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ol_ironstomach

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Everything posted by ol_ironstomach

  1. ol_ironstomach
    For you smartphone photogs, here's a recent article from DPReview on "four tasty apps for sharing food photography". http://connect.dpreview.com/post/1304999600/food-photography-apps?news
  2. ol_ironstomach
    I didn't grow up eating this cuisine, so take it from an outsider: that chopped liver is fantastic. Best I've ever had, and I'd go back just to have it again. Heck, I'd even eat the lettuce garnish it's scooped onto, just to save the dregs.
  3. ol_ironstomach
    Chef Li's health hasn't been good lately and we keep admonishing him to go see a doctor, but he's a stubborn man who is also irreplaceable in his own kitchen. And his cooking has never been better. A few of us stopped in last week prior to a concert in Annapolis, and everything was a solid hit. Try the Taiwanese-style fish, a diced stir-fry whose perkiness elevates what is normally rather ordinary fare. But I worry about the guy, and the toll it must take on both of them. It's clearly a lot of work keeping this mom-and-pop operation going, and it's also fairly obvious that they do absolutely everything themselves while the kids are in school. Go say hi, and take in another great meal.
  4. ol_ironstomach
    Tis that weekend again. Gubeen raved about it last year, so today we stopped by for an early dinner. You buy tickets at the booth near the entrance to the field, which are exchanged for food and beverage items at $1/ticket. They were still setting up and not all items were available yet, but what was there was fascinating and full of community spirit. The legume soup was rich and hearty, herbed with a strong dose of dill. The lamb "pastrami" was more of a grilled item, but set off by spicy slices of pickled peppers. But the humble little rolls of stuffed cabbage were simply terrific...moist and flavorful. Also try the "mititei", a skinless pork sausage formed into small cylinders before cooking, with a texture a bit like kofte or kubideh. I think we're going to go back tomorrow for a late lunch. This Saturday and Sunday 10-7, parking onsite (at least until they run out of room). The festival is held twice yearly as a fundraiser for the eventual construction of a permanent Romanian Orthodox Church on this site, 9111 River Rd., Potomac.
  5. ol_ironstomach
    The trouble with hyperbole is "where can you go from here?" What's the difference between being blown away, and having every molecule in your body instantaneously vaporized by awesomeness? Can anybody truly say? Does it really matter? When BTI first gave the PVW 20 a score of 99 in the late 1990s, it was so absurdly off-the-charts then, that it *demanded* your attention...and your purchase. I forget what I paid, but it wasn't much...$50ish? It's racked up a heap of 99 scores in the subsequent decade. And that was "only" the 20 year old product, bottled at a bare-bones 90.4 pf. Where can you go from here? I also wonder what Parker would have done if Stitzel-Weller-distilled Very Very Old Fitzgerald was still available. Any whiskey bearing the Van Winkle family name is worth hoarding and drinking, savoring, revisiting, and discussing. Personally, it makes me very happy that Julian Van Winkle is the kind of straightforward, un-geeky taster that he is. http://gardenandgun.com/article/julian-p-van-winkle
  6. ol_ironstomach
    Had the Cucumber (among others) years ago at Manresa; the flavors are pleasantly subdued, and a refreshing change from beverage lists which only offer strong flavors.
  7. ol_ironstomach
    With a strong cold front blowing in on Friday, we sailed into Rock Hall, MD on Friday instead of anchoring out, tying up at the marina next door to Waterman's and only ten minutes' walk to Main Street. Most diners who seek out Rock Hall are headed straight to Waterman's, but another recent restaurant addition in town begs your attention. The Kitchen at Rock Hall (5757 Main Street, 410-639-2700) opened in 2011 and while it won't be contending for a Beard nomination anytime soon, the crabcakes are outstanding and worth a detour if you're anywhere in the area. Mostly jumbo lump, very little binder or filler, just a hint of mustard, and lightly browned. Also winners: the jumbo dry scallops, and a chocolate bread pudding so moist and rich that it puts a good volcano cake to shame. Not to my taste: the housemade mozzarella, a new addition, was overworked and a bit rubbery. And the bbq ribs, although extremely meaty and tender, were devoid of smoke and chew, and the sauce didn't really work for me. Seriously, you should go for their crabcakes. You should return again and again for those and other reasons. This is a tiny mom-and-pop venture. Owners Steve and Monica moved out to the eastern shore with their kids a couple of years ago, escaping the DC hustle and bustle. One or both of them (owners, not kids) is in the kitchen doing the cooking. Steve has been actively pushing the education of his young staff, training his dishwasher to step up as sous, and nagging others to finish their GEDs. In a small town where the local teens still drop out of school early, and the current big debate is whether or not allowing a chain dollar store in is going to destroy the wonderfully old-school local grocery (Bayside Foods), The Kitchen creates much more important opportunities than just an hourly job. Only 18 seats, reservations recommended.
  8. ol_ironstomach
    In that burgeoning metropolis of Darnestown, the space that was formerly Uncle Charlie's BBQ has been under major renovation the past few weeks enroute to becoming Nick's Pizza & Subs. I found the owner amongst the construction work, and the relevant bits I got were: he's shooting for opening the 22nd (seems optimistic IMHO), two masonry stone-floor ovens of very different slab thickness are going in so they can bake different styles of pizza, one of the target styles will be Neapolitan, the pizzaiolo is a new guy from Pittsburgh. Carry-out only...it wasn't clear if it was their restaurant or DLC permit that would not permit seating. The adjoining space will be a mini-storefront selling beer, wine, and other beverages. Will report back once it opens.
  9. ol_ironstomach
    A few snapshots from our meal: kolokythokrftede (zucchini cakes) cigar trio whole dorade mantı suçuk Adana kebab
  10. ol_ironstomach
    +1 on the sugar toads. Also right now, fresh ramps have made an appearance with a flavorful mini-crabcake. And the CFS is ridiculously tender, because they're using 50-ish day dry aged ribeye(!) Having a low-profile popup here also makes a great pre-Verizon Center stop when all the highly-touted establishments are booked up.
  11. ol_ironstomach
    Not her lunch date, but can report that the Twink Nut (a toroidal Twinkie, believe it or not) was outstanding. Whereas the Espresso was not. "Chewy" doesn't belong in the donut lexicon.
  12. ol_ironstomach
    Possibly; I don't have a strong recollection of that end of the shopping center, since I never really shopped anything there except the long-gone Kitchen Witch.
  13. ol_ironstomach
    Certainly, as one does! By the way, about two months ago Far East added three chefs from Guangdong province, and has begun serving a limited dim sum lunch menu. During the week, items may be ordered from an abbreviated dim sum menu during lunch hours only. On weekends from 10:30 until...uh, maybe 3...the downstairs dining room has dim sum cart service. So far, this doesn't seem to have been noticed outside of the Chinese community. Based on a visit a week ago, so far it's okay, with some items better than par, but a number of items could be hotter, and some of the sticky rice wrapper items were a bit oversteamed. Not yet in a position to challenge New Fortune, but promising. The Golden Bulls were (the Gaithersburg location seemed to have a lock on the local Boy Scout father-son dinner biz), but I think that's about it. ISTR the Adelphi location being more lounge-like.
  14. ol_ironstomach
    Opened about six months ago, Ayse (pron: eye-shae, 6 North East St, 240 651 5155) specializes in small plates of Turkish, Greek, and Lebanese origin, but the primary emphasis is on the Turkish offerings, which are hard enough to find even in the DC area. We stopped in for dinner last night, and left with a very positive impression of the food. The menu itself is rather long, and will take several visits to sample fully. Most dishes were in the $6-8 range, with some items as low as $4, but hardly anything that could even be considered moderately expensive. Value was generally spot on, although some items like the mantı were a bit precious at $8 for three not-too-large dumplings. The whole fish, on the daily specials sheet, are noteworthy. FedExed from Turkey, they were a steal at $18-19 for authentic branzino or dorade. Limited availability, by their very nature, and no indication of how frequently he has these flown in. There was a definite pecking order to the "cigars" (aka sigar boregı), although all of them suffered slightly from a rather thick pastry which fried up more like a wonton wrapper than like a delicate boregı pastry. I was a bit underwhelmed by the cheese version, where it was difficult to detect any of the non-cheese components of the filling. The lamb version was nice, and boosted by an excellent yogurt sauce which also accompanied a number of lamb-based items. The duck version was excellent...do make sure you try this item. Vegetable-based items were delicious all around, the squash fritters having a nice bit of salt to their crispy exterior. I found the use of dill to be more restrained here than in Turkey. The housemade suí§uk and also the Adana kebab were decidedly spicy, and well-moderated by the yogurt sauce. Both had a somewhat dense chew that is authentic. The kebab here is served curiously unadorned though, over a thin layer of rice and without the customary heaps of chopped onions, tomatoes, or other green. It turns out that somebody *does* import salep dondurma (orchid root mastic ice cream) to the USA by way of New York, if our server was correct. You can choose that, or two other housemade flavors. I had the salep, which might not have been the most refined version I've had, but definitely had the characteristic elasticity and stretchiness. I don't know if real salep or credible substitutes were used in the ice cream, but again, it's a Turkish specialty worth trying. We didn't really explore the beverage list much, but there are five types of rakı available, plus a short list of beers including a number of Oliver Ales on draft. The wine list is also appropriately Mediterranean, and organized into sections labeled Greek, Turkish, Israeli, Lebanese, and "other". Our tab for two, including beverages but before tip, was under $90 for a face-stuffing variety of dishes. Two could easily assemble a nice meal here in the $75 range all in, but you'll probably want to explore instead of holding back. I'm probably damning the place with faint praise, but this is an excellent addition to the area (not quite Family Meal good, but better than any of the Market St options close to Carroll Creek) and I can't wait to get back and dine on the outdoor patio as the weather warms up.
  15. ol_ironstomach
    Yeah, you're right. My brain fade had it on the wrong side of Western Ave today, for some reason.
  16. ol_ironstomach
    Does Da Marco really deserve to remain italicized? I'm not convinced (whereas I suspect Newton's Table might be worthy of a bump up). The pizza still has the right AVPN flavor, but the cornicione didn't really spring, and the bake was just good...didn't seem hot enough to achieve great spotting. I'd rank them Pacci's, Da Marco, CS, in ascending order, and in any case Edan is slinging the county's best right now at Range. I tried the olive ripiene last week and they were good looking, but a bit bland and not piping hot in the center. Still, the happy hour deal (4-7) is a steal at $6 for a basic margherita classica, albeit with cow mozzarella and not bufala.
  17. ol_ironstomach
    Kliman weighs in, calling it Wiedmaier's "best place in years".
  18. ol_ironstomach
    Go Kenji! Also interesting that Kliman and Limpert are up for their ongoing work in Washingtonian.
  19. ol_ironstomach
    Crap, crap, crap. We should have kept our res last week, postponed on account of sequestration.
  20. ol_ironstomach
    I never thought I'd welcome Roy's back to life, especially after enduring years of the UMd location, but after encountering too many McD's sausage McMuffins with bits of bone or that faintly ammoniated aroma, Roy's breakfast items are something of a welcome alternative, if you stoop to the occasional junk food breakfast as I do.
  21. ol_ironstomach
    When Zora says that a particular Braunschweiger is outstanding, listen to her! I will admit to being slightly daunted when I first unwrapped the sandwich and saw the layered slabs of Braunschweiger in there, each at least as thick as a dime's diameter, dressed with a generous amount of thinly shaved red onion, and some nice and crunchy sweet pickle. But it truly was fantastic, certainly the best I've ever had. Naturally, I dragged gubeen back there the next day to load up on some items, including lunch. The pastrami is another gargantuan item, laden with a mix of fatty and lean slices, but the tenderness is exemplary. So is the flavor, except that I found it to be rather heavily salted. Two big thumbs up.
  22. ol_ironstomach
    The thing about Irish whiskey is that here we're used to encountering the light-flavored volume brands, made with either high proportions of unmalted grain or blended with GNS, so flavorful items like Redbreast or Midleton seem like anomalous rarities. Many of the finest Irish whiskeys are simply unavailable outside of Ireland. When in Dublin, seek out pours of Green Spot - or better yet, the reintroduced Yellow Spot - from Mitchell and Sons, although the whiskeys are actually distilled for them at Midleton. You probably won't see either for sale outside of Ireland, and bottles of Yellow Spot are probably only available at the Mitchell&S shop. I haven't been able to secure a taste of Yellow Spot, but Green Spot is wonderful...the spectrum is very different from Scotch whisky, but it has richness and complexity without the sweetness of Bourbon.
  23. ol_ironstomach
    Aw, you gotta show up to the DR picnic more often, Don. I spun individual servings of dry ice ice cream at the spring picnic what, four years ago, with Jake's assistance in flaming off certain flavors. Jose Andres was serving his nitro concoctions before that, and of course liquid N2 ice cream is a science geek favorite that goes back generations . We used to raid spent Dewars behind campus labs for dregs. I still have an urge to combine dry ice and pop rocks (unencapsulated, if I can get it to work) for a future picnic. There are a couple of shops around the US now that specialize in cryo ice cream on demand, including one that offers a choice of refrigerant (liquid N2 or dry ice).
  24. ol_ironstomach
    Shelf price was about $20/six at Ace over the weekend, or by the case at a slight discount from that. (While you're at it, they've laid in a huge supply of Ardbeg 10 gift boxes, each including a miniature of Uigeadail, at a paltry $45 shelf price. Sure, MoCo DLC currently has Ten on sale for $40, but the gift set packaging is considerably nicer, and Rockwellians would do well to consult with Joe Riley while shopping there.)
  25. ol_ironstomach
    A capital idea, Eric, and thanks for kicking it off too. I'd also suggest that you, as gamemaster, declare a target date...not so much a deadline, as a fair warning of when the next beer will be announced.
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