ol_ironstomach

More like netiquette; neither storage nor bandwidth are free, and a little consideration makes for a better experience for your fellow netizens. Please PM responses if any directly to me, as this is off-track from dinner.

"Ingredients vs. Technique" is really an exercise in semantics and pigeonholing, isn't it? After all, SF isn't exactly devoid of technique, and NYC is hardly devoid of ingredients (hey, it you can't buy it in New York, it doesn't exist ) and there aren't really barriers to either strength travelling. Claiming "ingredients" in the name of SF is a deserved nod to both Alice Waters' pioneering influence and the extreme productivity of California's central valley, but I think it has also become a pat answer - an illusion brought on by the relative lack of seasonality in California ingredients. If NYC is the "you can get anything" city, SF is the "if it grows nearby at all, it's available year-round" city. If summer were just a smidge milder, coastal California might only qualify for one season instead of three...I never had such a limited wardrobe as when I lived there. I'd count the following among DC's dining strengths: Internationality - an incredible variety of cuisines is represented here, second only to NYC (within the US), and largely thanks to the diplomatic community. On a per-capita basis, we're way out in front. A transitive populus - every two years a new crop of windbags* from the other 48 states takes office in the big white building with the dome, and the old ones look for new hobbies when they're not playing lobbyist. A lot of aides and interns show up too. Some get the crazy urge to open restaurants. As a result, American regional cuisine comes to us...poorly sometimes, but it's a start. New York has a similar magnet effect; SF and Chicago somewhat less so. ...but most of all, I think DC's strength is its diners... Crazy activist foodies - the kind who would rather secede than stop planning group gourmet binges, before returning to the sulfurous thermals at depth. Look at where the great chefs of DC come from; very few of them are homegrown. In the top tier, there are O'Connell, Krinn, Monis - who else? What draws people like Armstrong, Ziebold, Richard and Trabocchi to a town that isn't exactly known for cultivating great ingredients nor qualified help? I think they're here for the audience; one that sustains true fine dining in hotels, great steaks in neighborhood strip malls, and even good Burmese restaurants in an area with neither a college-town atmosphere nor a major Burmese community. Pat yourselves on the back, diners of DC. * our own windbags already get hometown cooking here, see

According to their answering machine, Peperonata Pasta in Gaitherburg's Kentlands neighborhood has closed its doors. During the 2.5 years they were in operation, Peperonata was one of the few sources in central MoCo for a good cannoli and really fresh pasta.

Might I suggest a little downconverting too? Those photos would render fine and be considerably more pleasant to download at half the dimensions and one-tenth the filesize.

How about the National Wildlife Visitor Center at the USFWS Patuxent Research Refuge, just south of Laurel? Probably too narrow a topic to warrant a field trip, but another curriculum idea: the Maryland chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation has been assembling a loanable classroom kit on the history of the American chestnut tree, the import and rise of the blight, and efforts to restore the species. Hard to imagine that between the last ice age and little over a century ago, this was the dominant tree species in northeastern forests and a major wildlife food source, and now it's quite rare.

Obituary for Claude Terrail, restaurateur, La Tour d'Argent The bit about hiding the cellar (a quarter-million bottles?!) during WW2 is simply fascinating. Can you imagine what the post-liberation celebration must have been like?

Technically this is a post about a chain store, but... FYI the Chesapeake Knife & Tool going-out-of-business sale is still going on. Last weekend everything was 30-70% off the lowest tagged price, and I believe they were going to bump it up again midweek. The Montgomery Mall location was somewhat picked-over, but still had most of their steel kitchen cutlery (Henckels, Wüsthof, Shun etc) available at 30% off. No ceramic blades left, and few sharpening tools. I hear the Fair Oaks location has quite a bit more good stuff in stock including the Kyocera paring knives, at least as of a week ago. The tagged prices on cutlery seemed slightly higher than I remembered seeing elsewhere, but worked out to be a good deal once the sale discount was applied. Might be a good time to spring for that hollow-ground santoku or that serrated offset knife that you've always wanted.

Sorry, I can't say I've used them myself. I picked mine out at the Williams-Sonoma outlet in Leesburg, which let me decide which pieces had dings or lamination flaws I didn't want. CW'nM was mentioned in another thread here, and their product link was handy...perhaps modthinglet could share a personal shopping experience?

FWIW, the klutz in me was never able to set a custard without curdling the bottom until I bought some All-Clad seconds. Now I don't even bother with the double boiler...and I'm cooking over electric. (Using an infrared thermometer gun also helped, but that's another story.) Pick up one of their sauciers and you'll wish they offered sets with sauciers instead of just saucepans.

Saw them? Heck, we tasted them! Tom and Derek really were superb hosts that evening. (apologies for the blurry crap-o-la phonecam quality)

Not like I fly that much, but United's fare on trans-oceanic routes isn't completely vile. BA was actually pretty decent. And with so many alternate menus available for "special diets" if requested in advance, you can often do better on domestic flights by requesting, say, the kosher or vegetarian meals. Curiously, the best "regular" airline food I've had was probably on Aeroflot out of Shannon, Ireland, about fifteen years ago. I always suspected that they realized what pieces of junk their Ilyushin airliners were and opted for a higher grade of skychef service at each airport to compensate, but the charcuterie didn't totally suck, the rolls were decent and the Irish butter was incredible. Or maybe it's because I hit the Irish coffee during each layover...you don't normally see stainless dairy containers of fresh double cream wheeled into most airports at 5 AM. On a somewhat related note, I used to take lunch-hopping flights with one of my engineers who kept a plane at Leesburg. The best of these was the "gourmet gas station" (aka Kent Island Depot) near Bay Bridge Airport on Kent Island. Walk behind the FBO and out the fence, and across the road you'd encounter the back of a Citgo station. But instead of the usual Frito-Lay/Hostess/hotdogs-of-indeterminate-age quickmart, we were confronted with café tables, a handwritten chalkboard of daily specials, and a sign announcing the recent arrival of beaujolais nouveau. It had a wine section, international foods and snacks, some lovely cookies, and a selection of terrines, pâtés, salads and entrées. It wasn't fine dining, but it wasn't your ordinary roadtrip food either...I had a seaweed salad and a reasonable piece of salmon. At a Citgo.

I believe you mean the "aliquot of cane-juice-essence wine store" cough

IIRC those were Regan's Bitters, bottled by the Sazerac Co. Lovely stuff indeed. The space has been divided into a number of different rooms, each with its own set of architectural details, but in the same overall style. The stone walls lend a warm rustic solidity to the space, but I suspect the dining room will be a bit loud with all the hard surfaces. Jake pointed out, and I agree, that the bar service area is set a little too similarly to the fine dining area, and it will be interesting to see how this works. I'd prefer a more lounge-like setting in front, myself. Derek's devotion to classic cocktails is worthy of praise, particularly the care shown in selecting spirits that complement the final blend. My Americano was made with Carpano Antico vermouth, which was so beautifully aromatic that I'm not sure I can mix with M&R again The display behind the bar isn't comprehensive in the style of Bourbon or The Brandy Library, but it betrays a fondness for rye, including a gratuitous display of bottles of Black Maple Hill. For now, the classic list is brief but the mixology is excellent...the drinks I managed to sample had great balance and flavor, but more importantly there were no miscues. In addition to the classics, there's a "creations" cocktail list which wasn't yet available last night, but which looks very interesting, if not as wildly experimental as something from Thrasher's labs. Fig-infused vodka anyone?! Agraria's bar will be open this weekend as their soft launch continues.

Keeping fingers crossed. My experiences with the London airport locations of Yo! were stunningly mediocre, especially compared to the decent and ubiquitous kaiten operations throughout Sillyclone Valley.

Maybe if we can position the durian downwind, while keeping its olfactory shadow away from other picnickers. I once brought one into work for some brave souls to taste; we waited until 5:30 on a Friday to crack it open, and by 6:00 the smell scared the stragglers in accounting (clear across the building) into going home.

Is it really scarier than dumping a bag of Tyrkisk Peber candy into a bottle of Koskenkorva?

We split: bagels from the 5th Avenue (Brooklyn) Bageltique: one "everything" spread with Amish butter, one sesame spread with Greek yogurt. Seedless watermelon chunks. Kosher Coke. I've started checking my BP in the morning just for grins. 110 over 65. Obviously there's room for more artery spackle...I mean bacon

I think I've finally narrowed my food contribution decision to an assortment of steamed dumplings and potstickers, likely prefab from local Asian markets and other sources. Busy Saturday at the track precludes massive prep on my part.

Actually, I was thinking of India Gourmet (13220 Wisteria Dr, Germantown), in the Churchill Business Center at Wisteria and Father Hurley. It's big; bigger than any other Indian grocery I've seen in MoCo. Will have to make a mental note to go back. A bit thin on housewares (unless you were looking for a hand-cranked coconut scraper) but quite a variety of spices, grains, daal, pickles and chutneys, and other semi-prepared items. The back of the store has a couple of unfinished departments for videos, meat and fish, and produce.

Nothing to do with food but while you're out and about on the lake, wave at the big schooner Malabar X if she's out there. Last and largest of the Alden racing schooners, she was completely rebuilt a few years back by owner Doug Hazlitt of the Hazlitt 1852 winery, and nowadays takes tourists around the lake.

Hector For those lowbrow occasions when you need a roadhouse, by far your best bet is Big Johnson's in Hector, one of those shacks where the locals swill cheap beer between staggering up to the karaoke mike. I understand they used to hang Barbie dolls from the ceiling for decoration, too. However, don't pass up the Baked Alaska...it's quite satisfying, and exotic among the usual burgers and fries.

With a very limited knowledge of the subject, there are several Indian groceries in central MoCo that I've found useful. In Rockville, there's one in the strip mall just west of the 355/Wooton Parkway intersection, with a pretty good selection of sweets, especially around Holi (which has already passed this year). They also seem to do a brisk business renting Indian videos. In Gaithersburg, there's another small grocery in Quince Orchard shopping center (124 and 117) behind the Magruders and Circuit City, and just over from a Russian store. If nothing else, they usually have a good variety of MTR heat-and-eat items, useful for emergency kits and the can't-escape-office-for-lunch drawer. Finally, rumor has it that there's a really good Indian grocery somewhere in Germantown, on Wisteria somewhat west of 118, but I haven't reconnoitered it yet.

Grabbed one of Negril's beef patties for an afternoon nosh today, and it was good, very good...one of the best I've had, actually. The pastry was crisp and flaky, and better yet the mildly spicy filling was quite savory, even more than the ones from Caribbean Feast. Can't beat that for a buck-and-a-half. Zoiks, now I'm craving the tyropita from Marathon Deli when I was a permanent undergrad.

bump

If this is the BLT I'm thinking of, I'm not sure I'd call it Irish bacon...more like great chunks of pork belly, roasted to a crackly, slightly chewy consistency. Gorgeous stuff, almost like the crispy fatty outside of a nice piece of schweinshaxen. Very very very definitely what I'm ordering the next time you take me there, G