Comments on: Dragon Fire

By: dan

dan — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 20:46:54 +0000

I recently returned to El Dragón after not having been for several months. The decor has been changed a bit, the staff is the same. The food is not. It’s noticeably of poorer quality - oily, poorly seasoned, skimpy portions. When I asked my regular waitress what had happened - if perhaps they had a new cook or something - her response was, “Everything is exactly the same as it always has been, you clearly just don’t remember. Maybe your tastes have changed. It’s fine.” Umm, no, it’s not, and thanks, but with that attitude, we won’t be back…

By: SaltShaker » Blog Archive » Port Salute

SaltShaker » Blog Archive » Port Salute — Tue, 18 Oct 2005 12:51:47 +0000

[...] For dinner we had planned on re-visiting the szechuan restaurant I’ve enjoyed in the past, El Dragón, but unfortunately it turned out to be closed. Maureen had noticed Bis-a-bis, which I’d also enjoyed, and we headed there. I wish I could say I was equally happy this time, but I’d be lying. Service was scattered, starting with an argument between two waitresses about 20 feet away from us over who had to take our table. It was slow, our waitress was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders and wasn’t above making it obvious. And the food this time was rather disappointing. A decent salad, but a plate of half a dozen soggy, flavorless fried calamari rings started dinner. For main courses a steak that was clearly overdone and a bowl of insipid argula gnocchi tossed with cherry tomato halves and canned black olives and nothing else. At least there was salt, pepper, olive oil, and parmesan on the table to toss it with. Even the lime mousse that I’d liked so much the last time seemed a bit listless, though that may just have been that the meal had been colored by the rest of the experience. We also were served the wrong wine, though didn’t notice it until midway through the evening - not that we were charged more or anything, it just wasn’t what we’d picked (my own fault for not asking to see the label before the waitress served it, but we were deep in conversation). [...]

By: SaltShaker » Blog Archive » Kung Pao Revisited

SaltShaker » Blog Archive » Kung Pao Revisited — Sat, 01 Oct 2005 23:33:32 +0000

[...] Kung Pao has many different versions, from the main ingredient to the range of others. As best I can tell the keys are peanuts, garlic, chilies, some form of onions, and probably some bean paste. With a few substitutions and tweaks, you too can make your own Kung Pao. Just play with this recipe and come up with your version. 2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced 1 small onion, chopped ¼ cup fermented black beans (or a couple of tablespoons of bean paste) 2 stalks of celery, diced ½ red bell pepper, diced 1 tablespoon of olive oil 1 tablespoon of chili oil (I make my own - olive oil and chopped chilies) [...]

By: SaltShaker » Blog Archive » Chinos

SaltShaker » Blog Archive » Chinos — Sat, 30 Jul 2005 20:31:15 +0000

[...] n was to try the ravioles chinos a la plancha, just to compare them with the ones I had in El Dragón the other night. Unfortunately, they were out of them. My waitress recommended star [...]