Flavortown

Good question...not exactly a ton of suitable options in the immediate vicinity.

DC Central Kitchen 425 2nd Street NW It's like 2 blocks from the Liaison/Art & Soul. And I'm in for the shift - didn't get stuck with work on Thursday night.

Now that I've awoken from my soup induced coma, I can share some of the highlights for me last night. Those awesome lamb wontons from goodeats The slow burn from the pepper in marketfan's chilled beet soup The richness of leleboo's squash soup, and the fried sage (more next time!) The roasted vegetables in DanielK's stew, so nicely infused with the flavor of the meat Kmango's dessert soup, which both reminded me of breakfast cereal and acted as a perfect end to the meal thanks to its variety in sources of sweetness, and the clash between these flavors and that touch of salt and smoke As for my recipes, my onion soup was an attempt at using Cook's Illustrated's method. That recipe is here; up until the stove-top part, it worked beautifully. But rather than getting a fond to deglaze, all I got was burnt blackness on the bottom of my pot. I'll have to try again and see if it's possible, because I think that successfully getting a thick layer of fond, deglazing, and repeating multiple times would deepen the flavor in the soup, making it richer and far less sweet. And here is the recipe I followed (basically) for my beef stock. Next time, I'll roast the bones longer to get a darker, richer stock, and I'll make sure to have a greater proportion of beef to veal. The chicken soup is super simple: a whole chicken, some celery, and some carrots, in a pot with cold water and peppercorns. Bring it up to a simmer, and let it go for about 1.5 hours. Remove and reserve the chicken, skim out the vegetables and peppercorns, and throw them out. Strain the stock, refrigerate overnight, and skim off the fat. Then just simmer fresh carrots and celery in the stock until slightly soft. Taste for salt. Cook egg noodles 3/4 of the way in a separate pot of salted, boiling water (preventing all of their starch from clouding up the broth), and add them to the soup along with chunks of the reserved chicken. When the chicken has warmed up, it's done.

I may be in, depending on how my work schedule looks for next week (I find out tomorrow). I intern at DCCK until about 4:45 on Thursdays, so it'd just be a matter of walking 5 minutes from the offices to the kitchen.

Like leleboo said, thanks to all who came and made this event so much fun. Great food, drink, and conversation, and not a thing to complain about (except maybe my desire to eat about 30 more of goodeats' wontons). Looking forward to more events like this one. Time to collapse.

As does my dorm kitchen. Beef stock simmering on the stove, onions beginning a super, crazy slow cooking process. It's funny how I always wind up staying awake until the middle of the night in order to finish whatever recipe I take on for dr.com events. But late night cooking is fun.

A pot of chicken stock in the refrigerator, a pile of beef and veal bones waiting for their chance to shine later tonight...I foresee late night cooking in my future. A disappointing revelation (that I should have come to much sooner): my mini refrigerator does not fit two pots of soup. So I'll be picking up a cooler and some ice to hold the second pot until it's time to bring it to the rendezvous point (had to use the word: it makes this exchange sound even more BA, and it matches the ethnicity of the soup). Tonight I'll also be stopping by Calvert Woodley Liquors to buy Gruyere and to pick up the beer I'm pairing with my onion soup. Pretty sure I'll be going for one of my favorites, Ommegang's Abbey Ale, a Belgian dubbel. The Chicken Soup will be allowed to stand on its own, for fear of being eclipsed by the flavor of drink. Has anybody else thought out their drink pairings yet? They have the potential to add yet another layer of creativity to this crazy event.

Like leleboo said, we've now got another spot open. Who will step forth and fill the void left by our lack of bisque and Japanese New Year's soups? Attendance List Gennaro -- Chicken Noodle Soup (Noodle Soups) + Amuse (French Onion Soup) Leleboo -- Butternut Squash with Sage Soup (Purée/Velouté) DanielK -- Oxtail Stew (Meat Stew) Goodeats - Winter Melon with Pork Soup (Clear Soup - Chinese) KMango - Batting Cleanup (Dessert Soup) Marketfan - Chilled Beet Soup (Cold Soup) Hillvalley - Bread, Cheese, Etc. (Accoutrement Duty)

I too lament the loss of the bisque. Oh... and I'm also sorry that you're feeling sick, Zirkminsky. Hope you (and your dish) make an appearance at another event. As I type, my chicken stock is slowly taking shape. Tomorrow it will be the beef stock's turn. Feel free to post about your soup progress people, I'm curious about the processes by which these (hopeful) masterworks are wrought.

Birch & Barley is definitely your place. There aren't tons of vegetarian options, but what's There is really good (especially the beet risotto), and the chef has always been willing to alter dishes to make them vegetarian (remove meats from some pastas, offering to come up with dishes on the fly based on the person's favorite vegetables, etc.)

Is it just me, or does this seem like a terrible idea? In my mind, different pasta (hence different sauce) --> different plate. Images of red sauce and cream sauce and brown butter and miscellaneous herbs melding together into some odd monstrosity on a plate are running through my brain, threatening to give me nightmares reminiscent of the local Chinese buffet back home where people piled a single plate with 20 different foods, each seeping with a different sauce, as if they weren't allowed to return for more.

Sadly, due to some interesting scheduling changes at work, I may have to cancel. I'll find out tomorrow (or rather, later today) and make sure to let you know before Monday.

Seriously, awesome job organizing this KMango, and thanks for facilitating my first visit to Corduroy. Everything was delicious, and now that I know how good Chef Power's cooking is, and that 3 courses are available every day for just $30, it'll be really hard to keep from gravitating toward Corduroy constantly.

Had dinner last night at Birch & Barley with leleboo and her husband, and despite the 3 course RW options on offer, I couldn't resist going for the 5 course tasting menu. At $55, it was definitely worth the price. Scallop Crudo pink peppercorns, blood orange : This was my first encounter with a raw scallop (well, with any intent other than to cook it), and it may have been the dish of the night for me. If versions I try in the future are even half as good at this dish, I'll wish I'd started eating them much sooner. It seems like Chef Bailey really has a way with raw fish, given how delicious his Arctic Char Tartare was, and now this. The thinly sliced scallop was dressed with (I think) a blood orange vinaigrette, and topped with tiny blood orange segments and a bit of frisee. The blood orange brought simultaneous sweetness and tartness, while the frisee cut in with the sort of freshness that only a green component can bring. The best facet of the dish, though, besides the silky texture of the scallop itself, was the contrast offered by the coarse salt and the pink peppercorns, as well as the subtle heat brought by the latter ingredient. It all just worked together perfectly. Gnochi al Forno tomato sauce, pancetta, ricotta salata : While good, this was probably the weakest dish of the menu. The gnocchi were perfectly soft -- I can't recall having a better version -- but the sauce just wasn't quite complex enough to make me want to eat this again. It was nice and tangy, but it just grew slightly boring after a bit. The ricotta salata, however, was a great touch, as was the house cured pancetta. I think that simply adding more pancetta (I didn't really find the few small pieces present until I'd finished the gnocchi) would probably have brought this course up to the same level as the others. Halibut roasted fennel, violet mustard (Fudged the wording on this one, can't quite remember it) : The violet mustard was what set this dish apart. And shockingly, the most flavorful component was the fennel, which was roasted exactly to that oxymoronic point so frequently referenced in vegetable-centric recipes: crisp-tender. The halibut was certainly good - moist within, nicely seared without, and paired well with what I think was a grapefruit vinaigrette/sauce - but I might have been just as happy with a big plate of that roasted fennel and the violet mustard. Venison wild rice, cherries, roasted chestnuts, brussel sprout leaves, butternut squash puree : I'm undecided as to whether this was better than, or just equal to, the amazing first course. What made it so impressive was the level of synergy between all the components - it was far more than the sum of its parts. I'd never had venison before, so this was another first. Alone, the venison (cooked rare, so that it was perfectly tender) tasted like a purer form of beef. It was good, but not mind blowing. Similarly, the wild rice, with cherries and chestnuts was good, but not something I'd necessarily hunger for again (the wild rice with dates and hazelnuts, which Chef Bailey serves with his duck dish, seems head and shoulders above this rendition). But upon joining the rice and venison together, the dish reached perfection for me. The butternut squash puree was like a glue for these two components, not merely because of its texture, but also because of its earthy sweetness. And somehow, the light sprinkling of charred brussel leaves each had such a concentrated flavor of brussels that it felt like I could have been eating a mouthful of them, without the bother of taking up mouth-space or chewing time that was rightly devoted to the rice and venison. All together, it was just awesome. Figgy Toffee Pudding candied walnuts, ice cream : Tiffany MacIsaac, Birch & Barley's pastry chef, wins at dessert (and bread, though that subject seems to have received enough attention lately). Between my last dinner and this one, I've tried a number of her offerings, and all have been good...but this one might just be the best. Leleboo described it well: the level of caramelization, and the subsequent depth of flavor, was what made it so awesome. It wasn't overly sweet, just warm, rich, and wrought with the kind of dark flavors that develop from long, slow cooking. Hitting the mission figs scattered throughout the column of cakey pudding meant a slight spike in sweetness, and a nice change of pace (both flavor and texture wise) that could have kept me interested well into a second or third helping. The candied walnuts offered some crunch, and the ice cream paired nicely with the pudding (though I'm blanking on the flavor), rounding out each bite. Pictures - some of which are awfully dark thanks to the iPhone's stellar ability to capture images in low light:

Another vote for New Kam Fong... I want to try that garlic, eel, and rice casserole Sietsema wrote about. Sounds awesome.

A sandwich from Whole Foods. Has anybody noticed that almost none of the sandwiches and other prepared food from Whole Foods are offensive, but at the same time almost none of them actually taste particularly good? It's like they purposefully shoot for just average, maximizing the number of people who will be okay with eating them, yet simultaneously removing any chance that they'll ever be particularly flavorful or desirable.

My vote would be not Sichuan Pavilion, just out of a desire to try one of these other places I've yet to go to. Other than that, I'm up for anything (preferably somewhere I could reach via public transportation).

Good idea. Maybe some place extending restaurant week? Wherever we decide, I'm in.

After spilling bleach all over my work clothes (the bottle cracked, and as I heard the glugging sound of bleach pouring all over my laundry and turning all those darks to bright neon colors, and sadness swept over me) I decided to head up to Chevy Chase and grab some replacements. Since I'd have to go straight from class, I also knew finding lunch somewhere before work would be necessary. I chose Lia's because it was one of the few restaurants taking part in Restaurant Week that would still be open for lunch after 2:00, not because I expected fantastic food. I'm really glad I did. Started with the Meatball Sliders (8.95) garlic buns, grana -- these were great. The buns were soft and buttery, with a touch of crispness to their exterior (though not noticeably garlicy). Just enough grana, nicely melted, covered the meatballs, which were juicy but not overly sauced, which kept them from being messy. The four sliders were accompanied by a small heap of well salted onion strings alla Matchbox. My entree was the Seared Scallops (18.95) butternut squash risotto, pumpkin seed oil -- very good, though not exactly what I expected. Three large scallops, well caramelized on both sides, rested on a white risotto that had cubes of butternut squash stirred into it. I'd been expecting an orange risotto (the squash fully integrated by blending), but this was both well cooked (perfect texture) and very flavorful (unlike some plan risottos I've had). Shelled pumpkin seeds were sprinkled overtop, along with some pomegranate, which brought a nice tartness to counteract all the rich, buttery components in the dish. The drizzle of pumpkin seed oil was a nice final touch. By this point I was stuffed (could have stopped after the sliders, really), but I had to go for dessert. I got the brownie, with vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of chocolate sauce ($7.95). Definitely the weakest course: the brownie was good, but barely luke warm rather than fully heated. Otherwise, it was tasty, and the ice cream (I think made in house) was good as well. All in all, more than worth the $20 it cost. The atmosphere is easy to like, and the service was good. I'd probably never pay full price for any of the dishes I got, but I'd give the discounted stuff at Lia's a shot again if there weren't so many other places on my list to try.

Tried an Al-Iksir ($12) "Belgian Strong Pale Ale( Primary Fermentation w/ Whiskey Yeasts)" from Birrificio Le Baladin on draft at Birch & Barley the other night and thought it was awesome. Anybody else tried it? Would you say it's representative of Belgian strong pale ales? I haven't tried many that fall into that category.

Surprised nobody has said that they're coming yet. I'll be there, probably at about 5:29.

I've added a wait list for any 5 people who are craving soup and willing to wait in the wings, ready to cook up a pot of deliciousness at a moment's notice. If you want to be added to it, just provide the same info that everyone else has.

That sounds super awesome.... So, we're at our cap, and that means our soup line-up is almost finalized (save for those wild cards amongst us). The only way somebody else could possibly get in would be to make either a chowder or a cheese soup -- they would then become my new best friend, and I'd have to let them join. Seriously though, I was expecting at least one soup to be totally cream or cheese laden, and instead all these creative things I'd never even heard of cropped up. I'm really looking forward to this event, and over the next few days we'll iron out the logistics of soup transport, storage, heating, and eating. Anybody with suggestions on how they imagine this whole thing working should feel free to post here or shoot me and leleboo a PM.

I'm all for shellfish of any sort. If I have to choose between eating shellfish in that soup and currying favor with vegans, I'd go with the former.

An aside: we're going to need lots of bowls. And, if nobody claims Onion Soup, I intend to do mini ramekins of it as an amuse-bouche. I think that would be pretty BA.