Ubersexual Art for Palette?

This guest blog is by Erin over at at The Kitchenette

It’s a term that has been tossed around in the news lately describing confident but passionate men such as Bono and Barack Obama. Unlike the metro, the ubersexual is more sensual and not at all self-conscious: he doesn't need other people to tell him he's sexy, he knows it. As advertising giant JWT described in their recent article naming the “Top Ten Ubersexuals,” ubers have better things to do than “plan their errands around which shop windows offer the best reflection.”

And what does all this have to do with the recently opened fine arts exhibit at Palette restaurant in the Madison Hotel? It wants to be ubersexual so bad: passionate about causes and principles and artists like Ellsworth Kelly and Robert Rauschenberg, both featured in the exhibit. But the décor defines metrosexual dead-on: mostly passionate about itself.

The exhibit on the walls of Palette in the Madison Hotel near the McPherson Square Metro station showcases pieces from the Ralls Collection, a privately owned modern art gallery in Georgetown. Maybe you’d recognize the fire engine red, metallic sculpture shaped like a backwards seven out front of the Ralls? The uber-modern gallery donated several pieces by artists including: Philip Guston, Ellsworth Kelly, Malcolm Morley, Robert Rauschenberg, Dorthea Rockburne, James Rosenquist and Richard Serra.

Most resemble splatter paint, but they do faultlessly match the restaurant’s chic space. The interior design of Palette is sophisticated with black-trimmed, crème-colored chairs, and noticeably swank with frosted seafoam green glass and light fixtures hanging over the bar. Although Palette does get points for combining haute art with haute cuisine, a rarity in DC, it seems to reach for something it’s not. The uberhaute design clashes with the colonial-styled Madison Hotel built back in1963.

Perhaps the hotel was suffering a mid-life crisis and Palette was the answer? Like an obvious face-lift, the Madison tried so hard to look younger when Palette opened back in January 2004. At the restaurant’s unveiling, head chef Charlie Hansji served caramelized tomatoes with black olive ice cream. Within a month, he was replaced. Palette’s rocky start demonstrates the metrosexual notion of trying to be hip without remembering to be timeless and comfortable. People thought the chef was almost mocking fusion cooking with his peculiar combinations. Tom Sietsema gave the Palette just one star when he first reviewed the restaurant last year.

Ubers confidently make the right decision no matter what others think. They exude poise and an uncompromising style, whereas metros deliberately reach for aloofness. Metros memorize the variations of olives and flaunt their Venti Starbucks soy mochas ostentatiously. Metros cannot think for themselves, which makes it easy to value brands over brains. Palette is stylish yes, but it still seems to be searching for an identity within the timeless Madison.

(1155 15th Street, NW, 202.587.2700) http://www.palettedc.com/contact.htm

Food, Transit, and a bit of an SOB

In our usual self-congratulatory fashion, we're proud to announce that today is the second anniversary of the Smorgasblog Media Empire, the very loose comglomerate of blogs encompassing DCFUD, Thrown for a Loop, Live from the Third Rail, and two blogs emeritus: DCSOB and Pretending Along.

So thanks to all our loyal readers who've been with us since the beginning, back in the days when rj3 almost got fired for his personal blogging and decided that, in retaliation, we should create the "Venn diagram of group blogs". And Smorgasblog was born.

Since then, rj3 has resigned as DCSOB and moved on to the windy city, taking his blog with him. Zaf came along and started DCFUD. And the rest is, well, history.

We couldn't have done it without our loyal writers (on the sidebar), including stand-up stand-in editor mjf. So thanks to everyone.

And in our continual spirit of slowly taking over an incredibly small corner of the blog-o-sphere, we're always interested in looking for more bloggers and group blogs. If you have an idea for a great group blog or are interested in joining as a writer for DCFUD or another blog, feel free to drop us a line. Direct emails to the dcfud.writers@gmail.com address, as we're too lazy to open another gmail account at the moment.

Grandma's Chopped Liver -- Not for the Squeamish

Over the weekend, I got a craving for chopped liver, the way my grandmother makes it. I know that chopped liver has few fans outside of the Jewish retiree community, but I grew up in Eastern Europe, so it's a taste I acquired as a child. Having recently purchased my very first food processor, I realized that nothing was standing in my way. Nothing except my hatred of touching raw meat.

Since I was craving chopped liver, and seriously contemplating making it, you can probably guess that I'm not a vegetarian. But touching raw meat just grosses me out. I know this isn't a terribly eloquent of putting it, but: raw meat is totally gross. I never deal with it. I either cook vegetarian dishes or buy my meat already prepared. Thinking back over the past three years, I can recall only one occasion on which raw chicken entered my kitchen.

My squeamishness with raw meat is a problem I would like to overcome. So like an acrophobe who hopes to cure his fears by visiting a skyscraper's observation deck, I walked over to Safeway and purchased a package of raw chicken livers and an onion. I knew I would have a problem when I had trouble taking the package out of the supermarket's meat case. It looked wet and a bloody and I just didn't want to touch it. Hoping to minimize my contact with the package, I walked back to the produce section, got a plastic bag (which should really be provided over by the meat section as well) and used the bag to get the livers out of the case.

After getting home, I took a deep breath and dumped the package out of the plastic bag into the sink. I took another deep breath and pulled open the lid. One more deep breath and I was handling a chicken liver. It was slippery. And unlike raw chicken, which doesn't smell like roasted or baked chicken, raw chicken livers smelled a bit like cooked chicken livers. And did I mention it was slippery? Oh, and also quite bloody. I wondered if this is how a human liver feels to a surgeon. Then I thought, "I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti."

I managed to stop thinking long enough to clean off the livers and dump them into some boiling water. While the meat was cooking, I neurotically cleaned anything that came in contact with the raw chicken. Part of the grossness of raw meat is that I am convinced that I will almost definitely die of salmonella if it enters my kitchen. Chicken livers take about 15 minutes to cook, and I spent most of that time scrubbing.

My family's recipe for chopped chicken livers includes only a few ingredients: chicken livers, fried onions and cooked carrots. I also had some white mushrooms around, so I decided to make two batches, one with onions and carrots and the other with onions and mushrooms.

Grandma's Chopped Liver

• Half a container of raw chicken livers
  
• A quarter of a large white onion
  
• 5-6 baby carrots
  
• Olive oil

Grandma's (Modified) Chopped Liver

• Half a container of raw chicken livers
  
• A quarter of a large white onion
  
• 8-10 white mushrooms
  
• Olive oil

Using olive oil, I fried up some onion and mushrooms while boiling a few baby carrots and the liver. Once everything was ready, I dumped the ingredients of the first batch into the food processor and used the "pulse" button until all of the ingredients were smoothly blended together. After cleaning out the food processor, I blended the second batch. The chopped liver made with carrots was softer and lighter in color while the batch with the onions and mushrooms was darker and had a rougher texture. I though that I had added too much carrot to the first batch, and assumed that it would be obvious once I tasted it, but was surprised by how unobtrusively the carrots blended into the livers. I couldn't taste them at all. Both batches were quite delicious, although having gone through the trauma of touching the raw chicken livers took a lot of the fun out of eating the final product.

And so, my latest adventures with raw meat did not help me get over my squeamishness. This acrophobe may never set foot on an observation deck again. In fact, the experience only served to further my progression to vegetarianism. If I am this bothered by preparing a meal, should I really be forcing myself to prepare it? For me, the answer is no. Next time, I'm making a nice chickpea salad.

The Vegetarian Option

As I have declared Thanksgiving season officially open on my other blog, I want to start the discussion over here as well. I was so inspired by the nippy fall weather this weekend that I roasted a chicken with some acorn squash. Thanksgiving is less than a month away and I am chomping at the bit to start the cooking. While all the hoopla at Thanksgiving may be about the turkey (or pumpkin pie for some), we still need to take into account the vegetarian option. This is where Pepperidge Farm comes into play. Their puff pastry shells are the perfect receptacle for a vegetarian filling. This makes a vegetarian entree that is not just an option but something the meat eaters want to get their grubby paws on. The only problem is when the meat eaters start hogging the stuff pastry shells. Basically, all you have to do is bake the shells according to directions, pull of the top, and fill. Here are two fillings that go great in the shells:

Marsala mushroom filling
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1 pound of mushrooms (can be a mixture of portobellos, cremini, button, shitake) chopped into large chunks
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
1/2 cup of marsala (or white wine)
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 cup cream or sour cream (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Saute onion and garlic together in the butter and oil until soft and translucent add 1/2 teaspoon of salt and a shake of pepper. Add mushrooms and saute for 10 minutes. Add seasonings, herbs and honey and saute another 5 minutes. Splash the wine in and stir until the mixture has reduced and thickened (should be a gravy consistency). Add cream/sour cream for richness.

Root vegetable filling
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, sliced
1 clove of garlic, chopped
3 cups root vegetable chopped into large chunks (carrots, parsnips, butternut squash, sweet potatoes etc)
1/2 teaspoon thyme
2 tablespoons flour
Pinch of nutmeg
1/2 cup of milk (or cream)
1/2 cup of gruyere cheese

Saute onion and garlic together in the butter until soft and translucent add 1/2 teaspoon of salt and a pinch of pepper. Add the root vegetablesand thyme and saute for about 10 minutes (until the vegetables have soften a bit but still hold their shape). Add the flour and nutmeg and stir until the mixture is coated with flour. Add the milk and stir thoroughly until the mixture has thickened and then add the cheese. Stir until the cheese has been incorporated into the mixture and then pour into the puff pastry shells.

World's #8 Best Fast Food Restaurant: The Pentagon Subway

Loosely continuing our theme of "best restaurants," we present to you the Discovery Travel Channel's top ten "best fast food restaurants".

#8 on the list is the Subway at the Pentagon. Why, you ask? The list's authors say it's because you have to have a security clearance to get through the doors. Which, incidentally, isn't actually true. You just have to have a friend who has a security clearance who invites you to each lunch with them at the Pentagon, as zaf can attest to.

The rest of the list includes Arby's in Hickory, N.C., which attracts more than 1,000 bikers to hang out there weekly; a Burger King in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which boasts "sky-high ceilings, intricate wood moldings and multiple chandeliers" as it is in the former residence of a wealthy Argentina family, and a McDonald's in Pitea, Sweden, which boasts a drive through window for your snowmobile.

The full list is below:

• Wendy's, North Pole, Alaska
  
• Burger King, Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo
  
• Arby's, Hickory, N.C.
  
• McDonald's, Pitea, Sweden
  
• Kentucky Fried Chicken, Corbin, Ky.
  
• Sonic Drive-In, Abilene, Texas
  
• Burger King, Buenos Aires, Argentina
  
• Subway, Washington, D.C.
  
• Taco Bell, Pacifica, Calif.
  
• McDonald's, Manhattan, N.Y.
  

We have a feeling the lists's writers were after something a bitter different than we would be. For one, we'd be considering food taste, which would knock, well, everybody, off the list. We've probably re-write it to include Chipotle, In-N-Out Burger, and Five Guys, at least.

The Splenda saga continues...in technicolor

Holy Crap! That was the only possible reaction when I found out that Splenda had just released a Brown Sugar version. So many new ways to cause cranial bleeding and liver failure! But it was not to be- the new brown sugar is just a blend- regular brown sugar mixed with regular Splenda. You could make it yourself by stealing the little yellow packets from Starbucks and mixing them with molasses.

Unsurprisingly, the sales pitch for the new mix made half from regular sugar is....that it has half the calories of regular sugar. Tomorrow’s headlines: I can make my butter half vegan by adding 50% margarine to it.

Nice muffins

This guest blog is by Erin over at at The Kitchenette

Yesterday’s New York Times food cover revealed that the Food Network hired Rachel Ray because “she’s sexy but not threatening.”

Well, well, well… seems the Network knows a potential FHM pinup girl when they see one. Playfully licking chocolate off a wooden spoon? Sucking on a strawberry? Quick, easy…meals.

Rachel posed for the men’s magazine two years ago and definitely lived up to the network’s expectations. She’s sexy (clearly) but way too red-checkered, banjo-playing country girl to be anything near threatening. She doesn’t come close to the dark, mystical powers of say, Nigella Lawson, but that isn’t her style. Tyra or Carmen may seem out of our league (because they are) but Rachel has got that spunk that screams homegrown girl-next-door, just the way we like it. In the kitchen, her 40-dollar, 30-minute recipes (though they often run long) are catered to the hyper-stressed working mother or frugal family.

I like the bent-over, let’s get this turkey in the oven shot. She’s not hiding the fact that she likes a good piece of bird, even if it is a bit greasy or gets stuck in her teeth. And hey, the heat from the oven is a little much, so how about we forget the festive sweaters and strip down to the bare essentials—black bra and lace-lined checkered skirt. None of this Martha Stewart turtleneck business.

The chocolate sauce shot is the most erotic, hands down. The happy-go lucky Rachel has stopped giggling for a second. A bit subdued. A bit enigmatic. It’s as if she’s hiding something. She has let chocolate’s aphrodisiac powers get the best of her. Who could say no to a lil’ chocolate? Warm and smooth, something’s definitely about to go down easy.

Simply put, strawberries are sweet, just like Rachel. But the berry has an undeniably seductive appeal. Strawberries are not crunched or chomped like pears or apples. They are licked and sucked, gently nibbled. People use strawberry-scented lotions and oils to feel sexy-- Bath and Body works has made a business out of it. Rachel’s signature Cheeseburger Salads and Super Sloppy Joes may seem unsexy, but she sure makes a strawberry look appetizing.

Last but not least, the colander shot. Rachel makes you want to jump into the soap bubble bath with her. Clean as she may be, the suds smothered all over her legs seem a bit dirty.

Just for the record, Food Network encouraged Rachel to pose for FHM and contrary to assumptions, Rachel didn't get a penny for it. She did get plenty of drooling fans ready to take a bite out of her fresh-baked pies and turkey. Break me off a piece of that… Cracked Corn and Cheese Square.

If you can't beat them....

Perhaps this sounds familiar to you. It's a late night at the back room of the Black Cat, and some art student is going on and on about how Starbucks has taken over the world. In fact (he mumbles into the counter) there are so many bloody Starbucks in DC, he shoo...he should...should try to visit every single one. Then he probably passes out in a pool of his own self-righteousness.

Well, when he wakes up, there's more than a sad head waiting for him. Jacinda and Jerry over at Siren Song have taken it upon themselves to visit, yes, every single Starbucks in DC, and they do it better than he ever could. They have detailed pictures, reviews of the location, and critiques of the clientele. Which just goes to prove that bitching about Starbucks does not make you alternative. But really liking them does make you intriguingly eccentric.

http://www.sirensongdc.com/

One of two reasons to wear a costume to work

Just for the record, the Read Before You Eat list currently stands at 5:

Kitchen Confidential- Anthony Bourdain
Hey Waitress- Alison Owings
The Man Who Ate Everything- Jeffrey Steingarten
Salt- Mark Kurlansky
What Einstein Told His Cook- Robert L. Wolke

Well, I know it’s already been out for 6 months, but Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl has just made the cut by successfully making me re-think every single restaurant meal I’ve ever sat down to.

No, really. You may have liked the little apology canapés that the kitchen sent you last time the server spilled your drink, but compared to the royal treatment given to food critics, that’s Purina. The service gets better. The wait gets shorter. Even the size of the berries in the desert gets bigger. As the food critic for the New York Times, Reichl’s recognizable face meant that she had to use fake names, credit cards, wigs, and stage makeup to extract fair reviews.

She even manages to avoid the saccharine Oprah-isms that mar her previous two books, Tender at the Bone and Comfort Me With Apples (which are both otherwise fabulous, by the way)… till the very last chapter. At that point you might as well just scan for plot. It’s hard to criticize what is basically a memoir for becoming too self-centered, but even so, some of the symbolism that she reads into her costumes smacks of angst.

That aside, this is probably the best book I can think of to throw some light on the seedy world of high-level restaurant reviewing. You will finish it wondering if there are actually two different restaurants inhabiting every dining space: the one the reviewers are experiencing, and the one the rest of us go to. The result is something like a culinary cross between Black Like Me and The Truman Show.

World's 50 Best Restaurants?

We're a bit dated in covering this, but we hope you'll forgive us once you start salivating over it. In April of this year, Britain's Restaurant magazine released the results from their annual survey of chefs, food journalists, and restaurant owners and produced the "global 50 Best Restaurants." You can see the entire list here or here.

A brief sampling of the best:

1. The Fat Duck - Bray United Kingdom
   
2. El Bulli Roses - Spain
   
3. French Laundry - Yountville, Calif. United States
   
4. Tetsuya's - Sydney Australia
   
5. Gordon Ramsay - London United Kingdom
   
6. Pierre Gagnaire - Paris France
   
7. Per Se - New York United States
   
8. Tom Aikens - London United Kingdom
   
9. Jean Georges - New York United States
   
10. St John - London United Kingdom
    

Has anyone out there tried any of these restaurants? And are there any you think are missing that haven't been included?

Freeeee pizza

Thanks, DCist, for this heads up - Ledo Pizza will be celebrating its 50th Anniversary by giving away FREEEEEEEEE pies all day today. If you're Bethesda-accessible, what are you waiting for? The mozzarella is calling!

The Yuppie threat

Blogger The Poor Man on yuppies and food:

I was a yuppie in a past life, and it has definite advantages. For one, the food is good. It’s absurdly good. Yuppies love good food, and always live near the best restaurants. Fact. Indeed, quality restaurants located in non-yuppie areas are quickly “discovered” by yuppies, and spoken about, in hushed tones, as “this little neighborhood place I found”, which, when you finally arrive, turns out to have a clientele consisting of two Mexicans and fifty billion slumming yuppies. For, like bees, yuppies send out unconscious pheremonal signals to each other which communicate the exact location of all fine eateries in a fifty-mile location, which they then swarm relentlessly, until the place is turned into a wasteland of boutique beer and ‘funky*‘ There is no defense, because nobody can afford to eat out as much as yuppies.

Luckilly, DC is a little more immune to this for a few reasons. First of all, long-time Washingtonians are stubborn. Ben's Chili Bowl and the Florida Avenue Grill are sure as heck not going to double the prices and start selling Samuel Smith Organic Oatmeal Stout to wash down the half-smokes (now with fresh cilantro!). Secondly, more than many other places, Washingtonians eat and do business at the same time. The choice of overpriced downtown reataurant is part of the elaborate ritual by which allies and enemies are evaluated. Ironing out a deal over legislation is not going to happen if the parties can't shake hands because they have limited injera-manipulation skills and thus goopy sauce-covered paws.

Does this mean that DC's great, cheap restaurants are immune from the delerious effects of yuppies? Heck no - they can be demolished to make new condos. for people who want "urban living" without meeting actual urbanites.

Sietsema's Guide To The Galaxy

It's the moment you've all been waiting for! If by all I mean, like, three of you.

The Post unveiled Tom Sietsema's latest dining guide in today's online edition (it will appear in Sunday's print copy, I believe). The critic's theme this year is "In The Mood", attempting to find a restaurant for every occasion or whim.

For regular readers of Tom's weekly chats, most of the choices won't be too surprising - after all, how many times have we heard him rave about 2 Amys or Buck's Fishing and Camping? But the guide still remains a great one-glance stop when you're trying to figure out what's for dinner.

CakeLove, continued

This guest blog is by Erin over at at The Kitchenette

Warren Brown, founder of CakeLove, has an expanding bakery chain, a Food Network series and a cupboard filling fast with features from People Magazine, Oprah, and an array of dazzled national media elites. For this litigator-turned-boutique baker, the sky's the limit. But right here at home, CakeLove has left some customers dissatisfied. Too dry. Not fluffy enough. Overpriced. Overrated. Many of the DC bloggers are not fans, and CakeLove knows it.

Head baker Mary Meyers sends The Kitchenette a message to the food blogosphere with a recipe for a lovelier CakeLove experience: http://thekitchenette.blogspot.com/2005/10/message-from-cakelove.html

Food Porn: The Untold Story

Hey...I didn't order a pizza...
(cue music: bowmp chica bomp-bomp chica bow-wow)

Sure, we've all tossed around the term "food porn" more than a few times. Some accuse magazines like Gourmet and Bon Appetit of propagating it. Hey, even this website could be considered one form.

But journalist and author Frederick Kaufman, who has just published the book A Short History Of The American Stomach, has taken the thought one step further. He's accusing the Food Network of being nothing more than Food Porn in its purest form. And no, we're not just talking about the misty lens and low-cut tops featured on "Everyday Italian".

Some of Kaufman's points about the network - its reliance on sound effects, its camera angles, etc., are well-taken. But Rachael Ray as the "innocent girl next door"? Tyler Florence as the aforementioned salacious pizza man? The guy may be taking a few liberties with his analogies.

But judge for yourself: Check out a transcript of his discussion with On The Media here

Rail-inspired Cuisine Event

In what has to be one of the first rail/food crossover events, the Smithsonian Resident Associate program has announced a rail cuisine inspired event: Dining by Rail: A Soot-to-Souffle Journey. On Wednesday, November 2nd, the program will host rail historian James D. Porterfield, author of Dining by Rail and From the Dining Car, and will serve a four course dinner of authentic rail fare, prepared by guest chef Warren C. McLeod.

The menu includes:

• Oven Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
  
• Smoked Tomato Bretonne
  
• Marinated 7 Grilled Salmon Pooled in a Corn Puree with a Black Bean Salsa
  
• Fruit Upiside-Down Pudding
  

We, unfortunately, won't be attending but we'd love to hear from anyone who does.

Tickets are $95. The event begins at 6:30 p.m. on November 2nd. Click here for more details.

Better than Steak Meatloaf

What do you do when you're feeling homesick and in a country that can't figure out how to make a decent hamburger? You make meatloaf, of course. But not just any meatloaf: A Bachelor’s “Better Than Steak” Meatloaf.

I'd love to say this was a family recipe handed down through six or seven generations, but it actually comes from the classic 1994 The Great American Meatloaf Contest Cookbook, modified slightly to suit my taste.

It's not your normal meatloaf. Instead of pouring on the ketchup to cover up the taste of heaps of meat, this meatloaf uses bread, cream, and cheese to accentuate the taste of a beef/pork/veal mixture. It's a rolled meatloaf, meaning you create the meatloaf exterior and then roll it around the insides, making the final output a series of layers. I've made it several times for friends and dinner parties, always to rave reviews.

Ingredients:

Meat Mixture
1 small white onion, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
6-8 fresh basil leaves; minced
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
8-10 drops Worcestershire sauce
2½ lbs ground beef
1¼ lbs ground veal
¾ lb ground mild pork sausage
Editor's note: You can modify the meat mixture to taste. I've also used a beef/turkey/pork mixture, a beef/lamb/pork mixture and, for smaller loafs, just a beef/pork mixture. I'm a fan of very lean beef for health reasons, but the higher-fat beef does give it a bit more flavor

Filling
½ small loaf sour-dough French bread
½ cup half and half or full cream
1 cup crumbled bleu cheese
3 tbsp minced fresh parsley

Preparation Instructions
First, create your meat mixture. In a large bowl, combine the various types of meat, adding in the onions, garlic, salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, basil, and eggs. Making meatloaf requires getting dirty. Wash your hands and then mix the meat up thoroughly by kneading through it with your hands. This will take some effort, but is worth it -- otherwise you'll end up with the beef, pork, and veal all in different parts of the meatloaf.

Next, lay down a strip of about 12 inches of wax paper or aluminum foil. Pull the meat out of the bowl and flatten it out on the foil. It should be about 1/3" thick, a little smaller than the width of the foil, and extend, well, until you run out of meat. Keep two small pieces of meat aside.

Now, find a long pan (a baking pan will do). Then, slide the French bread lengthwise so that you've got the crust and some soft bread. Pour half-and-half or cream in the bottom of the pan and then lay the bread on top of the half-and-half. Press the bread downwards so it sucks up all the cream. Take the bread and lay it on top of the meat. Repeat this with the remaining pieces of the bread until the meat is covered. Leave about a quarter inch on each side of the bread, as you'll want to be able to seal the meat when you're finished. Next, take crumbled blue cheese and spread it out on top of the meat. Add parsley (I've also used rosemary, which adds some nice flavor).

Now for the fun part. You want to roll the meatloaf up. Starting on one end, use the paper to roll the meatloaf, as if you were rolling up a newspaper. Keep it pretty tight, if you can. You want it to look like a cake roll. When you're finished, seal the two ends of the meatloaf using the extra meat you kept around.

Place the meatloaf on a lightly oiled cookie sheet. Cook in a pre-heated 375 degree oven for approximately one hour (depending on the size of the meatloaf). Let stand for 10-15 minutes before serving.

And let us know if you try it!

Shrimp Satisfaction

I’m always on the lookout for a good shrimp enchilada. Despite being disappointed by most seafood/Mexican combinations I’ve tried when restaurant-hopping, I still hold out that someone’s going to blow me away. But whether it be the chain offerings at Chevy’s, or Alero’s bland attempt, I’ve yet to be impressed.

But when I went to Mexicali Blues in Clarendon Friday night, I was pleasantly surprised that their take on the dish was a little unique and definitely delicious. The enchiladas are served in an orange-colored, creamy sauce that really makes the meal. Portion sizes are sufficient, but not overdone. The rest of our trip was less impressive – slow service, mediocre mojitos, pupusas that can’t hold a candle to Samantha’s – but loved those enchiladas.

Has anyone encountered a more deserving candidate for the Best Shrimp Enchilada crown?

Mmm, sluffy

Your humble Chicago correspondant picked up some frozen dosas at a grocery on Devon Avenue, the main drag for Indian and traditional Jewish products around here. They look like this:

Dosariffic, right? Take a look at this detail from the bottom right of the box:

What the heck is "sluffy"?

Seeking Quality Andouille & Gumbo Recipes

From the DCFUD mailbox, a reader writes in with an important question:

I have to make a big New Orleans dinner for a fundraiser. Do you know where I can buy good andouille in DC? Is there a bakery that sells beignets and King Cake? And can a gumbo or jambalaya be made ahead of time, in whole or part? Any information you might want to share would be so much appreciated - the fundraiser is for my son, who lost his house, car, everything but the shirt off his back.

For andouille, we recommend checking out Whole Foods or Wegmans. As for a gumbo or jambalaya recipe, we don't have any great ones, but we bet some of our readers have some great recipes and recommendations.

As for us, whenever we're craving jambalaya, gumbo, or beignets, we head over to the best creole restaurant in the city, if not on the entire east coast: Bardia's New Orleans Cafe. I'd imagine they'd be happy to sell their beignets and jambalaya in bulk, especially for a fund raiser. Bardia's is located at 2412 18th Street NW in Adams Morgan, and they can be reached at 202-234-0420.

Any other suggestions out there from our readers? Feel free to post in the comments below or, if you'd rather, contact us directly via email.

Image courtesy The Georgetown Hoya.