erin79

I made the tofu and brussels sprouts tonight for dinner for me and my husband (silentbob). Like many have mentioned, the quantity of oil the recipe called for seemed very high. I probably used about half the oil called for, if not a little less. I also substituted spicy garlic chile sauce for sweet chile sauce, since I didn't have that. I liked the addition of heat, but in retrospect, I would have increased the maple syrup or perhaps added a bit of sugar to retain the sweetness the recipe was going for. I think the proportion of tofu to brussels sprouts could have been increased. I also thought the shiitakes would be better sliced (rather than halved or quartered) and cooked a bit longer than the recipe called for, and I liked how silky that made them. Left out the cilantro since I am not a huge fan, but I did enjoy the toasted sesame seeds. Overall, it was a tasty, quick, pretty healthy recipe that took great advantage of one of my favorite winter vegetables. I look forward to trying some of the other recipes! (Has anyone made the mee goreng? We have a lot of tofu to use and I thought that recipe looked good and fairly simple.)

Thanks, Monavano. Italian does seem to be my best bet. Between this and La Piazza Cucina, any ideas which is better?

Cape May I'm trying to find a place for dinner in Cape May this weekend for my friend's bachelorette party, but she is a vegetarian. Does anyone have any suggestions for decent restaurants that have some vegetarian options? We are a party of 8, but I think that will not be as much of a sticking point as the dietary restriction. Thanks!

I don't believe there is a topic for Pica Taco yet. There are two locations: the first is in the Argonne apartment building at 1629 Columbia Rd. NW, and a second location just opened 1406 Florida Ave. NW. I've been wanting to visit Pica Taco ever since Tim Carman discussed the original location a few times back in November of last year. He said that the lengua tacos were really good, even if you don't like tongue. I'd only tried tongue once before, and I was not a huge fan. But after eating a lengua taco at the new location of Pica Taco tonight, and liking it so very much I immediately ordered another and am now plotting the soonest I can go back, I can say that I am sold. Plus, to celebrate the grand opening of restaurant #2, tacos are "buy one, get one free" through Saturday. Here's some more info from Prince of Petworth. I also tried a fish taco--I didn't think it was anything special. I remember the one I had at Distrito Federal a few months ago being better. But the tongue at Pica Taco trumped them both by far.

I went to Zest with a few friends on Tuesday night. Based on the recommendations above, I got the lamb flatbread sandwich with a side of 24-hour tomatoes (instead of a salad or fries). The tomatoes were great. I thought the lamb was really good but the sandwich was a little too meat-heavy for me. I started adding the tomatoes to the sandwich about halfway through, and that helped. We also got the trio of dips as an appetizer. The eggplant dip was good, the tomato dip was great (as good or maybe better than the 24-hour tomatoes--they were very similar to each other either way), and the spinach dip was sort of bland and dry. I wanted to try the blood orange Manhattan, but I came to dinner straight from happy hour, so I didn't want anything too strong. Despite the warnings above about the wine list, I got a glass of the sauvignon blanc and thought it was fine. We tried two desserts--the panna cotta (which is normally pear with blackberry puree, but on Tuesday the panna cotta was blackberry as well) and the bread pudding. The panna cotta was okay--I've definitely had better. I'm not really a bread pudding person but I tried it--it seemed decent to me but my friend didn't like it, and the restaurant kindly took it off our bill. Next time I'll have to try the lamb shank.