TedE

That does it, I'm headed here for my b-day tomorrow. Hopefully today's mention in the WP blog won't pack the place. Now if it only wasn't all the way over on the far side of G'town ...

shogun said:

It'll be in the "We pretty much have to" section of the menu.    Seen bottles of Miller go by at the Brick even.  It is true what they say: You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink decent beer.

This is very exciting, though.

I'm really excited for this. It'll actually give me a reason to venture into G'town for a night out.

I don't understand the people who order macros at the Brick, either, but I would guess that they sell more of that than anything else. It's not uncommon to walk by a table and spy a sea of Miller/Bud/Yuengling/Corona empties; amidst this mess there will be one guy with a bunch of Belgians and English vintage ales in front of him. Hmm, which one of them said earlier that night, "Hey, guys, I have an idea: lets head on over to the Brickskeller!"

I'd talk to Black Salt, though they tend towards East Coast more.

The times I've been there they've had a fair selection from the West, but I admit it's been awhile. I've always found the seafood counter folks to be very helpful, and I bet if given sufficient lead time they would work with you for a special order, especially if it was something they would serve in the restaurant anyway.

I am currently in love with product from Ommegang brewery in NY.  Especially the Witte and Hennepin.  For daily consumption I keep going back to Blue Moon Belgian-style wheat.  I love that stuff.

What are your favorites along those lines?

Also, is anyone else out there wishing for a brewpub or microbrewery to get over hops already and produce a decent full-bodied lager?  Or even, God-forbid, a nicely balanced Pilsner?

I find Blue Moon to be a bit too sweet, but shockingly decent for a Coors product. Wit beers should have a nice bite to them. Hoegaarden is a better option that's also widely available. You can also find Weihenstephen Weisse fairly easily. Ommegang makes fantastic Belgian style ales for a seriously decent price.

The lack of lagers in this country is mostly due to the way micros are set up. Making lagers just takes longer (up to twice as long) than making ales, so part of it is pure economics. Part of it is also that micros aren't interested in nice, simple session beers since they don't do much to differentiate. A lot of brewpubs will have something on tap, but it won't make it into bottles. Same goes for really nice bitters or English milds from American producers. There are a handful of breweries that specialize in lagers though. The late, great Baltimore Brewing Company was one of them. Old Dominion's Hop Pocket Pils is a really nice local pilsner.

I am one of those hopheads that likes the hops ridiculousness that's grabbed the micros by the throat, but agree that it's getting out of hand along with the whole Imperial <insert_beer_style_here> phase. See above comments about bottling good everyday beers instead of trying to stand out in the crowd.

Small Craft Warning is my favorite in that series. Loose Cannon is pretty good for the style, a lot more malt balance than some uber-IPAs

On the subject of imperial pilsners, at the Lupulin Slam last week Sam from Dogfish Head said they are going to be bottling their fantastic, and previously draft-only ,Prescription Pils. However, the gubmint frowned upon the name for the bottled label (something about insinuating that the beer was medicinal, blah blah blah), so Sam resubmitted it as, get this, "Golden Shower". And apparently it passed under the radar (at least the radar of some clueless bureaucrat). He's worried that he spilled the beans prematurely, but I really hope the bottling makes it to the shelves as is.

Oh, and I'm always happy to talk beer.

Edit: forgot to add that Bar Pilar always seems to have the latest Heavy Seas release on tap rotation. I would fully expect to see the pils on tap when it's available again.

We have a wine cellar at home but yet have no idea what is in it. We go on trips buy bottles and just stack them in there with no sort of tracking.

Can I get some suggestions on tracking software. Ideally I would love a barcode scanning type, but since I buy so many from  small producers at their wineries, these don't have barcodes on them.

I am like Don in that if I open a nice bottle I like to share it. I have opened too many "nicer" bottles by mistake as I don't have a clue! That is when my friends get a call late in the evening, run over I did it again!

Help?

I just started using cellartracker.com on recommendation from a friend. It appears to contain user-submitted entries for wines, and I haven't done nearly as much with it as it appears able to do. It probably has some drawbacks I'm not seeing (aside from possibly faulty/erroneous data), but it fits my biggest need for wine tracking given my admittedly pathetic "cellar": it's FREE!!

http://app.doh.dc.gov/news_room_dsf

Have fun!!!

http://app.doh.dc.gov/news_room_dsf/index.asp

Site doesn't seem to like an undeifined context root.

Or how about a funnel!

The funnel definitely helps. You'd have to be quite the sharpshooter to get a perfect jar-to-bottle stream going! The big problem is that tendency of liquids coming out of a wide mouth from a full container to adhere to the sides and dribble off the bottom (like trying to slowly drain liquid from a full, spoutless stock pot).

Or, just pour it into a large measuring cup and use the spout on that to fill the bottles.

The problem would then be getting it INTO the measuring cup (mine's too big to fit through the top of the storage jar). I've gone with a ladle/funnel combo that seems to work pretty well, but it gets tedious so I usually just get a-pourin'. I don't mind the sticky counters. Much

Where do those of you that make a good size batch of limoncello find decent bottles for storage and are suitable for gifts?  I cannot remember where I bought the ones I used last time.  I would love to get ones with the Grolsch style tops if possible.  I prefer a local store to the internet so that I can see what I am getting, unless someone can give  a personal recommendation.

I've bought them (the swing-top styles only) at the Container Store, World Market, and online via the link above. I like the Container Store ones purely for the ease of picking and choosing and they are good qaulity. Some of the ones at World Market turned out to be bettter geared towards decorative purposes (some bad seals on a handful of them, others dried out prematurely). They are considerably cheaper though. I haven't put up a batch recently, but will order online when I do.

For storage and aging I have a couple big gallon size sealable canisters, but I'm looking to replace them with something that is easier when it comes to bottling. Those first couple pours are always an adventure

City Paper Food Quiz 1/19/2006

Get 'em all right for a chance to walk away with $100 (random draw among those who answer all questions correctly). Deadline for entry is next Thursday. I will be disappointed if an esteemed DR.com member does not win!

Clicky to see the view from the other side.

(edit: (again!). bad link, thanks shogun)

Only bummer was there's no Jamba Juice!

I think WF as a whole has pulled out of the Jamba Juice market. The one at the P St store was replaced with an in house beverage bar (mostly coffee that I can see) sometime last summer.

Anyone know if he's there in support of a competing D.C. chef? Sorry if there's more detail in the article, I didn't see it.

Many tourists come to DC and rent Segways, then want to go out for a good dinner.  So where should we send them,

To the same place as anybody who owns a $4,000 triathlon bike and chooses to ride it to dinner: somewhere with a secure bike rack outside the window where they can keep an eye on their expensive toy.

edit: bilrus beat me to the point

-- I am sure there are inconsiderate Segway riders out there --

Barring evidence that he in fact has some disability, I'm sure everyone reading would agree that the inspiration for this thread falls into this category.

On that note, I think I'm going to take up walking around town on those stilts they used in the production of the Lion King musical: they don't pollute, don't use appreciably more energy to operate, and due to their stride length get me around town much faster. However, I will also have to make myself comfortable in the fact that I will only be welcome in establishments with 20' ceilings and very tall bar stools, requirements for dining that I would not reasonably expect any restaurant to meet merely to accomodate my idiosyncratic method of transportation.

I thought I actually knew who this guy was until you mentioned the walk to the table. The person I am thinking of uses the Segway because of severe arthritis in both knees that makes walking painful but allows for standing without too much discomfort. He also carries a cane for off-Segway jaunts which identifies him as someone with a disability. But if this guy just gets his rocks off by gliding to and fro and expects everybody to accomodate him ... ugh. I would like to hear his side though since there may be some truth to the "hidden disability" angle. There is a gentleman I see often around Dupont that fits this description though (no obvious impairment, always on the Segway).

Ha! This also reminds me of the great Will Ferrell skit from SNL where he plays the guy who is so hip that he thinks walking has become passe and rides around in one of those little scooters. And has a cell phone the size of a postage stamp.

But as Rocks said, the deluge awaits ...

Oh, oh dear...

mischief

That was great! I have a tad bit of sympathy for Greenwood's situation here, but she was the grave digger with shovel in hand to start this whole thing.

Still, we have to wonder: Has the restaurant truly learned to master its impulses, or is it merely practicing an excessive form of damage control until l'Affaire Storch fades from view? Stay tuned.

Unfortunately, methinks the latter. Is this destined to become the next D.C. bloodsport? Taunt the finicky restauranteur until they snap?

I tend to give RFD the benefit of the doubt. What they are doing with good beer is risky in general and downright insane at that location next to the MCI center and its accompanying crowds. Next time you go in there count the number of Miller Lites and other assorted mass-produced bottles in patrons' hands. Compare them to the folks drinking some of the truly great beers they get on draft. It's not even close.

The truth is that real ales are:

a) Very expensive to import (talking from across the pond here)

b ) Delicate and susceptible to spoiling if not handled properly during shipping and consumed in a relatively brief period of time.

Combine that with what I'm assuming is very low interest from a vast majority of the people who go there to drink and it's probably not worth it to DA. I still enjoy going there (and to the Brick whenever possible) just because they get stuff on tap that nobody else in this area has. I'd rather have him focus on that. Word is that the new taps upstairs at the Brick will be joined by a real cask system in the near future; the first attempt suffered some techincal setbacks. I think that they will do much better there.

Oh, and you can still get real ale in the district. The Reef has been doing an on and off again firkin night on Thursdays and they are getting some really good stuff. It's seems to be a completely random schedule, though. You can call ahead to see if they will have one on tap that night.

Edit: damn emoticons

I envision lots of things, but the more asinine one's I tend to not admit to anyone.  Like being able to keep an egg raw in the middle of a cooked dish.

Perhaps the poster was thinking it was analogous to a baked alaska or fried ice cream. Culinary sorcery, I tell you!

We just made a reservation here for New Year's Eve.  I know, I know - amateur's night.  We figured we could get a decent dinner here (love the mussels and beer selection) and, as a bonus, we can walk to our friends' place for the real celebration.

After our out-of-town plans for New Years fell through last year we ended up at Belga last minute. It was actually quite nice, very leisurely, and we were even the first seating. Menu was fixed if I recall; price did not seem outlandish given what most places try to pull, and I was more than happy having good beer options. It ended up being just what we were looking for. Have fun!

Because Shelley is a bar/restaurant that specializes in cigar smoking.  One wall of the estabiment is cigar humidors that can be rented by patrons for storing their private stash (much like individual wine bins at certain steak restaurants).  Will Shelley's be subject to the ban?

Those sorts of establishments were precisely behind the point of my first comment - that places which specialize in being someplace to go smoke should be allowed to have people smoke there. For instance, does the ban as it stands mean that Georgetown Tobacconist won't be allowed to let its patrons light up? That just seems patently absurd to me.

No, if you read the articles it clearly states that exemptions will be made for establishments whose very purpose involves smoking:

The District's smoke-free proposal is similar to New York's ban. It would include exemptions for outdoor areas, cigar bars, hotel rooms, retail tobacco outlets and facilities that research the effects of smoking.

Edit to add: "facilities that research the effects of smoking." . Bar owners: if you don't like the ban I guess it's time to bone up on those NIH grant applications!

Guess the word has really gotten out (was it written up somewhere recently?).

It was mentioned on Daily Candy a couple weeks back. The herds followed. Hopefully they will move on in due time.

See, I've never had a problem with American City. Then again I've only ever been there in the morning and sufficiently hungover. The bar for satisfying my greasy breakfast food needs after a night of heavy drinking is staggeringly low.

Edit: I'm feeling a little venty and slightly wormish.

Alright, so it's not paradise, chock full of sandals + socks wearing tourists disgorged from cruise ships who don't make it 2 blocks inland before succumbing to the siren song of 2-for-1 fruity drinks (which are 200% more expensive than they should be, natch) and "Hemingway Did X Here" taverns providing the the minimum of quality for maximum profit. However, we love it there. It's cheap to get to (relatively, for the semi-tropics) and actually cheap to stay (if you know where, mostly B&Bs with real character). But we are exhausting our decent possibilities and the island is changing, seemingly forever (see the most recent NYTimes travel section on the increasing cost of paradise ... and homgeneity). Who can dish on the last little nook of good eats and drinks that we've not discovered? We're going again 3rd week in December. Territory already covered:

1) 7Fish: By far my favorite place to eat down there. Simple seafood done extremely well for a relative bargain in a converted laundromat. Plop this place down in D.C. and they would mop the floor with most seafood-centric-upscale-but-not-stuffy eateries (and, yes, I'm including Hank's and Johnny's here). I could feast on the grouper roll app (always on "special") for months on end and not grow tired of it. The local stuff is ridiculously fresh and refreshingly un-tampered with.

2) Half Shell Raw Bar: Stone crabs. In season. Never cheap, anywhere. Always the best seafood I will put in my mouth. And this is a born and bred Bawlmer boy raised on Chesapeake blues speaking. Honestly, you really can't go wrong with stone crabs anywhere in the Keys, but it just feels right eating them at the Half Shell. Rest of the raw bar is good, too. We only ever go for stones n' beer, though, at the bar. For hours on end.

3) Blue Heaven: Did somebody say lobster benedict for brunch while a momma chicken and her brood peck away underfoot? Ummmm, OK. Just an awesome place to hang out and eat. Food (always brunch, never stopped in for dinner) is spot on. Drinks under the treehouse ain't bad neither. I hear it's under new management and they've bricked over the outdoor seating courtyard. We'll investiagate in a month or so. Would be sad if true. Heard they lost a large portion of said tree to Wilma. Crap.

4) Back bar at Virgilio's. Not a place I would have imagined in Key West. Martini bar? Meh. But good jazz. Surprisingly excellent Belgian beer selection. Always a post-dinner place (the Italian joint that fronts the place isn't great shakes). Sprayed liberally with cruise-tourist-B-gone.

5) El Siboney: Cuban, greasy, cheap, ridiculous. Probably not as good as the best Miami joints, but a hop, skip, and two jumps ahead of what I can get in D.C.. Worth seeking out, wweelllll off the tourist path. Treat you like family.

6) B.O.'s Fish Wagon: To be honest, I haven't actually eaten here. One time we went by it was closed at some random time, other times the Half Shell beckoned (a few steps away). No way in hell I'm missing it next trip. Literally a shack (no wall, corrugated roof, etc. etc) with supposedly the best grouper sandwich this side of the ocean. Tough comparison in the Keys, but I'd believe it.

7) Pepe's: Can't really explain this place. Claims to be the oldest continually operating restaurant in Key West. Decent food. Every Thursday is Thanksgiving (turkey et al. on special). Bizarre. Great owners and bartenders. Stumbled on it the first time we were there. $1 Yeungling specials just after they had opened their Florida brewery. Had to stay for a few hours after that discovery.

We like to fly into Miami or Ft. Lauderdale and drive down. Kind of eases you into the Keys mood. Here are a couple places worth mentioning to stop for lunch, or drinks. Mile markers where I remember them:

8) Alabama Jacks: If you take the bypass, this is right before the bridge. Don't eat here, but mingle with the crowd for drinks. Real biker bar. Watch out for the 'gators.

9) Islamorada Fish Company, MM81ish: Huge fishing store (think Cabela's or that Bass Outlet place) with floating docks for dining and tarpon to feed. Not the best by any imagination, but a great place to get into the Keys mood. Grouper or stone crab in season. Some fruity concoction at our elbow.

10) Manny and Isa's, MM80ish, near the above: Mom n' pop Cuban, but the real draw is the Key lime pie. Have it here and skip the other (mostly) imposters, especially the joints near Duval in Key West. Ok, the Blonde Giraffe is decent, but otherwise ...

11) Keys Fisheries, Marathon somewhere: This place apparently is owned by Joe's in Miami for supply purposes. Stone crabs? Fresh off the boat. Literally. You can even get them hot if you get there at the right time (stone crab claws are steamed on the boat by law due to their perishibility). Why pay Joe's prices for some penguin in a nice suit to serve them to you? This is the same thing, only fresher and 1/4 the price.

12) Mango Mama's: MM21ish. Can't say why we love the place. Service is slapdash, setting is kinda weird (garden grotto meets crab shack), but folks are friendly and the seafood is spectacular. And a good deal cheaper than what you will get 20 miles to the SW.

Anybody else have experiences they'd like to share? There are other places we'd like to spend our big-dinner money on (La Te Da, Louie's, etc) but can't seem to justify it having never bitten the bullet (money on food takes away dollars from drinks and fishing charters ). Anyway, I'd encourage anybody to head down to the Keys if they've never been; PM for recs. It's not for everybody, but I suspect that most folks here would get a kick out of 3-4 days there.