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The Bethesda Co-op at 6500 Seven Locks Road in Cabin John sells it for 88 cents an ounce in their bulk spice section.

When my sons and I set up bachelor quarters in the 90s, and my weekly tab at The Palm began to resemble the national debt of Guatemala, we began cooking the basics and proceeded from there. We tried to replicate some of our restaurant meals, bought a lot of cookbooks, and gradually became competent enough to actually enjoy the results. They are out of the house now, but both cook regularly and attend Sur La Table classes as a hobby. This is not to say that all went smoothly as we refined our culinary skills together. Some indelible moments would include the older son’s leg of lamb that was coated with grape jelly and, too, a plastic container of marinating chicken intended for the grill that the younger urchin decided to pre-cook a bit, placing it in a hot oven and promptly forgetting about it until reminded by the incessant screech of smoke detector. Such are the vicissitudes of kids in the kitchen, but glorious memories notwithstanding.

A bit of historical perspective, if you will, on the dining wasteland referred to as the Van Ness area (aka, north Cleveland Park; aka South Forest Hills). Cleveland Park was one of Washington’s first streetcar suburbs, and the ‘Park and Shop’ just south of Porter Street was put up in 1930. Always an affluent community, and anchored by the Uptown Theater, the community energetically supported its commercial strip, including ‘new cuisines’ like Italian (The Roma) and Hungarian (Csikos in the Broadmoor) long before the rest of Washington became a bit adventurous. The Van Ness area was vacant land except for the Bureau of Standards on the northwest corner of Connecticut and Van Ness (now UDC) until the Van Ness apartment complex was built in 1970 (then only a brief Boomer stop on the path to buying a first house in Chevy Chase where four bedroom colonials could be had for less than $80K). In the restaurant space that you are discussing was the Royal Warrant, a joint that boasted huge drinks at small prices and served as the geriatric forerunner to the Yacht Club. Up the street stood the Shanghai Gardens which, curiously, has been successfully serving up macerated slop for over thirty years. That was it, and even with the enormous changes in that neighborhood over the years, it seems destined to remain a bridesmaid.

We had a truly wonderful evening a few years ago at The Ashby Inn in Paris, VA. Brian Pellatt is a talented chef, and the gracious and unhurried dining room was delightful. It was enhanced by spending the night in the Glascock Room, which has a wood-burning fireplace.

I think that Americans tried this once, but there were only thirteen colonies then.

You don't really know if he's harmless, and I would counsel you to stop doing business with that establishment until such time as he leaves. His behavior is wildly inappropriate, and you don't know if he acts this way with all of the women on his route, or just you. Given that dangerous uncertainty, I'd avoid any and all contact with this man.

I've had very good luck with that sort of thing at Lancaster County Meats (301-916-2081) in the Amish Market in Germantown. They're only open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

To celebrate our good fortune in getting the last flight to Dulles out of Denver last night we made Gordon Hamersley's roast chicken with potatoes and onions, an exceptional dish that is comforting as well as elegant, and produces a chicken that's beautifully moist with delicate pan juices. http://www.sjl.us/scotts_kitchen/2005/11/h...sleys_roas.html It went nicely with a 2005 St. Aubin Remilly. And it was wonderful to enjoy it here.

I don’t recall that there were the same sorts of sturm und drang- life as we know it is over- issues associated with dining out then as there are now. A dearth of choices meant a bit more mystique at the high end, and there was virtually no available information about restaurants unless it was word-of-mouth or Donald Dresden. Given that, the complaints were far fewer and, as I recall, related to more easily measured matters such being served something rare instead of well-done, or waiting 15-20 minutes for a server to take a drink order. For the former omission, the chef cooked it more; for the latter, the manager would hopefully locate said server, apologize profusely and get back to the more important business of calling his bookie. There might be a drink offered to soothe the offended patron, but usually not. The other option was to walk out, a choice that seems infinitely more preferable than putting on a prolonged, Woolfian-like drama for the benefit of those not intoxicated enough to blissfully ignore it. And, struggle as I might, I cannot recall the maitre‘d at the Rive Gauche ever arranging gratis airfare to Paris for a patron in high dudgeon because his napkin was inadvertently folded in the Belgian style.And, if you will, the extras that you received were gestures of thanks for being a regular customer and/or spending a lot of money, and not the much-discussed, begrudged responses to bleating entitlement tantrums. This is not to say that all such offerings by today’s yardstick are wholly without foundation, but only that the measurement has dramatically changed.

It's hard to go wrong with a standing rib roast from Wagshal's, unless you'd prefer to use the money for an addition to your house. They sell only dry-aged, prime meat that they age in-house for a minimum of four weeks, and there are real butchers there who will gladly remove the bones and tie them back on without carping. An alternative might be the Lancaster Market in Germantown where, just a few decades ago, there were more cows than people. Be that as it may, the butchers will custom-cut whatever you want, and the cost will be significantly less.

I'm not certain that you would be pleased with the results from a bulk purchase like that unless you have absolute confidence in the supplier. You can try contacting Balducci's and Safeway to see if they carry Lazzari hardwood and/or mesquite lump in 40/lb bags. A few of those should hold you for a while.

I clicked on that, and it said, "There are no friends to display." It appears that history repeats itself, because that's what happened when I got divorced. So, notwithstanding my sons' allegation that I am "roadkill on the information superhighway," it appears that Invision is more prescient than I had imagined.

Two from the Ashby Inn this Saturday: Roasted leek and Bosc Veloute with white truffle croutons. Chargrilled Manchester Farm quails with white truffle soubise and crisp leeks.

1985 Folle Blanche. Pairs well with Charles McCarry novels.

Gift-wrap it and send it to Sietsema. Hold a contest here for the name of the donor.

Short ribs in Barolo Roasted rosemary potatoes sauteed spinach aglio olio 1997 Barolo Gabutti Lemon sorbet 10 mg. Lipitor

I just purchased a few pounds this afternoon at the Bethesda Co-op located at the intersection of MacArthur Boulevard and Seven Locks Road in Bethesda. They were on sale for about $8.30/lb, and looked quite good.

Jacqueline was an incandescent woman of substance and style, and one of the pioneers of DC’s culinary birth back in the day. She was beautiful, charming and passionate about life and her work, and had the ability to make everyone feel special, even an impoverished, underdressed law student on a beer budget who didn’t know the difference between a plate of charcuterie and a carburetor. May her memory be a blessing.

It is, without question, an improvement upon its predecessor although, I submit, so too would have been an Exxon Mini Mart. The parent company must have heeded the focus groups and, in doing so, enhanced the décor, widened the aisles, introduced self check-out machines and improved the signage. Still, you can take a mule, paint it yellow, paste wings on it and call it a canary but, alas, it remains a mule. The produce section is upgraded to the extent that brownish hues are no longer prominent on the greenery. The cheese options remain, well, indifferent. Meats and fishes appear to be more within striking distance of the appropriate health code, although the prices somehow more than reflect this nod towards improved community service. And, please note, that the bakery is such in name only as, too, is the Deli counter which, harbors a pedestrian line of cold cuts having neither pride of ancestry nor hope of posterity. This is Food Lion’s best effort to put lipstick on a pig. To expect an ‘upscale’ experience is, I fear, the triumph of hope over experience.

A 1997 Roederer Cristal. At last.

Your suggestions sound good, and we'll certainly try Potager and, probably, 240 Union as well. I agree with you about the unique ambiance and understated elegance of the Brown; it's steeped in history, and my only regret is that, during one phase of its remodeling, they did away with those wonderful, old leather chairs and stand-up ashtrays in the lobby atrium--a place where a guy could swallow some scotch, read a paper and have a cigar without offending the known universe. And, yet, the Ship Tavern beckons, probably for two visits-- the bar alone is worth a good part of an evening. Again, many thanks.

Any further thoughts on restaurants in the downtown area? We'll be staying at the Hyatt on Welton Street, and will be joined by my wife's kids and their well-behaved three-year-old for part of the time. I wonder if she would enjoy the Ship Tavern at the Brown Palace? I haven't eaten there for years, but remember it as fairly casual with decent food. Any recommendations for the munchkin and/or just the two of us would be most appreciated.

When Christy Hughes bought the Inn at Glen Echo, and sunk a fortune into it, he decided to sell off the 4Ps. In the negotiations with the new owner in Virginia, he gave exclusive rights to use the name. He sold the Cleveland Park 4P to his brother a year ago, and the name had to be changed. I don't know if he still owns the Dubliner.

I'd venture that you purchased an off-package. While not familiar with Wegman's Zesty Savory, any acid-based marinade should reduce gaminess.

Bethesda Magazine reports that it's a new venture of Dimitri Moshovitis, Tel Aviv Cafe's chef, and two servers from Olazzo, scheduled to open at the end of the month. They are still renovating inside, however, and I suspect that they are 2-3 weeks away from a start date.