dinwiddie

While it was a tough choice to pick the loser between Dale and Lisa, I think they were right to kick Dale, he really blew it as the "Executive Chef" and the way he acted actually made Lisa look OK in comparison. And Spike actually cleaned up pretty well when they got rid of the hat and put him in a suit. I think AB got it right, by some combination of luck, Spike managed to stay out of the middle of the train wreck that was Dale and Lisa in the kitchen. I certainly hope that Lisa is the one to go next week. As an aside, I think that the producers should have it in the contract, you get caught sabotaging another chef's work and you get thrown off the show.

So what kind of menu did you "evolve" for the dinner with Adam Lee?

Had some excellent cornmeal crusted softshell crabs for dinner there last night. And the bread pudding for dessert was killer, if a little too much chocolate sauce.

My wife and I occasionally stop in for lunch when shopping in that area. I agree with all your comments, and would add that the eggplant is excellent.

We went Friday night for my Birthday. The softshell appetizer was fantastic, as one would expect, and the scallops that my wife and I both ordered were every bit as wonderful as I remembered from the old space. My son got the roast whole baby chicken, and when he was done there were nothing but bare bones left on the plate. He loved it. He also loved the tuna tartare he had as an appetizer. They brought my dessert on a plate decorated in Chocolate with Happy Birthday on it, but thank goodness they didn't sing to me. The baked chocolate sabayon was so rich it hurt, the trio of sorbet (pear, strawberry, and pineapple) was fantastic, but the best was the pineapple tartlet with cream cheese pastry. We fought over tastes of that one. Ferhat gave us a tour of the place after dinner and it is beautiful. My wife wants the wallpaper (I said I wanted the wine cellar, including the wine.) Ferhat did mention that they were going to go to a prix fixe menu, more in line with other restaurants of their type, but I didn't take that to mean that you would not be able to order a la carte too, but who knows. Service couldn't have been better, as one would expect, and the table in the window gave us an interesting view of people going by (the dogwalker with the three large dogs on a leash and a tiny little one in her arms was amusing to watch.) The meal wasn't cheap (two bottles of wine does add to the bill) but well worth it. I did notice quite a few people taking advantage of the $20 corkage fee to bring their own wine, which I will probably do next time as I have a Peay Chard and a Martinelli Blue Slide Ridge that I think would be great paired with Tom Power's cooking.

Wonderful!!! Sakai ROCKS!!!

Five of us did a wine off-line there on the 23rd. John came out to see what we were opening and to suggest some things from the menu. We told him to just send out what he wanted, and we ended up with a 7 course tasting menu, some of which was on the menu, some not. Everything was fantastic. He paired the courses to the wines perfectly, and since it was a slow night, he came out periodically to have a glass with us. After dinner, we spent about an hour with him talking his two loves, hockey and gin. I'd also add, that since one of our group does not eat red meat, John replaced those courses for him with seafood that was sublime. We started at 7:15pm and rolled out of the restaurant 6 bottles of wine later at about 11:45pm.

As a preacher's kid who married a nice Jewish girl, I've been going to Sader for the last 25 years. They are an absolute blast. Serious, yes, but joyful and fun and family too. Lucky for me, I'm only responsible for bringing the wine.

As my father was fond of saying, profanity is the sign of an inadiquate vocabulary.

For everyday use, I mix olive oil (sometimes grapeseed oil instead) balsamic vinegar, pressed garlic, a touch of honey, and a touch of country mustard.

But don't go looking for any kind of ambiance.

Neither my wife or I wanted to cook last night so we decided to try the Stonefish Grill in Rockville Town Center. It is located right across from Bobby's Crabcakes. Because there is a lack of true seafood restaurants in Rockville, I was hoping that this could enter our rotation. The restaurant was empty at 7:30pm on a Tuesday night, one other table and two patrons at the bar. It had a very stark decor, tiled floors, dark wood tables and booths, chrome and cheezy fake fish on the walls. It was also very cold, my wife actually put her coat back on. We were greeted warmly however, and our server Alex, was very friendly and efficient about telling us about the specials. I started with a cup of the Maryland crab soup. Not bad, but nothing special. My wife ordered the house salad. I would think that a restaurant would not put pale, tastless wedges of tomato on a salad, but there they were. Again, an ok salad but nothing out of the ordinary. My wife ordered the BBQ Salmon, described as "Lightly blackened and topped with our signature BBQ sauce, crispy onion strings and scallions." Actually it came with three pretty good onion rings, very good mashed potatos, and mixed vegs., too many carrots, but nice, crisp green beans. The fish was cooked properly and very tasty (or so she said, I don't particularly like salmon unless it is lox or smoked) but she didn't know what was so special about the BBQ sauce. She did like the dish however. I ordered the Fried Fisherman Platter, 2 scallops, 3 shrimp, cod and 4 large clam strips. It was served with some excellent fries, and cole slaw that was unfortunately just dressed with mayo and had no bite to it at all. The clam strips were good, if a little overbreaded for my taste, the scallops very good, and the cod excellent. Shrimp were, well, fried shrimp. The tartar sauce that was served on the side was pretty good, but the cocktail sauce could have used more horseradish. I washed it down with a glass of a very forgetable Pinot Grigio. (It is interesting to note that Bobby's across the street has a small selection of wines, but every one of them is better than what was offered at Stonefish.) We decided against dessert because the size of the entrees was enought to fill us up. Service was attentive, but Alex should have removed the soup and salad plates when we were finished, not when he brought the entrees. It isn't like they were slammed for time. Dinner, with tax and a good tip ran about $70. Bottom line, not horrible, but I'm not adding it to the rotation. If I am really in the mood for seafood, and am in the area, I might go again, but I won't search it out.

I still think the best wings are the ones they serve at Urban BBQ (and at Urban Burger.)

My wife and I stopped by Bobby's to see what all the fuss was about (my son had been there and liked it a lot.) We both ordered crab cake platters, the regular (4oz) for her, the large (5oz) for me. While the crab cakes were excellent, I thought they were overpriced for an over the counter place. I've had crabcakes at a couple of local sitdown restaurants that were as good, and no more expensive. The fries were pretty good, but a little to brown for my tastes, and the cole slaw while bland, was still better than many places, and not blender chopped to the consistency of confetti. On the other hand, I was very impressed with the fact that the few wine selections )about 8 in total I think) were all wines that even a wine snob like me wouldn't turn his nose up at. Not that it would impress, but there wasn't a Woodbridge or Fetzer in the lot. (In fact, one of the whites was a Conundrum California for $10 a glass or $42 a bottle, not excessive for MoCo)

Let's see, non-union, low wage stores. High tech for the sake of being high tech, and still Food Lion, the folks who brought you bleached meat.

Actually, I find the microwave to be a wonderful time saver. It is great for steaming vegs, fish is easy to do in it, and works very well, and when you don't have the time or inclination to use the oven to bake a potato, it does a fairly good job at that. I do a lot of stir frys, and I find that steaming the broccoli, asparagus, or even red peppers for a little before tossing them into the wok makes it much easier and the vegs tend to be much better colored (the green of the brocoli just pops at you, amazing) and cook more evenly. My son, who lives in a dorm room also finds that if you know what you are doing, it is great for making pasta al dente. I certainly don't like using it for eggs and there is no way I'd use it to bake or cook meats. But you can use it to make pretty good bacon if you are careful.

Max's has quickly become the place for me to stop when I want to get schwarma. However, I never get the sandwich, and instead get the platter to take home (I ask for a couple of extra pitas since I always buy two platters, one for me, one for the wife.) I love the falafel too. But, stay away from the onion rings. My son and I made the mistake of ordering a large order since they looked great from a distance, but they were horrible. All breading and almost no discernable onion taste. And doughy too.

Actually, I think the issue with the mushroom caps was that they added the cheese to them to try to make them look better, they didn't taste that bad before but looked like crap (literally), but the addition of the cheese was what made them taste wrong. They should have tasted them again after adding the cheese then they would have known not to serve them at all.

My wife said she was in the mood for Lebanese Taverna, but didn't want to go all the way to Tysons, and didn't want to go to the cafes in Rockville, so I suggested we try Taste of Jerusalem, somewhere we had never been to. We were there at 3:30 on a Sunday afternoon, so there was only one other couple in the restaurant. It is a lovely room, but don't let the name fool you, this is the Palestinian Jerusalem, not the Jewish one. Music was appropriate to the East Bank but not at all obtrusive. Decor is pleasing, and the service was excellent, but since we were literally the only ones there, how could it have been less. We ordered 5 meze and the beef shawarma. Baba Ghannouge - I loved it, great smokey taste, creamy, and lots of flavor. Maybe not to everyone's taste, but perfect for mine. Jerusalem Salad - way too much tahini for my taste, the cucumber and tomatoes were swimming in it. Falafel - not bad, good flavor but a little dry. Kibbeh - pretty good, I was trying to identify the spice that underlaid the ground lamb, maybe clove, but I enjoyed it. M'Saka - Fantastic. I love eggplant, and this combination was wonderful, interestingly spiced and very flavorful. They came with a basket of pita wedges, hot and not at all dry. Nothing special, but more than adequate for eating the mezes with. The Shawarma, however, was very disappointing. Well flavored, but dry and almost charred. I didn't even finish it. I'll stick to Max's for shawarma. My wife had the Jerusalem hot tea, which she loved. It is black tea with mint. Served in the traditional style in a pot with a small glass instead of a tea cup. I had iced tea and it was very good. All in all, I won't go out of my way, but I do want to go back and try some other things to see if they are worth making a regular stop when I'm in Silver Spring.

A lot of factors go into whether I will give a place an expensive restaurant a second chance. If I went out of my way (meaning distance or difficulty in getting there) to eat somewhere, and it didn't wow me, I am unlikely to do so again. On the other hand, I've been to places that were OK the first time, but because they have a great reputation, I've given them a second chance. On occasion, I've wished I hadn't, but more often, the reason they have a great reputation becomes obvious on the second visit. On the other hand, if both the food and the service are bad the first time, there is not much chance that I will try again. While I like trying new restaurants, I am more likely to dine at places that I really like than to give a place that was just OK the first time a second chance. I'm always open to new experiences, but there are just too many choices from the ones I've really enjoyed to change my rotation too much.

Sunday night, That's Amore on Shady Grove Road in Rockville. Except for some excellent grilled calimari (the only reason we returned there after not having been in years), all it had going for it was that the portions are HUGE. Monday, lunch at Urban Burger. Great burger, cooked perfectly, and fries as well as the wonderful Root Beer. Last night, I took my wife to Il Pizzico in Rockville for her birthday (her choice) excellent as usual. Ate too much, and shared a nice bottle of a Vino Nobile Di Montepulciano.

That he did, the food was as good as the wine and the wine was great. I've never had a meal at Dino where Dean didn't make a great recommendation, either about the food or the wine.

On the spur of the moment, we decided we wanted to go out to dinner this evening. I got on OpenTable and made a reservation at Mrs. K's Toll House in Silver Spring, someplace I had never been. The restaurant has been there since 1930 (as a restaurant, it was a toll house in the early 1900's) and I don't know how I've not managed to go there at least once in the last 25 years. Our trip started on a sour note, the people who entered the parking lot in front of us parked in the last handicapped parking space (they did not have handicapped plates or a placard) forcing us to find a place further away (my wife recently broke an ankle and has a temporary placard while she is healing). However, when we entered the restaurant things got much better. The house is lovely, and larger than one would think. (there is also a lovely patio and gardens that are used in the summer). We were shown to a very nice table and given the menus and wine list. And what a wine list, it is huge, abet fairly expensive (but it is Montgomery County) but has wines in all ranges. There were 5 or 6 vintages of Ridge Monte Bello available (outside my price range unfortunately) as well as several pages of Bordeauxs and a 1979 Petrus, which did not have a price (but obviously well outside the price I was looking for) It was difficult choosing. After deciding that we would order a glass of Pinot Grigio for my wife to go with her fish, and a bottle of a red for the steaks my son and I were having, I settled on a 2001 Worthy Sophie's Cuvee, but the server came back and said they couldn't find it, but did I want the 2004. I declined and asked for the list again and ordered a 2003 Chateau la Nerthe CNdP. About 10 minutes later the server came back with two bottles in his hand and again said they could not find that vintage. He had called the owner and was told to offer us our choice, at the price of the la Nerthe. He then presented a 1999 Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Reserve and a 1999 Louis Latour Cháteau Corton Grancey to choose from. I was sorely tempted to take the Mondavi, but knew my wife would much prefer a Pinot Noir (she does not like Cabernet) so I chose the Corton. It was fantastic, as only properly aged Burgundy can be. Lots of sweet ripe cherry, casis and plums with fine, well integrated tannins and a fairly long finish. Needless to say, we all loved it. Dinner was quite good too. I started with a grilled Mediterranean octopus salad, then had the New York strip steak served with a wild mushroom cognac cream sauce. For dessert a wonderful bread pudding with whiskey cream. My son started with a grilled portobello mushroom with roquefort cheese and a raspberry vinaigrette. It was followed by a 23 oz. cowboy steak (servered very rare, as requested) and for dessert a huge piece of absolutely fantastic cheesecake. My wife started with the shrimp and scallop ceviche, which unfortunately was fairly bland, needing more spice, but then had a wonderful blackened rockfish. For dessert she had a butterscotch sundae that she pronounced as wonderful. Coffee and espresso ended the meal. Service was fantastic, friendly, discrete, and efficient. When dinner was over, the manager gave my son and I a tour of the wine cellar (pretty cool, and huge, but overflowing with cases of wine since they just got a shipment, which might explain not being able to find things) and apologized for not having the wine we had first ordered. (Like I was going to complain, I got a wine that cost three times as much for the same price, and was fantastic to boot.) All in all, a very good meal, with the added bonus of getting a much better wine than I had originally ordered for a third of the wine list price. We will return.

I agree that Marcel's is not "exciting" but what I love about it is the "Old World" feel that it generates. Impeccable service, great food, good wine, beautiful room, what else could one ask for in this type of restaurant.

It could have been worse, imagine finding half a mouse.