Tuesday, October 27 at 11 AM

Great. Not a minute in, and I'm hungry already …

There's actually a lot of good Greek food in this area right now, though you don't hear much about it. Komi, the best restaurant in the city, is Greek and terrific, Mourayo remains an underrated gem, the two Cavas are very good and very good values, and then you have a bunch of other, smaller, lower-profile spots: Zorba's Cafe in Dupont, Plaka Grill in Vienna, Athens Grill in Rockville.

Those should all keep you well-fed and happy …

Good morning, all, and I'm glad you can sit in with us for a while on a cool, blustery October day. The leaves are looking spectacular.

Days like today, I tend to think of soup, and I'm thinking right now of the fabulous crab bisque at Sou'Wester. If there's any cream at all in there, you certainly can't tell by tasting. The crab taste is pronounced and intense, and I suspect that the kitchen emulsifies some of the crab guts to give the soup its body and depth.

Any other great soups out there that we can make ourselves hungry talking about–? 

Thanks for writing in and relaying this story. (See, all you dyspeptic resto insiders, it's not all carping and complaining on here.)

It's funny to hear you talk about Rasika, though, since both it and Bibiana — the restaurant that inspired the past three weeks of discussion — share the same owner, Ashok Bajaj. Clearly, if Rasika can excel when it comes to service, so can Bibiana.

How could I leave the mussels at Beck off my list? Easily, actually. I've never been that enamored of them, and if I'm picking four places, there are others I like better.

Regarding the vintage being wrong … that's really bad form; the restaurant ought to let you know in advance of ordering.

At least ten times? Really? Hmm ..

By the time the bottle's at the table and you discover the year is a different year, well, then you begin to look churlish if you turn it down. Particularly if it's a client dinner, or you're on a date, or you're just trying to settle in with family and friends.

The guy sending back the bottle of wine — we've all seen that guy, and who among us wants to be that guy? Restaurants shouldn't force us by their sloppiness — a sloppiness easily corrected — into becoming that guy. 

I am. Feeling ALMOST over my cold, which, fortunately, didn't become something worse. Though going to NY at the end of the week I'm sure didn't help.

It helped my SPIRIT, without a doubt. The pork buns at Momofuku will do that. The ballotine of rabbit at Cafe Boulud will do that. Walking 47 blocks at a stretch will do that. Shopping below Canal will do that. Hearing lots of good jazz will do that.

So, yes, I'm better.

Or, wait — I hope you're not commenting subtly on my chat performance last week? ; ) 

Timpano. Wow.

Not a fan. Not a fan at all. My last experience there was so awful, in fact, I shudder every time I drive past. I haven't had the mussels there, but I have had more than enough of everything else.  

The best thing about that place is the Frank Sinatra on the sound system.

I wish I could say this was a mecca for Mexican cooking, but it's not. It's really, really not.

Oyamel, which offers regional Mexican cooking as reimagined by star chef Jose Andres, is good, and fun, and might be your best pick. It's in Penn Quarter, too — a touristy hotspot. A couple of levels down, there's Guajillo in Arlington — good chips and salsa, good ceviche, and tasty preparations of enchiladas and chicken mole.

The most interesting places to eat Mexican food, to me, are the roadside diners and taquerias in and around Little Mexico, in Bladensburg and Hyattsville — La Sirenita, La Fondita, El Tapatio, La Placita, Super Chicken. I like the atmosphere, I like the raucous blaring of the jukebox, I like the sense of exploration, I like the homey cooking, I like the family-style welcome, I like the exceptionally low prices.

Boy, it's a shame, because two of my favorite places for Moroccan cooking have both closed in the last couple of years. I used to really enjoy a little place on Lake Anna in Reston, called La Kasbah, which had good tagine and good bistilla, as well as a small selection of Moroccan wines.

And Pyramid on 6th St. around the corner from Howard University was a showcase for the tasty cooking of Khadija Banouas. I adored her bistilla — six bucks for a really flaky, crispy pastry filled with shredded chicken and ground almonds, and topped with powdered sugar and cinnamon.

Anyway, c'est la vie …

The best I can do for you, now, is to send you to Taste of Morocco, in Silver Spring. (There's another, in Arlington, which I don't like as much.) They do tagine, and do a decent job of it.

You might also give Figs Fine Foods a call. This is Reem Azoury's shop. She does a number of Moroccan salads, and for a time there was also doing a Moroccan night with a prix fixe menu for $45. I believe she has discontinued this, but she does do catering and might work with a request, you never know …

They're pretty good.

Not the best, to be sure, but when the wine is flowing and the place gets loud and there's conversation and hilarity in the air, yeah, you can have a good time with them. 

I was just thinking — today really does feel like a mussel day, doesn't it? Get a nice, big pot of 'em, a cold and creamy Belgian beer, a heaping pile of fries, a crusty loaf of bread, and just go to town.

Of course, you eat all that and drink all that, and there's no way you're getting ANYthing done the rest of the day. It's like eating pancakes for breakfast. What's that Gaffigan line? You'd better just call in sick after that, you're finished.

Tell me about it. I'd like to hear more …

And yes, I do venture down there every so often. I was just in C-ville a few months ago, and actually, speaking of soup, was really taken by a place called Revolutionary Soup.

Not taken, in the sense that it was a revelation or anything like that — no great foodie awakening, no. But the ingredients are fresh, and the soups were really good and interesting. Not cheap, but cheaper than what you'd find at a more to-do kind of sit-down place.

I'd love it if a place like that expanded up here, though I don't know that the city would get and embrace a place like this. Maybe in one of the close-in suburbs, like Clarendon or Silver Spring or Del Ray or Hyatsville.

Interesting challenge.

You know, it doesn't sound to me as though he doesn't like restaurants. What it sounds like is that he doesn't like a certain kind of restaurant — a certain kind of buttoned-down experience, where you're made to dress a certain way and the menu is full of puzzles to be solved and the crowd is full of preening strivers and self-important fat cats who come, not to eat and drink and blow off steam and forget themselves and revel in a sensual good time, but to conduct business and network and be impressive.

From the sound of it, he does like food, and interesting food at that.

Since you're staying in DC, I'd think about a place like Domku — good food, interesting food, and a very, very unpretentious atmosphere.

Where were you thinking?

What I'd do is, I'd make a pitstop at 2941.

The bar menu is 3 courses for $45, Monday through Friday from 5-9, or you can just go ahead and get a table and order from the appetizer menu.

Hey, how about that? With all the restaurants and all the possibilities …

I like the soups and stews they do, I like the pork chop, I like the Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes, when the kitchen's really on I like the pierogies, I like the kielbasa sandwich, I like the curried egg salad sandwich. and I like the spicy grilled cheese sandwich.

Of course.

As to speaking up … no, I don't think most people would say something.

It might not be true of the sort of people who come on here and post about their experiences, or the sort of people who lurk and read, but I think it's true, generally, that many people are cowed by posh restaurants. I think they're intimidated by sommeliers. I think they're mystified by menu descriptions and the many ingredients they've never heard of.

And I think they are not inclined, ever, to make a scene or even so much as speak up if something is not quite right. *

Quick story … I'd recommended Vidalia a while back to a surgeon I know, a woman of some sophistication, a woman who lives in the power axix and who, so she told me, eats out quite a bit. It was a special occasion, a graduation for a family member. I asked her how the meal went. "I didn't understand 80% of the menu," she said.

* And raise your hands — how many of us, when the waiter or waitress swings by and asks if we're enjoying our meal, lie and smile sweetly and nod — even though the fish is overcooked, or the wines are too warm or too cold, or we just don't plain like our dish? I often speak up when I'm on my own dime, but not always. And very often when I'm on my own dime, I just don't want to be bothered — and so I do what we all do: I nod and smile and hope the server will go on his or her way. 

Boss's Day? When was that?

(And isn't EVERY day Boss's Day?) 

Since you're right there in Crystal City, sure, go with Kora. Jaleo is similarly priced and right down the block. 

Thanks for the thorough report. You've got me intrigued.

Still thinking about mussels, though … mussels, beer, fries, and crusty bread for lunch, boy oh boy that sounds good … but Jesus, no — too much to get done today, I can't  … don't want to wind up dozing the afternoon away on the couch … fight it, fight it …

Ah, my inner foodie torment …

Be well, everyone, eat well, and let's do it again next week at 11 … 

Submit your question in advance to Todd's chat next Tuesday, November 3 at 11 AM.