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They should just really start re-broadcasting the BBC versions of these shows on network television and save everybody some pain and money. I think that according to the U.S. producers the only thing that American audiences want to see is 30 second clips of Gordon Ramsay yelling at people; the actual restaurant detail is all filler.

It's the same: one unopened bottle of water per person, coolers no larger than 16"x16"x8" or something similar. Who knows if they'll actually be stricter on that this year, though. On hot days I'd walk in there with a 6 pack of bottled water (we were in the sun); the guys in our section seemed to manage smuggling beer in almost every game. Another Post article slated for tomorrow's food section is up on the site now: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...ml?hpid=topnews No real news on the local vendors, but they have some preliminary pricing info. Of more interest is a stadium map: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...ST2008030401683 Ben's is on the concourse about even with the left field fair pole (and looks to be a short walk down the stairs from our seats!). Gifford's is on the concourse behind 1st base for us regular joes; the big spenders get to enjoy their fancy pants gelato in the privacy of the Stars and Stripes Club. Now where's the news that we'll have a good, local microbrew stand?!

Latest issue of the New Yorker arrived yesterday with a brief review of Fiamma.

Well, Aramark got the boot, so day one at the new park is already ahead of day one at RFK. I seriously don't think it could be any worse. It will be interesting to see how it will play out for the first few weeks. I suspect that a few vendors won't be ready on 3/30. The team has repeatedly said that they won't consider the park to be fully "done" until the 2009 season. As long as they have a good beer stand within spitting distance of our seats I'm not going to complain too much

Wait, so this little gadget requires special uncarbonated cans of Guinness? Or is there some advanced nano-technology voodoo magic that keeps the nitrogen molecules in suspension until summoned by the ultrasonic frequencies? I think they've finally discovered the magic of the Gillette razor distribution model! Seriously, though, I want one. It's the ultimate marriage of beer geekdom and garden variety geekdom. Does anybody know if they're destined for these shores? What I could find on the Guinness site only mentions UK distribution. Not surprised that it's marketed in Japan; they're probably wondering what took so long ....

And the focus of an article today about keeping kosher in commercial kitchens

Maybe she'll be behind the bar.

Well, that was my point. The question is which branch will the WF outpost emulate? I understand that the Rakus don't share anything but a name at this point (different management, divergent menus, quality is obviously higher at Bethesda). It was only my guess based on the menu that the Bethesda folks are involved. Granted, I haven't set foot in the Dupont Raku in over 3 years so that could be an invalid comparison.

The "Izakaya" was a short-lived venture and appears to have morphed into a mini-branch of Raku. The million dollar question regarding quality: Bethesda Raku or Dupont Raku? The menu suggests the former. If true, and if they can put together a good bowl of udon, I'll be very excited for that option on cold, crappy days like today. However, the menu seems really ambitious for such a small workspace (which was my take on Izakaya as well) so I'm not holding my breath that it will be much of an improvement over the previous incarnation.

We were there for quite awhile later on Thursday as well. I really liked the Lynchburg Lemonade-ish type drink Tom made with that lemonade. It included Velvet Falernum and a ginger(?) liqueur as well. Really fantastically good.

I didn't see a cocktail list, and everybody around us was drinking wine.

Well, Cork is a terrible, horrible place that nobody should ever go to. Why? Because I live around the corner and I'll never be able to get a seat there if it's crowded We had a great time last night sitting at the bar (thank you, Tom, although I never made an introduction). I'll let the wine geeks speak to the strengths of the list, but I found it varied and quite interesting (all Old World producers). Even better: the price points are a lot gentler than what I had expected; I didn't see a glass over $14, and the bottle prices were reasonable. Most of the stuff that interested me was in the $8-11 range. Saw a number of folks trying the flights (4 yesterday were: sparklers (various); chenin blanc; cab franc; and I forget) It was pretty packed the moment I got there around 6:30. By the time my wife and a friend arrived around 7:30 there was barely room to move around in the front. I can see this being a problem on busy nights since the long axis of the bar runs along a narrow space and servers were having issues negotiating the crowds. The back rooms are pretty wide open; we liked the "loft". Are there any plans to put a table in the "cave", or will that just serve as a staging area? The food: we only sampled a few small dishes, but almost all were winners. A plate of chicken Mirabella had nice balance (I normally don't like the combination of flavors in that dish). Simple, sauteed wild mushrooms were fantastic. Roasted sunchokes with garlic slivers were quite good, but maybe could have benefited from a larger dice; some of the smaller pieces were a bit dried out. House smoked trout salad with shaved fennel was really nice (greens were a tad overdressed, but the trout was stellar). And the fries. Oh my, the fries! Some of the best I've had: thick cut, perfectly crisped on the outside, great texture on the inside. Wonderful (roasted?) tomato ketchup on the side. The cheese plate was so-so, and we saw a couple plates going out with different configurations; it looks like they are still working on the plating. Ours came out as a number of small pieces, some of which were frankly dried out. I would rather have whole hunks to slice myself. Good bread to accompany, though, and a drizzle of red wine reduction to sop up. Overall this place is a real neighborhood gem. I just don't expect to be able to get in the door for the next few weeks!

I'll be dropping by on the way home from work tonight, hopefully 6:30ish.

This is news? I thought it's been common knowledge for quite some time that top-of-the-food-chain seafood is very high in mercury on average. Is the NYT trying to get the city to take action on bluefin like they have on trans fats?

You are right, for most celiacs it just causes stomach discomfort (or other less pleasant gastrointestinal responses ...), but in the initial phases after diagnosis her doctor has said it's more critical to be vigilant. For one, it's a good way to get used to being a celiac in a gluten-soaked world; the best way to learn what is and is not good for you is to ask all the questions and be skeptical about what is on your plate. Jumping in with both feet is tough, but you learn the lessons pretty quickly. Perhaps more importantly is that her intestinal tract is damaged and needs to heal. In a nutshell (as I understand it) the gluten anitbodies have the annoying side effect of destroying the villi in the small intestine which greatly reduces its ability to absorb nutrients of any kind. Going completely gluten free will allow it to rebuild. The quicker that happens the better she'll feel; going gluten cold turkey is only the first step. Today: buying a bread maker!

Ah, that makes more sense then. I never made it down to that terrace; we usually brought our own food and snacks. I do need to find a replacement Trusty's for pre-/post-game; 8th St is probably going to be more mobbed now. We'll probably end up walking from there or Cap South on most game days.

You would think it would be easy to eat gluten free, but as I mentioned earlier it's not the major ingredients on the menu that are the issue. What's in the dressing on that salad? What went into that fried rice? Soy sauce? Pad thai have any sauces with adjuncts (gluten is use a lot as a thickener, and/or stabilizer). That's not to mention general cross-contamination problem. The list goes on and on

We knew about Andres' places (Oyamel was the first restaurant we went out to post-diagnosis). We were hoping to do Minibar for my birthday next month, but spaced and forgot to call on the 30-day-in-advance date. We're going to Komi instead and were delighted that one of the first questions they asked was if there were any allergies or dietary restrictions to know about. High end places are more flexible and seem to do really well with this stuff, but our waistlines and wallets can't support that kind of dining out very often! We're keeping to cooking for ourselves for the next few weeks probably. Groundwork to find local cheap eats places will be an ongoing task.

A Post article on the shop making the signage for the new park mentions a sign for a Ben's stand, so I'd be surprised if that didn't come to fruition. I've also read rumors for Boardwalk Fries (not surprising) and Cantina Marina, which I can't quite fathom. There are certainly better local options than that, but maybe it was the Cantina Marina folks approaching Centerplate on this one. Whatever we get it will certainly be better than Aramark. As long as they put good micro taps in the upper deck I'll be just fine!

Gordon Ramsay's done this a couple of times on The F Word, raising turkeys and pigs in his back yard with his family. I thought he handled it pretty well, it wasn't too preachy. Everything was in terms of getting his kids to realize where food comes from.

We've noticed the EU effect on lots of stuff; maybe we should just move to London! She doesn't eat much Indian (one of those with a nameless aversion to it for whatever reason), but this may be a reason to start. But Indian without naan just seems wrong ... Speaking of breads, I've read that injera is wheatless. At least the real stuff is only made with teff. I recall reading somewhere that most of the local places actually get their injera from a common source? It's worth investigating to find out it it's cut with wheat at all.

Oh, and for 3/4 of these gluten free restaurant finder sites (there are lots!), I get zero hits for Washington, DC. The one that do have hits will give mostly chain locations (Legal Seafood shows up a lot).

Wheat free soy sauce was about the first thing we bought! Can't live without the basics. I'm looking for some good udon base now. We eat a lot of it in the winter and can sub the rice noodles, but all of the bottled soup bases have wheat. I might try making some myself if it will keep.

She has had the blood test (and biopsy, etc., etc.). It came back with marginal levels of the gluten antibodies, low enough to preclude a definite diagnosis but they are 95% certain that is what it is. Her doctors believe that they actually caught it early and think it developed as a reaction to abdominal surgery and a subsequent infection earlier this fall (like a lot of adult onset autoimmune disorders, caused by stress to the body, pregnancy, etc.). So, course of action for now is to go on a gluten free diet and see how she reacts; it will take weeks for enough healing to occur to see progress.

Unfortunately she doesn't like chocolate . Her gastro thought it would be a big deal when that restriction was lifted