SeanMike

I just wanted to say thank you for the food and hospitality yesterday at Hell-burgers. I was glad to meet up with some fellow DR-ers right at 5. And that was one of, if not the, best burgers I've ever had. I kept mine simple - white cheddar, grilled onions, mayo - and they included lettuce and a delicious tomato on there. Being one of the first ones, mine was pretty much well done, but it still was so juicy that the bun couldn't keep up! I've been singing its praises to everyone who'd listen since I left. And I can't believe he wouldn't take money! Well, I guess he'll be getting more of mine over the next while...next time I build the burger I was dreaming about all day yesterday (I just wanted yesterday's to be, as DanielK said, about the meat). My coworkers are already clamoring for lunch hours! That'll guarantee many a good afternoon nap in our sleepy little government agency... Since I didn't get a chance to say hi to Michael, I was the guy in the green short sleeved shirt with the DR folks right at the beginning of the night. Best of luck, and I'll be bringing everyone I can around!

Opening up right around the time I was going to head out of work just a few doors down and the day before my birthday? Think I know what I'm having for dinner!

I actually have been meaning to swing by Central after hearing some of the items that they had in stock from Marshall. I've never been there before myself. And I feel like a dummy for not checking VA ABC, of course; I had even thought of it earlier today and had it completely drop out of my mind. I'll get back to working on my giant list of everything I have in my bar now - so as to help people figure out what to get me from my birthday next week.

From what I've read, there's actually no nicotine in it. I haven't gotten confirmation definitively one way or the other, but nicotine wasn't why I was looking for it anyways. On the other hand, after including shipping and handling, the total for three bottles of Perique comes to 96 pounds, or approximately $189. That's $63 a bottle, an awful lot for something just to satisfy a compulsion. Oh well. Maybe I'll go back to looking for Ramazzotti Amaro and Trader Tiki's Vanilla Cane Orgeat...

http://www.absintheonline.com/acatalog/Combier.html I've admitted before that I'm a compulsive collector...and I really, really want a bottle (or two) of this. Am I SOL in the US for it? I can't find it anywhere. If I am SOL, I can always order it...three bottles cost the same to ship as one. It's about $44 US each. (That is, it appears, for a 50 cl bottle - so 2/3rds the size of a fifth.)

To my friend and old roommate, Jess. I wish I'd tried harder to catch back up with her. It's only just recently that I'm starting to realize how fleeting of time we may have.

Just got my Plymouth Sloe Gin from Joe over at Ace and I'm going to have to give this one a shot tonight! I don't think I've even ever seen Cinzano dry vermouth...think Noilly Prat would be okay? Because it's that or, well, the Vya...I've also got a bottle of the Bols Sloe Gin. Before I make anything with the Plymouth I am going to have to try a bit of a taste test between the two. I've never even cracked the Bols, though I'd feel guilty if I were to just get rid of it...

I've avoided McDonald's for the most part since I went on a diet about two years ago, save one unfortunate time I succumbed to a craving for a Big Mac and got rather sick.However, when dealing with a hangover recently, I went to one near me and got two of the little $.99 cheeseburgers, some fries, and a Coke. Man that hit the spot just right. And will probably last me through next year some time...

I remember bitching at some gin company about them killing a line I never had a chance to try...it may have been the Damson. Oh sure, it's all economics...why'd I major in that for a while? (It's hard to major in physics or economics when you can't show your work in math but just write down answers....)

To Stan Winston, who helped give us dreams and nightmares we might never have thought of before...

My brother and I went on Sunday between noon and one. The kitchen was a bit slow but we enjoyed the experience other than me repeatedly smacking my knee into the bar. The wings were good (if Matt wasn't there, I would've gotten spicier), and the pastrami was tasty, though there are so many other things on the menu I'd like to try that I'd wait to get it again. My brother had the chicken sandwich and liked it a lot, it was just too bad he was so hungover that it perhaps wasn't the most appropriate choice on the menu...

Oh joyous day! Thanks for the update Joe. Hopefully I can get in there and get some soon. It's not that I've actually every MADE anything with sloe gin in it, but you know - compulsive collector and all that.

Gosh damn! That really sucks to see. Admittedly, I don't make it down to Eastern Market that often - it's quite a hike on the Orange Line. I'm lazy, I only rarely make it to the Falls Church farmer's market and that's right down the street. But every time I went to Eastern Market I'd go to Uncle Brutha's and I've even made it a point to drag out-of-towners down there for perusing his wares. I love the green #9 - we put it on tacos and, honestly, I put it on lots of other things too (hamburgers, for instance, with a bit of mayo). I'm glad to see we'll still be able to get it but I'm going to miss going through all the other stuff checking out what he has. Guess I'll be traveling down there before the end of the month to stock up!

I ate there again last night and it was right on the money. We sat at the bar, and though the bartender we originally ordered from was busy up and down the bar the others right there were very helpful. I had the Blue Ridge Sliders. The burgers were done medium (a nice surprise as usually sliders end up well) and had caramelized onions and pepper jack cheese on them. The addition of a bit of mayo on them (I can't have a burger WITHOUT mayo, it's a curse) made them quite perfect. I had the appetizer portion of the Virginia mac and cheese with it and that was way too much mac & cheese; the bowl was huge. But as always it was delicious, lots of ham in it. Marshall got the Chesapeake Sliders (crab cake) which were as gloopy as I remembered but he seemed to like them as much as I did (which was a lot). He had the side order of mac & cheese and a baked sweet potato. Washed down with a Starr Hill Amber and a Smuttynose brown and it was a darn tasty dinner.

At Rosslyn VA ABC Friday I saw a minis three pack of Glenfiddich - the 12, 15, and 18. Yesterday I sampled them all while sober and drinking water between them. The results were fairly predictable, I thought. The 12 was rather "eh" to me compared to the others. The 18 was much smokier but smoother I thought. Still, the 15 and the 18 were close enough in taste comparison. If they were the same cost, I'd go for the 18 in all odds, but they're not, so I'll stick with the 15 that I already have in my cabinet. There's a 12 in my cabinet, too, but that's for after I've already been imbibing for a while...

Primarily beer last night, including a very pleasant "Red Hot Rye" (I believe it was called) that I got at Whole Foods while being inundated by beer samples (which nicely toned down my over-caffeination). However, after watching "Death Proof" Mr. TMFIII and I did shots of green Chartreuse and that...was...awesome. It made me all hyper. Today it shall be bourbon; after all, it's Mixology Monday's theme this month and I'm hosting!

Paul Pierce. DUDE GOT STABBED 11 TIMES and still played 82 games in 2000. Also, he led Boston to win in one of the most exciting NBA games I've watched - well, ever.

Oh - good idea. I'll try that next time. 's no biggie either way. Then again, being a relatively unaffiliated NBA (non-)fan, I'm still jacked up from an exciting game 4...(...and the associated beer, watching it with a Boston fan...)...so not going out tomorrow night (or keeping it light-ish) might be for the best.

Doesn't look like there's a lot of interest for this night, and I've been invited to some other things...so I'm going to probably stay closer to home. (Like I was at Dogwood tonight - and I'm debating getting down there at 4 PM tomorrow for 4 hours of $2.50 Pyramid Hefeweizens...)

I had one as well (thanks for the coupon, AMAZON.COM!) and found it completely without merit, but honestly, without much to detract. It just was. A very zen sandwich. However, $.59 cheeseburgers? Sign me up. I flash back to childhood each bite.

I, I mean, seriously, uh, you know what... NO. (Notes that they do point out they are REAL HUMAN TOES PRESERVED IN SALT.) If I wasn't so lazy, I'd go as far as to put up an LOLcats-esque "DO NOT WANT" picture.

Anyone else on here interested in maybe hitting a happy hour-ish type thing at New Heights on Friday night - say, starting around 6-6:30-ish? I've had a hankering for there again and I know I've talked to others who were thinking about it. This time, however, I won't be spending 4 1/2 hours at the bar - or will I? Anyways, leave a note if you're up for it. I have a feeling I'll need a happy hour after this week...

I kept it easy and made a Baby Guinness using Castries instead. Yummy.

One of my coworkers and I talked about going there for lunch one day. Since I wasn't in the office I swung by, just to realize that the sign says it opens at 4 on weekdays. D'oh. Though there were lights on and a TV playing, I think that was for the benefit of the guy doing work outside?

We've gone to Dogwood Tavern a few times now (132 W. Broad St, Falls Church, where "Broad Street Tavern" used to be). I thought I'd post something on it. The old place there was - well - I didn't like it at all. The new place I actually enjoy. Tonight was an interesting take on it. It was PACKED - probably partially thanks to the fact that 4P's, across the street, had no power on its traditional Trivia Night (and, indeed, I saw one of their bartenders in Dogwood). Then again, there's been a pretty big crowd each time we've gone, which might be due to the fact that - at least in my opinion - while we have a couple of decent restaurants in the area we could still use more of them. My brother and I walked there after long days at work and got there right before the rain exploded again. We jumped on the wait list, and I have to say that I do not envy the hostess at all there - she has to deal with people walking in the front and back doors, plus having tables behind and in front of her. She worked her butt off, though, and we sat fairly quickly, grabbing a beer first at the bar. The bar has been redone since Broad Street and has a lot of dark wood, stone, etc. I had a Bell's wheat beer and my brother a Smuttynose ($5.50), one of his favorites. It took us a few minutes to get a bartender's attention but it was packed two deep for the most part and once we got her we were taken care of while there. Sitting down, I switched to their microbrew of the month, one of my all-time favorites, Pyramid Hefeweizen ($2.50 a pint from 4-8 PM Monday through Friday in June, $4.50 the rest of the time). We immediately ordered an appetizer of the Honey Pepper Wings ($8.95) which I've had before. The waitress brought us out some bread while waited which was appreciated. The wings are deep fried, which I do not prefer (I prefer grilled), but all in all I think they're fairly tasty and served with some decent blue cheese dressing. We devoured these in no time. Our main entrees were a bit more disappointing. My brother got the ribs ($20 for a full slab, which gave two meals worth), which weren't bad, but he's been spoiled by living in Mississippi for three years studying at Ole Miss for law. The biggest complaint was too much sauce, a common problem in Virginia. I had the Shenandoah Lamb Chops ($23), three small-ish lamb chops with huckleberry dressing. The chops were overdone and there was too much dressing but they weren't that bad, I'm just spoiled by really good ones at other places. I still gnawed the meat off the bones after scraping off some of the huckleberry. Again, it was crazy crowded tonight, so I expect that if it was a bit slower (and/or more expected) I would've gotten the opportunity to order them how I'd like them (medium rare, not well done). For sides, Matt thought the cole slaw was okay, but like his taste in ribs, he's been spoiled by mustard slaw. I got a veggie skewer with my plate which was, well, just awful, though if we'd had salt and pepper at our table it might've been salvageable. Both of us eschewed the choice of "baked potato, baked sweet potato, mashed redskin potatoes" for the mac & cheese, which has Virginia ham in it. Honestly, the mac & cheese is just flat out great, and we both regretted not having just gone with an appetizer order of it plus something else. I've had the raw oysters there before, too, and those were quite good, which is nice to find in a place close by to my house. In short, I do enjoy Dogwood a lot, though I'd want to see some more consistency before I'd say it's worth going out of your way to enjoy. As a resident of the area, I want it to do well to provide a good counterpoint to our usual array of Clare & Don's and 4P's, and I'm discovering what to order - so far, it's just not been the entrees. As another note, the bar area IS a smoking area (but not cigars, like 4P's or Argia's). It's a crowded bar with some two person mini-tables, but it's an interesting scene and I've found all the staff at Dogwood to be extremely helpful and nice.