Tuesday, April 5 2011 at 11 AM

Yeah, that's not that easy a thing, is it?

If you go to Vit Goel ToFu, a soup parlor — there's one in Annandale, aka Koreatown, and one in Rockville — you can get yourself a bowl of soondubu, a spicy red pepper soup with squares of soft, creamy tofu; you break a raw egg into the bowl after it's brought to the table. The hot, often sputtering liquid cooks it instantly. It's a fantastic dish, and wonderfully soothing on a raw, rainy day.

Are you willing to eat seafood? Because you could make a meal just off of a dish called seafood pancake — a kind of frittata, with squid, shrimp and sliced green onions all tucked into the cooked egg.

Beyond that, there's the panchan, the assortment of snacks that comes out at the start of any meal — often, there's a good bit for a carniphobe/vegetarian to sample: kimchee, which is fermented, spiced cabbage; a mild, matchstick potato dish; a bowl of radishes; pickled pears; spicy mung beans; etc.

… Good morning, everyone. What a weird two days of weather — over-hot yesterday, with temps up in the 80s, then back into the 50s this morning. Cold, gray, raw … A good day for soondubu …

Sette's pizzas can be really, really good. The place goes through stretches where you think: Hey, these guys can compete with anybody in town! A few weeks later, a month or so later, and you're back to thinking: Yeah, pretty good.

Am I a baseball fan? Interesting question. The Nationals make it hard, being such a cheap organization, and with no real identity. And the stadium represents a blown opportunity. It lacks the character, drama and intimacy of the best stadiums, like the new Busch Stadium in St. Louis. (Prediction: Of the three, currently down-in-the-dumps local franchises — Redskins, Nationals, Wizards — the quickest to turn it around will be the Wizards.)

At the park, if I'm snacking, it's likely to be, sorry, a halfsmoke from Ben's. Why not? It's not as if you're looking for Cuisine in that situation. You want good junk food, and Ben's is good junk food.

By the way, Danny Meyer — the impresario behind Grammercy Tavern and Shake Shack in New York — has partnered with the Nationals on some new food options for the stadium.

Per the press release: "Upon opening in late spring of 2011, Nationals fans will enjoy a variety of delicious new menu offerings, including mouthwatering real pit barbecue from Blue Smoke, addictive Belgian-style fries and dipping sauces at Box Frites, authentic Mexican food and flavors at El Verano Taquería, and ShackBurgers, hot dogs and frozen custard from the popular Shake Shack. This multi-year agreement makes Nationals Park the third sports venue in the nation to offer USHG’s beloved cuisine, joining Citi Field, home of the New York Mets, and New York Racing Association’s Saratoga Race Course."

Great move.

Now, if only the team were as shrewd and aggressive in adding some bats and players who can carry a team.

You know, I'm not aware of any — but that's not to say there aren't. Does anyone out there know of a class like this? I think it'd make for a fantastic course.

Now, a question for you — how do you like your Big Green Egg? I've heard good things. How easy is it to smoke with it? How's clean-up? How much room do you need to give it?

Glad to hear it.

Your experience there mirrors my own. A great opening act, a middling middle, and a great final act. And backed by some of the best service in town.

It's a funny thing about appetizers, but in the majority of cases they're better than the entrees — in fact, when I travel, and I'm paying my own way, I rarely order an entree.

If I'm traveling with my wife and we want to dine as opposed to eat, we typically go in for what I think of as the 5-Slot Meal.

Three appetizers, an entree to share, and a dessert to share. Five slots.

Or: Four appetizers, no entree, a dessert to share.

How about the rest of you? I'm curious — how often do you find that the main courses are a letdown? (And I'm defining letdown broadly, here — if the appetizers are brilliant, then the main courses can be a letdown even if they're decent.)

No, it's definitely gotten more interesting with the addition of the surprising Ripple and now Medium Rare (the restaurant I hinted at months ago, by the way, the single-dish concept with seconds [!]) and the expansion of Palena, which basically has turned the cafe into a separate restaurant.

And as for Vace — the thing I love best there is the ability to buy all the fixings for a DIY pizza.

Get the dough, pick up a can of sauce, a ball of mozzarella, and you're good to go.

Last time I did it, I got two nice-sized pizzas out of a single ball of dough. A spare slick of tomato sauce, a few slices of cheese on top, a sprinkle of dried oregano, and after I slid the baked pies from the pizza stone, a sunny side-up egg. Perfect.

Well, I had a great time at Trattoria Marcella, on Watson Rd., with friends old and new.

Just walking up was exciting. It felt like stepping back in time. The place was alive, and the scene was like nothing you'd find in a DC area restaurant, where the best Italian restaurants are expense-account places. I'd go back just to sit again in one of the dining rooms. Incredibly convivial and warm and unpretentious, with diners of all ages, in all kinds of attire, and out for all manner of reasons and occasions.

I began my meal with a six-buck Sazerac, and an excellent one. You can maybe find a Coke around here for six bucks.

The food all hit the spot — fritto misto with fried spinach, tuna meatballs with agrodolce, a Roman-style pizza with sausage, a bowl of perfectly made gnocchi, and the best lasagna I think I've ever eaten (it came in a casserole serving dish). I pushed my friend Dave McIntyre to order it, and even stealing bites from him, he only managed to eat half of it.

My only other meal was a (very) late breakfast at Pappy's. Ribs, beans and slaw.

The line at noon wrapped around the inside of the restaurant — a 45-minute estimated wait. I was tempted to bribe someone ten bucks to sneak in line, but only had to wait 20 minutes for carryout (I had a Cards game to catch). The ribs were worth it. Beautifully smoked, with meaty, not-too-big bones full of mostly luscious glazed pork. I ate them on the steps of a church.

The quick answer is — it depends.

I've had meals where the table is a virtual buffet of dishes, but if I'm writing a real review of a place, I'm likely going back a couple more times. Sometimes, I find that I need to hit a place 4 or 5 times. Occasionally, more — once I hit a place 7 times before sitting down to write.

Usually, those visits are spread out over a period of weeks. Sometimes months.

If I hate a place, it doesn't mean I write it off. I might just wait a few months before going back, especially if there is something there that intrigues me. Or if I think a place has earned at least a second look because the owner or chef has a record to stand on.

As to who comes along with me — again, that depends, too. I've taken my dentist, of all people — in fact, he's joining me for dinner later this week.

Does it seem strange to fork over thousands upon thousands of dollars to a guy, then use my eating-out budget to spring for dinner for him? It does. It's even stranger when you consider that he's sort of an anti-foodie. I don't know, maybe that's the appeal of it for me.

Watching him across the table at our last dinner, at a very respected fine dining restaurant, you would have assumed he was eating at a Jack in the Box. He races through his meal, demolishes his plates, eats like a house afire. I loved the time he eyed a parmesan soup with skepticism, then picked up a hunk of bread and dunked it violently into the bowl, sending the tiny gnocchi floating on the surface scattering.

I'd love to meet some of you sometime over a review meal. We should put our heads together and see how we can make that work … Any ideas?

Of course! My bad. 

Yep, the newly renovated Ardeo+Bardeo is a big player there now, with new chef Nate Garyantes, previously a cook at Minibar, running the kitchen. 

Thanks for reminding me!

It's a surprising move to hook up with Danny Meyer. And I think they certainly could have found someone in the area to partner with instead.

But good is good. I don't have a real problem with it. 

Not spending on the club while charging a ton for tickets, etc. — that I have a problem with.

The Wizards are going to be good, soon, you watch. There are a lot of good young pieces there now — I love the addition of Jordan Crawford, a steal from the Hawks, and McGee seems to be figuring out how not to bite on pump-fakes all the time and stay down in the middle. We're playing with energy and fire right now, and you give the group another year of seasoning and off-season work, a Top 5 pick in the draft, a Top 20 pick in the draft (thank you, Hawks; thank you, Ernie), and you've got the foundation for something really promising. Then comes the big, clarifying trade and (possibly) big free agent signee.

Five years ago, I'd have agreed with you. The scene lacked precisely what you're talking about — the interesting mid-level place that takes its food and drink really seriously but dispenses with the formality and pretentiousness often associated with fine dining.

Now? The area is full of them. You haven't been paying close enough attention.

Just off the top of my head there's, let's see now … Cork, Birch & Barley, Brasserie Beck, Bar Pilar, Eatonville, Palena Cafe, Vermilion in Old Town, Lyon Hall in Arlington, the new Atlas Room, Liberty Tavern in Arlington, Jackie's in Silver Spring, Eola, Kushi, Level in Annapolis, Central Michel Richard, Jaleo, Oyamel, Zaytinya, Cafe Atlantico, Estadio, Proof, the revamped Ardeo+Bardeo, the new Medium Rare, 2 Amys after 9 (when the kids all leave) …

How many? Lots.

And back to my dentist for a second, and eating like a vacuum cleaner … I've always felt that you can learn, if not everything you need to know about a person, then much of what you need to know to know if you want to know more, by seeing how they eat.

Not so much what they eat, but the way they eat it. I've never really seen the wisdom of going out for a first date to a so-called nice restaurant. My preference was always to go out for pizza or for Ethiopian. Will she eat with her hands? Is there a spirit of adventure there, a lust for life? Does she get it, or does she regard this kind of food as a form of slumming? Does she like food, or does she like a scene? Does she nibble, or does she dive in? Does she pretend not to eat, or does she not care too much how she comes across? All important questions, and they can all be answered at a single meal.

As for me, I would never, ever go out for a second date with someone who ate the way my dentist eats. 

On a related note, I don't ever have him clean my teeth, either — too indelicate. He's a great dentist, but I feel more comfortable in the capable hands of his gentle hygienist.

True, but it misses a lot without that egg.

(And I thought the chatter was a vegetarian, not a vegan –?)

Has anyone had a good bibimbap lately? I haven't. 

I've always wondered about that, too. What's to stop a server from just crumpling the thing up and tossing it in the trash?

I suppose you could always just drop it off with a GM on your way out — a little less awkward, but no different, really, from having a face-to-face.

I'm a fan. And a neighbor.

It's a very good place to take a little kid — one of the best family-style restaurants in the area.

I think the beers are better than they've ever been, and would encourage anyone who hasn't been in a long while to give them another look. The style, under brewmaster Mike Roy, is leaner and less hoppy. Everything recently has been terrific.

I was just in recently, and had a bowl of broad egg noodles sauced lightly with a mushroom-and-pork Bolognese; my wife had the cornmeal crusted wild flounder with crawfish and fluffy grits. Both excellent.

And what's not to love about a restaurant that has a general store adjacent to it? Penny candy, gag gifts, children's toys, kitchen goods, candles, even a good selection of wines (you can buy a bottle and take it next door to open at dinner for a $10 corkage fee).

Agree, all the way around.

Both are good and dependable places, and deserving of broad support.

Thanks for the insights.

I'm thinking about it — though I have a brick pit sitting in my backyard that is begging to be used. But the BGE looks really enticing. I'll let you know if I take the plunge.

You're talking about a big gathering, yes?

I worry about something like that, because for one, I hate the hassle of figuring out the check when the meal's done — somebody inevitably gets screwed. And for another, it'd likely attract eyeballs in the resto community, making our meal a marked one.

But keep thinking … I'd really like to do this, in a group setting (if we can make it work) or a one-on-one occasionally throughout the year …

If you have ideas, send them along to me via email throughout the week — tkliman@washingtonian.com — or save them for the chat next week.

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

[missing you, TEK … ]