ScotteeM

I work in veterinary medicine, where the topic of another type of . . . um . . . stool is of constant concern in great detail. This thread title gives me pause, and probably should have been "The Discomfort of Barstools".

Three of my Irish/Celtic cookbooks offer recipes for Brotchan Foltchep, which is a leek and oatmeal soup--looks tasty and traditional, though I haven't tried it. A parsnip soup, or leek and potato, would also fit the bill, although none contains Guinness or whiskey among the ingredients. Oysters are popular in Ireland as they are here, and might be freshly shucked or cooked in a stew, among other preparations. Steamed mussels are also consumed in Ireland, and you could conceivably steam them in Guiness, I suppose. My more modern cookbook has a beautiful recipe for a salad of pears with Cashel blue cream sauce and walnuts. Click here or here for some more information and recipes. I also highly recommend an oven thermometer. Every oven I've used has been a little bit different, and you'll get better results if you know the actual temperature and can adjust it, rather than relying on the controls.

Atholl Brose is a tasty Celtic beverage. I had the pleasure of a taste or two at a local Celtic-themed dinner a while back. This recipe is from my copy of Celtic Folklore Coooking, by Joanne Asala: 3 cups uncooked oatmeal 8 oz honey 1 cup cold water 2 pints whiskey Stire together the oatmeal, honey, and cold water. When they are thoroughly mixed, slowly add the whiskey. Stir briskly until the mixture foams. Bottle and cork tightly in sterilized containers. After a day or two remove the cork, strain the mixture, and toast your friends with a hearty slainte agus saol agat! Health and long life to you!

OK, it's Wednesday night. Anyone ready to spill?

I wasn't there last night, so I can't speak to anyone's specific experience. However, I think that we all can appreciate the difference between preparing and serving meals in a restaurant where that preparation and service is staggered, and preparing and serving a banquet, such as the dinners last night and tonight, and other such large group events. At the Maestro dinner, where 16 of us feasted in the private dining room, the wait between courses was a bit longer than it usually is for typical diners in the restaurant. That was OK. We understood. The food was worth waiting for. I heard no complaints. With 50-odd folks dining all at once, I wouldn't expect every table to receive the food simultaneously. I don't know the kitchen, but I'd be willing to bet that they don't have space available to do 50 platings simultaneously, so I would guess that they plated in waves and served it as it was available. As for the glasses being cleared erroneously, that was probably an honest mistake. I think the folks who paid for wine pairings were noted on their nametags, and there may have been a breakdown in communications about that, or nametags might not have been clearly visible. In any case, it hardly seems like a huge deal--I'm sure the glasses were returned and the wine poured when the error was pointed out. The point of these dinners is not to judge the service--it will be different than on a normal night. The point is to enjoy great food and wine, and the company of other like-minded souls. There are bound to be glitches at any event, and I've experienced some major ones recently, but I didn't allow those glitches to spoil my enjoyment of the food or the company. Had those glitches happened to me as a "regular" diner, however, I would have complained.

I am so jealous! I'm home with the flu and won't be able to make it to Corduroy tonight! I'm sending my husband and a friend with orders for a full report upon their return! I hope everyone has a great time, and at 7:00 I'll raise my glass of juice and toast "To Rocks"!

The Americans with Disabilities Act would cover the situation of someone unable to stand being made to wait for a table without adequate seating. While a business owner may be excused from physical alterations to the property to accommodate persons with disabilities if it would adversely affect the business (e.g., if cost is prohibitive), the cost for reserving one table for a party with a member who has difficulty standing would not adversely affect the business, and might come under the pervue of the ADA--one would have to check with the office in Rockville for clarification. That being said, I would hope that management would not have concurred with the denial of the reasonable request. This seems like a reasonable request. The person with a disability simply has to state that s/he has a disability and needs the accommodation--no proof or certification is required.

Tonight: Pollo Al Limono (1) Ravanelli Glassani [both from my new Silver Spoon cookbook] Creamy Polenta Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Saint-Georges Domaine Robert Cevillon 1996 Tomorrow: Lasagna [from the back of a pasta box]

My husband just came home from a week-long visit with his family in Denver (his dining report will be published), and dragged home a copy of The Silver Spoon for me. He said he'd been in Tattered Cover one day and there was a huge pile of the book, and the next day when he went back to buy it, there were only two copies left, both slightly nicked (I can't see it). I'm hoping to try something from the book tonight. The layout is simple and easy to follow. The photos are very appealing. Some of the ingredients are listed, described, or measured differently than the US standards (4 cups bottled tomatoes, strained; 2-1/2 cups ground meat) but there's room in the margins to make notes. My husband said it really appealed to him because of the attention paid to sweetbreads recipes. That's one of his criteria for a good cookbook. Fine with me! It does appear to be a comprehensive volume, at 1150 pages of recipes (not counting introduction and index) and more than 2,000 recipes.

I'll add my welcome, Drive-By! As you can see, when a new message is added to a thread, it gets sent to the front of the queue and marked for all of us to see. You do raise some good points. As has been said in this group before (and elsewhere), if the problem can be fixed at the time it occurs, it is important for the customer to bring it to the attention of those who can fix it. In the case of smoke wafting from the bar, one could try asking to be moved to a table that is further away from the bar. It might or might not help, but it might at least bring the problem to the attention of the restaurant in a polite way. I wouldn't assume that the designers thought about and dismissed this potential problem. I work in another industry--in a client-service business which just moved from one building to another 8 months ago. The "new" building was actually an existing office building that was remodeled and built out to the business owners' specifications. Unfortunately, the architect(s)/designer(s) missed a few very basic issues in their build-out specs that have had a profound effect on our functionality. These involve heating and air conditioning (my lobby area can go from 66 to 80 degrees in less than an hour, and vice-versa) and an elevator that sat unused for several years and needed more maintenance after we opened to remain functional than anyone anticipated. Management is now struggling to correct these and other design oversights. Some of the building problems can be mitigated. Perhaps the bar's ventilator needs servicing and isn't performing up to par the night you're there. If you and other patrons mention it, management might be prompted to have it serviced. That being said, I agree with Raisa. In some cases, I'm willing to give a restaurant another try, particularly if others seem to have more positive experiences. But if it is a high-end place and I have less than a high-end experience, I am going to be more reluctant to give it another chance, regardless of others' experience. And there are some things that are hard to complain about at the time. These include the perception that one is receiving service that is inferior to that received by other patrons. A couple of years ago, my landmark birthday celebration at one of the city's top fine-dining restaurants was marred by such service. We arrived promptly for our 6 pm reservation to be told they weren't yet open, and we were asked to wait upstairs in the bar. We sat within sight of the desk, but no one even looked our way, and we only knew they were ready for us when several other parties entered and were seated. The food was good and ok by turns, and the wine service was downright patronizing--I didn't need an unsolicited lecture on the island of Madeira--I've been there, thank you! Maybe we were there on a bad night, but for that kind of money, we prefer to return where the service is gracious and welcoming and the food and wine service include almost nothing below excellent on the first visit. First impressions can be very important at that level. This website is a great forum for constructive criticism, as many members of the industry do participate and truly want to provide the best dining experience possible.

The Clarendon WF is much better in terms of stocking than the Springfield location (which does have surface parking). My husband especially likes their meat counter. I've not bought fish there, not because I thought they were bad, but it wasn't what I wanted when I was there. The Springfield location is undergoing remodeling, so maybe they'll soon be up to par, or at least a little closer, to the other area locations when it's completed. I still wish WF would consider a Fairfax or Annandale location for the near future.

I managed to find The Italian Store today on my run between Alexandria and North Arlington. I was not disappointed. Actually, that's a bit of an understatement. I took my number, and waited maybe 15 minutes--long enough to rummage around among their "grocery" items and find a few things to take home. When it was my turn, I ordered a large Philly with everything except hot peppers (maybe next time I'll ask for 1 or 2). A small probably would have done, but I happily consumed the whole large sandwich. There were 3 or 4 kinds of meat on the roll, and provolone, as well as shredded lettuce, onions, pickled sweet peppers, oil & vinegar dressing, and oregano--oh yeah, and tomatoes. It was the closest I've tasted to the hoagies of my childhood in Philadelphia, several decades ago. I think the ones I remember might have had a little more oregano on them, but otherwise, it was so close that it transported me 150 miles north and many years back in time. It was warm and sunny enough for me to enjoy my lunch at one of their outside tables--a perfect lunch break on an otherwise tiring day. Rocks, I know you suggested I call ahead, and I even had the menu from their website in the car. But the wait wasn't bad, and I wanted to browse anyway. After I finished my sandwich, I went back in and bought a package of pasta with white clam sauce from the refrigerator for tomorrow's lunch, some squid ink pasta, 2 kilos of Tipo 00 flour, and a kilo of Trapani sale. I'll have to find some good excuses to go back to that part of town soon!

Today I stopped at The Italian Store for lunch, and of course they have Tipo 00 flour, among other things. I now have 2 kilos.

I'm leaving Old Town Alexandria at about 12:30 today, and have an appointment in North Arlington at 2:20. I'm planning my route so I'll arrive at the Italian Store at about 1:00, and I should have time to wait in line and enjoy a sub before heading further down Route 29.

On my day "off": Wegmans brand uncured bacon, wheat "French" bread from Safeway toasted in the pan after the bacon, with holes cut out in the middle. Each hole filled with an egg: one Ameraucasa and one Rhode Island Red. And black coffee.

Your short ribs sound great! I bought my jar of BTB at Whole Foods, and I've seen it there since.

Mike, I've not used it myself, but I've used other herbs from Frontier Coop. They do offer licorice root on their website. What book are you using? HTH!

Coho salmon burger with lemon thyme (from WF in Alexandria), sauteed asparagus & shiitake mushrooms, and sliced polenta with pine nuts.

I hope this will lead to another recipe collection!

Looks like one outlet is behind the times just a little.

Raisa, I've only been to Bombay Curry Company three times, but I've always had wonderful service. I'm so sorry your experience wasn't similar. The good thing about a forum like this is that when the proprietors are paying attention, as BBhasin is in this case, problems like that get addressed and corrected.

Be still my beating heart! That would be Merrifield, wouldn't it?

Here's the menu for Fortune Restaurant. If no one else is familiar with it or near enough to Seven Corners to do recon, I'll try to drive by one day and see exactly where it is. I think it's in one of the large shopping centers right there on Route 50, just east of Seven Corners. It's close to the Eden Center, if that helps.

Oh boy, did I get lost! Well, not lost exactly. I was right there. But I couldn't find the restaurant to save my life. I even called the restaurant and could only get a vague description of where it is. I walked around till I was frozen, and then tried driving around, till I wound up on Lynn St. going the wrong way! I thought I knew right where it was, because I used to work in Rosslyn and used to get lunch from that restaurant once or twice a week. But it's not where I remember it being (neither are a lot of other things around there). That'll teach me! I usually do Mapquest AND take my ADC book with me, and I didn't even have the street address written down this time. I'm going to take a hot bath and daydream about the food I missed. I ended up at the Whole Foods in Alexandria munching wood-grilled pizza, which was good, but not the same.

I just called my sister, who lives in Norristown, PA. She suggested the William Penn Inn, which is about 20-25 minutes away. They have a nice brunch, and she recommended asking for the Commonwealth Room, which is on the second floor. She also mentioned Georges' on the Main Line, which is a suburban outpost of Georges Perrier (owner/chef at Le Bec Fin in downtown Philly. According to mapquest, this is about 10 minutes from King of Prussia Mall. Wherever you end up, please file a report!