xdcx

These are the most memorable Indian dishes that I have had over the years;  It is possible that some of these may not be available in the D. C. area:

Coriander infused lamb stewed on the bone

Tandoori shrimp  or Tandoori King Prawn  or Kesari Jhinga

Kashmiri rice with raisons, cashews, etc.

Dhungar Machli Tikka (Tandoori smoked salmon, flavored with mustard, dill and spices)

Gilafi Dum Biryani (Pastry crusted lamb Biryani-a GREAT dish!)

Pershawari nan  (stuffed with almonds, coconuts and raisons)

A personal addiction is the "national dish of England," chicken tikka masala

Real homemade lime pickle.

Tandoori King Prawn Massalla (marinated prawns, bbq'd then served in curry sauce)

Chicken Dopiaza

Chana Masala

Mutter Panneer

Butter Chicken

Onion Bhajee

not much other than it's supposed to be creole/new orleans influenced, which would make the name misleading. the cooking in acadiana, cajun country, is pretty different from that of creole/nola.

Carl's in Fredericksburg, along with the original Klein's in downtown Harrisonburg have original ElectroFreeze machines from the '50's.  I believe they are the only surviving two in the state of Virginia.  Kohr Bros. in Seaside Heights on the north end of the boardwalk by Casino Pier has one machine left over from the '40's.  The frozen custard that comes out of it has NOTHING in common with any other Kohr. Bros. anywhere.  It is far superior.

To XDCX:  On a business trip this year I had frozen custard on successive nights at Michael's (original location) in Madison, Kopp's (not the original location but one of the two franchises-did you know that Kopp's franchises?) and Ted Drewes in St. Louis.  Michael's was the densest and creamiest and Kopp's (which I've had before and previously thought was the best) the richest at 16% (a real figure).  Have you been to Neilsen's in Vienna?  I understand that both they AND Kopp's had their machines made by the owner of Leon's.  Neilsen's insists their custard is 10% butterfat but even with so little air it still tastes much richer.  It is as dense as Michael's.  Is this because of the machine they use?  Who makes your's?  I've had your custard four or five times and it is different from Neilsen's.  Last, Neilsen's has fantastic concretes-better than Drewes.  But the owner believes that candy should NOT be mixed into his daily special flavors dissimilar to most of the Wisconsin stores as well as yourself and Al at Milwaukee.  I believe Neilsen's would be better if they did this; for flavor not doing this can be a "weakness" for some, not for others.  Have you had their custard?  I believe your's is also 10% but for me there is a very real difference in the texture and density of your respective custards.  Your thoughts, please.  I am not making a value judgment about better or worse rather just my perceived differences in the density and texture of custard and the influence of the machine.  Last, have you had any of the Buffalo (Anderson's) or Rochester (Abbott's)  area frozen custard.  Several of them have original ElectroFreeze machines but we're talking maybe a total of 4 out of 50 locations!

I will however say that I lived in buffalo for a year and had Anderson's and don't think that it's nearly as good as the DRD.

Mmmmmmmmmmm - Bee Sting frozen custard.  Today's (and yesterday's) flavor.  I knew it had to have honey in it, but it turns out it's got a baklava thing going on.  Honey, plus baked phyllo, and chopped almonds in vanilla custard. 

It was SO good, that pint that was supposed to last 2 of us for a few days, well, um, it's an empty container  in the trashcan...

fortunately I thought to bring home a Mozambique flavor ice cream sandwich made with Ginger cookies. 

I absolutely LOVE sunflower. As a vegetarian, it's so great to look at a menu and know you can order anything on it. If only I lived closer...

We have a few similar places here in MD (Yuan Fu, Vegetable Garden), and they are very good, but they are no Sunflower.

I'd take Yuan Fu and Vegetable Garden over sunflower pretty much every time. Sunflower is good, but after a while of going there semi regularly, you realize one basic truth that isn't found at YF or VG, everything at sunflower tastes pretty much the same. And while it's all very good, after awhile you just get tired of the same old thing.

Morimoto's opening a restaurant in Tysons?  When?

I go out to Striblings every fall for apples, I've never picked peaches there before. It is a reputable orchard as you can tell by the variety of peaches that they have.

no luck. they won't have anything ready until end of july, first of august.

I would check out Stribling Orchard:

http://www.striblingorchard.com/orch.html

Since it's about the time of year for peaches to get ripe, has anyone been out into the VA mountains and done any picking? If so, where and would you go back?

subway's not much better, usually around the 1000-1200 mg of sodium per sandwich. I'd honestly be interested to see how things from slow food restuarants stack up to fast food.

Restaurant Eve sources its ice creams from the Del Ray Dreamery.

Vermillion too.

Can anyone explain what the deal is with their Brat Night that  they have every few months? Seems kind of random for an ice cream shop to dedicate themselves to serving bratwurst every so often.

it's only over the winter. Liz is from Wisconsin, her dad was in congress for Wisconsin for years so she spent a lot of time split between the 2 places. There's tons of Wisconsin influence on any given day, the wall of sprecher being a big one. She really likes the idea of communal dining, so once a month on the first thursday in the non summer months she does brat night complete with german potato salad, saurkraut and usually a handful of accordian players. It's fun. People tend to be friendly and on occasion singing and or dancing from the local seminarians has been known to break out.

I wonder if risotto tastes better if you hand carry the special arborrio rice back from Italy.

and now you know what started this....

The line for me is when you start expecting everyone else to hold to your standards for taste, ingredients, etc.  Do whatever you want in your own life but don't expect from others or judge them for doing differently.  This includes knowing how to be a gracious guest (or host) when around those who don't share your inclinations.  Taste is a subjective thing.  Opinions are not facts.

It's this mindset that sparked this thread. I care far more about whether or not something tastes good to me than I do it's pedigree or whether or not I'm supposed to. I don't get wine. I don't drink alcohol. I never have and I never will. But what kills me is that to some it means that I simply will not be able to enjoy a meal to it's fullest extent, rather than understanding that some things are subjective.

and I'm not talking about people who's lives revolve around it. anyone who's insane enough to own or work in a restuarant gets mad props, you're better people than I. I'm talking about people who's "hobby" it is eat and who feel personally connected to meals that they did nothing but consume. I guess the larger question is there a line between being a foodie (sweet jebus do I hate that term) and being a food snob?

vitually impossible to spread butter on crappy supermarket bread (unless your butter is really soft)...you need the slick, oily processed margarine to get it right.

lurpak man, lurpak.

we have at any given time 3-4 different yeast extraxt products in the house. boxril, the only one I can stand, vegemite, marmite and natex (a low sodium version that's close to marmite but still tastes foul)

What, unboiled? Call yourself a Brit...

the bigger problem is that he used margarine instead of butter. somewhere in england a nan is crying. my wife is a brit and a vegetarian and one of the only things she misses from the meat world is doner kebab.

Dusty, great toffee!! Please....make....soon!! OK, I'll stop begging now. We have the May menu and will be trying out more flavors soon.

Will do! I made 15 pounds of the stuff for Friday and Saturday and there was hardly any left. I'll be making some more through out May so if you're in on a Saturday or Sunday there's a chance it'll be a sandwich option.The website http://www.delraydreamery.com has descriptions of some of the weirder named flavors. The current plan is to try doing pecan brittle for a flavor in June, but that depends on what ideas liz already has and if there is room or not.

cho's garden in fairfax is now 24 hours if you ever need bulgogi or bibimbop at 3 am.

Tried the Del Ray Dreamery yesterday and really loved the special which was "Dusty's Almond Toffee). Homemade toffee at that. The custard is wonderful.

Also, picked up Banana Peanut Butter frozen yogurt for our dogs. The loved it.

thanks, I'm Dusty. I'm glad you liked the toffee. I'll probably be making some more candy for a flavor in June. It was really weird being in there and kept hearing my name called when people were ordering.

Del Ray Dreamery. but specifically friday and saturday this week since I'm supplying a compontent of the flavor of the day. Almond Toffee. Handmade by me. lots and lots of it.

I'd chip in a few hundred bucks to have Del Ray Creamery change its name to Ashburn Creamery and move to Loudoun County.

While Liz would enjoy being closer to wegmans and the ability to actually have chickens, next time you're in and if she's not super busy, ask her about her dream of raising chickens and why she's bitter that Alexandria won't let her, I don't think there's much chance of it, but it would bring my job and my second home very close to each other.... you might be on to something!

Over by China Star is Blue Ocean. It's a rarity in the nova burbs. A Japanese restuarant run by Japanese. The result is really fresh sushi, really amazing "little plates" (most of which are on a secret japanese only menu that get carried around the restuarant and put in front of the table for those that can speak it) Real Ramen and a whole bunch of dishes I haven't seen anywhere in the area like kama meshi.

I've had decent luck with getting the english name off of here http://www.blueocean-sushi.com/ala/ala_eng...ategory=seafood and asking for it. Sometmes they have it and know what I'm talking about and sometimes I get odd looks. It's worth a try though when you get things like kakuni which is the best pork roast I think I've ever had.

It's right between the Trader Joes and the Chuck E Cheeses for those familiar with the area, right off of 236 on your way into fairfax city proper coming from the beltway.

crack doesn't require a prescription. I'm just saying, rock's isn't because of his last name.

anything in the eden center. we like dragon star? The one chinese joint tucked in one of the corners.

second taqueria poblano followed by del ray dreamery ( full disclosure, i'm a good friend of Liz the owner, but to be fair the friendship came as a result of the custard and sorbets).

minvera for lunch for the buffet or dinner with leftovers that will give you at least another meal.