LauraB

We had lunch with friends today at Ananda in Maple Lawn/Fulton. If I recall correctly, you live in Laurel? So, quite close to you. I can't make a claim that it's the best Indian in the entire area, but it's darn good. All four of us enjoyed the meal very much and the service was excellent. It's gotten very favorable press (including the DR.com thread that I linked to above), and Kliman has it on his list of Places I'm Eating Now (for what that's worth to you.)

In general, I much prefer using a service like Open Table over clicking a link on an individual restaurant's website. In this particular case, I was specifically targeting this restaurant for making a reservation, so clicking the link on their site was fine. However, more often than not, I just want to pull up a list of restaurants in a particular area or areas, that have openings on a certain date and time. Open Table is really easy to use for that more common scenario. In addition, even if I know which specific restaurant I want to reserve, I will still go to OT over the restaurant's website to make the reservation because I get points on Open Table that result in credit that I can use to pay for a meal at any OT restaurant when I've earned enough points. Over time, I've earned hundreds of dollars in credit.

We have a reservation at a restaurant later today that was made on Yelp SeatMe. I accessed it by clicking a link on the restaurant's website. This reservation service may be familiar to others, but it was the first time I'd encountered it.

I've had a very good version of Salade Nicoise at Le Diplomate a couple of times in the past year. And for lunch today, I had a lovely Nicoise, which featured seared tuna, at the newly-opened Chez Billy Sud in Georgetown.

Perfect description of what I want! I usually tell them to pass the vermouth bottle near the martini glass but don't make contact.

After voting this morning, MrB and I stopped into the newly-opened Slipstream on 14th Street. This place is just below Rhode Island Ave, very near Birch & Barley, in the space formerly occupied by Fathom Creative. They open at 7:00 am on weekdays (8:00 on weekends) and during the day their focus is on quality coffee and house-made pastries. At 5:00 pm they transition into a cocktail bar and a full-service restaurant. The interior design of this place is beautiful. Unlike your typical coffee house, it features ample table and bar seating. The wooden tables, chairs, and stools were custom-built for them by Amish craftsmen in Pennsylvania and not only is the furniture attractive, it's actually pretty comfortable. There are seating areas in both the front and back of the place and the very long, curved bar is esthetically pleasing. The walls are painted in a gray blue shade that is really lovely. A large skylight provides nice light in the back half of the restaurant. Music is playing, but it's not loud and doesn't interfere with a conversation. For a new customer, it's a bit confusing as to how to order and that whole process needs some work, but they've only been open since last week, so presumably they'll tighten that up over time. We ordered at the bar, then took seats at a table and the coffees and food were delivered to us there. The coffee was served in an actual cup(!) and not a disposable container. I'm not going to go into detail about the coffees as I'm not an expert. As I understand it, they are buying their beans from MadCap coffee. I ordered their one decaffeinated offering and while I found it a bit sour, I also rather enjoyed the taste. MrB had a bold blend. He also ordered their Monkey Bread from among quite a few pastry offerings, and it looked really good. They also have quite a number of teas on the menu and I'll try one of those on my next visit, which may be tomorrow! I really liked this place. FYI, they do not have Wi-Fi and do not intend to offer that, preferring that patrons 'engage with the experience' rather than their Twitter feed. I'm all for that -- hopefully that means that every table and chair won't be occupied by laptop zombies, as so many other coffee houses are. Their website doesn't have a lot of information yet (no menus, for instance), but their Facebook page has more detail and photos.

Yes! My son, who will be 31 next week, once told me that he considered 'Car Talk' to be the soundtrack of his childhood-- so many Saturday mornings driving him to Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, soccer games.....it was endless. It's really sad to have such an institution fade away.

That's not how I see it and here's why: I was reluctant to post and waited a week to do so out of fear of starting a controversy. I finally decided to because I think the enormous expectations that derive from all of the hype set people up to be disappointed if the meal doesn't attain the level of the greatest restaurants in the country. The Shack is much better off if people go there with realistic expectations and are pleasantly surprised rather than greatly disappointed. I tried to balance my post by mentioning all of the positive aspects about our experience, of which there were many -- the friendliness of the staff and the low cost/high value of the meal being among them. I also wanted to get across the point that we do not regret at all having gone there and would go again -- we just wouldn't make it the main goal of our trip.

We had not been back to the Ashby since our last visit in July 2013, prior to the departures of Tarver and Neal. Today we went there for brunch and it was just incredible! This was a level of cooking that you simply don't expect at brunch. It was more like a dinner than brunch in terms of the menu, quality and execution. The meal was so good that I was prompted to ask our server if Chef Dunlap was actually cooking in the kitchen "“ which I think would be rather unusual for brunch. He replied that Chef Dunlap was on the premises, in the office, but not cooking in the kitchen and that the kitchen staff was very well-trained. I'll say! Based on this meal, I'd say that the Ashby's kitchen is in extremely good hands with Chef David Dunlap. For brunch they offer a 3 course menu for $45/person which includes a complimentary Ashby Imperial or Bloody Mary per guest. I asked if I might substitute a 2nd starter in place of dessert and permission was granted. Here's what we had: Starters: Roasted Pumpkin Soup with gala apple, and cardamom crème fraiche: This was a pureed soup poured into the bowl containing the tiny chopped apple and other ingredients. This soup was exquisite. A Tom Power level soup. Autumn in a bowl. We both had to restrain ourselves from licking the bottom of the bowl. Broccoli Variations, puree, marinated, tempura, bay leaf. This was my second starter and I liked it a lot. The tempura was very light and delicate and when all of the different variations were combined in one bite, the result was quite tasty. Entrees: Seared Branzini, pickled maitake, charred scallions, Dashi: The flavors in this dish were just sublime. The fish was perfectly cooked, the mushrooms provided a wonderful earthy component, and that dashi! Wow! This chef knows how to make an exquisite broth. Honestly, if I were told that from now on my only sustenance was this broth, I'd be fine with that. Grilled Beef Cap, roasted sunchokes, golden raisins, wilted arugula, Sauce Choron: This was MrB's entrée and it was perfectly executed. The beef was cooked medium-rare to rare and incredibly tender. All of the other ingredients combined to form a perfect flavor combination that MrB could not stop raving about. Dessert: Vanilla Bean Cake, bourbon caramel, vanilla ice cream: This was MrB's dessert and he loved every bite of it "“ said it was on par with the previous courses as top-notch. The service was not quite as smooth as what we've experienced in the past under Neal's management, but it did not detract from our enjoyment of the experience. The Ashby was the perfect setting for a meal on a really cold and windy day in the Virginia countryside. And that meal will stay with us in memory quite awhile. Absolutely wonderful.

Last Saturday, October 25th, we drove on back roads from DC out to Staunton, VA in order to have dinner at The Shack. We had a reservation for 5:00 pm (when they open) and we arrived just a few minutes before that time. It was a lovely evening and we sat on the patio with 2 other parties until we were invited in. At that time, and at no time while we were there, was there a line (we left sometime between 6:30 and 7:00). We were very surprised by this, given the reports and the press that this place has received. The dining room did fill up during the time we were there, but there still was no line. As many have reported, the dining room is a spare space with just 7 tables. We were very fortunate to be seated at the lone 2-top that is near the kitchen. As we observed during our time there, couples sitting at a 4-top will be joined by another couple. This could be a fun experience, if the other people are like-minded and happy to engage in conversation with strangers. What we observed was the opposite. A table with 2 older diners was joined by a younger couple and I don't think they once made eye contact, let alone exchanged a word of conversation. So, it could be awkward. Diners have a choice of a 3-course ($45) or 4-course ($55) menu. We went with the 4-course. If you order that, you have a choice of 2 starters, 1 entrée and dessert for $55, OR, 3 starters and 1 entrée for $60. MrB chose the former, while I had the latter. The menu for that night. Of the dishes on this menu we chose the following: Starters: Oysters; Rabbit Tortellini; and Butternut Squash Bisque Entrees: Wagyu Beef Cheeks; Roasted Shrimp and Pork Fried Rice Dessert: Cornmeal and Olive Oil Cake The Rabbit Tortellini was the dish of the night "“ one of the best pasta dishes we've had in recent memory. The rest of the meal was good, but simply not that memorable. The beef cheeks were meltingly tender and could be cut with a spoon, but the flavorings were not particularly evident; the oyster preparation (they were served in a bowl without their shells with the other ingredients) was not nearly as good as what we've experienced at the Rappahannock Oyster Bar. If we had had this meal under other circumstances I think we would have been more impressed. The extremely high expectations we had going in from all of the hype left us underwhelmed by most of the food. Still, given the very reasonable cost and the delightful venue, it was overall,a good value. It was a lovely experience and our server, Susan, was absolutely delightful. We fully enjoyed the time we spent at The Shack and, if we're ever in or near Staunton again, we'd go back.

We had an early dinner at The Partisan last night before seeing Fleetwood Mac at the Verizon Center (yes, we're that old.) We are fans of Red Apron and were looking forward to this meal. Alas, we found it mostly disappointing. The highlight of the meal for me was the cocktail I ordered. It was recommended by our server, Anne, and it was just great. It was called Sailin' On and was made with: Old Overholt Rye, Cocchi Vermouth di Torino, Los Amantes Mezcal, Chili Oil-infused Averna, and Chocolate Bitters. This was a fantastic drink and perfect for the colder months. We chose 4 of the charcuterie items to start and only one of them stood out: the Pickled Half-Smoke was really tasty and very nice with the mustard. On the other hand, the Thai Basil Bresaola didn't display any flavors, let alone Asian flavors, at all. The other 2, the Salami Piccante and the Spanish Chorizo, were fine, if nothing special. The Tigelles that were served with the charcuterie were completely uninteresting "“ rather dry and tasteless. The mustard and the pickled fennel were nice. For vegetables we had the Brussel Sprouts Slaw with a horseradish and grainy mustard vinaigrette which we both really liked "“ nice and tangy. We also had the Roasted Baby Beets which were served with watercress, lemon agrumato oil, pickled beets and grated horseradish. This was a nice, very small salad and very similar to a thousand other beet salads you can find all over the city and the country. For proteins, MrB wanted to order the Sea Scallop Crudo with cumin squash puree, Aleppo-pomegranate reduction, cardamom and celery leaf. I was skeptical about ordering this in a meat-centric venue and it turned out to be completely tasteless. It was like eating air. The very tiny dollops of the accompaniments did not add anything. I had read good things about the Rotissi Fried Chicken and, while I haven't allowed myself to eat fried chicken in many years, I made an exception last night. What a mistake. It seems to me that the whole point of eating fried chicken is the skin. Well, our ½ chicken was missing most of its skin on the breast. So, while the wing I had was not bad, the breast was dry and tasteless. MrB ate the thighs and legs and he had a better, but not great, experience. He still found those pieces very dry. As for the service and venue, our server, Anne, was very good and very pleasant. We sat in the front room on the banquette to the left at a 2-top. We were there early and it wasn't loud, even though quite a few tables were filled. The room, while dark, felt warm and cozy. As we walked out, we both agreed that we wouldn't return for dinner. I'd return for that cocktail, though! And the pickled half-smoke.

This past Saturday afternoon, on our back roads trip to Staunton, we were looking for lunch while passing by the northern edge of Charlottesville, after a visit to Barboursville Vineyards. I pulled up DR.com on my iPhone and determined that we were very near Sedona Taphouse (thanks to ktmoomau for posting about this upthread). This turned out to be a perfect choice. This restaurant is way better than you'd expect from a venue located in a strip mall. The restaurant is very sleek and has a nice patio, and since it was an absolutely gorgeous day, we chose to eat on the patio. Even though the patio is right next to the parking lot, we didn't feel like we were dining next to a parking lot. The service was friendly and efficient. We both ordered tacos -- fish for me and pork for him. I also had a beer from their amazingly long beers on tap list; they also have an even longer list of bottled beers. The food was quite good. This is not a destination, but should you find yourself in the vicinity, this is a good choice.

Warrenton This past Saturday MrB and I had a 5:00 reservation at The Shack in Staunton, VA. We decided to make a weekend of it and enjoy Virginia's back roads and fall foliage, not to mention, its food. Starting early in DC, we drove directly to: The Red Truck Bakery What a great bakery! Chef/owner, Brian Noyes, a former WashPost staffer, opened this retail location in 2009 in a former Esso station (circa 1920s) in the historic downtown area of Warrenton. On Saturday morning they had a quite large selection of pastries and other items on offer, in addition to coffee brewed from Counter Culture beans. There is one communal table and we sat there to eat the 4 pastries* we bought and enjoyed conversation with the locals who seemed to be regulars. Their apple pie looked fantastic and I would have loved to take one with us if we were going directly home. They also make sandwiches and soups. (* 4 different croissants: blueberry, chocolate/raspberry, ham & swiss, tomato/olive. The tomato/olive was my favorite of the 4). Sadly, the bakery is closed on Sundays, or we would have stopped on our way home to get one of those pies. Next time.

I'll second the recommendations for Kapnos, Estadio, and Etto. Etto's small plates are great, their pizzas, not so much. Of the 3 of these, I would go to Kapnos.

I made the best Roghan Josh I've ever made last night, all with spices purchased at Pansaari. (MrB ate 3 servings!) The spices were incredibly fresh and aromatic -- it was a real treat just to breathe in their aromas. Everything is authentic and imported directly from India. I stopped by a couple of days ago and had an absolutely delightful conversation with Rano, the owner. She is so warm and friendly and really knowledgeable. She knew immediately what I was planning to make from the spices I asked for. It's true, as KeithA mentioned above, that help is required to retrieve the spices from their jars and package them. I found this a very pleasant experience; but, perhaps this is not a place to shop if you're in a real hurry. They will soon be offering carryout prepared food items and Rano gave me a sample of what she had just made (at no charge) -- it was a potato and pea (I believe) concoction similar to a crabcake in form and size (I can't remember what she called it) and it was sauced with a tamarind chutney. It was fantastic. Rano told me that the Indian cooking classes will begin after Diwali (October 23rd). I'm really looking forward to those. Yes, with the arrival of Pansaari in the neighborhood, there is a lot more home-cooked Indian food in our future!

I made the 'Spiced Chickpeas & Fresh Vegetable Salad' (p. 56) after returning from the farmers market with all of the vegetable ingredients. The part of this recipe that intrigued me the most was the spiced chickpeas. The salad and vinaigrette are pretty basic and hardly require a recipe -- although the salad itself is really beautiful -- very colorful. The only change I made to the salad was to add some arugula leaves. The chickpeas are spiced with ground cardamom, allspice, and cumin and then sauteed for 2-3 minutes in olive oil. I was a bit concerned about adding the spiced chickpeas to the salad because I wasn't sure how well the different flavors would combine. Well, as it turns out, it was delicious! The chickpeas really brought another dimension of flavor to the salad and it was subtle, not overwhelming at all. Ottolenghi suggests adding some Greek yogurt as a topping -- I didn't do that this time but might try it in the future. I would definitely make this again.

If you want to donate, I second Rocks's recommendation for the Salvation Army for pick-up. They hauled a lot of stuff, including some furniture, out of my house last summer. If you think the couch is in too rough a condition to donate, I've had very good experiences with 1-800-Got-Junk for junk removal. I've used them a number of times over quite a number of years (including last summer) and I've always been satisfied. They accept a wide array of items.

According to the El Manantial website, the owners, the Fuentes family, are closing El Manantial in Reston and reopening at an address in Herndon: 790 Station Street, Suite 1000. The name of the new restaurant appears to be Europa Restaurant.

We were walking by this place earlier today and noticed that it was open -- apparently it opened last week. It's quite a large space and it's a bit of an odd mixture of cafe, Indian cooking school, bazaar, and Indian 'grocery.' The 'cafe' is really more of a counter where you can order, as far as I could determine, mostly beverages -- chai, teas, coffee, watermelon juice, etc. They do have 2 frozen dessert items: Mango Ginger ice cream and Kulfi. Javier, the point man behind the counter, was very friendly and eager to provide information. The 2 chais we ordered were served in small glass mugs and were pretty tasty, especially the Adrak chai which has a nice ginger flavor. I was most interested in the 'grocery' because it can be hard to find Indian spices and other ingredients in DC proper. Along one wall is a very large selection of bulk Indian spices and dals, each labeled with both its Indian and English names. The cooking school will begin at the end of the month, or so I was told. The bazaar is selling all kinds of items from clothing to cookware to decorative Indian boxes to books on Indian culture and foodways and a number of other things. It remains to be seen how useful this place will turn out to be. However, for anyone living in DC who likes to cook Indian food and can't get to the suburbs easily, it's probably worth stopping in to see. The website hasn't really been activated yet, but they do have a Facebook page.

Had a late lunch at Ghibellina today and I can testify that the Margherita pizza is just as good as it's ever been. Perfectly charred, thin crust, not soupy in the least, the buffalo mozzarella perfectly melted, the basil fresh and flavorful, and the tomato sauce is just exquisite -- it's sweet, but not too sweet, and a beautiful color. Ever since we first visited Ghibellina last summer we have not felt any need to travel to Pupatella for pizza.

We were there a couple of weeks ago to celebrate my birthday. The Beef Tongue starter was excellent, as was the Grilled Octopus. For pasta, their signature pasta is the Rigatoni with Fennel Sausage Ragu -- it's great. It's not on the menu, but if you ask, they'll make you Cacio e Pepe pasta which I had and it was very, very good -- not quite as good as the CeP I had at Rose's Luxury, but way better than I had at Casa Luca. While I didn't have it on this last visit, I've had the Wood Grilled Chicken in the past and really enjoyed it. As far as drinks go, if you're interested in cocktails, I had a Gin Rickey that was excellent. For wine, put yourselves in the hands of Sebastian.

I also saw it at the National Theater and to this day I remember it as one of the best theater experiences I've ever had.

If you're not so keen on dessert, grilled peaches are also great in a salad -- especially with peppery greens like arugula and watercress. Cut 3 peaches into quarters and marinate in a mixture of olive oil, salt, lime juice, fresh minced ginger, chopped fresh basil and 1 or 2 diced jalapeno peppers, then grill. Toss the greens with an EVOO and champagne vinegar vinaigrette and some additional basil and serve the peaches on top. Summer on a plate! It also works well with nectarines.

According to Dave McIntyre, Peter Chang will be opening a restaurant in Rockville this fall.

That's a great story, Alex. Very happy for you! And now that you're a Fredneck, it won't be long before you're using phrases like 'good to go' and 'goes down the road.'