bioesq
-
Posts
285 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Articles
Dining Guide
Everything posted by bioesq
-
Salmon is wonderful on alder wood, but I don't believe that you will be pleased with the results that you get from the Eastern variety. Western red alder is the traditional wood for smoking fish and poultry.
-
Through September 11th, 1789 is offering a $36 prix fixe, three-course menu, which is a wonderful deal for a restaurant where Nathan Beauchamp is cooking. You might wind up spending a bit more than that if you have wine, but that is certainly one of the necessary fuels of romance.
-
For grilling, it’s Willie Nelson. Italian food demands Pavarotti’s Tosca. When my wife is cooking country, it’s Emmylou Harris. If I’m roasting a duck without legs, “Hail to the Chief” is always in order.
-
Try Glen Echo Seafood in Cabin John- (301) 229-2526. It's located just past Seven Locks Road off of MacArthur Blvd., and would be a much easier drive than Georgetown.
-
We've bought them at Indian Spices and Appliances, 3000 North 10th Street in Arlington, but that was a few years ago. You might also check the Bethesda Co-op, where they carry the green cardomom pods in bulk-- 301-320-2530. That's an easy drive.
-
Decided to do a simple hickory-smoked chicken. Added some grilled peaches. Served with sweet corn and fresh lemonade. Happy Fourth.
-
Our first visit to Dino on Saturday proved that all of the praise I've read here is entirely well-deserved. From the greeting to the good night, we were impressed with the professionalism, ingredients, bar and table service and, especially, the warm and welcoming owners. We shared crostini and a root salad, and marveled at the combinations of flavors and textures. They were artistically done, and nicely balanced. I tried the 7-hour pork shoulder, a triumph of tenderness and crisp edges, which came with borlotti (sp) beans and a small arugula salad lightly dressed with a wonderful balsamic vinegar. My wife had the King Salmon special which, we agreed, was the best piece of fish either of us had tasted in years. Simply grilled, it was a lovely, deep pink that had explosive flavor, and was presented on soft polenta with sugar snap peas and a very generous mound of jumbo lump crabmeat. Although she is usually kind enough to share generously, she did everything but put up an electrified fence to keep my fork from the mother lode. This dish alone was worth the trip. With this, Dean recommended a 2005 Hilberg D'alba which paired quite well. Dessert, which turned out to be a surprise from my younger son and his fiancée was Torte di Fragole e Rabarbaro, Tris di Cioccolato and a trio of made in-house Gelati. (Younger son's penchant for excess was happily forgiven.) Dean graciously sent us two glasses of dessert wine which were lovely, and I wish I knew what they were. My wife, who grew up on a farm and spent her summers with relatives on the Chesapeake Bay, paid Dino her ultimate compliment, noting that, "This is what food is supposed to taste like." Indeed.
-
We had a lovely afternoon at Cantler's a few weeks ago. They were offering smalls and mediums from the Bay, and the larger ones were from Texas. I thought that the mediums were unusually heavy and sweet for this time of the year, so we kept ordering more until our fingers tired. The service was very efficient and nice, and there's something about eating outside over the water that makes everything taste better. This munchkin was in full agreement with that. Her ancestors settled on the Eastern Shore in the late 1600s, and even though she lives in Denver now, we discovered that she had been hard-wired to pick crabs like a waterman. (Many thanks to TXAggie, who patiently walked me through the process of posting a photograph.)
-
I can't thank you enough for that suggestion. With any luck, it will rival the weekend specials that used to be offered at the Roma up the street: Eggplant Parmigiana, Pasta Fagioli and a nice slice of Spumoni. I'll bet that the leftovers will fill up the back seat of the Studebaker.
-
We're going this Saturday evening for the first time and looking forward to it. My wife just got back from Italy and wants to compare the Limoncello. What else should we not miss?
-
Medieval Times, Arundel Mills Mall
bioesq replied to edenman's topic in Baltimore and Annapolis Restaurants and Dining
Wolf Trap. -
Those are lovely, tempting photographs. I have been wildly unsuccessful in figuring out how to post a photo here. Would anyone be able to let me know how to accomplish that? Please bear in mind that my sons refer to me as roadkill on the information superhighway.
-
You have given me the first good reason I've had in years to go to Georgetown on a Sunday. By the way, when my folks first ate there, you could buy a four bedroom row house near the university for less than $7,500. Many thanks.
-
You might want to call Acadiana, Martin's Tavern or Oceanaire. Sometimes they're on the menu. The Palm served them for a while, too, at dinner, but I don't know if they still do.
-
C.F. Folks on 19th Street, next to the Palm, is very good.
-
You might enjoy them grilled. Put them in a marinade of olive oil, lime juice, dried thyme, dried basil and dried oregano for an hour, skewer them, and grill over hardwood for about 2-3 minutes a side.
-
The Harris Teeter in Darnestown is selling head-on, wild-caught shrimp (13-17s) for $6/lb through Tuesday. We grilled them this evening, and they were wonderful.
-
Shepherdstown Many thanks. I've made reservations for Three Onions and will report back.
-
Shepherdstown - map Has anyone eaten there lately? Are there any good alternatives to The Yellow Brick Bank?
-
The Cracked Claw at Peter Pan, Urbana - Closed
bioesq replied to dmwine's topic in Washington DC Restaurants and Dining
If we had put some mustard on those clip-on ties they would have tasted better than what was eventually served up after waiting in the "holding" area for, it seems, a lifetime. You could also go the slow way, up 355, and watch the Holsteins graze at the King Farm. My most recent memory of Evans Farm was a small sign in the Sitting Duck Pub, placed by one of the wags down at Langley that noted, "You are in the safest bar in the world." -
We ventured out to Monocacy Crossing in the once rural Urbana, where neither of us had been since the 1970s when the Peter Pan Inn stood amidst the corn fields serving up fried chicken that made KFC's look like Michele Richard's Central. It was well worth the trip. For starters, my wife and I shared the grilled Romaine and a Panko-crusted soft shell crab. The Romaine came with a light Caesar-like dressing and large shavings of Parmigiano Reggiano, and the soft shell was a lovely, large crunch of crustacean, deftly fried, and plated with a small amount of butter and lemon sauce beneath the crab that highlighted its sweetness. I ordered the bouillabaisse with fennel, saffron and tomato broth, which was both enormous and beautifully complex, the mussels, scallops, shrimp and, I think, trout each fresh and cooked to perfect texture. My beloved had the Open Ravioli filled with Lobster, Crab and topped with Asparagus, a lovely combination of flavors and textures, with bright, large chunks of lobster meat coupled with lump crabmeat, bound in a light cream sauce, topped with a homemade sheet of al dente pasta and beautifully poached spears of asparagus. It was ethereal. We shared a Grand Marnier crème brulee for dessert, which was far too rich an undertaking, but still very good, especially given that neither of us was able to finish our mains. Such are the rewards of misspent adulthood. The service was efficient, friendly and extraordinarily polite, a rare combination these days, and most welcomed. With two drinks, a bottle of Pegasus Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2004, tax and a 30% tip, the total was less than $200, and a bargain at that. We'll certainly return.
-
Looking back on Washington’s restaurant history, while delightfully nostalgic, also serves as a reminder that this town has made giant steps towards being a world-class place to eat well at both the low and high end where, previously, it was a culinary, white bread backwater. I missed the opportunity to try the Carnegie, and take you at your word although, in the Eighties, a pilgrimage to Virginia in search of decent corned beef was akin to taking a trip to Newark, NJ for a perfect plate of grits and spoonbread. P.S. Trivia: In 1965, the Montpelier Restaurant at the Madison Hotel had a 1928 Chateau Mouton Rothschild on its wine list for the princely sum of $24, about what one would pay for two very bad pastramis on rye, two cokes, plus tax and tip at the Parkway Deli today.
-
Forty years ago they didn't know what Kreplach are, and were serving the same dreck as today, albeit at significant lower prices. There has never been a decent Jewish deli in Washington, unless you count some of the dishes served up at the late, revered Duke Ziebert's (his chicken in the pot contained almost a whole chicken, and I once watched with great admiration, or stunned disbelief, as Sonny Jurgensen ate two of them in one sitting). When you had serious deli cravings, and wanted serious food, you went to Attman's on East Lombard Street in Baltimore.
-
I should have been more specific and noted that I use less than a full chimney starter of charcoal and, too, that having coals just one one side of the grill slows down the process a bit more than grilling in the middle with charcoal on each side. I have, over the years, found different ways to make this a long and pleasant afternoon's work, and it's time well spent for a wretch like me.
-
That depends upon what you're looking for at the end of the trail. Sometimes I'll use cider vinegar and a fair dose of Tony Chachere's creole seasoning; other occasions might call for melted butter, herbs and white wine, or variations thereof. Relax, use your imagination and have a good time.