Escoffier

and speaking of all things Morrison...Morrison House Grill in Alexandria. I, Grover and erstwhile companion Mark had a very good dinner there a couple of months ago. Morrison House

Flying Fish on King Street. Anyone other than Grover and I gone there? Surely we're not the only ones...anyone? Second, from what I understand, Cafe Marianna deal fell through... (I may have posted this already, don't really remember. Information came from ex-employee who maintains contact with Marianna staff).

I've never considered Cafe Asia's sushi anything other than mediocre. CA's a better meet market than restaurant. When the resident sushi 'chef' is from Myanamar, I wonder...

trying to get over a cold that both Grover and I are sharing, I decided I'd do the way easy way out tonight. Stopped at Safeway and bought both the prepared Steakhouse Chili with Beans and the Crab and Corn Chowder and a freshly baked baguette. Heated up the soups, put them in nice china, cut the baguette into nice size pieces, put out some chevre, a bit of Stilton, some well-aged English cheddar and went for it. Dinner in 10 minutes and Grover appreciated it. Hubby brownie points for being thoughtful...what more could you ask for.

By the carload...and most of them hang out around the waterfront or at Love or Dream or whatever it's called this week.

Interesting! When I went to the website I got this: About Us ABC Lawn and Garden was started in 1996 on the principle that you can have a beautiful garden with minimal damage to the environment. Our mandate is to, whenever possible, maintain and encourage healthy growth and development of greenery. Our team of trained specialists will help revive your environment by taking advantage of the natural light available to your property while maintaining the protection and shelter you desire. ABC Lawn and Garden is a member of the Lakeview Business Association. and this... Welcome! You have reached the future home of limarestaurant.com, another Doteasy hosted website. Now that you have your website, the next steps are to: 1. Customize your website content 2. Create your email accounts You may edit the content or design of this website by using our Doteasy Website Creator and begin by clicking on the Edit Page Design button. Or you may create the website using your preferred website editor and upload your own files to your server directly using FTP. For more information on how to connnect to the FTP server, create email accounts or setup your email software, please refer to your account setup instructions in Member Zone or visit our tutorials pages. Advanced Scripting Tools for limarestaurant.com! Some tools you may want to install to your website: Content Manage Discussion Boards Shopping Cart Faq Form Processors You can find many scripts in our Tools Library that can be used to create custom functionality (photo gallery, discussion forum, shopping cart, calendar...). View Demo If you need installation assistance, just let us know. For further assistance please feel free to contact us. Not what I usually expect to find in normal run of the mill restaurant websites...maybe they're feeding gophers and rabbits?

All pods will fit in all machines (with the caveat that you have to be careful to tamp that little devil down so nothing exends over the rim)...I use the Dark Roast from CommunityCoffee.com and it's extremely good (and $4.99 for 16 pods it's a decent buy as well). When you put the pod in the holder, make sure nothing is above the silver rim. I used to have this problem as well but now that I'm packing the pods down...no problems. I also use the ice tea spout as opposed to the coffee spout and that makes it easier to get a mug under the spout. I also use both buttons...large cup button first, small cup button once the water heats up the second time. Makes about a 12 ounce cup of good coffee (and quick as well).

Until the coffee is made it could well be...at least I'm not sure who's running the store first thing in the morning until that first long sip of steaming hot coffee...

Well, you could hum while the coffee is brewing...

Ramsey; Saddle River I ate at Mount Fuji once. It only took one time to convince me that the view is the only selling point. I had the chirashi and it was small, tired and not the freshest. The staff was predominantly Chinese (there's nothing wrong with that, however I want Japanese to greet me and at least staff the kitchen). One time, over $40 for chirashi and tea and I went looking for a better deal. You're right about it being Rockland County, I used to travel to Orange county from that area. No more, thank goodness... I agree about Kinchley's...great pizza (I happen to like thin crusted pizza). There is one 2 star restaurant in Ramsey but for the life of me, I can't remember what it is. The Palm near the Ramsey exit on Rt 17 is decent and there is a grill in Suffern (The Fin if I remember correctly) that has good seafood. Hard to find, not at all where the phone book says it is, but worth the search. Just stay away from Satin Dolls on Rt 17 south of Saddle River. It's used as the Bada-Bing in the Sopranos but NJ has some strange laws about alcohol and ladies being isn a state of "naturalness"....

Grover and I have both a Senseo and a Melitta pod coffee maker. (and for you purists, we also have 3 different French Presses, a Braun automatic coffee maker and more tea pots than any one person should have). Coffee pod makers are fast and (with the right coffee) make pretty decent coffee. Anyone have a favorite coffee pod maker? I buy coffee from Community Coffee in Baton Rouge and they just started making coffee pods for all coffee makers. I ordered one each of the dark roast and medium roast. So far the dark roast is the only one I've opened. It will work in both the Senseo and the Melitta machine. The coffee it makes is dark, rich, has a nice nose and is very smooth. It beats the Melitta coffee hands down.

You might try the Chinese market in Chinatown between the China gate and Tony Cheng's. That's the only place I can think of where you might find it in the district. In Va or Md it's very easy. Super H, Grand Mart, all stock it along with durian, jackfruit, lychee, red bean and others.

But you have to admit it's succinct.

Can I get those for take-out? A memorable meal, Dean.

I never thought I'd find decent sushi on Route 17 N in Bergen County New Jersey, but there is a Japanese restaurant off of Rt 17 near Mahwah, NJ that serves good sushi. Nagoya is in a shopping center just beyond the Seiko headquarters. I ended up there one night eating whatever the sushi chef (Steve) prepared. Very good temaki (I had my standard for judging temaki, spicy tuna), nicely rolled, lots of tuna and very flavorful. I also had a very good sea urchin nigri and a fatty tuna that was out of this world. If you end up in that part of the world (close to Orange County, New York, just before the intersection with the New York State Thruway, it's worth a stop.

Maybe this should be more generic but Grover and I and our stalwart companion Mark are going to OceanAire for dinner Saturday night. We were there once before and enjoyed the lump crab cake and the diver scallops. Are we the only ones with experience at this particular restaurant? Or are there better seafood restaurants (we already know about Jerry's) in the DC and metro area?

Sounds like the meatloaf recipe in the American Test Kitchen cookbook. Their's is similar. If you use a raised edge cookie sheet it works much better (that and ground beef that's 98% fat free). We generally add a bit of ground veal and ground pork. Makes a fine meatloaf. Edited to remove stupid misspelling.

Okay, nothing between us and Super H this weekend. Saturday morning 2/11 at 9:00am good for everyone? If you would like to be part of a guided tour of all those stranges things in the store, PM Grover and let her know. We'd like to keep the group to no more than 5 (1/2's welcome as well). After shopping, if you'd like, you can return to our house and make sushi (Grover and I will buy the ingredients, you can help make it) and have a Korean sushi pig-out.

I'm going to start by saying that Dino isn't a restaurant, it's more of a dining room in a house of someone who is gracious, welcoming and can cook their a$$ off. Grover and I and our erstwhile Saturday evening dining companion Mark set out to Dino on a rainy Saturday night via the metro. When we got to the Cleveland Park metro station, massive downpour. Didn't matter. From the metro exit, Dino is a 30 second walk. Through the door and a warm greeting from Michael (the manager?) who greeted us by name, a warm handshake from the bearded guy who turned out to be Dean Gold himself and a short trip to a table by the window (most are) where we could observe people trying to stay dry in the rain. We threw ourselves on the good graces of Dean and asked that he prepare 3 courses for us with corresponding wines. Now, one thing Dean can do is pair food with wine. Unfortunately, like an idiot (hush Grover), I didn't write down the names of the wines, suffice it to say, they were great. The 3 of us had different wines for every course and there wasn't a mispaired wine in the group. Now for the food. Where can I start? Before I forget, pay attention to the bread. Good crusty bread, great olive oil...yummy. The Antipasti were excellent. We had Polipo Alla Griglia, Salumi Artigianali and Frommagio Di Dino...Mark for some reason is not a octopus eater (naturally he always gets served octopus). He seemed to manage to eat most of the octopus...(Grover and I polished off what he didn't get to fast enough), the Salumi was an impressive array of really good cured meats, the sausage being especially memorable. I don't know where Dean buys his cheese, but I'm definitely going to try to find out. The cheese plate was great with a very good aromatic blue really standing out. The second course was a combination of pasta and soup. Grover had Pappardelle with the wild boar and herbs. The next time we go to Dino, this is the only thing I'm going to order. Spicy, soothing, creamy, al dente, warming, hearty. Nothing really describes it very well. Suffice it to say that Grover had to fight to keep Mark and I from eating it all to the point of ignoring what we had been served. This doesn't take away from the courses we had. I had the Pannochie con Gorgonzola. A very nice dish of corkscrew pasta with gorgonzola cheese. Very flavorful and a dish I wasn't sure I wanted to share. I didn't get to taste Mark's Pappa col Pomodoro because he put his arms around the bowl and didn't look up until it was gone. (Mark gets to pay the bill next time). For the third course, a fine finish with Grover having Brodetto (bouillabaisse), me having Braciole and Mark having the rotisserie Pork loin. Again, he took one bite and said he wasn't going to share. One taste of my rolled pork loin and a bit of Grover's bouillabaisse and he (grudgingly) gave us a taste. For dessert, cappucino and "drowned" gelato for me...a shot of espresso poured over vanilla gelato. This gives a new dimension to coffee ice cream...Grover had what I consider the most interesting combination and one I would never think of combining. She had the Gelato with Balsamic vinegar. A most interesting combination of sweet and tart in a mouthful (you didn't think I was going to let her eat it all, did you?). Mark had the tiramisu which I didn't get to try because he ate it before I had a chance. We came hungry, we left satisfied, extremely happy and feeling as if we had spent a couple of hours with a very warm and welcoming friend. In the last couple of weeks we have discovered the breadth and depth of fine Italian cooking in the DC area. Dino and Notti Bianchi can put a lot of DC restaurants to shame. Wonderful food, exemplary wines, personalized service...every restaurant should be run this way. Thank you very much Dean. We'll be back I promise.

Had a business lunch at NB yesterday afternoon. For lunch I had the trio of bruschetta and ricotta gnocchi. The bruschetta was nicely presented, with the shrimp with white bean probably my personal favorite. The ricotta gnocchi was definitely the highlight of my meal. Very nicely sauced with trumpet mushrooms, mascarpone cream and herbed bread crumbs I had to fight to keep it away from my companion. The gnocchi was perfectly al dente and presented a burst of flavor. My companion had the mixed green salad and the diver scallops. I've already noted how good the scallops are. If you haven't had them, you are missing possibly the best scallops you've ever eaten. Tender and juicy and extremely flavorful. Dessert was the pear poached in port. I LIKE this a lot...a nice finish for lunch. Cappucino and coffee and back to work...made a very nice interlude in a stressful day.

Hope they do better there than they did on King Street. Second brewpub/restaurant to come and go in that location. At least at the Cafe Marianna location there's parking.

Not a problem....however, the crawfish etouffe is some fine stuff with a good crisp Sancerre...wonderful...

You're right about the "ok". I've eaten there twice, neither time was I overwhelmed. Maybe they're too far from Annandale?

You don't suppose it has anything to do with atmosphere, setting, the dining experience in addition to the food? Both AnanGol and Woo Lae Oak serve barbecue. Which one would you take a client to if you you wanted to impress them? (not to say that atmosphere is the overwhelming reason, but it's an important part).

Okay, the price sounds right....but where is it? what kind of food do they serve, what did you have, what do you recommend, what are the hours, how's the parking...? etc... Boy, I sure ask a lot of questions, don't I?