Tweaked

as Mark suggested the addition of a couple rashers of bacon is paramount.

Fall is definitely on the menu at Sonoma...try the fall mushroom ragu with pumpkin puree (listed on the First Course portion of the menu)...it is the essence of fall on a plate.

The first impression when walking into Montsouris is, hmmm, they haven't changed it much from Johnny's Half Shell, fresh paint, some modern accents, but the lay out is pretty much the same...but given the narrowness of the space, really is there much you can do with it? While Montemartre goes for cozy neighborhood bistro, Montsouris is much more reflective of its Dupont address, hipper, more modern style. Food is plated much more minimal, most on long narrow rectangular white plates, little pots are filled with sauces, and mini cooking vessels contain sides dishes. The menu is significantly larger than Montemartre's. There are some duplicated dishes, such as the beet tartar, some borrowed dishes like the hanger steak (in Montsouris case presented with mashed potatoes rather than fingerlings) and the menu skews heavily to beef. Entrees included Hanger steak, kobe beef, steak tartar, and rib eye is presented 3 different ways. Entrees also included lamb, duck confit and pork. What seems almost as an after thought, 4 fish dishes are buried at the bottom of the menu. Now to the food. Yum! The most stunning dish is the bone marrow appetizer, a 8 inch veal bone sawed in half length wise and roasted, served with grilled bread and sea salt. The best tasting, the steak tartar, wow, I need to try it again, but quite possibly going down as one of the better things I've eaten this year. Other winners included the shrimp appetizer, the chicory salad with bacon and gizzards...and the rib eyes, juicy, flavorful pieces of meat...The Kobe beef wasn't much too write home about and I wasn't that crazy about the pomme frites which were limp. The only disappointments, the desserts were pretty weak (then again, dessert isn't the strongest course at Montemartre either), the red wine was served too warm (although they do have one of those refrigerated cases like Sonoma for wine by the glass, looked like about a dozen choices), and the place is LOUD...Tuesday night restaurant is half full and still hard to hear your neighbor LOUD. All in all a tasty introduction to Montsouris which certainly helps to elevate the dining scene in Dupont Circle.

GUMBO! I have several types I want to try making involving ham hocks. Braising, braising, and more braising Also the honey crisp apples at Eastern Market have been very good so far, juice, sweet, tart. I love apple season!

I'm heading there Tuesday night for dinner. They got a write up in Daily Candy earlier this week: Montsouris, the new French bistro named for the Parisian park, where the ingredients are fresh, the preparations are healthy, and the meal is full of flavor, not guilt. There’s an extensive choice of by-the-glass French, Italian, and American wines to go with French classics like steamed mussels, paté, and frisee salad with quail eggs. Try butcher steak with golden mashed potatoes, bacon, chive, and creme fraiche — it’s the chef’s signature dish. I like that steak, mashed potatoes, bacon and creme fraiche is being considered healthy

Build your own ice cream sandwich night....bake up some different cookies and then a couple pints of ice cream and lots of different toppings to smash into the ice cream (cold stone creamery style)

so this was a year or two ago, but the Harris Teeters at Pentagon City does (use to?) sell Salamida's Spiedie Sauce. Doesn't Binghamton have a lot of carousels?

How do you know your brother married well? when his mother-in-law (who I have never met!) sends you a package of home made daikon radish kimchi. So who else gets care packages from the relatives? Ethnic food stuffs that are only good when homemade? Regional delicacies not found in DC? Childhood favorites that only mom (or dad) can make right? Spill the beans...

crap, guess I'm not going to the picnic then...I hate these DCU Sunday games, all DCU games should be played on Saturday or Wednesday nights, kick off at 7:30. Still save me some pig for pickin

Yet again the DR picnic is scheduled to conflict with my Sunday soccer league I'll be arriving very late, like 4pm, and guess I'll bring a reserve quantity of beer...save some pig for me to pick at.

I do enjoy a glass of processco or champagne before dinner or else a well made whiskey sour...starts the meal off on a civilized note. I also enjoy a glass of madiera (or port) after dinner.

The word at Montmartre is they are planning a Wed. Sept. 20 opening for Montsouris

It's funny I've never had bad service at Montemartre, although I've heard complaints from other people. I guess because of it's neighborhood bistro atmosphere I'm not expecting the level of service one gets at say Komi, Corduroy, Eve etc. or maybe I just love the hanger steak so much that I overlook any service errors.

I swung by Montsouris today (former Johnny's Half Shell space) for a looksie. Tables are there, deliveries being accepted around back, and from what I could see a more modern looking space then Montemartre's neighborhood bistro decor. Hopefully an open will occur soon!

My parents live in Calabash, NC and having tried several of the Calabash fish fry shacks they are nothing to write home about...in fact they are pretty awful...like most of the touristy food to be found in the Greater Myrtle Beach area...now Granny Allyn's -- a small breakfast and lunch joint in Calabash -- that is a place to be praised, 6 types of sausage on the menu! Unfortunately in Calabash Escoffier, none of these places make anything remotely like an unadorned, carefully fried oyster with a bit of home made cocktail sauce...this is deep fried for the masses, during the summer there are 3 hour waits at the waterfront restaurants in Calabash.

we devoured a good portion of the Montemartre menu last night, Pate, smoked salmon plate, beet tartar, snails, hanger steak, rabbit leg, calf liver, berry tart, chocolate cake, creme brulee...excellent as always. The owner said that they doing some work on their Dupont location and are hoping for an opening around Sept. 15 (but you know how that goes) Can't wait to have Montemartre 5 blocks from my house and their new restaurant 3 blocks from my office.

I like cilantro mixed in with regular salad greens.

On vacation...they reopen after Labor Day...still not sure how they survive but I still love their grilled lemon chicken over noodles.

Eating at Banana Cafe two weeks ago...their salsa was akin to canned tomato sauce.

I stopped by Jaleo last night (DC location), had a couple tapas, had a couple standbys like the bacon wrapped dates, but the real standout was the boneless pork rib with roasted peppers...lovers of pork belly will appreciate this dish. The soft shell crab tapa that was on special was rather disappointing, I'd skip it.

I love me some polenta, but prefer mushy polenta to the hard roll polenta... mushy polenta is pretty easy to make, you can buy cornmeal for dirty cheap at any grocery store, bring 4 parts half and half barely to a simmer, slowly sprinkle in 1 part corn meal and stir (avoid lumps), salt, pepper, allow to cook for 5 minutes or so at a low heat, finish with cheese, herbs, dollop of butter...goes great with winter type dishes, shanks, mushroom ragu, caramalize onions etc. It's one of those super easy dishes that blows everyone away, but takes all of 10 minutes to make.

Apparently the host has a bakery in Baltimore

ahhh, Palena how sweet you are. Swung by around 8pm last night to a full house, after wedging ourselves in the bar and a glass of prosecco, we manged to score two seats. Bartender Chris was a little frazzled when we got there, but lightened up as the evening progressed. It was friend Matt's first Palena outting and I think he was suitable impressed. we started out with an order of the lobster and king salmon cake. A small tasty treat with a ginger infused, tarragon, buttery, wipe the plate clean, sauce...was it worth it for $15...perhaps a little steep, but delicious none the less. Next we went with a cheeseburger and the fries plate. Matt, "this might be the second best burger I've ever had" two bites later "No, no, this is the best burger I've ever had" nuff said. The fries plate was good, I thought the real winner was the fried lemon slices...but I'm a sucker for lemon. We then segued into the an order of the chicken...lucious as all ways...I thought the spice mixture wasn't as well rounded as past chicken I've had at Palena, but it's just damn good chicken. After giving some deep thought to the dessert menu, with nothing really jumping out at us, we left it in the hands of Bartender Chris. He gave a strong No to the cheese plate, the cheeses not handled to his liking, and we settled in for the Blueberry Cobbler. Now niether Matt nor I are big blueberry fans, but these were really good blueberries, a solid end to Matt's first Palena Experience

Big Bear Malt Liquor $1.55 a 40, two of those was a good night of drinking Our Yammy Board* in college was sponsored by Busch Lite Draft (which came in a can) We use to go to a bar that had Genny Cream Ale for 25 cents a glass...it use to be served in the those little plastic diner OJ cups *Yammy Board was our year long tally on who in our dorm puked the most.

I ate the same lunch every day throughout high school and loved it. Cafeteria school food sucks. 2 Marmite sandwiches on store bought white bread a small bag of Lay's potato chips a Little Debbie snack cake (usually Star Crunch) piece of fruit 2 chocolate milks