bookluvingbabe

Palena was dark when I drove past this evening at 9 or so. Anyone know why?

I worry....

Jennifer

Now we just need to get the menu up on the website....

Wondering what the new lunch menu has to offer.

Jennifer

First roasted cauliflower of the season is in the oven. Husband came home and said the apartment smelled purple.

Will also have some sort of salmon that I must decide about in the next little while.

I like the Charlie Palmer's issue.  The woman complained that her steak was to red on the inside and that medium rare(her requested level of doneness) should be pink.  Am I crazy or is medium rare supposed to be a warm red center.  Pink is more towards the medium/medium well end of the spectrum.

I always thought it should be closer to pink than warm red center but I've just taken to ordering my steaks medium.

Dupont--Cherries from Toigo and Reids; Strawberries from same; Chevre from Firefly Farms; Cilantro from ??? (I never know the names of the places where I don't write checks...they had fava beans but I didn't buy any...) and baby zuchinis and red cauliflower from Sunnyside.

I was pleased.

Blueberries next week at Reids and peaches in two weeks.

When's the corn????

Jennifer

I'm going to try to stop in at Firefly around 5:30 for a quick spring roll before they disappear from the menu....

Damn. Looks like I need to get my butt down there this weekend if I want spring rolls. (Everything looks great but I LOVE those spring rolls...)

I have the worst schedule this week.... I'm supposed to be meeting friends for Ethiopian on Friday. Wonder if I can switch it...

Jennifer

I'll leave the cooking to Michael, but I want the plastic deer in the front window for my patio.

DC Coast has always been good.  They usually open up the whole menu with a add on for the tea smoked lobster.

They don't open up the whole menu--entrees yes, apps and desserts, no. The desserts are never as good as what's available on the regular menu and are only seen twice a year--during Winter and Summer RW. I just can't embrace giving them props when 2/3 of the meal is crappy and second rate cause they let you chose any entree.

Yes, I feel very passionately about this....

Jennifer

I'm curious to hear what places are a must for restaurant week?  And what places would you avoid?

Personally, I had a nice lunch at DISH one year and a lackluster one at Cafe Atlantico the next.

I'm always disappointed at DC Coast and Ten Pehn. They give you a choice of any entree but severely limit the apps and dessert. And the wait staff is usually pretty rude. We just go other times of the year now and enjoy.

We've tapered off in the past fews years after too many mixed experiences.

It's sad because in NY the whole RW experience usually turns me into a fan of someplace for life. Other than Corduroy, I haven't been that wowed.

Jennifer

Has anyone tried the brunch at Firefly?

Just when you're tired of hearing how wonderful Palena is, there's this.

I've been to Palena so many times that it can't possibly be exciting anymore, and quite often, for me, it falls squarely into the realm of comfort food:  I've seen the month-to-month, up-and-down machinations with the chicken, the cheeseburger, and just about everything else on the menu.  Nothing has surprised or astounded me there for a long time, until this evening.

I ordered a charcuterie plate at $12, on the menu as Affetatti - Produzione Propira (Plate of house-cured meats), thinking it would be a good stand-up dish while I waited for a seat at the bar, and figuring it would be a good snack to munch on, but when it arrived, it stopped me in my tracks, suddenly and absolutely.

Fennel salami, cappacolla, lonza, soppressata, testa, lingua -  all five things were house-cured and compelling, and the presentation was as beautiful as it was generous.

How good was it?  I ordered a second plate as my entree with french fries.  But meats this nuanced and delicate must be had alone, before anything else in the entire meal, being easily overwhelmed by a mere piece of bread, much less a platter of fried potatoes, onion rings and lemons.

This dish can rest comfortably alongside Palena's chicken and cheeseburger as a definitive example of its type within the region.  It is one of the best charcuterie plates I've ever had in my life, and one of the most important single food items in the entire city.

Believe what I'm saying here,

Rocks.

You were there tonight? Standing at the bar at the end and then sitting at the bar??? We were at one of the round booths...

We had the pate, the tagliterre (sp?) primavera and the penne with the lamb meatballs.

The charcuterie tempted me but there was a lot of meat and salt this weekend so I passed...

Just means I have to go back. Soon!

Jennifer

Dithering between trying to find parking near Gailo and making my first Grill stop for lunch or sticking with 2 Amy's.

Choices, choices...

I'm also going to stop at the USDA Farmer's Market if it's not pouring around noon.

I figure I need good provisions before I had up to WVA.

Jennifer

I see a trip in my future--not too far from my office, near the Salvation Army where I need to make a donation.

Jennifer

2 Amy's serves it warm and it's nice; C-W told me to chill and it's amazing....

Jennifer

OMG! My husband would plotz if I showed this to him.

Took him to St. Louis, showed him Amighettis, took him to Steak and Shake, made him toasted ravioli. (It was too cold for Ted Drewes.) Bought him Bissingers Chocolates. What is he still talking about six months later?

Imos Pizza. I've never seen a non-native take to it the way he did.

So the mail-order stuff from Imos works well????

Jennifer

A chatter posted an enthusiastic plug for a Korean restaurant in Tenleytown called Kuma, which is presumably very new. I can't find anything about it on the Web, although I haven't tried very hard. Does anyone know anything about this? Where in Tenleytown? Anyone eaten there?

It's right across from the library on Wisconsin, two doors down from Neishi Thai.

It's in a space that's been at least a half-dozen different dingy Chinese and Japanese places since I was in college. (AU Alum...)

There's a sign out front advertising a new owner or new management and a sushi buffet.

Jennfier

Jennifer, did anyone at Dupont have sour cherries yet? I want to put up some sour cherry preserves this year.

Marie at Reid's said they won't have the sour cherries until July.

The Sunnyside guy said cherry's are going to be in short supply this year.

Sigh...

They were $7.99 a pound at Whole Foods this morning.

It would be cheaper to be addicted to crack.

Jennifer

Strawberries, strawberries and more strawberries at Dupont today. If I had unlimited money I would have bought some from anyone and gone nuts doing a taste comparison latter.

Best buy of the day--

Cherries at Sunnyside (Burp....) Yum. Not the best I've ever had but I was starting to twitch with cherry lust.

Jennifer

FYI-- I was in Calvert Woodley today and they have the Gragnano on sale for $11.

Best Cellars carries another sparkling Italian red, La Sera Malvasia.  Fairly sweet, it works as a pleasant dessert wine.

Hot Damn! That's around the corner from me.

Jennifer

Did anyone see this article in the SF Chronicle?

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file...WIGO9CSFBM1.DTL

I am ALWAYS tempted by the sparking reds at Ray's by Mr. BLB isn't much of a drinker so I stick to the cava followed by something red to go with the steak.

I love the gragano at 2 Amy's.

Am I candidate for one of these Australian wines???

Jennifer

Next weekend I have to go to WVA (Berkeley Springs) and we're having a potluck dinner for 12 or so on Saturday night.

Not clear what the cooking conditions will be and there won't be any time to do serious provisioning there. Oh, and I only have a tiny, tiny cooler...

What to do???

I'm thinking of taking time during the week to make Bourdain's Mushroom soup from the Les Halles cookbook and then freeze it. It should stay relatively cool on the 2 hour drive up and finish defrosting in the fridge. It reheats pretty well and it's a nice soup.

Of course if it's 90 degrees, how many people are going to want soup????

My default potluck entree has been Vace's lasagna -- I wonder how well it would fit into my cooler and if it would stay frozen....

Any other ideas? I don't want to give myself or anyone else food poisoning!

Thanks!

Jennifer

Took a friend for dinner last night.  She was tired of hearing me rave about it and wanted to see for herself.  Fortunately she was thrilled to find good eats within walking distance of her place.  I, however, was not that impressed.

We started with prosciutto and potato croquettes.  If the menu had said potato croquettes they would have been the hit of the evening.  Perfectly fried, crisp outside.  The first bite reveals creamy, buttery mashed potatoes.  Brilliant mashed potatoes.  But there was no sign of prosciutto anywhere.  I was quite disappointed.

We also had a plate of roasted olives which were wonderful.  Perfect dish to linger over while catching up with a dear friend.

For our pizzas we both had the margaritas but I topped mine with the lamb meatballs.  Finally, after a number of attempts I got there early enough to try the meatballs.  Standing on their own they are amazing.  If I had a Nona I imagine she would make meatballs like this.  But as a topping for the pizza it did not work.  The extra sauce make the dough soggy and the nuances of the pizza were overpowered by the meatballs.  Next time I will have them separately.

We had the croquettes last week when we ordered carryout while I was home sick for our anniversery. We both thought they were a touch dry and overcooked. Good concept, not quite the execution we wanted.

I think the lamb meatballs are best in the stuffed pizza with the fontina. But what I'd really love to do is have a side-by-side comparison with Palena's little lamb meatballs...

Jennifer

Jennifer,

Here's a tip:  Ask the host/hostess or the waiter/waitress in the bar area if the dr.com (or eGullet) people are there for HH.  And, ask loudly enough to be heard by the bar patrons.  By the time you got there last night, we had been talking with John (who was behind the bar holding forth on wine and such) and the bartender was taking care of us.  They at least know Jacques Gastreaux on sight and he was there when we got there.  It's really easy to be welcomed into this group.

I for one, was sorry not to meet you; I've been enjoying your submissions to this site.

Barbara

Thanks! I'll do it next time--I'm working on coming out of my shell...

Jennifer

You should have come to the bar and said something (like "hello") to the rowdy DR.com'ers who were hogging all the bar stools and drinking all the wine in sight.

edited to add:  And PS:  Chef Wabeck gave me a draft copy of his upcoming new menu, but I left it in my coat pocket from last night so I can't post it just now.  It looks really really good.  The lamb sirloin will be replaced by braised lamb shoulder.

I thought about it but was afraid I would be saying hello to random strangers who would think I was crazy....

I'm chronically shy....

Sigh.

Jennifer