MelGold

Wow, I never realized I was the only poster on this thread. It's a shame really, too. Matt Cordes has moved on to other adventures (just got married - congrats - and hasn't landed anywhere I know of yet), but his sous chef, Will Artley, took over the kitchen about 6 months ago with great results. If you haven't been to the Star lately, go. This is from someone who has no ties to this restaurant other than friendships & a happy stomach. Will has continued the spirit of what the Evening Star was created to be - a solid neighborhood restaurant putting out amazingly elegant, but comfortable food. Working out in Herndon (and the diet) has prevented me from dropping in on my old haunts - and it's kind of unfortunate to be honest. Tonight was the annual sparkling wine tasting in the No. 9 Lounge sponsored by Planet Wine, so I thought I'd treat my co-worker April to her first taste of Champagne as a thank you for all the good work she's done this year. We left work a bit early, and decided to have a bite to eat before tasting out 25 glasses of bubbly. We started with the appetizer of steak tartare which looked like a small portion on the plate but was rich & perfectly spicy thanks to the horseradish sauce that accompanied it. I thought about ordering two more and calling it a night, but Will took over from there. He presented us with a beautiful salad of golden beets, arugula & mint with pistachio crusted goat cheese and champagne vinaigrette. That was followed by roasted butternut squash ravioli with wild mushroom ragout, swiss chard & an apple-shallot sauce. We finished with a shared bite of Will's braised bacon & scallop with cowboy beans paired with a tasting of Panacea Cabernet Sauvignon. While it wasn't the catfish tacos we originally thought we'd have for a pre-debauchery meal, it was amazing. I can't wait to check the calendar for a night when I can go back & do it all again. There's a reason Will is cooking at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue next month...catch this Star on his ascent. The Evening Star is worth the trip these days!

Thanks, Zora. I was just too tired to pull out my Wine Bible.

Had friends over for a near-to-end of Hannukah dinner... Latkes with sour cream, applesauce & cinnamon-n-sugar for accompaniment Rotisserie chicken Large green salad with black olives, artichoke hearts & feta with champagne vinaigrette dressing Icebox lemonade pie for dessert Bottle of Pinot Grigio & a bottle of Gewterztreminer (sp?)

Ah, come on, HV. The PTA will probably make you all a brilliant breakfast spread of Entemmans pastries, fruit salad and OJ...you might even get lucky & get a Box of Joe from Dunkin Donuts!

I like both of them equally & would say they come up even on both quality & price point. Blue Ocean seems to have more adventurous (for a lack of a better term) offerings for by the piece & tends to have more Japanese patrons eating there than Sushi Yama.

If anyone's looking for a trainer in the Tyson's Corner area, let me know. I've been working out at a great gym tucked into the basement of one of the office buildings near the toll road, and have dropped 13 pounds since July. I still have some to go, but whatever I've lost is totally because of the trainers at Breakaway. PM me if you want more info.

My friends & I meet up here for a sushi-fest often (although less now that sushi is on my trainer's list of "only once in a long while" foods). Their pieces of fish are perfectly sized and their specialty rolls are really well priced for the amount of fish you get in them. It's a much better bet than Konami down the street in Tysons (and easier to get in & out of). Scott, were you guys there on Monday night? I thought it might be you, but didn't want to say hi in case I had the wrong two-some.

CONGRATULATIONS, BILL!

I was put in charge of the bran muffins for this year's dinner. I think my mom has given up on my annual mis-adventures with brioche dinner rolls.

Wish you had asked earlier...I was in Austin two weekends ago & would have picked some up from Central Market for you. Alas, you might be hard pressed to find a brick & mortar place...might want to go online?

Daily Candy featured it today.

A friend & I decided to try out Hudson for a first glance last night. We didn't go in with exceptionally high expectations, figuring there would be a few glitches still to be worked out. Our server was exceptionally friendly, but had to be new at this whole upscale dining thing. I was definitely willing to overlook some of the minor flaws in her delivery mainly because the woman knew her stuff when it came to the menu. At first taste we thought we were in for a WOW kind of meal. We shared the scallop appetizer which comes with two plump seared scallops over a mushroom ragout which had more bacon than fungi. Not that I'm complaining! Unfortunately the entrees fell a bit flat for both of us. I got the crabcake and my friend got the tuna. The tuna was fresh and vibrant, but depended heavily on the wasabi mashed potatoes for any flavor. The snap peas were there more for color on the plate than another layer of flavor. My crabcake was fine - not a lot of filler and big chunks of crabmeat - but the grit-corn coulis sauce on the plate had a weird texture/flavor combo that didn't really do it for me. We finished on a high note with a slice of the warm apple crisp pie with vanilla ice cream (not a la mode). It was the perfect fall treat with an abundance of apples and the right amount of cinnamon. Well worth the extra calories I'm going to have to run off at the gym tonight! All in all, it was a solid meal for a restaurant just starting out, but for $120 including tax & tip, I'm not sure I'll be going back anytime soon for a repeat. Oh, and definitely check out the bathrooms! They're beautiful & rich looking (except it appears the mirrors were an afterthought because they don't blend at all & look a bit cheap).

We ate tons of post-game dinners at Brion's Grille in the University Mall on the corner of Ox Road and Braddock this summer. The food is good enough for the teens & the pasta wasn't so bad. They have a back room that should work fine for 13 people. Brion's website

MaggieMoo's or Marble Slab ice cream shops should have them too

Congratulations!!!!

I too am ordinary, comfortable & just a bit too predictable "mashed potatoes," but my ass will be running those extra calories off at 8:30 that morning at the SOME Turkey Trot! If you want to help me give a little extra so others might eat that day, click!

Happy birthday, kids!

There are days when the diet is going so well that you feel the need to celebrate. Tonight was one of those nights. And while I was sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic waiting to get to Rock Creek Parkway & ultimately Palena to satiate the craving Wednesday's food section sparked, I found my mind wandering down M Street thinking of places that would suit the occasion just as well, if not better, without all the waiting. Luckily my dining companion had a similar thought & off we went to Hook. Thank god we did! I don't recall a better use of $62.80 lately - and believe me, I've put that to the test this week. We grabbed the last two seats at the communal table next to two friendly gents from the great metropolis of Austin, Tex. I was already enjoying myself. As the bubbly was poured into my glass, prospects were getting even better. I had the perfect view of the kitchen (with Chef Seaver at expo) if I just leaned back a bit. My crudo selection consisted of the salmon with sexy salt, yellow fin tuna tartar and the barracuda. YUM. I wasn't in love with the barracuda - maybe since the texture was such a stark contrast to the other two wells on my plate - but the flavor combination for that two-biter was a fun way to end the first course. I got the halibut for the entree & I'm glad I chose 'moe' in the einee-meenie-miney game I was playing between that and the bluefish. The fish was bursting with flavor, cooked perfectly with a verdant sauce and the most addicting sweet potato discs known to man. I was sad I had to share even one bite. My friend got the barracuda for the main, and while the taste was spectacular, it seemed like a tough piece of fish to contend with (yes, I had tackle written, but just couldn't do it). Not wanting to miss the chance to try a HC dessert, we split the sweet risotto fritters with chocolate fudge sorbet. Perfection on a plate. I'm glad we shared it though! The fact that I drove into the city tonight for a $10 hamburger and ended up with a three-digit bill when all was said & done is completely eclipsed by the fact that I just had the most delicious meal I've had the pleasure of eating in a long time. I can't wait to lose another 10 pounds for the excuse to go back again to celebrate! Maybe next time I'll let someone else pay though.

Congrats to the entire, growing Del Merei family!

Um, I think we're a bit classier than that, Shag. I mean it was the guy's birthday...we splurged on Olive Garden.

We took a couple of cheesecakes to a dinner celebration for a friend's birthday party last night. We gave the servers what amounted to a full cheesecake since none of us wanted to eat another bite nor wished to have those empty calories sitting in our refrigerators. They waived the cutting fee. Everyone was happy!

She's beautiful! Congratulations to the Pete family!

America's Test Kitchen did a pizza on the grill this past weekend using a Weber. They turned out beautiful...not sure about the taste. You might want to check it out to see how they rigged it...seem to recall that they used hardwood charcoal started in a chimney keeping a cool spot to one side. (recipe is here)

I'll be offline reading HP & playing softball tomorrow, so wanted to give an early shout out to Meaghan... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Happy Birthday, Heather!