JDawgBBall9

IIRC, that spot is not a great spot for bars/restaurants. Should I go? I'll need some extra incentive.

Yeah captions could have helped, whoops. I'll add them retroactively. [Edit - I put them in for you. Cheers, Rocks] I was tired at the time. First one is US-Ghana, second is from Italy-Uruguay, and last two are indeed Germany-US We had no idea that happened at the time. Just seemed like another scuffle that was typical of the game. It wasn't until we got back to our hotel that we found out what happened. I was having a good time at the game sitting in Uruguay's end and wasn't focused on the game like the US matches, so I took a lot of pictures and while scrolling through I saw that I captured that above (and some scuffles that happened after) and was quite amused. It was quite the case of dumb luck.

Sorry for the sudden bombardment of a few vacation pictures, but I had fun down there [Edit: I went ahead and put your captions on top of each photo. Cheers, Rocks] Photo 1: Ponta Negra Beach in Natal (home base near the point, just about the closest point to Africa, where the US-Ghana game was played): Photo 2: US-Ghana: Photos 3 & 4: Pipa Beach (30 miles down the coast from Natal) Photo 5: Suarez holding his mouth after the infamous bite during Italy-Uruguay Photo 6: Dune buggy ride through the dunes north of Natal: Photos 7 & 8: From right after the US-Germany game

I had jury duty today, so I dipped into B&O for lunch. It was just what the doctor ordered to break up the soul-crushing process of selecting a jury. The bartender was friendly but also sensed that I did need a little space to unwind, and one of my favorite summer beers Allagash White was on tap. I ordered the Caprese Chicken Sandwich (balsamic grilled chicken, fresh mozzarella, tomato relish, basil pesto aioli) and chose the side salad over the french fries or potato salad. The greens were quite fresh with a balsamic dressing IIRC and some tasty tomatoes. I love summer salad season. The sandwich itself featured many more tomatoes that may have been my favorite part of the meal on the chicken, which was quite juicy and well prepared. I didn't have any complaints for a solid lunch that cost less than $20 before tip, and it's not like the beer is a normal lunch order for me.

Some publications list Fette Sau as having the best barbeque in NYC, and based on my one experience I don't have any reason to argue that claim. Walking in, the bar to the left hosts a most impressive display of whiskey - the website claims they have the best list of American whiskey in New York City. We just ordered some pitchers to drink in line, which were almost gone by the time we got to the front 20-30 minutes later. Tip- don't go on a rainy night because the long line will leave you out in the elements, uncovered by the roof. Most of the outdoor seating area is covered, but the walkways are not. There's plenty of large picnic tables inside as well, community seating being the way to go. The meats are ordered by the pound and are cut and served up for you right there at the counter. Take your tray (or trays) back to a table and dig in. I noticed on the menu that they list the farms that some of the animals are from as well as a few other food sources. Sticking to the classics, we had brisket and pulled pork, but everything in the window looked phenomenol. Off of memory, the other meats offered when we went were pork belly, sausages, baby back ribs, and pork short ribs. Of the sides, we stuck with burnt end baked beans (what it sounds like) and potato salad while plenty of rolls were provided with everything. The meat was succulent, juicy and smokey while still keeping the great meat flavor. (Side brag - my friend/roommate sincerely said he thought my brisket was better, but that's not to take away from their process) The baked beans were awesome, loved how the burnt ends worked in there, and the potato salad gave us a nice body as well. We gorged on everything, the only words spoken were about how good the food was, and we could have eaten much, much more - that should speak for itself. Executive summary: If you're craving BBQ in New York City, go to Fette Sau - you won't be disappointed. They could stand with the majority of legit BBQ places throughout the rest of the country in places actually known for their BBQ.

Well, we have my early front-runner for meal of the year and I can't believe there isn't a thread already for Peter Luger Steakhouse. We were hopping around Brooklyn for a bachelor party this weekend and there was no way we were skipping Peter Luger's (Williamsburg location obviously, also a second in Great Neck). I've heard some amazing things from friends who visit on a regular basis, and the experience lived up to the hype. We started off with various cocktails, and my Bulleit Old Fashioned was well-made and lasted most of the meal. I probably should have paired the steak with a bold red wine, but it worked. We paired the tomatoes and onions with a slice of bacon for the appetizer, and together they made a weird variant of a BLT, but delicious. That slice of bacon was heavenly, definitely a must-have and worked well with the steak sauce poured over. Just google a picture and start drooling. For entrees, we kept it simple - steaks for everybody, potatoes, and creamed spinach. The potatoes provided a decent starch and I really liked the spinach (delicious but not too creamy), but that was about it. They aren't supposed to be the star though - the steak is. And boy, it did not let down. Cooked a legit medium-rare (we did have to please nine, after all) you could cut a bite with a few pushes of the fork. The meat was absurdly tender and flavorful, and we all left extremely full. Our waiters were excellent and provided great service with a playful attitude, everything came to $110-120 per person, and lunch was still a great value.

I'm off for the World Cup in two months. Probably 90% of the time will be spent in Natal and I doubt I'll have time to do exploring anywhere else. So here's a bump on the off-chance that anyone has been there in the past....

I've made Old Bay coleslaw before, and you can also season vegetables with it before/during however you prepare them hell I've also used it in a boiling pot of pasta instead of salt....provides a different flavor so you want to be careful, and Old Bay mac n cheese is something a first grader would dream up but screw it, sometimes you need that

This came up in discussion a week ago when a guy I know got this in Texas while there for a wedding. (sorry for the rotation) Grilled cheese, pizza bagel, chicken nugget, sausage, meatball, pepperoni, egg roll, taquito, pickle, okra, cheese, jalapeno, cauliflower, cucumber, olive, tomato, habanero bloody Mary. $8. And there's this guy in Canada the $60 (US $53) Checkmate at sports bar Score on Davie is garnished with (drumroll please): a full roast chicken, Score burger, slider, chicken wings, onion rings, pulled pork mac and cheese hot dog and a brownie. For dessert, obviously. It takes 20 minutes to prepare, is intended for two people, and is not served during typical brunch hours on Saturday and Sunday. It's also technically a Caesar, a Canadian riff on the Bloody Mary that is flavored with Clamato.

Back in the summer sometime I was looking for tri-tips and called J.W. Treuth and Sons in Ellicott City (HowChowBlog's post here) and they were willing to work with me and get the cut. If I remember correctly, it required a decent advance so I'd probably inquire 10-14 days before you want to pick it up just to be on the safe side and then they can time to order correctly. It might be a hike for some of you depending on where you are located along 495, but its tucked in nicely on the side of a scenic area in the Baltimore suburbs and you could even parlay a side trip to old Ellicott City. (I don't normally cruise the Shopping and Cooking forum, but I should start....I got inspiring and got into the smoking mood (meat, not tobacco or cannabis) and saw this thread and many others that should be a good help and figured I'd chime in with a new addition)

(Hey guys, Baltimore really has made great strides and has plenty of hidden gems, just another reason to venture up 95 for an evening out and have some new experiences so the Baltimore forum isn't the same small core infrequently updating the "hot" threads) Heck, it could probably use some additional discussion on the News & Media board since this RSS feed doesn't see as many views. (I also liked this one from last week: Band of Brothers) Edit: oh, I thought I was on the RSS forum because that was posted there too. Whoops.

Digging this one out from the depths with yesterday's news.... Woody Harrelson, local banker buy the Inn at the Black Olive in Fells Point It mostly fits with the actual inn portion, but I figured it's relevant enough for a bump for this eight and a half year old thread. Dwyer, who also owns Bare Hills Racquet and Fitness Club in North Baltimore, became familiar with the Spiliadis family, which also owns the Black Olive restaurant, through the health foods and beverages they provided gym members, Powell said. Harrelson's deal does not include the nearby Black Olive restaurant, which the Spiliadis family continues to control.

I just want to give this some perspective: outside of the rich DC bubble/NE corridor, this is pretty widely traveled. Most of America doesn't even have a valid passport. http://www.theexpeditioner.com/2010/02/17/how-many-americans-have-a-passport-2/ I'm going to Brazil in June for the World Cup, based out of Natal. I've made it a promise to go on insane bucket trips like this every year or two (last year was a music festival in Belgium, will probably take 2015 off) and I'm eternally grateful for the new experiences that these trips have provided. I've never been to Italy, and this thread alone has catapulted Cinque Terra up my list.

uhh YES

I went straight from the "Cruises" thread where you mentioned the David Foster Wallace piece on the same topic, but you somehow left out his piece on Federer. Federer as Religious Experience

Ventured out to Frederick yesterday for brunch at Firestone's, located on the main drag of Market Street. It's gotten a couple quick mentions in the Dining in Frederick thread, but figured I'd expand on it a bit. I was being a temporary teetotaler yesterday so I didn't bother opening the drink menu, but it appears that it has a reputation of being a good bar. The lounge area was quite nice and there was a decent jazz band playing throughout our meal, which was a nice touch. We started off with crab dip, which was served with two small loaves of bread and some carrots and cucumbers. Despite the sherry, the crab dip wasn't too rich and the large amount of cheese made dipping a bit difficult, but it was good. The eggs benedict was a hit and my grandmother, born and raised in New York City on delis, was quite happy with her hot pastrami sandwich. The meat was quite red and lean and she was pleased with it. I decided to spoil myself and get my once-a-year order of biscuits and gravy, which weighed me down (duh! it's biscuits and gravy!) but hit the spot. It probably wasn't the best item to order on the menu, but it caught my eye while I was in the mood. The burgers looked delicious and our waitress also recommended the Frittata, but nobody in our party went with either option. Their website lists a bunch of awards from OpenTable, Frederick Magazine and Wine Spectator. The bottom line is that it's not going to blow you away like Volt, but if you're in downtown Frederick on a whim and wanted a classier meal it wouldn't be a bad choice at all. I'd be interested in going back for an upscale dinner and a night out if I was in the area and the occasion called for it. ------ http://firestonesrestaurant.com/ Firestone's Culinary Tavern 105 North Market Street Frederick, MD 21701 Hours: tues.- sat. 11am-1:30am sun - 10am-1am closed mondays

I swung by last night. They had eight taps or so I believe, but it was a solid collection - good mix of local brews and various microbrews. They had a bunch of bottles available for selection too, probably thirty. Not bad for a relatively small bar/restaurant like that. I had a Green Flash West Coast IPA and a Hot and Spicy Pizza Pie, which lived up to its name. I'd agree with 1000yregg above, the crust had a nice crunch to it and the flavors on the pizza were quite good. It was a slow night thanks to the holidays, the bartenders/(owner?) heard us talking about beer and chatted with us for a bit, he was quite friendly and enthusiastic when we discussed BCBS (not on tap). They claim that their pretzels are a specialty, but they were out of them last night. A lot of the other pizzas sounded good and my friend's Ham and Cheese Pizza Pie looked good, we were both satisfied. I hope to explore more of their menu in the future.

Thanks to your blog post, I swung by today for a spontaneous lunch. I had the fish tacos, which were delicious and the kimchi and fresh pineapple really were a great combination with the mahi-mahi. Very simple but they were absolutely wonderful and plenty light to keep me going and not bog me down for the afternoon at work. I do wish that I branched out after seeing the menu items and watching various entrees coming out of the kitchen. The kalbi was sold out I believe, so they keep their inventory relatively low and if there's a run on something, it's gone. That stinks if you're going for an item, but helps with freshness. It looks like they have been open for two months, but were very busy and it seemed like they had some kinks to work out. It seemed abnormal, but it's a small two-man shop (that I saw) and I can't hate on the effort. I only did take-out so it wasn't a big deal. HowChow briefly mentioned the mac salad....I got it instead of fries and absolutely devoured it. I'm pretty sure I ate it so fast that I don't really remember what was in it. I'll guess some sort of sauce to give it a slightly reddish tinge and some sort of spice besides the obvious celery and mayo base, but that's all I got- like I said, it didn't stick around long. The fries looked good, but I'd recommend the mac salad.

I've been slacking lately and my adventures have been fairly limited to my own kitchen, but a few friends and I wandered out last week for our holiday dinner at Bluegrass Tavern. I'll try and describe as many dishes as possible, especially since it's been two years since the last post in this thread. I started off with a glass of Four Roses Single Barrel for $9. I was happy to see this here as I do not believe I've ever had it, normally I can't find it in the area it seems and even if I do, most of the time I don't drink hard liqour when out. But it was still early in the night and I only had a few block walk home so what the hell. We all ordered four different starters to split. The Kentucky Beer Cheese with crackers was a huge hit with the cheese lovers, I only think I had one cracker and a small sampling so I can't really describe it any more at this moment other than very good, and for $6 there was more cheese than I expected. I seemed to have a different opinion of the Crawfish Hushpuppies than Choirgirl21 above, but we can agree that they were well seasoned. I actually passed on using the smoked tomato mayo they provided as a dip as I thought it overpowered the hushpuppies themselves. The Foie and Buscuits were also a HUGE hit, definitely the favorite of this round. Again, I was only able to have a couple bites as everybody else was demolishing it and the person who actually ordered it was hoarding it (I don't blame her), but it was definitely my favorite. I had the Sundried Tomato Bourbon Shrimp ($11), which were served with girt croquettes and pickled okra. They were delicious and I loved the croquettes, but I wouldn't recommend it solely because of the better options available. One friend ordered the Heritage Pork Du Jour with possibly my favorite menu description ever - something tasty with pork. I do not recall exactly what it was this time, which is my fault for not getting around to it until now, but I believe it was braised pork belly. The execution was great and the serving looked huge as well. I do not remember what accompanied the pork unfortunately, but it was a great hit. I believe that next time I'll see what they have featured with the pork and go with that. I passed on the Rabbit Pot Pie and went with the Sour Venison And Dumplings, which was served with carrots, leeks, and celery root. The meat wasn't nearly as gamey as I usually experience with venison, which almost detracted from it for me. But that's my personal preference. It was still extremely delicious and I loved the rutabega/bleu cheese dumplings, they were actually quite light and worked perfectly. I cannot say I was disappointed with my entree choice. The last one was the grilled salmon, which was a great salmon dish. Personally I would have never ordered it, but it was a great cut of fish with full flavor. At some point I switched over to try two of their house cocktails - Bluegrass Manhattan (Bulleit Bourbon, green mountain maple liqueur, blood orange bitters, luxardo cherries) and White Whiskey Sour (Kentucky Black Dog Whiskey, house sour, red pepper flakes). I enjoyed the Manhattan served straight up (they gave you the option) and it was a splurge, but a wonderful one. The White Whiskey Sour was my favorite, it was still strong without being overpowering and the red pepper flakes provided an awesome kick. I normally don't eat dessert, but one caught my eye - tobacco creme brulee. The tobacco flavor was very strong up front, which I thought provided a great balance to the normal sweetness of creme brulee. My friend noted that Anthony Bourdain had a similar dish on an episode of No Reservations a few years back, so I wonder if that's where the inspiration came from. It took me out of my comfort zone a bit and I was quite happy with the result. I think my favorite part was when the bill came and it only came to about $60 a head when we said we were going to split it evenly. I was expecting much more damage with the drinks and everything added in - overall a great value.

Is this the thread posts about Family Meal should go? I'm gonna guess so. I went for lunch yesterday and was quite pleased. I'll start off with the negative - our server was overly eager, often interrupting us and almost rushing us to order and leave. There was a minimal wait, only two or three parties max at a time, so that kind of bugged me. But he was a young server, probably still in high school, he'll learn. We started off with some chicken pot pie fritters, which were nicely fried with a very warm, gooey filling. There was a nice mix of chicken and vegetables and the insides were a great temperature. It was essentially a pot pie in bite-sized form, which I thought was perfect. We both went with the fried chicken, which were seasoned nicely and the breading wasn't too thick or heavy. I wasn't a huge fan of the hot sauce, but there's nothing wrong with it - I just preferred to eat the fried chicken plain. The pickles and....pickled onions? were a nice addition on the side. The traffic was heavy, but not overly crowded during the 12:00 hour on a Saturday. Overall I was very pleased and would definitely go again for a casual meal in the area. The burger is the only thing that comes to mind immediately while looking at the menu, but I remember seeing other dishes that looked worthy as well. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to try an adult milkshake, I'm pretty sure I would have been much too full to function.

Haha....that's No Idea, nearby with a similar naming strategy. I believe they were related at one point but not anymore.

I've been absolutely crushing their spicy chicken flatbread sandwich lately. I don't know what it is about it, but it's delicious. I think it might be laced with cocaine. It's not overly complicated, but my roommate and I love it. The only problem is that it sometimes falls apart and gets messy, but it's worth it. The house burger is delicious too. They've redone the menu relatively recently, for what its worth. I often feel like Don't Know gets slept on as a good bar food option because of its location and surrounded by so many great products, but its quickly become one of my favorite spots due to the combination of decent-to-good quality and fairly inexpensive options. In full disclosure, I stop in often enough that I'm at least friendly with most of the bartenders. The cheap drinks don't hurt either.

Don, Nizam and others - It's not a question, so please don't shoot me. Just wanted to pass something along that reminded me of this post: Long story short - black kid in DC is okay to play football at Syracuse when "rebranded" as a full-blooded Hindu from India, but when he was supposed to play a game at Maryland it was unearthed that he was black and they forbid him to play. This was before your father came to the states and your mother was quite young, so some of it may not relate to Ben's, but some does. And obviously it doesn't speak for your experience either, but the history was interesting to me and I figured I'd pass it on. http://deadspin.com/76-years-later-maryland-tries-to-right-a-college-footb-1455976233?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_twitter&utm_source=deadspin_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow In previewing the upcoming contest, a Washington Post writer asserted that if the Terps wanted to hang with Syracuse, which came in ranked No. 17 in the country, the hosts would have to nullify the "full-blooded Hindu" who had emerged seemingly out of nowhere to become the Orangemen's leader. The writer mocked his name, too, replacing "Sidat" with "Sit-Down." But on Oct. 23, 1937, a day before the game, the Washington Tribune, a D.C. weekly with a black readership, published a bombshell: "NEGRO TO PLAY U. OF MARYLAND" read the banner headline. "THEY CALL HIM A HINDU" was the subhed. Turns out that Sidat-Singh wasn't a Hindu, and had not a drop of Indian blood in him. The Tribune piece let out that Syracuse's gridiron phenom was a straight-up American Negro, born Wilmeth Webb in Washington D.C. in 1918. Readers learned that his biological father, Elias Webb, was a local pharmacist who'd died of a stroke in November 1925. His mother, Pauline Miner, then married Samuel Sidat-Singh, a West Indian physician who adopted young Wilmeth, gave him a new last name, and moved the family to New York.

I believe I had Fear out of a bourbon soaked pumpkin at Frisco last year. But honestly I cannot remember which one it was. I want to say it was just a random weeknight without an official event, but I could be wrong. FWIW I do not think I'll be there tonight, I only make it there a small handful of times every year. I was just there last week though and I love the fact that they have a breakfast burrito on the menu. Is there even a thread on them? That will be on my to-do list for the week if not.

Thanks to the RSS feed, I found out there is a second location that just opened in the Turf Valley Shopping Center in Ellicott City.