It's sad. I have a good Deal of the Week for this week, but I've already turned in my Table Talk column, so only readers of Dining@Large will benefit.
This Wednesday, Nov. 11, the two Ruth's Chris steak houses in the city and the one in Annapolis are offering free samples of the new $5 Prime Time menu from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
People sitting in the bar or on the patio (the weather doesn't look good for this) will get one "Prime Bite" and two glasses of wine. ...
Jacques Kelly had a good column Saturday on local foods that have vanished. These are foods that for the most part were even before my time. (I didn't move to Baltimore till I was married.)
Apropos of our discussion on organ foods, he mentions that Marconi's had three different sweetbread dishes on its menu! I hadn't remembered that.
(Sun file photo)
Just when you thought it was safe to start reading Dining@Large again...I'm not done with the 2010 trends yet.
Remember the restaurant consultants' No. 7?
#7 THEY LAUGHED WHEN WE SAID “TONGUE”: Last year, some bloggers said we’d gone bonkers by predicting that tongue – beef and veal – would be hot in 2009. Well … here’s the Offal Truth: For 2010, it’ll be tongue (including lamb) and oxtail along with beef and pork cheeks, chicken gizzards, tripe, and other innards and odd parts. “In a pig’s ear,” you say? That, too, along with trotters. Savvy chefs are using these odd parts to offset downsized portions of expensive steaks and chops. You interleave a few slices of strip steak with slices of smoked tongue; you top a petit filet mignon with a nugget of wine-braised beef cheek; you layer some oxtail ravioli over a half-size portion of New York strip and … bingo! … chefs create added interest and eye candy while lowering their food costs. ...
I have seen trotters and beef cheeks on menus around here, but not very often. Tongue, I don't think so. ...
My review of Columbia's new Mexican restaurant and tequila lounge, Azul 17, ran in yesterday's Arts & Entertainment section.
I don't have much space to review the food in print, so I didn't want to go on about my annoyance over my $9 margarita that was mostly ice. But it was annoying -- and I wasn't even paying for it. I ordered a second one and it was all ice, too.
I should do a Top 10 of places that put too much ice in their drinks. Suggestions? ...
Continue reading "Monday Morning Quarterbacking: Azul 17" »
My favorite wine blog (be prepared for quirky), is running a personalized wine pairing service for the next week. I'm hoping some of you will try it and report back here. There doesn't seem to be any charge.
This is 750 mL, which we've talked about here before. I don't read it for information about wine but because the blogger, Nilay Gandhi, expresses better than anyone I've ever read how passionate people can feel about wine; and, more importantly, some of his reviews make me laugh out loud.
(AP Photo/Mike Groll, file)
Next Sunday I review Hell Point Seafood in Annapolis.
This is the seafood restaurant that Robert Kinkead, the well-known Washington restaurateur, opened.
I've heard that he calls it "Kinkead Lite," but since I've never been to Kinkead's in DC, I had nothing to compare it to. Maybe that's a good thing.
To see what I thought of our dinner there, please look for my review in the Arts & Entertainment section. ...
Continue reading "Next Sunday's review: Hell Point Seafood" »
Now is that a cute baby or what? Our virtual friend Sean (whose wife's pregnancy we've been following here) became a father last Thursday. Here's what Sean wrote to me:
Hennessy Amanda was born on 11/5/09 at 1:56pm. 7 lbs, 13 oz., 20.5 inches long!
We're both thrilled and exhausted. We first went in to the hospital Tuesday evening, but Hennessy (no relation to the cognac - it's a family name) decided she had no interest in the outside world whatsoever. So, she didn't make her Planet Earth debut until Thursday afternoon! The amount of strength and dedication that Emily (my wife) showed in this long, painful process has completely bowled me over and was ridiculously humbling.
I can't wait until I get to start cooking for little Nessie!
Oh, Sean, if she's anything like my kid was, you may regret those final words. Unless you like cooking Oodles of Noodles.
Who knows? Pretty soon you may be seeing panko-crusted red lionfish with a sherry-Dijon beurre blanc on the menu of your favorite seafood restaurant.
The Economist is excited about the fact that the restaurant business may take care of a serious ecosystem problem.
No, I don't subscribe to the Economist. (Of course that's not my Entertainment Weekly over there.) But I have a daughter in business school who does.
According to the story, the red lionfish is an invasive predator that can gobble up 80 percent of small fish when introduced into an environment where it's not native. It's a "top predator" because it has poisonous spines, so even sharks leave it alone.
Well, it's not quite the top predator. ...
Continue reading "Save the environment: Eat red lionfish?" »
If I could, I would award every comment under The Awesomeness of Cheese post Comment of the Week. Can you have Comment Section of the Week?
But if I must limit myself to only one comment, it would have to be:
cheese is the beatles of food.
Posted by: ryan97ou | November 6, 2009 1:34 PM
How true. How simple and yet Zen-like in its wisdom. ...
One interesting thing to come out of of my post on dining trends for 2010 a few days ago was that another restaurant consultant jumped into the fray.
My finger hovered over the delete button because it felt like spam to me, but I finally decided to let the comment stay because there is some truth in what he had to say.
Or is there? I still can't quite decide. ...
So I'm sitting here trying to get some work done, and the phone rings. I pick it up and my daughter is on the other end, calling me to say she's eating a fruit and cheese plate for lunch.
"Can we talk about the awesomeness of cheese for a moment?" she asks.
Uh, no. On deadline here.
This is going to be a great blog entry, she insists. Cheese is a no-brainer. It's the kind of topic you can throw out there when you're on vacation and say, "discuss."
"How about a Top 10 Baltimore cheese shops?" she asks.
"We don't have 10 cheese shops," I say.
I don't want to be dismissive, so I add, "We did do Top 10 Cheese Plates."
Dead silence on the other end of the line.
"You have been doing that blog a long time."
(Jed Kirschbaum/Sun photographer)
I'm worried about Robert of Cross Keys. I'm afraid that associating with all the degenerate characters on this blog, including its writer, may be getting to him. Here's Robert and today's excellent Free Market Friday. EL
Right now I’m sitting in Red Emma’s -- yes, Red Emma’s. I’m trying to write my Free Market Fridays, or Fascist Fridays as my wife calls it, but it is hard to focus in here. I feel like the Jewish mother in “Fiddler in the Roof” when she goes into the Orthodox church looking for her daughter. As I sit here in my Brooks Brothers shirt and sushi tie, I truly know the feeling of being a stranger in a strange place. ...
I feel I'm being unfairly blamed in Midnight Sun Sam's lament here. Everybody knew the Park Avenue Five Guys has been closed for ages. EL
In a vain effort to dodge the terrible city traffic last night, I took Park Avenue, which took me past one of my fallback burger joints – Five Guys.
Just then, my heart stopped. I wasn't dead, though -- I was just in shock.
The Five Guys at the corner of Centre Street and Park Avenue was gone. ...
Are you ready for some buzzwords? (Sorry, my family watches a lot of Monday Night Football.)
Here are, as promised, the 25 buzzwords from international restaurant consultants Joseph Baum & Michael Whiteman Co.
Now don't go telling me there are more or less than 25. I can't figure out why they labeled them that way myself. ...
I think I better post a link to Part 2 of "100 Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do." It deserves its own entry.
I have to say, I would love to eat at a restaurant where the wait staff followed all his commands. I'm just not sure it's ever going to happen.
Some press releases I just shake my head at.
The title of the latest one in that category is "MARTHA STEWART AND RACHAEL RAY MAKE TELEVISION HISTORY BY APPEARING ON SAME SET FOR THE FIRST TIME."
The moon landing. That made television history. The last episode of "Seinfeld." Not Martha Stewart and Rachael Ray appearing on each other's shows.
Oh well, if you must know:
Martha Stewart will appear on the "Rachael Ray Show" on Nov. 12, where she will show Rachael how to create a "unique Thanksgiving centerpiece." The next day Rachael will return the favor and appear on "The Martha Stewart Show," where Martha will "show the baking-challenged Rachael how to prepare a perfect Thanksgiving Day dessert."
It sounds like Martha is having to do all the work here. ...
We've talked about gastropubs at length before, and the consensus seems to be good idea, terrible name.
But a couple of things came up just now that made me want to bring up gastropubs again.
First, scottbbfm and Lissa introduced the concept of fine-dining bars, or rather I introduced it, scottbbfm pointed it out and Lissa gave it a name I love. ...
Continue reading "Is it a gastropub? Or a bistro bar? Or..." »
Bucky sent me an e-mail earlier today that said in its entirety:
"Where does the Jazz apple rank on your list?"
I knew that this blog had introduced him to the Honeycrisp, which somehow has given me the aura of an apple expert, but I had never thought about having an apple list before. If I did it would look something like this:
1) Honeycrisp
2) Fuji
It's not that I have anything against any other varieties (except Red Delicious). It's just that I start eating those two and before I get bored with them suddenly apple season is over. ...
I got this e-mail today from a reader, which reminds me it's time to repeat myself again:
Dear Elizabeth,
Did you actually like Stoney River? I could[n't] tell from your article.
Regards,
He was talking about the item that appeared in my Table Talk column in the Taste section today. I get an e-mail like this about once a month from folks who don't realize that it's a news column where I tell about openings and closings and such, not a review. ...
Once again guest poster John Lindner has come up with a subject I wish I had thought of first. Times have really changed. My solution? I don't give dinner parties anymore. Here's John. EL
Do you host dinner parties? If so, have you ever, while planning the menu, stressed over whether your guests have food phobias, allergies, religious affliations (vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, white-meat only) or other assorted intolerances? How do you plan? Do you call them?
“Hey, any objection to roasted cute things? Tortured geese? Seared Flipper?” ...
Continue reading "Why I don't give dinner parties anymore" »
I always like getting trend reports from international restaurant consultants, first because, as you know, I'm a sucker for trends and second, these are the things that may get foisted on us in the future because restaurateurs are paying these consultants big bucks to tell them what to do next.
Anyway, here's the provocative list I got in an e-mail from Joseph Baum & Michael Whiteman Co. Inc. of the 12 top restaurant and hotel food-and-beverage trends for 2010. ...
I got word of an event this Saturday, Nov. 7, sponsored by the Historic Charles Street Association that sounds like fun.
Michelle Coiron, who is the association's executive director, says the merchants wanted something like a street fair, so the group put this together last minute.
It's called Let's Eat! Charles Street. Restaurants and bars, including Marie Louise Bistro, Sascha's, Mick O'Shea's, Lumbini, Cazbar, Maisy's, Spirits, Howard's of Mount Vernon, George's on Mount Vernon Square, El Guapito and the Helmand, will have booths. ...
I recently got this e-mail from Sturmy:
Any local restaurants/wine markets/etc holding a Beaujolais nouveau celebration this year?
I'm sure there are, but I haven't gotten any press releases yet. I'll pass the information along if I do. And maybe you would post below if you know of any. A lot of people would be interested, in spite of how mean serious wine drinkers are about the wine.
One wine critic compared drinking Beaujolais Nouveau to eating cookie dough, which seems a bit harsh but is funny. ...
When I posted an earlier entry on heart attacks on a plate, I didn't think I would get a Top 10 out of it.
But sure enough, all of you came through. I had more than enough ammunition for a Top 10 Restaurant Pig-Outs. Thanks for your suggestions.
I loved this comment by Trixie, which epitomizes the enthusiasm with which you approached this topic: ...
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