cheezepowder

I wish I were the arbiter elegantiarum because I would bring back Hope Key and other smaller business that have been forced out becuase of the crippling rents. The only arbiter of what people want in arlingiton is the county gov't which has seen fit to convert the blvd into the big box resturnats from hell. That is unless you like the Cheescake Factory

Have folks tried Rien Tong which is located where Hope Key used to be? Their menu is half Chinese, half Thai food. We've ordered delivery from them a few times, and we've liked the dishes we've tried so far. I don't know that it would be worth a special trip to go there, but seems like a decent delivery/neighborhood place. I had a crispy fish filet with basil and hot peppers that was still crispy when it arrived, and their kung pao tofu is pretty good. The steamed vegetarian dumplings taste similar to the ones that Meiwah has - which means some may like them (like us), some may not. They have a thicker, doughy shell and the filling has thin noodles, egg, and vegetables.

I made a cherry blueberry pie using sour cherries from the farmers market and then, when I realized I didn't have enough, adding blueberries (which turned out to be somewhat lacking in flavor) from Whole Foods. I followed the recipe from the Cooks Illustrated Best Recipe cookbook which calls for using tapioca as the thickener (they liked it better than flour or cornstarch). I haven't decided yet if I like the gelatinous texture of the tapioca in the pie.

I really like the house hot sauce at Los Tios that the server gave us in a small condiment cup when he served our entrees. It's a pale yellow mustardy color and consists of liquid (don't know what) with things (peppers, etc.?) pureed in it.

How about Cassatts on Lee Highway?

One way from Rockville is take 495 towards VA, then take GW Parkway, then take the exit for Route 50 West (it's right after the Key Bridge exit, also the exit for Route 50 forks, take the right fork west towards VA, not the left fork towards DC). Go down Route 50 W and take the exit for N. Courthouse Road. The farmer's market will be up a block or so on your left.

I should add a warning that you can't easily go back to Rockville by backtracking on Route 50 because you can only get on GW Parkway going South from Route 50. If you don't mind going down GW Parkway until you can make a U turn, that'll work. Otherwise, the North access for GW Parkway is near Key Bridge in Rosslyn.

I've made these as well. I agree they are tasty but also agree that they can get pricey if you go with good chocolate. They are also fairly messy to make. For the effort, I'd rather just make brownies if I'm in the mood for that heavy chocolate (love Alice Medrich's cocoa brownies) or Herme's korovas if I'm in the mood for something less dense but still very chocolately.

I agree, I tried the Korova recipe last week, and they were chocolatey enough for me (though I'll admit, I'm not a big chocoholic.)

On a non-chocolate note, I really like the molasses cookies using this recipe. I made it using her modifications of using turbinado sugar to roll the cookie dough in before baking. I don't like plain molasses, but I really like ginger snaps, and these cookies have a ginger snap flavor and are on the sweet side. I baked them longer because I was going for a crunchy cookie, and they were still soft on the inside even when I took them out after baking them much longer than the recipe called for. By the next day though, the middle of the cookie had crisped up, so if you're going for chewy, definitely don't overbake them. This is the only molasses cookie recipe I've tried though, so will have to try others to compare.

His chocolate chip cookie recipe (skipping the rum and increasing the vanilla to 2 tbsp) is the one that has made me very popular. When my husband's co-workers met me, they all said, "hey, you're the cookie lady!"

With recognition like that, I'll have to try that chocolate chip cookie recipe!

I almost always sub other dried fruit for raisins in oatmeal cookies. I especially like tart cherries or dried apricot.

Great idea! Other dried fruits in my oatmeal cookies sound much more appealing to me than raisins.

This weekend I made cookies from the New Best Recipe cookbook--Double-Chocolate Chewy Cookies (the recipe offers the option for "triple" chocolate, but I hadn't the chips on hand)

The recipe is really good...almost like a brownie in a cookie, but not quite. The only issue is that the recipe recommends using a 1 and 3/4 inch ice cream scoop (!) and says that it yields 42 cookies....I used a 1 1/4 inch scoop, and only yielded 35 cookies (maybe 36 if I hadn't sneaked a bit of the uncooked dough )

A few months ago, I made Jacques Torres' Chocolate Mudslide cookies - NYTimes recipe here - which are also like a brownie in a cookie and were very good especially the day that they were made but overall didn't seem worth it in terms of chocolatey bang for your buck given the crazy amount of chocolate the recipe calls for (38 ounces!).

Marcel Desaulniers' first chocolate book has a recipe for old-fashioned chocolate cake, which is a moist sponge-like cake with chocolate flakes. I've made this cake several times, and it's delicious (although its effort/flavor ratio isn't nearly as high as, say, his chocolate espresso fudge cake)

....

But next time, it's back to a classic yellow butter cake recipe for the cupcakes...

Have you tried the recipe for chocolate cupcakes yet from his cookbook? I'm curious about it and was planning to try it sometime.

I haven't tried the old-fashioned chocolate cake recipe, but I've made the chocolate espresso fudge cake, and I really liked the chocolate cake component of that recipe so I've been using it when I want to make a chocolate cake. I like that it's chocolatey and moist but sturdy enough to torte and be frosted without crumbling all over the place (which was my problem with the epicurious double chocolate cake recipe.)

Anyone know where one can buy ready-made fondant in the DC area? My friend wants to bake her own wedding cake, but doesn't want to make her own fondant.

As an aside, I'd like to open her mind to non-fondant options, and if anyone has any suggestions I'd be happy to hear them.

In case BKeith is not available, another though more expensive and likely less tasty source for fondant is Fran's Cake and Candy Supplies at 10396 Willard Way, Fairfax, VA. A few months ago, I bought a 2 lb tub of pink Satin Ice brand fondant (they call it rollable cake frosting) for $14.50, with the white tub only available in a much larger size. I didn't think the Satin Ice tasted very good though. I think Fran's also had a different brand. They also sell premade royal icing flowers and various cake decorating supplies that might be helpful for your friend in making her cake.

Here is the Soft Oatmeal Cookie recipe from the KA Cookie Companion (which is a great book, definitely worth buying):

I tried a recipe for Rolled Oatmeal Cookies last week that I found on the King Arthur website -- here -- which now that I'm reading this thread is essentially the same recipe as KA's soft oatmeal cookie recipe above, except the Rolled Oatmeal cookie recipe calls for buttermilk instead of sour cream or yogurt. And, contrary to what the preface to the Rolled Oatmeal Cookie recipe says, these cookies were soft as mktye's recipe title states, not chewy. They didn't spread very much, and I thought they could be sweeter but then I was tasting a plain cookie so maybe that's why (I made some with raisins and some without, since I don't like raisins).

We went to Mama Quan's for drinks around 9pm on a Saturday night a couple of weekends back. Everyone there also seemed to be there just for drinks, not dinner, though maybe some bar food was ordered, but generally it was like a frat party with 80's music. Though sometimes when we've walked by the outdoor patio area earlier in the evening, it looks like people are eating dinner. We got the Mama Quan's and Papa Quan's tiki drinks, which were $8 each and came in tall plastic tiki glasses. The drinks were ok, nothing special not terrible.

In addition, if you head over to the strip where Seminary Road intersects with Carlin Springs (?) - where the 7-11 is on the corner, there are a few Ethiopian spots. I've gotten decent takeout there before (but the places are always too smoky for me to eat in.)

Thanks for the reminder, I assume one of the Ethiopian places you're referring to is Skyline Cafe (3821 South George Mason Dr.) We used to go there after Demera closed when we wanted Ethiopian someplace close by but we haven't been back there in a few years. They had this one entree that came with pieces of injera soaked in the sauce mixed along with the stew, which I liked because my favorite part is scooping up the soggy injera that lines the plate.

Chowhound's new format is up. Large font.

I tried the recipe for Billy's Bakery vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting (recipe here)

This recipe calls for mixing the butter with the flour first and then adding the liquid ingrdients. I ended up with 24 cupcakes rather than 30, though my cupcakes had a little dome on top.

The cupcakes have a fluffy texture. They don't have alot of vanilla flavor, but they're good if you're in the mood for a lighter cake.

Local breads?

Who's baking the bread?

Also on the counter are a handful of open breads (baguette price is 2.25, although I didn't ask where it was from) and packaged crackers.

I was there today-I saw signs in front of the breads saying they're from Breadline.

I walked by today and did indeed see the big banner right above Queen Bee announcing a new India Curry House, July 2006. Right below, Queen Bee's OPEN sign was on and it looked like normal. Maybe the India Curry House is opening above Queen Bee on the second floor, though that second floor doesn't look that hospitable for a restaurant.

My staple is the Meximelt -- I always get one Meximelt + whatever strikes my fancy. I'm also amused by the Fourth Meal marketing concept.

I made the chocolate and cocoa nib cookies from a recipe on Chocolate and Zucchini here. I used semisweet instead of bittersweet chocolate because I like a less dark-chocolatey cookie. The cookies are cakelike in texture and not very sweet.

We had dinner there tonight. I hadn't been there since they first opened, and their crinkle cut fries were better than I remembered from my first visit -- they were crispier and seemed a little thinner. I had the 1/2 pound burger topped with cheese, pulled pork and bbq sauce, which I enjoyed (hubby had the vegetarian crabcake (tofu) sandwich). We also had the hush puppies which were very hot when they arrived and were tasty with the side of tartar sauce. (Their hush puppies are on the less-oniony side).

We walked by and it's now open. As NCPinDC said, the menu is still very skimpy though (and no vegetarian entrees). We ended up at Clare and Don's instead.

Lisa Scruggs has left Equinox to oversee desserts for the Neighborhood Restaurant Group (Tallula, Evening Star Cafe, Vermillion).  They're also working on a dessert-concept cafe for which Scruggs will be the chef. 

I'm very interested in this dessert-concept cafe -- are the Tallula (et al) folks at liberty to tell us more about the concept (like will it be an all dessert restaurant)? Has a location been set?

Is it closing for good?  is it being sold -or will it be demolished and swallowed up by condo-cheesecakefactory-world? -- anyone know what's up?

Looks like it'll be a new restaurant. I walked by yesterday, and there's an ABC notice in the window with the name C Creek LLC as the applicant. According to the VA ABC website, the applicant's trade name is Mama Quans, and it says mixed beverage restaurant.

People keep mentioning there's no demand -- there is SOME demand for vegetarian entrees, otherwise, why are high end (and other) restaurants even offering a vegetarian option on their menus (whether it be portobellos or otherwise)? Or why do some chefs, as someone mentioned above, feel they "have" to offer one? I would say that demand for vegetarian entrees (not just from vegetarians but from those who are trying to eat less meat due to health reasons) has risen over the last ten years and that's why so many more restaurants are now even offering a vegetarian option. This is particularly exhibited by the fact that several high end restaurants are offering vegetarian tasting menus, which I can't imagine was the case in DC 10 years ago. Hopefully this trend will continue to develop, and now that the vegetarian option is on the menu (and possibly fueled by Bob's article), the quality of it will improve.

Do you feel that it is disingenuous to not only write negative reviews on this board, but publish an article for the general public to read without giving the restaurants an opportunity to address your concerns at the time?  One of the issues discussed frequently here is how unfair and easy it is to criticize restaurants after the fact.

I don't understand this expectation. He was writing a review of dishes that he ate at restaurants. Would you expect Tom Sietsema or Todd Kliman to talk to the restaurant about how XYZ dish wasn't very good and refrain from writing a negative review?