ICD

Tried it yesterday at Montgomery Mall. Got the medium size that includes one topping and one sauce. I chose mango ice, lychee topping, and sweet condensed milk. At almost $4 it was big enough to share with the family. We all enjoyed it, but the five and seven year olds said they preferred regular ice cream, although that it didn't stop them from eating the stuff. What I found different was the fact the mango flavor was in the ice itself, and it was more a mango milk ice.

Cafe Bustelo and Cafe Pilon are Cuban brands of coffee that could also work.

An Ignacio from Ireland?

Looks like a Fresh Market is coming to Congressional Plaza to take up the old Whole Foods spot. Does anyone have an opinion?

Ignacio

http://www.thefreshmarket.com/

This place is great. Shared a handful of tacos and some of the best guacamole I've had with my wife the other Friday. Everything fresh and delicious, and we at for less than $13. Hope business picks up, it was a little slow just before noon. Thanks DCDeb for pointing this place out, we would not have tried it otherwise.

We went to da Marco for dinner last night. Got there early - shortly after 6 - and found it half full. By 7, it was full. I thought the space was comfortable and attractive. We had a good view of the oven from our seats and it's performing like a champ! The pizzas cook in mere minutes.

I ordered a Margherita Classica and my husband had a sausage and rapini. We have eaten at da Michele in Naples, and I think this Margherita comes close to theirs. The crust was tasty and sort of bubbly with a little char here and there and the topping of home-made mozzarella, tomatoes and basil was good. They will bring you pepper flakes and Parmesan. I also asked for olive oil and got a little pitcher of that so I could mop the un-topped pieces of crust in it.

We shared one mixed salad which was nice if unremarkable and one scoop of chocolate gelato. They only had vanilla and chocolate for now. The gelato was pleasant but not intense. They have a good list of wines (all Italian, I think) and I was impressed to find quite a few priced in the $20 range!

For now the pizzas are all half-price. Not sure if that promotion is for the rest of the week or the rest of the month. A great deal anyway!

Ditto comments on the space. Very nice. Also appreciated the half price on the pizzas! I will dissent on the crust. We ordered the Salame, Bianca, and rapini and sausage. I found all our crust really soggy because of too much cheese. The crust itself was charred without being crusty or brown, bready really. Not pizza expert enough to know if this is how it should be. Best of luck as this should be a popular place once they get the kinks out.

Ignacio

A lot of parking on Security Lane this Saturday afternoon. It just south of the Whole Foods and runs perpendicular to the Pike. Because you know, parking garages are evilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll.

The White House farmers market has them live and dressed (what an interesting euphemism) for $5. I'm not sure the vendor is there every Thursday.

Specifically, their "Peppermint Wave" mouthwash which lists on their ingredients, "natural flavors." This product now smacks of "natural" (vanilla?) flavoring to go along with the peppermint, and it's disgusting. Their "super tasters" haven't turned out to be so super after all.

(And this is coming from a person who can tell when his vitamin pills change the gelatin on their capsule coating. Trust me, this product (Peppermint Wave) is just plain gross at this point - vanilla and peppermint clash.)

To quote the source of all wisdom, South Park:

Sharon: Oh hi, Stanley. Look, I'm buying you some more all-natural toothpaste.

Stan: You mean the stuff that tastes like ass and doesn't fight cavities?

The biggest issue was the service. I realize they have only been open a week, but dinner took over 2 hours!! It was sooo slow. The waiter had no idea how to multi-task. He'd go to one table, then disappear, then go back to them, then go on to the next table. It was about 15-20 minutes between his table rotations. There were 4-5 different "runners" that just seemed to be hanging around waiting to reset tables when people left. None of them would refill water (we had to ask the waiter) and empty plates sat on the table until the waiter took them. The host staff were also sitting parties of 2 at tables for 4-6, when there were empty tables for 2, and people waiting in the lobby. What a mess!

If they can work out the service issues, I think this place will finally lift the curse of the location. Until then I'm going to wait awhile before going back.

We had no problems with our service. Water refilled regularly, etc. We were sat at seven and out by eight. It's a biggggggggggggg restaurant, however. I can easily see how some servers are more up-to-speed than others.

Had a very nice time at Matchbox on Friday, 12/17. Sat in behind the bar at what I'm calling the children's section because it was full of family with young kids, which given I was with my 5 and 7 was great. The wife and I ordered two beer, and we split 9 mini-burgers (three with gorgonzola), and a small pepperoni pizza. Burgers were great, cooked medium as asked for. Unlike Wahoooob, the onion straws were hot. I liked the pizza, but I didn't mind it being a little soggy in the middle. Wait times were an hour at six and more like two hours at seven. Make reservations if you can. All and all, a very impressive debut.

Ignacio

This sounds good! The sandwich at Cuba de Ayer in Burtonsville is far too dry for me, although from what I understand "dry" is supposed to be a virtue. What are your proportions for cumin-lime mayo? I have been making mayo from Paul Prudhomme's recipes in his family cookbook.

Actually, butter should be used to moisten the sandwich. A Cuban sandwich should not be dry. Also, there are many variations of Cuban-type sandwiches. There is no rigid orthodoxy, just look at the menu at a Cuban restaurant in Miami at the link below. My favorite is the crouqueta preparada, which is Cuban sandwich with ham croquettes. Probably the oddest combo is the Elena Ruz, which is Turkey, cream cheese,and strawberry jam. So don't be afraid to experiment.

Ignacio

http://www.latinamericangrill.net/Sandwiches.html

Cuban sandwiches are not really too hard to make, especially if you have leftover pork loin like was mentioned above. Because I haven't found any authentic Cuban bread, including Firehook's, I make a medianoche, which the same ingredients but use sweet challah like bread. I use Trader Joe's challah knots with great success. To make the sandwich, cut challah in half, add bit of mustard, add layer of thin sliced pork loin,add ham, and swiss cheese, pickle, and George Foreman for five minutes. Add butter on both side to get it really right, as Kibbe suggests.

Ignacio

Attached is a link to an Off the Broiler picture of one.

october 1?

Scuttlebut from a friend suggests they are having discounted meals this week and next (half price and 25% off, respectively), with full prices kicking in October 1st.

The family went sour cherry picking on Friday at Larriland Farm and the pitting is almost done. I noticed in our Penzeys catalog a spice called mahlab that was made out of sour cherry pits. Can we make this out of our pits? if so how? Also, is there anything else one can do with sour cherry pits?

Thanks,

Ignacio

P.S. Picking was good but the lower branches are starting to be picked over. It seems there are two types of sour cherries, a dark one I like better, and lighter one, which looks prettier, but has a slightly medicinal taste to me.

Speaking of seeing Jose Andres out and about... He was also at the opening day last year. This year, he did a huge piella.

Paella was great. I believe it had mushrooms and chicken, a recipe from his cookbook. I like the fact that Chef Andres was personally delivering samples to other vendors! Thanks to him and his team.

The market opens today, May 6. The hours are 3:00-7:00 pm.

RAO's lemon chicken last night, Cuban pork roast, black beans and rice tonight.

chocolate white chocolate chip cherry cookies

$9.50 for Garlic Bread. Wow!

I believe you mean Pulgarcito, which means little flea in Spanish.

I really really hope that the metal detectors were there because the Obamas or some other traveling-security-circus-requiring official was planning on walking through the crowd. If not it's just really sad.

I walked down from my office, saw the half block long line to get in, turned around and walked back.

The security fencing and other measures are gone. It's very easy to walk in now.

Anything with less butterfat content than heavy cream will curdle when boiled, especially if there is any acidity involved, UNLESS IT IS MIXED WITH A STARCH. In other words, if you want to make your sauce with milk, to be less "rich" or "healthier", you have to make it with a roux. Not long ago, that meta-info was made so much clearer to me when I learned that yogurt can be cooked and will not curdle, if it is mixed with cornstarch. So, theoretically, you could make your mushroom cream sauce with some yogurt in it, as long as the yogurt were mixed with some cornstarch before being added to the sauce. I'd still stick with cream, though.

Thank you Zora! NOW I know why my last two sauces (using light cream) curdled.

I would love for this to happen because I work on that stretch of Vermont Ave. It has some traffic, but it's not particularly busy. Most of us just dart across rather than go to the sidewalks at either end. Vehicular traffic could use 15th or 16th Sts to get around the blockage.

This makes no sense to me, since, whether you like their donuts or not, they fry them to order...

Daniel, I'm completely agreeing with you. By fresh (freshly made) I mean they don't store well.