What did you eat last night for dinner? - Page 105

Quick dinner tonight at Central in DC... some fantastic new specials tonight:

Pasta and pork bolognese:


Fliet mignon topped with tempura mushrooms, port reduction, and potato and mushroom with chicken jus:

Andouille Rice and White Beans

From the last week; baked salmon with garlicky mashed potatoes and salad: And the classic steak, gravy and mash:

AHI TUNA W/ CRISPY RISOTTO CAKE Tossed w/ baby greens, roasted Roma tomatoes, grilled red onions & chives, ripe avocado in a soy & mango vinaigrette

Venison tenderloins, baked potato, corn on the cob. All done up on the BBQ.

Today is fish day so it'll be grilled crappie and bluegill filets.

sushi and miso, with an Asahi. Mrs. T really wanted sashimi last night, so I obliged to make her happy.

My wife made homemade thin crust pizza.

Shell Pasta with red sauce

Decided to try Puck's new place in DC, The Source, and went with the 7 course tasting menu:

Spicy tuna tartare miso cones with sesame, shaved bonito and tobiko:


Tandoori arctic char with pickled Japanese cucumbers and cardamom raita


Crispy suckling pig with apricot puree, sweet bean, and pickled cipollini onions:


"Dumpling Duo" -- Pork belly dumpling with balsamic vinegar, chili oil, ginger and cilantro leaves and shrimp dumping with lobster-uni emulsion:


Spicy asian prawns with rice and mustard-yogurt curry sauce:


Pan roasted rockfish, red thai curry shrimp, and pineapple sambal:


Szechuan filet steak "au poivre" with caramelized shallot-peppercorn sauce:


Coconut sorbet with pineapple glaze:


Valrhona chocolate truffle cake and blueberry tarte crumble with ginger ice cream:

@roikins; wow, looks nice - how was it? The other day; pork chops with well-marinated shiitake mushrooms and some salad:

I had gone in with slightly low expectations, as I was let down by Eric Ripert's new DC bistro a few months ago, and had a feeling Puck might be similar. However, it was quite amazing, both the food and service; it's easily now in the top 10 DC restaurants, which, to be honest, isn't too difficult a task. It was a bit loud, with all the noise from the lounge area downstairs bleeding up into the main dining room. It's a slightly confused restaurant, trying to figure out if it wants to be formal for the politicians and lawyers, or casual for the younger crowd, and you could tell the servers and captains were struggling with that as well. The only bad part of the evening was the wine pairing, with about 4-5 pairings being horribly too bitter for many of the courses.

Time to nudge this thread a bit; spaghetti with fresh tomato/parmesan/basil.

Well, the moment had arrived: Last night, my 50th birthday celebration with a small group of 20 intimate friends & posse at a very nice local restaurant (Oliver's) in the Oakville hometown. Even our (recently deposed) ex-Mayor joined the party - based on room gossip, methinks there may be a comeback for her next election. The current mayoral fop is a crock.

We enjoyed a pre-drink rivalry of three bottles of '1998 Lafite Rothschild and three of the "more affordable" 2004 Opus One. Folks were very, very smiley after that.

I did the requisite "Carpe Diem" speech for the gang, and we sat down for what was to be a memorable supper.
I was a little bit peckish, [piggish] so I had three appetisers to start: A few of us began with a personal 30 gram serving of hard to get Caspian Imperial Beluga with Blini, creme fraiche etc, then a great cold soup: Cream of Cucumber, yogurt & Avocado; then some nice seared Quebec goose foie gras. They served this in a very small cast-iron skillet with toast points on the side - on a doiley. The skillet idea was a nice and unusual presentation, I mean, to the uninitiated; if we sat on the floor to indulge (which was tempting) it would have appeared we were gorging on deep brown beans around a campfire. Such fun.

My choice of entree was New Zealand full rack of Lamb, with Pistachio and sweet Dijon/Shallot crust, and all was immense bliss with a 1990 Chateau Margaux. I think some of the guests also had a 1989 Beaucastel Chateuneuf du Pape, but I kept my Margaux close by.
I can't much remember dessert, but I believe there was some sort of cheesecake/mousse with candles on it.
A few of the guests broke the "no gifties" rule (unless it was found behind lock and key) I received the charming Suess book entitled "Oh, the places you'll go", a number of "pop-up" cards, more assorted 'everyday' malts like Dalwhinnie, Macallan 12 etc; but my brother issued me a bottle of
[most appreciated] 18 yr old Highland Park malt. Nice.

We closed the place around 1:30 am, and sauntered into the crowd remnants of the downtown's annual "Midnight Madness" activities. A few of our gang decided to become Helmut Newton with their video cameras, and a dozen or so of us were captured stylistically for what may regrettably end up on someone's facebook or youtube pages. Some of the shots reminded me of something Warhol, perhaps a 70's 'Interview' magazine cover. The girls were rather naughty, until the police told us to go about our business. The out of towners found the limo, and my lady and I simply went home.

It's now two hours later, we're just waking still. Maybe we'll watch a DVD and munch popcorn. I'm in the mood for a rehash of Ken Burns' PBS Frank Lloyd Wright documentary.
It's time to live vicariously through someone else for today.
I'm a trifle exhausted now, at [yikes] 50. It's not so bad though.
Carpe Diem, and Oh the places you'll Go.
Go Dog Go.

Spanish tapas at Cesar in Berkeley, CA

Happy belated birthday!