potrzebie's Profile
great bakery near the Beltway in MD? (Silver Spring, Bethesda area)
I highly recommend Breads Unlimited in Bethesda. It's the best traditional bakery that I'm aware of in DC or suburban MD. I especially like their danish, babka, bagels, and various rye breads. It's infinitely better than Cake Love.
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Breads Unlimited
6914 Arlington Rd, Bethesda, MD
please help me find some fantastic food... cheap
2 ideas:
Ethiopian near 9th & U St., NW. (near U St. Metro, exit on the east side, i.e. exit closest to rear of train if coming from downtown) Two consistently excellent places are Etete & Queen Makeda.
Thai in Wheaton (Metro accessible - Red line). Specifically Ruan Thai & Nava Thai, just 2 blocks apart. Both are outstanding Thai places, though their dishes are quite different.
Bakery in Bethesda?
I believe that Spring Mill only makes their cinnamon rolls on Wed. & Sat. They mainly bake breads. And they're closed on Sunday.
Bakery in Bethesda?
Breads Unlimited at 6914 Arlington Rd is the best traditional bakery in Bethesda. They have wonderful and reasonably priced danish, among other things.
Dinner spot near the National Theater area?
Bistro d'Oc (518 10th St., NW) also has an excellent early-bird prix fixe menu.
Good Eats near Mall/Memorial/Smithsonian?
Amidtst the awfulness of the food court in the Old Post Office Pavillion (11th & Pennsylvania Ave.), there is one Indian gem that for years has served a fine masala dosa.
Unique Eats in DC
I love your description of Llajtaymanta platters as "arts and crafts projects"! I've eaten there a couple of times and your description is apt. The atmosphere is amazing. I think it's one of the most interesting places to eat in the entire DC area. They have a wonderfully flavorful hot sauce available which helps with some of the blander parts of their platters.
Best restaurants near Hyattsville?
Edmonston Rd & Kenilworth Ave in Bladensburg have several good and authentic Mexican restaurants as well as taco trucks.
Buying Wine in Bethesda
The prices are Bradley Food & Beverage are above retail. A bottle of wine there typically costs at least 30% more than the same bottle just up the road at Magruders, Chevy Chase Wine & Liquor, Rodman's, or Paul's. The county liquor stores have better prices than Bradley, too.
Juniper berries?
I think any juniper species will do. Just pluck a berry and cut into it with your fingernail and put it near your nose. You'll immediately know from the fragrance if you've got something good. Late summer and fall are probably the best time, but I believe you can pick them any time of the year.
SOS--indian burnout
Sorry, I completely disagree. Haandi isn't a bad place, but what I've had there has generally been underspiced. Not only was everything I tried at Passage to India flavorful and delicious, they've got some unusual dishes simply not available elsewhere in the area. I've had no problems with the service at either place.
Juniper berries?
You can find juniper berries in yards as well as public parks all over the DC area. Fresh ones you pluck are much softer than dried ones, and are easier to crush to expose the flavor.
Enology is Bethesda?
The old Vet's place is currently a construction zone and is completely gutted. A sign says it will be a wine & beer shop.
sumac in dc/bethesda/nova
I would check middle eastern markets. Have you ever gathered wild sumac? It's not that hard to find in this area in the fall. Sumac is a weed tree around here. It has long clusters of reddish-brown berries. I picked some once and steeped it. The drink tasted pretty good. The berries have malic acid, also found in apples.
in dc for a week - what restaurant gems do you recommend?
Either Etete (1942 9th St NW, at U St.) or Queen Makeda (1917 9th St NW, 1/2 block south of Etete & across the street) for superb Ethiopian. U St Metro on Green line. Take the station exit closest to the rear of the train if coming from downtown.
Persimmon's 3 Course Special for $30
I see my post might be confusing. My heads up was in reference to tdonline's info about the $30 special before 6pm at Persimmon, not jeb's red wine comment, which I know nothing about..
Persimmon's 3 Course Special for $30
Thanks for the heads up on this. I wasn't aware of it and was going there anyway. We moved up our reservation slightly to take advantage of it. A great deal! Nothing on the menu was restricted. Even the night's specials could be ordered. Basically, you get half the regular size of seafood/fish/meat, though the wonderful dishes which accompany them seemed to be generous servings. My main was the crab cake, and there was one instead of two. We all preferred the smaller portions, and I heard the people in the table behind us say the same thing. This was the first time I was able to try dessert at Persimmon, as I've always been too full in the past. I ordered the same warm almond cake you had, and it was absolutely delicious.
Figs needed
I don't have any first-hand experience growing figs in pots. It sounds like scot above has a perfect arrangement, with a cold but somewhat protective garage. I'm trying to picture the size of a 50-65 gallon container. Sounds huge to me and probably impossible to move, unless it's on wheels. Anyway, on one of those rare nights that it gets below 15 F., fig wood of less hardy figs can be killed. On a 0 degree night, there will be wood killed on pretty much all figs. The 2 most common varieties around here, Brown Turkey & Celeste are the hardiest that I'm aware of. Also, older, more established trees are supposedly more cold resistant than younger ones. In the ground, roots will always survive around here. In a raise pot, I could imagine it freezing completely in a prolonged cold spell, and that could spell trouble. (I'm just speculating) If your smaller pots are in the ground, that should save the roots, since the surrounding earth will insulate them.
When my Neveralla tree was small, I built a chicken wire cage around it and filled it will leaves during the winter. That worked well. The leaves tended to mat down as the winter went on, and where I didn't fill up with new leaves, the exposed wood did die. However, the entire lower portion of the tree survived and I got a crop. BTW, I started getting my Brown Turkey figs this week, and the Celeste are just starting now. I'm fighting birds and squirrels, but I've got a few tricks up my sleeve.
Chiles - best variety of Chiles?
You might try El Primo Grocery on 5022 Edmonston Rd in Bladensburg, MD. (301) 927-8910. It's a true Mexican grocery store, not Latin American. It's a hole-in-the-wall, but it's quite well stocked. They've got a good selection of dried chiles and Mexican herbs, including herbs from Oaxaca. You might want to give them a call to ask about specific chiles on your list. BTW, the Mexican bakery next-door is pretty good (if you like Mexican baked goods. They're not my favorite)
Why are there so few good bakeries
Do folks remember when Marvelous Market first opened on Connecticut Ave? People were lined up and I think they even rationed the number of loaves people could buy. They expanded too fast and the business fell apart. MM 2.0 expanded too much, as well. They stopped making their own baguettes and subcontracted it out to an entity which made an inferior product, and I stopped buying. Last time I was in one, the breads were all pre-packaged. What were these folks thinking?
Why are there so few good bakeries
Breads Unlimited in Bethesda is another good local place. They make fairly good rye breads, and their danish are the best I've had in the area. I also happen to prefer their bagels to any of the bagel-only places around.
Breads Unlimited & Heidelberg made good products which they sell at fair prices. Both seem to have loyal followings and are located in areas where people will spend the extra money compared to supermarket prices and products.
Does anyone remember Bakers Place? I liked their breads. They were bought out by Marvelous Market which then gradually got rid of the Bakers Place breads. One guy at Marvelous Market told me they got rid of them "because they weren't traditional European breads." Who cares? They were delicious.
People like bakeries. The lack of bakeries is one reason I can think of that a place with lousy products such as Cakelove is able to survive. They seem to be located where there aren't many alternatives.
Fresh Corn
The following description is from the Gurney Seed Co. website. The information about "se" explains why so many of the modern varieties are both too sweet and too tough for my taste. I haven't knowingly eaten Cloud 9, but it sounds like it may be similar to the formerly popular "Silver Queen" (which predates the sweeter varieties), which unfortunately has been largely replaced by too sweet & too tough varieties by many local growers.
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Cloud Nine Hybrid (se) Sweet Corn
Ranked Near the Top by Our Test Panel!
Big (8-1/2-inch), beautiful ears are packed with 16-18 rows of pearly white kernels bursting with flavor! Cloud Nine Hybrid Sweet Corn is rated among the best in 2003 Evaluation Board trials. Has Stewart Wilt tolerance, too. 76 DAYS.
Sweet corn has come a long way! Choose from high-sugar hybrids (su) that are sweeter at harvest and stay that way for up to 10 days, super-sweet hybrids (sh2) with their even higher sugar content and crisp texture, and sugary-enhanced hybrids (se) that are sweet, creamy and extra tender.
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in a bit of a rut: new east side ideas?
2 obvious choices are Etete & Queen Makeda for great Ethiopian food. Both are on 9th, just below U St. Queen Makeda (upstairs) is quieter with more space between tables than Etete, which might be too packed in for you. Prices are low at both places.
Anyone been to Redwood Wine Bar in Bethesda?
I was walking past it today and asked to look at a menu. Some of the prices were a bit absurd, I thought. You want some cheese on your $12 burger, add another $2. You want fries with that (OK, "Redwood Hand-Cut Fries)? Add another $8. I don't think I'll be eating there anytime soon.
As for having to promise over the weekend not to blog or review it, if they were serving the public and charging money, I'd say they're fair game. Either you're open or you're not.
Le Pain Quotidien at Bethesda
I haven't eaten in the restaurant, but I have purchased 4 loaves of bread at the Bethesda location. 2 tasted stale. 1 tasted like it was probably baked about 12 hours earlier. Only 1 tasted like it came out of the oven within the previous 6 hours, though it certainly was not still warm. If I'm paying $7.95 for a walnut boule, it had better be fresh. I won't be buying any more bread at Pain Quotidien for a very long time. There's another bakery across the street (Spring Mill) and another about 2 blocks away (Breads Unlimited). It's pretty routine to go to either of those in the morning and find that the bread you're buying is still warm, as well as cheaper. And if the loaf is not still warm, it clear from the taste and texture that it only cooled down in the last few hours. True, the 3 bakeries make different styles of bread from one another, but Breads Unlimited & Spring Mill seem to have their act together regarding selling only fresh bread as well as understanding Maryland tax law regarding bakeries (you won't be charged sales tax on a loaf of bread at either Spring Mill or Breads Unlimited).
Figs needed
The following website has a huge amount of information about figs and fig varieties:
http://www.nafex.org/figs.htm
Figs needed
Though I suspect you're wondering which month(s), the actual answer for when my trees produce their "best" figs is after a dry spell. When we get moderate to heavy rain, the ripening figs seem to literally swell up with water, which dilutes the sugars in the fruit. Not only do the figs not taste as sweet, they also become more prone to rot and mold as concentrated sugar acts as a natural preservative. Also, their thin skins weaken by either absorption of rainwater and/or breakage due to the swelling of the fruit. After a heavy rain, it's almost impossible to pick the fruit for a day or two without damaging the skin. At least that's the experience I've had with the varieties I currently grow. Last year was a fantastic fig year. My Brown Turkey variety (the hardiest variety I'm aware of) starts ripening around early-mid August and is usually finished by late September, Celeste is a week or two later. My Neveralla (not as hardy as the other two, but has larger fruit) is not as consistent in its timing, but it's always later, usually beginning in September and continuing until frost, which sometimes hasn't been until mid-November in recent years. It's awfully nice to go outside around Veterans Day and pick a few ripe figs. I'm trying to propagate a fig brought over by a Lebanese immigrant I know. It's a purple variety that is the best quality of any fig I've tasted among the varieties grown in the DC area (which is where I am, not Baltimore). I have no idea what the name of the variety is. A severely cold winter will kill fig wood. The roots will always survive and you'll get new shoots coming out of the ground, but you won't get a fig crop that summer, as there won't be enough time for the figs on the new shoots to ripen before frost. My Neveralla tree has been killed to the ground several times. My Brown Turkey has never been killed back. I've had to prune it severely in recent years because it has gotten out of hand. Figs are basically weeds with benefits.
kohlrabi? anyone?
I grew kohlrabi a few years ago and was underwhelmed. They were quite slow growing, and I thought they basically had the taste and texture of broccoli stems when cooked. Broccoli stems are fine. I eat them, but I like the floret part more. IMO, broccoli is easier and faster to grow than kohlrabi and you get florets, not just stem. I suppose one advantage to kohlrabi is that the harvest may be over a more extended period of time than broccoli around here.
Smoked Paprika
There are, I believe, 3 types of smoked paprika, called "pimenton" in Spain, where it comes from. There is hot, sweet, and bitter. It's not clear to me which type Penzey's is selling. Given how comprehensive their offerings are, I'm a little surprised they don't at least have both "hot" (picante) and "sweet" (dulce) labeled appropriately. "Bitter" is rarely seen. I bought tins of both hot and sweet pimenton at Dean & Deluca (in DC) and don't recall if they also sold bitter. In any event, I use both, and in most recipes, it is specifically one type which is intended.
Fresh Mangosteens
I'd be curious to hear opinions about fresh mangosteen from anyone who has tried them. I tried a few in Thailand and was disappointed. They're sweet and refreshing, but I didn't think they had a lot of flavor compared to most tropical fruits. I think there's a bit of mystique about them because of Queen Victoria's alleged comments, combined with their rare availability outside of the tropics.
