tastedc

I like this topic, I can BITCH! Ironically, my bitch is really with the American public, NOT the restaurants... Most American diners I've met are stuck on only eating what they're comfortable with and that is generally "safe" food...take away the 10-12% Foodies/open-minded types, and you're left with Center-of-the-Platers - they want to eat, eat alot, eat fast, and they want to be somewhere else quick, 45 minutes tops they want the check and out the door...That's why Sietsema's online complainers only talk about service "I waited 35 minutes for a table, blah, blah, blah..." they never mention the food, because they are so irate about waiting for water, or the next dish, or using the bathroom, THAT THEY COULD CARE LESS ABOUT THE FOOD!!! Thanks for allowing to me to vent!

All On Same Plate at Heritage India: -Palak Makai - Creamy spinach and corn in fresh herbs -Murgh Makhani - Tandoori grilled cubes of chicken in a rich tomato cream sauce -Yakhani Gosht - From mountains of Kashmir – cubes of lamb simmered in yogurt and saffron

Gastronomica for the serious (nutcase!) Foodies Gastronomica - used to get Saveur, but always enjoyed it..Food and Wine, Gourmet, and a bunch of other magazines are too advertiser driven, that's where the web comes in handy!

TasteDC.com - We have a Wine Basics 101 class on Wednesday, November 16th at the Washington Wyndham Hotel - I'm the teacher, it's pretty good! We don't teach other "classes" very often but we hold quite a few wine tastings and festivals and sometimes you can order the wine you've tasted at very special prices. You should also check out The List which lists many food and wine events in our area.

I must be lucky, I had a great meal at Aquarelle a few months ago, but I know the chef Christophe! I actually spoke a week ago with Michelle Garbee, the pastry chef at Aquarelle, and she said that Eve Zibart's review is very misleading because the menu has just been changed and she didn't review any of the desserts. Allegedly it will be re-reviewed soon, possibly by Tom Sietsema himself...weird comment, but does it ever happen that Eve and Tom totally disagree, or does she review mostly restaurants that he doesn't cover?

Pho from Pho 75 with tendons and tripe a bit of beef too, I put the hoisin sauce and chili sauce on the spoon (half and half) and using chopsticks dip the noodles and meat/parts into the hot/sweet mixture, after there is only broth left, I spin what's left of the spoon mix into the soup, add the bean sprouts, eat them and then pick up the bowl and pull it to my face and swallow every last beefy/chili/herbal drop of broth...I know this is healthy, but I love a greasy bacon cheeseburger too with cheese fries, or soul food at Oohh's and Aahh's...

Back to Roaches....in Nawlins (New Orleans!) cockroaches were so plentiful when I lived there in the early 80's, that it would have been unusual NOT to have seen one in a restaurant - literally! I ate at the venerable Pascale Manales (they've been credited as the originators of "Barbecued Shrimp") where cockroaches of varying sizes climbed up the wall - we didn't want to act like tourists, so we ignored them and ate our meal happily! Shrimp are from the same family as spiders, you just have to get over cultural biases, I mean I happily ate the cicadas when they were in season last year...whoooops, a photo! BUT, bugs in restaurant food, well that's a different story!! Takeout chinese from a restaurant in Langley Park, MD had a cockroach sitting in it, I definitely took that back! Chopsticks Restaurant in Chinatown here in DC a few years back, my Chinese girlfriend wouldn't eat in the restaurant after the 10th cockroach walked through her menu, we left! Whole Foods salad greens a few years ago were full of aphids - organic of course! So who at DR.com actually has tried insects on purpose, fess up???

The chate was very short too, wonder if that was technical snafus? Really like the physical magazine's change in layout and coverage for November, I think Washingtonian is actually getting to be a bit cutting edge! Referencing the website on the Thanksgiving article in order to get the recipes is a smart way to merge the 2 concepts. The question will be, will people continue to pay for the Magazine if all the information is online? That's a real Big Deal over there...

21 P Restaurant at 21st and P St., NW (the Old Beducci's space on the corner of 21st and P, it's 1 block from Dupont Circle, website is 21 P Website) has a Pre-theater 3 course dinner from 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm for $30 per person, but what's even better is the Bar happy hour from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm with all appetizers at 1/2 price - normally appetizers are just bar food, but I had the Veal Cheeks and the Tuna Tartare and with a dessert, you basically have a 3-Course meal! Here's the half-price menu (from 5-7 PM): Curry Crusted Scallops w/ Coconut Grits and Pineapple Chutney 21P Olives and Olive Oil w/ Rosemary Focaccia Truffle Potato Spring Rolls w/ Crème Fraiche and American Caviar Cajun Braised Veal Cheeks w/ Garlic Custard and Red Pepper Coulis Seafood Tamale (See Tamales) Tuna Tartare w/ Wasabi Aioli, and Rice Cracker Ask for Hanna, she's one of the owners and she will help you pair some wines with your dishes!

I ate horse in Verona, Italy last year, it's prominently on the menu, no one in that part of Italy thinks twice about eating it, it mine as well be pasta! I had it braised and simply roasted...it was very tough roasted, but braised it was like a brisket, very delicious! Serve it with a nice full-bodied red, maybe a Chianti, but a more intense wine like a Amarone is even better!

There just seems to be a common personality-type in DC that LOVES to berate any service situation which isn't "up to their standards" - I hear them give a BIG HARUMPH, HARUMPH!! Speaking of etiquette, I was brought up to be POLITE!! Gee, I'm old-fashioned...but at the same time, I disagree with people who are too polite and walk away from a situation feeling ignored/cheated and miserable...so when there's a service problem POLITELY ask the server or manager to fix the situation to your liking...old expression "you get more with honey than with vinegar!" And what about an occasional COMPLIMENT-I try to use them before, during and after a meal, from the time I walk-in and mention great things I've heard about the chef's new dish, to the bartender who I always tell my guests is "top of their game" to the finale when I walk out and make sure I've either spoken with the manager or chef (depending on how busy they are..) and told them how great/wonderful my meal was - WOW, a little pleasant treatment of people seems to get me the best food and service!!

Breaking News...I met with Christophe Poteaux, the Executive Chef of Aquarelle yesterday (Saturday, Oct. 29th) during one of TasteDC's Chocolate Classes, and he confirmed....that although it's possible Keller is looking to open a restaurant like Bouchon at the Watergate, there were some serious issues to contend with which would slow the process down to at least 3 or 4 years: 1)Aquarelle has a contract to operate the restaurant portion of the Watergate until the end of 2006 (Christophe seemed to suggest it would be part of the Aquarelle location in some way, that is the hotel's main kitchen), 2)Currently, there's a lawsuit from neighboring coop owners to stop the Watergate's Hotel from turning into a condominium...the Keller restaurant can only occur once the new building owners take over the building and begin the condo conversion...this means that the building would be under renovation/construction for some time.. 3)Having said all that, the opening of a Keller operation would most likely be 2008/2009...so even if the rumor is true, we have plenty of time to eat at other fine dining establishments in DC! So rumor or not, it has a LONG way to go...

9 within 2 miles of my house/office...not ashamed to say I like Starbucks, it's one of the few chains that actually raised the level of quality/awareness of coffee, I would say much the same as Whole Foods formerly Fresh Fields did in the supermarket category...I now make most of my own coffee, but I actually like Price/Costco's offerings as well, and they're a HUGE chain!

Roy Rogers Franchise Expansion in Mid-Atlantic speaking of local franchises, the Plamondon Bros. are trying to bring back Roy Rogers. Question is, how much brand loyalty is there for Roy's? Concerning 5G's with little brand loyalty except for a small cadre of DC and VA people, is their gimmick gonna keep people comin? Oh, how's my grammar - Just Kidding

Whoops, I meant "Plus" not "Point"...

Call me crazy, but the sentence is only 1 word and a quote - "Point" is the only word in the sentence! So can you go: I "this is a quote". ? In other words, a quote is not part of the grammar of a sentence, that was my "Point"!

Hey, back to the well done vs you choose doneness burgers - I think it's unfair to even put them in the same category! So Fudd's competes with made to order burgers, 5G's competes with McD's and other well-done only food producers - Apple to Apples so to speak. Having said that, 5G's does pretty well, but the Georgetown location's issue is staff, and frankly, that's another thread, so I'll leave it alone... But when it comes to choose your doneness burgers (CYDB's!), my preference, not necessarily in order is: -Grilled even charred outside, -Medium-rare - if I die, I die, I plan to eat Fugu at some point as well... -Sesame seed bun, brioche or an "airy" yeasty style bread (not dense, I want something to sponge the delicious grease and fat!) - the bun should be grilled, -80-85% lean or FATTIER beef, and if it's leaner, it's acceptable to add fat to the pre-cooked burger! -NEVER squeeze the juices out of the burger when it's grilling, MUST retain significant portion of grease! Condiments - OK, I LOVE ketchup, Heinz for me, or BBQ Sauce, NO STEAK SAUCE, who came up with that?? Onions (fried, fresh or both), lettuce and tomato are good, BUT tomato must be ripe, none of those rubbery bouncing tomatoes designed for Supermarkets, yuck! and Jalapenos or other hot peppers are fine, pickle should be of the sour variety, but sweet's OK too! Cheese - Either way, but NEVER a cheese spread, I prefer firm cheddar, but shredded is fine Experience: -Grease must drip down my chin, this is de rigeur and part of the experience, -Cheese should stretch out a bit, BTW, the cheese is the salt for my dish, -Good chew - not grissle so much, as meat that has some beefy firmness.. I'm so hungry, I can't type anymore, I'll continue this later!!

Question: I thought 5 Guys just serves burgers well done, doesn't Fudd's make them to order rare, med rare, etc..correct me if I'm wrong?

This quote from Tom's Weekly Dish concering Patrick Bazin opening his own restaurant in Vienna. Point: it's not a sentence/grammatically correct...OK, no Biggie, but still, just more proof how email is affecting the written language.

I noticed the topic heading said "Chef's Choice Isn't Going to Cut It", but that's what I use - the salesperson at Sur La Table told me it's virtually the same sharpener that they were using at the store when people brought in their knives to sharpen, and it's incredibly easy to use. And I'll say this a million times - I NEVER use a knife unless it's been through a steel a few times (this is honing, not sharpening!) and I tell everyone the same - most cutting accidents are due to a dull knife which is easily preventable! Chef's Choice cost me a bit over $100 but it's a time saver and I cook alot - oh, you can also use it for serrated knives, that's special!

That's what I said (chatted?) 2,4,6-trichloroanisole - that's what you said, you just didn't include the 2,4,6, no Biggie! But the 1 to 15% is a bit...broad? Let's just say between 3% and 8% for future discussions, but it "should" be 0% for screwtops - the reason it might be 1% or 2% for screwtop is that they've found TCA in the cellars of some wineries, so it could potentially get into the wine...in small amounts, few people except wine pros can detect TCA, so it's acceptable, I wouldn't even send it back in a restaurant if it was negligible, but when you get the wet mildewed sock aroma, yeoowww, send it back!BTW, something like 1/10% of all wines ever get sent back in a restaurant, even though the estimate is 3-8% of bottles have TCA, so basically people are suffering through tainted wine and they just think there's something wrong with themselves!

This may be old, but does everyone know about the alcohol "sniffing" flashlight that law enforcement has been using for years? It can measure minute amounts of alcohol in the air of a car - Washingtonian had an article on this a few years ago, I'm not sure of it's admissability in court, but it suggests that if you're in DC, you may not want to crack the window when talking to a cop, maybe it's better to just open the door and get out? Here's the link: http://www.sniffalcohol.com/304.htm. 2nd Point: I think more people get pulled over in VA then DC for minor infractions, at least that's how it has been for me (I said minor infractions, not DUI!)...and it seems whenever I'm driving in DC, cops barely pay attention to other drivers, they're usually in a hurry getting to a crime scene - kind a makes sense, I mean the homicide rate in DC is 10 times hire than NoVA...

Never heard this before Dean, and I'm still weighing the pros and cons of screwtops, but I did recently read an article that screwtops have virtually a 0% failure rate, so I'm curious to know how that could happen? Concerning the aging of wines, the current "wisdom" (meaning it's probably wrong!) is that the aging of wines is more related to the air already in the bottle (ullage) and not the air that a natural or synthetic cork allows in...again, nobody is sure, and time will tell...Personally, I prefer screwtops for all my wines because of the reasons noted above as well as the unhappy loss of wine to 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (cork taint) which is probably closer to 3%, I was just using 8% as an outside figure! You're correct that a little bacteria/2,4,6 isn't going to ruin a wine for everyone (some people LOVE Brett, I personally enjoy it, it gives wine some "funk"!).

Last year I was performing a wine tasting at the New Zealand Embassy for a corporate group, and the organizer nearly passed out when I turned the screw cap of one of the wines...she thought I had gone to 7-11 and bought Boone's Farm or some other cheap stuff! I find it's really hard to tell consumers new to wine, that a cork is actually a bad thing, it may be ruining as much as 8% of all wines sold, but people are so enamored of the cork "mystique" that often they don't even want to hear this fact...the industry has created a "snob" factor that Americans seem to think is wrong but portray at the same time...for many, wine is instant pedigree, you become sophisticated and erudite just by swirling the mystical fermented grape juice in your glass, instant class so to speak... But anyone who tries to spell palate as palette is way too snobby for me, just give up on them!

http://www.nathansfamous.com/nathans/news/...ts_new_main.php Sort of unrelated, but the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Champion this year was Takeru Kobayashi - he ate 49 in 12 minutes, but the #2 was local Alexandrian Sonya Thomas - 37 in 12 minutes, her website is at http://www.sonyatheblackwidow.com/ - she's actually the American Champion, she can out eat Eric Booker who weighs almost 4 times her weight!!!