Dishes

Eat what you want - just don't eat too much of it. That may be fine advice, but it's easier said than done. Now a Canadian scientist has conducted a simple study to see whether a special set of dishes can help dieters toe the line. In the first clinical trial on "portion control plates," Sue Pedersen, an endocrinologist at the University of Calgary, had 65 subjects use a specially designed plate and bowl to limit their calorie intake for part of each day. Another 65 people who didn't use the dishes served as a control.

I knew I was in for an adventure when I tried a dish from The Whole Beast cookbook by Fergus Henderson. Henderson is a London chef who specializes in what he calls "nose to tail" dishes. He cooks the parts of animals that, as he puts it in his book, "are often forgotten and sadly discarded in today's kitchen." Those include pig's head and tails, pigeon and duck hearts. He serves these dishes at St. John, his London restaurant. Cookbooks written by chefs often take what I call a creative approach to recipes.

Baltimore's taste buds are about to get a treat.On Sunday, WMAR-TV newsman Terry Owens will be trading in his on-camera coat and tie for a chef's jacket and toque to prepare spicy red beans and rice for a hungry crowd of about 1,000 at Martin's West in Woodlawn. He'll be joined by such culinary stars of the day as Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke; William L. Jews, president and chief executive officer of Carefirst Blue Cross and Blue Shield; Earl S. Richardson, president of Morgan State University; and about 150 other men. They will be presenting their favorite dishes to benefit the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Baltimore Metropolitan Chapter.

If you've ruined a dish by oversalting it, try stirring in 1 teaspoon each of sugar and vinegar; cook for a few minutes and taste.For dishes such as soup or stew, add a peeled, sliced raw potato and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove the potato before serving. Oversalted soups can also be helped by adding more liquid or vegetables.-- The Food Lover's TiptionaryPub Date: 01/31/99

Vera's restaurant is a jolt of eccentricity and exotica amid a staid subdivision in Calvert County. It looks like it's right out of a movie set for "South Pacific."Banana trees line the bamboo-covered entrance. Polynesian wood carvings and Easter Island statues fill the restaurant. And the bar, about as long as an outrigger canoe, is covered with leopard-skin prints.The owner, Vera Freeman, is even more dramatic than the decor. With her flowing gowns, pearl headbands and diamond rings the size of oyster shells, she looks like she swept into town from Hollywood.

Walk into Sushi Hana and you'll immediately start to decompress. Tranquil music plays at just the right level in the background, as a smiling waitress in a lavender kimono jacket hands you a steaming towel. She'll bring another at the end of your meal, along with fruity Japanese bubble gum wrapped up in a tiny box. Yes, Sushi Hana knows how to start and finish a meal.In between, there are problems.Still, the staff at owner Po Chan's Japanese restaurant is so friendly, and the blond-wood and woven-bamboo decor so simple and right, you might end up enjoying your meal here, especially if you didn't travel far for it.The one dish that we liked without reservation was the broiled freshwater eel, served in a sweet brown glaze.

THE OYSTERS ARE small but flavorful this year. That is my short report on the condition of Maryland's favorite mollusk. I make this statement after only one day of gustatory research. But what a day it was.I ate a delicate oyster soup served in a bowl made of out of a hollowed-out roll. I ate broiled oysters on the half shell stuffed with hazelnuts and sage. I ate baked oysters stuffed with crab meat and cheese. I ate poached oysters mixed with capers and served on endive.In all, as a judge at the 20th annual Oyster Cook-Off, I ate a dozen oyster dishes during a four-hour Saturday afternoon tasting session.

Copeland's, a New Orleans-based chain restaurant that opened recently in Annapolis, boasts that it serves "the ultimate New Orleans experience." That isn't too far from the truth.My mother and father are from Baton Rouge, La., so I'm familiar with the state's cuisine, and Copeland's does New Orleans and the Bayou State justice.From the outside, the two-story building looks more like the Taj Mahal than a restaurant. Inside, it's equally ornate with vaulted ceilings, fan-shaped relief motifs on the walls, and cherry-wood paneling around the dining area.

Restaurant owner Phu Do and his business partners toured noodle restaurants in big cities across the country before opening Noodles Corner last July. They found inspiration in Chicago and brought the concept home to Columbia, where their stylish restaurant is located.A few non-noodle stir-fries are prepared in their sleek open kitchen, along with some noodle-less appetizers and salads. But the heart of the menu is pasta in every Asian variation, from fat lo mein noodles and wide chow fun noodles to Singapore-style rice noodles and sizzling Japanese udon.

This time of year, it's good to know about a restaurant in Little Italy that serves spa cuisine -- just in case you have to suggest a place for one of those last-minute celebratory lunches and you feel like you've overindulged already.Dalesio's is the place.When Michael and Cindy Dalesio opened the restaurant in 1984, they were the first to offer the then oh-so-trendy spa cuisine to Baltimore. Their restaurant became better known for the fresh-tasting, low-calorie offerings than for their traditional Northern Italian food.

Science night Anne Arundel Community College's free "Science Night" will be held from 7 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. Nov. 12 in the Dragun Science Building at 101 College Parkway in Arnold. Visitors can participate in hands-on demonstrations or just watch. See a bed of nails; learn how to pull a tablecloth out from under a table full of dishes, watch chemical reactions and more. Call 410-777-1217 for more information.

The best thing about China Taste is that there are absolutely no surprises there, at least when it comes to the menu and the food; this is the same Chinese food we've all been eating since the big Szechuan explosion of the early 1980s. Of course, that familiarity could be the negative thing, too, depending on how you look at it. But with times like they are, it's sometimes good to know you can depend on getting exactly what you bargained for. What makes China Taste worth a visit, and not just for carry-out, is its memory-inducing ambience, impressive in a storefront restaurant - red leather booths with Art Deco flourishes, chandeliers and tinkly Chinese music playing over quiet conversations.

I wish I could take credit for discovering Grace Garden, but I'm just happy to be able to tell about it now. It is the quintessential off-the-beaten-path, hole-in-the-wall ethnic restaurant that chowhounds, foodies, the Sandbox (the gang over at Dining@Large) and other assorted mavens dream about finding. And they have. Chef Chun Keung Li's restaurant has been a pilgrimage for insiders for some time, and I admit to having read and absorbed some of the praise (the pork belly! those fish noodles!

Kwanzaa, which means first fruits of the harvest in Swahili, is a celebration of family, community, African heritage and great food. The weeklong holiday, which begins on Dec. 26 and ends on New Year's Day, is based on seven guiding principles, with each day's observance starting with the lighting of candles. The centerpiece of the Kwanzaa festivities is the feast of Karamu, which is observed on Dec. 31. It's modeled after traditional African harvest celebrations, at which villagers gave thanks for their bountiful harvest by sharing it at a huge communal feast.

It wasn't just that the apple pie and the pumpkin cookies smelled so good - the curtains on the windows were right, too. I liked what I saw when the restaurant at the Woman's Industrial Exchange reopened this week. For those of us who love to slip away to a bit of comfort, nice food and tradition, 333 N. Charles St. remains the right address. The restaurant portion of the old rowhouse at Charles and Pleasant streets is now Dogwood Cafe and is closely associated with the Dogwood operation on 36th Street in Hampden.

Yes, there will be a turkey on almost every table a week from tomorrow. But, to us, the side dishes are what make it Thanksgiving. In many a family, there's a non-negotiable casserole, stuffing, puree or pudding that appears year after year, withstanding the march of time and trends. These dishes send the message that though the people sitting around the table may change, the meaning of the holiday meal they share endures. In our Thanksgiving issue today, three of us share the recipes for our traditional Thanksgiving sides and the stories behind them, hoping you'll enjoy them as much as we do. Carrot Souffle works as an alternative to sweet potatoes, PG 2 Pat's Sage Stuffing is great even in a sandwich of leftovers, PG 2 Hominy Casserole has a texture that goes wonderfully with turkey, PG 2

The new Mount Everest restaurant in Nottingham looks like it's ready to serve a banquet. Located at the Fullerton Plaza shopping center, the restaurant is as big as a health club - a Spa Lady used to be there - and dozens of tables are set and waiting for hundreds of customers. It's pretty, though, with splashes of sherbet-y colors - mint-green chairs and raspberry cloth napkins that match the prettily painted drop ceiling. The dining room is divided in two lengthwise, but there is still the problem of having too many tables for too few diners, at least on the recent weeknight when we visited.

Over the years, a few brave souls have opened restaurants in Little Italy that aren't Italian - not many, but some. India Rasoi and Mo's Seafood come to mind. I can see why it might be tempting. You're guaranteed there will be a lot of foot traffic past your front door. Customers feel safe in Little Italy, and they come in droves to walk around as well as eat. Parking, with the new lots, is not a problem. The disadvantage, of course, is that you're not an Italian restaurant. People come to Little Italy expecting to eat pasta and cacciatore, parmigiana, and fra diavolo dishes.

Walk into almost any taqueria and you can get agua de tamarindo, a refreshingly tangy Mexican drink made from tamarind fruit. But tamarind is not just Mexican, and tamarindo is not just a drink. Wonderfully zingy, tart and piquant, with an intriguing herbal-floral note, the fruit's flavor shows up in a wide-reaching array of cuisines - Southeast Asian, Indian, Middle Eastern, Chinese, Eastern and Northern African, and Caribbean. You find it in a sauce spooned over deep-fried fish in Thailand or with spicy eggplant in India or in a sour soup in Vietnam.

What's a suburban shopping center without a Chinese restaurant? Hunan Legend, which has been dispensing egg rolls, chicken lo mein and other tried-and-true dishes from a Howard County village center for a dozen years, is a perfect example of the breed. The restaurant is spacious and brightly lit inside, with white tablecloths on large round tables perfect for sharing food. The unbelievably lengthy menu offers mostly Hunan and Szechwan dishes, and touches down briefly in Thailand with a version of pad Thai.