Tuesday, November 24 at 11 AM

To say something is underrepresented implies that there are good numbers of a particular culture, but that the restaurants just don't seem to follow. I don't think we have that. Where there are large pockets of ethnicities, there are also restaurants and cafes and bakeries.

Now, if you're asking what I'd love to see more of … well, I'd love to see a good Jewish deli or two (a real one, with real character, real Jewish zest), a Russian (particularly Georgian) restaurant, some more Moroccan restaurants, a few Brazilian places that are not all about skewered meat, a few more Cuban restaurants (including a good place to go for cafe con leche and buttered Cuban toast — one of my favorite breakfasts), a couple Italian restaurants that are content to be simple red sauce places and not venture into the kind of micro-regional experimentation they can't really pull off, and a few Japanese restaurants that emphasize soba noodles (homemade) and other non-sushi dishes.

Anybody else out there have a wish list?

DCCook,

I've never used a roasting bag, myself, so I can't help you there. But if you're looking to produce a really moist turkey, the best thing you can do is to brine it.

Brining is simple, and if you don't overdo it (I'd only brine for up to six hours, personally), it really does pay off. Not too much salt, either, and you'll want to add some other flavorings to your salt- and sugar-water mixture, like, for instance, bay leaves, black peppercorns, maybe a cinnamon stick or star anise, a few curls of orange zest … Make sure you have a big enough container to do the soaking in, that's the other key thing.

I'll be roasting, once again, a Red Bourbon heritage turkey, which my dealer (very shady, very mysterious) will have ready for drop off tomorrow late morning.

Insanely expensive, but what the hell, it's a holiday, and everybody raves about the taste of the meat. I also love the way they look on the table — not a big, round hulking thing, but a languorously stretched out bird, as if it had been roasting while lying on a chaise lounge.

Here's what I do with it, and I highly recommend it for any turkey. Very simple, too.

A package of softened Kerry Gold butter and a fistful each of chopped sage and tarragon. This mixture goes under the skin, so you have to cut discreet holes into the exterior and work your fingers underneath and rub the butter into the meat. 

For the outside, it's a package of Kerry Gold, softened, and a bottle of B-grade maple syrup (the real stuff). Mix it up good and spread it over the entirety of the bird's surface.

Then, salt and pepper the whole thing very, very generously and you're ready to roast. 

Ah, Spargelfest!

Has anyone else been? 

Wow. That's some kind of gesture.

Good for Komi. And good for you, too — I hope you'll really savor that make-up meal!

Let's see. When I was in a couple of weeks ago, I had one of the best sandwiches I've had in ages — a huge smear of butter on a crusty baguette, and some high-quality, thin-shaved ham. Plus a good salad, a worthy banh mi, and an excellent cookie. I also took some breads home, and they're better than anything you can find in the city right now.

I didn't like the Montreal bagel at all, but the ham sandwich more than makes up for it — in fact, if ONLY for the ham sandwich I'd include the place on my list for the time being. It's that good.

If you're peeved at the prices — well, I can understand that. It's not cheap. But you know what? Everything's relative. I was recently in Eamonn's, in Old Town, and paid $34 for two pieces of fish, a pile of chips, a tiny cup of coleslaw, a slightly larger cup of mushy peas and three sodas. (And it wasn't as good as it had been the time before, either.)

G Street Foods looks like a bargain by comparison.

Hell, my wife and I could've eaten at RESTAURANT EVE, the steal-of-a-deal Lickety Split lunch, for about the same price.

Scoop? No scoop, not yet. But stay tuned …

I can tell you, however, about a prominent restaurant that blew its chance one night not long ago. And when I say blew it, I mean really blew it — as in, you can't believe what just went down, even though you're sitting right there and saw the thing with your very own eyes.

Generally speaking, if I or any other member of the team experiences an out-and-out bad meal during the course of our research, then the offending restaurant comes off the list. 

Well, on this particular night, the restaurant in question was clearly teetering. Not a spectacularly bad experience, mind you, but a disappointing experience. Middling food, and some missteps by the staff.

My friends and I were about halfway through our meal, so it was entirely within the realm of possibility that the restaurant could have corrected course.

At which point the GM swung by and said something oddly and, in fact, spectacularly inappropriate — shocking, only because we could hardly believe we were sitting at the table and not in a bar somewhere next to a dude who'd had a few drinks.

And I thought: Pfffftttt! There goes your spot on the list … 

You'd think it wouldn't be so hard, but it is. French-trained chefs really struggle to come up with dishes without meat that are interesting and lively and tasty. Why?

I think it's because so much of their training has to do with meat, with maximizing the flavors of meat. Soups are all about extracting the flavors from the bones of meat. Sauces are all about accenting the flavors of meats. Stocks and reductions are built from the flavors of meat and exist to intensify their taste. Everything, in a way, revolves around meat.

You don't find that to nearly the same degree with Asian cuisines, and some, like South Indian, you have a vast repertoire of really tasty dishes that involve no meat at all.

So, it's no wonder that so many of the vegetarian dishes you see around town and in other big food cities are so dull, and so often feel obligatory.

If you want some real possibilities, you have to look beyond American and French restaurants. Zaytinya, Rasika, they have some pretty good options at the high end; not coincidentally, their menus are rooted in other cultures. At the low end, Woodlands does a great job with its South Indian menu. The agreeably priced Layalina is also a decent spot for vegetarians.

There's also an all-veg menu at Vegetate, though the cooking is a little uneven.

Ironically, Ray's the Steaks does a great veg dish: a spicy roasted portobello that has juice and savor and heft — it's deeply satisfying.

You know, you could hit both places I'm going to recommend without leaving the block. Dinner at either J+G Steakhouse or the more casual Cellar — both right there in the W — and then breakfast the next morning at Cafe du Parc. Perfect, no?

By the way, what would the itinerary look like for a couple of guys on a "guys overnight"? "The Hangover"?

Good one! Will do.

Any other requests for The Recipe Sleuth that you can think of? 

Check with Talbot 208 and see if they can help you out.

I enjoy the place.

I haven't yet been to Mitchum's Steakhouse, in Trappe, Md., but a friend of mine recommends it. Not for a long drive out from DC, but if you happen to be on — or find yourself on — the other side of the bay. The Mitchum in the name is, in fact, Robert Mitchum; there are photos all over the walls of the tough-guy actor, who, if I'm not mistaken, has a house on the Eastern Shore. 

I love it!

And no, didn't know he had a cookbook out. I've GOT to get my hands on that thing, and pronto. Thanks for the great tip!

And you've jogged my memory …

Last year at this time, I wrote a piece for NPR about a very special collaboration, between one Calvin Broadus and Martha Stewart.

Take a look; I promise your day will go much, much better from here on out. And for those of you looking for menu ideas for Thanksgiving, I mean, what could be better than cognac mashed potatoes? : )

I think that's a pretty great list, actually.

Tell you what: If each of those chefs is willing to swing by the office with their dishes, I will be SURE to find a way to get them to you. How's that? 

Who else out there's got a wish list?

Incidentally, I've only ever played Santa twice, and the first time I promised it would be my last. I was in fifth grade, I think, and it was one of those Secret Santa deals the teacher made us all participate in. I remember going out and shopping for a gift, and buying a mug or something with the boy's name on it. The big day came, and we all went to open our gifts. Mine? A pack of basketball cards, already opened, with four cards missing and the stick of gum missing, too. 'Tis the season.

Believe me: I'm DYING to. It's almost painful to hold it in. 

This one vaults right into the top 10 of horrific restaurant moments, up there with the night I was served catfish and told it was salmon and found myself in a 15 minute back-and-forth with the manager, who went and produced the box, which was cold from the freezer (nice!) and which said "salmon" but contained several incinerated-looking catfish.

But back to the incident …

Let's just say, for now, that he was talking about the waitress and an activity that he liked to engage in. 

The boy can't eat SOUP? He can't drink HOT CHOCOLATE?

Yeah, Bird, Magic, Jordan, all nice. But for one, it was a few years prior and two, ALL THE GOOD CARDS HAD BEEN LIFTED.

I'd have loved to have gotten some basketball cards; I didn't even get a full pack. What I did get, was a bunch of journeymen and scrubs. Imagine, today, seeing this handful of cards: Mark Madsen, Fabricio Oberto, Sergio Rodriguez, Brad Miller, Shannon Brown and Anthony Johnson. Merry Christmas.

Can I just say? I love your wife.

Great, great story. I think this one belongs in the Kliman Online Hall of Fame. "Thanksgiving with Shmoopy."

Anybody else? You can never have too many great stories. Any funny family tales from Thanksgivings past? 

The craptacular play of the Redskins, the craptacular stadium, the craptacular parking situation, the craptacular future of a franchise ruled by an owner who lacks all humility and sense of self and who turns coaches into whipping boys for his many and repeated failures.

I don't know, how about bringing in a bottle of Maalox? 

If I were a season ticket holder, I'd stop going. This team needs wholesale change — a total cleaning of house — and the only way to force Dan Snyder's hand to go and hire a real General Manager and provide a real football operations department is to stop coming to games. 

Me, too.

(Or do you not mean to eat?) 

I had a good turtle at ACKC not long ago, gooey with caramel and lots of good nuts and high-quality chocolate. In the Caribbean, I've also had turtle stew, which is much, much more of an, um, acquired taste.

I made the mistake of foisting it on my pregnant wife, who turned a shade of green and nearly puked up the contents at the table. 

Italian and deli, agreed. They're two huge holes. 

See? We've all been there.

(Though I have no real dea what you're talking about. ; ) 

I like 7th Hill. Don't love it — but like it. It's a good addition to Eastern Market. I wish it had more seating.

And I'm with you on the tunes; there's so much music out there, why pick something that might turn people off like that? 

Provocative and thoughtful, and I think restaurant owners and managers and chefs — even if they don't like what you say, even if they think you're flat-out wrong — would do well to heed your words.

I hope everyone out there has a great and memorable Thanksgiving, and I hope some of you will return next week with some good and funny family stories. 

Be well, everyone, savor the time with family and friends, and let's do it next week at 11 …

>> Submit questions in advance to Todd's chat next Tuesday, December 1 at 11 AM.

[TEK, I love you and miss you … ]