DrXmus

Do you think cooktop griddles can be seasoned the same way, just cranking them to max and letting that go for an hour and letting it cool as normal (repeatedly)? Also, do you think I can use oven cleaner to unseason the griddle I could've seasoned better?

Does the pozole have beef and/or pork in it?

I can't comment on the personal assistant position specifically, but my office hires exclusively from Craigslist. You'll get tons of chaff, but if you have time to sort out the wheat, often by just reading what the applicant has written or copied from the web, you can find some great people. It'll take personal interviewing to weed out more (mixed metaphor or because it's in the same vein I get a pass?), but if you have the time and the $25 to post the ad, I think it'll be worth it.

The Fair Lakes Whole Foods announced a day or two ago that they got a new, smaller shipment in. He's not limiting purchases, so I'm sure it's gone now.

Norm's Beer and Wine in Vienna got it on Monday morning. He was limiting purchases to 1 sixer per person and he sold out in 1 hour and 20 minutes. On Sunday he told me he has sold to people in the past who drove from store to store to build a case. He has also been yelled at for limiting buyers to one six-pack. The yeller told him he'd go elsewhere to buy his Hopslam (like this is a threat when Norm knows it'll sell out the day he gets it.) Personally, I think the hype is too much for the beer, but what the hell do I know? Now...Nugget Nectar, on the other hand...

They've been regulars on the Living Social and Groupon lists every week for probably two years, so I had an inkling they were scrambling.

Ha! Love it!! Back atcha!

Reasonable question, not combative at all. I'm pretty sure we went because my lovely bride knows I like it and she could eat the turkey sandwich, which was great once and less great the second time she had it. When we go to Potbelly we each get a regular sandwich, 2 chips and 2 fountain drinks and the total is around $18 with tax. I guess we don't get the large sandwich. Better ingredients at Red Apron, no doubt, but not worth a 40% premium, at least not regularly and for what we order. We tried bringing a couple sandwiches home once (less than 2 miles) but decided that the bread is much better when eaten there. Sorry if I've hit a nerve. Generally, I like Red Apron - the chef, the idea of the business, the homegrown talent, the beer, the vermouths, the meatstuffs I wouldn't have tried otherwise. I wanted to love the sandwiches and wanted it to be a place my wife and I visited often, it's just not that place for us, unfortunately.

Wow, those are difficult lists, especially the Draft list. In the "old" days, you'd see a list of (subjectively) great beers and then buy them to see if you agree. Now, especially with these lists, you say to yourself "Hmm...wish I'd ever heard of, seen, bought or tasted this beer. Must've been good" and then you never think of it again. You could argue that one could generalize and think that if one brewery's beer is on the list then it's worth trying others from that brewery, but that's not a solid argument, although it's not to say you won't get a good beer. I kinda miss the old days, although it's amazing what beer options we have available to us now.

Anybody seen the smaller bottles in the area. I think they were 375s.

Not to hijack the "cheddar" thread, but I tried a Kraft "slice" a few weeks ago for the first time in many years. I don't know if my tastes have changed or if the cheese food did, but it had a distinctive sour note that lingered and grossed me out for at least 30 minutes. Ack!!

We ate there after a fairly long break a couple of days ago. Unfortunately, we went for the turkey sandwich for my white-meat-poultry-vore wife, but it was off the menu. Instead, the only non-beef or pork item was a chicken salad sandwich which used white and dark meat. The helpful counter guy said it wasn't much dark, but oh, was he wrong!! I enjoyed the muffaletta I ordered. I doubt if we'll be going back together unless they add some other options. It's too bad; I like the idea of Red Apron more than the execution and price, I have to say. For two sandwiches, two bags of chips and two drinks (bottles of tea and root beer) the total was $25!! As an aside, I tried the meatball sandwich because of the hype and did not like it at all! I thought the texture was off-putting and the flavor was not was I expected for a meatball sandwich.

The recipe I've been using for years includes a lemon twist that I think makes the drink more balanced, at least for my taste buds. I'm pretty sure I first found out about this drink from Jason Wilson in the Post. My recipe also is 1.5:1:1 and maybe that's why the twist helps.

The Vienna Patch says the building is being renovated and that "retail" will be going in. I'm also voting that it'll be a mattress store. We had take-out two nights ago in honor of their impending closing. The dining room was the busiest I've ever seen it! The Kang Pao was excellent and actually included red pepper (where normally "spicy" means jalapenos and no spice). We had a truly terrible meal from there a couple of months ago so I had an inkling they weren't much longer for Vienna.

Having had a several-year-old Old Ale from Nick Funnell's (of Centreville Sweetwater fame) private stash, I can tell you that a properly filled growler is no different than buying a bottle. Will I have to turn in my Old Dominion growler to get a pre-filled generic bottle though? Will there be a deposit that'll be returned? What if I can't get there often? Inquiring minds want to know...and anticipatory taste buds want to sample!

I'll second the T-Fal nonstick skillet. I used one daily for at least 2 years. It was put in the dishwasher probably at least 2/3 of those uses. The inside of the pot is still pristine, but the red outer surface faded a bit and the side on which I'd slide my omelet out developed an oil stain I couldn't remove. My wife has been there, done that. It was a 2qt pot we used for pasta cooking 90% of its uses. It worked perfectly fine despite a couple of bubbles on the bottom. The company said we were SOL if we wanted to fix it.

Nor does leaving the "u" out of "flavor" (or adding it, I guess).

Based on recommendations from this thread, I bought a Southern Tier Pumking last week to try for the first time. As these things are wont to happen, I was given two bottles as a gift two says later. Go figure. I'll agree with others that this beer is in the top three pumpkin beers on the market. It has pumpkin flavor but the spicing isn't over the top. It's a little sweet, but it's not out of style as the beer is an imperial beer. Bitterness perception is on the low side for my palate, but the level works just fine for the beer. I think the beer would be more in line with Dogfish Head's pumpkin version if the bitterness were higher. That wouldn't be a bad thing, but the beer is very good for the style. There was zero head retention, but I'm happy to give that another test with the other bottles and new glasses.

Is anyone else in this boat? I like Matchbox's beer selection, the sliders and the onion straws on top of the sliders, but truly that's all that gets me back. The pizzas I've had range from "meh" to not good. The curry chicken salad sandwich is OK, but I don't crave it. The other sandwiches are lamb/beef meatbombs. For my eating habits, I'd prefer a selection of chicken or turkey sandwiches, but that's just me. The menu hasn't changed much, if at all, since the Mosaic branch opened. Do they tend to mix the menu up occasionally in the other locations?

Don't give up on Uinta. They make some excellent beers, but they are expensive (due to distribution costs, I'm guessing ).

I was out there a couple of months ago. I still haven't cracked open the bottle I got, so I can't comment on the taste. I can say, though, that they do their own malting, which is very unusual in brewing or distilling. The distillery is a barn and the malting floor is a section with separate cooling, fans and a concrete floor. This is the "hand malting", like "house-made" in restaurants these days. They smoke the malt on a grated floor about 7 feet above what looks to me like a standard wood stove. The room smells fantastic, even on a non-smoking day. They age the rye for 2 years in used barrels plus add chips of the same woods used for the smoking, applewood and cherry. The double distilling is a two-distillation process to collect the heart of the runs. Now that I think of it, there's a good chance I can't remember all the correct details, so I won't say more. They aren't allowed to give tastes at the distillery, so we smelled their products only and could buy them in the shop. They sell a kit with a couple of bottles of bourbon or rye (I can't remember) and a small barrel for aging your own. Apparently, they have a hard time keeping these in stock due to buyer from the UK, especially. They recently started selling a gin, IIRC it's Vir gin (get it?). If you get a chance to get out that way, I recommend the tour. It's free and advertised, but the entry process was really odd for us. We got there about 45 mins before they closed. First we had to ring a bell to get in. After a few weird seconds wondering why we couldn't just enter, the door SLOWLY creaked open, just like in the movies, and an older lady stuck her head out and essentially asked why we were there. We asked if they we're open for tours and she they were, but it's not like this was an invitation by any means. We walked past a 30-40something lady asleep on a couch in the sitting area and we wandered in the main area for a few minutes. Eventually a very nice young guy did his thing and another couple joined us while we were in the first part of the tour, the malting room. Mrs. Door-opener was in the store when we left and was very friendly, but that first impression was weird!

Four of us ate at Ovvio last night at 6:30P. I thought it'd be packed because the Post's review came out mid-week, but the reservation was easy to get. There were still open tables to be had while we were there, but that may not last because the print review was available today. We were seated immediately upon arrival. The space looks very clean and open. Despite the concrete floors, the noise level was reasonable and conversation was easy. The tables were 90% occupied so I wouldn't think the noise level would be much greater at full capacity. The next positive: the chairs are incredibly comfortable!! We all noticed as soon as we sat down and continued to enjoy the seats as we sat, ate, drank and yakked for the next three hours or so. The dudes ordered Negronis, which were very good, but veered toward the heavier-on-the-Campari ratio that many bartenders like these days. I'm not complaining, mind you, but it made the drink the slow sipper it should be. If I had a gripe, it'd be that the garnish was a lemon wedge, rather than peel, so without doing surgery on my lemon, I couldn't add oil to the drink without adding juice. Woe is me. (First world problems!) The bread basket contained fantastic focaccia and olive bread - 2 pieces of each. It was easy enough to get more, thankfully. For starters we got bruschetta with with white bean, onion jam and soft mortadella and an order of fritto misto. The calamari/veggies were cooked well and lightly seasoned. The bruschetta was delicious and probably the better of the two dishes. There was no skimping on the mortadella slices and the combination of onion jam, meat and bread was perfect. I had the chicken dish which included sauteed spinach. According to Sietsema's review, Ovvio poaches the breast in oil and braises the leg. All I can say is that they were both terrific. The leg was boneless (could it have been a small thigh?) and was extremely tender with great flavor. The breast was also very tender with as much flavor as chicken breasts tend to have. With a smidge of salt (I'll get to that in a minute) the spinach and the breast were even better, but rest assured, they started out at a good place, too. My three dining companions each had a pasta dish. Mrs DrXmus had spaghetti with clams and tomato sauce. She was mostly happy with the dish, but said some clams were better than others. All three pasta-eaters agreed that the pasta was "gluey". The assessment was that the texture of the pasta was al dente, but this "gluey" term kept coming up. Is that the recipe or the pasta water that gets re-used? You all can tell me, probably, but it was a major knock for all the pasta dishes. The other complaint is that the Tagliatelle Bolognese with veal, beef and pork wasn't anything like a bolognese they'd had before in that there was very little meat. Just looking at it across the table, the sauce looked more like a basic tomato sauce, not a meat-centric version. It all got eaten, mind you. As is commonly the case, there was no salt or pepper on the table and my friends asked for both once they'd tasted their bolognese. The server brought a small plate on which were bowls of Himalayan and Black salts and some type of white flake salt. These were finishing salts, but the extra flavor improved the pasta dishes and made my spinach jump to life. I know the practice of not having salt and pepper on the table is not unusual, but do other diners find it presumptuous that the chefs think they know how to season our food better than we do? I think Sietsema's review included a line that the kitchen should be wary of oversalting, so maybe they've readjusted their salting hand, but now, at least for all four of our palates, they've gone too far the other way. We got a bottle of Montepulciano which was served by the sommelier. After some odd struggling with the cork, our glasses were poured. While pouring my wife's glass, he noticed that there was still lipstick/gloss on the edge so he took that glass away. He grabbed another glass and finished pouring the table. After he left, we said that it was great he noticed the scunge, but that he also tossed a few ounces of our wine. He stopped by later and said it's a wine they also pour by the glass so he'll give us a splash before we were done. Later, our server stopped by the table and poured sediment into our glasses and took the bottle. Not pleasant. We never saw the sommelier again and didn't want to make a fuss so two of us ordered a glass of the same as we finished our meal. Both of those glasses included lots of sediment, too, so the last ounce or two was left in each glass. We ordered the cheese plate to cap off the meal. It was a great combination of hard and soft cheeses, onion jam, quince paste, sliced dates and a little honey. Our server asked if we wanted bread with the cheese plate and essentially the answer was "hell, yes". Another basket of the same delicious bread we got at the start of our meal was brought to the table. We also got a pine nut torte to share. It was good but certainly nothing to fawn over. Tasty, pretty and pleasant but not something we'll talk about as being exceptional. When I polled the table for their scores, the average was B-. I was the high score with a B. A few simple touches can give Ovvio an A, easily. Season better or give the salt plate right off the bat. Don't pour sediment in our glasses. Clean up the pasta dishes so the texture is more pure. Thanks for the bread basket and all, but more than one piece each doesn't seem unreasonable. The noise level was fantastic. The server was friendly and wasn't intrusive. Was the sommelier new? If so, just get more comfortable. Maybe it was just a bad night for him, but watching him struggle to uncork the wine with a captain's tool and make jokes about how odd it is that he was having difficulty was mildly off-putting. We live very close by so I'd love to have Ovvio be our fancy, spend-lots-of-money dining establishment. 75% of us said we'd come back without hesitation but my wife is more of a one-and-done kind of diner. I'm sure she can be persuaded to return and I look forward to seeing how Ovvio settles in to their routine. BTW, they have a lunch special which is $12 for 2 meals, but I don't know the details. I'm willing to find out, though!

i don't search out pumpkin beers so take this note for what it's worth. Add another vote for Dogfish Head's pumpkin seasonal. It was one of the first on the scene, IIRC, and it's still the type I like best. A few weeks ago I got a variety box of Starr Hill beers which included the pumpkin porter (Boxcar?). I'd give it a "B". Pumpkin-y but not too much. If I had to call the biggest flaw I'd say it's a little heavy on the spicing.

I'm kicking myself for not posting sooner, but Destruya's post jogged my feeble memory. Our first visit was a Wednesday night about 2 weeks after they opened. I was surprised to see the parking lot 95% full and a valet stand outside the restaurant. I have no idea where the cars are taken, but I can see the necessity of it, especially when Trio and the Italian Market are open in the future. On our first visit, there were employees in Trio and "In Training" signs on the door, so I'm guessing some of the vehicles in the lot were theirs. I agree with Destruya, though, when all three places are hopping, parking will be at a premium. They have a confusing happy hour special called a "rotator". The idea I get is that it's a changing beer, but then they also have "rotators" of Lost Rhino and Lagunitas, so I guess those are rotating styles of those breweries only. Despite my need to understand all things, we ordered a "rotator" which turned out to be a Uinta IPA (score!) for $3 (hat trick!!!). Oh, and we were asked if we wanted a 16 or 20 oz glass and were told they were the same price!! How is this possible? I don't care, I'll have another (and we did). I had a chicken sandwich which turned out to be sliced, tender chicken on toasted bread with lettuce, cheese (maybe) and a little jam of some sort to lend some unnecessary sweetness. Mrs. DrX had a shrimp roll which was lobster roll-ish but it was only 5 shrimp on overly toasted bread, but it was well-received by my lovely bride. Fries were soggy and tasted of old oil, but not inedible. We ended up going with friends 4 days later after the 1 o'clock football games so it was around 5:30 or so when we got there. There was plenty of parking and the inside tables were 20% occupied but the patio was hopping and only had a couple of tables free. We asked to sit outside and the hostess told us to go out and she said something about hightops. We went out and sat at a regular table but apparently caused a bit of a shitstorm because a hostess hadn't put us there and info had to get back to her. It was a weird start to a less-than-perfect meal. Our server wasn't attentive, we couldn't get waters, it took forever to get beers, etc. At one point we were brought a dish we didn't order, we sent it away and then it was brought back because "it was ordered for this table" and it was comped for us. We had finished eating so it was taken home for someone who didn't join us. I ended up ordering the same chicken sandwich but it came with a bowl of slaw rather than the fries. When I reminded the server I had asked for fries, she said the sandwich comes with slaw automatically. When asked, she said the menu had been changed. I was brought fries and the slaw was removed. The fries were completely different but were much better. The 2.0 version was shoestring and better seasoned than the 1.0. The pizza was not a hit at our table. The "rotator" Lagunitas beer was A Little Sumpin' Sumpin', so I was very happy with that, at least. The Italian Market is definitely a glorified lunch place. I remember seeing De Cecco pasta boxes and industrial sized cans of tomatoes. I think the tomatoes are there for decoration. I don't really see these being purchased here for people to simmer a sauce all day. The beverage coolers contained sodas, juices and beers that I saw, but there were areas I couldn't see so there may be something more exciting than that. A few days ago, Trio announced on Facebook that they're still serving friends and family during their soft opening but will announce an opening date soon. My take on Open Road, it's worth eating there, but don't expect a great meal. It's much more worthwhile if you drink beer and can take advantage of the deals.

Had dinner there tonight. First impression...horrible. Overall impression...OK. The place is small, which is fine, but there was a stick of incense burning at the host stand which overwhelmed any aroma of food. We were sat at the first table just inside the door right next to the incense. My wife wisely asked that we move away and we were sat about 15 feet away, which is the farthest table from said incense. It helped some but I felt like I was sitting next to a heavily perfumed diner for most of the meal. Either they put it out or it petered out, but the odor dissipated (or my receptors became sensitized) so I could actually smell my meal when we got to that point. At the start of the meal (sixish) we were two of four diners. When we left at around 7:30 there were probably 5 tables of 2-4 people. I was slightly surprised it wasn't more busy, but I had a feeling this strip mall would be a tough place for an upscale restaurant to try to make a go, as I've said somewhere up above. They've been open only a week and a half, so things may still change for the better for them. A gratis platter of 3/4" diamond-shaped fried crackery-type snacks with the requisite tamarind and coriander/mint sauces came to the table. I thought the chips were too small and the plate was too shallow because most of the time my fingers got into the sauce during the dip procedure. The pools of sauce were about 1/4" shallow. The snacks tasted good and the sauces each had a little bite to them. The tamarind sauce was thinner than I usually see it, so just a hint could be attached to the crisp. The green sauce stuck much better. Mrs. DrXmus had a shrimp curry which we both enjoyed very much. The heat was just right and the flavor was terrific. The 10 shrimp were well-cooked. I had the non-veg thali platter which was also very enjoyable. It included a lamb/spinach, chicken tikka masala, chicken tikka, daal (which was fantastic!), raita, kheer and naan. i enjoyed all the dishes and, except for the raita, would order any of them again. I ordered an onion kulcha because between the two of us dippers, we can't have too much bread. The food was very good. The waitstaff seemed new and still learning but friendly, although almost to an obsequious degree. Mrs DrX felt that they ignored her and only spoke to me, though, so she was put off by them. The takeout business was probably three times the eat-in business. There were at least 2 bags of food waiting the entire time we were there. and people picking up every few minutes. To be honest, if we go back, it'll be for takeout, but even having said that, I don't feel that we got value for our money. I know there was talk higher in this thread of getting two meals out of one expensive dish, but I can't see that at Curry Mantra 3. Maybe 2 is different, but if we got two meals out of our dishes, they'd be very small. The reason I hesitate to say I'll go back there repeatedly is that our meal tonight - Mo-Mo's (a dumpling app), thali platter, shrimp curry, onion kulcha and two Taj Mahal beers cost me $70. If we were to stay home (about 1/3 of a mile from the restaurant) and drink my own beer, we'd still be shelling out over $40 with tax for two entrees. I can see a better use of $40 to feed ourselves in the Vienna/Merrifield/Falls Church area.