Dining out...experimentally

A few months ago we read about a concept coming to DC called Dinner Lab. It advertises itself as an opportunity for an up and coming chef to present a unique experience. It's one of those underground dining scenes I've read about, usually in places like New York, or San Francisco, where you imagine fabulous dinners are being served in strange, out-of-the-way places like loading docks or abandoned subway stations in a "gotta know the password" way.

Fermentation Friday: DC Brewery Crawl

"Fermentation Friday":  An semi-regular look at the holy fermented trinity:  beer, wine and cheese.

A couple Saturdays ago, while we were in the throes of the Polar Vortex, Patti and I embarked on a journey that would’ve been unthinkable five years ago – a District of Columbia brewery crawl. By my count, DC itself has at least seven breweries or restaurants that brew their own beer (and I’m probably forgetting some) and there are several that we haven’t had a chance to check out. Sure, we did DC Brau last summer and recently visited BlueJacket, but there are so many more in DC’s burgeoning craft beer scene. So, after a hearty late lunch at Union Market (TaKorean for me, Toki’s popup for her), we set out to find some breweries and taste some beer.

Gastonomical Cooking: Brisket Breakthrough!

I'm not going to claim that I'm a Certified Barbecue Expert, but I've smoked my share of meat over the years -- mostly of the porcine variety. I've smoked pork butt several different ways, including traditional pulled pork and an Italian porchetta, all to rave reviews. I've also had good luck with ribs. But the one time I did brisket was several years ago, and it was, well, disappointing. It was okay (it was barbecued brisket!), but it was on the dry side, and compared with the excellence I'd been able to produce from Our Friend the Pig, it led me to relegate brisket to something I get in restaurants rather than try myself.

October 6-12 is Regional Wine Week -- Support Your Local Grape!

Dave McIntyre, in his WineLine blog, posted about October 6-12 being Regional Wine Week. It's the sixth annual celebration of wine made throughout the country and not just on the West Coast, according to McIntyre, who actually started the recognition as part of the drinklocalwine.com blog and along with Jeff Siegel, The Wine Crumudgeon. The focus was to encourage wine writers, bloggers and tweeters to focus on their local wine, wherever that happened to be.