Joe Harran

Just got back from a trip to Portland and Seattle and went to a number of the places listed here.

Voodoo doughnuts: had the best caramel and smoked bacon doughnut, strange combo but it worked.

Le Pigeon: fabulous meal, hung out with the chef after service and drank a bottle of wine. nice guy, cool setup of the kitchen and seating area

Higgins: our last meal in town, did a quick tasting menu. great food and service

Bluehour: cute place. had a few nibbles at the bar.

In Seattle

Poppy: brand new place featuring a neat twist on Indian food featuring cool spice combinations. found the place hadn't even been open a week. we wish them well.

Flying Fish: had one of the best tuna pokes there

The scallops on the new fall menu:

Sea Scallops au Potiron

seared with pumpkin mousseline, chanterelles,

pumpkin seeds and pumpkin oil vinaigrette

stop by if your in the area

Thought of the day: a sous chef is just one letter away from being a sour chef.

Cheers!

Rocks.

or a soup chef

I speak for snobs. You have to ferret out the places that offer a mere two or three choices and steer you into a bowl of gazpacho, probably whomped up in a common kitchen. Some of the better restaurants are guilty of this -- Bistro Bis, Taberna, for example. We snobs say, "If you're going to do Restaurant Week, then by god do it! Take a loss if need be for the added exposure. But don't say you're doing it and then chisel the people who want to try you out. Better not to do it at all."

Bistro Bis will be offering the entire menu same as we did in January. Heres a link to the restaurant week menus here

Sean Penn, Ralph Nader and Dennis Kucinich all in for dinner at the same table tonight??!!!!! Hmmmm, makes me wonder!!!!

I just wanted to take a minute and tell everyone about the birth of our first child!!! His name is Lucas. His name in Latin means "bringer of light". He was born on Tuesday August 15, 2006 at 7:57PM. He is absolutely gorgeous and healthy with a great pair of lungs to keep me up late at night with.

You can find a picture of the baby Lucas here. I hope you find him as perfect as my wife and I do.

I'll be back to work on the Tuesday after restaurant week (my wifes water broke on the Monday of Restaurant Week and I ended up getting the whole week off) with plans on the new lunch and dinner menus which will go in probably the first week of September or so

Well the seasons have finally changed and the finishing touches on the new menu are almost ready. We're looking at about a 75% change on both the lunch and dinner menus. Roll-out days are slated for Saturday April 22nd for dinner and Monday April 24th for lunch. So please come by and have a bite and welcome in the new season with us.

Also, I want to give a big thank you to chef JG from Kinkeads, Cathal Armstrong and Nathan from 1789..... I had a blast doing the cook-off at the taste of the nation on Tuesday April 11th.

PS, JG..... I told you we should've used the bacon

Thanks to all who sent me PM's about the crosswords. I have another two puzzles that I converted for you to try. This latest zip has a puzzle featuring one of the funniest quips I've ever seen about being a cook. The title of the puzzle is "quote fom the kitchen"

I hope you've enjoyed solving these puzzles as much as I have converting them. Look for more as soon as I solve them and convert them. I look forward to your comments on the puzzles. Enjoy, Joe

Click here ----->http://www.filegone.com/wwwj

I've had a few requests to repost these puzzles as the link on filegone is no longer active.

zip file #1: http://www.speedyshare.com/627792281.html

zip file #2 http://www.speedyshare.com/900543326.html

zip #3 http://www.speedyshare.com/331795122.html

hope that helps out, Joe

I had the shad roe at Bistro Bis about a month ago and found it to be exactly what I wanted and expected.  chef tell was not there that evening, but he had assured me in advance that it would be available as a special.  Sure enough, it was offered as a half-plank appetizer or full-plank entree.  The half plank, accompanied by the Marche de Toulon provençale salad assortment, was plenty for me.  It was crisped on the outside and still soft on the inside.  Yes, an acquired taste, but no more than liver or sushi.  For me it's a ritual first harbinger of spring - even before the forsythia and daffodils bloom, those shad are telling me to hang in there - spring will come...spring will come....

We have shad roe back on for a few days. I/we appreciate all the positive comments on the shad roe prep we're serving now. I can't wait for spring and the new menu that I/we have in store for you. Stand by, Joe

From todays city paper

Thru my windows, it appears that the Hotel George is undergoing some significant renovations to its rooms.  Is Bistro Bis going to be renovated as well?  Not that it needs to be, just curious.

You are correct. The hotel itself is going through many changes. New carpet in all the rooms, 32" flat screen tv's, dvd players in all the rooms and a totally smoke free hotel starting in March I believe. Bistro Bis will be going totally smoke free at the beginning of 2007 I believe. As far as Bis is concerned, no major changes in the front of the house. I do have a few new kitchen items coming. A new double decker convection oven and a brand new hot window to handle all of the food that comes up during lunch, dinner and countless banquets. Joe

Thanks to all who sent me PM's about the crosswords. I have another two puzzles that I converted for you to try. This latest zip has a puzzle featuring one of the funniest quips I've ever seen about being a cook. The title of the puzzle is "quote fom the kitchen"

I hope you've enjoyed solving these puzzles as much as I have converting them. Look for more as soon as I solve them and convert them. I look forward to your comments on the puzzles. Enjoy, Joe

Click here ----->http://www.filegone.com/wwwj

What timing!  I was just mentioning to someone yesterday that I couldn't wait until shad roe starting popping up on menus again.  See ya sometime this week (I just hope there's some left by the time I get there).

Well after tonights service I had none left. But have no fear I have more on order for tomorrow (Thursday). So drop on by and get 'em while they're hot.

A note from the back of the house......I got the 1st Shad Roe of the season in this morning(Tuesday). Any shad fans please stop by, I'll be running it for lunch and dinner for the next few days.

Should I post more food related crossword puzzles, or is this a waste of my time????? Let me know.

A few more foodie puzzles for you. Enjoy the Super Bowl!!!!!

Find the tasty puzzles here http://www.filegone.com/zsz1

Jojo

After a 13 hour day at work I like to unwind with a crossword puzzle or two. As I was solving a puzzle called Body Food, I thought to myself why not share this with the board.

If you've never solved crossword puzzles online you will need to get a little program called Across Lite. It's a free download and is used by The New York Times and other newspapers that feature online puzzles. It's available here http://www.litsoft.com/

I hope you all enjoy these food related puzzles. When I have more time I'll upload more that I've converted into the Across Lite program.

Here is a link to download the puzzles: http://www.filegone.com/qr5a

Enjoy, Jojo

Joe worked with Chef Buben for a long time and was at the helm of our lunch shift before his appointment.  I would like to point out that the lunch shift at Bis delivers a unique kind of pressure as a hundred-plus people descend on the place and want to sit down all at once and get out in an hour. It takes great skill and organization to do this, so I'm not surprised at Joe's move up.

He's also great to work with, always cheerful and composed, which is an underappreciated quality for a chef.  I hope he makes an appearance here before too long.

After Nadya's gracious introduction I figured I'd better post something or she'd refuse to talk to me at work.

My name is Joseph Harran I've been cooking professionally for the past 20 years in and around the DC area. I have been with Jeff Buben on and off for the last 13 years, starting at Vidalia about 6 months into the first year. I stayed there for 4 years then moved down to Raleigh, NC to open a restaurant that never happened. While in NC I worked at Bloomsbury Bistro for Chef/Owner John Toler. (If you're ever in NC please stop by and have a bite to eat and tell Chef John that I said to stop by and that I said hello.)

My job prior to Bis was at Bob Kinkeads Colvin Run Tavern in Vienna, Virginia. I'm pleased to have taken over the helm at the now 7 year Bis that shows no signs of slowing down. Next on my list is change the menu within the next month or so.

I'm getting married on February 18, 2006 so the menu change will probably happen after the whirlwind of the wedding and reception and 100+ family members and friends. So that's a little bit about me and I look forward to feeding and hearing from you good bad or indifferent.

Thanks, Jojo. Or as my spanish crew call me "yoyo"