FunnyJohn

Although, I'm reserving judgement, I'm not reserving snark:

This place sounds like an excellent complement to the Cheese Cake Factory across the street.

Maybe they'll come up with a pill that could transform me into a mouse -- I like cheese.

DC may restrict food trucks to protect restaurants

Say it ain't so!

Probably the Norks did it. Or maybe just gremlins.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/21/us-korea-north-attack-idUSBRE92K02W20130321

I think there are two issues in play here:

1) Condescension on the part of the bar tender

2) Not being willing to make available to patrons the "common" and more asked for varieties of whatever.

#1 is just unacceptable

#2 is a business decision as long as it is done without #1

Isn't this the stuff that Jay-Z stocks at his club?

Has this happened to you around here?:

"Shea Berry, a musician living in Brooklyn, simply wanted to grab cocktails at the bar in Prime Meats in Carroll Gardens with a friend last October, but when she ordered a martini made with “a nice vodka,” the 33-year-old got something she wasn’t thirsting for: a tall glass of attitude.

“This is a place that makes their own tinctures and brines their own onions, so we figured they would have some good vodkas,” Berry says.

Turns out, she was wrong.

“We were told that there’s only one vodka and it is very low-grade,” she recalls. The bartender’s attitude was, “ ‘We are only offering you the s - - ttiest vodka because, if you drink it, you are an [idiot].’ It was super annoying."

I'm hoping this is a strictly NYC phenomenon.

Now's an opportunity to reminisce about the last time there was a great restaurant (or in this case, potentially great) in this area.

Any word on plans to have lunch service?

It's Food not Foo, but I agree -- what do we have Food Network for? NBC must be getting desperate.

What's the hate for metro? In Woodley Park, the metro deposits you just steps from the action. I guess since i don't have a car, And since Iive very close to a metro stop, it's easy for me. Plus, I can have that "extra" drink at the Gin Joint, or I can walk down to Veritas for a last glass of wine, without worrying about the legal consequences of DUI.

Precisely! Since my #1 rule is never drink and drive the Metro is a Godsend for me.

The closing of Whitey's was a blow to its many customers over the years, but Josh is right -- the neighborhood ceased to tolerate the drunken brawls and other bad behavior of some of the patrons and the liquor license was withdrawn -- just as simple as that. Not wishing to sound like a snob, I will nevertheless suggest that Tallula was a plus-up for the neighborhood.

My buds with whom I get together for an occasional drink, sometimes at DK or New Heights, refuse to take the Metro from Bethesda -- beneath their dignity or something, but they constantly bitch about how hard it is to find parking, although they always manage, usually in the areas Don recommends.

Yes someone sculpted an entire room -- furniture and all -- out of Belgian Chocolate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=19nXOqiWUH8

From the Washingtonian's Young and Hungry Blog:

Restaurateur Robert Wiedmaier will open his third Mussel Bar & Grille at 800 N. Glebe Road in Arlington this summer.

The rock 'n' roll-themed gastropub already has locations in Bethesda and at the Revel Hotel in Atlantic City. Wiedmaier says the Arlington spot will be "bigger and nicer" than the Bethesda restaurant, but not

as expensive at the one in Atlantic City.

TSchaad

Hot Damn! I guess Green Turtle will have itself some competition.

"8. Bourbon mixes and pairs with many things well thanks to its flavor profile, once described by someone we just made up as "a whole farm buried in a slag mine and then strained through the drawers of a werewolf." Try the following combinations, or experiment yourself:

• Bourbon and ginger ale
• Bourbon and ginger beer
• Bourbon and cheese popcorn
• Bourbon poured into the bottom of a Blizzard and taken into a children's movie
• Bourbon and gummy bears <----A CLASSIC
• Bourbon oh god there is really nothing else on in the world except Choppedit's on everywhere forever and why how did this happen bourbon
• Bourbon and stale uncrustable found under couch=depression tiramisu"
• There are 9 other comments/suggestions.

Click Me!

Did you know that there are side bets during Restaurant Week? Apparently there was at least one: Australian Lamb (which promotes Australian Lamb) sponsored a contest among ten of the establishments participating in RW for who, by customer vote, could prepare the best dish featuring...Australian Lamb. Willow, which you've probably guessed by now, won for its two dishes:

1) lamb, merguez sliders; and

2) cassoulet featuring lamb shank and a sausage made by Jamie Stachowski.

As the winners, Tracy O'Grady and husband Brian will be going on a trip to Australia sometime later this year for the Sydney Food and Wine show which is supposedly one of the best in the world. Tracy wants to get the word out to others in the biz that these kinds of contests could become a fixture during RW, or even at other times of the year, and encourages everyone to consider participating, and for other food producers to consider sponsoring. She would also like to thank all her customers who voted for her lamb. The two dishes are still available -- I had the sliders yesterday for lunch and they are delish! The cassoulet is on the dinner menu.

Old dress code at Dino:

Anything that won't get you arrested walking from your mode of transportation/home to Dino

New Dress Code at Dino

Old Dress Code plus no loincloths with or without bows and arrows!

Darn-it!

John, this is simply impossible. When you spend your dollars, you are supporting the system that produces the product you are paying for.

Just because you choose to ignore the results of your actions does not free you from the outcomes your actions contribute to. Until we understand this, big business will win because of the uneveness of the playing field. Some call that economies of scale, but as a non practicing economist, I think the empirical evidence that political outcomes with real economic results can be bought surprisingly cheap.

I am not a purist by any means. For example, I use lemons year round. But I struggle with the compromises and really try to think them out. For some dishes I use a much more expensive local product {gold potatoes} and for others I use a commercial product {russets}. The russets just don't work right if they are local and I am not willing to compormise my dish. Same with onions, for most soffrito, I use commercial and fo some dishes I use local organic. And, sometimes the local product has more inputs used, may contribute more to global warming etc, but may also be less harmful to the health of the bay, of the ground water and to the folk that grow it. These are difficult trade offs that we make weather we think about them or not.

At U of C Department of Economics, my alma matter, there was a saying: "It's not surprising that every man has his price, its just surprising how low that price may be."

Dean: I choose to conduct my political activities through other channels than the way I participate in the marketplace. While I take your point in general I could say that the potential and probably unknown consequences of virtually every purchasing choice I may make, if I were to follow your methodology, would lead me to don a loincloth, get a bow and arrow, and cook whatever I could kill or obtain through forage on a fire in front of my cave. There are pros and cons to virtually every product we purchase. While you may have personal knowledge that WFM is truly run wickedly, I have heard plenty of stories from persons that I consider equally reputable that it's marketing practices are no more predatory than other large food suppliers. You have given me a good reason to drop in to Dino soon to discuss this further. BTW I did stop in around Christmas time, but you were off that evening. Hope to see you soon.

I have a bottle from Great Wall (in Merrifield) that has a pagoda logo, but everything is in Chinese so I don't really know what brand. It's good though. Great Wall is your best bet for Chinese ingredients in NoVA. Very good produce section as well. Avoid it on the weekends if possible. Parking can be a challenge.

Another reason to avoid Great Wall on the weekends is that some of the prices on meat/seafood are higher than other (slower) days of the week. Although the last time I went on a wkday morning there were buses bringing shoppers in from out of state -- didn't affect parking, but sure did affect the wait time at check-out

Here's the Menu

[coutesy of Urban Daddy]

"Coming later this year: a raw bar and charcuterie station, and a 70-seat patio overlooking the river."

Probably explains why the newsletter described it as a "pop-up" for the time being, as Tujague said above.

This just in New Menu at Guy Fieri's Outstanding Manhattan Food Emporium:

Here's one entry:

Appetizer

Honkey-Tonk Double Barrel Meat Loaded Blast $14.50

A Sammy Hagar lookalike pushes your face into a leather bag filled with oil and if you eat the whole thing, you get to eat a 13 pound burger.

[a cautionary on not registering your own full domain name]

edited to add: I guess I need to look at previous posts before I do my own [another cautionary]

So far works on mice

"Researchers have developed a cocktail of alcohol metabolizing enzymes that speedily reduces blood alcohol levels in drunk mice.

The treatment, which has been compared to having 'millions of liver cells inside your stomach,' could have far-reaching implications for drinkers."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2280254/New-alcohol-busting-drug-sobers-seconds-developed.html#ixzz2LNUZrmDv
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

I'll probably have liver failure before this gets approved for use by humans -- sigh.

CLICK me

FWIW Article by John Fund on this on today's National Review website:

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/340971/mackey-maverick-john-fund .

My criteria on where I will be shopping in priority order:

selection/quality of product

access -- i.e. how easy is it get there and park when you do

comparable price point

customer service

Practically, this translates into an early Saturday morning shopping run to Falls Church Farmers market, TJs and then Whole Foods across rt 7 from TJs. Safeway, for common household products not available at locations above. [since the Farmers Market doesn't open til 9 am during the winter, infrequent stops there.] I agree with Don, that unless there is firm evidence of abuse of children, employees or animals, I will leave political considerations out.