Cooter

Taqueria Poblano might fit the bill. Plus, it's got two locations so you can tell your friends that it's a chain.

We carry Bresaola at Cheesetique. Come on in anytime for a taste...

Do I get a special cheese bonus for mentioning you before you got in here?

RESPECT CHEESETIQUE'S AUTHORI-TAH!!!!

Who does more for music knowledge, Britney Spears or Yo-Yo Ma?

I don't think this is a fair comparison. I'd say a fairer comparison would be, "Which does more for music knowledge, Pachebel's Canon in D or Rachmaninov's Symphony in F Major.*"

Sure, the Rachmaninov is more complex with nuanced and complicated interplay, but Canon in D will get you to say, "Hey, I kinda dig this classical piece" and begin working your way up to more 'mature' classical pieces.

*I know nothing of classical music. For all I know, Rachmaninov is the Britney Spears of classical music (just with less crotch shots), but I think you all get my point.

Were they doing more than pushing soulless, mass-produced, buy low-sell high crap, I might be more inclined to be sympathetic. A quick look at a sample wine list, however, persuades me that they're far more interested in raising per person spending (not that there's anything wrong with that) than "educating." This is the oenophilic (take that, MK! ) equivalent of upselling tequila at a Chili's.

Why don't they use their powers for good?

That being said, I'd love to hear Blake's take on it.

(I have had most of the wines on that list by the way. I cringe from experience.)

Certainly the bottom line is the bottom line here. But, I think that they should be commended for offering up at least some sort of variety, even if it's mass-produced and, well, cheap. But, again, consider the audience. The most impressive thing, to me, is that they have at least a minimal education program in place and that they have a very liberal policy of allowing people to sample what they have. This is the first step in getting folks to think about the differences in different types of wines and figuring out what characteristics they like and should look for. Of course in this case, the characteristic they might like best is the added sugar to their yellow tail, but it's a start.

Having said all that, it seems like a stretch to call these guys the wine persons of the year.

And these enthusiastic, knowledgeable servers are on a mission. In some cases, people who eat at the restaurants already enjoy wine with their meals. But in many other cases, Olive Garden presents casual diners with its first exposure to wines. Servers actively encourage everyone to sample a wide range of wine—around 30 different brands. And these introductory pours are all complimentary. As a result of this low-key but persuasive introduction, there is a much larger number of people who are now enjoying wine with their dinner on a regular basis, not just on special occasions.

I've never set foot in an Olive Garden and have no intention to anytime soon. But, if the above is taken at face value, then color me impressed.

Ok, maybe wine persons of the year is a little inappropriate, but I can set aside my snobbiness for a moment and actually appreciate what they are, or are claiming to, trying to do. Consider that the average OG customer probably doesn't know a pinot gris from a sauvignon blanc and judges the quality of a bottle of chianti by the weaving of the basket it comes in. OG's (claimed) program is trying to educate these folks and we should all appreciate this (claimed) attempt.

Not sure if it's still offerred, but I took a combined essential and advanced knife skills class from Frank Linn at Sur La Table. It was 3-4 hours long and cost, IIRC, around $100. The first half of the class dealt with how to hold a knife and how to cut veggies in various ways. This was worth the price of admission for me as I had always held a knife with my fingers along the 'spine' not grasping the end of the blade as one is supposed to. Anyway, we peeled potatos, peeled and segmented oranges and diced/chopped/brunoised various veggies.

The second half of the class, we gutted and filets croakers and also carved roasted chickens. Mr. Linn also showed how to filet an entire pork loin.

Mr. Linn was informative, but also fun and relaxed. He kept up a virtual stream of conciousness patter throughout the class which was always entertaining. I'd recommend the class to anyone who's never worked in a kitchen or taken a skills class before. It may be too basic for some folks, though.

Bonus fact from the class: You can put plastic wrap in the oven up to 325 degrees before it melts. Who knew?

I broke a barstool in there last friday. So, umm, if you don't have a place to sit . . . my bad.

Absinthe: Civic Center, American/California. Been there three times now (brunch on this visit) and never get sick of the place. Best. Cocktail List. Ever. The polenta (with maple syrup, mascarpone, bananas, and walnuts) may be the pinnacle of brunch concoctions.

I accidentally lit the napkin in the bread basket on fire with the table candle the first week this place was open. The strange thing was our waiter said that this was the third time it had happened.

Bad white wine tastes like cheap Madeira, probably swiped from a stew bum who left it sitting on a radiator for days and weeks, and then spit in it.

mmmmmmm, bum stew.

Awesome! Thanks. This gave me the kick in the ass to get a reservation for Friday. Fried rabbitAnything but the fried rabbit, here I come.

For the love of God, everyone must go to the Dreamery tonight for their awesome pepita, or pumpkin seed, custard. Unbelievably pumpkiny and delicious. Wish I could describe it better, but I can't. It is just awesome.

PS: With regard to this, try smoking a pipe instead.

Baby steps, Jacques. My jacket with leather elbow patches is in the mail.

I hope this is thre right place for this . . . the PX and dive bar threads are here, so . . .

Since growing a beard has failed to make me look like a completely pretentious asshole, I've started smoking cigars. With the weather getting brisker, I won't be able to smoke in my backyard. Can anyone suggest any good bars/restaurants that allow cigar smoking, preferably in DC (for the next few months anyway) or Northern Virginia?

Smoked four racks of spares in the weber bullet for the Redskins game yesterday. Rubbed 'em with BRITU rub about 1/2 to 3/4 before they went in the bullet. Lit the coals using Minion and put in four chunks of hickory and a large handfull of pecan wood chips. The temp stayed around 180-195 for most of the smoke, measure with a probe in a cork on the top grate. Every now and then I'd open the door and stir up the coals and the temp would jump to 210-230, but go back down to 195 or so in a few minutes. Still, I took them off after five hours and they were pretty tender, if not a taaaaad bit dry, soaked in my secret cooter sauce.

Chasing chicken in a joint like that could land you in a whole lot of trouble.

Not as much as cho . . .

Never mind.

Their burger (with sauteed mushrooms) is one of the best I've had at any bar* in this city.

*which is saying a lot

While I wouldn't call it the best, the burger I had there about six years ago was pretty good. IIRC, there was no drink minimum at lunch and the food prices were the same as any local lunch places. Thus, it was like a regular lunch with a few extra bucks thrown in for the, umm, talent.

Apologies for answering this post sorta seriously. Perhaps this would be a good $20 tuesday?

As for picky eaters, whatevah. If they want to be weird, they're missing out!

I have a friend who seems to live on canned tuna, crystal light and the odd chicken breast. She also happens to be 5'11" and about 120 pounds.

You know Ann Coulter?!? Can you ask her what the deal is with the Adam's Apple?

I nicked that idea from the same place. It works out well to display the temperature. I've use two Polders - one to measure ambient temp and one to measure meat temp.

I do the same thing, but I use a wine cork instead of a potato. I plan on retiring on the pennies I save using something I would have thrown out anyways instead of buying a potato.

I bought a used weber bullet off of Craigslist this summer. So far, I've used it twice; once to do three racks of spareribs and once, this weekend, to do a 14# turkey. I think that the ribs took about five hours. I used the minion method and had no problem keeping the proper temp, with the vents 1/3 open, the entire time. I also used some mesquite chunks, but wouldn't do so in the future. The mesquite flavor was too overpowering.

With the turkey, I used the standard method. I think that I was a little impatient waiting for all of my coals to get hot as the temp never got above 337, even with all vents fully open. Still, the turkey meat was absolutely fantastic. The skin, however, was rubbery and inedible, due to the lower temp in the cooker. I was aiming for 350, but it never happened. I brined the bird over night in a simple salt/brown sugar mixture and used pecan wood for smoke. The flavor, and juiciness, was awesome.

xcanuck, you might try keeping all your vents open and unblocked when you pour the hot coals over the unlit ones. Also, make sure that all the coals in the starter are covered with gray ash before you transfer them to the cooker. Please let us know how your brisket turns out . . . I'm dying to cook one myself.

Am I alone in thinking that seeking out and paying LOTS extra for rotting, decayed, spoiled, moldy meat is both silly and disgusting? How would we feel about, say, dry-aged fish? Mmm-mmm good? Some rancid butter with that?

It works for cheese . . .

My parents use them as mulch.

I keep them in a drawer until my wife yells at me to, "Throw those goddamn corks out!"

ShoeBox Oven and Cheesetique have joined forces to create a new line of Pao de Queijos Brazilian cheese breads. We have American artisan cheeses selected and deft hands already at work perfecting the recipes. But we still need one important component: OPINIONS! If you're in the area this Saturday, September 2, please stop by ShoeBox Oven's booth at the Arlington Farmers' Market and taste some samples. We both love feedback, so please let us know!

Jill, what kind of cheeses are you going to be using? Please say lambchopper . . . please say lambchopper.

Thanks!

Blaine

You should be able to find the Horton Viognier in the $12 - $15 range on the shelf. The Cab Franc a little bit less. With the Viognier we try to price it to compete with the likes of the RH Phillips EXP.

...snip...

Cheers,

Neil Glaser (Horton Vineyards)

What's said in Rockwells, stays in Rockwells (right?)

Thanks for the reply and welcome to the board, Neil. We serve your Cab Franc as our "house wine" and always try to bring a couple of bottles when we visit my parents in the bay area. I think that they enjoy pouring Virginia wines for their California wine country friends.

The wife and I had a great time visiting the winery. Talking to Mr. Horton was a hoot.

Per their website, Schneider's is selling the 2004 vintage for $15.99. I find it interesting that on Horton's website they are only selling the 2001 Viognier ($10/bottle).

Looking at my cellartracker, we got a bottle of the 2005 for 11.99 at Safeway back in June. I seem to recall that it was on sale. We also sent out to the winery in July and I'm pretty certain that they were pouring the 2005, but I'm not 100% sure.

In any case, it's delicious! I've also found Horton's Cab Franc to be consistently excellent in the $10-$12 range. I think that their latest release is the 2000 vintage, but I find the 1999 mixed in pretty randomly at area grocery stores.

I'm heading up on Saturday and would love to know the grocery store situation. We plan on hitting the Del Ray farmer's market on the way, but it would help to know if we need to hit Whole Foods, or the like, as well.

Thanks in advance!