Chef

Eric Ziebold

Address

Mandarin Oriental Hotel
1330 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, DC

Website

www.mandarinoriental.com/washington/dining/cityzen/

This restaurant is like a church to me. Eating here is both a spiritual and deeply sensual experience. In fact, I have built a shrine where I sacrifice a young food critic just hours before a meal there in the hopes that Chef Ziebold will bestow upon me yet again the great gift of his talent.

I was not disappointed on a recent visit to celebrate my wife's ##th birthday. I love the ambience of this place. It feels spacious, yet still intimate. Most of the staff have been with CityZen for quite sometime, so things usually flow smoothly. Usually, but not always. Our server this time was someone I didn't recognize and things weren't as fast as I would have hoped. Dammit! I need a drink in my hand ASAP!. But this was just a minor bump on the road to satisfaction.

There are two general approaches to cooking, both of which Chef Ziebold masterfully demonstrated. The first posits a uniquely flavorful ingredient where the chef seeks only to provide a supporting cast. This was the case with the lamb rib-eye I had.

Behold! The greatest piece of lamb to grace the face of the Earth!

By itself, it was a wonderful piece of meat. The supporting cast — lamb confit, some sauteed greens and a root vegetable whose name escapes me — didn't mask the lambness of the dish, but enhanced it.

The second approach is to take otherwise ordinary ingredients and combine them such that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. My wife's scallops were a text book case. Truly, what's the big deal with scallops? They're not eaten raw often like oysters and they rarely are part of a steamer dish like clams. They have very little flavor besides a hint of the sea from which they came. However, combined with other ingredients — in this case capers and peppers, among others — made for a dish that demonstrates "sour" can be damn good.

I will diligently save up so we can return again soon.

Author

John Kennedy Toole

Publisher

Grove Press, Inc.

Edition

First Black Cat Edition, Second Printing - 1981 - paperback - 415

I fear, in an alternate universe, I may be Ignatius J. Reilly. Perhaps it is my Irish Catholic upbringing that leads me to believe, in my dark moments, that despite my good intentions, I am worth less than a small pile of flea turds. When it gets bad, I break out this book and give it another read. The laughter it induces is enough to bring me out of my funk, but I also realize -- Damn! -- things could be worse.

Here is a man who is obviously smart and well educated, but unable to function normally in human society. It isn't worthwhile to delve into the reasons because we don't WANT him to be anything other than his dysfunctional self. This man's ability to inadvertently cause trouble -- which ricochets through New Orleans, usually to return at an order of magnitude greater -- is prodigious. You want to like him, but he won't let you: you are too modern and probably an offense against any criteria of taste and decency. If you want to get on his good side, be seen carrying a copy of Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius, or, better yet, ask him about his trip to Baton Rouge.

This is the only published work by the author, who committed suicide at the age of 31. We are only able to read it because his mother found a carbon copy of the manuscript in the trash. Others lament what we may have lost due do his untimely death. I am not so sure. It's not that I'm glad he's dead, it just presumes that he could have written more. Even so, should he have had a long string of successes, it would have lessened A Confederacy of Dunces, made it but one among many. Can't have that. This book must be a unique treasure.

Designer

Luc Olivier

Artist

Olivier Revenu

Publisher

Battles Magazine

Scale

2 days per turn

Regiments for combat units, battalions for support units

Area map, 1 centimeter = 10 kilometers

Components

11" x 17" map, about 2/3 is play area

140 counters

5 pages of rules, 2 pages of scenario setup and a page of designer notes

Subject

Allied invasion of southern France

This is a small game published in Battles magazine. The rules were a quick read, but you could tell they were not originally written in English. Counters are punched and I'm ready to play.

Directed & Written by

Oren Peli

Release

October 16, 2009

This low budget thriller with no CGI special effects scared the living crap out of me. Though superficially similar to the Blair Witch Project, the plot was more meaningful and the characters had depth. I was pulled into the story from the beginning and kept there throughout. So much so that I came to despise the boyfriend as a major asshole:

• How can you not live up to the spirit of a promise you made to someone you love? How can you try to weasel your way out semantically?
• When you're partner is crying, pleading for you to do something, no matter how irrational, either do it or get the fuck out.
• Beware the man who gets his honor (read, "Doesn't want anyone to question his manliness") caught up in an issue. It becomes all about him.

See, I'm telling you, Peli put together a masterful story. I'm still seething. Well, when I'm not jumping at noises the house makes. Doesn't help that we're in the middle of a blizzard.

Directed, Written & Staring

Fiona Gordon

Dominique Abel

Released

December 7, 2005

This is a fun, quirky film with great absurdist elements in it, not to mention an insightful look at modern day life. I love French movies set in "real" France. We get a peek into every day life and a seaside village that I'd love to live in.

It was a last minute decision to dine at Kaz Sushi Bistro. My original plan was to take my wife out to CityZen on Friday for her birthday, but Snowmeggedon was a coming. While changing our resies on Open Table, I saw that there was a 1,000 point opening for Kaz on Thursday, the night before the end of the world. We've been there before and truly enjoyed it, a great possible last meal.

What I enjoy:

• It's more than just classic sushi. You get unusual takes (a nice piece of tuna with a dollop of foie gras-miso) as well as a nice array of other items (the grilled baby octopus is to die for).
• You're not pushed into ordering a house selected set of pieces and there's more than just a piece of paper to tic off what you want. I like getting 3-4 orders at a time, slowly working my way through the menu.
• The place has a cozy feel to it, great for a date.

What I wasn't quite enthused about:

• It was a good ten minutes before I had my first drink placed in front of me. The service was a bit slow.
• Twice we were told they were out of something AFTER we placed our order. I absolutely hate that. Let me know up front!
• Some of the items were too salty: the short ribs and the grilled baby octopus. Yes, that octopus was still amazing despite the salt.

Still, we plan on coming back and bringing friends.

Author

James Howard Kunstler

Publisher

Free Press (Simon and Schuster)

Edition

Later printing - July 26, 1994 - Paperback - 304 pages

I mistakenly thought this was the book upon which Mr. Kunstler's World Made by Hand was based. Still a good read. I plan on writing up something more extensive using my neighborhood as a case study.

Author

Karl Jacoby

Publisher

Penguin

Edition

Reprint - November 24, 2009 - paperback - 384 pages

My apologies to Cormac McCarthy. I thought he was a sick bastard to have authored Blood Meridian. After reading this book, well, he may still be a sick bastard, but except for The Judge, everyone else appears to have been plucked from history.

This is a difficult book to read if you have the slightest bit of empathy. Truly, the Apaches were dealt a tough hand of cards. However, this fills in the gaps in my knowledge of American history. I recommend it.

Now I just need to find the time to set everything up. In the meantime, you might be looking for these:

• My résumé (pdf) Looks like I need to update this, too.
• TEotWaWKI Diary
• Don't Yuck My Yum