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Sthitch

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Everything posted by Sthitch

  1. The only positive thing I can think of when it comes to "flair" is weighted cocktail shakers. I prefer the extra bit of weight when shaking a drink, yes a glass shaker would work, but with the weighted metal I do not have to worry about another glass shaker breaking dumping delicious intoxicants all over the floor.
  2. Is that Horny 'Rita that you ordered at happy hour made with Hornitos Reposado Tequila or Pepe Lopez? Apparently the Briad Restaurant Group believes that you will not know the difference.
  3. 41.5 sacks quarterback sacks, but that is not the sack that always comes to mind when I think of the now retired Brian Urlacher…
  4. As of today the regional Grub Street blogs (Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Boston) are no more and the New York Magazine's food blog site now back to covering only New York and national stories. http://newyork.grubstreet.com/2013/05/grub-street-announcement.html
  5. You seem to miss that I have mostly referred to the way these cyclists are around pedestrians not drivers, but how is it that pointing out this out lead directly to the idea that I or the majority of people pissed off at this kind of dangerous riding would turn to violence to rectify it? That is absolutely absurd.
  6. In my world I believe that unless proven otherwise everyone is an oblivious self-important a-hole no matter what their preferred form of transportation. Anecdotes are far more powerful influence on people's views than statistics, because they become life's lessons. I know when I see a guy on his road bike dressed like he is the next Bradley Wiggins coming down my street I know that he is going to blow right through the stop sign without slowing down just as I know that my neighbor will do the same thing in his car - you are more likely to see a DC cop use his turn signal than either happening. My point was not to vilify bicyclists (one of my skiing buddies and a longtime friend is the founder of Velonation so I know that most cyclists are not a-holes), but to point out the lack of enforcement against dangerous cyclists.
  7. My usual problem with bicyclists is when I am walking, not driving. I have been bumped into while in a crosswalk by some a-hole on a bike and he yelled at me as if I should have looked out for him. I have almost been run down in my quiet residential neighborhood as I try to cross at a stop sign while walking my dogs. These are not isolated incidents. Do I believe that most bicyclists are that way? I am sure that it is a small minority as you say, but like it or not that small minority is the face that most non-cyclists see.
  8. I always find the righteous indignation of the ardent bicycle brigades (easily identifiable by the Tour de France outfits used while commuting to and from work) about drivers, but then notice that these same people ignore stop lights, blow through stop signs without slowing down, run through crosswalks with no consideration for the pedestrians that are using it, or ride down the wrong lane. Yes ticket the scofflaw drivers, but it would be nice to have a bit of enforcement of the bicyclists as well.
  9. I am sad to say that I left rather disappointed in our meal. I was not expecting the same sort of dishes that we had when it first opened, but I did expect the same attention to detail – not how it appears on the plate, but how well the dish appears on your palate. There were cooking issues with two of our dishes, and most of the rest lacked balance that a simple shot of acid would have cured. The stuffed squid were excellent; I would go back and eat those again and again. I think that the squid on its own was a little overcooked, but in this preparation I think that worked in its favor as it presented a nice bit of chew where the delicious filling did not. This was by far the most balanced dish of the night. When I saw the artichoke dish arrive at the table I thought that maybe we were served the wrong dish, the only thing that this dish had in common with Roman style artichokes was the artichokes. Roman style artichokes are generally fried whole, however, this dish consisted of a cleaned artichoke that was mostly heart and stem with a small portion of delicate inner leaves still attached. The only sign of frying was the color tips of the delicate inner leaves. The artichokes themselves were slightly undercooked and in no way seasoned. The other big miss was the Saffron Tortelli. We had to send this back because it was cold and the filling tasted uncooked. They replaced it with a freshly cooked portion which was better, however, still not a dish that I thought worked well. I did not pick up any saffron on the dish and the filling was pasty (we discovered that the filling in the first dish was indeed cooked, but when it turned cold it tasted undercooked and the thick seams of the pasta toughened to the point that they came across as undercooked). The highlight of the dish was the braised pork cheeks, but this could hardly save this dish. The Venison Carpaccio could have been a very good dish; it just needed a shot of acid and a sprinkle of salt. Also several elements seemed to be missing or not as prevalent as the menu would make them seem. When I read a menu and see a list of elements I generally believe that they go from most pronounced to least but for this dish it was the opposite, the arugula which was listed last, was almost as strong as the venison, but the first two elements listed, porcini dust and blueberries, could have been missing from our plate as I did not notice either of them. The Porchetta Tonnato suffered from the same lack of balance and seasoning and I suspect if it had been properly seasoned this would have been a brilliant dish. Reading foodobsessed6’s description of the Linguini Clams it makes me wonder if inconsistency might be an issue with the cooking at Elisir as our clams were perfectly cooked and the broth certainly did not lack flavor, it was the most robustly flavored thing we had all night. Like the clams, the pasta was also perfectly cooked. This was in every way the equal of the squid. The beverage service was hit and miss. The bartender was excellent and I had a great conversation with him while waiting for Eric and my wife to show up. I first ordered a very enjoyable Smoked Pear Mojito the smokiness was not overpowering and went quite nicely with the other flavors in the drink. I noticed a gin that I did not have in my collection and wanted to give it a try so after talking to him and seeing that he only had Canada Dry and a sweet tonic on tap I decided that a G&T was out, then not really liking the vermouth option I spotted Maraschino and asked for an Aviation, and was presented with a very well made version of it – the squeeze of lemon zest across the glass was a welcome addition that outside of a craft cocktail establishment too few bartenders take the time to do. The misses came when I ordered a couple of glasses or red wine, both were served was too warm, one was actually above room temperature. Service was never an issue, neither too little nor too much attention and our waiter had no issues with our sharing each of the dishes. Also when the fresh dish of Tortelli and we were able to taste the dish the manager came over to apologize and check to make sure it was properly cooked – I thought that the delay in his arrival until we had tasted the dish was very well timed. This is a restaurant that I really want to love and dearly hope that this was just an off night, but as I mentioned above I suspect that consistency is an issue. Just a few changes and everything could have been brilliant, but most of them just fell flat. It certainly was not a bad meal; I have tasted the chef’s brilliance in the past and it was not on display Friday night and that was the most disappointing thing of all.
  10. I still find Cocchi Americano to be unpalatably bitter, on the other hand this afternoon a rep for Indigenous selections poured a Contratto Vermouth Bianco which was far more balanced with enough sweetness to balance the bitter. He also was pouring the Contratto Vermouth Rosso which was complex and offered a nice balance of bitter and sweet along with a pleasing amount of spicing. I am looking forward to trying this in a Manhatten.
  11. The William Sonoma outlet in Leesburg has the 1yr aged Acquerello. The sticker price is $16.96 which is consistent with what I have seen online, however it rang-up for $6.99.
  12. Yes, it really has to be used to get the right amount of seasoning, and I don't think that you want to use the kind of heat making an omlete to get a pan good and black. I seasoned my crepe pan by cooking burgers and steaks on it. Now I use it just for crepes.
  13. I don’t think that it is possible to expand that in this way. Not because the customer base is not there, I think that it is, but there is not a jurisdiction in the area that would let it happen. No, I do not mean that there is some nefarious conspiracy to prevent small businesses, but while each local government wants to tout how business friendly they are in fact they amount to a collection of odious bureaucracies that have to be waded through and waited on - how long has the City of Alexandria kept Balraj Bhasin spinning his wheels while trying to reopen Bombay Curry Company? Even if someone wanted to open up a small six or eight seat shoe box of a restaurant the cost and delays in getting a kitchen sink installed would prevent (let alone a toilet) would make such a small restaurant cost prohibitive from the start - and that is if they could find such a small space. Could a Blue & White's open in Old Town today? I highly doubt it.
  14. Use it to cook other things first. I recommend anything that is best cooked in fat at a high temperature - like steak, burgers, pork chops, etc. Just heating it in the oven is not going to do it.
  15. So you are saying that I am missing out on having an old dude cut my hair as opposed to the really hot Brazilian woman that does it now?
  16. Over the past 18 months I have become quite smitten with my DeBuyer Mineral B pans. The blue steel pans high heat performance and non-stick quality allow for incredible crusting that I have never been able to achieve in stainless steel or even cast iron. They season in no time, but I have to echo Dean's caution that it will chip if abused, good thing is that those chips season over quickly. I often use acid in my pans and have never had an issue - though I avoid using an acid until the pans are good and black. I have also switched to the DeBuyer for baking, their carbon steel sheet pans produce just the right amount of color on the bottoms of my cookies, cakes, and dacquoise. The only drawback is that at high temperatures they have a tendency to flex - but that is only a problem I encounter when I am using them to roast meat, not to bake.
  17. The Singaporeans have to make their money back somehow.
  18. One of the most fascinating things about eating in Japan is that most restaurants specialize in something and that is all they do. If you want ramen you go to a ramen shop, the only other things they will usually serve are goyza. You may find shabu shabu and sukiyaki served together, but not always – my favorite shabu shabu place (in Kagurazaka) only serves that dish, my favorite restaurant for sukiyaki restaurant (two blocks removed from Kappabashi) from serves both but nothing else. This list could go on and on to include tempura, sushi, soba, oyakodon, unaju, yakitori and so forth. I think that this is fundamentally a cultural issue; the Japanese tend to celebrate exceptionalism/perfection over creativity while in the US we tend to do just the opposite. I believe that we are poorer for it.
  19. I cannot give enough praise to the wonderful massage therapists at Old Town Massage Center. I have had an appointment with almost all of them at one time or another and cannot say that I prefer one over another, they are all excellent. One of the things that I like about it is that you basically pay for the time and while you may say you want a Swedish massage the therapists will use a hybrid of many methods to best suit your needs. When I am having a rally bad tendonitis flair-up in my shoulder I can always count on a hot stone making an appearance and a soothing touch that will loosen it up as well as any cortisone shot will. http://www.oldtownmassagecenter.com/ Steve Hitchcock
  20. One of the big differences between this site and that four letter word that begins with Y is that the topics are threads where people can have a back and forth. This minimizes the impact of a single review whether it is overly positive or negative. It also allows people to negatively scrutinize other's opinions, what are your choices on that other site? You get to rate the posts, but only in a positive (yet useless) way such as the ability to note that a post is this funny. Come on, how is that in anyway useful? I also think that the whole star system feeds into this, what makes something a three to you might not be the same as warrants the same rating from someone else. The best example of the uselessness of the star system is not at the Y site, but at Amazon. There are many times where I will read a three star review that really is not negative, but not glowing either and people respond incredulously to the reviewer wanting to know why something without any glaring issue is not getting a five star review. By the way, I have always suspected that the Great American Restaurant group has been paying Kibbeh Nayyeh for his glowing reviews - especially his undying love for the short smoked salmon...
  21. I think that he is spot on, and I actually find that most beginners are intimidated by all of the technical noise that is spewed at them. It is very overwhelming and gets into the way of what I consider rule # 1 or being a wine lover; drink what you enjoy (rule #2 is try as many types of wines as you can as it makes following rule #1 much easier, rule #3 find a decent vintner – I have not other rules when it comes to wine). I also wonder if these people really love wine or just love knowing about wine, or even worse love people knowing that they know about wine (I also include score chasers and people that rattle off every flavor they can smell on the bouquet in this group). It is just grape juice that makes you feel good, enjoy it. That said, that does not mean that I have no interest in hearing about interesting things about how the wine is made, but when I go to open the bottle a week/month/years later I will not remember that the wine maker only uses barrels made with oak from his family’s own forest or that the yeast used was originally cultivated from wild yeast the winemakers great-great grandfather cultured at the winery. There are times when some technical data is good to know, for me I definitely want to know if a Brut Champagne has zero dosage before I drink it (I like them, but if you are not expecting one it can be a kick to the palette) – otherwise I am generally not interested in the amount of dosage used. Of course if you ever plan on growing grapes, making wine, or becoming a Master of Wine then it all matters, I just plan on drinking what I enjoy and live in blissful ignorance of most of the technical data he describes.
  22. Depends what you are looking for in the whiskey. For aroma a 1:1 is not uncalled for (Scotch blenders dilute the whiskey to 20% to understand the nose of each whiskey), the problem with 1:1 is that it changes the mouth feel of the spirit so it loses,it's sharpness - frankly I have come to a point in my life where I no longer feel as though I have to drink straight alcohol to prove... whatever the hell it was that younger men try to prove.
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