FunnyJohn

I've scheduled my daughter and me for our semi-annual dental appointment tomorrow. I don't think she would enjoy grabbing anything at the Grill, but I plan to take her somewhere for lunch -- Mendocino likely -- before depositing her for some work at Mom's office downtown. Anyone up for HH someplace?-- I may just go back to Firefly for a bubbly start to the weekend.

Tom, thanks for meeting our merry group in cyberspace. My question is how do you manage to sample a number of dishes for a review without tipping off the establishment that it's you? Do you go in with a group and have a bite of what others order at your table, or do you surrrepticiously grab a forkfull off of some other unwitting patrons plate ? (I'll bet there is a really simple answer that will make me smack myself in the forehead and say "doh!'.)

Oh and as to the ad itself -- my guess is it was written in German by the Austrian owner and then translated into English -- sounds like Awrnold...

This ad has to be a joke, right? Craigslist? Yeah, I know its free, but so are the classified ads at DR.com. And the obnoxious lack of nettiquette.... shudder.

No joke. craigslist is a legit way to do classified ads on the internet. Looks like its pretty widely used.

click me

Wine War Fermenting?

See page 21

Which review was the "titanic" -- I cant find the link in the online chat...

I think he was referring to his review in last week's Post Magazine on kAFFE Leopold.

Re CPS bitch-out:

What we had here, people, was a failure to communicate.

First, customers can't communicate how they actually would like their beef prepared.

Then, they can't communicate that they would prefer not to have dessert.

Then they can't communicate why they would like to just f@#$ing finish their wine, and that the hostess' well-intentioned effort to molify them was only making them more ticked-off.

Finally hostess really did communicate -- albeit unprofessionally, but nevertheless understandably -- by irritably rolling her eyes.

This is the stuff of true comedy if not for the potential damage to the establishment's reputation.

Looks like they are trying to beef up the staff:

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/ret/80235518.html

"We need energetic ,reliable and fast people "

Yep. At least on some level the message is seeping through.

I'm going there for dinner tonight.  Has anyone been there yet?  Any recommendations?  thanks!

Cathy

So how was it?

A word about the pizzas. I have generally enjoyed the pizzas here. I learned a valuable lesson there about this type of pizza: too many toppings make it suck. Simple is better. That said, they have a very satisfying pizza for brunch that covers all the bases: mozzarella, basil, tomato, sausage, ham and 2 eggs!

This a "simple" pizza? Oh I get it -- no artichoke hearts

Actually I took my young cousin there after watching the new Star Wars flick a few weeks ago for dessert. I thought it was pretty good. We sat at the bar, he had milk and one of the pastries, I had cognac(s) and also a walnut chocolate cake that was delicious. The bartender was friendly and helpful -- the hour was post dinner and the place was not very busy. It's open from breakfast til late in the evening and the menu looked good for light dining. The wine list is exclusively Austrian -- which I think can provide some good wine finds. Anyway I plan a return visit and will see if it was my first experience or Tom's that was a quirk.

What simdelish said!

I have a GE profile double oven -- one of which is "convection" (I guess it's the two element kind) and it has a convection roast setting as well as a convection bake. Although I'm not a frequent baker, I do use that setting when I get the urge to make bread or a cake, and I use the convection roast all the time. Great for chicken, but works well with everything, except roast prime rib where I use a low-temp setting in the conventional oven -- but that's another story...

I might add that the buffalo burgers at Martins ain't bad either.

Could it be because...

The place sucks?

Check the "On a Whim" thread for when there is a "meeting" for the wine happy hour. There was a pretty good crowd of us in there for the sparklers last Friday. Funnyjohn, me, Melgold, Hillvalley, Babka, JPW. Heather and party were there for dinner. The busboys showed up just as Funnyjohn and I were leaving.

John Wabeck at Firefly says he will bring out some sparkling wines for Friday's wine happy hour if we can get a small group together to help drink them.  Is anyone game?

Count me in

Jill's Tri-Tips -- weighing in at just 8 ozs. must be the tip of the tri tip. The ones mentioned above available at Trader Joe's wer much bigger - enough for a meal for three with leftovers. Still sounds like a good deal at $6 a lb.

In today's Weekly Dish: Mark and Orlando's 2020 P Street NW. Possible venue for a Rockwellian HH in the near future?

I'm off to ______________ (insert name of as yet to be determined Metro-accessible restaurant with relatively inexpensive menu and comfortable bar here) this evening. Anyone else looking for some Rockwellian action? I think it should be somewhere not yet reviewed on DR.com.

Can't do anything tonight, but I am organizing HH at Sonoma on Thursday. Basically my fellow knuckle draggers, but any Rockwellian that feels the whim is invited to join in the general merriment.

Can't do the math, but this is a similar product at what may be a slightly better price (230 grams is about 1/2 lb.) and it's jarred not tinned. Gourmet Tuna

Ladies and Gentlemen, I think we have a winner.

Better make a reservation if you intend to dine! Wonder if the crowding will abate once the upstairs opens. Doubt it.

So I guess that Tom thinks that the trail we blazed at Ray's was a happy trail...

I can hear Roy whistling now...

Anyone know why our omnipotent host is member #2 and not #1. Is this just a case of self-effacement?

Edited to add: This is a matter of great ontological import.

Anyone know if the doors are regularly open now for lunch?

Why yes they are. And apparently the White House has been notified because the First Lady was amongst those present this afternoon.

I will take a stab at answering Mr. Dente's fair questions about our strange horse consumption policies and practices:

First I think that the role in our culture and national Id for horses drives a lot of our laws banning domestic consumption.

Related to this is a the existence of a large, wealthy and well-connected group of people who have sporting, and similar hobby types of interests associated with horses.

We have similar policies for dogs and other common domestic pets, don't we.

And now to my own discovery of the edible side of the equine:

When I was a young and pretty much all the time poor but hungry intern in Geneva, Suisse I found at the local food marts something identified as "tranche panee". Thinking that these are what they looked like -- a breaded veal cutlet, I regularly dined on these as the price was right. Although I noted a kind of strong and gamey taste, I dismissed this as being due to the difference between American veal and European veal.

It wasn't 'til I'd been in Geneva for about six months that a girlfriend explained to me that I was eating Trigger