Saycheese

Went to Beck on Saturday night. I had heard from reputable food loving friends (to whom we had raved about Beck) that the mussels were quite different from the plump luscious specimens that were served when the restaurant first opened. I had also seen the recent comment from Cucas87 about the mussels, but did not want to believe it could be true. Sadly, I had the same experience. Before ordering, I looked at the mussels on our neighbor's table and they appeared to be pretty big and I also watched them being prepared, so I thought they were safe to order. To my surprise, although the shells were quite large, the meat inside was shriveled and a mere shadow of what the mussels there used to be. The curry and apple sauce was still delicious, and the fries were as addictively tasty as always. Don noted in his non-lettres de mon moulin that he had crappy mussels at Belga recently. Is there some kind of widespread problem getting good mussels? Is the summer not such a good time to find them? If they're not good, take them off the menu temporarily!! The rest of the meal was quite fine and we still love Beck overall, but really, why would a good quality restaurant repeatedly serve substandard mussels in one of their "signature" dishes. Maybe I should have sent them back, but they weren't improperly cooked or foul tasting -- just tiny . Michel Richard was at the Chef's Table, and his party seemed to be having a very good time.

I tried Bon Chon Chicken last night. I got a medium special (half soy/garlic and half spicy). The chicken is very crispy and not greasy at all, and the sauce does not get all over your hands -- it seems more like a glaze that gets cooked into the crust. The meat was very juicy. The spicy chicken was satisfyingly spicy -- it made my lips tingle, but I was not gasping for water. Although they told me it would take half an hour to prepare my order, it took closer to 45-50 minutes. I was told they had a huge backlog of take out orders. It was early in the evening and only about 4 tables were occupied, so I was surprised that they were having such trouble getting the orders out. The pickles were good, but there was too much thousand island dressing on the salad. However, for only about $11.50, it was a very tasty and inexpensive meal for 2 people.

Relatively inexpensive, mostly late night, dining over 2 weekends in NYC: Yakitori Totto (251 W. 55th nr. B'way) -- serves until at least 1 AM, yakitori bar also with tables and booths. Reasonably subdued ambiance (easy to talk), great sake list. Three of us had a bottle of sake, numerous skewers of grilled chicken and other things, including eggplant with miso, prawns, enoki mushrooms wrapped in bacon, eringi mushrooms (seemed to be like cepes), pan fried dumplings, fried chicken, and a daily special consisting of raw, marinated salmon and salmon roe. Total bill was about $35 per person, and we felt we had over-ordered food, but it was all so good. Sake Bar Hagi (152 W. 49th nr. 7th) -- open until 3 AM -- located one level below street level, this izakaya was completely different from Yakitori Totto -- crowded, LOUD, hot, buzzing with youth. The decor consisted of numerous flat screen tv's broadcasting sports and some posters in Japanese. Incredibly inexpensive, extensive list of sakes by the glass or bottle -- if you order a glass, you get about 5 or 6 ounces and they fill it the glass to the brim. Terrific specials -- we enjoyed the grilled sardine stuffed with spicy cod roe, spicy cod roe dumplings and unagi tempura with lemon salt, plus Japanese fried chicken, grilled chicken meatballs, grilled duck and grilled pork belly. They also have big plates of yakisoba and other noodle dishes, salads, etc. We had a bottle of sake (720 ml) for $40 and the food was about $20 per person. Again, we were so full we could have ordered less, but it was all so good! Park Blue (158 W. 58th betw. 6th and 7th) -- open until 3 AM -- sort of a piano lounge with some small tables in the back. When we walked in, we weren't sure what to expect because it looked a little seedy, but wow, what a find! They had an extensive list of wines, all by the half bottle at pretty reasonable prices. The food was all small plates, including a very nice and pretty substantial truffled macaroni and cheese. We also had the mini cheeseburgers, which were cooked to order medium rare and served on a brioche bun. At $8 each, they were a little pricy, but really juicy and delicious. They were a little bigger than the ones at Tallulah and quite a bit more satisfying. The french fries, recommended by our server, were seasoned with some kind of paprika that had a real kick to it. We also had spicy meatballs with polenta -- they weren't very spicy. The food was pretty filling, and all of the small plates were in the range of $7 to $12. At the table across from us was someone who worked at Gordon Ramsey's restaurant at the London Hotel a block away -- he seemed to be a regular, and we chatted for a bit. The half bottle of chateauneuf du pape we had was about $38, and the food was about $35-$40. Mandoo Bar -- (2 W. 32nd nr. 5th) -- this place is well known because of the window in the front where passers-by can watch the dumplings being made. We had a light lunch of pan fried pork dumplings (goon mandoo) and boiled or steamed kimchee dumplings. That plus 1 OB beer was about $17 plus tip for 2 people. Other tables around us had dolsot bibimbap which looked wonderful. At the table, the server mixed up the sizzling rice and other ingredients and added hot sauce to the degree of hotness requested by the customer. Brunch at Artisanal -- 32nd street betw. Madison and Park -- their cheese selection is phenomenal, but the regular brunch dishes are a little ho-hum. The eggs benedict, for example, was really pretty ordinary, and the potato galette that came with seemed to have been under the heat lamp for way too long -- totally dry and overly browned on the outside and somewhat mushy on the inside. Breads are very good. The fondue of the day sounded really good, but we weren't in the mood for that at noon on a summer day.

I went there for dinner once during the soft opening several months ago. It's a Brazilian steakhouse -- the decor is more upscale than Fogo de Chao. There was a large flat TV screen in the middle of the room that you could watch from either side, and they were showing some kind of acrobatic thing like Cirque du Soleil. It was a bit distracting. The salad bar was enormous. There was a hot selection of rice, beans, some kind of stew, maybe it was feijoada, and several soups. The cold selections included smoked salmon, prosciutto, lots of different composed salads, mixed greens, fresh fruit, cheese, etc. The salad bar was a feast in itself. Throughout the meal, gauchos come around with skewers of meat -- different cuts of beef, lamb, quail, fish or shrimp (IIRC). They keep coming by your table until you turn your card over to the red side. If I recall, the meats were pretty good -- however, I had filled up on the above described salad bar extravaganza. Desserts included various kinds of pudding or custard made with papaya, mango, etc. -- Brazilian favorites, I understand. I haven't been back because it seemed rather expensive (dinner is about $56, I believe) and I don't have such a huge appetite for meat to make it worth while.

My party of 4 dined at Brasserie Beck on Saturday night as well -- we had a 10:00 reservation. Unlike Timmy Smith's party, we had an overall good experience. This was my 4th visit, and each time has been enjoyable - not always perfect, but very good. The skate wing, salmon, beef carbonnade and mussels & frites were all terrific. We had to ask for bread to be brought, and our server forgot the extra order of fries we requested, but we weren't charged for them and the frites that came with the mussels turned out to be enough. The first 2 draught beers we ordered were no longer available, but our server made some good suggestions for alternatives. Skipping appetizers left room for dessert -- we shared the rice pudding, pear tart and sorbet. They were good but not that special. The bread pudding is another dessert that I would like to try, however. We had no complaints about the pace of the service. My only concern was that one of our party is disabled and uses a cane, and I dropped him and another guest off at the door to get seated while my friend and I parked the car, and the host made him wait, standing, until all 4 of us were there. He doesn't like to make an issue of his disability (he wouldn't, for example, want a special note to the restaurant about it sent through open table -- and besides, who would expect that it would be necessary to do so) and we didn't complain, because the wait was only a few minutes. But I would think that as a matter of courtesy, if you see someone who walks with difficulty, you would make an exception to the "entire party must be present to be seated" rule without being asked. That being said, I have found everyone there to be very gracious and pleasant, and I love the food!

I love their chicken! I have tried the spicy chicken and the fried chicken, but not the popcorn chicken. You can also get half fried and half spicy. It's cut into small-ish pieces chinese style, not into breast/wing/thigh/leg, so some of the pieces are a little bony. I don't know exactly what the chicken is called, so I have hesitated to call in my orders. The pickles are really good too.

It was indeed a fabulous meal. The rockfish was astoundingly moist and succulent. When you're cooking for 40 people, that's not so easy to accomplish. The sauce, which included ketchup and soy sauce, had that certain je ne sais quoi -- the flavors were exotic and unexpected. While the lamb was substantial and rich, it made for really good leftovers. I'm sure I had the best brought from home lunch at work on Monday. Thanks to all who helped to organize this dinner and to the chef and his assistants. As a first-timer at one of these events, I really didn't know what to expect, but I had a great time and enjoyed meeting other Rockwellians in person. It seemed like it was a good mix of "regulars" and newbies. Plus, it was great to see the facilities at the Gaithersburg campus. It looks like a great place to learn the art of cooking.

The sushi at Bonsai is excellent, and Peter, the owner, is fun to talk to. I haven't had many of the the non-sushi dishes, but can vouch for the hamachikama, mussels, and ankimo as being delicious. The uni is always very fresh, and I love the tempura rolls and spider rolls.

The National Restaurant Association website has a list of the 34 state laws as of July 2006 allowing consumers to take partially consumed wine from restaurants: http://www.restaurant.org/government/state...c_recorking.pdf. These are called "cork and go" or "merlot to go" laws. Lobbying the DC government would be the way to go. According to the National Restaurant Association research, the DC law prohibits anyone from "drinking[ing] [or] possess[ing] in an open container an alcoholic beverage in or upon a vehicle that is in or upon any street, alley, park, or parking area," and there is no law that expressly prohibits a customer from removing a partially finished bottle of wine from a restaurant. If a restaurant owner allowed a consumer to take a partially consumed bottle of wine home in a tamper-proof, one time use, sealed plastic bag, would that comply with the law, since the person would not possess an alcoholic beverage in a "container" that is "open?" If restaurants in DC starting to offer that service, maybe it would stir some action.

I'm not sure if this belongs here or on the Restaurant Week thread -- I wanted to say that after the disappointing lunch at Restaurant Kolumbia that I described last week on the Restaurant Week thread, I went back for lunch at the bar to give the place another try under different circumstances. This time, I had an extremely pleasant lunch -- a hot bowl of bigos, warm bread, good service. I left feeling very satisfied and glad I went back. During the meal, I did not say who I was because I didn't want any special attention. Afterwards, I had a chance to meet Jamie, and we had a nice conversation about the perils and pitfalls of Restaurant Week. I also sent an email to Carolyn. They are both very gracious. I plan to go back more often (but maybe not for lunch during RW) .

Friday night -- unexpectedly fabulous RW dinner at Bistrot d'Oc. Without realizing that Bistrot d'Oc was participating in RW, three of us went in for dinner without reservations just because it was around the corner from the E Street movie theater, where we were going to see Volver (terrific movie!). The menu was extensive -- there were probably 4 or 5 choices for the first and second courses and two dessert options. I had the charcuterie plate, which could have been a meal in itself -- pate, and three different kinds of sausage (3 slices each of saucisson a l'ail and a hard sausage, and a chunk of something like chorizo), garnished with olives and cornichons. My main dish was braised rabbit leg with potatoes au gratin, and dessert was cherries macerated in brandy and served over ice cream. My husband had an appetizer of anchovies, braised short ribs and the ice cream dessert, and the third person had escolar for his main dish and a roulade cake for dessert (I forget what his appetizer was). Service was terrific, even though the restaurant was full. We mentioned to our server that we had tickets to a movie, and she was very attentive. The food was very nicely prepared -- the fish was moist and perfectly cooked, and the rabbit and short ribs were braised to the perfect point of melt in the mouth tenderness, without being dry. The garnishes for each dish were tasty and generous also -- the restaurant did not give the impression of cutting corners at all. I was blown away by what a good job they did.

I hesitate to post negative remarks about restaurants that most people tend to rave about, but my RW lunch experience at Restaurant Kolumbia was almost identical to DCJono's, that I thought it worth mentioning. My friend and I went on Wednesday and sat at the bar, not realizing that the $9 bar menu was not available. We decided to stay anyway. My friend ordered the basmati salad, the steak frites, and the ice cream, and I ordered the squid, the wild mushroom lasagne and the cheese. It must have taken close to 30 minutes for our appetizers to arrive. During that time, the bartender checked several times on our order. The first courses were not bad -- the salad was a pretty generous portion and the squid was not bad -- I didn't notice any bitterness, although it tasted smoky, like from being grilled. After that course, a whole lot of time went by and our main courses were nowhere to be seen. Again we asked and the bartender was very nice and checked and apologized repeatedly. By then, it was around 1:30 and we'd been there over an hour. We asked them to bring out to-go boxes with our main dishes and our desserts at the same time, because we anticipated that we might not have time to finish our main courses -- if they ever arrived. Finally, about 10 minutes later, they brought out the main dishes and our desserts -- the desserts were already boxed up. We told them we really needed to leave and had them box up our main dishes and bring the check. We were there for about 90 minutes all together. Unlike DCJono, we received no discount. The bartender apologized again and suggested we come back when it's not Restaurant Week. He and a woman who brought our food -- maybe she was a manager -- were well aware of how long it was taking, so it seemed unnecessary to actually lodge a complaint. I had not been to Restaurant Kolumbia in a while, because the last time I had dinner there in the dining room, the service was lousy and the food was equally lousy -- the cold fried sweetbreads on a bed of salad greens really left an impression -- no comment from the server about the uneaten sweetbread nuggets left on the plate when he finally materialized. However, because of great comments on this website and from other people and because it's very close to my office, I was willing to try it again. When I finally got to eat the mushroom lasagne about 3 hours later, it was delicious albeit rather small. The cheese was a mere sliver of cheese on a bed of greens. I intend to go back to the bar for the bar menu -- I really want to like this place, but if my overall experience isn't any better, that's it. As I posted earlier this week, I had a very good RW lunch at Vidalia on Tuesday -- good food, good service, in and out in about an hour without being rushed -- so at least some restaurants know how to handle it and give their guests a good impression. Really, if you can't do it right, why do it at all?

I had lunch at Vidalia today. The menu seemed to offer a lot of choices, although several items had a supplemental charge. Nevertheless, I stuck with the RW options and had the winter market salad, vegetable risotto and a fabulous chocolate dessert. My companion had the mushroom soup, pork charcutiere selection and a pecan tart for dessert. Everything was quite good and the service was attentive as well. We were in and out in about an hour, but did not feel rushed at all. The portions were ample -- I felt quite full and thought the meal, with a small glass of wine -- was an excellent value. I had generally avoided RW because of the negative comments, but we had a very good experience.

Could someone please post the address of this restaurant. Thanks very much!

Fox News reported yesterday on a patent application (application no. 20060134271) filed by McDonald's for a device and unique method to make sandwiches (hot or cold) that are comprised of at least a "bread component" and a "sandwich garnish." The story is available on the Foxnews.com website, along with a link to the patent application. Of course, the application is in legalese, but it's still pretty funny. It defines the "bread component" of a sandwich as follows: As used herein, the terms "bread component" and "bread" are intended to have a very broad meaning and can be leavened or unleavened. "Bread component" and "bread" is intended to have a very broad meaning and includes, but is not limited to, for example, rolls, buns, sliced bread, croissants, bagels, pita bread, taco shells, and tortillas. Typically, a sandwich that has a bread component for its exterior or a portion thereof includes, but is not limited to, for example, a submarine or "sub" or "hero" sandwich, a hamburger or cheeseburger sandwich, a reuben sandwich, a hot dog sandwich, a wrap sandwich, and a burrito sandwich and can be eaten by hand and without any utensils. "Bread component" can refer to a bread product having several separate pieces like a hamburger bun or to one of those separate pieces.

What Cafe Cassatt does quite well is the flat white -- basically cappucino with a fancy swirl in the cream on top. We had those a lot in Australia (haven't been to NZ yet). The meat pies resemble the ones we had in Oz also -- and I don't know where else in this area you can get them -- I really like them. Brunch at Cafe Cassatt is generally pretty good -- fairly standard brunch fare, pleasant for families, and you can sit outside when it's nice. It's a really pleasant neighborhood venue.

Casual dining and small plates is definitely the trend right now, but I don't want to see fine dining disappear. You can also have casual dining combined with excellent cuisine. The best models of that are the restaurants that allow customers to order from the full menu at the bar. We've enjoyed that experience at Le Bernardin in NYC, Tosca, Kinkead's, Le Paradou, Restaurant Eve and Palena, to name a few. At least in those places, you generally have a pretty pleasant atmosphere, with a fair amount of elbow room, and noisy messy drunk people aren't yammering all around you. It's great to eat at the bar in places like that because you don't have to worry so much about getting all dressed up, it's more spontaneous, it can be a lot quicker, and it's easier to order a few appetizers or sharing just an entree, which you might feel conspicuous doing in the dining room. The setting is important -- if you have to sit at tiny little bar tables that barely hold a single dinner plate, or if it's too noisy or crowded, it's just no fun. I like having the option of choosing to eat at the bar or at a table in the dining room, and getting the same high quality food and service either way -- it usually depends on the circumstances -- how much time do I have, what do I feel like eating, am I dressed right, who am I with, how much am I prepared to spend, etc. From the restaurant's point of view, it seems like a wise model, especially if the average ticket in the dining room is substantial. People may be inclined to try the menu at the bar a few times to see if they like the cooking before being willing to plunk down a lot of money for the full gastronomic experience in the dining room. Without the opportunity to try the food at the bar, they may put off trying the dining room, because they think it's too expensive and may not be worth the price.

Does anyone know whether deer wasting disease has affected deer in our area yet? I had read it is migrating from the rockies through the midwest, but at least as of a few years ago, none had been found in the DelMarVa area. It is like mad cow disease and if you eat meat from an animal that has the disease, it may take years for you to develop symptoms. And there is no cure.

I've eaten dinner twice at PS7s -- the first time was within their first week of opening, and the second was about a week ago -- and I have had good experiences both times with food, service and wine. The dishes I recall having tried include the field green salad, the salad of confit cherry tomatoes, the squash and goat cheese terrine, the east/west oyster dish, spicy tuna tartare, the pork belly, the veal 3 ways and the beef 2 ways. We had the baked Valrhona mousse with candied beets and olive oil ice cream and maybe one other dessert. Over all, my companions and I all thought the food was delicious -- subtle where it needed to be subtle (the olive oil ice cream), flavorful (tuna tartare), crispy (sweetbreads) and unctuous (veal cheeks and pork belly) -- and creative. I'm not sure I like the format and pricing of the menu, however. I can see the advantages of the mix and match concept, but it seems like ordering 2 starters and a main dish plus dessert would get kind of expensive. Moreover, the main dishes and the pork belly seemed a little pricey for the small size of the portion. They were really tasty and if you're willing to give a taste to someone at your table, that's half the dish right there. But on the other hand, the desserts are so tempting that it's important not to get too full early on, and the "big sins," priced at $12, were big enough for two people to share. Portionwise, the salads and vegetable starters also seemed pretty ample. I guess what I'm trying to say is that maybe some of the dishes should be a little smaller and less expensive, while others should be a little more generous, even if that would make them slightly more expensive. We're planning to go again right before Thanksgiving when we have Cirque du Soleil tickets, and are looking forward to trying some of the other dishes. Decor-wise, I could definitely understand Sietsema's comment about the light from the kitchen door. We have sat in the front room both times, so haven't had that problem.

We redid our kitchen about a year ago. Among other things, we chose to use drawers instead of wall cabinets for most of our storage and love them. Everything is so much more accessible and visible in drawers. The drawers are full extension, so they open all the way out. We got a 6-burner Dacor cooktop -- the grates are all flush (no gaps in between) so it's easy to slide a pot from one burner to another and also easy to put a roasting pan across two burners. We had a hard time finding a hood wide enough for the 48 inch cooktop, so we got one custom made by Rangecraft (in NJ) using a Thermador motor -- 1200 cfm -- with an external blower. Interestingly, the cost of the custom made hood was the same or slightly less than a Viking hood of the same size. Rangecraft even built the hood based on our own design, although they have a number of really interesting and beautiful ones on their website. We have 2 sinks -- one is a double sink with one large, deep bowl and one smaller shallower bowl (we use one of these to chill wine when we have parties), and the other sink is an extra deep, extra huge rectangular sink -- it's big enough to put our largest roasting pan in completely flat with room to spare, and it's great for washing out large stockpots (our 22 qt pot fits fine). After it was installed, we were concerned that it would be too deep for my tall husband to use it comfortably because he'd have to bend over to reach the bottom of the sink, but actually he hasn't complained. We put stainless steel counters next to the cooktop and granite on the islands. We did that for a couple of reasons -- first, we liked the contrast between the steel and the granite, and second, stainless is completely impervious to both heat and stains. The kitchen designer kept urging us to put the microwave in a cabinet with a door, but we resisted because we knew the door would never be closed -- the same goes for an appliance garage -- we knew we'd never put things away properly. Everyone also kept saying we should get a warming drawer -- we didn't and maybe that's the only thing we might actually use that we didn't get. We did get a set of Sub-Zero refrigerator drawers and absolutely love them. We use them a lot for parties, and they are great when you need to store something large like a cake or a turkey. By the way, when you shop for your cooktop or ovens, take some pans with you to see how they fit and how you would feel actually using the stove -- like, do the burners feel tippy, is the oven big enough, is the door awkward, etc.

We ate recently at Providence in LA, where the chef turns lots of different foods into powders by using tapioca maltodextrin. He also uses lots of foams and gelees ( I had a dish with chorizo gelee). It was all very wonderful. Does anyone here know how to use tapioca maltodextrin? I have read that you mix it with foods that have a good amount of fat in them, and then they turn into a powder which you can sieve through a tamis. Can anyone provide more guidance -- like what kinds of proportions to use and what foods do and do not work well. Where do you buy it? Thanks.

I went to the Blue Duck Tavern for the first time for dinner on Sunday night. First, the space is absolutely gorgeous -- very modern, sleek and elegant, but comfortable. Even without cushions, the beautiful wood chairs were very comfortable -- they resembled Thos. Moser or George Nakashima style pieces, which seem to perfectly fit most peoples' backsides no matter how big or small -- we ranged from 5 ft. tall to over 6 ft. and everyone was comfortable. Along the windows on M Street, however, there are long benches, and it looks like it might be awkward to sit there. Although some people have said it's noisy, we didn't have a problem --and we were seated right by the kitchen. We were impressed by how serene the kitchen was -- no shouting, no racing around with hot pots, no chaos, no banging or clanging of cookware. Second, the menu had so many tempting choices. For the appetizers, we ordered the heirloom tomato and goat cheese salad, the sardines and a special smoked trout dish. The portions were very generous, and 2 appetizers would have been plenty for the three of us. All were delicious. The tomato salad was very simple, but elegant -- the tomatoes were peeled -- you don't see that in too many places. Then for the mains we ordered the whole roasted sea bream, wild Alaskan salmon, and a halibut dish. The sea bream, which is served whole and unboned, was delicious, although a bit overcooked. The skin was nice and crispy, and the seasoning, which seemed to be just salt, pepper and slices of lemon inside the fish, was perfect. The fish was big enough that I ate only half of it and took the rest home. The salmon, on the other hand, was cooked to the right degree of doneness but was a bit bland and unexciting. The halibut was consumed too quickly for me to get a taste. Compared with the sea bream, the salmon and halibut portions seemed small or at best average. As a side dish, we had the fava beans, chanterelles and pistachios, which was delicious, and again, plenty to share among three people. I agree with some other comments about the side dishes being pricey. I'd rather have smaller, individual portions for less money, which I think would make it easier to order several side dishes. I would have liked to try the french fries and some other sides but it would have been too much food/money. I'm also not that keen on the family style service. It seems to create more work/expense by requiring that each person receive a plate to eat from and a casserole or dish from which the food is served, plus, the separate side dishes, and as I mentioned, some of the portion sizes of the entrees just seemed a bit small for that kind of service. It just struck me as a bit gimmicky. My impression was that the cooking is designed to be very simple, without heavy sauces or other embellishments, in order to allow the pure flavors of really fresh ingredients to shine. I think that backfired with the salmon, but worked well with most of the other dishes. For dessert -- apple tart and vanilla ice cream. The ice cream was very good, but the tart was just okay, not too special. There were other desserts that sounded really good -- peach ice cream stands out in my mind -- but we were all so full that we decided to share one (large) tart. The wine list was quite intriguing -- lots of things I'd like to try. I use a particular Rhone red as a benchmark to see if the list is expensive or not, and several of the selections did seem a little pricier than I have seen in other restaurants, but there do seem to be some well priced wines. We had a Domaine Weinbach Gewurtraminer which was fabulous and quite reasonably priced. There also seemed to be a good selection of reasonably priced pinot noirs. The service was quite good. Everyone was attentive, friendly, professional, accommodating -- and lots of genuine looking smiles. All in all a very good experience. For me, it is definitely worth a repeat visit to try other dishes -- here we stuck to fish so will try some of the meat dishes next time.

Just for the record, bulgogi is not supposed to be spicy. Maybe they have hot sauce if you like more spice.

The website for the Park Hyatt does not have a menu posted yet. Is anyone with "connections" able to do that yet? Thanks.

In the Post food section this week, Walter Scheib, former chef at the White House, talked about grilling and provided a recipe for ribs. He said that he simmers the ribs until tender, and then puts them on the grill and bastes with BBQ sauce for a few minutes on each side with the grill covered. Do others here use that technique? I have never grilled a rack of ribs and was thinking of trying his recipe for Father's Day. At Whole Foods, baby back pork ribs were about $6.99 or $7.99 a pound.