how about haunted locations? Those places where restaurants seem to come and go. (Although I had an editor once tell me I was overusing this bit.)
I don't know that such a list would be useful, but it could be fun, and the good news, is that, in some cases (Sammy's Trattoria, Tark's), the curse appears to have been lifted.

gorelick, I think we've already covered those cursed locations in this blog in the past.

A variation on the duck might be, "top 10 interesting poultry (but not chicken or turkey) dishes available locally".

how about creepy foods? remember how people would peel grapes and use them as eyeballs? that kind of stuff. dirt cake with the fake jelly worms really creeps me out.

"Top Ten Dishes you don't want to share with Donald or Daffy."

gorelick -- Dahlink is correct. EL and the Sandbox have already been there, done that.

I knew it sounded familiar....:-)

One of my suggestions as a top ten? How am I going to remain indignant and unappreciated? I can't create in a supportive environment. Good day. I said good day. I need to pick a fight with someone on the arbitrage blog.

I'm not one of the 12 who would be interested--duck, goose, GACK!--but if you are just looking for a headline, how about Top Ten Foods That Came With A Bill Before They Were Served.

To help the Other Feathered Bird:
Sandbox Sandbox Sandbox Sandbox Sandbox Sandbox Sandbox Sandbox Fashion Forward blond kid Sandbox Sandbox Sandbox Sandbox

Nice title, Bucky.

Good one, Bucky!

Please...Tarks has not even been open for a year. Have been 3 times will never go back and most of the people I talk to have said the same. Now if you don't care about food and just going for the scene then it is fine

LOL still jealous of my smart and sassy toddler wear? I have a high school prom picture that would rock your world.

omg wrote: I have a high school prom picture that would rock your world.

Your mission, Bourbon Girl, should you decide to accept it, is to retrieve said picture. As always, should you or any of your D@L Force be caught or killed, the Sandbox will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This blog will self-destruct in five seconds. Good luck, B.G.

Bourbon Girl - re: the mission that hmpstd so secretly communicated. You get the picture, send it to EL with instructions that she send it to me and I'll devote a Friday guest blog entry to it.

Pull it off and there's a bottle of "over-rated Maker's" in it for you. (Ask PCB Rob. I keep these promises.)

Bourbon Girl,
Bucky is correct. If you successfully complete the mission, Bucky will certainly provide the stated reward. And it will be tasty too!

Mission accepted with caveat that I am loyal to the OMG, so no deception or theft on my part. He is going to have to give it up willingly. Which means I will have to use my superpowers... if I succeed, I think it's worth not only a bottle of that trendy stuff but also a Rocky Mountain snack to go with it, yes?

Silly rabbis, bourbon girls are not for tricks. Despite our spirited squabbling, BG is a loyal to me (and I to her) as the moon to the earth, as an s orbital electron is to its nucleus, as khaki is to mufti. No blog can break our bond. But give it a shot. No prom picture will ever appear. It's sitting right between my gun cabinet and my fish tank. She can do what she likes with it.

P.S. Top that for off the cuff metaphors d'amour Sr. Neruda.

Bourbon Girl - Done.

Owl Meat - you have a gun cabinet?

Both of you - no tricks. I live three house away from a forensics guy who works for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. So I'll be giving him the prom picture and the Sandbox picture and having him use his science stuff to make sure they are the same person.

Distance does not make you safe Bucky. And now we have to eliminate your neighbor first.

My gun cabinet is only for stuff I use every day. I keep the rest of my arsenal in an underground bunker.

Did I mention how much we love to watch Dexter?

Silly me ... tuning in to the blog in hopes of finding some interesting duck dishes! Now I'm wondering if a big ol' gun cabinet on my front porch would be both a deterrent to crime and give me some extra pantry space.

Owl has a gun cabinet?

And my guess is the Owl is a crack-shot sniper. So run from your car in a zig-zag to your house.

so what does duck taste like?

so what does duck taste like?

It tastes like chicken.

(It doesn't actually, but I couldn't resist.)

Duck tastes like chicken that was fattened up on used motor oil.

It's greasy and there isn't any white meat (I don't think; I don't remember any).

There isn't enough ketchup or Worcestershire sauce in the world...

Fl Rob, I too would like to know. I've had Chinese roast duck which tastes to me almost identically to spare ribs. I know other types of duck certainly have a totally different flavor, but wouldn't know as I've never even seen it other than Chinese roast duck on a menu!

Depends on how it is cooked, PCB Rob. Also, if it is domestic duck or wild duck.

Most of the duck I've eaten was hunted and cooked by a former boss of mine. He'd go shooting at lunch, come back and dress the birds at the staff break table, then, a few days later, it'd be duck breast a l'orange for everyone, or something like that.

Folks stopped complaining about the blood and guts in the staff room after they ate his duck.

His duck was neither too fatty nor too dry, nor was it gamy. I'm having a hard time describing it, perhaps because it has been too many years, perhaps because Fred could have made a pair of Adidas taste better than the best thing you'd ever had.

From what he said, it was, like most game, a bit tricky. You have to know how to cook it. So, I wouldn't order duck at Applebee's.

Well done duck tastes alot like dark meat turkey. Rare duck tastes alot like rare beef. I love it both ways. As far as restaurants the only place in the Baltimore region I have eaten duck is at Jesse Wong's in Hunt Valley where they have a very good Peking Duck. I suggest those wanting to try duck go to Wegman's and buy a fresh breast to cook to no more than medium rare in very hot stainless steel or cast iron skillet and then buy the leg and thigh confit and heat it slowly until warmed through and the skin gets nice and crispy. No sauces for either one. Pair both with southern French red wines such as Clape's Cornas, Domaine Tempier's Bandol, Chave's Hermitage, or Flaury's St. Joseph. If you are limited by a budget get Kermit Lynch's Cote Du Rhone. A good Petite Sirah from CA (Concannnon and Boyle are good budget choices while Stags Leap is good if price is no object) will also work.

I agree with EEL completely. I like to marinate a duck breast (or not) and then sear it on a super hot cast iron pan. I like it rare. The skin is essential. I slice the whole breast and eat it like a steak. It's a beautiful thing. If all you've ever had is sliced duck in smoething Chinese, you are completely missing the deal. The character of a well cooked duck with all the parts is great too, but very different. That's more umami and grounding; rare seared breast is exciting and elevating. One swims, one flies.

I am not sure if this has been done yet...but how about Top 10 Best Bread Baskets. My husband and I both love bread and if a restaurant has great bread if can a lot of times make up for other minor deficiencies.

Just got an email from Victoria Gastro Pub in Columbia. Among other specials for Thanksgiving they are having "Roast Duck Breast,
Quince Port Wine Jus, Haricot Vert, and Celeriac Potato Gratin." Personally, I hope they will serve more than one Haricot Vert.

I just realized this isn't Top Ten Things I Make At Home. I love the duck at Rocco's Capriccio. Boubon Girl still isn't convinced that there are ducks in Italy. I'm not sure how to prve that. Anyway, Rocco makes a delicious sauce for the duck, a red wine reduction of some sort. He won't reveal the exact ingredients, but it is delicious. No bones, just slices of duck. He varies the sauce from time to time. It's a slightly moving target of yum.

Sì, La Ragazza del Bourbon, là è anatre in Italia.

Yes, Bourbon Girl, there are ducks in Italy.

One doesn't expect duck at an Italian place, but OMG is right about the simple fantastic-ness of that duck entree at Rocco's Cappricio - I tasted it and it was sublime, and I'm not even all that into duck.

Most recently, I had a filet with a simple wine mushroom sauce and it was very good, steak was cooked as ordered, the wine sauce was heaven, and mushrooms were fresh.

And it came with perfectly-cooked vegetables. And some pasta. (I think steak should come with potatoes, but I'm willing to let that go I guess if I'm at an Italian place. It was good pasta).

I also tasted some of OMG's special one night, some kind of fish (help me out here, sweetheart), and it was cooked perfectly and the sauce was also sublime-brilliant, delicate but also very tasty, it was one of the best fish dishes I have tasted in a long time.

In short, Rocco's is a gem. They don't advertise that I can tell and they don't seem to have their own little bus to pick up hotel guests, but that turns out to be a good thing if you want to have a cozy little itlay experience without being overwhelmed by tourists.

We go there often. I would have killed him for even mentioning the place online (who wants their secret good places to be more crowded??) but we have our ways of getting a table anyway...

It was red snapper. I would normally never order something that simple-sounding but Chef Rocco frequently surprises me with some brilliant take on somethng simple. Yeah, maybe I should keep our special places secret, but what the hell.

You might want to head back to Rocco's quite soon if you liked the red snapper. Heard on TV today that the season to catch them (at least here) ends on Friday.

If you have a copy of Paula Wolfert's The Cooking of Southwest France lying around, try the wonderful recipe for Duck Breasts with Port Wine Sauce (Magret de Canard Poêlé au Porto). The sauce is a wonderul reduction of port, orange juice, stock, and cream.