Spiral Stairs

Rock chalk Jayhawk! (Grew up outside KC.) Word of advice: Don't even try the barbecue around here. You will be disappointed. (Unless, apparently, you drive to some random place in Richmond, Virginia, which is receiving so much praise in another thread that I am starting to wonder if there's an inside joke I'm out of.)

I like Hard Times Cafe (a chili/wings/burger place), and there's one on King Street. As with many restaurants on these boards, you will find disparate opinions about it. Its family-friendliness, however, is indisputable.

Or, for me, "It's wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine!"

Ah, valet parking. Perhaps Bilrus and I share the same deficiency of mental faculties, but I was also a little confused. I was trying to figure out if Morton's would pick up my dry cleaning and take my car in for an oil change over lunch.

That's the whole list, and I don't think it's particularly evil. (Bland, yes. Evil? No more so than any other Kraft food item.) However, it may be that all its averments of purity and lack of fillers are meant to distinguish it from other green-canned competitors, which may be egregious fake food products. I don't know.

I'll save you the trouble by consulting ... the green can of Kraft parmesan cheese that is in my refrigerator. (A hush overtakes the crowd.) There is a big to-do on the front of the container about it being "100% Real Grated Parmesan" with "No Fillers." Also, right below the ingredients -- presumably because so many people look there to see what is going on -- it says: "No fillers means we use only real parmesan cheese, not imitations or substitutes."

Intrigued by this and similar comments, I picked up a small bag of Grandma Utz chips last night. (They were certainly easy for me to find -- CVS had 'em.) I am normally a big fan of thick, kettle-style chips. But I really did not like the Grandma Utz chips at all. I found the "porky, funky overtone" you mention to be an overwhelming taste of pork fat. I have no problem with frying things in lard, but this was like eating lard seasoned with a bit of potato and salt. I can't recall the last time I had such a negative reaction to that most holy of snack foods, The Potato Chip.

A number of Capitol Hill families recently formed a bloc large enough for SMC to start a Capitol Hill route. I've been reading about their reactions on a neighborhood listserv. Most people seem to be very satisfied, although there have been a few reports of delivery (non-delivery) issues. We have good friends on the new route, and they love the service and have had no complaints.

Ooh. Chips are my biggest food vice. If left to my own devices (which I should never be), I can plow through an 11-ounce bag in no time flat. (For other chip-obsessed souls, see this chip review site.) My favorites: Kettle Chips, nearly all varieties Dirty Chips Terra Yukon Gold Salt & Pepper (but not other Terra varieties) Route 11 (you can get these at Breadline, among other places) In terms of flavors, I gravitate toward jalapeno or other spicy varieties. On that note, please take care when considering the consumption of Route 11 Mama Zuma's Revenge habanero chips. They hurt.

Wow. Maybe you're my long lost brother? Now that I think about it, my parents did say something about selling a baby to a band of gypsies ...

Sort of like when RTS became so popular that he closed it. My wife will be highly disappointed in this chicken-related development. So am I, since my only taste of it has come from her plate.

Stephenson's was the go-to place for my family's big dinners. It was a fixture of my childhood, and it's sad to see it go. I had planned to take my wife there someday, for nostalgic reasons. I also saw in that article that Nichols Lunch closed, which I did not know. That was the site of my parents' first date. (Of course, they got divorced. So maybe it deserves good riddance.)

Perhaps Bouchon serves Sysco's Imperial Phantom Plus French Fries, which use "SYSCO's special Clear Coat technology" to give them "excellent holding time and crispness - up to three times longer than the average fry." As a result of being "specially processed in salt brine" and "their skin-on, homestyle appearance and flavor," they are "the perfect complement to an upscale entree or gourmet sandwich." Bouchon may not serve Sysco's Conventional Cut French Fries, which appear to lack the special Clear Coat technology.

For my money, there's an awfully big distinction between uncooked ingredients (including, for instance, potatoes pre-cut in the shape of fries and frozen) and fully prepared dishes (like the "pre-made soups" and "Imperial Towering Chocolate Cake" mentioned in the article). Frankly, it does seem a little deceptive to me to pull out a pre-prepared Sysco cake, sprinkle some berries on it, and sell it at what I imagine is a very large markup at a supposed fine-dining destination. (If that is what Edgar's is. I don't know anything about it.) But I care much less about the provenance of ingredients that arrive at the delivery door in need of the chef's creativity and labor.

And how. In the restaurant industry and in every other field, it irritates me to no end when people "join the digital revolution" (or whatever they think they are doing) by obtaining and posting an e-mail address, but then proceed to ignore e-mail. It's like publicizing a phone number but never answering or returning messages. That would be pretty irritating too.

This recipe for Sausage and Wild Mushroom Lasagne with Red Pepper Tomato Sauce was the first "serious" recipe I ever attempted. ("Serious" cooking, to the extent it has arrived at all in my life, arrived late.) Our kitchen was an utter war zone when it was done. I mean, it demolished me, my facilities, and my faculties (as well as the better part of a day). It was really, really good though. A few months ago, during a freezer clean-out, I fished out a forgotten foil-wrapped slice of it. I didn't have the courage to eat it, but I shed a (figurative) tear as I threw it away.

That was liberating. Thanks. (Somehow I missed that post.) Now we'll see if it sticks.

The site is intermittently forgetting that I am logged in. I am reluctant to delete my cookies because (i) deleting all cookies introduces a world of inconvenience for me, because much of my online activity depends on them; and (ii) I am just a caveman, frightened and confused by the prospect of trying to figure out how to delete specific cookies (and figuring out which ones to delete). I guess I'd rather deal with logging in more often.

If, as a man, you're going to be offended by something in the Food section today, you should be offended by the article providing guidance to male "smooth operators" as to how to woo a woman with a four-course meal. What, men can cook? Me, I'm not offended by anything in today's paper, but I would simply cite both articles as illustrations of the pervasive entanglement of gender and food in our society. Signed, A husband who cooks for a wife who doesn't.

I ask for tap water because I believe that bottled water, whether purchased at a restaurant or a grocery store, is a big old scam. I drink about 64 ounces of faucet-grade DC tap water a day, and so far the resulting brain damage has been minimal.

Interesting on many levels. I had never heard of Noka chocolate, and I'm now quite sure I'll never buy any. Having looked at the Noka website and dug around a little, the company's whole schtick looks like such an obvious marketing construct. "Honey, I love you so much that for this Valentine's Day I have bought you the most expensive chocolate in the world! What? No, I loved you this much last year too. It's just that I didn't know about Noka chocolate, and I didn't know I could spend three times as much on chocolate. Had I known, I would have bought it for you then too! I would have put it in one of their keepsake gift boxes, too, because that makes the chocolate even more expensive!"

I've never been entirely clear on what people meant by "neighborhood" restaurant anyway, except that it is kind of an "I know it when I see it" thing.Now that I've sat at my desk and thought about it for more minutes than I will admit, I think it is meant to describe a restaurant possessing all or most of the following characteristics: (i) affordability; (ii) casual, friendly atmosphere and service; (iii) accessible, rather than avant garde, menu; (iv) small physical footprint; (v) popularity primarily generated among local neighborhood folk, as opposed to destination-seeking foodies; and (vi) integration in the surrounding community by virtue of civic involvement. I've only been to Komi once. I enjoyed it, and would describe it as satisfying a couple of these criteria. But its expense (in an absolute, not relative, sense), relatively quiet and formal atmosphere (at least in its post-renovation state), somewhat experimental menu, and status as a foodie destination mean its not what I think of as a neighborhood place. [/pointless masturbatory exposition]

To be fair, I don't know that the price will be $30. Maybe they'll get all old-school and make it $20.07 for dinner.

February 5-11, according to DCist. Prices unknown. (emphasis mine).

I have spent a lot of time in the Detroit area, as my wife is from there and my in-laws are still there. I wish I could disagree. I would add, though, that there are some fun and reasonably good Greek restaurants in Greektown. (We had our rehearsal dinner at one.) There are, indeed, some good Middle Eastern restaurants in Dearborn. (I could not tell you their names, though.) Aside: I totally misconstrued this sentence.