DrXmus

Regarding the food, I can only comment on the basic popcorn, which was very good. Regarding non-food issues, I had a hard time swallowing paying $22 for two tickets for a 2:25PM movie. I see no reason to pay that price for those seats when I can pay less at Tysons Corner. I like the idea of a "small" business compared to a behemoth company, but maybe not that much.

Went with friends for Sunday lunch. They had a great post-church (I assume) crowd but there were plenty of tables clearing when we got there at 1PM. I think the calamari fritti is outstanding - tender, seasoned, hearty portion, good sauce. The arancini were disappointing. Only 2 pieces which were small, I thought and not very flavorful. Again, we didn't get bread, but the server said we should've gotten it earlier when we asked for it at the end of the meal. Fat lotta help that is, though. I had the focaccia sandwich with capicola and housemade mozz. I enjoyed it. Mrs DrX had the gnocchi (potato) which were light and plentiful. No complaints there. My friends' carbonara was very good, too. The pasta was actually al dente! Shocker. Great flavor and creaminess. All in all, I think the meal we had was very good. I didn't enjoy paying half of the $160 bill (admittedly, it included two carafes of wine and 5 beers).

Went there two weekends ago. I had a chicken whiz wit which was sloppy and delicious, but a little salty from the cheese. The sliced chicken product they've come up with was terrific. I'd read they designed a proprietary system to make tender sliced chicken for the subs. I give this product two thumbs up. It's nothing like the typical chicken cheesesteak meat, which is a great thing. We got the Taylor balls, which while they're fun to say, they don't taste very good. There was an odd flavor i couldn't ID and didn't appreciate. The thin mustard sauce didn't help in the least. The nearby fries looked great, so that'll be the next side dish. They were handing out samples of ice and I'm glad I tried it. It's new to me and I enjoyed the refreshing lemon version they were giving away. There were pieces of lemon zest present, so it seems the Taylor guys aren't cutting corners here, either. Great space. Great music. The one knock (besides being 30 minutes from my house) is that lunch cost about $28 for two subs, two drinks and an order of Taylor Balls.

But nobody I knew when I lived there called it the Peachoid. It was "The baby butt" to all. Very cool water tower, but depending on the angle, it went from "peach" to "ass" pretty quickly.

From Robert Hess's Essential Bartender's Guide: Anejo Manhattan 2 oz Anejo tequila 1/2 oz sweet vermouth 1/4 oz Licor 43 1 dash each of bitters and orange bitters Luxardo cherry garnish This is a super-nice drink. Easy to over-dilute, though, which severely muddles the flavors. When stirred properly, it's fantastic. Gotta buy more tequila today. Between my wife and I, we finished our Gran Centenario last night.

I don't know if this is legal, but here's Cook's Illustrated version. I thought it was pretty frikkin' good. Sandy Published March 1, 2011. From Cook's Illustrated. Why this recipe works: For our Peruvian Roast Chicken with Garlic and Lime recipe, we recommended salting the bird and rubbing a flavorful paste all over the meat; this dried out the skin and jump-started our dish’s flavor. Mint and smoked paprika served as convenient alternatives to traditional hard-to-find Peruvian ingredients. A vertical roaster and two-pronged cooking process worked just as well as a rotisserie and gave our Peruvian Roast Chicken perfectly cooked meat and crisp skin. (less) Serves 4 This recipe calls for a vertical poultry roaster. If you don’t have one, substitute a 12-ounce can of beer. Open the beer and pour out (or drink) about half of the liquid. Spray the can lightly with nonstick cooking spray and proceed with the recipe. If the top of the chicken is becoming too dark during roasting in step 3, place a 7-inch-square piece of foil over the neck and wingtips. If habanero chiles are unavailable, 1 tablespoon of minced serrano chile can be substituted. Wear gloves when working with hot chiles. Ingredients 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 1/4 cup lightly packed fresh mint leaves 2 tablespoons kosher salt 6 medium garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped 1 tablespoon ground black pepper 1 tablespoon ground cumin 1 tablespoon sugar 2 teaspoons smoked paprika 2 teaspoons dried oregano 2 teaspoons finely grated zest and 1/4 cup juice from 2 limes 1 teaspoon minced habanero chile (see note) 1 (3 1/2-to 4-pound) whole chicken Instructions 1. Process all ingredients except chicken in blender until smooth paste forms, 10 to 20 seconds. Using fingers or handle of wooden spoon, carefully loosen skin over thighs and breast and remove any excess fat. Rub half of paste beneath skin of chicken. Spread entire exterior surface of chicken with remaining paste. Tuck wingtips underneath chicken. Place chicken in gallon-size zipper-lock bag and refrigerate at least 6 hours and up to 24 hours. 2. Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Place vertical roaster on rimmed baking sheet. Slide chicken onto vertical roaster so chicken stands upright and breast is perpendicular to bottom of pan. Roast until skin just begins to turn golden and instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of breast registers 140 degrees, 45 to 55 minutes. Carefully remove chicken and pan from oven and increase oven temperature to 500 degrees. 3. When oven is heated to 500 degrees, place 1 cup water in bottom of pan and return pan to oven. Roast until entire skin is browned and crisp and instant-read thermometer registers 160 degrees inserted in thickest part of breast and 175 degrees in thickest part of thigh, about 20 minutes (replenish water as necessary to keep pan from smoking), rotating bird 180 degrees halfway through cooking. 4. Carefully remove chicken from oven and let rest, still on vertical roaster, 20 minutes. Using kitchen towel, carefully lift chicken off vertical roaster and onto platter or cutting board. Carve chicken and serve, passing Spicy Mayonnaise separately.

We watch "Hoarders" on A&E and that seems to keep me from keeping unfinished projects, things that "I can do something with", old items that don't really have value but they've been in my life for many years, etc. My wife heard a trick from Oprah, I believe, and that is to take a picture of your sentimental tchotchkes that have no use except to take space. Save the picture and get rid of the item. The picture will jog your memory just like the physical item, which is why you're saving the item to begin with. For example, my wife had a toy about the size of a shoebox that was about 40 years old and had many happy memories attached to it. I was in a box of stuff that we just moved around but rarely looked in. Why keep this kind of thing? We didn't. Took a pic and donated the toy. If we're baring our souls, I'll admit my weakness is thinking the old items I have from childhood (Police backstage passes, Disneyworld paper tickets, a poster, unique keychains) are valuable and I can sell them for mucho deniro. It's just not true. Good for you guys cleaning up the house and donating what you can.

I think I was drinking a beer at the time, but please note that I qualified my comment after the fact (but before your curiousity about my BAC).

I have to qualify my statement...The Asiago bagel by Bagel Buddies is a terrific bagel.

I can't argue with any of this. Multiple owners and friends on opening night, too. No douches that I saw, although there wasn't a mirror I could see, so I can't be sure. I will say my pizza had better char and puff. Flavor? Not so much.

I can't say anything about the cream cheese situation, but I agree these are the best bagels ever made. They freeze well, too.

After posting the above reply, I happened to check the top of the thread. Apparently, I'd already figured out how to turn off the music. Sucks getting old.

Sucks, don't it. You have to click the frikkin' iPod and then figure out which goddamned button is the mo-fo stop button (the square). I don't have a fracking iPod, but if you do, I guess you would know which button to click on. Personally, I can't see the tiny details, so I just click the shit out of it and eventually it'll stop.

Mrs. DrX and I went to Pazzo Pomodoro for opening night last night. I don't know how much of the review will be different after they've been open for a few weeks, but here it is. To start, I'll say the space is nice. It looks like the kitchen is in the same place as it was when it was the crappy BBQ joint, but now it's an exhibition kitchen with everybody but the dishwasher front and center (well, actually, on the left side of the restaurant). The tables are small and fairly close together, but it's not quite off-putting. The fabric tablecloths are red and white checkerboard. There's a little bar in the back, although I didn't get to see much of that. The only beers on tap now are Harpoon's seasonal and Peroni, although they have a Flying Dog tap handle, too. The bathroom, at least the little boys' room, was a spacious one-holer with framed pictures from the fifties and sixties of Italian women, a Fiat ad with an Italian woman, women movie stars...you see the theme. It was cute, not over the top. Even though it was bustling and full last night, the restaurant wasn't loud. I'm not sure how they did it, but perhaps the ceiling is special (It's a dropped ceiling with panels). One wall is half mural and half rock and the only soft things in the room were the tablecloths. Appetizers all looked very good (arancini, potato croquettes, fried mozarella, etc.) and we tried the calmari fritti. The dish was rings only and zucchini. They were fried well and perfectly tender, although the salting could've been more assertive. Salt and pepper are on the table, so we remedied the problem easily enough. We split a mixed green salad ($5) which came out on two plates with a very good balsamic vinaigrette on the side. I'm not sure if we got two by mistake or if they split the salad for us, but we were just charged for one. There was probably twice as much salad dressing as needed, but it was nice to have it on the side. No, we didn't ask for anything special. Next came agnelotti with spinach and ricotta in a mascarpone sauce and a Margherita pizza. The menu says the gnocchi (potato), lasagna, papardelle, spaghetti, angelotti and ravioli are made fresh daily. The dish came out a little cold and the pasta was a little overcooked, but the filling was flavorful and the sauce, while rich, was cheesy and delicious. The pizza came out piping hot (I'm guessing the pasta was on hold for the 'za). The pizza was just "meh". The crust edge was flavorful with some mild charring, but the center of the pizza was so thin and it was such a soupy mess, that the flavor was lost. Unfortunately, the sauce wasn't very flavorful, either, so we ended up muddling through the center to get to the tasty edge. Seems backwards, right? The pizza crust made a great sopper for the pasta sauce though, so nothing went to waste. Speaking of sopping, we didn't get bread until we asked for it halfway through the meal. I hear this is becoming the norm, but in a rustic Italian restaurant, it seems it should be a priority, especially considering they have the Neapolitan pizza oven. The bread basket was a combo of white Italian and a seeded whole wheat and both were OK. The Italian had a nice crust, but the crumb was dry and had minimal flavor, unfortunately. It could've been better had we had butter or olive oil, but neither was offered, nor did I see anyone else with either (or bread for that matter). Service was less than stellar, although our Turkish waiter was very pleasant. We actually felt a little left out in that every table around us got free items from the owners but we were ignored. The free food wasn't always comps because the kitchen was behind; some people got something as soon as they sat down. Maybe they were friends, neighbors, family, investors... Or maybe we were against the wall and not in plain view, but it's not like we had food in front of us all night and it's not like we didn't have empty beer and water glasses for too long. It's OK. We figured service would be mediocre at best on opening night, but we intentionally made reservations at 6, after a 5 o'clock opening, to avoid the busiest time. By the time we left, there were multiple empty tables, though. Are my picked nits opening night issues (no bread, poor pizza, iffy service, cold pasta)? I guess we'll find out over time, right? Damn, I forgot to use "redolent". Maybe next time, m'kay?

I'll second Wondrich's "Killer Cocktails". While he's known as a cocktail historian now, the history is only enough to teach you the basics of the drink style. It's very helpful to learn the various types of cocktails you'll be making (i.e. sours, daisies, daiquiris, fizzes, manhattan variants, etc.) and how to make your own versions of recipes. He's big into getting the reader to balance their own recipes based on the original. The recipes are not complete, like Mr Boston's, but you'll get the original of each style and variations on the theme.

We may go on opening night and I'll post afterwards. The menu looks good. How often do you see Cacio e Pepe or perciatelli on a menu?

While I agree that her reviews tend toward the bland, she did use the obligatory "redolent" and she tends to review NoVA restaurants, rather than those in DC and adjacent environs. These are the places those of us in NoVA may be more likely to visit routinely than the expense-account restaurants and tiny, busy joints deep in DC. She's no Tom Sietsema or Don Rockwell, but I guess she's got her place.

Thanks for the heads-up!

Stopped by last night. Nice, clean space, but the reverb in there is deafening. Soon, when there will be more than one person talking at a time in the store, it'll be obnoxious (and noxious). Please, please, please, if for no one else but your employee, deaden that noise somehow! The butterscotch bon bon was terrific. It tasted like a much improved and chocolatey version of a butter rum Life Saver. The bourbon bon bon was nice, although my palate would've enjoyed more bourbon, but I can see how that flavor would need to be tempered for mass marketing. I'm saving my malted milk bon bon for tonight!

Very excited about the Merrifield storefront. See you soon!!

I'm happy with Top Chef this season as long as I get to watch the smoking hot Asian model/cheftestant, whose name I can't remember but I really don't care, either.

When I watched this, I thought it was a classic "creative edit". I'll agree the comment was insensitive, but I doubt the whole ordeal went down as shown.

Yeah, I considered that, but still - have a neighbor/friend/family member/customer proofread and add some capitals and punctuation. Their cuisine isn't something I'll ever eat, so I don't know why I care, but I just want places to realize what kind of face they put on for the public. I hope the business does well, though.

now open the windy apple chicago and new york's greatest food (926 w broad st falls church va 22046) Date: 2012-10-14, 6:02PM EDT kkdzb-3338991676@comm.craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?] come and try us grand opening greatest hot dogs vienna beef pastrami .knish plus much more visit www.thewindyappleva,com Above is their "ad" on Craigslist. Is it wrong that I will never darken their door because of the slaphazard way they write? If they care so little about putting on a good face for the public on their web site and Craigslist, why do I think they won't give me Salmonella or botulism?

Can't comment on the food, but Wow, what a crappy web site. Did the owner's teenage kid write the copy on the home page? Oh, crap. I just found "if your looking for..." on the menu page. Oh, and "fall church", as opposed to "Falls Church". Don't get me started on the punctuation. Texting is killing people's ability to punctuate properly!! /self-appointed grammar supervisor //you're welcome :-)