Choirgirl21

Well I see you made your rez for Komi, but I just wanted to chime in that I had my dinner in the tasting room at Eve Wednesday night and it was phenomenal. I would highly recommend it, maybe for your next birthday. Hoping to get around to posting a full review in the Eve thread sometime this weekend.

Yeah, I wouldn't go again, unless I had oodles of money to spend on dining out frequently. But I think it's worth it once for the experience. I'm going to Restaurant Eve on Wednesday and plan to report back afterward. There were two people going this weekend who were going to post their reviews on the Eve thread - one already has.

I am apparently the odd man out, but I didn't love my Komi experience. Maybe it was an off night? I did love Minibar (in Cafe Atlantico). I'm a little behind, they were supposed to expand Minibar so I don't know if it's open or not, but if it is, I think it's worth it to do it once. Recommend the champagne flight with it if you do.

Looking forward to both of your reports. I'll be going in one week (next Wednesday). In particular, any standouts off the menu that we must order, please let us know. Another general question, for those of you that have gotten wine pairings, how did you fare? I'm leaning against doing it this time and suggesting that DBF and I just get a bottle of champagne. My motto is "Champagne goes with everything" and generally, even in the best of restaurants (Komi and Charleston come to mind) there are always one or two pairings that are just "meh" for me (wine is good, food is good, but nothing special together). If I'm paying another $75 or something (not sure if Eve has that sort of set price option or if it's just order by the glass as you go) I want to be wowed by every pairing. Maybe my expectations are too high, but nonetheless, that's what I'm thinking this time around. Plus, we'll have to drive back to Laurel and I'd like to remain sober throughout the meal so I can savor every bite. Thoughts from anyone who has done the pairings?

Well thanks to those of you who gave input. I've made a final decision...we're going to Restaurant Eve's tasting room!!! I got smart and realized that it was really dumb to take BF out for his birthday on Wednesday and then have him take me out (with friends) on Saturday, so we're pooling our money and going to Restaurant Eve instead. Since he's turning 40 we're going on his birthday. I am so excited!!! Anyway, sorry if I appear to have wasted your time, but in the end, you guys got me thinking and all of that led me to this brilliant revelation.

I thought about Corduroy too. I have only eaten there once, at the old location, but the scallop dish remains to this day the best I think I've ever had. I really enjoyed our meal there, although my companion was slightly less enchanted. I decided against it for this meal simply because of the environment. From what I've read, the new location isn't any better in terms of it being a bit quiet and well, sort of boring. I'm officially adding Blue Duck to my list of contenders. It actually just moved to being a top contender. I remember now why my friend gave it mixed reviews. Not every dish was outstanding, but the main issue was the price. Since you have to order sides separately, it added up quickly. It seems from reviews (and the servers sometimes even suggest this) that you're better off sharing apps and/or meat dishes, but with only two of us, I have the feeling we won't be able to restrain ourselves as we'll want to try as much as possible. That, combined with the insane wine prices and it will be pretty darn expensive. I think it's time for me to just recognize I'm going to drop my life savings on this meal, wherever we go.

I thought about Blue Duck briefly, but a friend who went had mixed reviews. Some of the dishes were very good, but others were just so-so. I'll read up on it though, and the other suggestions. I keep meaning to go to 1789 around restaurant week as they always offer a similar deal for a couple of weeks. Maybe they will have already started it...

I started off with the idea of taking DBF to Founding Farmers for his birthday next week. Recent reviews seem to be positive and I know he would appreciate the green construction and local food sources. Decided I shouldn't limit myself though and started thinking about other places. Cityzen or Restaurant Eve would be top choices, but they're just too expensive for me right now. I am willing to do anything else expensive, just not that "upper tier tasting menu" sort of expensive. Palena has always been on my list of places to go, and I hear good things about Tabard overall, and it being a romantic spot. 3 very different places, I know. In the end, I may just give BF the choice, but wanted to get your thoughts on these places, and other suggestions if you have them. Thanks!

Hmm, Buck's is an appealing idea. I've never managed to get there, and BF and I actually considered eating there once but decided we weren't up for a full meal at the time. He was really interested in checking it out though. The thing that appeals about FF for BF's birthday is that he's also into green materials - I know he'd appreciate the architecture (if it's as good as the site advertises) and learning about the materials used, etc. in addition to the local food. I'll keep Buck's in mind though too - thanks for the thought!

Has anyone been recently? I'm considering taking my boyfriend there for his birthday next week since we both live/eat/shop by the green/farm-to-table concepts, but I'm nervous about the mixed reviews. The more recent WP reviews do seem more positive, as if they've worked out the kinks. Also curious if a private table (the website mentions some upstairs) would be cozy enough for a birthday date? Thanks!

I'm making a chanterelle rillettes recipe from Bon Appetit today that calls for dry marsala wine, but I only have sherry, port and Maderia. Thoughts on which would be best to sub in. I'm thinking no tthe port, which leaves: Sandeman rainwater madeira Osborne medium Oloroso sherry I'm leaning toward the latter only b/c the recipe has a splash of sherry wine vinegar as well. Thanks for any help you can give.

Hmm, your comments actually make me think DBF would like these bars. Go figure. DBF is really only interested in bars - he'll eat bars that have spices added (we really like the Dolgin cardamom and white pepper for instance) and he likes those Vosges bars that were mentioned earlier, but his true love is a bar of very good, very dark chocolate. He'll even occasionally nibble on 100% bars, which I just can't handle. I was initially drawn to the Valrhona estate chocolates because of the presentation (they come in a wooden box), but I can't seem to find them anywhere (they're all sold out) so I've resigned myself to having to make my own packaging anyway. I think right now I'm leaning toward a sampling of darks from Cluizel, Valrhona, and Amedei (thanks for the link to the Academy of Chocolate awards article btw). I'm really glad to see all these links to local chocolate shops - I had no idea. Sadly there will be no time to visit them between now and his birthday so I think I'll be doing all of my ordering online, but I'm making notes for future occasions. Thanks for all of the input so far, this has been helpful!

There was a recipe in the Thanksgiving issue of Gourmet for parsnip puree with brussel sprout leaves. I think of them as a cross between carrots and other root veg like turnip and rutabaga - you can do a lot with them. They're great just tossed with some other root veg in olive oil and some good herbs (thyme, rosemary, sage) and roasted in the oven. Or I made a root veg puree for thanksgiving that would probably be good with parsnips too (I used about 1/2 and 1/2 rutabaga and turnips with a few potatoes thrown in). Infuse some heavy cream and butter with garlic, rosemary, thyme and sage and blend that into your mash, DELISH!

We've already had those. I bought him the bacon and chocolate for his birthday last year (and I love the smoked almonds and sea salt bar). Local is a possibility. We're both very into supporting our local businesses and I eat local/organic meats and produce 95% of the time, but I guess I wanted to go with the well-known higher end bars. I'll keep the local option in mind. May have to stop by for a taste testing beforehand. It's tough to beat a Sacher torte flown in from Austria for your Austrian boyfriend. I mean, where do you go from there?

I'm looking to get some very high quality dark chocolate bars for my boyfriend for his upcoming birthday. I read about Valrhona's estate chocolates in Wine Spectator, and have also seen a recommendation for the Michel Cluizel Noir de Cacao in a Chow report on a chocolate tasting. Then again, a report in the SF Gate rated Dagoba the best readily available chocolate and I've never been impressed with their chocolates at all (chalky!) so I'm not sure how much faith I can put in online reports. Does anyone have any feedback on these, or recommendations for other ones to get?

When I read this I thought you must have misread my post because I know the difference, but you're right, I said roasting!

Lunch today is a turkey reuben, or rachel, whichever you prefer (with coleslaw instead of kraut - I prefer it that way with turkey). Don't worry, my T-day dinner was on Saturday, not Thursday, so they're still safe to eat.

If you care about buying local/humanely-raised pork, which can be very difficult to find, I recommend ForestFed Pigs. It's where I got my belly and to boot it is the BEST tasting pork I have ever had, I mean phenomenal. He delivers periodically to Silver Spring. I ended up rubbing my belly with a rub of salt, pepper, and about equal parts of coriander and fennel that I lightly toasted and then ground and left that on overnight. The following morning I seared it, then deglazed the pan with white wine. Cooked carrot, celery and onion in that liquid until just tender, then added several cups of homemade chicken stock and a sprig of thyme, poured it over the seared belly and roasted it for about 3 hours. There was enough roasting liquid to immerse about 2/3 of the meat, but the fat side on top stayed out of the liquid so it got nice and crisp. When it was done, I pulled the pieces of belly out, skimmed the fat off the liquid and reduced it. When it was time for dinner, I reheated the belly in the oven at 325-350 and rewarmed the sauce on the stove. Each piece of belly got just a bit of sauce and a quail egg on top. I have to say, it was phenomenal. Everyone raved about it. I would attribute most of that to the quality of the meat, but the cooking method also worked out really well. A friend who had cooked the same belly (we split a whole one) said it was how he'd hoped his would turn out and wanted to know what I had done. I think the trick was keeping the fat side out of the liquid. Thanks to those who gave input. I have belly left so I will probably experiment with some of your other suggestions next time.

I'm subbing pork belly in for a rib roast in a dish I'm making for a modern Italian themed dinner club tomorrow night and I'm trying to finalize how I'm going to cook it and when. I was thinking I would braise the belly for a few hours and then just crisp up the fat side (the rind has already been removed from mine) right before serving. The dish is the pork belly topped with a fried egg (I'm going to use quail eggs for size) with a salad of frisee, gorgonzola, lardons, and pickled onions w/a gorgonzola vinaigrette. Some things I'm not sure about. I've read about braising the belly and then weighting it down overnight to compress it. I'm not sure if this is really a necessary step. I wouldn't mind braising the belly tonight just to have one less thing to do tomorrow, which would facilitate this, but then I'm not sure about heating the belly up before crisping it tomorrow. Would I save the braising liquid and reheat it in the oven, or would bringing it to room temp and then pan-frying be sufficient? I think I'd want to reheat a little in the oven at least. The other thing about braising tonight though is that I was going to rub the belly with ground fennel and maybe some coriander and let it sit overnight. It's also still partially frozen although by the time I get to it tonight it may be completely defrosted. That may be what decides it for me. Actually, what I may do is rub it and leave it overnight, braise it first thing in the morning and then let it compress throughout the afternoon. Anyway, thoughts? What's your favorite method for cooking belly?

I have and generally have enjoyed her food. At least as of the last time I actually ate there, she focused on small plates that had an asian twist. However, I went on Wednesday night for a Top Chef season premier party. $35 a person for "heavy hors d'ouvres" and the season premier shown on a projector screen, cash bar. We did finally get to taste all of the hors d'ouvres, once most of the other people in the bar had had their fill as the 3 servers who were covering the entire bar (125 people) kept skipping over those of us who were seated in the corners. When we finally got to taste the food, it was incredibly disappointing. Lots of overly sweet asian sauces, an egg roll that had some fishy (oyster?) flavor and a dill sauce (this one was downright bad), or otherwise one note dishes that seemed to rely heavily on spiciness to make up for the lack of flavor. The kicker: at 9:59 when they announced that their cable was broken and we never got to see the show!!! I'll find it hard to cheer for her after that experience, although I'm still inclined to root for someone local and I certainly won't be rooting for the caterer. I can't wait to see if Jill is still around when they do the inevitable "catering" episode (a wedding or some other large event). I expect that will be her week to go home. Disclaimer: Red Maple did offer us 2 free drink tickets at the gay bar across the street (Central something?), which they said had a TV where they could air the show, but we opted to not stand for a full hour watching TV in a noisy bar and went home and watched it on Tivo instead.

Well I went, and it was an utterly disappointing experience. I think our mistake was leaving the bar for a table because at least in part our service was an issue. The waitress was very friendly and attentive overall, but she wasn't particularly knowledgeable about the wine or the food. I realized that pretty early on and after my first taste, which was an insipid (I don't think I've ever used that word to describe a wine, but it's appropriate here) pinot nero she recommended, that I should just make my own choices. Pretty disappointing given it's a wine bar, but I'm not clueless about wine so fine. What I couldn't stand was when I asked her to remind me of the name of a few of the meats on our charcuterie platter (we got the petit plate) and she told me she didn't know because she was a vegetarian and didn't eat any of it. Well I don't care whether you eat it or not. You work in a restaurant that serves it so you should know what they are - they all look different. She claimed she would send over someone who knew, but that person never appeared. Not surprising, neither did my second taste of wine. Instead, what I got was a full glass of it, about 20 minutes after I ordered the taste and after having to remind her that I ordered it. Her loss, I had planned to have that taste between dishes and then get a glass of something else with my meal, but instead I just had that. It was unfortunate for me as well though as I didn't love the wine and ended up stuck with it. I suppose I could have pointed out her error, but at that point I just didn't care to. I will say the food itself was good overall. The charcuterie was as tasty as one would expect and the pates were delicious. I had a braised pork belly special for my "entree" and while not the best pork belly I've ever had, it was solidly good. My friend's duck was less exciting, but still okay. Our bill, for everything I just mentioned (2 small plates, the petit charcuterie platter, and a glass and a half of wine) plus a glass of wine my friend got (he also ordered a taste and got a glass) and a flight of merlot he also got added up to over $120 w/tax and tip. Luckily I had a $50 gift certificate from the City Paper's Good Eats program to lessen the blow, but overall it was NOT worth the money. OH, and let me add my final, but perhaps biggest complaint. Their pours are 2.5 and 5 oz, not 3 and 6 for a taste/glass respectively. That means that that insipid pinot I referred to was technically $18/glass. That was NOT one of the more expensive wines on the menu. The size of the pours are clearly marked and I knew it going in, but I was actually shocked when I did the calculations afterward and realized what they were essentially charging for a glass of wine. My companion and I both decided that we would only consider going back during happy hour, and that we would spend our time at the bar.

I went for lunch today with 6 other friends. It was by far one of our longest lunches, but we did order appetizers. I ordered the crispy duck with fried basil that is mentioned in Sietsma's review. It was outstanding. The duck was incredibly crispy (as advertised ) in a rich brown sauce with tons of fried basil on top. This dish has one lightning bolt btw (they go up to 3) and I thought it was the perfect amount of heat. I'm a person who can tolerate a decent amount, but not nearly what some people (like my friends) can. The red curry that my friend got (2 lightning bolts) was spicier but still tolerable for me, but I think I might have struggled eating a whole bowl of it without a lot of rice. I think there's only one dish with the full 3 bolts, and none of us ordered it, but I am guessing those who love spicy food could tolerate it - my friends were adding heat from the bowls on the table in the form of peppers and chili powder to heat up their dishes. Overall, I think the duck was the best dish, but people were also pleased with the oxtail soup and the chicken dish (last on the menu). A friend who got the dish with pork 3 ways (including chinese sausage) wasn't wowed. I tasted his pork belly and it was just a plain but nicely cooked piece of pork belly, nothing more or less. For apps, the curry puffs were tasty and the spring roll was, well, a spring roll. Although different from others I've had, it didn't wow me. As far as portion size goes, I passed out tastes of my duck to friends and still struggled to finish mine. Everyone else with me was male, and no one left hungry (some left stuffed). If you have a heartier appetite, going with a meat-based dish like mine might be the better option. I will definitely be going back, although maybe for dinner when I have more time.

That is the one drawback that I've noticed as well. I'm a little curious about the Americano description. I've been adding enough water to get to the 2 level and with that, I get what I consider a normal cup of coffee (I don't add water afterward). This is with 2 rounded T of coffee grinds. I like my coffee strong, but don't feel what results is any stronger than what you'd get at say Starbucks. So what's the deal?

I only saw one reference to the aeropress in an old post. Not sure how many coffee connoisseurs there are on here, but thought I'd report on the aeropress. My boyfriend picked one up recently and after a weekend of drinking coffee from it I have ordered my own. Not only is it incredibly easy to use, easy to clean, and quick, it produces coffee that has lower acidity levels which means my stomach doesn't suffer like it inevitably does from the store-bought stuff, or even the stuff I make in my french press. I didn't think I could be so enamored with a coffee maker until using this. It's available online for $25 (free super saving shipping if you buy from Amazon). I may end up buying a second one for my office. I really sound like a sales ad, but I swear, I am just happy that I've discovered it. Oh, it makes espresso too.

PM me and I'll give you the info. I'd rather not post it on the board. Anyone else who is seriously interested in getting raw milk, do the same.