dinwiddie

BYO is permitted in the rest of Maryland in very limited circumstances. There are some BYOs in Baltimore, but as stated above, not in VA or Montgomery County.

One of my favorite spots that we visited on our last trip to Seattle was the Swingside Cafe in the Freemont section. Excellent food, and a great wine list.

Joy of Cooking is an essential in our kitchen, if only because it has something about everything, and I like how it explains the category before the recipes. My mother has a Betty Crocker cookbook that is the size and format of a three ring binder that she uses all the time. Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything, which has been discussed is also very good for the beginning cook.

The small chef owned, or family owned, restaurant is at a disadvantage in the suburbs for several reasons. First, they just do not have the capital to compete with the chains. Secondly, as in any other business, location, location, location, is the key. Unless there is a place where there is a lot of traffic, and I don't mean car traffic, but rather a place where there is a reason for folks to be there, restaurants just cannot survive. Sure there are the destination restaurants, sometimes in the country, or in small towns, but in the sprawling suburbs around this area the mall is where folks go to shop. There the chains have the advantage because they have the corporate coffers to start them up and maintain them. That said, there are many nice stand alone family owned restaurants where I live near Olney. Sure there are the chains in the malls like in Montgomery Mall, Lakeforest, etc. But there are also the family places in Olney proper because folks have to go there to shop. While there are the fast food places, and the Outbacks and Chicken Outs, there are also lots of nice places like Bella Nolte (Italian), Manniquin Pis (one of the best Belgian restaurants you will ever eat in), BJ Pumpernickles (diner/deli), Riccuti's (Italian), not to mention a couple of nice Chinese, Thai, and Mexican restaurants in the area. What is necessary is a large concentration of people, meaning appartments and condos, not just rows and rows of single family homes. There has to be a destination area that is not just a mall, and to be honest, there are usually more stand alone type restaurants in older, more established areas. One only has to look at Rockville Pike with all the chains to see that corporate restaurants are the rule in areas where the rents are high and the foot traffic low.

While I love visiting the wineries because it is a nice drive in the country, I have not found VA wines to be worth the price. Some of the wines are decent, but none are excellent or even very good. However, even the best VA wines are not nearly as good as what else I can purchase for the price.

What?! It is possible to have too much parmesan?

I've been to Equinox several times, both for dinner and lunch. My wine group had its first wine dinner there and we could not have been more pleased. The service was exceptional, the food outstanding and the room they gave us was great. It isn't the cheapest place in town, but then it is one of those restaurants that have a lot of expense account diners. However, every time I have eaten there I have left very satisfied and never thought I did not get my money's worth. They have an excellent wine list, not inexpensive, but extensive and some very good buys. They offer a three, four, or six course meal for a reasonable price, and the menu items are inventive, well presented, and delish. Service has always been first rate, and on occasion Chef Gray has sent us a little something to taste and has come out to talk with us on several occasions.

There are several reasons that I prefer to dine at a table than at the bar, and I'm male. I find the seats at bars to be less comfortable that those at a table, especially if they are high. I don't like smoke around me when I eat (I do smoke occasionally) and in many places, the bar is the only place if any at all where smoking is permitted, so that is where the smokers are. When I dine alone, I often am on business and I can read and work on my blackberry much more easily at a table than at the bar (not that I do a lot of work in restaurants, but occasionally I do) and last, I usually have a better selection of food since many places have less extensive bar menus and while it is possible to order off the restaurant menu, it is a hassle for the folks in the bar.

The BYOB flap at Corduroy made Tom's chat today "Washington, D.C.: Hi, Tom. Did you hear what happened at Corduroy last week with the customer who refused to pay corkage fees for all his bottles of wine? He was told that the restaurant allowed a maximum of three bottles, but he opened up 7 bottles anyway! Then when the restaurant tried to charge him for all 7 -- with an additional charge for the extra 4 bottles -- he refused to pay for more than 3. Do you think the restaurant was being unreasonable, or that the customer was acting disrespectful? Tom Sietsema: I don't have all the details, but customers who bring in their own wine (after verifying corkage fees and policies, of course) need to play by the restaurant's rules. I've heard from more than one restaurateur about customers who abuse the privilege, bringing in an outrageous number of their own bottles, not buying aything from the restaurant's list and demanding the best crystal for the occasion. Give some people an inch, they take 10 miles! "

I've eaten there three times, and had a wonderful meal each time. In June, eight of us (all family) ate there on the spur of the moment. I took a '02 Reamy Carnaros Chard, '02 Radio-Coteau Savoy, '02 Owen-Sullivan Ulysses, and a '93 Signorello Cab with me since the restaurant permits corkage and everyone in my family likes to have good wine with dinner. Since everyone was family, tastes of each dish were passed around on forks and spoons. My brother cannot eat onions, so the waiter worked with him to identify what he could or could not eat. Since he was getting the pris fixe 4-course meal, they just traded out the appertizer as if one of the others had ordered it. (Two of us got the pris-fixe meal, the rest just ordered a la carte and had three courses) The seared, semi-cured foie-fras, with roasted cavaillon melon, pistachio, and port syrup was excellent. Beautifuly presented (as was everything) it was one of the hits of the night. The crawfish tempura and crab croquettes, lemongrass miso dipping sauce, and seaweed and japanese eggplant salad was also well received. (Yes that is one dish.) The tuna tartare and white anchovy timbale with fava beans and raw asparagus salad was also very good. Also excellent were he mesclun and warm goat cheese cromesqui with roasted shallot-sherry vinaigrette, the chilled cucumber yogurt soup (I'm not usually one for chilled soups, but this was excellent)served with mango and fresh lump crab relish, and the artichoke poivarades and goat cheese gratin. As good as the appetizers and small plates were, the next was the best. I had the roasted Atlantic halibut with a dry harrissa rub, caperlemon and olive oil emulsion. It was served on eggplant and fava beans componata with a side of star anis infused garbanzo bean puree. Out of this world. The fish was perfectly cooked and full of flavor. The best course of the night in my opinion. Everyone loved the poached bay scallops in hot and sour broth and thai tapioca pasta. It was also fun to watch everyone try the excellent crab cake with liquorices sauce with the R-C. Everyone thought it was the perfect match. Also well received was the Australian free-range lamb chops with marseillaise aioli. Unfortunately, the steaks were a little disappointing. (I had the fillet, my son the NY strip) They were nicely cooked but just did not wow us. Desserts were a major hit. The bing cherry chocolate ravioli sounded better than it was. Not bad, just did not come up to par with the roasted white peach cream broulle, the kiwi sorbet, the apricot and graham cheese cake, or the bittersweet chocolate and gianouja tasting plate. Coffee after the meal was excellent, as was the espresso. Service was very friendly (everyone had fun talking with the waiter, a very nice gentleman from Haiti) They brought a special drink from the bar for my brother-in-law and my nephew, neither of whom drink (we don't know what was in it, but if was wonderful.) The entire meal for the 8 of us lasted about 3 hours. Tax, heafty tip, and corkage was about $70 per. BTW, they only charged $10 per bottle for corkage. The dinner that the DC Cru had this summer was delish, the service excellent, and view, while it did have cars going by, also had some pretty nice boats too. I believe DCMark wrote up the dinner so I won't comment further other than to say that they treated us right and the meal was excellent. The last time I ate there was last month. This time with some friends from college who were staying at the Watergate for business. Again, the meal was very good and the service excellent. And this time, they waived the corkage fee since we also bought a bottle from the list.

I received a request to define "off line" from another member so here goes: Many of us who are wine fanatics (cork dorks, wine nerds, etc.) particpate in wineboards such as Wine Spectator's, vinocellar.com, etc. When those of us who meet and get to know each other online, get together in a restaurant or at someone's house for an inperson gathering, we refer to it as an "off line." I belong to a group here in the DC area that gets together about once a month at different restaurants. One of our "off lines" was at Gabriel, and a wonderful time was had by all. Of course, that was before Tony Burell left to go to Bistro Bis, so the food was fantastic (and Tony came out to meet us and share a glass of wine) the service first rate, and the evening long and memorable. The only reason we broke up the party was because some of us had to catch the last Metro home. If I remember correctly Chris W and bbq4me were also in attendance and had a great time (things did get a little fuzzy that night.)

Unfortunately the corkage policy is a maximum of two bottles per table, though they did say they would work with us if we wanted to do it on a Monday or Tuesday night. PS That off-line at Gabriel was one of the best ever wasn't it?

I can't add anything to Chris W's write-up of the dinner except to say that the entire evening was fantastic. Dean spent a lot of time with us, explaining the cheeses, the salumi and proscuitto (the proscuitto was absolutely fantastic) and talking wine (after all it was a wine dinner) His list is awesome. There are wines on that list that would go for twice what he charges in some other restaurants here in town. The crustini were wonderful, the whipped cod was a star, but the blue cheese and anchovie was great too. The pickled vegs that accompanied them were pickled in house, and boy you have to watch out for those tiny peppers. I ate one and had to reach for the bread so I could taste the wine again. The cheeses were out of this world. Served with some wonderful dark raisin bread and a handful of wonderful grapes and baby kiwis (thank you Raybanz for eating them before I got one) both plates were perfect. Dean chose the cheeses to go with the wines that were being drunk and the match was perfect. The first plate was eaten with the champagnes and the second with the much more robust Barolos. The pasta with wild mushrooms and proscuitto was to die for. So much flavor that one of our group ordered a plate of it to go to take home to his wife. The wild boar pasta was very good, spicy and full of flavor. I had the duck and it was special. The duck leg was huge, and the meat so tender it fell off the bone. The sauce sublime and the sformata of celery root and pear in a mashed potato base was a wonderful counterpoint and worked well to sop up the remaining sauce. I had the bread pudding for dessert. It was served with a small pitcher of flavored cream that made the texture perfect. The serving was huge, so much so that I couldn't finish it (though that wasn't a problem since the others at the table polished it off.) Service was excellent. New plates and silverware were constantly being provided, the stemware appropirate for the wines (the table was a forest of glasses and bottles) and Dean even provided a couple of decanters for some of the wines that would benefit from decanting. In fact it was Dean's day off, but he was in the restaurant working on the wine list and ended up spending a great deal of time with us (I hope you enjoyed the wines Dean, we certainly did and enjoyed having you there to talk wine and food and everything else) The restaurant is lovely, spare and clean but cozy. As Chris said, it is larger than it looks at first glance. Easy to get to (just a block from the Cleveland Park Metro) and a definite great addition to the plethora of good restaurants in the area. Run, don't walk to Dino, you will definetly enjoy. Thanks Dean for making our meal a memorable one.

Overheard at dinner Sunday night. Waiter, my wife would like something red to go with her meal. Do you recommend a Pinot Noir or a Chardonney?

It is odd they left off Siduri, Loring, AP Vin, Radio-Coteau, just to name a few.

When my kid was younger, I used to make PB and Banana for his lunch. but to make it interesting for him, I would slather a Hot Dog Bun with PB and put the banana on it whole. He loved it.

We spent a week in Portland ME this summer and had some very good meals. One night we ate at 555. It was very nice, but the Grilled salad (greens with roasted peaches, bing cherrys, and pecans) was a little over sauced and the scallops were a little salty. However, the rest of the meal, mussels and a hanger steak, was excellent, the service very good, and the price not unreasonable. The restaurant itself is a pretty place and they were very friendly. The wine list was fun and fairly extensive. I was a little concerned when they brought the 2002 vintage of the Fess Parker PN I ordered when the 2001 was listed on the menu, but they were quick to point it out before I read the bottle and explained that they were out of the 2001. The last time I was in Portland, Abeurgene was in this space, but 555 is a pretty good replacement. However, we had two better meals while there. My first choice would be Cinque Terre (right across from Street and Co)on Wharf Street. We had the 6 course tasting menu for $55. It started with oysters two ways (a Darmisgrotta raw and a Prince Edward Island fried) then crab and fresh peas risotto with white truffel oil. Next was the lobster tail with bread crumbs and basil oil. It was followed by a perfectly cooked hanger steak with chantrelle mushrooms. The next course was cheese, pecorina and toma with peanut jelly and an italian baggette. Last was the dessert, lemon grappa panna cotta and maple gelato with biscotta. Service was exceptional and the wine list, while all and only Italian wine, was very reasonably priced, very extensive and long, and very representative of Italy. They also had a nice selection by the glass. I had a 2000 Antinori Toscana Tignanello which was exceptionally well priced at $100. Our other great meal was at Hugo's. A four course meal for $60. The food was excellent, very well presented (maybe a little over the top, but really pretty), and the service very good. I ordered two half bottles (a 2002 Daniel Dampt Cablis and a 1996 Chateau Meyney St. Estephe) since it was only the two of us. For our first courses I had Maine raised rabbit chartiterie with grainy mustand mousse, pistaschio, and celtic vinegar. My wife had the smoked shitake mushrooms and asparagus with capri pasta, milk foam and lily buds. The second course for her was the crispy skin loup de mer (rockfish this time) with artichoke en croute, basil seeks and warm olive oil panna cota. I had the honey mead glazed pork belly with sweet potato tot, tomatillo relish and ginger red pepper coulis. Third was the pan roasted tasmanian sea trout with fried fennel, pineapple salad and smoked trout roe. I had the Sous Vide duck breast and leg with golden beet, kola nut pudding and pickled plum. For dessert I had a superb Mita Cana Spanish sheeps milk cheese cake while my wife had the Maine rhubarb and pineapple with Greek yogert panna cotta and Thai basil. The plates may have looked skimpy, but we left stuffed. Very pretty place, but unless you want to sit in high bar type chairs, don't take a table in the window. Another excellent meal was at the Roma Cafe on Congress Street. Excellent Italian food. We just walked in late (at about 9:30 and they stop serving at 10) but we were treated extremely well and the food was delish. Nice place, white linens and soft music, excellent service. I started with the fresh mozzarella and plum tomatoes with roasted peppers, pesto and garlic crostini. It was out of this world. The pesto was some of the best I've had in a long time. My wife had the calamari and it was perfect. For entrees we had the pasta de mer, perfectly prepared and full of lots and lots of seafood (I got to eat the mussels since she doesn't like them) and a wonderful duck breast rubbed in jerk spices and served in pan juices. Very enjoyable but we felt guilty about keeping the staff there just for us as everyone else had finished and gone by the time we started our entrees. I was at Fore Street a couple of years ago when I was in Portland on business. I had a great meal and the bread was wonderful. I liked the wine list too. I was eating by myself, but I got a nice table, the service was very good, and I was impressed by how well I was treated as a single diner. One funny, just before I finished my meal, a group of young women came in, a bridal party the day before the big event. They were looking at he wine list trying to figure out what they could afford. I had a bottle of a nice Panther Creek PN, and since there was about a glass left in the bottle and I didn't particularly want to carry it to the hotel, I offered the rest to the table saying I wasn't going to finish it and I didn't want it to go to waste. As I was leaving I heard on of the bridesmaids exclaim, "Do you see how much that bottle cost?!?" I thought it was reasonably priced but I guess they aren't into wine as much as I was. I hope they enjoyed it.

A NY style deli in Olney. They have been there forever and are very much a mainstay in the community. The menu is huge with breakfast served all day, lots of jewish Deli type items (Fish platters, kugels, etc) chicken, sandwiches (love the Rachel), wraps, soups, salads, etc. Their motto is "Have a pickle." They invite you to visit the pickle bar while you wait for your meal (which will come out quickly) It consists of about 6 barrels of pickled items that you can load onto a small plate. Once they get to know you, you will be insulted, teased, and treated just like family. Very much a family restaurant, they have half price night every Monday and Tuesday from 3-9 pm. They are very involved in the community and often donate food to worthwile fundraisers. Good place to go when everyone wants something different.

This is a nice family Italian restaurant. There is no wine list to speak of (mostly bolla) and they serve it in those tiny little glasses. Try the Osso Bucco, it is delicious. There are always several specials and the pizza is very good (extremely thin crust, fresh sauce.) Service is friendly and the food well prepared. Great bread is brought to your table when you sit down. Thickly sliced, crusty and lots of it. Pastas are the centerpiece here, but the other dishes are well prepared. If you like they will substitute the sauted spinich or brocolli for the pasta as a side to the dishes. They do a good job with the fish that is normally one of the specials of the day. They are located in the little strip just past Rt. 108 on GA Ave. (on the left)

Of course, the Feds have said that in order to use Napa in the name of a wine you have to make sure the grapes are from Napa, so why should Korbel be able to use Champagne.

James!! The old gang sure gets around doesn't it. BTW, have a great time on the 24th, sorry I won't be able to attend but I'm taking the kid on another college visit.

Wide World of Wine's list is linked further up this thread, but just in case you can't find it http://www.wideworldofwines.com/corkage.php

I'd be interested in why Nadya said "Oh no" too. I haven't tried to redeem my points yet, and I certainly didn't start using OpenTable to get the points, rather because of how easy it makes it to get reservations without the constant calling around, especially when I'm traveling. But, since I do have a lot of points, at some point I'm going to have to redeem them. I'll probably do it somewhere that I've been to regularly so they won't be too mad at me (I hope)

I'm sure they would offer the apple crisp a la mode since they have ice cream for root beer floats. I'd guess it would be a dollar more since that is how much more the float costs than rootbeer. The apple crisp it is really a small apple pie (they bake them themselves) that is big enough for dessert for two hungry people. Cornbread is yellow, made in house (in fact they brag that the only things they do not make in house are the hamburger buns and the corndogs) studded with kernels of corn, somewhat sweet. I always get it and take it home to have with butter and strawberry jam later in the evening. You can buy platters that have your choice of two or three different meats, or a rib and whatever combo. The pulled pork is very good, as is the brisket. If you don't want one of the three sauces they make (red, yella, or Carolina) they have lots of bottles of sauce on the wall that you can use. They have several types of beer, one of which is Yingling (did I spell that right?) on tap.

As much as we have discussed the soul rolls, my favorite things there are the dirty wings, the pulled pork, and the brisket. I love the ribs too, but they are not falling off the bone tender, but flavorful and meaty. The dirty wings are marinaded overnight in a spicy sauce, and after being in the fryer, finished up on the grill. Love umm. They also make pretty good mashed potatos. The fries are only for eating there, they get cold too quickly if you get them to take out. They will put chili and cheese on them for you if you want. The apple crisp is my favorite dessert and the root beer is out of this world, made in VA and sweetened with honey, not sugar or corn syrup.