ol_ironstomach

I presume you want responses posted here, and not PM'ed to you? Of these, I can only make the June 4 date, fwiw.

I hit one of the lunch wagons across from the Gaithersburg MVA for lunch today and while it could have been spicier and more piping hot, I have to admit that it brought back fond memories of the burrito shacks in California. Both the lengua and al pastor tacos really hit the spot, and the pollo burrito was plump with simple and flavorfully stewed meats, and no need for bizarre fruit-based sauces. I didn't see carnitas on his board, but I think I heard the family after me ordering them...will have to investigate next time. (addendum) I didn't see a vertical rotisserie in use, so the authenticity of the al pastor may be in question. It was tasty, but didn't really have that roasted flavor.

What pics? the front half of the room caught in a moment of rest, a New York strip

What he said. There was also a cup of the richly aromatic sherry crab bisque. Even the considerably discounted by-the-glass pours were generous. Can...barely...move... My gratitude to the other Rockwellians for making this first-timer feel so welcome! tfbrennan(s), I want your rib recipe. Enormous thanks to hillvalley for making this work in remarkably little time, to Michael and Michael, and to the rest of the staff of Ray's. Rest well, Ray-liens, you've earned it. 80-odd people tonight are wondering how soon they can beat a path back to your open doors.

Boy, that was fast. Friday night, they were still soliciting name ideas! I thought about suggesting "Vitamin C Bomb", but my thoughts were clearly influenced by a desire to get over last week's annoying respiratory bug.

Did someone say lamb's tongue? The Spotted Pig, June 2005

If you're already parked though, the water taxi from Inner Harbor to Fells Point (and back) is both scenic and buys you a certain amount of time to recover from your pub crawl.

I'd normally agree with you, but my preference for purely dry-smoked ribs (and the consequent concentration of flavor) is reserved for larger, meatier ribs. In this particular size, I like what CS does a lot, and these don't seem to suffer from the severe loss of flavor that parboiling (ugh) usually causes. Still, if you don't like 'em sauced wet, you probably won't enjoy these. Daniel's story is disheartening. I don't think I'd go back either, if it had happened to me. I'll be in KC for about a week this October, followed by a long weekend around Fort Worth (where I hope to find some beef ribs). Recommendations? [Editor's note: I've moved a couple of replies into the "Kansas City" thread here.]

It's clear on the other side of town (and then some) and I have no idea how many of the plasmas hanging over the bar will be tuned to March Madness, but when I'm in Baltimore, I often end up pigging out on the baby back ribs at the Corner Stable in Cockeysville. They're extraordinary...possibly the best baby backs I've had anywhere, although I have yet to explore Nashville. The "Texas sauce" is quite good, but the meat is the real attraction as they exclusively use ribs imported from Denmark, where the pigs are slaughtered at a more tender age.

My predictions, in honor of the coming chill-out: Woolly mammoth ribeye ($10 supplement if you want yours sheared first) Ice creamed spinach Black-hole-ned scallops - "even the flavor can't escape their gravity" sEVerAl CanApEs mAde LOvIngLY frOm FoIL sCraPS wE HaVe yOUr mOm LeT Us rEsT oR eLse

Update: after months of no activity, the construction fence went up two weeks ago, they removed the windows last week, and currently appear to be disassembling the old Food Lyin' facade brick-by-brick. Which suggests to me that this will be a more significant revamp than just reusing the old brick four-square box. Wonder how they're working around the problems that FL had downsizing the building for the on-site septic system? As this will be the nearest supermarket to home, I'm tingling with anticipation.

I was going to say something about the difference between "dumbing down" and "raising the veil of obfuscation" but others have made that point. So instead, let me share with you the first example that made me aware of "dumbing down" recipes. About a dozen years ago, somebody tossed me a can of Kraft Parmesan-type Grated Cheese and told me to read the label. The recipe was for spaghetti with sauce, and said (to wit): boil spaghetti, heat and add your favorite ready-made jar of spaghetti sauce, and sprinkle with Kraft-brand Parmesan-type Grated Cheese. Ahhh, but the kicker. Ready? "Variation: Recipe may be halved."

Another possibility, which I saw in the SoHo Sur La Table last weekend, is an indoor hydroponic setup complete with its own mini grow lamp. Of course, it seems rather pricey...you could probably kludge up something just as effective for less moolah. Also, I believe DeBaggio's site says they're opening for the season this Saturday. The rosemary plant I bought from them in '04 continues to expand like a trooper in my north-facing backyard garden...go figure.

I know you said "in the area", but if you have the chance to hop up to NYC ($46 round-trip internet fare on Greyhound), it's worth making a visit to Korin Trading Co. Their open stock displays hold dozens of Japanese kitchen knives in a wide variety of sizes and price ranges, including a number of seriously lust-inducing yanagis. If you're a southpaw like me, it's also one of the few places you can buy a left-handed Japanese knife off-the-shelf, as he custom regrinds a small number of the Western-style chef's knives himself. All other lefty knives are custom-order with a hefty surcharge, as left-handedness is still actively discouraged in much of Asia. The important thing is to call Korin first to schedule your visit, let them know it's a professional purchase, and tell them that you'd like a sharpening lesson from Mr. Sugai while you're in town buying your knife. He teaches hands-on with an assortment of stones, no more than two customers at a time. Bring a pen and notepad, and one or two of your favorite knives along; he'll go over the particulars of sharpening different edge types, and probably put one heck of an edge on what you brought. His standard test is taking easy slices off the end of a stick of open-cell packing foam held in mid-air. The sharpening stones aren't discounted very well, but some of the other widgets are, particularly the Benriner slicers. Keep notes on the exact stones that are recommended for a particular knife, as some of the steels used are exceptionally hard.

While the abuses of Macromedia Flash by so-called web designers make my eyes roll, I suppose it's up to the restaurateur to decide if they like it or not, just as it's up to us diners to decide if we like the food and/or service. Please, dear restaurant-people-with-website-responsibilities, do include a simple, elegant, HTML-only page on your site that contains phone numbers, addresses and hours of operation? Frequently I find myself doing a last minute Google search, sometimes from my cellphone (which knows nothing of Flash), trying to figure out if I can eat at your restaurant right now. And all too often that information(?) is easier to pry out of a Post review of dubious age than from the restaurant website, or I give up in frustration. Indulge all you want in the pretty animations on the rest of the site. But when it comes to the key information that a diner needs, complicating the task of finding it is not in your own interest. As Bartles and Jaymes used to say, we thank you for your support.

The new pastry chef is one Tom Wellings(?), apparently ex-CityZen and ex-Ritz-Carlton depending who you listen to. I had the chocolate beignets after lunch today, and I'm still grinning like a madman. They were luscious and full of interesting textures. Don't be fooled by the complete lack of description on the dessert card...I was expecting maybe some kind of profiterole, but what arrived far exceeded my expectations. Since I couldn't find an authoritative description of the dessert, this is how I would describe it. What you get are three sugar-encrusted molten chocolate cakes the size of golf balls, on a carefully arranged plate with dollops of coffee foam, cocoa soil, microgreens, and pink sea salt. That's right, it's an avant-garde dessert, although somewhat less radical than Sam Mason's work at WD50. As difficult as it is to do at Eve, save some room for dessert!

I assume this thread is really about prawn chips...prawn crackers, which are glossy baked rice flour items, are something else entirely. Personally I find Vietnamese and other southeast Asian styles of prawn chips to be too sweet, too small, and often somewhat thin in prawn flavor. They're simply a different style. Sadly, the Grand Marts near me don't appear to carry Chinese prawn chips at all. Lotte usually has them, albeit without the absurd and delightful array of colors. Maxim usually has the proper article though.

Bella Italia in Bethesda has a variety of chocolates from Turin producer Guido Gobino, including their famous Turinot Maximo giandujotto, which in my book is reason enough for the existence of the hazelnut. I haven't seen Gobino for sale anywhere since I picked up a box at Zingerman's a couple years ago. Even on sale, it's expensive at around $26 for a 250g box, but Gobino is to Perugina as Callebaut is to Hershey's.

Small, expensive bags of tipo 00 can also be had at Balducci's, although most of the bags on the shelf at the Old Georgetown Rd (Wildwood) location had burst. There are also a number of places online that sell the Caputo brand recommended by Verace Pizza Napoletana, and some of them repackage into smaller-than-industrial quantities. The urge to order and split a 50 lb sack from PennMac is considerable, though...

I always found the Fairfax Woodlands to be the weakest of their locations - the food a little too greasy, the decor a little too nonexistant. Gaithersburg (across the parking lot from Trader Joe's) maintained higher standards of food and service until that location closed last year. Is Langley Park still open? The special rava masala dosa is quite the flavor bomb, but I usually steer first-timers to the less-challenging paper masala dosa, which adds the element of absurd size. Start with the rasa vada, sort of a fried iddly floating in a cup of rassam. Also worth mention, Madras Palace in the strip mall behind the strip mall at Rt 124 and Rt 117 in Gaithersburg. Again, vegetarian south Indian, food on a par with Woodlands but not quite up to the standard of Udupi Palace. But for those of us in MoCo it's a much shorter drive than Langley Park or NoVa.

Lunch yesterday: La Villa (261 Fifth Ave (at 1st St), Brooklyn) Neapolitan DoC pizza, although I don't see them listed on the Verace Pizza Napoletana site. Most pizzas made with house-made fior-di-latte, although Italian mozzarella di bufala is available as an option. I had an excellent margherita with the bufala ($11); thin uniform and crisp crust, lightly topped and savory. At first glance it looked a bit "puddly", but this turned out to be deliciously viscous olive oil. Lunch special (until 3pm) adds a side soup or salad for free. Portions are generous; be careful not to wolf down the basket containing rolls and focaccia. Dinner yesterday; Park Slope Chip Shop / Curry Shop (383 Fifth Ave (at 5th St), Brooklyn) Having stuffed myself earlier, I kept to an order of cod & chips, with an Irn-Bru to drink. Great great fish...one thick chunk of fresh cod, battered and fried to just-flaky, the best fish-and-chips fish I've had in the US. The batter could have been a bit thinner, and was a bit more eggy-yellow than seemed usual, but it was crisp outside and non-greasy. Chips were pretty good, although not nearly as good as Pommes Frites. Malt vinegar is on the tables, but you'll have to ask them for brown sauce. Other fish-and-chips choices include haddock and plaice, which I've never seen outside of England. There's also a menu of authentic-looking pub fare, and a menu of British curry shop items. Alas the on-draft beer selection was brief and ordinary; it could have really used a good cask ale or two considering the Brooklyn location. On a non-food note, look across the street and you'll see the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co. (372 Fifth Ave), storefront for the 826NYC children's reading project operated by those eccentrics at McSweeney's. Brilliant!

In the words of that renowned and adventurous food critic Indiana Jones, "it's not the age, it's the miles."

So what's the optimum temperature for that box of Betty Crocker Walnut Supreme brownies?

I dunno about Victorian, but there's usually a soft-focus centerfold some pages over from the Forum. I think this month it was a game hen with really nice* thigh skin. * or in some corners of the city, "crispy"

My problem with *$ is that it's always been overroasted, and moreover that they've done that across the board to all of their coffees. It's one thing when Peet's used to roast Sulawesi until it was dark as tar...just sniffing the beans was a one-shot caffeine hit. But murdering common French and Italian roasts is simply a coffee crime. Also, it'll be a long time before I forgive them for buying and gutting the old Coffee Connection chain in Boston. Grrr. Reducing the milk in a cappuccino isn't going to fix the roast or the shot. Drink a ristretto from Vivace in Seattle, and forever onward you'll pray that Starbucks tosses in more milk, sugar and/or ice. IMHO.