smokey

As a former nursing mother (oh, and a former baby--maybe some of the posters here were never infants who needed to be fed?), this is a hot button issue for me as well. Suffice it to say, my attitude is get-over-it. I'll breastfeed where ever I am with my infant if the infant needs to eat. If my infant is welcome in the setting (NB: not talking about an editorial board meeting, or an expensive restaurant at 8:00 on a Saturday night), then I'll feed the infant as I do. I don't cover what I'm doing up with a blanket (I'm not ashamed of breastfeeding and if it makes you uncomfortable--don't look), nor do I flaunt it by taking off my entire top. You'll see no more boob than you do watching cheerleaders on Sunday sports shows, and I doubt any of the complainers here think those breasts are a problem.

Sometimes, I've had access to a computer when I made the OT reservation, but I haven't had internet access when I needed to cancel it. [although, in my defense, when this has been the case I've simply called the restaurant to cancel.]

La Cuisine does knife sharpening?

Actually, I'm specifically disparaging about dinner, and think it's just fine for brunch.

I also really like the lentils and feta salad (although, if I do say so myself, I do a lovely one at home!).I also second what some have said about the ginger salad at Spices. In fact, i think it's about the only decent thing on the menu.

My SO and I really liked Zuki Moon as well. It was no real surprise when it closed though--never saw more than an handful of people there. I just wish I had gotten it together to go to Nectar before *it* closed. Does anybody remember a place called the Golden Booeymonger? It would have been (if memory serves) on CT Ave, South of the Hinckley Hilton in Dupont Circle? I went there once as a kid (early 80's? late 70's?) and remember being really impressed. Curious if it actually was any good. It was nothing like the sub shop Booeymongers that is currently in existence in DC.

I know you asked for local, but... I just have to say that zingerman's in Ann Arbor does a great gift basket. not only high quality stuff, but the customer service behind it. i ordered a gift basked for friends who had had a baby. They didn't receive it on the day they should have because of a screw up by fedex (*not* zingermans). I called Zingermans because i felt some of the stuff in the basket wouldn't be as fresh. They simply said they would send out another one. No muss, no fuss. Expensive, but with service like that, and the quality of the ingredients, worth every penny. (oh, BTW, I doubt they have fruit in their baskets) www.zingermans.com

Funny, that's exactly the way i feel about Tabard Inn. I think their brunch is, well, fine, just fine. And that's about as warm as I can get about it. As for their dinner menu, I think the food is overwrought, overconceived, overpriced and underpolished. It's a mishmash of current and past food trends (goat cheese! food stack!) all brought to you on one dinner plate.To each their own.

Ok, so I know *ZERO* about wines. I was charged with bringing some white wine to the potluck (sorta) Thanksgiving we were attending. Went to a local wine store who has steered me well in the past, told them my request, explained I don't like sweet, needed white, and gave them my cost parameters. Came out with two bottles of a Riesling from Alsace (by way of explanation for how little I know about wine, that's all I remember about it). You know what? I loved it. I didn't like it to drink on it's own, but with the Thanksgiving food, I thought it was really good. Live and learn... (P.S. In the past, I've gone with pinot noirs and have always been really happy with how they paired with the bird.)

Ack! I say stay away from the American City Diner (CT Ave. near Avalon). I had a terrible dinner there once with SO. Mediocre diner food (at least for dinner), everything 'eh' at best.

It's funny, I've heard others say that about Desaulnier. I checked it out of the library and was sort of underwhelmed. I didn't end up cooking anything from it (full confession). However, i wasn't drawn to cooking anything from it. Everything seemed so fussy to me and overwrought. In the vein of full confession, I love a traditional American layer cake. I've made biscuit and other, more European, cakes (plus, even a couple of sort of fussy cakes), but I love a (homemade!) moist, fluffy American 9" 2 layer cake with (ok, snobbiness comes in here) an Italian meringue buttercream frosting (I can't go in for the overly-sweet milk/butter/powdered sugar frosting). And, (slightly more germane to this thread), I think the Desaulnier book is too advanced for a beginning baker. As for RLB, I don't like her tone, and have had mixed success with her recipes. I know some consider her the end all and be all. To each their own.

Some of my response to DC's question depends on where you are on the timeline of recommending a restaurant. If somebody you'll be dining with has merely suggested a restaurant that you don't like, but you're still in the planning phase, it's perfectly reasonable to politely say, "I'm not very fond of that restaurant. What do you think of []?" You've made it clear you don't want to go there and have provided an alternative. Even if the person has gone on and on about how good it is, you can still decline (e.g. "I've just never much cared for what I've eaten there. What about some other place?"). If you're sitting at the restaurant, there is no excuse, regardless of price, regardless of taste or anything else, for whining about the food at a restaurant somebody else chose to which you agreed to go. (Ok, the only excuse is age--2 year old are permitted limited whining.) It has nothing to do with dollars in wallet or taste or anything else. It has to do with courtesy. Try to buy as little as you can, choose the least offensive item on the menu, smile and enjoy your conversation with your friend, and go home and make yourself a sandwich.

I agree with the Baker's Companion recommendation for baking books. They're very American desserts, but that's probably what most beginning cooks want (e.g. cookies, bars, etc.). Baking Illustrated, from the folks at Cooks Illustrated, might also be good. I also love Deborah madison's VCfE. If your sister isn't turned off by the veggie in the title, it's a good book and meat can be added, easily in many of the recipes (if that's your thing).

So, I was in the tailor's shop in the Sunshine Square on Rockville Pike a week or two ago (to map it according to food places, it's next door to an Entenman's outlet and around the corner from Sadaf Halal Market). Next door to the tailor's shop is a paper-ed over storefront, with a construction permit in the window, and a sign that says "Cake in Style" (IIRC). Anybody know anything about this?

I've never tried La Pasta (for sale at a Whole Foods (near me, at least!), but have also heard good things about it.

What s/he said...

This is exciting! Thanks for the word, DC.

No worries, I understood it as such. As for the bernaise/hollandaise question, I think it's a function of the fact that my mother has only made bernaise. If she made hollandaise, I might decide it was an ok aise. Instead, I've only ever tasted sad efforts towards it (the bruised, beaten, raped and pillaged corpses of battles in the culinary repertoire, to borrow from Banco) from brunch menus, etc. Now creme anglaise, that's an aise of a totally different flavor! (where's the emoticon of homer drooling?)

[desperate attempt to find some room in JLK's good graces...] My mother makes a lovely bernaise sauce that passes my muster. But mayonaise and hollandaise definitely result in, as donrocks pointed out, malaise. Plus, surely you're not suggesting that nicoise (which would clearly take an oise not an aise!) should be dressed with mayonnaise?! [gasp]

I'm going to be out in LA for a conference next week. Sadly, without a car (gov't travel ain't exactly luxurious...). So, can anybody recommend some places in (gulp) Central City for good lunches and not too expensive, but good!, dinners? I'll eat any kind of food (ok, actually I'm a fishaterian, so steak houses I'm not so interested in). By not too expensive, I mean less than roughly $50-60/person, including tax, tip, any liquor I want to drink, etc. I'll happily accept recommendations for good food that will require cab ride! And, of course, if it's something that LA does particularly well (e.g. Mexican, Asian), all the better. Thanks, --- Water Grill (Joe H)

Work with me here for a minute folks, as I try to sort out this quote system... (in other words, sorry if it looks weird, I'm trying) I had a terrible dinner at La Fourchette, admittedly 5 years or so ago. But it was bad enough that I wouldn't go back. Terrible service, and food that included a mayonnaise-based dressing (I detest mayonnaise, and most of its aise cousins) on a nicoise salad. The waiter argued it wasn't a mayo dressing, it was oil and vinegar. Umm, yeah, there's oil in there, but there's also blipping egg in there, thus making it an -aise! Plus, that's obviously not a the kind of dressing that belongs on a nicoise salad. Yeck.