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New American

Martini Olives

Posted Thu, 12/22/2011 - 19:31 by Jon

I took this recipe from Bon Apetit: http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2011/12/boozy-olives and merged it with a guideline from a bartending book - dropping the lime juice, adding some fresh rosemary twigs, slightly muddled, and some herbs de provence and some red pepper flakes for color.

A dash of olive brine, and 2 parts gin to 1 part vermouth to cover the olives.

No votes yet

Mio

Posted Wed, 11/16/2011 - 17:50 by Jon
Cost: 
$$$ - Pricy

Location

Mio
1110 Vermont Ave NW McPhereson
Washington, DC
United States
38° 54' 15.2424" N, 77° 1' 59.6496" W
See map: Google Maps

Happy hour cocktails are great - with amazing and speedy service, and a good combination of normal and more unusual drinks (the cactus pear drink is great. fuscia, but great).

The appetizers are really small for the price, IMHO. I haven't eaten there (and the restaurant is often practically empty during the HH rush).

Great for a quick drink after work, but you may want to move the HH to a place with more affordable munchies quickly.

Reservation Link: 
OpenTable
No votes yet

Central Michel Richard

Posted Wed, 11/16/2011 - 17:36 by Jon
Cost: 
$$$ - Pricy

Location

Central
1001 Pennsylvania Ave Metro Center
Washington, DC
United States
38° 52' 59.106" N, 76° 59' 33.5724" W
See map: Google Maps

(202) 626-0015
www.centralmichelrichard.com

We had the moz and tomato and cheese puff appetizers, both of which were interesting, but at the end of the day, overpriced for what's really just tomatoes and mozzarella and cheese with bread. The dinner was fine, and well executed, but if I'm paying $18 for a burger, I expect something a bit more exciting, honestly. Nothing was wrong, the service was fine and the decor great, but there was no spark, at least in our menu choices.

Reservation Link: 
OpenTable
Your rating: None Average: 2 (1 vote)

Ashby Inn

Posted Fri, 11/11/2011 - 20:05 by Jon
Cost: 
$$$ - Pricy

Location

Ashby Inn
692 Federal St Front Royal
Paris, VA
United States
39° 0' 16.4088" N, 77° 57' 5.6304" W
See map: Google Maps

Amazing serving, great locally sourced food and creative, tasty, whimsical meals. We had a beautiful lunch here on the way out to the Shenandoahs for the weekend. A bit out of the way, but definitely worth it.

Reservation Link: 
http://www.opentable.com/the-ashby-inn
Reservation Link: 
http://www.opentable.com/the-ashby-inn
No votes yet

Proof Restaurant

Posted Fri, 11/11/2011 - 19:57 by Jon
Cost: 
$$$ - Pricy

Location

Proof
775 G St NW Gallery Place/Chinatown; Downtown
Washington, DC
United States
38° 53' 54.9888" N, 77° 1' 21.8892" W
See map: Google Maps

(202) 737-7663

Proof might be best known for their amazing wine selection and top-notch bar-tending, but not taking the opportunity to sit down and have a meal there is almost a sin. Their seasonal menu changes weekly and doesn't pull punches. Crispy pigs head (thankfully, not in head form)? Tasty. Perfectly grilled hangar steak with roasted bone marrow? Hits the spot. The serving sizes, even for the larger plates, are reasonable - which means you'll have room leftover for their somewhat insane cookie plate or some selections from the expertly curated cheese board.

Reservation Link: 
http://www.opentable.com/proof-restaurant
Reservation Link: 
http://www.opentable.com/proof-restaurant
Your rating: None Average: 5 (1 vote)

Staunton Grocery

Posted Fri, 11/11/2011 - 19:50 by Jon
Cost: 
$$$ - Pricy

Location

Staunton Grocery
105 W Beverley St
Staunton, VA
United States
38° 8' 57.8616" N, 79° 4' 26.2416" W
See map: Google Maps

(540) 886-6880
OpenTable: http://www.opentable.com/the-staunton-grocery

Great quality, seasonal menu from local producers. Great wine list, fantastic cocktails, warm and friendly staff. Everything we ate was amazing, but the appetizer portions are a bit stingy. Eight dollars for a smallish beet cut into quarters for a table of six? I mean, charge $2 or throw another beet or three on the plate. The entree portions were much more reasonable.

Your rating: None Average: 3 (1 vote)

Bernice's Fried Eggplant

Posted Wed, 08/31/2011 - 06:57 by Audrey

Slice the eggplant (the round way) into 1/2" rounds.

Sprinkle flour on both sides.

Dip into the egg batter which has a little milk, and any spices you want. I usually use garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, basil, oregano. Depending on the size of the eggplant, one large egg with enough milk should do it.

Then put your breadcrumbs in a plastic bag (or bowl) and shake. Don't put too much bread crumbs at one time because it gets too wet and then doesn't adhere to the eggplant. Just keep adding more bread crumbs.

No votes yet

Seared Scallops with Pommes

Posted Sat, 02/12/2011 - 19:50 by Jon
Seared Scallops

This was in response to our taking advantage of a recent livinggrouponsocial deal with Arganica, and opting for one of their more CSA-like "give me a box of random local, organic goodies." We're already, honestly, pretty damned tired of kale and brussel sprouts, and hoped this would provide something slightly different. We got... chard and turnips. Well, OK. The dinner turned out quite good, and is somewhere between classic French and New American. We made the chard into a warm salad by wilting it and steaming it with a bit of apple cider, then tossing it with vinegar and adding pecans.

Your rating: None Average: 5 (1 vote)

Braised Lamb Shanks

Posted Sun, 01/23/2011 - 16:28 by Audrey

This is a mash-up of two lamb shank recipes:

http://constableslarder.blogspot.com/2009/03/braised-lamb-shanks-with-or...

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Greek-Style-Braised-Lamb-Sh...

We made this for a Greek week, but I'm not really sure what cuisine this ended up as.

Ingredients

2 lamb shanks (approx 1 lb each)
3 tablespoons olive oil

1 large vidalia or spanish onion, chopped
1 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
2 celery stalk, chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled
1/2 tsp anchovy oil
2 pinches of ground sage

Your rating: None Average: 2 (1 vote)

Foams

Posted Wed, 10/20/2010 - 19:51 by Jon

A holding place for all things foam, thanks to my iSi Creative Whip.

First up, a blue cheese foam to top steak with:
1 oz blue cheese (Roquefort)
1 oz cream
1 T milk
blend until perfectly smooth, whip, chill, serve.

Next up, a raita-yogurt foam
1.5 oz raita (yogurt, raita spices, lemon juice)
1.5 oz cream
mix, whip, chill, serve. Great on cucumber slices.

Chimichurri foam
oil/vinegar mix from chimichurri, strained
a tad of Stubbs mopping sauce (or other vinegary BBQ sauce)
apple cider vinegar for volume

Your rating: None Average: 5 (1 vote)

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