Joe H

At its best Guajillo is the best Mexican restaurant (of sorts) in the Washington area. I prefer it over all of the places in Riverdale although it is very different. It IS inconsistent but at its best the mole, ceviche, several margueritas and some of the specials (carne asada) would do justice to most anywhere this side of Juarez or the Grand Canyon. No, it is not as good as So Cal's best-actually not nearly as good (Zora, I was just posting about La Serenita de Garibaldi-have you ever been there?), but for the D. C. area we should be thankful it is here. Perhaps more than anything it FEELS just like any other nondescript funky little roadhouse would feel in Tiajuana. For me with the right bartender and specials it hits the spot. For those who use this as a "lounge" for anyplace else they are missing something special. Don't go in here and orders tacos or burritos. Go for what is mentioned above or whatever the special of the day is. And pretend there is a border you have to cross outside to get home.

For some you'll have to pick up the phone and call. I was married in Malibu and know SoCal as well as DC. Second Joe's. My wedding dinner was at Puck's Chinois on Main which is his best restaurant, superior to anything similar in America. Sit at the food bar in back or a special treat. For a weekend reserve three weeks in advance. It is still THAT popular. In Santa Monica, Georgio Baldi's is very good Italian The Border Grill is the restaurant from the two who were featured on the Food Network for several years. Worth a visit. La Serenata di Garibaldi is arguably the best Mexican restaurant in Southern CA. The original is in Boyle Heights but there is a fairly new outpost in Santa Monica. You will not find this in the DC area just as you will not find anything like Chinois (with all due respect to Ten Penh). On the line between Venice and Santa Monica is Chan Dara which is arguably the best Thai restaurant in Southern California. It is also different from the Thai restaurants here. I've been to it at least a dozen times over the years and sometimes find myself really missing it along with In 'n Out Burger which you MUST go to. There's one in Venice in front of the airport. "Killer Shrimp" is a block or two up the street and worth a visit if the weather is good and you can sit outdoors sopping up the vaguely New Orleans style shrimp with French bread. On the boardwalk in Venice is what I believe is called the Sidewalk Cafe. Anyway, this is ground zero in Venice Beach with a large outdoor area fronting the boardwalk. Nobody sits indoors. Everyone sits outdoors. They have GREAT breakfast. For Malibu, Geoffrey's is not that good but it is where almost everyone goes to have a drink. Fantastic view. There is a roadhouse on the left side of the PCH going south, about two miles south of the Colony. The name escapes me [Malibu Roadhouse, Closed] but it is a dump-a very real roadhouse. But it is very, very popular and more than decent. Further south, on the right fronting the Pacific is Gladstone's which is a local landmark. Generally, this is California's version of Phillips. Having said that you do not go there for food. You go for ambience and the remote broadcast of Howard Stern when he is in L. A. Save your calories for Santa Monica and Venice. And, if it's not too late, stay in Marina Del Rey. On Admiralty. Preferably at the Marriott. A fantastic neighborhood for walking, only a half mile from the start of the Venice Boardwalk and well worth the cost of the room for a day or two.

Sometimes, an event like this offers an experience that is not available to the general public. There is not the alternative to go another evening and expect the same. Rather, a chef (Fabio, Roberto...) will go all out because they enjoy, they live to cook for this kind of an audience. It is a very real loss when one who lives to eat or drink is not able to share in what they present. Two of the best meals of my life have been at their restaurants but neither was available to the general public-no matter how over the top that public thought their own experiences were on other nights. This kind of a dinner is an event, a landmark in one's life. There is also an excitement, an electricity if you will, in the room. A very real sense of anticipation with what the next dish will bring heightened by the enthusiasm of the "believers" who share the chefs' table. Exercises in excess at Maestro and Laboratorio are extremely rare just as it is not everyday that a new Star Wars movie debuts. For the reason that there is one theatre to see Star Wars in, the Uptown, with the legions of fans who live for the next chapter and celebrate every moment when it is finally presented; there is one group to experience a restaurant like Maestro with. And that is at a dinner like this. Especially when it is organized in his name. He should be at the head of the table.

Isn't Don going to come to this?

By the way, was the Wine Show at the convention center cancelled this year? In the past it has been in February and, I would have thought, very successful. Yet this year I've seen no mention of it anywhere.

"Complain" was too strong of a word and I do apologize for that. But I DO believe that there is a very real LOCAL market waiting there for someone to capture. A D. C. store can be in the position to go after the suburban customer in the same way that the NJ or NY store can with the one great advantage I mentioned: you are so much closer. My guess is that the Wine Library/Sparrow/PJ/etc. are focusing on the metro NY market. There's 6.3 million people now in the D. C. area with half of them across the river from you. Someone is going to "mine" this. I am really surprised that unlike the NY area store no one has really gone after it yet. Especially with all the competition on Monday morning in the Post and fighting off Total, etc. Anyway, fortunately not everyone is like me. Take care.

The advent of the internet and, recent state and Supreme court decisions, have changed forever how I and many others buy wine. To use an example, if my wife and I drink 10 bottles a week (including entertaining) and the average bottle is $15 a bottle that's $8,000 a year wine. Include in this an occasional $30 bottle and a very occasional $50+. We're now over $10,000 for wine. I'm using prices from the Internet and competitive stores. Using 20% as a guideline that's $2,000 more that I am paying if I buy all this from a local store. Yes, sometimes I can get a 10% case discount locally but sometimes I get 30, even 40% buying through the internet. With shipping, especially on a bottle that lists $25 or more (Sierra Cantabria 2001 Cuvee Especial this morning was $24.99 at Calvert Woodley-I've bought three cases for $16.99 from the Wine Library.) the cost of this becomes almost negligible especially when you factor in 9% D. C. sales tax versus no sales tax when shipping into D. C. I am not going to give you $2,000+ each year. Your alternatives for buyers like me? I bought two cases of 2003 Altos de Luzon this morning from Paul's for $13.99 a bottle. The extra dollar plus the D. C. sales tax equals the $24 per case shipping I pay out of the Wine Library (or Sparrow or a half dozen others in New York and New Jersey). Paul's will match the internet price if I am buying multiple cases. Of course I then have to drive from Reston to upper Northwest and bring it home. As opposed to typing on a computer and moving the boxes in from under the mailbox in front of my house. I will give Paul's a chance because I respect their efforts. But I've found that I can buy a mixed case of wine-12 individual bottles-from the Wine Library/Wine Club/Sparrow/Woodland Hills, etc. and use my own curiosity and research to turn up bottles certainly as good, if not better, than what anyone in any store can recommend for me. This changes your life and everyone in the retail wine business, a second blow coming after wholesale warehouses like Costco. I type this because rather than defend and/or debate this I believe you are wasting time. A year from now there will be more people IN THE HABIT or WHO FEEL COMFORTABLE buying off of the internet and buying in volume (especially with internet merchants now shipping 3 and 6 bottle packs in addition to 12 bottle cases) that you will not make up the ground. The cost difference is tremendous. I am more than willing to throw away a bottle that is bad. For $2,000 + I can throw away a lot of bottles. The Wine Library and a number of others are at the forefront of this. MacArthur and Calvert Woodley are in it. Why don't you advertise (Wine Library is on WINS) and let people know that someone living in the 3 million populated Northern Virginia suburbs can buy from your website and you will ship to them via Fed Ex ground. Buying wine off of the internet from D. C. is a helluva lot more preferable than buying from New Jersey. Or California which I rarely do anymore. There's a very real opportunity if you will accept volume and a substantially lower margin. But for the reason that more and more American manufacturing AND ENGINEERING is going offshore (no one has begun to talk about engineering-that's huge, huge (($80-100,000 a year jobs are being lost right and left)) ) there are a lot of adjustments coming to industries and livelihoods because of the internet and globalization. Wine is one of them. I am not unsympathetic; this affects me in my business, too. My industry is different today than 5, 10 or 25 years ago when I started. I've had to learn to adjust. All those on this board who complain about out of state wine-this is only beginning. Rather than complain, take the oportunity to go after this market.

I made this again tonight for good friends visiting us from Ohio. Last night we went to Maestro, tonight I cooked. Quattro fromagio risotto was the first course and caramel pecan ice cream made with a hand cranked White Mountain freezer and Lewes Dairy heavy cream was the dessert. In between the Snapper Verz Cruz. I found that Wegmans in Sterling had two three pound Red Snappers that they fileted for me, yielding with the skin off about 2.4 pounds. This despite having red snapper filet in the case-I firmly believe that fileting the fish to order is better. I made the sauce a day early and let it sit overnight in the refrigerator. The result was awesome. Serious. I apologize for my braggadacio but this is a relatively easy dish to make but if you source it correctly the result is just delicious. I served it with steamed asparagus which I drizzled with good olive oil and Reggiano that I grated on top. The recipe above notes 20 minutes approximate for baking. The filets tonight, a bit thicker, took almost 30.

It's the California Grill at the top of the Contemporary. The chef who opened it many years ago is the same chef who opened Seasons 52. Puck's places have nothing in common with Spago or Chinois in LA other than his name. I can't separate the Disney properties from Orlando so see my comments about a number of them under the Orlando thread. Supplimental to this Victoria and Albert is a remarkably expensive affectation that now pales to a number of other restaurants that have opened elsewhere in Orlando. Jiko is an interesting restaurant in the Animal Kingdom Lodge possibly worth a look. For middle of the road Bahama Breeze across I 4 is better there than elsewhere in the U. S., perhaps much better. There's another on I drive. Disney would love to have you spend every minute of every day on their property. Don't be afraid to leave it. Last, I reviewed Orlando restaurants for a 50,000 circulation trade paper a year ago.

Del Frisco's on Lee road is one of the best steak houses in America. It is NOT connected to the Lone Star owned national chain. It was set up by the original owner of Dallas' Del Frisco's (from the '80's) and is owned by friends of his who wanted to create the excellence of the Dallas original in Orlando. It is by far the best steak house in Orlando. Unfortunately everyone in Orlando knows this and they go there. But, because it is on the far side of downtown, you won't find an awful lot of tourists. I 4 to Lee rd. and turn left. You can also have dinner at the bar. And the bar challenges Seasons 52 for popularity. (I was the first one to mention Seasons 52 two years ago on CH.) Seasons 52 sometimes has over two hour waits on Friday and Saturday. Also, if you get there by 6:15 or so you can usually get a bar seat even if there's a large convention in town. By 7:00 it's almost imossible unless it's a weeknight and no conventions. I've been there about 15 times over the past two years and feel pretty comfortable with these time frames. Across the street from Seasons 52 is a decent alternative, Moonfish. Not great but locally very popular and worth checking out. Vito's is good for the price on International Drive. I also like Flying Fish and Spoodles both on Disney's Boardwalk. Spoodles is very similar to Jaleo and I think as good. Flying Fish is considered by many to be Orlando's best seafood restaurant. Locals like Enzo's on the Lake for Italian, Maison et Jardin in Altamonte Springs and Norman's in the Ritz Carlton; the former is Orlando's version of L'auberge Chez Francois and the latter, if Norman is there, is awesome. Awesome! If he's not it's good but not great. I am not a fan of Emeril's although Tschoup Chop is better. I do like Chatham's Place which would be my number one alternative to Seasons 52, just a few blocks away. A lot of locals; signature grouper dishes.

I found the Wine Library from Winezap. There is another excellent one, www.wine-searcher.com which is international while winezap.com is American.

That's exactly it! I just haven't seen it in the Whole Foods in Vienna and Reston. But it's great butter!.

Any sweet onion that you can find, Mayan, Texan, etc. I use a "decent" chardonnay such as Beringer, etc. A good friend suggested that I consider a pinot grigio if I wanted a bit more "bite." I have not done this yet. Mascaparone-any that you can find. ------------------------ As I have raved about risotto I have also raved about ice cream. Tomorrow night I have to make the custard and then Friday use my hand cranked White Mountain freezer with rock salt and ice to start the ripening of it. When I get a chance I'll post the recipe for this. It's pecan caramel where I make the caramel, then mix it into the base. I use Lewes Dairy heavy cream (2/3) and cream top Harrisburg Dairy whole milk (1/3) along with butter, eggs, etc. As much as I brag about my risotto....my ice cream is better! ......of course if it doesn't turn out for my friends who are driving from Ohio to meet us on Friday I will never live it down. And have to pay for their gas, tolls, car, etc. Perhaps with my life! Did I mention that I'm also making the risotto for them? And red snapper Vera Cruz? And Spanish wild mushroom soup with a 14 hour stock reduction?

Please see the post immediately above your's which was posted about the same time. Yes, with the rind removed. I've never made a half portion of this or any other risotto. It may turn out perfect; I honestly just don't know. There's a lot of work that goes into sourcing the ingredients for this-it's also expensive. Violane nano is at least $4.00 and 16 ounces is the smallest package it comes in. Of course you could use it twice but I know chefs who, when they receive their arborio, they immediately put it into baggies for additional protection. I really just don't know how a half portion would work using this technique.

I really don't think I'm as bad as I must sound in this-although my wife might have a different opinion! Thanks to Principia, Pat and Jacques; points are well taken and appreciated. This is a serious dish that I have a great deal of pride in. There's also a lot of history behind it and another risotto. Anyway, enough is enough... 1. I'll buy, say, .60 of a pound of dolce and slice the rind off. I'm guessing that I'm left with about .5 or 8 ounces. I'll chop this into cubes and let it sit at room temperature for at least an hour before starting. 2. I'll buy .50 of a pound of Reggiano and grate a little bit less than about half of it into a bowl (just before starting) so I'm estimating that the amount I use is about three ounces. 3. Whole Foods is probably fine. Sometimes I use my own, sometimes I buy the frozen and add a cup of water. It's not very strong but works well. Some homemade stock can actually be too strong as I've found out. 4. This is horribly fattening. When refrigerating the leftovers the consistency over night will be almost like butter. Serious. Having said that it's good cold. But this is the type of dish, it is so rich that you really could get 15 or so servings out of this, probably 8 or 9 bites each. I make this as a first course in a 5 or 6 course dinner.

There is another important point here: I posted a second recipe for Red Snapper Vera Cruz about the same time that I put this on the board. For that I was not authoritarian. In fact I really didn't say much of anything. There's a lot of flexibility in that-many, many things in it and about it can be changed. But this risotto is really tricky-there's a LOT that can go wrong. When I hear people talk about changing this or that I know in most cases what the result will be. This is also a really balanced dish. There's an incredible amount of rich cheese and butter in it-there s very little margin for error in what the final version should taste like. This is not a casual recipe, it's not for an inexperienced cook. It's for someone who takes food really seriously and wants to taste the best of something. That's why I am specifying food and technique. In any event I have learned this is not the type of forum for this type of recipe. Snapper Vera Cruz yes but not something like this. It's not a problem. I was just excited that it had turned out so well since I've thought about making it for a long time and wanted to share it. So be it. At least I made the point, regardless of how received, it's not mine unless it's made exactly the way I make it.

Honestly, for this I've always used Red Snapper because that is the dish most commonly used in Spain. I've also not had any difficulty in find them. I suppose other fish would do as well. I like rockfish a lot; that might work well with this. For that matter the sauce might even taste good on certain kinds of pasta.

What is the point of even using a cookbook? Isn't the purpose to know what somethings TASTES LIKE before you change it to your own taste? And when you do, and it may no longer have anything in common with the original recipe, do you think the original chef/author even wants their name associated with "based on?" THERE IS AN IMPLICATION THAT THE NEW VERSION TASTES SOMETHING LIKE THE ORIGINAL. It may not. Do you go into a restaurant and ask the chef to change a dish to suit your personal taste? When you've never had it before? Do you go to In 'n Out Burger and order well done fries on your first trip? Or do you go to In 'n Out Burger and order fries and find out that you may have preferred their being cooked crisper? If you're on the Boardwalk in Ocean City and you've never had Thresher's french fries, for your first time-do you ask them to cook them longer? Or do you order them, eat them and then on your second trip ask them for the change. Did you also know that for years, for decades Thresher's didn't have ketchup. Just salt and vinegar. Because the owner (Buddy Jenkins) believed that french fries tasted better without ketchup. He preferred the "Belgian" style. And served them that way. The principal is the same. I wonder how many chefs on here would have an opinion on this discussion. On people asking for their dishes to be changed without the customer ever having tasted it before.

Respectfully, but this is MY recipe. "I guess I should make it, although at a much smaller yield, and see if I like it." I would ask you not to make it. Whatever you do make will not be mine. If you don't like it-it's NOT my dish that you didn't like. Let me ask you this: if you were given the recipe that, say, won $10,000 in a major cooking contest and you were curious what it tasted like, would you make it correctly the first time? Or, would you make it differently? Your dish may not have won the prize. As for cooking is "fun," well, that's fine. But cooking for me is fun as well as being all about the absolute best version of a dish that I can make. As for Taleggio and Gorgonzola going together how would you know if you haven't made it the way I wrote it? "I would love to hear how things turn out for anyone that makes this dish. For those that think that risotto is difficult, its not." Risotto is an art. If you think great risotto is not difficult, tricky, etc. you have never had it. Are you aware that different gorgonzola dolces taste different? That Mauri, a more intensely flavorful brand, is no longer available in the D. C. area? The same brand with different "veining" can taste stronger; leaving the rind on can produce a too intense flavor. Tallegio is similar. There are different kinds of Reggiano, all varying a little while a fresh, whole wheel has cheese which is more "moist" in the middle when it is first cut into. There are different Violane Nanos. I've carried Ferron back on airplanes because it's difficult to find here. At Le Calandre, the Michelin three star in Rubano, he buys his violane nano from Alba, bypassing one of the major nearby areas in the Veneto where it is produced. Risotto will taste different from the kind of stock/broth/bouillion you use. Just as soup does. I buy my pistachios nuts from Heart of the Dessert in Alamagordo (www.heartofthedessert.com). Arguably they are the best pistachios in the world-with all due respect to Iran. I toast them in an oven, not a microwave. I chop them in large chunks-some people prefer them almost pulverized. Large chunks produce a contrast in texture to the creaminess of the cheese and arborio; you do not have this with the latter. And then I should talk about texture. How many restaurants do you think in the D. C. area consistently do a good job with risotto? Roberto and Fabio-of course. (I've made this or the gorgonzola for both of them by the way on separate occasions). Who else makes great risotto in the D. C. area? How often do you find a restaurant where someone stands at the stove for 20 minutes and stirs? Have you ever had Roberto's Alba truffle risotto? Or Fabio's Grappa risotto? These are great risottos. I don't think they would want you changing their recipes if you were goin to make "their" risotto. Do you know how to judge texture, when to add more wine or stock, when to stop stirring? How quickly do you add the last four ingredients? Did you leave the pot on the heat when adding the first two cheeses and take it off for the last? Why did you do this? Why a Forelle pear which is only available in certain months? Great risotto is not easy. If your goal is rice that you like then make it anyway you want it. Don't insult me and take my recipe and try to make it your way without first making it mine. And why are you asking for people on this board to make it and report? Did you read any of the three links? There were 300 or more responses to several versions of the original thread. Many, repeat MANY people made this. At least half of them-like you-wanted to make it their way before knowing what it was SUPPOSE TO TASTE like. I couldn't believe this. I still don't. Which is the point of all this. They and you are not making MY risotto-which is what interested they and you to begin with. The frustration of all this is that no matter how authoritarian, no matter how demanding I am people still want to change a recipe without knowing what it tastes like. Last: I am protecting myself. When somebody wants to make "my" risotto "their" way and then tell someone they didn't like "my" risotto. I want to make certain it WAS my risotto that they didn't like-not their risotto. Sorry for my attitude and tone. I really am. I really do apologize for what I must sound like. But I don't know how else to say this: don't make it unless you make it my way. If you do it's not mine.

My recipe based on first making one from Gourmet, then a second from Norman Van Aken (which I actually had in his Orlando restaurant), a third from Zarela Martinez-then taking elements of each and changing to my taste. I've probably made a dozen or more versions of this before settling on this.

Several years ago I posted a rather infamous recipe for risotto on Chowhound that became something of a legend: I could not have been less flexible nor more authoritarian in stating how to make it. Still, despite my insistence on not changing one ingredient nor altering one step at least 15 of the 40+ that I know who made it, changed something. I had people tell me it was impossible that I used so little stock, others that I was using far too much butter, many more ask me why I would want over a pound of cheese and a half pound of butter in any one rice dish where there was only one pound of rice? So they made it with less. One person asked me if it could be made in a pressure cooker. Another if it could be baked. I was even asked if Uncle Ben's would do. Several told me it was great then noted they used bouillion cubes and "cooking wine." And gorgonzola that wasn't sweet. Reggiano that wasn't Reggiano. Olive oil that was Wesson. And so on. This is a different recipe. It's a bit more complex. Don't change a thing. Don't even THINK about changing anything. If you have to ask the question "if," then DON'T MAKE IT!!! But if you do, and if you follow this exactly sourcing the ingredients as specified with sources listed below you will have a risotto that will challenge anyone's. Even anyone's "absolute best." I've probably made my gorgonzola risotto for 20 or more over the past several years. I made this for the first time this past weekend and believe that it may be better. 1/4 cup olive oil 1 cup sweet onion, minced 16 ozs. violane nano 1 1/2 cups white wine (I use chardonnay) 3 cups good chicken stock, warm 8 ozs. gorgonzola dolce, room temperature in cubes (slice off "rind") 6 ozs. Taleggio, room temperature in cubes 1/3 cup Mascaperone 3 ozs. Reggiano, freshly grated 6 ounces unsalted Vermont butter, room temperature in cubes 8 ounces coarsely chopped unsalted pistachios, toasted in oven for three or four minutes @350 degrees 2 Forelle pears, 1/4" dice salt pepper In a heavy 3 quart saucepan heat olive oil over medium/medium high heat. Add onions and saute for minute; add rice and toast for two minutes, stirring constantly. Do not let dry or stick to bottom. Add wine and cook until reduced, stirring constantly-about two minutes. Add stock one ladle at a time and, stirring constantly, cook until absorbed. Continue to add stock until all is absorbed. Then add gorgonzola, continuing to stir for 30 seconds. Add Taleggio and continue to stir for another three minutes. Take pot off heat and add, in order continuing to stir, Mascaperone, Reggiano, butter, pistachios and diced pears. All of the cheese must be at room temperature when added. All should be absorbed within a minute or so into the risotto. When completely absorbed this will have a creamy consistency yet each individual kernal of arborio will be visible. The texture will actually "set" with a few minutes. The recipe and size of portions and ingredients are correct. This is rich; extremely rich. Approximately 6,500 calories and will serve at least 8 depending on portion size. Sources: violane nano (Dean and DeLuca, Italian Market in Vienna, Balducci's) (Note: Wegman's does NOT sell violane nano) all four cheeses and Forelle pears are available at Dean and DeLuca, Whole Food's and Balducci's. Wegman's does not carry Forelle pears however does carry all four of the cheese. Chicken stock does NOT come from a can; it is homemade; failing this frozen chicken stock sold by Balducci's, Dean and DeLuca and some Whole Foods is a decent substitute. Vermont butter is fantastic American made butter-the price reflects this! It is sold by Balducci's, Dean and DeLuca and Wegman's. Whole Foods, inexpicably, does not carry it. Original post from 2002: http://www.chowhound.com/boards/general11/...ages/30466.html There were additional threads including this one: http://www.chowhound.com/boards/general16/...ages/52105.html And this one which includes one of the best I ever saw on CH from "torta basilica" http://www.chowhound.com/boards/general16/...ages/52298.html

Red Snapper Veracruz 2 lbs. fresh red snapper filet, skin off (ideally two 2+ pound fish that the fishmonger has gutted and fileted for you). 2 28 oz cans San Marzano tomoatoes ½ cup olive oil ¾ cup finely chopped sweet onion 6 -8 garlic cloves, chopped 6 bay leaves 4 tblsp. chopped fresh parsley 1 tsp. Mexican oregano ½ tsp. thyme ½ tsp. marjoram ½ tsp. canela (ground cinnamon) sea salt pepper 20 pimento stuffed green olives 25 pitted Kalamata olives 6 tblsp. Golden raisins 4 tblsp. Capers 2 pickled jalapeno chilis, stemmed, seeded and cut lengthwise in strips 1 cup white wine (Chardonay) Place drained tomatoes in medium bowl. Save juice remaining in cans. Using potato masher crush tomatoes to coarse puree. Drain again, reserving all juice. Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and stir one minute. Add garlic and stir one minute. Add tomato puree and cook one minute. Add bay leaves, parsley, oregano, thyme, marjoram, cinnamon salt, pepper and three quarter cup of reserved tomato juice. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add olives, raisins, capers, jalapenos, wine and remaining tomato juice. Simmer, stirring occasionally until sauce thickens again, about 20-25 minutes. The sauce can be made a day ahead. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spread 4 tbslp of sauce on the bottom of each of two 15 X 10 X 2 inch baking dishes. Arrange fish on top. Spoon remaining sauce over. Bake uncovered for about 20 minutes.

Arguably Mizuna is the best in Denver http://www.mizunadenver.com/ I have not been to Frasca but a friend "whose opinion I trust" raves about it. Highlands Garden Cafe is also interesting but not on the level of Mizuna. If your taste runs to Rocky Mountain oysters or rattlesnake marinated in red chili and lime you may want to give serious consideration to Denver's oldest restaurant, the "unique" and interesting Buckhorn Exchange. http://www.buckhorn.com/

Wegman's bread is not as good as the Bread Line. Nor is it's soup as good as New York's Hale and Hearty although several flavors are close to the Bread Line, gumbo among them. It's cheese shop competes with the Whole Foods in Vienna, perhaps even surpassing it. Wine is a disappointment. But this IS a supermarket. Pizza is decent. Subs are, too. Perhaps more so-just don't expect Atlantic City. Entrees are also "decent"-maybe real decent considering their price. Pasta can't compare to a single restaurant in D. C. where they make their pasta in house. But, after all, this is a grocery store. Remembering this it's really pretty good. Their salads don't compare to Sweetwater, Houston's, Coastal Flats or a dozen or even two dozen other restaurants in the D. C. area. Maybe three dozen. But this IS a grocery store. For that they are awfully good-better than any other. Their Chinese food does not compare to Chinatown. Or any of a dozen other places raved about on this or other boards. But, again, this is a grocey store and they have about 60 different entrees on a steam table-they are all at least as good or a better than a neighborhood Mom and Pop takeout. They also have Serrano ham. And Proscuitto. And Black Forest from the Schwarzwald. And fantastic chocolate. And, seasonally, dry aged bone in Prime rib @$14.99 a pound. Don't laugh-it's $23.99 @Balducci's! And Zweigle's hot dogs in natural casing. Red and white. Hoffman's, too. And the best horseradish mustard of all to go on them! Five cases of Coke for $10.00. Fancy feast for thirty nine cents a can. Vermont butter, both salted and unsalted. Shrub's pickles from Toronto. Violane nano AND Bomba-both under one roof. Dinosaur chili and chocolate Babka among New York's best. Route 11 potato chips AND Martin's chips. Fairfax has a total of 35 registers to ring this up, Sterling has 33 total. On weekends all of these are open and there are no empty spaces in the 900+ space parking lot at Fairfax or God knows how many at Sterling with most full. Think about this for a second: 900 or so spaces @two per car, perhaps more than this considering that Wegman's attracts seemingly more families on weekends than individuals-it's an event. That's TWO THOUSAND OR SO CUSTOMERS SHOPPING IN ONE STORE AT ONE TIME. Two thousand!!! or more. There is only one other Wegman's-and I have been in over twenty others-that even comes close to this and that is their former showcase in Rochester. Both of these are superior to it. Actually far superior. And to Woodbridge, Princeton and Norristown and every other grocery store whether it's called Central Market in Austin or Plano, 275,000 square foot Woodman's in Racine and elsewhere, 285,000 square foot Jungle Jim's in Middletown (bigger but nowhere near as good), Larry's in Seattle, Byerly's in Minneapolis, Schnuck's in St. Louis, Stew Leonard's and on and on and on. No they are not Pike Place nor Bologna nor the market on the Ramblas in Barcelona. But they are ours'. We're lucky to have these two. They're worth the occasional drive from downtown. And farther, perhaps much farther. I've seen West Virginia license plates in the sterling lot. As much as I love Washington, D. C. there is nothing else even close to them either here or anywhere else. Just accept them for what they are: a grocery store. A very, very special grocery store, not in another city for us to talk about, wishing they were here. Wishing we could have something like this. They are here. They are our's. Unfortunately fifty thousand or so other people know about them and another several hundred learn about them every weekend, giving in to seeing what they are like, only to return over and over. Still, Wegman's is growing. Leesburg is next.

Stay downtown on Sunday. Or Georgetown or Old Town. You've come to D. C. Take advantage of it.