NolaCaine

Simul: If you will be there on a Sunday morning, I would do brunch at Galatois. It's a cultural experience and the food is good. Basically, no reservations. Dining room and bar opens at 11. Kitchen at noon. Old school southern families gather, get drunk with their usual server, everybody is friendly to the outsiders. I can't explain it. You have to see it. I also really like the classic places. Old school waiters who take waiting very seriously. Antoines for example: http://www.antoines.com/. My husband really likes paristyle (peristylerestaurant.com/) but holy shit is it safe to be that close to Armstrong park? For cheap and easy, Acme Oyster. DON"T GO TO Mothers. Thank you.

I see this in my near future: Catfish Sauce Piquante

MC Horoscope: I"m going to try your way next time I have a craving. It looks good and doable. WHen last I made gumbo here (arlington), I had to improvise quite a lot. Frozen ocra is ok. Safeway by harris teeter has local oysters in the brine. I used frozen summer bay crabs that were very well seasoned. I steamed them enough to clean them b/c I was too lazy to clean them before freezing them... I"m sure I could give you more improvizations if I thought about it but I will conclude with this: Even if it's in a book, NO Tomatoes in etouffee! and rotel is not legit. It's texan and only been around since the '40s. (no disrespect to Tweaked or Texans) See.

Since other have rambled, I will too. My name is Nola Caine and I am from Slidell, Louisiana. My family is from the Quarter then mid-city (two new orleans neighborhoods indicating declining fortunes), moving to Slidell (suburb) in the early 70s. I am a very proud graduate of the University of New Orleans. Did you know it even existed? It does, as does Southern University of New Orleans, and Delgado. I will not mention the privates because they are always mentioned. To add to the thread, my family is more or less "Creole" of the French-Spanish version. However, I quickly learned, when I moved to Connecticut, that when I said that, people assumed that we had black-white mixed race people in our family. We do, but he is not the Creole to which I refer (he married in). Our food tradition got mixed up along the way. I'd argue that most of my momma's food was Creole but, she cooked everything; Creole and Cajun traditional/local food. This is important: Etouffee DOES NOT Have tomatoes in it. If it does, something is wrong. I was taught the roux version of gumbo, I started the gumbo I made just a few weeks ago with file b/c I always F!@k up the roux unless I have help and there were no foremothers around that weekend. It was wonderful and tasted a good bit like my grandmother's (referred to as Memere; very common name for grandmother). I think the secret was slow-cooking. I took it off the fire a few times to tend to thing 1 and thing 2. At this point, I'd argue, that only food historians truly know the difference but you just got a great tutorial by DCandOhio. One final point. I have never once been to Baton Rouge and I left NO when I was 23. I drove through it a few times, as one needs to in order to go north, but never got out of the car. I mention b/c, IMHO, BR does not need to be mentioned in this thread. J Finally, I agree with MC Horoscope: where do I get homecooking? "Chère, I go in my kitchen, me!"

"Ballston Restaurant Challenge Winner SER Opens Soon With Baby Eels And Tableside Carving" by Jessica Sidman on washingtoncitypaper.com Baby eels (which I recently learned are fish, not some separate category), tableside ham carving, pink changing table and blue highchairs. And Spanish food and wine. Opening on March 2. Josh, this article links to the controversy and I found this paragraph interesting: Among the more unusual offerings: steamed gooseneck barnacles and baby eels, which are referred to as "Spanish caviar." The latter will cost more or less around $100, depending on the season and where they're sourced. In the spring, the eels will come live from Maine. The rest of the year, they're imported frozen from Spain. The eels are prepared simply with olive oil and garlic. "It's like short little spaghettis, that's the way they look," Zubikarai says. "But you look at them one by one, you see the eyes and everything."

Well Folks: I went so you don't have to.

Hum. In my opinion, my original subject line was far more interesting than this one, although probably less informative. It's really fast and I think it is fast because a lot of the Hibachi-ing has been done in advance. Yes, it is Yuck-o. I failed to report that much of my bento box was more room temp than warm.

Quickway is a fast food habachi place near 7-corners in the Wilston Center in Falls Church. I've been curious about it since it opened and since I have no running water, I thought I'd stop in. The positives: 1. The bathroom was clean, the water running, and the signage amusing. 2. The salmon was so juicy, yet fully cooked that I suspected it must be injected with some sort of salt solution (this is a complement). 3. The Yum-yum sauce lives up to its name but then again, isn't mayo always good? My order: Salmon bento box which consisted of salmon, noodles, "california roll", and 4 deep fried things (2 mini pot stickers, 2 mini eggrolls). The negatives: 1. The food had no flavor. How hard is it to add a little soy or marin? 2. The food was greasy. Really, really oily yet had no flavor. How hard is it to add a little sesame oil? 3. Deep fried pot stickers?WTF. Ok, I get this one but again, see negative #1. 4. I had to ask for soy sauce. I was given yum-yum sauce. This might not be a negative for all I realize. 5. And finally, the coke was on the edge of flat.

Josh: You made me curious. I did not realize that SER has an 11-year lease and that one of those years is free as part of an award for a restaurant contest. Very interesting. As one reflection on your entry, a restaurant that balances beer influence on dining with that of wine is intriguing. For more information on the contest, look here: Ballston Bid Restaurant Challenge

I have been watching this place get whipped into shape and cannot wait for it to open. I love Spanish food and wine. I see promise for Ballston's food scene since the chef was the first chef at Taberna del Alabardero, which is a fantastic Spanish stable in the DC area. "SER Restaurant To Serve Up Spanish-Inspired Comfort Food In Arlington" by Mary Ann Barton on patch.com Team: Chef/Proprietor Josu Zubikarai Sous Chef David Sierra Business Operations/Proprietor Javier Candon Guest Relations/Proprietor Christiana Campos-Candon General Manager Merv Laihow

At the risk of over-posting in one thread, I wanted to briefly describe my lunch at Oki today. I had the Oki Curry Ramen and oh my goodness was it heavy. I expected a broth-based, coconut milk added broth oh but no. The broth was pretty much coconut milk and curry. Spicy, tasty, but so very rich. Just know going in. To be clear, I enjoyed it but it is way too heavy for lunch IMHO.

http://kapnostaverna.com/menus/dinner/ Can you spot the spelling error...or should I say "keystroke". Will wander over soon. As soon as the wind-chill is above freezing. Or I get really curious. One.

I didn't make it to the third. Was going to be Majestic...but life got in the way of living. In other news, I am craving home and so am attempting Gumbo with local ingredients. I hope it is passable.

Restaurant week: Nopa: Nopa; not going to go again. Vidalia: Great as always Plans for one more tomorrow.

I agree with Astrid. The food is very tasty and the portions good. I have been twice and last night did sort of a family-style tasting dinner with some vegetarian friends. Included in the feast was lamb shank (amazing) and plov with lamb on top (very, very good). The stand out from my past dinner was cabbage rolls (covered in light red sauce with beef filling). I would like to have both the lam and cabbage rolls again. We ordered the potato salad which came with (surprise) chicken but I loved it. The beat/bean salad is very nice but warning, it's heavy if you can imagine something that color to be heavy. I have learned that I am not a fan of Uzbeck wine (too sweet) nor of infused vodka (cucumber tasted like pickle and raspberry tasted like Kool-Aid). It's a nice place and good to see that it has a bit of a following (packed on a Saturday night but still one or two empty tables).

I went to Kobe Pho and had just that, chin. It was good but not great. The meat was nice and fatty but the broth was bland in my opinion. Spring rolls were good and interesting...appeared to have a hotdog in them and something crunchy. My son said "it's very red". We won't be back...even a 4 yr old knows good from bland pho.

Don; There was more ephemera hanging from the ceiling at one time but then Christmas past and it came down. Count your blessings because then you might have felt like you were in a holiday classic or steam punk fantasy or comination there of.

My current two favorites are eden kitchen and huong viet. Look at this handy list: http://www.edencenter.com/category/restaurants/

Just looked at the menu and I could say the same for it.

I am spelling challenged, which is a huge embarrassment due to my overeducated state. The upside is that I have a pretty good vocabulary b/c if I can't spell something, I often have to come up with a synonym on the fly. Sometimes DR spell checks as I type and sometimes it doesn't. Maybe it's the browser. I am also sleep deprived and I blame my staying up late kid 1 and my waking up early kid 2. I have a choice right now: alter my post to correct my spelling thus making you look crazy, or leave it. Hum"¦which takes less energy. Off to Rus Uz tonight I think. Let's see what a disservice I can do to that establishment in my review.

IN the freezing cold, I dragged 5 of my neighbors to PV for a little happy hour, hoping to be dazzled but the dazzling will have to wait. I enjoyed the wine I selected as well as the meatball appitizzer. The warm olives were warm and plentiful. While the arugula salad was sizeable, the beat salad was iminiscule, if not pretty; both tastety. I did not try the flatbread in that I ate my lifetime supply of pizza in the 1990s. I should also correct the record on wine. While all of them are under 10, I don't think they had 30+ on offer but I could be wrong. The service was odd. We had a delightful young woman as a server but I would bet money that she had never, ever been a server before in her life; ever. This place just opened less than a month ago. I am pro wine bars and muscle bar needs some competion so let's hope PV can be it.

Given its proximity to Trader Joe's and the toddler zoo (Petco), I've been to Vinh Loi about a million times. However, the last two visits have convinced me to never again return. Two visits ago it was over run and with one person in the front of the house, not going to work for my quick lunch needs. The second time I was "grossed out" but the lack of cleanliness. Can't go back now.

Indeed, Don, that is the leaf. Thank you.

I didn't catch "Chef"'s name but he was in charge, clearly. I saw him correcting another chef (sternly) at one point. I thought the son took over. Given the formality of the actual place, I tried to give a formal review. But here are some informal musings: 1. This place has aged well. 2. It's small! maybe 20 people at a time. 3. Staff tries to keep all at one seating eating at the same pace. We had a slow eater and they did not allow her to slow their service. 4. Service was comfortable, formal, friendly, and maternal. Can I use that word? Our "waitress" (noun does not suite) was so nice to me as I had a little cold and I felt "mothered" and told what to eat in what order and how. Oddly I also felt mothered when she said "that has cream, you shouldn't eat it." :-) (I have a nut and dairy allergy)

Dinner at Makoto last night was a very interesting experience for a number of reasons and the experience stands out in my mind as much as the food. Overall I felt like we were invited into a lady's house and she was going to serve us dinner but yet we were reminded that we were at a restaurant because when we arrived, a mere 10 minutes before the reservation time, the door was locked and when we called hoping to escape the December chill, we were informed that "the chef is not ready yet." Makoto provides an 8 course pre fixe with a couple of upcharge options. One is expanded sushi during that course; I didn't catch the other. The menu is not online, I didn't snap a picture and it changes daily. I do not know Japanese food and therefore I will do a very poor job of explaining the menu but hope I capture enough to make you want to dine there (order is approximate). 1: Selection of 4 items in order we were instructed to eat them: tender, juicy, flavorful, slightly spicy beef tenderloin, 2 types of mushrooms in a delicious sauce ("pick up, bring to your mouth", we were encouraged), a single turnip (baby) in a bland sauce, and 4 blackberries with some mild cream sauce. 2 & 3. One of them contained some type of fatty seared fish with a mild miso sauce and that was amazing and I want more. The other items were good as well. One was fried duck liver served over a rice cake with a seaweed base. Another was a choice of sea bass or cod. I had sea bass and it was perfectly well cooked but my companion's cod was a bit blackened. 4. Sushi. Great especially since a very special leaf was served with which made the experience elevated. My flounder flower was fatty. 5. Seafood soup: Two waitresses made it at our table and we were told "let me cook this for you". At first I didn't really like it but by the end it was amazing. I enjoyed how the soup changed over the 3 serving. (our hostess kept spooning it into our bowls and I had a little cough so she gave me extra broth with encouragement to eat it all). 6. Deep fried monkfish in a nice broth. Compared to the rest, unexciting from enjoyable all the same. 7. Sashimi: also amazing. We were instructed to eat the first without soy sauce because it was already marinated and also informed of the order in which to consume the other 3 pieces. 8. Fruit tart with a side of Grand Mariner sherbet. Sherbet was the perfect ending to this meal. I was full, but not overly. Notes on service: I had a little cough and so the waitress (noun doesn't suit) brought warm water for me and kept it warm and filled at my side all night. Our table ordered 3 sakes and she explained them all to us, choose her favorite and brought that one when we wanted more. We also received tasting cups. I am allergic to nuts and milk, cream, cheese ect and Makoto doesn't alter the menu for allergies. My allergies were outlined when the reservations were made two weeks in advance and maybe that is why this night there were no nuts on the menu. Although two items contained cream, I was simply informed "that contains cream (or cheese), you might not want to eat it."