Ericandblueboy

You must go to Cochon.

The way Rock described the oil as fresh made me wonder if the scallion pancake was deep-fried. In addition to Peter Chang, I've had other deep fried scallion pancakes - they're just being lazy. No one's supposed to deep fry pot stickers either but some places do it.

Did they pan fry or deep fry the scallion pancake?

Other than the food court, there aren't really any cheaper and better restaurants in that mall. Actually, Neisha Thai is cheaper and better but it's only accessible from outside the mall.

My wife wasn't hungry on Friday night and all she wanted were chips and dip so we went to La Sandia. The guacamole was mixed at tableside but it wasn't made at tableside. In any case, it was pretty bland, (they don't use garlic or salt). The chips weren't salted either. The chicken tamale was a little hard and not piping hot (likely microwaved). The duck mole enchiladas were tasty to me. I'm not a fan of thick bitter mole and this mole did not taste like chocolate, more like the brown sauces typically found at Tex-Mex joints. My wife did order the tortilla soup which tasted like a bowl of Swanson's broth with a few pieces of shredded chips and chicken thrown in as an afterthought. I know On the Border isn't authentic and doesn't claim to be but at least they serve tasty food, good portions, and at decent prices.

Joe, where's your review? I even looked on CH. A simple yay or nay would suffice.

Given that the online menu has prices, I was surprised to see they had switched to prix fixe format of $55 for 3 courses. $55 for 3 courses, what a bargain! Based on what my wife ordered, she basically got the dessert free. Anyhoo, let's get back in sequence. My wife wore blue jeans (no holes) and a white parka and she was easily the most underdressed person in the restaurant. The white parka wouldn't have been very noticeable but for the fact we had the lovely window table which conveyed the sense that our table must be colder and therefore she must keep the jacket on throughout dinner. As for the dinner itself, we added the Rouge Vif D`Temps Soup as a fourth course for $11 (which happens to be the price on their online menu). They kindly split our soup into two bowls so we can share. It is excellent as others have stated. We couldn't taste the foie gras in there though. For the next course, I had to try the sea urchin pasta. The pasta is served with shredded dry seaweed. I'm assuming the concept is similar to uni (urchin, seaweed, pasta instead of rice). To me the seaweed was overpowering the flavor of the urchin pasta. The pasta itself didn't taste sufficiently of sea urchin - just enough to give my wife the yucky face but not enough to satisfy my urge to eat raw urchin. Caveat: I've never had sea urchin pasta before so what the hell do I know about what it ought to taste like. My wife had a slendid lobster carpaccio. She normally doesn't eat cold seafood, whether raw or cooked but apparently she breaks that rule when the seafood is lobster and the restaurant is Corduroy (she also broke that rule at Komi). My one and only bite was full of flavor and the lobster meltingly soft. Our entrees were venison loin and seared whole dorade served over cold pressed olives (special of the evening). My wife loved the venison and I loved the dorade, which was seared with some garlic. The fish was beautifully cooked and the flavor was magnificent. There is a little work involved eating a whole fish but very much worth the effort. We were very impressed with the restaurant.

I really enjoyed the Faccia Luna at Glover Park. I thought the pizza there was better than at Clarendon. We also tried the place that replaced the Faccia Luna and didn't think the pizza was as good. This all happened years ago, so am I nuts or does anyone else feel the same way?

I'll be wearing a jacket and kkakis. I just need to be able to answer my wife's inevitable question. I'll tell her to wear dark jeans. Women tend get more slack at restaurants.

What is the dress code here? I know my wife's going to ask if she can wear jeans.

I want to come watch the sideshows.

Wagner is basically a nazi but people still listen to the ring cycle.

I'm flexible - anywhere between 11:30 to 12:30 is fine with me.

If Present is open for lunch, I suggest we go to Present on Fat Tuesday.

Is this place open for lunch?

I think I'm good every day next week (prefer Monday thru Wed tho). I'd go try Miu Kee, Peking Village, Jasmine Garden, Pho Cyclo, Four Sisters, A&J, Present, any Korean joint, Luzmilla's, Caraquena, Llajtaymanta, or other suggestions.

How does that break down? How much is the beer, cocktail, and rolls?

Wisp We picked a good weekend to go skiing at Wisp but I can't say we picked a good restaurant. First, the ski report. My wife's a total beginner and I've never gotten off the bunny slope myself in my prior skiing experience (last tried 20+ years ago when the skis are still longer than your average SUV). You'll recall last week was quite warm but the weekend was cold enough for them to make snow. In addition, we got about 3 inches of real snow, which added some charm to our experience. We took a group lesson for absolute beginners, i.e., doofuses that never even put on ski boots before. With the new short parabolic skis, I had no trouble steering myself. My wife was less successful and she wiped out every time down the bunny slope. I then convinced her we should go to be the beginner trail since it's likely lessed cramped. She proceeded to wipe out twice on each of her first two runs down the trail (Possum) because the steepest part of the trail was very icy and she's not very skilled at turning. On our last run, I told her to just go straight down the steep part and then try to turn and slow down afterwards and she was able to make it without wiping out. We generally had a very positive experience skiing at Wisp. We also went tubing the next day and that was a ton of fun as well. As it was Valentine's weekend, we avoided going out to eat for dinner on the sappy night itself. On Sunday night, we went to the Cornish Manor. The menu was much shorter than what was posted online. I ordered some little neck clams cooked in white wine, and mussels mariner which never arrived. My wife had a steak caesar salad (overcooked steak, our server said she'll bring us some dressing but never did, but the salad itself already had dressing) and a bison burger, with gigantic buns and a little piece of ground bison hidden somewhere in there. Our friends ordered the steak au poivre and prime rib. We all thought the food wasn't bad (for being in the middle of nowhere) but the service was terrible. Our server, a nice woman in her 40s or 50s, really had no clue. My wife's salad was delivered at the same time as her burger. I was mistakenly given the steak au poivre and when told of her mistake, she kindly told us the plate is very hot. So I used my napkins to pass the plate to its rightful eater. It took forever to have our wine refilled (we ordered by the glass so couldn't refill ourselves). Down in the Carribean they live on "island time." I suppose in Deep Creek Lake, they live on "deep doo doo time."

I have no idea what you're talking about. Can you simplify it for me?

Sophisticated palates also prefer squab not well done. So why the double standard? Why make excuses for Carla but not for Stefan? Are they trying to say squab isn't universally served medium or medium rare? Well, if that's the case, neither is fish (there's not a single Chinese fish dish that isn't cooked all the way through that I know of).

Stefan was in a bit of trouble there last night. Judging last night was somewhat ridiculous. Some people thought the squab was overcooked but others did not. But all judges thought the salmon was overcooked. From what I can tell, the salmon was well done, that means it's overcooked? As for the quickfire, I wish the judge would say he wants something simple or ornate. Who've thought Wiley wants a simple green eggs and ham? He sure doesn't dish that shit up at WD-50. Instead, he serves some less than tasty foamy stuff.

Have you been to that porridge place (Dduk Sarang)? Is that a potential $20 Tuesday spot?

How many pieces do you think is in a box? Two pieces of uni sushi can go for $7 to $8 these days (if not more).

Coincidentally we already have reservation for the weekend of the 21st.

I love uni. Unfortunately the night we went to Komi, the urchin pasta wasn't part of the tasting menu. Is the razor clam in the chowder? I would love to try the razor clam somewhat unadulteratd first.