DaRiv18

I recently bought a bottle of Captial City's original mumbo sauce. Haven't tried it yet. I wonder if there is anyone who feels strongly about this signature sauce of DC, or if anyone has any interesting historical observations. Seems that this local product with old roots deserves a dedicated thread. Too bad Kenan hasn't posted much yet I would love to hear the comprehensive history. So allow my to start this crossword puzzle, and hopefully one of youse guys can help finish it!

I gotcha, I misread your post, thought you wanted to do drinks first and then head out for dinner around 9. Another thought is a Firefly- Tabard Inn crawl, plus whatever else is in the Dupont Circle area. Both places have those dedicated lounges that can fit larger parties. Good luck!

Seems like I'm always making recommendations for Union Market, so why stop now? Rappahannock Oyster Bar has Columbia Room alum JP manning the bar there. Buffalo & Bergen features Rachel Sergi and Chris Martino there on Saturday nights, they have a full cocktail list. Righteous Cheese has wine, Red Apron, TaKorean have beer . . . you wouldn't really be bar-hopping per-se, but I am quite sure that you would comfortably fit 8+ people on peak Saturday night hours there and have a relaxed environment for conversations, which seems to be main challenge here. The Market closes at 8, and you'd have to drive elsewhere for dinner, but I think you would get quality cocktails there. Otherwise, I feel like your other options are Clydes or Carmines for large parties, and who knows if you can talk comfortably. Maybe there are other places in VA or MD, Old Towne perhaps?

It was the Cleveland Browns. My final thought on all of this, since there's so much focus on protecting the chef's brand, or the diner's experience, or both. If you're really going to take this on as a restauranteur, might as well look to protect the tipped employees too. If you're going to ban cameras in your restaurant, then you might as well automatically add a gratuity to the check, either as a separate line item or built into the cost of the plate. Look out for everyone involved in the restaurant, not just the chef and diner.

Without any background in this issue, I think this issue has less to do with intellectual property laws, and more to do with contract laws. The venue gets to provide the terms of service, which the guest somehow accepts when they enter the premises. If a restaurant has a clear policy, then I imagine it will be legally enforceable. I think of other places, like movie theaters or operahouses where paying customers are kicked out for having their cell phone ringers on. Sports stadiums, where throwing a home run ball back into the field constitutes an automatic ejection. I recall one story where the stadium had rules for "excessive standing", and they kicked out a fan for standing too much during the game. These other venues have clear policies of terms of use.

To my buddy, a chef, who shook Alice Waters' hand tonight when we dined at Toki Underground. A thrill for him, it was pretty cool to see it! And yes, I started at UM, walked to Boundary Road for a sour beer, and headed to TU only to be placed on a 2 hour wait.

I believe the vendor is called Purée and I don't think it's a pop-up. They do wheatgrass shots and who knows what else, I haven't really explored them. They are now near Harvey's Mkt in the back. Regarding breakfast, brunch and lunch, I don't really think they are representing the market that way, you certainly can't get omelettes there. Regarding Pellegrine selling juice, I can't name a ICH that sells juice, though I'm sure there must be a couple. Regarding Neopol selling juice, they are probably your best bet. There are plenty of strollers that visit UM, I'm sure the kids would also like juice options too. Finally, I don't get the sense that anyone will kick you out if you BYOJ. The tables (not bars or communal tables) are cleaned by the UM cleaning staff, not any individual vendor.

Ah, I finally score some cool points -- I like lighter roasts as well. Glad to hear your thoughts as a roaster. But I guess what I'm asking when I say "baseline": is there a particular bean (i.e. varietal, origin, harvest in your words) that is readily available to most roasters, that is best-suited somehow to evaluate the roaster's style? Or to evaluate a brewer's style? When you walk into an unfamiliar craft coffeeshop, is there a particular v/o/h that you choose just to use as a baseline of evaluation? If not, how do you evaluate them?

Shipping is fairly expensive, unless you really ramp up the quantity of your order. I recall it was like $18 for one order (4 pounds) of bacon, but just $21 shipping for 24 lbs. The good news is that apparently the bacon can be stored at room temp. I still freeze it, and give it away as gifts. There is no substitute for Benton's! The backlog wasn't that long back in April, maybe a week? Still, looking at the numbers, this doesn't seem like such a big markup that Harvey's is doing. I believe they also sell Benton's bacon ends for a lower price. Also, Harvey's Market also has several selections of the Simply Sausage line. It's a cool shop, I don't have to head to Virginia anymore to find ox-tail, and I'm sure this is better quality. Glad you liked Neopol too, I think they are terrific! Their smoked salmon BLT sandwich might be my favorite right now. Really soaking up the entire UM scene right now, I feel (without any inside info) next year there might be that dreaded price bump that many food establishments seem to do.

So, what are your baseline roasts/beans for coffee brewing? What do you look for in them? I need to rethink how I evaluate/brew my cups. Although I will keep an open mind to many of your coffee suggestions, I absolutely refuse to part with my Winnie the Pooh ceramic mug--some rituals are too sacred.

Harvey's Market. They have competitive prices (although I feel Benton's is a bit overpriced) for what they sell. I bought their Roseda beef hot dogs this weekend, fantastic. Between Harvey's, Bear's Honeypot CSA share, and Trickling Springs Creamery and Lyon Bakery at UM, I have been getting about 80% of my groceries in the past month. Our family is eating extremely well these days, so delicious! Next week, will bunker down and buy a pig head from Harvey's, to make ragu, headcheese,and ramen broth. Psyched!!

I guess espresso is a baseline for me, in terms of evaluating a barista's technique as simply "pass" or "fail". When I get a bad shot of espresso, it is pretty clear. When I get a good shot, it is pretty clear. I readily admit that I can't tell the difference between a very good and an exceptional cup of brewed coffee (assuming I've ever had one). I'm using the dubious logic that if an ICH serves me a "passing" espresso, then they must know what they are doing and the brewed coffee there will most likely be a "pass" as well. Sounds like you all trust your sources and techniques enough to appreciate the finer points of the beverage, I'm still trying to establish minimum standards for what an acceptable cup of coffee/espresso is and how to consistently get there. Seems that beans/baristas change quickly in this town. I missed your Living Social class Joel, would like to attend one if you ever repeat.

I'm with you in this case, their website says the cafe offers free wifi and "plenty of seating" until 4:30.

I have never been here before, and I just checked out the website. It says it has a cafe, bar, and dining room. The website says the dining room opens at 5pm, presumably the cafe and bar are open for lunch? Is this "table at the edge of the dining area" at which you tried to sit part of the cafe area or the dining area? If its in the cafe, then I think you have a slam-dunk case, why would she take you away from a cafe table to the bar? If its in the dining area, then it isn't a slam- dunk.

Bump. This thread is buried treasure as I type, and no doubt about to be downgraded as I share my a-ha cocktail moment. I got into cocktails around 2006 or 2007, and the internet cocktails around that time were the Last Word and the Aviation. The Last Word is distinctive and a show stopper, but an equal parts cocktail and elementary to prepare. The Aviation on the other hand, tasted differently every time I prepared it. Plus, you can add a blue liqueur to it so the drink looks like the sky. So either my drink tasted great but looked like a grey mess, or it looked like a blue sky but tasted like a sugar bomb. I was about to move on to another hobby. Fortunately, i began to frequent Central and started chatting with Justin Guthrie. Sometimes he'd hop behind the bar to illustrate a point of discussion, and one night he walked me thru his Aviation recipe. It really was an "a-ha" momment for me. Sour, sweet, balanced and blue. I could reproduce it at home later, and most importantly, I felt I was within the circle! Yeah, I'm holding back details of my "a-ha" momment, it's an in-and-out account, but I'm not normally a kiss-and-tell sorta guy. Excuse me while I drunk text ulysses and subsequently spoon my keyboard for the rest of the long, cold night.

The way you describe it, I agree it is puzzling. But I would encourage you to try it later. We know they arent really ready for prime time yet as it's reservations only, if you know the double secret phone number. I would give them the benefit of the doubt, you didnt work the channels and they did give you conditional access. You already know that cool chefs want to work with them, that must signal a legit experience. Maybe they didnt feel prepared to offer you an experience to their standards. Anyway, it doesnt sound it was personal on their end. Maybe others see it differently.

I saw Ango Orange at the Rhode Island Giant tonight. Shocked. $8 for 4 oz bottle. Saw the same bottle today at the liquor store on P St next to Dupont Circle for $20.

If by "standbys" you really mean generally accepted classics, then it shouldn't be an issue. Like, I'm 99% sure you could order a daiquiri or Mai Tai anytime and they'd give it to you. 80% sure Zombies and Suffering Bastards too. But involved tiki recipes or Stump the Bartender requests, then you probably need favorable conditions, I agree with DCDuck and ad.mich.

I bought one about 4 hours ago, they were sliced probably a third of an inch thick.

I really like Central's bar. Long, roomy, comfy seats, has a nice mirror where you see pretty much everyone else. Brightly lit, not pretentious. I guess POV's bar is distinctive. Styled as a sushi bar, with chairs instead of stools. The actual bar is a light source, very modern. Plus the Washington Monument looms larger than life in the window behind you. Dim and pretentious.

That's my secret to most leftovers, put a fried runny egg on it! Yum. I need to get another pastrami sandwich.

Rocky Rancilio grinder, it's a burr grinder. I bought it with my Ms Sylvia since it's the same company, it was recommended :-) and it wasn't super expensive compared to others. Oh I got the doserless version, so the coffee is dispensed as soon as it is ground. With the doser version, the grounds collect in a separate container that can be dosed into your portafilter or coffee filter. The downside is that leftover grounds stay there until you make your next coffee (the next day?) and so you're not using freshly ground coffee. I'm not completely confident this addressed all your interest in the grinder, why have past grinders failed for you? We're they burr grinders?

I don't think they are very redundant at all. 2009 was the last year they did spirits ratings, so no worries there. 2010 draws on many more bartenders for the recipes vs 2012, and has more variety. I personally like it better. But 2012's format is to feature 4 cocktails: a classic, a slight riff, a major "re-invention", and the mocktail version. I recall upthread that this might interest you.

I like red vermouth, but I'm trying to address the issues of being the only drinker at home, with a family including a nursing child that makes it awkward to have drinking buddies come over. Basically, I'm trying to minimize citrus and multiple open bottles of apertifs. Jeff Faile at Fiola likes to sub Averna for recipes that call for red vermouth; therefore, I have been using more Averna instead. Jon Harris likes to add cassis to dry vermouth or Byhrr, that seems to be an occasional riff he does for a couple red vermouth recipes. In short, I feel dry vermouth is more flexible than red vermouth can be, although I acknowledge it is by no means a perfect subsitute. I am just trying to keep my apertifs as fresh as possible and choosing the most flexible ones. Eliminating red vermouth may be a short-lived experiment . . . Similarly, I'm trying to reduce the citrus I have on hand. I like to eat the peels (yes, I'm a freak), so I buy organic citrus, but I always seem to waste some product here due to spoilage. So I've been making and buying shrubs. I said one of my house drinks is the martini, actually it's the Gibson with a pickled cocktail onion instead of a twist. But Negronis demand an orange twist. I guess I am an Old Overholt and Pikesville guy. But I also like Wild Turkey Rye, Ritenhouse B-I-B, Sazerac 6 year old . . . I'm fine with them all. I love Red Hooks but I don't want to drink them everyday, so Punt e Mes is out. I guess I'm not a big Tanqueray guy or other many other gins. Adam Bernbach recently told me people approach martinis much like their cigarettes, they are loyal to their brand and I guess that is true in my case. Bourbon I am trying to branch out more, currently I have the Wild Turkey Rare Breed going. I may soon join a neighborhood whiskey circle (my daughter's best friend dad is into that, and our wives are cool with each other) so I may up my bourbon game here soon. I have resisted being a pour and sip guy, just because making cocktails was an important culinary act that I could perform daily without too much further time committment, but it's time to expand my horizons. Besides my house drinks, I also try to keep some local recipes that I love; Chantal's Tabard Cocktail, Adam's Darkside, Derek's Getaway, plus various classic drinks that Justin Guthrie prepared for me when he got me into cocktails. Tom Brown made me a sherry Aviation that I like to make too. I also love Robert Hess's Trident and I like making Mai Tais and gin fizzes. That means I usually have Milagro Reposado Tequila, Lustau Amontillado Sherry, Drambuie, Barolo Chinato, Cruzan Blackstrap, Cynar . . .

I'll have to try it the next time I see it at a coffeeshop. I use a Clever Coffee Dripper at home, but I could use additional devices for visiting family.