Ericandblueboy

Who's the bug eyed host (I know her name, but who is she)?

Got a whole pie with pepperoni, sausage, onions, and garlic. I only ate 3 slices and the rest of the pizza is sitting in my car (I've left the sunroof open and the windows cracked, all in the hopes that when I go home after work, the car won't smell too strong). I think the pizza is pretty good, as good as Church St. Pizza. They use small pepperoni (I prefer big slices of pepperoni that gets crunchy during the baking process). I personally like Flippin more than Pietanza.

I enjoy watching the show although I don't think they really need another Food TV personality. I think people tune in to watch the disaster much like Hell's Kitchen. Hollywoodreporter.com

EGA is now open. Still doing buffet for lunch fo $12. The selection is skimpier. Not as many panchan dishes on the buffet, about as many hot dishes as before, and only miso soup (use to have the spicy beef soup in addition to miso). The sushi selection is also smaller. On my only trip, they had shrimp tempura on the buffet - unfortunately they were barely warm and the tempura sauce was definitely cold. They have seafood pancake now whereas the old joint only served scallion pancake. Unfortunately a soda is $2.50. I did not fully scout out the place but I did not see any cook at your table BBQ setup.

Not a big fan of desserts so I went with 4 appetizers last night (which ended up costing $56) while my wife ordered the prix fixe. In my ideal world, every meal would consist of at least 4 savory courses, which meant I starved all day in order to indulge at dinner. The red snapper bisque was interesting. Thinly sliced raw red snapper was placed in the bowl and the the bisque (tastes like lobster bisque) was poured over the fish and thus cooking it. I really liked the fish and I wish there was a little more of it. My wife's pea soup with smoked bacon served cold was well received by her. My second course was the duck egg and leg salad. I shared this with my wife but then I regretted it because I loved the dish. My third and fourth courses consisted of softshell crab and squid ink pasta with crab meat. I'm gonna say I was not a big fan of their softshell crab which was served over a bed of greens. The greens got wilted (as described on the menu) and the softshell got soggy. As for the pasta, I probably could eat a double portion as an entree (in my ideal world, there'd be sea urchin in the pasta as well). My one bite of my wife's rare big eye tuna was fabulous. She tells me the sushi rice and seaweed salad were also fabulous. I did not order dessert thinking we would stop by Moorenko on our way home. My wife tell's me Moorenko is no longer there!

that's what I'm talkin' 'bout!

I would very much prefer them cooked in the shell so that you have to get your fingers dirty eating. Crabs taste better with effort, I think. I also like bitter gourd (the green warty-looking stuff also used in Chinse cooking?). I'll see about rounding some folks up for this feast - worst case scenario I drag my unsuspecting wife and mother-in-law (guaranteed to never have thought about eating curry crab in shell). I guess I'll just e-mail you with respect to a time and date with plenty of advance notice?

Chef Seth, can I persuade you to prepare a crab masala with a whole dungeness crab (or perhaps you can suggest another crab if dungeness isn't the best tasting iin your opinion)? I can go to either Spice Xing or Passage to India. While I'm at it, I might as well ask if you'll prepare a chili crab. Anyone else interested? Maybe we can organize a crab tasting outing if chef Seth agrees to prepare the crab(s).

Ostensibly because you don't see Saks bags in the Anacostia?

There's no such thing as undigestable tendon. You're just not trying hard enough.

Learn to balance stuff on your head? It's pretty amazing what Africans can do with their heads.

I love these voluntary taxes. You have a choice to pay it or not. If you don't want to pay it, you'll soon remember to either (i) carry a grocery bag with you, or (ii) learn to carry milk and bananas without plastic bags. Paying this out of general revenue means a higher tax on everyone who pays taxes. It's a like a gas tax. If you don't drive, you shouldn't have to pay the tax.

Business was brisk today. Most of the front room was occupied at lunch today, I sat in the dining room next to the bar. Many servers were on hand although only the owner/manager noticed that my diet coke glass was empty. My order was taken quickly and the food arrive without undue delay- Mosaic Pathway was a delicious cellophane noodle dish with lump crab meat (I wouldn't say the crab meat taste was extremely noticeable), and the sauteed assorted vegetables portion is larger than my prior visit and tasted quite nice. They have home-cooking down for sure. I'll have to try more banquet stuff.

Why my brother? What's he ever done to you?

Looks like she ran into a fearless, brutally honest and tactless server

We somewhat enjoyed both Blue Point in Duck and Ocean Blvd in Kitty Hawk. At Blue Point we tried the caesar salad, she-crab soup, risotto with duck confit, seared scallops, grilled quail and a roasted pork belly special. The risotto did not taste like it was made with arborio rice. I suppose since I was expecting creamy melt in your mouth rice, this was a little disappointing. The food was generally on the saltier side of norm but perfectly cooked. If I go back, I'd do the quail again (it was juicy and succulent). At O-Blvd, the menu is a little more exotic - we tried a cheese plate, seared tuna sashimi, OB skillet, duck confit strudel, and shrimp and orecciette pasta. The cheese plate was a selection of boring cheeses, the tuna sashimi was a mess of food (fried wonton wrapper topped with salmon roe and nori pickled cucumber salad in addition to the tuna, this was supposed to be an appetizer), the OB Skillet was sausage, cheese, tomatoes and garlic swimming in a pool of oil, the shrimp overcooked and the housemade pasta rather dense. The OB skillet is visually daunting but tasted good (once you fish the ingredients out and put them on the crostini like self-assembled pizza). The tuna sashimi wasn't the highest grade of tuna but again it tasted good. Our friend who ordered tuna as an entree got a well done steak even though he asked for it medium rare. Both restaurants have small menus (what you see on their website and a few specials). ETA - Kill Devil Grill makes a really good Redneck Cuban sandwich. Pizzaz Pizza is okay (don't go to Cosmo's between 3-5 because they're closed). Bowling in Nags Head is $5 per game with $3.5 for shoes rental.

I don't know how things are supposed to be in Vietnamese restaurants but in Chinese restaurants, as long as the appetizers precede the main courses, that's all that can be expected. Since everything is shared, there's no expectation that all appetizers would arrive at the same time, or that all entrees would arrive at the same time.

What is the point of making all these reservations and then not showing up? Just to piss off the restaurant?

Heading to Kitty Hawk tomorrow. Any recommendations for fine dining?

How is this person gaming the system? Is she somehow getting points without showing up?

Crab dishes seem fairly limited in DC - (i) steamed/boiled (with or without Old Bay), (ii) crab cake, (iii) crab stuffed in other food, (iv) fried soft shell, and (v) stir-fried crabs (only at Cantonese joints). Have you seen other predominately crab dishes? Passage to India has a crab masala, any good? What about Vietnamese or Thai crabs? Malaysian?

What did you order? I was looking forward to trying their Shanghai specialties but now I'm less enthused.

Glady's isn't really expensive. I think you can eat for $15 (if not $10) or less per person. Try the salt fish.

He got people to read GQ. What else do you want from him?

I've seen detractors of 2 Amys say their pizzas are gloppy. Is Alan Richman saying that's the nature of Neopolitan pizzas? So someone who complains about 2 Amys being gloppy should just avoid Neopolitan pizzas? I've never been to 2 Amys. Do they generally used diced tomatos instead of tomato sauce? Is that what separates Neoplitan from NY pizza?