ScotteeM

Georgetown Farms used to offer an 80/20 mix of odd cuts to be used for ground beef. I wonder if any farms in the area now are offering that? I also recommend the meat grinder (mine is a Kitchen Aid attachment) over the food processor, for better texture. The FP will do in a pinch, but if you're really serious about burgers, a grinder is a good idea (much better tasting than already-ground beef in the supermarket). Um, I did. Actually, Canada is so different from the US that I wouldn't even consider calling it "America Jr.". One thing Canada is known for, particularly western Canada, and especially the province of Alberta, is beef. Been there, had that, and it was fantastic! Carpaccio in Edmonton--yum!

OK, I really don't get out much! I did go over there today, and enjoyed the larger space. The fish looked good, although I don't know why they offer "sushi" tuna and salmon prepackaged in plastic wrap, with no way for the shopper to assess its actual freshness. Just about everything else in the fish section is accessible and very fresh looking. Now, if they just had wild-caught Alaskan salmon . . . I came home with lemons, limes, fresh thyme, and quail eggs.

Yesterday in my meanderings I noticed a new-looking Super H-Mart on Route 50, just east of Kamp Washington, where the SuperFresh was a few years ago. I think it's across the street from Paul VI High School. Has anyone been there? It must be bigger than the H-Mart in Merrifield, if I remember the building correctly. I think I'll head over there in a few and check it out.

You would be correct: it was freakin' delicious. Not the least bit incongruous, or trite. The fragile, quivering egg yolk resting atop the slice of sausage (banger), barely concealed by the white: just the slightest resistance to my fork as I pierced it, then collapse as the viscous yellow liquid flowed slowly down the sides of the sausage, over the tiny edge of mashed potato, onto the plate. That's good eats, and not the least bit trite!

I enjoyed this Saturday night as my first course in the Tasting Room. I loved the poached quail egg on top. The whole thing was thoroughly decadent and delicious!

I take your point. My recollection is that I have been served some excellent Italian wines on several visits to Maestro. Vincent seems troubled by serving us the same wines as we had on previous visits, so he does try to change them up, which challenges the limits of his by-the-glass list. Don, it might be fun to have a chat with Vincent, if he were willing, about the challenges of selecting and maintaining a winelist in a restaurant where the menu changes so frequently, and about matching wine pairings to Fabio's dishes.

The menu changes frequently, depending on what fresh ingredients are available at the time. Suckling pig is something of a seasonal ingredient. Fabio eschews frozen products, except for some that are flash frozen in a few seconds. In general, he has contracts with local producers to grow certain meats especially for Maestro. When we went on 6/17, the menu on the website did not have the suckling pig, nor most of the dishes we enjoyed. Now the website does include a few of them. Although the website menu for Maestro is updated more often than many similar websites, what is on the website is only an example, and may not accurately reflect the menu on any given day. Some items, like the Scottish prawns (and Scottish Langostines) are not on the menu on a daily basis. Those are flown in and served the same day they arrive, due to their short shelf life. In fact, Fabio told those of us who attended his seafood cooking class that he usually receives Scottish Langostines on Wednesdays. They are on the menu Wednesday evening, and if they're not all sold at dinner, the staff finishes them off at midnight. As I mentioned in my write-up, many things that look familiar on the menu may be so different from previous iterations that they're almost an entirely new dish. The Buffalo mozarella is a good example: it is paired with ingredients that vary according to season and availability. The Crudo or Mozaico also changes, even if the change is as subtle as a different type of lemon used.

The other morning I awoke from a beautiful dream: I was at Maestro, at a large table populated by folks I love. It was the only table occupied, and we were basking in the glow of the food and attention. We were enjoying a beautifully roasted suckling pig. The suckling pig is a happy memory of an actual dinner there two weeks ago. The reality was just my husband and myself at a table with a view of the kitchen. The restaurant was busy, but the service made us feel as if we were their only patrons. From Fernando's warm greeting and look of concern when Pilar led us to a different table than our usual (but a very nice table), to Jean's caring and patient service (we like to take our time), to Vincent's deft wine pairings and cheerful conversation, to Emanuele's happy chat about the World Cup game just ended (US v Italy), we were treated like good friends visiting their home. We decided to let Fabio lead the way up the mountain that night, with no restrictions or preferences expressed. The result was truly an epiphany for us both. Items that we might not have chosen ourselves revealed the strengths of this kitchen: the dedication to fresh, high-quality ingredients, precise cooking, and appropriate order and pacing of courses. We started with an appetizer that was not on the menu: two large Scottish prawns, grilled on the outside and very rare inside, sprinkled with chives, chive blossoms, and baby lettuce, finished with a shot of chili-spiked prawn broth from a test tube. My scribbled notes say "out of body experience," which it was. That set the tone for the rest of the meal: clean, fresh, often raw ingredients and lots of surprising twists. The signature "Mosaico" has been transformed, and appears now on the menu as a Crudo: ours was 3 cubes of Ahi tuna & Niaragi, each topped with Sorrento lemon, set in sorrel (?) sauce with baby herbs and chive blossoms. The lemon was just enough tartness to accentuate the soft sweetness of the pristine raw fish. I think the wine in our glasses was the 2004 Domaine Weinbach Alsace Riesling from Collette Faller. Beef carpaccio followed, wrapped around tofu, topped with duxelles quenelles and poached quail egg, set in puddles of aged balsamic vinegar, with parmesan tuille. Normally we rule this dish out, figuring we've had it before and there's so much more to try, but we had it tonight, and it was unbelievably good. Vincent paired this with glasses of 2004 Gruener Veltleiner Antone Bauer Grande Reserve, a white wine with an undertone of white pepper--a great match! We continued with that wine as we enjoyed scallop tartare topped with champagne sabayon. This is another dish that is never the same twice and is always a delight. It has taken me a long time to truly appreciate scallops, and Fabio has allowed me to embrace raw scallops now as a favorite fish. Soft-shell crab tempura, squash blossom tempura, green garlic "cappucino", "Rasti" (?) sauce. Wow--a whole crab, perfectly fried, cut in half and set on end, legs waving. [Hmmm: prawns, crudo, carpaccio, scallop . . . we must have missed the pasta course because the crab surely is our fish course.] Even though I have made squash blossoms following Fabio's recipe, his are so much better. Vincent paired this course with a half-bottle of 2001 J. Drouhin Beaune Clos des Mouches (white). That was a very special wine. When sauternes glasses were set on the table, we guessed the next course would be foie gras--OK, out of order on the menu, but reasonable to follow the previous courses because of its richness. Seared foie gras on a fried ravioli stuffed with duck confit, cherry sauce and pitted fresh cherries, paired with 1999 Bastar-Lamontaigne Sauternes. I felt myself sinking into a happy food coma. Vincent next poured 2000 Montbrison Bousquet Margaux. [That surely signalled the coming of the meat course, right? Not!] With that, we enjoyed Marubini with toasted almonds, morels, & truffle shavings, a refreshing and rich counterpoint to the foie. Our waiter, Jean, next set the table not with the dessert spoons we expected but with fish knife and fork. Vincent came by and poured 2004 Elizabeth Spencer Pinot Noir, and when we said that didn't look like preparations for dessert, he laughed wickedly and said, "You have a long way to go before dessert." Jean served us wild-caught turbot, topped with chanterelles, with a red wine sauce. A good-sized portion of perfect, moist fish and earthy mushrooms, we basked in the luxuriousness of this dish. Jean refreshed our palates with a spoonful of grapefruit sorbet and then set the meat course in front of us: 36-hour roasted suckling pig & head cheese, garnished with lovely purple sage blossoms. The tiny rib chops were at once golden and crisp, and moist and pink, and the head cheese, our first, was richly soothing--more comfort food. Vincent matched that with 2003 LaHaute Combe Gigondas. Of course we had the pre-dessert of lychee pannacotta, this time with a limoncella gelee on top. Then for dessert I had an artist's palette of sorbets: mango, pear, coconut, tangerine, and berry, and husband had Sicillian cannoli & vanilla milkshake. It's not only the excellence of the food, but also the ordering of the courses, that moves from lighter to richer, gently leading us up the trail to the top of the mountain. Grazie, Fabio!

No, not forever, just since I left Philly, more than 30 years ago.

I've done a little reading about the history of the cheesesteak and the history of Cheese Whiz, and I realize that the main reason why I'm not familiar with the latter on the former is that I am old, and I left Philadelphia before the latter became really popular on the former. Probably a good thing.

Lots of wonderful things at the Burke Farmers Market yesterday. I came home with Cibola Farm eggs and spareribs, Blue Highland Dairy whole milk, cream, and cream cheese, red and green tomatoes, and the most exquisite yellow cherry tomatoes from Hanover (?) Virginia. The first corn on the season, fresh peas and green beans, arugula, parsley, basil, rainbow chard, and fabulous peaches.

This self-respecting native Philadelphian begs to differ. I made my comments in the other thread, here.

I spent the first two-plus decades of my life in Philadelphia, and ate many cheesesteaks. I never had one with Cheese Whiz™ on it, only provolone. Granted, I wasn't in South Philly, but I was definitely within city limits. I never even heard of using Cheese Whiz™ until a couple of years ago on a Food Network infomercial.

Do you happen to know if the new restaurant will offer delivery?

Restaurant Eve--esp. lunch at the bar Maestro (more often than I care to admit) Caribou Coffee (Kings Park) Chinatown Carryout (Burke Village) San Vito (Kings Park) Pho Cyclo (Merrifield) Cafe Right Angle (in the Dewberry building on Arlington Blvd.) North China Cafe--for delivery sushi (Fairfield Park) Bangkok 54 Taqueria del Poblano Bombay Curry Company Taco Bell Popeye's I have to get out more!

Sign yourself up for Arrowwine's email list. Get yourself to their wine tasting events. When you taste something you like (or your fiancee likes), buy it! Let the folks at Arrowwine know you like it. Ask them to help you find similar wines. They want to sell you wines that you enjoy. That's how they get you to come back for more (the crafty bastards!). They will guide you to wines you will enjoy. They stock a lot of different wines that are good for a reasonable price. It's not great if you don't think it tastes good. Go out, taste, and enjoy.

Joe, As someone who has never tried an In 'n Out Burger, even when I was offered the chance (the name frightened me because I interpreted it incorrectly), thank you for sharing your essay. I think I finally get it. Beautifully written!

Thanks for sharing the pictures! And congrats to all of the winners!

This community is important to me in ways I can't express in words. I love the reviews, and the banter, and I do enjoy Landrum's posts so I always check the RTS thread for something new. Other threads that don't seem to directly affect me, I save for later. In fact, all day I've been resisting my urge to post somewhere on the board: Is everyone OK, with all the flooding? BTW, if anyone wonders, I'm OK, just can't wait for my new gutters next Monday! We've been very lucky so far. I'm also looking forward to my dinner at Restaurant Eve's Tasting Room on Saturday.

Indeed, the brunch menu looks tempting!

Last week's segment started with Fabio on the loading dock of the Ritz Carlton checking deliveries for the restaurant, and then followed him and his family on a shopping trip to Wegmans, where he talked about the importance of fresh ingredients. Sue Palka, who did the reporting in the segment, noted that he had no frozen foods in his cart. Back at home, she opened his freezer to display a few containers of homemade chicken and veal stock, and a bottle of limoncella. Tomorrow night's news will feature part two: Fabio and his staff at work in Maestro's kitchen.

Excellent work, Dan, et al.!

No worries, Escoffier! It is not easy to find! I looked it all over and reasoned that another review would bump that one down. Since I was very remiss in not writing a review on that site when I dined at RTS, I decided to write one now. One bump down. One more and it's out of sight. It's easy to forget about reviews on the WaPo site, but those are very visible. My apologies, Michael, for not thinking about writing one sooner. Thank you again for the second-class service we enjoyed at your establishment.

Yesterday's lobster bisque and pulled lamb shoulder sandwich made for a very satisfying Lickety Split. The salad du jour was skate wing, which sounded good, too.

I saw signs yesterday at Wakefield that said "Sour Cherries next week."