johnb

Charging (in part) on the basis of time is not a silly idea. Now comes the economist in me. Any simple economist knows (along with most sensible people) that pricing should be related to costs as closely as possible. Then the consumer gets the correct information to make his decisions, and anomolies in the supply/consumption chain are minimized. In a restaurant, the key costs are raw food, beverages, salaried labor, service personnel (tip labor if you will) and the dining room (rent and decor). Proper pricing would mean that the customer is charged for what he actually uses in each category. Bear with me. For example, I've always been flummoxed that restaurants use the same rule-of-thumb markup on raw food and beverages, when the actual cost to get them on the table differs so markedly (cooked food has a high labor component but beverages don't). That is an anomoly. For that reason I'm always reticent to order beverages, especially better wines, in a restaurant--fortunately, some restauranteurs such as yourself are finally figuring out that 300% wine markups are not good business. As to the topic at hand, time spent sitting at the table, clearly that class of customers who linger cost the restaurant more than those who order the same thing but finish up and allow the table to be turned for more business. In effect, the lingerers are getting time for free--they have little incentive to leave if they don't feel like it. This anomoly cries out for a concommitantly higher charge against the lingerers. The solution is to charge everyone separately for time and food (the food charges clearly would be less than by rolling the whole thing into a single food charge), or at the very least start charging after a set time (do I hear 90 minutes?). Then the restaurant could make money no matter how long they linger, and those who eat in reasonable time would not be effectively paying for (cross-subsidizing an economist would say) the lingerers. The practical consequence, I think, would be that people would mostly get the h--- out, the tables would turn, and maybe tips collected would even go up. Of course, servers would need to get a move on as well. Is this crazy? May seem so, and I doubt such pricing will be adopted on a wide scale any time soon. I don't doubt, however, that if something isn't done, 20 years from now there will be food boards where people are still complaining about table hogs. No pain, no gain.

That would be consistent with what I was told during my final visit to TemptAsian, when it was confirmed that he was gone from there. IIRC, they said he would be at a place on Lee Hy., far out somewhere.

I know. My mother used to fry chicken and french fries in lard. Mmmmmm good. Everything else too--eggs, you name it. And as to the health impact, she is 91 and my dad is 94, and they are both still fairly healthy and living in their own house. Bring on that lard!

Interesting you should mention great fried chicken in a fish house. This is getting a bit OT since the place is still in business, but Horace and Dickies, which is a fish house, has really pretty good fried chicken. I know you don't like their fish so much any longer (and it's true they use frozen Chilean boxed fillets), but the chicken is indeed pretty good. FWIW

How was the dim sum at HEOB? I never saw any comments.

Perhaps, but I'm not sure. The article seems to suggest they are going to fold the three sections into one, but still publish it three days per week. Other things held equal, that wouldn't diminish the amout of coverage. It would diffuse it, but that could go both ways as to being an improvement or not. It is true that the food coverage leaves much to be desired up to now, so if anything it might improve (along with the others). They say that's why they are considering it. Who knows? I doubt whether the way in which the Post reports local food matters has much impact on how the DC area is viewed by those outside as a food/restaurant town. I'd be amazed if it has any impact at all. Very few residents outside the DC area, including travelers to DC who eat in restaurants here, likely even know the Post has a weekly food section or care. Probably very few could even give the name of the paper, let alone ever read it, let alone ever look at a local-interest section like food. The Post does not have a "national presence" like the NYT, which actively publishes and markets widely in areas outside its home market. I also doubt the insight being brought to the table by the City Paper writer. He seems to say the editors suddenly had "closed-door consultations" when the new circulation figures were announced, as if that's the first the editors had heard of the circulation decline. That's highly questionable on its face, to put it mildly, and to me impunes the points made elsewhere.

I was in the Germantown area today and remembered a post by James G on Chowhound about a year ago (he is known as PandaHugga on DR), about this Chinese restaurant there with good authentic stuff, so I set out to find it. It is called Peking Palace. James is known among those who know him as THE round-eye chinese restaurant expert. His original post is here. I entered about 2:30 pm; nobody in the place. I asked for the real Chinese menu, and was shown a special page of the regular menu called "The Real Homestyle Chinese Meals" which listed about 60 items, all main courses, and all priced the same (one for $8.45, 2 for $16.60, and 3 for $24.75). Several had $2 supplements, but I could discern no pattern among those that were extra. If you refer to James' piece you will see that he got the real deal whereas I got the OK, but not the real, menu. Since I was alone and of limited capacity (tho my friends might laugh at that statement), I ordered but 2 items: # 30 Cumin beef ($2 extra) and #18 Eggplant with pork in hot bean sauce. The beef was excellent--a really good balance of salt, hot, and sweet flavors with just enough cumin, and cucumber chunks for cooling off. The eggplant was also good, tho not as good as the beef--the flavors were nice but not intense, and it was a bit oily. But still a good dish. Afterwards I asked the waitress what are the most popular items among her Chinese clients and she replied #22 Spicy chicken Chinese style, #24 Spicy chicken with sour cabbage and long bean, #29 shredded beef with pickled chili, and #32 spicy braised beef shank in hot pot. This place merits one or several return visits. It is at 12937 Wisteria Drive in Germantown (the Sugarloaf Shopping Center). I-270, Germantown Road exit (Rt. 118), exit 15 I think.

It's hard to say what if anything it was before, but it's fairly certain it's been there in its present form for many many years. And it clearly has a large and loyal clientele, but probably not many who post on DR. I'd use the term "deli" advisedly. It is not a deli at all in the sense of a place with a display counter where you can go to get 1/4 lb. of lox and a side of potato salad (what in NY I think they call an "appetizing"). It's really a sandwich shop and restaurant with great corned beef and other things. A free-standing hole-in-the-wall.

I strongly suspect that it's all lean, or it's all fatty, or it's all whatever-you-order, because they probably only have one kind. In any event, it's gooood. I'm glad to hear the pastrami was deemed to be of good quality. Must try that.

Pappy--thanks for your comments. On my previous visit I had my corned beef in the form of a Reuben, and today as a corned beef sandwich. I'd say the Reuben is the way to go. The corned beef is great and piled high on both, but the bread was a bit dry on the plain sandwich. If there's better corned beef anywhere in DC I haven't found it yet. The slaw was very chunky and mayonaisey, not my favorite approach but certainly appeared homemade and good if you like it that way. Next time I'm going to try the steak and cheese. I'm also curious how those who took home the pastramis liked it? Based on Marty L's research reported on CH, IIRC the corned beef is made in house but the pastrami is purchased from Vienna in Chicago. Two visits now to this place and I'm convinced it's a worthy spot.

All commercial chip makers seem to use a special potato they call a "chip" potato or "chipper." It's grown for the purpose. Does anybody know how to lay hands on any of these, or what available potato type most closely resembles them? Or is it irrelevant?

Whoa! You're the one what's sposed to be using peanut oil....... Having said that, if you find such a source, let me know. Not for our fry-off but for general use. Or did you decide to make some nice chips while we're at it?

Thanks for the complement, but to call me a former professional chef is a wild overstatement at the very least. But I was of course already thinking about you as a judge; I'm sure Steve would agree. We could do this Iron Chef style with lard as the "secret ingredient." Yikes! Yes I was there, and I certainly remember the chips, which you'll recall I also had you bring some back for me, and they are certainly great. Now I want some of those Hawaiian ones! If you plan to fly out there anytime soon just to get some (which I wouldn't put past you), bring me some too. The "ruptured duck" is the nose art from one of the B-25's that took part in the "Dolittle Raid" in April of '42, the one flown by Ted Lawson who later wrote "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo." Somehow I thought it fits.

Fine. I've tried liquid oils and I find them inferior to the supermarket lard or Crisco. They seem to leave an oily quality in the product. But maybe that's just me. I fry chicken saute style, not immersed, and maybe that's also a factor. Your place or mine?

Steve Here's my challenge. Let's both do some fried chicken. I'll use that crap from the grocery store as you call it, and you can use Crisco. Then we'll see which tastes better.

Joe I have some updated information about Good's Chips. The (not-original) Good's Home Style chips I buy at the Dutch Country Market in Burtonsville (red bad) are in fact made by the same company (Ralph Good, Inc. in Adamstown, PA) as the Original Good's Chips (blue bag). This is fairly recent, the two operations having been merged only last October. They are now produced in the same factory. The difference is that the Original are kettle cooked while the home-style are continuous cooked. The original are cut a bit thicker, and the lard is at a lower temp and as such the chips are cooked longer. Consequently, the kettle cooked come out a bit crisper and more curly. They normally but not always sell for the same price. The potatoes and the lard are the same. The person I spoke to says that, at least as far as he is concerned, which is better is a matter of personal preference--for example, he likes home style and his wife likes original. FWIW.

Another approach is to order only the doughnut holes. Tasty little buggers but not so many calories!

Well, I couldn't help myself so I went over to this place to try it out. Verdict: It's a keeper. Well worth the trip. I had a reuben. Very popular sandwich there--between carry-out and sit-down they must have sold a dozen of them while I was there. Very messy. Corned beef is extremely rich (oily and fatty in a good way) and crumbly. Meat over an inch thick in the middle. Served on classic grilled seeded rye with two spears of dill pickle. Need a fork to eat a good part of it since it is so moist and the bread has no hope of keeping it all together. Certainly as good as any I remember in DC metro. Next time I'll order extra sauerkraut to counteract the richness a little better. Extensive menu of Jewish deli type sandwiches and similar items. Claims to be "kosher style." Reasonable prices; the reuben, along with several "combination" sandwiches, is $6.50. The straight CB and pastrami are $5.95. Others are less. The place is very workman-looking, but most of clientel, while very casual, is dressed well. Never saw proportionately so many cellphones in use. Saw several unlikely-looking people doing things like reading the New York Times. It's on Bladensburg Rd. just North of NY Ave., next to the BP station which in turn is next to the big metrobus lot.

Mark Speaking for myself, I've never heard of this place, and I've followed many of those "there is no good deli in DC" threads on various boards. If it's that good, how come it's so off the radar screen? And if it's the location, why is it located in such a place? Who runs it and who eats there? If it's everything you say it is, it has to be the chow "find" of 2006, so far anyway.

There appears to be no definitive original version of the sandwich. Among the contenders, black russian style rye, pumpernickle, and lighter seeded rye all are mentioned. This is not the only lack of agreement; apparently the original sandwich may even have been made with ham not corned beef ?????. Most claims at least agree it should be russian, not 1000-island, dressing.

I found this link, which seems to suggest that tipo 0 or 00 refers to the grind not the protein. I was at the Dutch Country Market in Burtonsville yesterday and am pretty sure I saw some bags of "00" flour there, but I wasn't specifically looking so I'm not sure. But it's a good place to know about. For example, you can get several types of cream/butter there which are hard to find, fresh rabbits, etc. etc.

You pretty much nailed Ben's. That place has been coasting for most of its life. Surly service is part of the shtick, but there's no excuse for the food. Oohhs & Aahhs on the other hand is a true gem. Bill Cosby and the others need to go a few blocks down U street. Of course, then it will become chic, and we'll lose it. Go while the goin's good.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but your logic is a bit difficult to follow. The apples and cereal aside ("undertones of cherries" in my apples sounds fine to me; what sort of cereal was it, Wegman's brand or a regular brand?), but to blame the store for a problem with branded beans seems, at a minimum, a stretch. How is it that a bad can of Goya beans says anything about the store where it was purchased? Are you proposing that markets should open all canned goods and inspect them before placing them on the shelves?

Someone earlier said they supposedly don't do this on the Japanese version. That may be so, but I have always wondered where all the really obscure ingredients that appear in making those dishes come from, including obscure western, let alone asian, ingredients. Same for equipment, etc. (bark from a particular tree that grows only in such and such prefecture. etc.). It's hard to believe the show could keep all those things, many of them perishable, in storage to suddenly be pulled out from the larder at literally a moment's notice. Seems more probable the chefs bring the odd stuff with them, knowing in advance what they will need.

That is my understanding, and I got it from an unimpeachable source, whom I shall not name. I also believe the two are always very similar (for example, chicken and turkey, or lobster and crab), thus presumably making the (advance) preparation and practice of two menus a bit simpler for the contestants.