dinwiddie

I think the wierdest thing I ever ate (at least which I knew what it was, since I'm not sure what some of the things we ate as kids were when we were stationed in Okinawa) has to bee sheep eyeballs. I was in college and was taking a month traveling between returning from Denmark where I had spent the semester to return to school in CA. We were in Marrakesh and were visiting a friend from school. He took me to his grandfather's home where his grandmother fixed us a huge dinner. They brought out a huge platter of rice with spices and studded with eyeballs. His grandfather grinned at me, popped one into his mouth and said something to his grandson, who turned to me and said "you don't have to eat those, I certainly won't." Being young, stupid, and wanting to appear more worldly than I was, I took one in my left hand and popped it into my mouth. Somehow I managed to swollow it whole without choking to death. His grandfather was impressed and I am told that he bragged about it for months to his friends who said Americans were weak. I can't say I ever want to have another one.

Actually, it was a horrible Monte Cristo that I had at the Bennigan's in Rockville that made me promise myself I'd never return.

Ouch, Logan Cox gets to take over just in time for Restaurant Week.

Besides the two that have been mentioned, (Dino and Restaurant 3) which restaurants are offering the full menu for RW? I don't normally do RW, but my sister is going to be in town and wants to try it. I'd much prefer taking her somewhere that offers the full menu (even with some upcharges) than go someplace that has a very limited menu for RW.

There have been many restaurants in that location over the years, but I seem to remember that one of them was Greek. This place has been open for only 3 weeks. Right now they are only open for dinner, but they said they will be opening for lunch soon.

Those apricots in pancetta are fantastic.

My wife, son, and I went there last night. We were favorable impressed. We started with appetizers, Imam Baildi (baked and sauteed baby eggblant stuffed with garlic, onions, pine nuts and tomatos) for my wife. She thought it was very good, with whole cloves of mild and flavorful garlic in it. My son had the Horta (seamed dandelion greens with fried onions, lemon and olive oil.) It was also good, not too bitter and not over dressed with olive oil. I had the Htapodi Xidato (poached octopus marinated in vinegar, olive oio, capers, red and green onion, and green olives) I wasn't sure how poached octopus would be, but I love it grilled so I thought I'd try it. My son and I both agreed it was excellent, well seasoned and not overly chewy. (My wife wouldn't even try it, but she did like the the bite of the olive, caper, etc. mixture I gave her without the octopus) For entrees my wife had the salmon that was the catch of the day. Very moist, mildly flavored, and served with mashed potatoes and perfectly cooked whole baby green beans. I ordered the gyro platter. The meat was excellent, not overcooked and dry, but rather well spiced and very moist. A huge mound of it was served on top a very good pita with diced tomatoes, red onions and feta. (No lettuce) It came with suprisingly good french fries. My son had the Yaprakia (braised lamb shank) It was huge, very tender, and served with orzo in a light tomato sauce. He really enjoyed it, especially when he figured out how to get to the marrow in the bone. Dessert was Kataifi Akmek for my wife and son, espresso for me. They also have a fairly large wine list of Greek wines, some of which are offered by the glass. I'm not an expert on Greek wine, but what few American wines there were on the list were inexpensive and very ordinary. All in all, we found it to be a very good meal and will definitely return. Service was friendly, efficient, and non rushed. The restaurant is large, allowing for plenty of space between tables.

Friday wife e-mailed me at work and said she was in the mood for Italian and would I make a reservation at Dino. Being a dutiful husband, and always willing to go to Dino, I got right on it. So my wife, son, and I had a fantastic meal. We started with appetizers for the table, Panzanella, Insalata di Porcini, Seafood Salad, the apricots wrapped in panchetta with cheese, a half order of Rigatoni ai Funghi, and a half order of Fusilli con Ragu d'Anatra. All were wonderful, but the Panzanella and the Porcini salad were fantastic. For our entrees I ordered the Risotto di Mare. It was so good you had to put your fork down between each bite to savor it. My son ordered the Pesce al Cartoccio, fish in parchement paper with zucchini, tomatoes, potato, lemon & herbs. My wife had the Salmon medallions and declared it the best salmon she had eaten in years. We washed it all down with a bottle of a 2005 Toros Collio Del Friuli. For dessert we had the trio of sorbetto, rubarb with gelato, and vanilla gelato, fresh strawberry sauce & black pepper. Coffee for my wife, espresso for my son and I ended the meal. Once again, a fantastic meal and a wonderful time talking with Dean and Kay.

I too have been a fan of Waiter Rant since its inception, and have ordered the book on Amazon. I can't wait to read it, having been a waiter while in college many (many) years ago.

Dinner constisted of (dishes in parenthesis were served in place of what everyone else had because one of our group doesn't eat red meat, and the other doesn't eat seafood) Charred Eggplant and Tomato Soup, Scallion Creme Fraiche Petit Caesar Salad; Fried Green Totatoes, Smoked Chili Caesar Dressing Seared Maine Scallops, Spiced Lentil Ragout, Onion Chutney Eastern Shore Fritto Misto consisting of fried oysters, fried gerkin, and hushpuppy with a wonderful dipping sauce Colorado Lamb Carpaccio with Three Bean Salad, Old Balsamic, Parmesan Reggiano (Scottish Smoked Salmon with Sweet-n-Sour Rubarb, Peppered Strawberry Salsa) Sautted Chesapeake Soft Shell Crab with Potato-Cucumber Raita and Vindaloo Oil (Grilled Organic Cornish Game Hen with Bacon-Studded Japonica Rice and Red Chili Salsa) Grilled Meyer Ranch NY Steak with Feta Potato Gratin, Baby Fennel and Olives (Steamed Atlantic Snapper with Tomato Toast, Baby Fennel, Spanish Garlic Sauce) Cheese: Blue d'Auvergne, Tomme de Savoie, Garrotxa, Malvarosa, Ardrahan, Epoisses, Valencey, Paddo Classico Araretti Stuffed Peaches, Amaretto-Raspberry Puree We brought many wines and ended up drinking 8 bottles plus a half bottle of Sauternes. John produced the menu above to go with the wines.

Actually, Hollywood East on the Blvd. is an easy stroll from the Wheaton Metro. It may not be the reigning champ, but it is certainly a leading contender.

Congrats Dean. Definitely one of the better (if not the best) places in the city to enjoy the vino.

Considering that she makes over $6 million a year, you should have married her.

In its wine award program, this is the award that Wine Spectator uses to designate restaurants with good food as well as a strong wine list. As far as I know they are not affiliated with the award in terms of rating the restaurants.

While up in Philadelphia this weekend I had both a wonderful Lime Cilantro gelato and an Orange Cardamon gelato at Capogiro.

Just think about those poor folks in Amsterdam. Now that the city has passed a tobacco ban, they can't mix it with their pot in the smoking bars.

To take the thread a slightly different direction , have you seen any of your local restaurants that have been around a while go under? I recently called a local Italian place that has been around for 20 years to order a pizza to go, and the phone had been disconnected. When I drove by on 6/21, there was a sign on the door saying that it would be closed "the week of June 2nd." Now one does not disconnect the phone for a weeks vacation, and it still hasn't opened back up. It's a shame, since it was one of the places we went when we were in the mood for Italian and didn't want to drive into the city.

But under no circumstances park in the dry cleaner's lot right next to the restaurant. they will tow you in a heartbeat, even when the dry cleaners is closed.

Years ago some friends of ours stayed at my in-laws house for one night while they were visiting Phila. When they left they gave my mother in law a rice cooker as a thank you present. She said that she didn't know if she would use it, but a month later told me that she doesn't know how she ever got along without one for all those years. She still uses it and thinks it is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

What I have noticed is how much easier it is to get a reservation at places that are often hard to get into.

Ditto. Once I got one, I couldn't figure out how I lived without it. We use it all the time, and no more boiled over pots messing up the stove. But I don't know if it is fair to call it a unitasker since we also use it to steam vegs, etc.

I think that one of the telling things was Stephanie's comment that Lisa was getting along very well with her sous chef, and that the lack of tension in a kitchen made it easier to make good food. Once Lisa calmed down she made some much better food apparently. That said, I've always been pulling for Stephanie (I had figured that either she or Antonia would be the winner after about week 6) and think that her strength was her poise and demeanor and her overall ability. While all the other chefs may have had strenghts that exceeded hers in certain areas, the as an overall body of work, hers seem to be the most consistent.

I would doubt that Stephanie will have a meltdown, she has shown too much poise throughout the show. When Dale left out the porkbelly overnight, she didn't freak, she just worked with him to figure out what to do to get the job done. I think it is that poise under pressure that will make her the winner in the end.

I've never met a sommelier who was offended when I said that I'd pour after the inital service. Every sommelier I've ever met was primarily interested in ensuring that I enjoyed my meal and wine and did everything they could to make sure I did.

Last night we were looking for somewhere to eat that we had never been before. So I got on OpenTable and made a reservation at Amada Amante, located at 9755 Traville Gateway Drive in Rockville. The restaurant is quite nice inside, dark woods, nice booths, etc. We were seated next to a group of about 16 highschoolers who were going to a prom (or one would assume from the way they were dressed, even though it was after 8pm) but they weren't too loud (although the white tuxs and seaquened dresses were pretty tacky according to my wife.) My son ordered the Calamari Neapolitan as his starter. It was sauteed calamari in a spicy tomato broth, garlic, white wine, and red onions. The sauce was pretty good, but the calamari was a tiny bit overcooked and rubbery, and tasted very fishy. He then had the personal sized (all the pizzas are personal sized, and really pretty large) Pizza Bianco, a garlic crusted white pizza with Fontina, Mozzarella, Gorgonzola, and Pecorino Romano. It was not bad at all. He also had a side size serving of Spaghetti alla Carbonara. The description says it comes with "a touch of cream", but the touch was very heavy and it was much too creamy, almost an Alfredo without the cheese. My wife ordered the Frisée and Arugola salad and asked that the balsamic vinaigrette be served on the side. When the salad arrived, it was already dressed. The server immediately took it back and brought her one that was done properly. However, the salad had obviously been in the cooler because it was very cold. However, once it warmed up a little, she said it was very good. She also ordered a Grilled Asparagus and Goat Cheese Pizza. It was made with Mozzarella, Pecorino Romano, White Truffle oil, and parsley and had a spread of nicely grilled thin asparagus. Again, not bad. I ordered the Crustini 3 Ways, described as grilled rustic bread topped with fresh tomatoes salsa, olive and roasted red pepper tepenade, proscuitto-basil-mozzarella. Actually it was three large squares of pizza dough that had been baked then topped. The soft bread was a little offputting, and the toppings, while not bad, were lacking in any intensity of flavor. All were nicely done, but just didn't have any ooomph. I followed it with a Mushroom Risotto, described as Morels and Porcini mushrooms, Marsala-vegetable stock Rissotto, finished in butter. I was suprised that it came out, not in a bowl, but rather as a formed mound. It was not creamy at all like a good rissotto should be. However, the flavor was ok, but I've had many better. The wine list was pretty good, nothing to write home about if you are a wine geek like me, but well priced, especially for Montgomery County, and more than adequate to be able to find a good choice to match any meal served there. Service was excellent, attentive, polite and efficient. Bottom line, while this is not a bad place to eat, I wouldn't seek it out. I like the wood fired pizza at Ricutti's better for the same price. The appetizers were not especially to my liking, and expensive, entrees were ok, but nothing special, but the wine list was very well priced and more than adequate with some very nice wines. Service is good. I probably won't go back, but mainly because I don't think it is worth the half hour drive from my house when I can get to places I like better in the same or less time.