LauraB

I'm sad about this news. We went there for the first time in mid-August using a Groupon and liked it so much that we were planning to return next week. I hope it wasn't Groupon that did them in...

Someone on Chowhound is reporting that they went to Bobby's last night and it was closed and dark. Said they were told by an employee at the shop next door that it has been that way for a few weeks. Anyone have any information?

Grilled wild Alaskan King Salmon from River Falls Seafood Grilled heirloom tomatoes from Bending Bridge Farm Sauteed kale with garlic from Bending Bridge Farm Bending Bridge Farm is at the Bethesda Central Farm Market on Sunday mornings. It is probably my favorite produce vendor there. They aggregate produce from several farms and the variety and quality is really good. No fruit, just vegetables, and lots of them.

We just had a great fresh tomato dish at Cashion's Eat Place tonight. Those tomatoes were the best I've had all summer. It has not been a stellar year for tomatoes. The dish description was 'Steves Vine Ripe Tomatoes with Red Onions, Pipe Dreams Fromage, Lemon, and Micro Basil.' Unfortunately, I was too caught up in our conversation to have the good sense to ask who the heck Steve is and where can I find his tomato patch. I'd buy up his entire crop.

Broiled boneless chicken breasts in marinade of: EVOO, lime juice, soy sauce, chili powder, cumin, coriander, garlic, honey Garnished with homemade salsa and "mock sour cream": yogurt with shallots, lime juice, tabasco Brown rice cooked with chopped carrots, celery, tomatoes and spices: paprika and cayenne Spinach sauteed with mushrooms and garlic

Sizzling shrimp in garlic sauce Heirloom tomato salad Black bean and mango salad

We had a really lovely dinner experience at The Oval Room this evening. The four of us chose not to do the Tasting Menu and instead ordered 3 courses each from the regular menu. I won’t detail the dishes each of us ordered, many of them have been reviewed above. I will just say that we were all very pleased with everything we were served. The cooking here meets a very high standard. And so does the wait service – our server was very good – never missing in action or hovering. The highlight of the meal for me, was the wine service. The Sommelier, Brent Kroll, was just great. (He is also the Asst. GM). We presented him with a challenging situation: we needed a wine that would go well with pork loin, beef striploin and scallops. He suggested a California Pinot Noir (his last bottle of this wine) and it turned out to be spectacular (for only $50). We wanted to order a second bottle of wine, knowing that the first was no longer available. We asked Brent if he could provide a wine that was similar to the first. He did. The second bottle was also a Pinot Noir from California and it was just as good as the first. I’m sorry that I can’t provide details about the wines – this was a special celebration event (a birthday, a graduation and an anniversary) and I just wanted to enjoy the experience and not be a food reporter with my notepad and camera at hand. This is just a way to say that if you turn yourselves over to Brent, you'll be in very good hands. Finally, we were especially delighted at the overall price of the meal –the tab, before tax and tip was $333 for the four of us. This included 1 cocktail, 1 glass of wine, and 1 beer, plus 3 courses for each of the 4 of us, and 2 bottles of wine (which totaled $102 alone). We thought this meal was quite a value. And, an added bonus, while the restaurant was reasonably full while we were there, the noise level was very moderate. No need to shout at your companions or to lean halfway across the table to try to hear what they're saying. This was our first visit to the Oval Room, but we plan to return frequently -- this is a gem of a restaurant.

It's on Rockville Pike just north of the Town Center -- the closest metro station would be Rockville, and it should be a moderate walk from there, but I'm not entirely sure, since I've never walked it. However, you may very well be able to find this at other Asian groceries. Also, my second favorite is the Tamicon brand which I have found at Whole Foods.

It sounds to me that what you bought was actually a solid block of tamarind pulp and those 'almonds' are actually the tamarind seeds. Commercial tamarind paste or concentrate comes in a jar and looks something like apple butter, but the taste is nothing like that -- it's more like prunes with lime juice. You can make use of the tamarind block to make tamarind liquid which you can use for your pad thai. What I do is take about 1/2 of a 14-oz block of tamarind and add 2.5 cups of hot water and allow it to sit for 10 minutes or so. Then I use my fingers to squeeze the block like a sponge until the pulp separates from the seeds and dissolves in the water. I then strain the liquid into a bowl and discard the undissolved pulp and seeds. The liquid can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week or frozen for up to 3 months. If you prefer to buy tamarind concentrate, I find that Asian Best's Concentrated Cooking Tamarind that I buy at Maxim's in Rockville is the best of the 4 brands I've tried. One thing I'm certain of: Ketchup is NO substitute for tamarind! I'm stunned that Bittman would suggest that.

Grilled lamb kebabs with red peppers and red onions, served with mint and cilantro pesto Grilled portabello mushrooms Sauteed kale with garlic

We had an absolutely delightful meal on Dino's patio early on Sunday evening. The weather was perfect and there was a street musician playing across the street outside the metro station -- his music was mesmerizing. Sadly, he left not long after we were seated. Dean told us that they have tried to persuade him to play at night, but to no avail. I won't review the dishes we had, because so much has been written already. I will say that I was after every tomato dish I could find, since I know Dean uses fresh produce from the Dupont market and the season is winding down. I was quite happy with my Caprese salad, Aglione pasta, and Melanzane entree (half of which made a great breakfast the next day). Ok, just a slight quibble: the pasta in the Aglione was perhaps just a bit too al dente -- maybe just a minute more of cooktime would have been perfect. Even though I'm not a vegetarian, all of my dishes were veg, and I think a vegetarian could do quite well at Dino. My husband loved all of his meat-centric dishes (Baci, Sugo, Salsiccia). We took advantage of the 33% off bottles of wine deal and had a really lovely Adelsheim Pinot Noir. This was only our second visit to Dino, but, I swear, if we lived near Dino, we'd be there once a week! Dino is truly a gem.

Today's Living Social deal: $30 for $60 at Trummer's on Main.

Oh Pickles! sells at the Bethesda Central Farm Market on Sunday mornings. Their pickles are really delicious.

We had an absolutely delightful lunch on the patio at Hunters Head Tavern today. It could not have been a more perfect day for dining outdoors and Hunters Head's patio is a really lovely spot. I started with the soup of the day, tomato cream with sorrel which was very flavorful and a very generous serving. Husband had the crab vichyssoise -- we did not trade bites, so I can't comment on the quality or taste -- he said it was very good; it appeared to be very thick, almost the texture of ice cream. For my entree I ordered the smoked porkloin sandwich with garlic aioli and microgreens which was served on toasted wheat bread. This sandwich was very good -- the pork was very thinly sliced and there was easily a 1/2 inch stack, the greens and the bread were very fresh. The sandwich was served with possibly the best french fries I've ever had. I don't tend to eat french fries, but I cleaned the plate today. These had a glorious crunch on the outside, a soft inside and were not greasy at all. These did not even require ketchup. Husband had an open-face beef sandwich which was covered in gravy and served with pureed potatoes and broccoli. He said he enjoyed it. We were having such a good time that we decided to order dessert. There were 5 items on the dessert menu and 3 of them seemed more appropriate for fall or winter. Two were summer-friendly: I had the blackberry panna cotta and husband had the peach and vanilla bean ice cream. I thoroughly enjoyed the panna cotta (worth the calories) and husband reported that the ice cream was very good.

Last night: Brined, grilled pork tenderloin with Caribbean-flavored wet rub Grilled peach salad: peaches in a marinade of jalapenos, basil, ginger, lime juice, salt, olive oil, served on a bed of arugula, watercress, basil, dressed with evoo and champagne vinegar Texmati rice with roasted Hatch chiles, white onion, cilantro, parsley, garlic

Where are Garner's and Kuhn's?

Is it just me or is the produce this year just not that good? My main reason for going to farmers markets in the summer is for the 2 things I cannot find at the same level of quality at the grocery store (for me, it's WF). Those 2 items are peaches and tomatoes. Yes, I buy a lot of other things, but my main focus is peaches and tomatoes. We have been buying from Toigo and Twin Springs at the Bethesda Central Farm Market on Sunday mornings. We have been dismayed at the quality of the tomatoes and peaches -- especially at Toigo. We have opted to grill most of the tomatoes and peaches because in their natural state, they're just not that good. Is it the weather this year? What's going on?

Today's Groupon is for Norito Hwaro ($20 for $40). Just wondering, is it worth it?

Thanks, Don! Good to know we can dress up and not feel overdressed.

We have a dinner reservation at The Oval Room next month to celebrate a special occasion. This will be our first visit. Wondering what the dress code there is for a weekend evening. Thanks for any guidance.

Yikes, that looks like something my mother used in the 60s. Boiled coffee! (Oh, excuse me, I meant, 'percolated')

I frequently find myself in the city and want to go to a restaurant, but can't recall which restos are nearby, or, where exactly they are. My dream is to be able to consult my iPhone/iPad for a list/map of restaurants within a 4-6 block radius of my location. Does this app exist? If so, please point me to it. Thank you!

If you have the time and a car, it's worth the drive to Boulder to have dinner at Frasca. Had one of my better meals of the last couple of years there last October. After I got back to DC, I was astonished to read Tom Sietsema reply to a chatter's query about the best meals he had ever had: one of them was a meal at Frasca!

Homemade gazpacho. I would call it 'local' because all of the produce (tomatoes, cukes, peppers, basil, red onion, cilantro, parsley) came from the farmers market. However, the tomato juice (Knudsens), Italian Balsamic Vinegar, and lemons were not from around here.

It seems to me that this whole issue has gotten a bit confused. The locavore movement, as I understand it, is about the sourcing of ingredients within relatively few miles of where they are consumed. 'Local donuts' can be made on the premises using ingredients that come from hundreds or even thousands of miles away. (Is there a sugar cane plantation nearby?) Certainly, having the donuts made in-house is preferable to trucking them in from far away from a giant donut factory. However, if the donut shop is in the Mid-Atlantic and the fruit from that jelly donut comes from California and the sugar comes from cane grown in the Caribbean, and the flour comes from a mill in the Midwest, how local is that? A distinction needs to be made between locavore (locally-grown and sourced ingredients) and house-made (product was assembled and baked, cooked, fried, etc. on the premises, from ingredients from various locations, some of which may be local).