lekkerwijn

My (French) MIL is appalled at how France has declined in terms of "eating habits." The introduction of cheap, fast food has produced young people 'walking around on the sidewalk, stuffing their faces like pigs while they walk,' she told me, years ago. And although I can't prove it, I think she's right, and I also think that you'll notice it more in France since their baseline was at a much better level than ours.

lekkerwijn has a vastly superior knowledge than I do on the subject, but I can say with supreme confidence that a cessation of exercise without a compensatory change in diet can have a dramatic impact on a person's well-being.

You flatter me.  Well-being and weight are two different things that are neither necessary nor specific.  Decreasing exercise without decreasing intake will certainly lead to weight gain.  Decreasing exercise while also decreasing intake may keep your weight stable, but will also likely lead to a deterioration of well-being.  The most powerful way to lose weight is to eat less.  More exercise without a change in intake is not a gaurantee of weight loss.  The energy balance equation is not a 1:1 as we previously thought.

I noticed some changes in Burger Joint this week: a salad on the menu, no more onions in the sliders, a different bun used for the burgers, more "in your face" beer sales, and an overall more chain-like feeling.  

What precisely about adding salad to the menu is a signal that a restaurant is becoming more chain-like and thus going downhill?

This article is a load of BS. An observational study seeking to confirm a predetermined hypothesis with an n of 1. French obesity rates are increasing at a similar rate to the rest of the OECD and mirror trends in the rest of the OECD. Globally, urban dwellers, those with more education and those who are wealthier tend to be thinner. But all are getting fatter. Hence you go to NYC and everyone looks thinner, go to Texas and they look fatter. You want a real shock check out Disney World or the Mall of America. Also, physical activity and this trendy new theory of "discomfort" has less impact on obesity than intake, although physical activity is beneficial for a host of other reasons and inactivity is bad for all the obvious ones. It is very difficult to exercise pounds away without a concurrent change in diet. Weight is all about what and most importantly how much you eat. The traditional French diet simply included less food, albeit often rich food in small portions, plain and simple. No magic, just thermodynamics.

According to CNN

Washington (CNN) - Huma Abedin was spotted having dinner Monday night with Hillary Clinton's spokesman, Philippe Reines, in Washington.

The two were seen sitting outside at Meiwah Restaurant, a bustling area located between the neighborhoods known as Dupont Circle and Foggy Bottom.
Meiwah is a favorite spot of Reines' and is considered a place to see and be seen. (emphasis added)

Seriously, CNN are you putting Meiwah on the same level as Capital Grill, Cafe Monaco and Old Ebbitt??!!??

On Friday night we went for the Sushi Taro Omakase and ate one of the best meals we've ever had in DC. It was amazing to watch Nobu Yamazaki prepare and serve us our meal.  

Course 1: sesame seed "tofu" in a cold broth with pickled black beans

Course 2: baby goose barnacles with a kumamoto oyster and sea beans in a sea jelly

Course 3: softshell crab fried in squid ink tempura batter

Course 4: Saltwater conger eel w yuzu and plum. Served on an orb of steaming ice

Course 5: Seasonal plate with corn wrapped crab cake, tiny potato, pickled celery, soy braised clam, jellyfish salad, tamago, cucumber stuff with eel, stewed plum, banana leaf wrapped conger sushi

Course 6: All you can eat sashimi. They present trays of fish in categories. You can pick what you want or they can pick for you; we did a little of both.  Each piece of fish is specially prepared along with tasting instructions.  We had (I know I'm missing a couple)- white salmon; horse mackerel tartar with shiso, ginger and lime; toro; spot prawn; Carolina tile fish; eel; scallop

Course 7:   Fried head of the spot prawn

Course 8: Flash smoked bonito

Course 9: cold somen noodles in broth with enoki mushrooms, trout and grilled Kyoto sweet peppers

Course 10: Wagyu beef wrapped around uni and cooked with a blow torch topped with shaved black truffle

Course 11: Snow crab legs (that is presented alive & walking across the counter) quickly blanched and served with shaved frozen foie gras

Course 12: Sushi course- they tell you to eat until you are stuffed. Highlights included more toro and other cuts of the same tuna, uni, salmon eggs, Madai snapper, some little silver skinned fish from Japan

Course 13: Dessert- you order off the regular menu we had anmitsu and black sesame pudding along with a couple of matcha lattes

But the real show and perhaps the truest definition of what they are capable was being served to the two Japanese women seated next to us.  They arrived before we did and left after we did and they ate and drank us under the table.  We were told that they were being served similar dishes to what we were being served but that what we got was targeted more for an American pallet. While the bamboo branches forming a nest in which they perched tiny little silver whole grilled fish was pretty, I'm not sure I would have savored it the way those ladies did.  That said we got things they didn't including the Wagyu wrapped uni with shaved truffles. They also got the live snow crab but it was served to them as sashimi as opposed to shabu shabu with foie gras. We were really happy with what we got. No complaints on our end. If Americanized means Wagyu, truffles and foie gras that is 100% cool with us. 

We were told that when we want to come back to email Nobu directly for a table along with any special requests.  I am pretty sure that if you want that uber authentic Japanese experience, you need only ask for it when you make a reservation.  We were charged $150 per person which seemed entirely reasonable given the quality and quantity of the food. 

(Note: I have no affiliation with this group. Simply posting as an FYI as this has been a topic of conversation. Also the COMFOOD listserv is a great resource on these types of issues.)

1. The best way for us to spread our name is by word of mouth. Follow us onTwitter, Facebook, Foursquare, and LinkedIn. And of course, pass this info along to your friends and to anyone you know who’d be interested.
2. Stand with us on the steps of City Hall at 11 A.M., July 16, at our press conference to announce the survey. You might just run into a celebrity chef or two . . .
3. Ask your favorite restaurants if they’ve heard of us or have taken our survey! Restaurants know to listen to their customers, and customers who care about sustainability can make a real difference. The survey can be found on our web site, www.sustynyc.org.

Thank you for your interest for our Omakase counter.

The date you are requesting is available.

Please advise us following necessary information for your reservation.

1) reachable phone number

2) any dietary restrictions in your party (please note that we cannot accommodate Vegan, non-sea food eater, and gluten intolerant who cannot have soy sauce)

3) credit card number & expiration date to guarantee your reservation (please use some of numeric number as a letter for security reason. Sample: (0 = o, 1 = i, 2 = z, 3 = E, 5 = s, 6 = b, 8 = B, 9 = q), or simply you can use some numbers in word (1 = one) and if you want do this perfectly, then please delete 3) whole explanation line on your reply.

4) if you don't mind, please tell us what made you interested to try our Omakase counter

Your reservation for Omakase counter will be confirmed with your reply.

Note: if you are not providing all requirements, then we will not take your request seriously.

Thank you,

Sushi Taro

Jin Yamazaki

Given all the recent hype about big name restaurateur/chefs coming to the DC area and the prominent location, I am going to assume that the opening of MXDC by Todd English has been quiet on purpose.  Aside from some very recent blogosphere and local media mentions over the past week around the June 19^th opening, there really hasn't been much chatter.  You'd think this restaurant sprang out of the recent 14th street sink hole- it seems to have popped up overnight.  There is also no website for the restaurant, no online menu to be found, and no owned social media presence.

MXDC is located in the space formerly occupied by Galileo III and Butterfield 9. English's team made only minor cosmetic changes to the interior of the space.  There is now a bar on the second floor and the kitchen is closed off.  The security cameras are still up.  For a place that just opened the service was efficient, friendly and knowledgeable about the menu.

The two of us had dinner there on Saturday night kind of on a whim.  I walked by on Friday and saw that it was open (I work around the corner and didn't even realize anything was going on in the space), googled and read the recent minimal commentary,  and then found an 8:30 reservation on Opentable. The restaurant was never more than 2/3 full the entire time we were there which was about 90 minutes.

Since it isn't online some details about the menu. The menu is broken up into a series of sections of small plates designed to be shared: soups, ceviches, guacamoles, quesadillas (also described as flatbreads), tacos, bocadillos (per the waiter the other stuff that didn't fit into the aforementioned categories) and family style entrees all served with rice and beans.  The menu is both seafood and vegetarian heavy.  There are also sides and desserts along  with a tequila list, beers, wine by the glass and cocktails.  Small plates ranged in price from $8 to $18. Entrees were $25 to $35. Cocktails the now standard $10 +/-. 

Here's what we ordered and some brief tasting notes:

Chips and three kinds of salsa (chipotle tomato, tomatillo jalapeno, habanero ginger):  Served to every table. The chips taste industrial. The salsas are thin and aside from the third pack relatively little heat. They're fine, nothing to write home about.  You can tell he's thinking "I could bottle these".

Crab Guacamole $14:  Crab meat, onions, a little jalapeno over oddly thin/smooth guacamole like it was made ahead in a robot coupe. Why don't they make it in a molcajete tableside? As this seems to be industry standard at this point.

Tropical Ceviche $14: Good sized portion of tuna and crab with watermelon, coconut milk, jalapeno and onions.  This was better when you got some watermelon in a bite otherwise it was just ok.

Jicama Ensalada $9: Jicama and smoked watermelon over arugula.  This could have been a lot better than it was. The smokey watermelon was really the standout.

Pork Belly Tacos $13: Three small pork belly tacos topped with some pickled onions and a cilantro sprig. A respectable dish but nothing to write home about.

Cochinita Pibil Arepas $14: Hands down this was the standout dish of the night and what you think really great Mexican food should taste like. The spice was well balanced the pork a texture perfect. The little arepa "sliders" were crispy delicious.  Only problem is that you get two per order. These are awesome.

Chocolate Semifreddo $10: Our waiter talked us into this one. We had been thinking of getting the rosemary tres leches cake. But he said he just didn't like it at all.   Semifreddo is a misnomer based on what we got (it wasn't anywhere close to frozen). A good sized bar of chocolate mousse scented with orange over a crispy dark chocolate base.  Tasty with a nice light texture.  Plating was sloppy.

Churros and Cajeta $8: My understanding is that cajeta is goat milk dulce de leche.  Having spent time in Argentina, I now make my own dulce de leche.  I wish this cajeta had that kind of thick, creamy texture instead it was warm and liquidy.  The churros come hot, S-shaped, and with a very light dusting of cinnamon and sugar.

Summer Smash Cocktail $10: Tequila, pineapple syrup, lemon, dolin blanc.  Basically a Mexican style sangria with big pieces of fruit. Sweet, but not cloying and refreshing.

Mexican Mule $12: Tequila, home brewed ginger beer, lime.  Listed as a "house bottled" cocktail this had no ginger taste to speak of nor did it come in a bottle.  If they skipped the home bottled BS and just use a good bottled product like Fentimans, this could be a really solid cocktail.

Cocoa Picante $10: Cocoa tequila, lime, agave, jalapeno water and Cointreau.  This drink is mind-blowingly good.

There is a camp who believes it isn't entirely fair to judge a place by the food produced during the first week it is open. But given the provenance of MXDC it doesn't seem entirely unreasonable to expect them to be able to hit the ground running.  Certainly the quality of service suggested a pro was running the place. Good Mexican food is deeply flavorful, complex, and soulful. Unfortunately, the flavors of the food at MXDC are muted and insipid.The food at MXDC is attractive but lacks any sort of depth, soul or personality. Not unlike the impression Todd English leaves when you see him interviewed.  It feels like he is testing out a new high end casual dining concept to take nationwide like his pub at City Center in Vegas (which is actually pretty good).  The menu screams replicable corporate concept.

I expect people will compare this restaurant to Oyamel or some of the other higher minded Mexican casual dining concepts popping up along 14th street or in Arlington. This restaurant won't compete with the likes of Oyamel. It doesn't even close to being as good nor does it have the same convivial atmosphere. Nor is this anything like what you'd get at a Rick Bayless outpost in Chicago or O'hare. I won't describe the meal as a waste of either money or calories but I see no reason to go back except to sit at the bar and get a cocoa picante cocktail and the arepas.

And then there were two... The Friendship Heights outpost of Chadwicks is now simply Chad's.

Don, where in Columbus? I travel there once or twice a year

Jeni's ice cream. It is really good when purchased by the pint for $10 at Whole Foods. It is insanity when purchased by the scoop with some "gravel" on it at one of their storefronts.

I've been slow to post this but just wanted to give a quick message of "thanks for being good at doing what you do" to the team at Rasika West End. Good service is good because it is effortless. But it deserves recognition. Case in point:

1. On New Year's Eve we had what I believe to be a perfect meal. Great food, flowing booze, and delightful company. This was particularly impressive because it is a tough night in general, we were a big group with a very late reservation that seemed intent on closing the place down and well, a little bit inebriated and boisterous. The staff never flinched and even laughed with us when we noticed the large sculpture of a hand over looking the dining room that may or may not be "the shocker". It was a great night. Thank you.

2. Last Saturday they were completely booked and a table wasn't ready when we arrived for our 9 pm reservation. They suggested we wait in the bar and get a drink. Twenty minutes later and as we ordered our second round of cocktails the manager was very apologetic about the long wait for a table. So he asked if they could comp us a round of drinks or appetizers or dessert. He hoped we would be ok with sitting outside as those tables were available. Then when the slammed bar tender didn't get to closing our tab fast enough he simply took care of it and had us seated. The meal itself was delicious and the service was attentive without being cloying.

Larriland says they won't start tart cherries until next week.

They have pick your own tart cherries at Hollin Farms in Virginia. We were there last week and they had tons. It is $10 per bag. Each adult has to buy a bag. Each bag is in the 4# range. But you also need someone really tall to be efficient. They call those machines cherry pickers for a reason.

I already checked that out, but didn't know what kind of packaging or in what section of the store it might be located.

Lekkerwijn, what are you planning to do with it? Make the soup described in the Wiki info

I bought the Greek cookbook Vefa's Kitchen at Costco on a whim. They have some interesting trahana recipes in there- both sweet and savory. Now that I can't easily locate the ingredient it makes me want to try to cook with it even more. Much like when I tried to track down fresh made clotted cream and tried to bribe an ag school graduate student with access to cows to make me some.

Does anyone know where you can buy Trahana locally? We can order it online, but it will cost more to ship the product that the actual ingredient costs.

In an effort to take advantage of perfect weather on Saturday we put our unruly, large Pitador in the back of the convertible and headed out 66 with the vague plan to go berry picking and for a hike. It is amazing what you can find with a GPS and an ipad with a data plan. Ninety minutes later we were at Hollin Farms in Delaplane, Virginia. First we picked strawberries and then ended up also picking cherries and lettuce (yes, they have u-pick lettuce). We never got to the hike becuase this took much longer than expected. The farm was large and you basically have to be over six feet to pick cherries with any sort of efficiency. They were super nice about letting the dog hang out with us. By the time we filled the five pound bag of cherries it was getting close to two and we were hungry. So we hop back onto 66 and search DCDining.com to find somewhere with a possibility of being dog friendly- Absolute Barbecue seemed like a good bet. We arrived around 2:30 and it was pretty much empty. On weekends they have a $9.95 all you can eat BBQ buffet. We opted instead for one pulled pork sandwich, one brisket sandwich, black bean salad, potato salad, and fried okra. That and a Coke was $26 with tip. I'd agree with others above that the meat lacks any real smoke but is tender. The pork had a spicey, vinegery sauce on it. Buns were the basic sawdust commercial variety. I'd skip them and just get a meat and two platter. Sauces were ok, not great. The sides are the standouts. Cole slaw, potato salad, and black bean salad were all made in house and very tastey. The fried okra came out of a box. Overall, the food is good but not great. Honestly, we've made better brisket and pulled pork ourselves in our smoker. But for what we wanted and needed that day it hit the spot.

Note: This is a dog friendly restaurant. They were super nice and let us bring the dog onto the fenced in patio. They also sent him out a little bowl of barbecue. He ate it right up.

#44 Burger

I would argue this is less about organic versus conventional and should be yet another wake-up call to consumers that produce safety is as big, if not a bigger concern than meat/fish/poultry/eggs. The deaths from listeria linked to cantaloupe in the US or E.Coli on sprouts (the most unsafe food you can buy btw; some stores actually put warning labels on them) are proof that produce, especially produce consumed raw, is a frequent vector of microbial contamination. Washing produce isn't enough, it is very easy to cross contaminate surfaces. Just think about how you transport and store produce. Think about those reusable grocery bags. And as more people heed warnings about obesity and healthy diets and begin, albeit slowly, to eat more produce and serve more produce in school we'll likely only see more outbreaks. Since we've gotten better at detection and have more stringent reporting requirements, in the age of twenty four hour news cycles and social media even small, localized recalls with no associated outbreaks become national news. The big elephant in the room is that while we have made produce safer through HAACP, GAPs, and GMPs, we could make it safer still via processing including irradiation.

Driving home in the rain last night around 6:30 we are not in the mood to cook and pull up the Opentable app. Maybe I'm a big dork, but think last minute openings on weekend nights at normally hard to get into places one of the few perks of summer in DC. There is a 7:30 Cityzen available, 8:45 Central, 9:00 Range. Nothing at Rasika before 10:30. We really want Rasika, but don't want to chance it on seats at the bar. We decide Cityzen is too early- no way to go home, walk the dog and be on that side of town in under an hour. We pick Range because it is five minutes from the house. It has been about six months since our last visit to Range when the service was so utterly abysmal that we contemplated tweeting Voltaggio to beg him to send someone over to refill our water glasses.

Others have noted that pricing and service are the biggest issues with this restaurant. I would argue that those issues extend to their valet service. On a nice night we would have just walked there, but it was raining. To valet park your car it is $12 cash and you must exit the vehicle without overhead cover. If you self park it is $6 and you don't have to go outside.

We are there right on time at 9 pm and the place is packed. On one of our first dates twelve years ago we went to the Cheesecake Factory in the Chevy Chase Pavilion and sat on the floor in the mall hallway for over 90 minutes waiting for a table. Last night while waiting for a table in the same mall hallway we reminisced about being young, naive and willing to sit on the floor for 90 minutes in a mall hallway waiting for a table at the Cheesecake Factor until about 9:15 when they seated us.

The food and drink there is really good, at times even great. The oyster special was fantastic. Who wouldn't like something that tastes like a sea breeze and strawberries? It felt like a steal, 6 oysters were $18. 1/2 an ounce of cured salmon for $12, while being a great tasting plate looked more like two amuse servings. The pizza with roasted tomatoes, fennel and calamari was tasty but also a little wet. No biggie, it is good folded over. The four small pieces of flaccid calamari didn't add much to it. The English pea ravioli with goat cheese was pretty. But the dish comes with three small raviolis with mealy filling and some goat cheese foam. Are they worth $4 each? No. The roast pork loin over chickpeas on the other hand was delicious. For dessert we shared the "Dark Chocolate". I'm over these deconstructed desserts. This one arrives and it is two torn little pieces of devil's food cake, some crumbs of unidentifiable schmutz, a smear of something sweet and white, frozen chocolate something else, and a quenelle of olive oil gelato. The olive oil gelato and frozen chocolate something else were the best part. They make legitimately great ice cream. Why do they even have these contrived desserts on the menu? We would have been way happier with a couple scoops of ice cream and a little something from the bake shop.

I will say that service was significantly better at this meal than it was six months ago. But still not to the level you'd expect. Two different waiters approached our table before one took our drink order and a different one took our meal order. The pacing of the meal was fine and they seem to really love to clear your plates. We finished our drinks just as the pizza was being served. The waitress asks if we'd like order another drink. We say yes. She comes back with a drink menu. We eat and finish the pizza. They clear the pizza. Our waitress reappears and is chatting up the table next to us. They're old buddies, she says she's going to bring them some goodies for dessert. They bring our pasta and pork loin. She asks if we'd like to order another drink. At this point in the meal, we're happy with water. Are you reading this Master Chef Voltaggio? Not only did the lackluster service lose you two drink orders it cost you the dessert she gave the other table.

I'm so over this place. I like the food but I'm in no rush to go back. I'm just not cool enough to appreciate the tragically hip vibe of this restaurant in a mall overlooking CVS and the Embassy Suites filled with tan, grey haired men in their fifties wearing linen pants and loafers with no socks on dates with women in their 30's.

Stopped by WTF for lunch and was very impressed. We had the grilled corned beef sandwich with coleslaw and the duck confit reuben with purple slaw. Both were large, somewhat messy (in a good way) sandwiches with good quality meats. The kale and fontina empanada (they call it something odd like hand roll) on display by the register looked good and I'm so glad we shared one as an app. It was excellent! tasty flaky but solid crust and fresh ingredients. The array of desserts was really tempting but my better half helped me resist. I highly recommend this place.

I'm sitting here eating the Garden Salad from WTF and thinking "WTF, why can't other places make a salad like this." A Garden Salad with shrimp is $11.75 which is marginally more expensive and the same size as the equivalent salad from Chop't. Only instead of being served premasticated, it is a solidly good mix of bitter mixed greens, nicely cut up vegetables (radishes, mushrooms, cauliflower, cucumber, tomato, green beans, peppers, carrots and celery), with fresh mozzarella, shrimp and a lovely vinaigrette. I prefer their green gooddess but that wasn't in the bag today. No matter. I haven't tried their other salads but today they had one that was a riff on chirashi with raw tuna and salmon, roe and pickled vegetables that sounded pretty good. The sandwiches coming out of the kitchen looked good. On their breakfast menu you can get a bagel and whitefish salad. Woudn't be surprised if the terribly trendy Cronut popped up there at some point since they seem to have a pretty nice bakery selection as well.

You cloned a pineapple. Love it.

Apparently, it's not a joke, or if it is, it's being very well-played.

Assuming this isn't a con job or a hoax, this is essentially an oral introduction of TPN.

The difference between living, and being kept alive.

This stuff is nothing more than a version of nutritionally complete enteral feeding products otherwise known as medical foods or foods for special dietary use. There are lots of them currently on the market, including Carnation Instant Breakfast, Ensure, Boost and Slim Fast. They're all essentially the same product at 1 calorie per mL. 2 liters a day, 2000 calories, is enough to meet average needs for an adult. 2-3 240mL cans or bottles of these are equivalent to a meal. Hence you lose weight drinking a shake for breakfast and a shake for lunch.

All three chains blow, so it would not surprise me in the least if they were all under common ownership.

Bruegger's is by far the best bagel chain. Too bad they are basically out of the DC area.

Not entirely true. There are three in Northwest DC. Unfortunately, bagels fell victim to the low carb/high protein diet trend of the early 2000s. Those that are left are the result of Darwinian Capitalism- only the best product or best run or best backed financially have survived. No one of the three factors being necessary or specific for survival. Thus, you have a proliferation of mediocre corporate bagels and a few mom and pops that satisfy those in need of a schmear for both cultural and psychological reasons.

For the past couple of weeks I have been seconded to an area of New Jersey about an hour west of Newark that can only be described as a food swamp. The grocery stores are a like something out of the former Soviet block. The only places restaurants are chains with gigantic plates of mediocrity, fast food, dirty diners and mom and pop Eye-talian. The latter two being the better options by far, but also not prize specimens of their respective genres. You drive from parking lot to parking lot. No wonder middle America is fat. But I digress. I note all this to demonstrate why on Friday night I got off the nearly hour delayed Acela craving a really good meal and a big glass of wine in a civilized setting. Blacksalt to the rescue.

We started the night out by committing a major faux pas and bringing a bottle of 2006 Brickhouse Chardonnay with us to the restaurant. We should have checked the wine list first online. They carry that Chardonnay but in a younger vintage. We were prepared not to be able to open the bottle, but the sommelier didn't mention it and opened the bottle right up.

For appetizers we had the muscles and a crudo salad. The mix of roes on the crudo really made for a fun texture experience. Our only complaint of the night was that a couple of the muscles arrived unopened and a little bit of grit. Spring is my favorite time of year to go to Blacksalt because I love how they prepare their softshell crab. We both opted for the seasonal delicacy out of the market and let the kitchen surprise us with the preparation. The crabs were primordially huge and perfectly fried. They came on top of a coconut curry broth with mushrooms and bok choy. Yum. For dessert we had the strawberry shortcake and the butterscotch pot de creme. The shortcake was tender and moist with a generous topping of fresh, in season berries and whipped cream. The pot de creme was decadent and not too sweet. This meal was just what the doctor ordered.

I am writing this review while sitting on another delayed Acela on my way back up to Newark. I'm open to suggestions for where to go when I get back home this week. Note that it will need to be as good, if not better than what we had on Friday.

The best part of a staycation in DC over a holiday weekend is that you can generally get a last minute reservation somewhere really great. On Friday we made an 8:15 pm reservation for the back room at Palena for Saturday night. We're pretty regular customers in the cafe but decided that we were in the mood for the dining room. Plus, its been kind of cold and soup sounded good. Once we were seated, we really didn't care that the asparagus soup was served chilled. It was still pretty awesome. I think that it is safe to say that there are few other restaurants in DC that treat vegetables with such care and make them front and center on a menu. Asparagus was featured in nearly every course as were baby artichokes. They must also be listening because for the butter came at room temperature with the bread service. The only dish we didn't love but merely liked was the fish stew. The bite size treats at the end of the meal were better than those we had at a recent dinner at Cityzen- particularly the fruit pate. My husband declared the caramels to be a second favorite to those at Jacques Genin in Paris. Overall, the meal was simply delicious.

There are few things we love more than French bistro food. My husband and I try to make a trip to Paris about once a year. We've been there in all seasons. Our favorite thing to do there is to sit in a cafe while sipping a cafe creme and watching the world go by. The running joke between us is that we have never seen the sun shine in that city. So it was fitting that the first time we try Le Diplomate it was pouring.

Reports that the restaurant is both visually and acoustically stunning are spot on. At 8:15 pm the bar and restaurant were totally full and they were seating people outside under the awnings, despite the weather (how Parisian). The crowd was typicsl of a DC hot spot: stylish young Logan Circle types, mixed with more mature adults from Bethesda, and some clean cut Virginians. They gave us a table near an open window and we settled in for what was a pleasant evening of Parisian style people watching and dining.

Agree with others that the bread service is delightful. But the butter was cold- the is a huge peeve of mine- and was similar to whipped Breakstones in flavor and texture. Please invest in some good European cultured butter. The asparagus soup was pretty much spot on but too rich to eat an entire bowl of. On the other hand the onion soup had an impressive slick of boiling hot oil on top of it that could not be attributed to the cheese. My skate wing was the thickest of that species I have ever seen and perfectly cooked. I liked the bracing salad that came with it, the textural contrast with the skate was spot on. The Moroccan lamb shank was less of a winner. Too much sweet and not enough spice made it a bit tepid.

Baba Au Rhum was my grandmother's favorite dessert. She once got so tipsy on a particularly good version that it made her kiss a French waiter on a cruise for her 85th birthday. Le Diplomate's would have been perfect for that, I've never experienced a boozier version. So much so that it took away from the otherwise lovely texture and flavor of the dessert. A couple bites in and I needed to stop. The chocolate Napoleon is more successful. The chocolate in lieu of pastry is a nice touch. It was light and rich at the same time.

We ordered wine by the glass. As in Paris, good with the food but otherwise unremarkable. Service is very friendly and pretty efficient. At one point my husband asked me if I had seen a busboy since the managers were clearing tables. Overall, the meal was very enjoyable. Based solely on the food I still prefer Cafe du Parc or Central. Beyond the incredible quality of the skate it didn't taste significantly different from what I have had at Mon Ami Gabi. Terasol up the street from us and 2/3 the price makes a better onion soup. But much like Paris, ambience is everything and if you want to feel like you are in Paris this is the place to go.

I am a notorious eavesdropper. The couple at the table next to us were celebrating their first wedding anniversary. They had gone on their honeymoon to Paris. This was a big night out for them, they had driven in from a far flung suburb. They got the foie (something they'd discovered in Paris), steak frites and creme brule, declaring the meal to be French perfection.

DonRockwell.com: From Stem to Stern.

As I say at work, my area of policy expertise is the full cycle from "soil to shit". "Farm to fork" has become too trite for my taste.

If you subscribe to the NYT and love garlic, here's a tasty, easy recipe for broccoli stems:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/health/nutrition/03recipehealth.html?

On the topic of broccoli and dogs, our pup loves (and I mean loves, as in can't set her butt down hard enough or fast enough to be a "good girl") frozen green beans. When we had to put her on special food - which she dislikes - we threw some on, and she ate, no problem. We ran out of green beans at one point, and decided to throw in some cooked broccoli instead. She promptly devoured it to the point where she was moving the bowl across the floor. Without having lekkerwijn's credentials, I believe the only thing you have to be careful of is the high calcium level in it.

They should be fine to eat LOTS of calcium as their natural inclination is to chew on and eat the bones of animals. Based on the Institute of Medicine report I read on pet food, for this reason many vets think dogs don't get enough calcium.