I bought some pea shoots (charmingly called "shamrock greens") at my local farmers market over the weekend. I had them as a replacement for lettuce in my favorite sandwich, and they were delicious, but I have a lot leftover. What else can you do with them?

I've been looking for years for a version of the late, lamented American Cafe's garlic-lemon broccoli salad. Any Hounds have this?

The Post article confirms that Teaism still serves tea. New Yorker should note that the Ellicott City location is about 30 miles from downtown DC. The Hill article makes me want to scream. What local hotels serve, with full tea service, dainty sandwiches, and sweets, is afternoon tea. High tea is closer to what we might call supper.

I just received an email that the Willard will be offering a Cherry Blossom Afternoon Tea seven days a week from March 20 to April 14. Check the Willard's site for times, and reservations are always recommended. I have had their holiday tea for many years, and it is one of the best in the area. If you're not visiting during that time, you might try the Four Seasons (Georgetown), or the Ritz Carlton (between midtown and Georgetown). I can't vouch for whether they still offer afternoon tea, but it's worth a look at their web site or a phone call. Barring that, try Teaism (Dupont Circle), which offers/offered (sorry I am not more current on this) an Asian-style tea in the afternoon.

Non-caloric sweetener with cyclamantes. This stuff was banned in the States years ago.

I've had the brisket at Urban BBQ in SSMD, and it turned this pulled-pork lover into a brisket fan. It was the best I had until a trip to Austin, where Franklin's was the best I've ever had, anywhere. Full disclosure: another visit to Urban BBQ yielded a dry version of the earlier brisket. Get in the car, head out to Sandy Spring, and hope for the best.

Just returned from Austin and ate at Franklin's on Thursday. We arrived at about 9:50 and got to the counter at around 11:40. 10:00 seemed a safe bet on the day we were there. Folks may not realize that the doors open at 11:00, so it is about a 1 hour wait (if you arrive at 10) until the line starts moving. Also, a young lady came by to see what we were planning to order and how much--I'm assuming that it's to advise folks at the end of the line whether they have a realistic chance of getting what they came for. So people who are holding spots in the line for others may not affect your ability to get the meat you'd like if they have already accounted for the latecomers in their "order". She also advised us that it would be about 1/2 hour for us from the time the door opened--it turned out to be about 40 minutes. She later brought drinks out (for sale)--a nice touch. I have nothing but good things to say about Franklin's--their brisket might be the best thing I've ever put in my mouth. My husband and I agreed that it was worth the trip to Austin by itself.

Roasted beets are maligned?? Perhaps it has been overused as an accompaniment to blue cheese/goat cheese in the salad combo, but in combination with other roasted root vegetables (or even on its own, sans cheese, it is wonderful.

Not sure who added the address, but the spectacular brunch is at Seasons restaurant at the Four Seasons hotel in Georgetown, not in Alexandria.

I have since found Montasio cheese at Wegman's in Columbia (probably other Wegmans carry it as well). It is advertised as 20 months old, so I'm not sure whether it will do for frico.

Since 2008 (when I discovered it had been discontinued), I've discovered Haagen Dazs Dark Chocolate ice cream. It isn't Godiva's Belgian Dark, but pretty good, although can be hard to find. I find it is better if allowed to warm a little to let the flavors develop--straight out of the freezer it has, to me, a strange tobacco flavor that seems to disappear when it warms up. It satisfies my dark chocolate ice cream craving until some enterprising individual or company decides to produce the great Godiva Belgian Dark Chocolate.

Thanks for all the great suggestions. We just got back, and enjoyed Latitude 31 (twice) and Rah Bar, as well as the main dining room at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel (including its great Sunday brunch buffet). We also enjoyed Fins on the Beach, which is very casual but the chef/cook has a deft hand with the fryer. We also had the most tender, perfectly grilled shrimp of our visit there, and we ate lots of shrimp on Jekyll. Sorry to say we did not enjoy the food at the Courtyard at Crane, although the lovely setting almost made it worth the visit. My companion ordered seafood scampi, not a terribly challenging dish for a cook, which came without any discernible taste of garlic, and was seasoned with dried herbs that were harsh and unpleasant. My dish was good with the exception of a gluey risotto. Didn't make it to St. Simons, but that's just one more reason to go back.

Will be traveling with my favorite traveling companion to Jekyll Island for a long weekend. I've never been there, and see that there has been no discussion of Jekyll Island restaurants on CH. I hope that this is not an omen. We may add a day trip to St. Simons Island. We are partial to places that feature local cuisine using local ingredients in inventive ways. Any recommendations for either location would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

Thanks for all the great suggestions. I will check out the local (DC-Baltimore) places, but Murray's is a little far to travel for cheese, even to make the wonderful frico. And I had hoped to avoid the high costs of shipping a perishable item. (I appreciate knowing that you need to buy the young cheese, as it wasn't clear from the recipe I saw which stage of aging was required. Thanks Delucacheesemonger.)

It would be worth a trip to Eastern Market just to check out the smug cheese vendor.

Looking for montasio cheese--the real thing, from Friuli region of Italy--in the DC-Baltimore area. Have tried the usual suspects in the DC suburbs--Balducci's, Whole Foods, etc., with no success. Online sources are available, but shipping charges make this an expensive option. Any thoughts?

Thanks for the wonderful ideas!! Chowhounds always inspire me.

I need a few ideas for what to serve with drinks before dinner. I don't want to overwhelm my guests' appetites, but do want to give them something to eat with drinks. This group tends toward wine, and we'll probably be serving champagne and/or kir royale (w/pomegranate liqueur) before dinner. For the meal itself, I'm serving a mixed greens salad w/smoked duck breast as a first, seafood stew (cioppino) as a main, if that helps. Thanks!!!

That the technique for gravy was the same as for a basic white sauce. It changed my life. No more gluey gravy and it comes out perfect every time.

Has anyone managed to duplicate Vapiano's addictive arugula-mustard salad dressing? I've tried an internet search to no avail.

You might try the Amish market in Laurel. There is a stand there that sells fresh poultry.

In DC, we like the amazing brunch spread at the Georgetown Four Seasons (Seasons restaurant). It is pricey, but the variety and quality of food, plus the nonstop pours of sparkling wine (domestic) make it worthwhile. Particularly loved the seafood bar, the vegetable table with inventive and delicious vegetable combos, and the dessert table. There is something for everyone, including carving station, omelette bar, and much more.

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Four Seasons Cafe
50 S Pickett St Ste 23, Alexandria, VA 22304

We visited Fallingwater recently and found good food difficult to find in the area. Nemacolin resort in Farmington PA (about 15? miles from Fallingwater) has a very good restaurant. Probably need a reservation. If you are looking for something quick and casual, the visitor center at Fallingwater has some things that looked interesting. There may be some good food in the town of Ohiopyle (in between Fallingwater and Nemacolin), although we didn't eat there.

Best crab cakes anywhere are not far from Aquarium/Inner Harbor area--Faidley's in the Lexington Market. They don't sell crabs, but the crab cakes alone (get the jumbo lump only) are worth the trip.

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Lexington Market
400 W Lexington St, Baltimore, MD 21201

Thanks all. Ran out of time due to Hurricane Irene (needed to leave Seattle sooner than scheduled), so I bought a couple of cooked, chilled crabs at the market, packed to travel. Cleaned then and cracked them myself (crab anatomy is the same, whether it's Dungeness or blue) and served them chilled with cold mustard-mayo dipping sauce. They were good, but I was surprised that they are the reverse of the blue crab in terms of where the flavor is--the blues have their best, most flavorful meat in the backfin, less so in the claws and skinny legs. The body meat of the Dungeness is pretty mild in flavor, the claws and legs are sweeter. Next time I will try some of your suggestions for freshly cooked and chilled crab in Seattle and see if absolute freshness makes a big difference. Post scriptum: ironically, our local (Maryland) Costco had Dungeness crabs for sale when we got back.

Great suggestions, thanks!!!

I've spent some time reading recent threads of "where to eat" recommendations for Seattle (and have some great general ideas for restaurants based on those) but haven't seen any suggestions of THE place to go to eat fresh dungeness crab. Brother-in-law describes it as "ambrosial," better than Maine lobster or even our (Maryland native) beloved Chesapeake blue crabs. I have to try it! I'll be in Seattle in 2 weeks and would appreciate recommendations for best places to get fresh dungeness. I'll be staying in a hotel, so buying fresh and taking it home to cook is not an option. Thanks!!

We last bought boned shad fillet at the Salt River Lobster truck at the Kensington farmers market (Sat 8-12). I prepare baked stuffed shad fillet according to James Beard Fish Cookery's recipe, stuffed with a simple-to-prepare mixture of sliced onion sauteed in butter with thyme, parsley, bread crumb and egg. It is delicious and really enhanced the sweet and delicate flavor of the shad. Sometimes Whole Foods fish counter has the boned shad fillets. Also, the seafood store on Connecticut Ave. in Chevy Chase (can't remember the name, it is about 1 block south of Safeway).

With the coldest January in almost 30 years forecast, we need good french onion soup!Last post was from 4 years ago and recommended a restaurant that is no longer in business. I'm looking for the real deal--made with lots of caramelized onions, real beefy stock and topped with melted gruyere, no gummy mozzarella. Recommendations?

Thanks to all. The recipe from recipelover was really close--the key is to chop ingredients fine and let the flavors develop in the refrigerator--but not quite the same as the Amish Market. There is still something missing that I can't identify. The Germantown market is identical, as near as I can tell, but is too far to go for potato salad. (Never thought I would spend so much effort looking for a potato salad recipe, but it was the only one I really liked.)