Please Introduce Yourselves

[BobbiH]

I am a lurker from Wheaton, MD who very much enjoys this forum. No professional food affiliation; just someone who loves to eat out and try different cuisines. I am dearly missing the good friend with whom I used to do so on a monthly basis who unexpectedly passed away this year. As a result I have ventured into a few "nice" restaurants as a solo diner; it is interesting to see the very different ways in which I am treated when that happens.

[meb314]

Hello all. My name is Michael. Originally from the Philadelphia area. Previously worked at Georgetown University and Vidalia. Will be starting at West End Bistro this week.

I like the Washington DC area. The food scene down here is pretty good and will only get better over the next year.

[smrtallie]

Hello,

Just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Alyse. I've been in DC for 4 years now but I'm originally from the South. I currently work as a cook at Granville Moore's and I also write for DCist.

I'm really enjoying the forum and love reading everyone's feedback and thoughts

[VArunner]

Hey Everyone,

My name is C.J. and I've worked either full time or part time in the service industry for the past 10 years. I've worked at most of the places you pay to go to vacation: Eastern Shore, Outer Banks, Lake Tahoe, and, well here in DC. I'm currently only working an office job, but am looking for a part time bar tending gig somewhere in the Arlington area. If anyone needs a fast, friendly, and trustworthy bartender feel free to contact me!

A few of my favorite places to eat are Vermilion, Lost Dog Cafe, that place on 18th St I had pizza a few years ago, and Vienna Inn.

[DanielK]

I guess the "post soon or get deleted" email went out over the weekend!

Welcome everyone - we all hope you post more than just your introduction, and definitely consider coming to one of our Events. We don't bite, except for what's on the plate.

[terp97]

Hi,

I've been lurking for a year or so now.

As you might have guessed from my presence on this forum, I love food - reading about food (new recipes and new restaurants), cooking and baking, dining out or in. I love to go to the neighborhood farmers' market and Trader Joe's, but loathe the grocery store. Favorite places to eat include Corduroy, Ray's (the Steaks and Hell Burger), Tabard Inn, and Majestic, but I still haven't found a good bagel or a decent NY slice (I'm an ex-Jersey girl). Other interests include running/working out (I have to burn all those extra calories somehow!), reading, drinking wine, shopping, and politics.

[beth_ct]

Hi, My name is beth and I found this site by accident, but love it. I have recently retired so hopefully will have more time to get ideas and try new places, Thanks!

[t10phoenix]

I sorta thought this site was dead, but I check it out every once in awhile just in case. Glad to see I was mistaken!

My first post on the boards so hello fellow Donners. I've been in the area 3 years now and feel like I'm just starting to get a handle on what's out there to try in DC. I go out in Chinatown a lot as I'm a Shakespeare Theater season ticket holder so I look forward to posting some reviews soon!

Cheers

[Sthitch]

I sorta thought this site was dead, but I check it out every once in awhile just in case...

My first post on the boards so hello fellow Donners.

Yup, and we have resorted to cannibalism like the other famous Donners.

[porcupine]

Yup, and we have resorted to cannibalism like the other famous Donners.

Customer: do you have a table for six?

Hostess: it'll be about 20 minutes; may I have a name?

C: Donner

[later]

H: Donner party of six, your table is ready

C: Um, we're down to five now...

A friend did this. She has a weird sense of humor.

Also:

C: do you have a table for four?

H: do you have reservations?

C: yes, but we'll eat here anyway

That was from a relative.

[sekelmaan]

Hello!

My name is Christiaan and I am a foodaholic. It has been 2 hours since my last bite and I don't know if I can make it without another.

Anyway. I just wanted to say hi and mention how pleased I am to have found this great board.

Looking forward to a lot of great foodaholic chitchat.

-C.

[goldenticket]

Julia, if I can remember your name (I am terrible at names) I will introduce myself next time I am at Notti Bianchi. It's so nice to have an Italian restaurant with good food.

DJW

You might want to try Firefly if you want to say hi to Julia She's no longer at Notti Bianche.

And welcome to you and all the other new posters!

[waldman t]

I'm a Georgetown University Cancer Researcher and major carnivore who generally usesd this site to check up on happenings at the various Ray's restaurants.

[Scott Johnston]

Welcome Waldman t!

I was at GUMC for 5 years in the 90's myself doing stints in the Department of Medicine, GUH and finally Medical Center Finance. Not much to eat on your side of the campus. Use to be a great deal at the French Embassy for 50 dollars a year to dine there, but I am sure that is long gone.

I'm a Georgetown University Cancer Researcher and major carnivore who generally usesd this site to check up on happenings at the various Ray's restaurants.

[Chris Grier]

Wow, I logged back onto this for the membership card, and was steered to this thread only to see that it was started by a friend of mine. So I'll say, hey there, ***** ******! (He's using a handle, so I'm not gonna out him.) Also, I'm still looking for someone who stocks Fee Brothers bitters and Vya vermouth to try and reproduce those killer Manhattans you made, so send me a txt, yo.

Anyhoo, I joined this a while back for the sole purpose of reading all of Michael Landrum's posts, because, in addition to being the Western Hemisphere's undisputed King Of All Things Beef, he is a damn funny man, and if I'm going to piss away my valuable time on the internet, I can't think, offhand, of a better way to do it.

To make money to afford to be able to eat Landrum's food, I write. I also do a bunch of music stuff. Also I once accidentally ran the BOH for a bistro in Melbourne, Australia, but that's a long and other story.

Righto,

cg

[porcupine]

Wow, I logged back onto this for the membership card, and was steered to this thread only to see that it was started by a friend of mine. So I'll say, hey there, ***** ******! (He's using a handle, so I'm not gonna out him.) Also, I'm still looking for someone who stocks Fee Brothers bitters and Vya vermouth to try and reproduce those killer Manhattans you made, so send me a txt, yo.

Joe Riley at Ace Beverage is my dealer will fix you up.

[DanielK]

Wow, I logged back onto this for the membership card, and was steered to this thread only to see that it was started by a friend of mine. So I'll say, hey there, ***** ******! (He's using a handle, so I'm not gonna out him.)

I don't think you'd be outing Danny, since his name is in his tagline...

[jfw]

Just posted for the first time and hope I didn't get off on the wrong foot. Anyhow...

Moved to DC in 2000. No local industry experience, but worked at restaurants (mostly on the line) in Atlanta and Seattle in the late-90s. Raised in Miami, Florida and was lucky enough to eat well during my childhood years.

Addicted to most anything Scott puts on the counter at 2Amys.

I race bicycles habitually and eat to fuel the habit.

I expect to be a more active participant going forward.

JFW

[pancit]

Hi, I'm Bob and I eat food.

I went to a very good Filipino restaurant in Gaithersburg this month. It's called "Lumpia, Pansit, atbp" which basically means "Eggrolls, Noodles, etc" in Tagalog. It's in a mall that's kind of hard to find 213 Muddy Branch Road. Phone 301/527-7788 when you get lost. The food is very fresh, the setting is pleasant, the owner is eager to please.

I also ate at Ray's the Classics, which, of course, was excellent. My mother, identified in another person's blog as the inhabitant of Salveworld, pronounced the crab imperial "excellent," and she is hard to please.

OK, am I supposed to "Upload" now?

[sunshine]

Hi, I'm Bob and I eat food.

I went to a very good Filipino restaurant in Gaithersburg this month. It's called "Lumpia, Pansit, atbp" which basically means "Eggrolls, Noodles, etc" in Tagalog. It's in a mall that's kind of hard to find 213 Muddy Branch Road. Phone 301/527-7788 when you get lost. The food is very fresh, the setting is pleasant, the owner is eager to please.

I also ate at Ray's the Classics, which, of course, was excellent. My mother, identified in another person's blog as the inhabitant of Salveworld, pronounced the crab imperial "excellent," and she is hard to please.

OK, am I supposed to "Upload" now?

Welcome Bob! Mabuhay. Craving some pancit and adobo right now.

[DonRocks]

Hi, I'm Bob and I eat food.

I went to a very good Filipino restaurant in Gaithersburg this month. It's called "Lumpia, Pansit, atbp" which basically means "Eggrolls, Noodles, etc" in Tagalog. It's in a mall that's kind of hard to find 213 Muddy Branch Road. Phone 301/527-7788 when you get lost. The food is very fresh, the setting is pleasant, the owner is eager to please.

I also ate at Ray's the Classics, which, of course, was excellent. My mother, identified in another person's blog as the inhabitant of Salveworld, pronounced the crab imperial "excellent," and she is hard to please.

OK, am I supposed to "Upload" now?

Hey, as long as we're on the subject of Tagalog, I was recently told that I was a "bututu." This means I'm a genius, right?

[extracellular]

Hi, I'm Robin and I'm a cousin of Don R, well sort of. Our mothers were close friends when we were little kids. Don's a wizard you know.

I can't say I'm a bonafide foodie but I'm interested in what kinds of food are available to us and how food is produced since I work at the Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources, part of the National Academy of Sciences (independent organization not the government).

And I eat out a lot. I live in Cleveland Park and work in Penn Quarter and in my work we are always taking groups of people out so for example I have been to Bistro D'Oc and Oya two times each this week. They are both pretty good but twice in one week? And sometimes I'm more interested in the wine list than the food. Anyway we are always looking for new places to try.

So, I look forward to learning more from you folks who make great food and people like me who love to eat it.

[DonRocks]

Hi, I'm Robin and I'm a cousin of Don R, well sort of. Our mothers were close friends when we were little kids.

Our mothers weren't just close friends when we were little kids; they were close friends when they were little kids. Many decades ago, my grandfather sold 24 acres of his farm to your grandfather. Just after your mom was born, my grandmother would walk over every day to give her a bath, sometimes with my mom tagging along.

Aunt Anne and Uncle Jim may not technically be relatives, but they've always been my aunt and uncle, and you'll always be cousin Robin to me.

[Sammy]

Hello all. I'm Sammy and since moving to DC in May have been having a wonderful time exploring the great restaurants in this city. My boyfriend is a cook and I'm an amateur foodie, and I look forward to sharing culinary adventures with you all!

[SSbrownbear]

I got one of Don's "Where are you? You never write! You never call!" emails and figured maybe it's time to delurk or get "pruned." Live up in Silver Spring and have the same relationship to fine dining that I do to cookbooks. I love to read cookbooks but am not a great cook. I love fine dining but often find my wallet limits me more to following the exploits of the good folk at Don's and Chowhound than actually being able to do it on a regular basis.

I really appreciate all the information/advice that passes through this Board. Sometimes it's almost *but not quite* like being there! Thanks!

Mark

[kevin_holland]

Retired Navy Pilot down in Southern MD. Looking forward to going up to the MO and finally eating at CityZen!

[Sthitch]

Hello all. I'm Sammy and since moving to DC in May have been having a wonderful time exploring the great restaurants in this city. My boyfriend is a cook and I'm an amateur foodie, and I look forward to sharing culinary adventures with you all!

Welcome Sammy, it is wonderful to have someone move to the city and not try and compare it to where they came from. I hope you continue enjoy the restaurants the city and area have to provide as well as reading posts on this board.

[catzcrazy]

Well finally time to post before i get kicked off the board...just love to lurk and when I need a new restaurant come looking for one here. I am a born and raised local. love to read cookbooks, am a decent cook and enjoy a find dining meal when the funds allow. Have moved state lines recently so will be checking for MD listings for good food.

Thanks for running the board

Nan

[carkuo]

Hello, I've lurked on the board for a few weeks and have found it very helpful. I've lived in the city for a few years but only recently have my friends and I made the local food scene a bigger part of our social activities. I'll try to post my thoughts on the places we'll eat at as I've found people's comments about their experiences enlightening.

Carson

[Tbombs34]

My name is Drew. I'm a DC native now living in Baltimore. While I love Baltimore, I really miss DC's restaurants, particularly the numerous good to great pizza restaurants. My wife and I love good food and she has a food blog on which she posts some of the great meals that she makes. Check it out at http://stiritupwithjackie.blogspot.com.

[grimmboo]

Submitting this introduction to avoid being pruned...

Many thanks...

[rpenovich]

i know that we all think of ourselves as an affable and approachable lot, however, i have heard from more than a few people that one’s first post can be a little intimidating to write. i think that it would come easier after an introduction.

since i have a few friends who have recently joined the board, i have been thinking about this a bit recently. therefore, i am nominating this thread as the place to say hello. all of you lurkers, members without a post, etc, feel free to drop a line or two here. say hello. i swear it gets easier after your first one.

still not sure? ok, i'll start...

good day to everyone. i am new to the board. i am danny, i manage a little italian restaurant in foggy bottom. i found this board after a friend mentioned it to me, and am very happy to be here. i hope to be an active part of this community.

thanks, don and everyone else for letting me play in your sandbox.

Hi Don--well you got me in that last pruning letter to come introduce myself. I'm a total newbie at discussion boards so not sure exactly what I'm doing. As a matter of fact, I think I just posted a blank post. Ah well, I am better cook than a social media type. My name is Rebecca Penovich and I'm a freelancer marketing and pr consultant. Formerly with Maryland Public Television, I'm specializing in entertainment and food television. Current series I'm working with is Chefs A'Field on PBS--great show about chefs, farmers, kids, where our food comes from. My job is attract corporate partners and promotional partners. Check out a clip at http://www.chefsafield.com

[gorayomd]

I too was victim to the pruning letter. My name is Danny and I admit that I'm usually just lurking. I stumbled upon the site after looking for reviews on some restaurants.

[DonRocks]

All,

That pruning letter is sent out to people who:

1) have never posted, and

2) haven't signed on in the past year

So when you see the member list down at the bottom, you can be assured that everyone has posted at least once, or signed on since November 1, 2007.

I have a question for the folks who haven't signed on in the past year: Why don't you sign in just to reference the dining guide? It's free and convenient, no? Or maybe I'm the only one who uses it?

[Ericandblueboy]

I have a question for the folks who haven't signed on in the past year: Why don't you sign in just to reference the dining guide? It's free and convenient, no? Or maybe I'm the only one who uses it?

You reference your own dining guide?

[DonRocks]

You reference your own dining guide?

All the time!

[synaesthesia]

My name is Drew. I'm a DC native now living in Baltimore. While I love Baltimore, I really miss DC's restaurants, particularly the numerous good to great pizza restaurants. My wife and I love good food and she has a food blog on which she posts some of the great meals that she makes. Check it out at http://stiritupwithjackie.blogspot.com.

Welcome! Please post to our Baltimore forum! =D and it sounds like Joe Squared Pizza might be a place for you.

[SeanMike]

Or maybe I'm the only one who uses it?

I use it occasionally. It would be cool, if possible, if new entries or modifications to it were marked by date so when it's updated I'd know where to look.

Just some idle wishing that only generates work for other people, not me...

[DanielK]

It would be cool, if possible, if new entries or modifications to it were marked by date so when it's updated I'd know where to look.

If you use the "View New Posts" function, whenever Don updates the Dining Guide, the region he updates will appear in the list of new posts.

[hippiechick]

Hello all, I feel like you're familiar names since I've been intermittently lurking for about a year. I was in Singapore till a couple of months ago, when I moved back to Fairfax.

I love to cook and to eat. I'm looking forward to a chance to participate in these great discussions.

When it's not about food, I teach art. I love to travel and do so any chance I get. For all that I've been around the world several times, I'm planning my first trip to New York City this Christmas.

Many thanks for the tips to come.

[davejbaum]

Hi, my name is David. I'm a lawyer living in Arlington. My wife and I use to eat out very frequently (4 to 5 nights a week) but now with a toddler and an infant at home, it's more like 2 or 3 times a month, if that. I'm generally just a lurker, however, have found the sight to be very useful in finding the right places for those limited nights out.

[thepin]

Hi, my name is robert. I've been exploring food in DC for the past 4 years. Big fan of this site, thought I'd finally post.

[kostato]

Hi, my name is Kosta and up till now I've been input only trying to take in all I can get on the food scene here in DC so here is my first post. I am a cube warrior that fantasizes about escaping the nerd factory and opening a bike-shop/pizzeria/cafe. Given the current state of the world, that will have to wait until better financial times. I love to cook and have had a CSA share with Great Country Farms for the past two seasons. I try to be creative with veggies and have my own Iron Chef based on whatever is in the box for the week. I also love making my own Neapolitan pizza and intend to build a backyard oven, as soon as I have my own back yard. Bike racing is the other pursuit that brings out my inner Walter Mitty, fancying myself a super-domestique fetching bottles and chasing breakaways, whereas in reality I am a middling competitor in the lower-tier of amateurs. The primary benefit is being able to eat as much of whatever I want.

Anyway, I look forward to being part of this forum and finding further inspiration for cooking and dining.

[sphychn]

My name is Sophy ... and I am an addict....

I first recognized that I have a problem when, upon arriving at the Madrid airport, I rushed off the airplane to buy a jamon iberico sandwich while half a saucisson sec sandwich, which I had purchased at the airport in Paris just a few hours before, waited in my purse. Final confirmation came when I asked, aloud, in the Madrid airport whether it would be possible to consume an entire leg of jamon iberico in the two days we would spend in Madrid. (The answer, apparently, was "no." So the following summer we went back to Spain--Barcelona, this time--where I consumed jamon iberico the way that locals consume ice cream.)

P.S. The jamon iberico now available here in the U.S. is rubbish.

[blueluce]

Hello, My name is Douglas. Native Washingtonian and Aussie dog lover hence the Blue (merle) and Luce aussie dogs of past. Just a food lover in dc...trying to stretch that dollar. Thanks

[WestD21]

...my name is HOV!

...ok, not really. Greetings to all, looking forward to good discussion and restaurant tips from the website.

From the DC area, recent favorites of mine are:

1. Pete's Apizza. - I grew up in Connecticut, after all. The fact that they have a pizza called "Staven" is worth the trip (that's "East Haven" pronounced in the local accent, for those of you NOT from the area.)

2. Sonoma, Penn Ave, SE. Great wine. Great atmosphere. Especially upstairs.

3. Oyamel. Does guac get any better?

4. Zola. Best service I've had in DC all year. Surprisingly good food. Love it.

[terranova]

Hi

My name is Rob, I moved to Arlington from Baltimore in August of 2000. I found the food to be better down this way and have since become something of a closet foodie. I think I stumbled upon don rockwell, oddly enough, looking for some crabs, I ended up going to dc fish market. Great to see this area is only getting better and more diverse in terms of food choices.

Looking forward to the great chatter on the boards. And collecting my discount card Oh and btw , taste of the nation tickets are discounted to $75 through 12/31, went last year and thought it was a good time, hope this is a decent charity.

[DonRocks]

I think I stumbled upon don rockwell, oddly enough, looking for some crabs

You've come to the right place. Welcome!

[inuyaki]

Hi, I'm Arnold. I live in the SF Bay Area and have a food blog (www.inuyaki.com). I first found this forum last year when I was Googling around for some sous vide information. I should really come back more often.

I came back today because I was looking for information on how to cook the deckle/calotte from a rib roast and found a thread here. I'm thinking of breaking down a rib roast so that I can sous vide the calotte and then oven roast the ribeye...or I might sous vide both. Not sure yet, but I've got a few more days till Christmas eve. :-)

Happy Holidays!

[grover]

Hi, I'm Arnold. I live in the SF Bay Area and have a food blog (www.inuyaki.com). I first found this forum last year when I was Googling around for some sous vide information. I should really come back more often.

I came back today because I was looking for information on how to cook the deckle/calotte from a rib roast and found a thread here. I'm thinking of breaking down a rib roast so that I can sous vide the calotte and then oven roast the ribeye...or I might sous vide both. Not sure yet, but I've got a few more days till Christmas eve. :-)

Happy Holidays!

Arnold, welcome aboard! You have a very interesting alias.