spice. I had to pick up baby wipes for Peanut at the Target out there anyways, so why not? It's a small chain with 5 stores around NYC and a couple in Philly. I walked in and it was pretty. But pretty like a Playboy centerfold -- artificial, airbrushed, and without a hint of soul or apparent intelligence. The service was earnest. And by earnest I mean a fresh faced teen from Iowa or some such who butchered all the Indian dish names and tried to hard sell me on more dishes at every possible moment. To be frank, he and the service were reminiscent more of TGIFriday's than even a mallified Indian restaurant. After fending off his frontal assaults on my ordering preference, I successfully ordered the Lamb Vindaloo platter. Again pretty. The lamb was accompanied on the platter with a stew of vegetables ("vegetable of the day!!!" I was told, but it looked like about 7 different plants were in the bowl. The could serve the same thing every day and claim it was a different vegetable), lentils in enough sauce that it was more lentil soup than anything, some decent basmati rice, an undressed salad of cabbage, cucumber, and carrots; and some serviceable naan (but then again how hard is it to make decent naan). Given that it's a cold dreary day I wanted the vindaloo to heat me up. Alas, the heat had been thoroughly Americanized. We've all had vindaloo that was so hot that it killed off any other taste, this was not that hot at all, but there still wasn't much else that could be tasted. Once I again, it was more like spicy lamb soup than anything else. As I walked out, I tried to think of why this seemed so familiar to me. Average Americanized food - check. Overdesigned interior - check Corporate service - check Decent, but in no facet spectacular experience - check "Holy Toledo Batman!", I internally exclaimed, "I just ate at the Indian version of Tara Thai!" PS - I got lost in the parking garage Coming next week -- "Just because I'm the only person here doesn't mean I want you breathing over my shoulder every 15 seconds!! Back off!"

I have not yet found a restaurant supply around here that does retail. Believe or not, I get most of my supplies from Target and Strohsniders. The Target stuff is getting MUCH better. - Calphalon hard anodized saute pans. - Some of the Chefmate pots and pans are pretty good - Oxo tools - Some of the Target lines for tools (tongs, heat resistant spatulas) are really improving Strohschneider's - Lodge cast iron - Heavy duty sheet pans (can be hit or miss) - Sundry (cooking string, wooden spatulas, cheese cloth, etc.) - Grill pieces

I think that pretty much eliminates our entire male contingent with the possible exception of mdt.