Tag Archives: cook

August 18, 2008 – 2:58 pm

We appreciate your feedback!

As regular dishers know, we send a survey to every customer following their In-Store, Dish-n-Dash or DishDelivery session.  You may not realize that we get over 1000 completed surveys each month… and we read every single one!  Your feedback has been essential in helping us develop some of our new services and programs, including:

And you bring up questions that make us think:  Should crying babies be permitted at sessions?  Could you have splitters’ utensils at the stations instead of just “fulls”?  How much more would it cost to provide all (or some) organic ingredients?  [Feel free to post a comment on these — or other — issues below].

But we have to admit, our favorite part of reading comments is seeing how important our service is in making your busy lives a little easier, healthier or simply more pleasant.  Just look at a few of the actual, unedited comments that came in this week:

  • “I’m so glad a friend took me to ‘Let’s Dish!’ As a working mother with two small children this has made our evenings less stressful and more enjoyable. My husband likes the meals and I like that everything’s already done. I wish I would have known about this when I was pregnant!” - Amanda
  • “I’ve only been in twice and both times have been phenomenal!  I told the staff that my dishing experience was quickly becoming the highlight of my month.  The food is fabulous and requires so little thought on my part - which is wonderful when entertaining - and every time I go, I am greeted with such a friendly staff and a fun experience.      Let’s Dish is the greatest invention ever!!!” - Savannah
  • “I am a total convert- love how this simplies my life at dinner time every day and frees me up to spend more time with my kids! ” - Chari

So please keep the feedback coming.  What we’re doing well, we’ll strive to do more of.  And where we drop the ball, we appreciate your letting us know!

About Jeremy

Customer entering ratings

By Jeremy Kugel | Posted in Bright Ideas, The Dish On | Also tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (3)
August 8, 2008 – 11:54 am

Parent/Kid Sessions Featured on ‘Kid Baltimore’ Blog

Judging by the popularity of our Parent/Kid sessions, we knew we were onto something. But even we were surprised and delighted to find we’d been “secret shopped” by Joyce Hesselberth of the popular “Kid Baltimore” blog. “Restaurant-quality food”, she wrote after bringing her daughter to dish on July 31st; “directions are super clear, and the ingredients are beautiful and fresh.” And when she invited the extended family to their first meal? “Disappeared before I knew what happened,” she beamed.

As Joyce noted, Let’s Dish! Parent/Kid sessions are a great chance to efficiently combine kid entertainment with household chores. Overall, the meals are “a big hit” she says. And we couldn’t agree more. Check out the complete Kid Baltimore write-up here. Or sign up for your own Parent/Kid experience (one kid, age 8+, per parent please!). Happy dishing!

About Jeremy

RECOMMENDED LINKS
> 1 Dish? 6 Dishes? 11 Dishes? We’re Flexible.
> Bring your kids with you to dish this summer!
> Wow the crowds at home and on vacation!

Maeve (now 5 1/2) and Charlotte (now 4) cook together.

Click to continue reading “Parent/Kid Sessions Featured on ‘Kid Baltimore’ Blog”

By Jeremy Kugel | Posted in Bright Ideas, Family Matters, Just for Fun | Also tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)
June 28, 2008 – 5:00 am

Enter Our Recipe Contest and Win $100

Recipe ContestShare favorite recipe and your next Let’s Dish! session could be FREE. Raid your family’s cookbook and send us your best - entrĂ©e, side or dessert. You could win a $100 Let’s Dish! gift card, and may even see your dish on our menu. Entries must be sent to recipes@letsdish.net by July 31st, 2008. The winner will be contacted by August 31st, 2008.*

We’d love to use your submission on a future Let’s Dish! menu, so please remember:

  • All ingredients must be freezable
  • Recipe must contain specific amounts and methods
  • Recipe must be executable with no additional equipment (e.g: food processor, mixer, etc.)
  • Recipe must be nutritionally sound and within Let’s Dish! guidelines. (one serving = 5000 calories, sorry… no can do!.)
  • All recipes must be original and created by the submitter (not copied from a cookbook)
  • Recipe must serve 6
  • Heating or cooking should be relatively simple
  • Recipe may be changed at Let’s Dish! discretion to utilize in store
  • It needs to be delicious! (at least according to our expert panel)

About Holly W

*All submissions become property of Let’s Dish! and may be used or altered without further permission from, credit to, or compensations for, the submitter. All rights reserved. Entries that arrive after July 31st, 2008 will not be considered.

LINKS TO BLOG POSTS THAT MAY GIVE YOU INSPIRATION:
 > Check your top-rated dishes and then find and submit similar recipes. Click here to read more about rating your dishes.

> Kid-friendly meals are always popular, especially during the school year. Watch the WUSA9 feature on Let’s Dish! family-friendly meals.

> We strive for healthy and delicious meals on our menu. Here’s a page showing you how to download the nutrition facts and ingredients of our current menu.

> Read all the Culinary Inspiration posts for more ideas!

By Holly W | Posted in Culinary Inspiration | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)
June 25, 2008 – 10:00 am

1 Dish? 6 Dishes? 11 Dishes? We’re Flexible.

It started out as “8 or 12″ dishes per Let’s Dish! session. Then, with much fanfare, we added 4-meal sessions. And this spring, SingleDish Trials.

And now, welcome to the final frontier of session flexibility. Dish however many meals you want: 1, 3, 7, 14 or anything in between. OK, our technology is limited, so you still have to sign up online for SingleDish or a 4-, 8- or 12- meal session. But you can add meals to your order, quickly and easily, once in a Let’s Dish! store - usually for just $23 each. Just ask a host and we’ll take care of the rest. Want to dish 3 meals? Sign up for SingleDish and add on 2 meals Session Flexibilityin-store. Six meals your cup of tea? Sign up for 4 and add two during your session.

OK, we might not be able to touch our toes (even with the benefit of a Spoodle). But when it comes to dishing your preferred number of meals, we’re flexible.

Rick’s Signature

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RECOMMENDED LINKS:
> DishDelivery to the Summer Vacation Rescue
> Bring your kids to dish with you to dish this summer
> Let’s Dish!: The savings might surprise you.

By Rick Corcoran | Posted in Most Popular Posts, The Dish On | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (4)
June 23, 2008 – 3:45 pm

You Help Make Our Menus So Wonderful

Customer entering ratingsHow do we create such fantastic menus? Well, our talented food team is always cooking up the best recipes months in advance. But did you know our customers play a big role as well?

Through the “My Orders” link once you log in to letsdish.com, customers can rate the meals they’ve dished [1 star (not for me) to 5 stars (love it!)], and can also make comments [”a little salty for my tastes” or “you guys are geniuses”]. Every rating goes into our database, which is a key determinant of which meals return to our menus… and which meals go to “dish heaven”. Even more important, your comments. We read every single one, and tweak our recipes accordingly
So next time you’re asking, “who makes these menus so delicious?”, the answer is you.We Recommend

About Jeremy

p.s. You do need your own Let’s Dish! account to add your ratings online. An account will automatically be created for you when you place an order under your own name and email. If you don’t have one, you can sign up in less than a minute, click here to get started!
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RECOMMENDED LINKS:
 > “Kid-Friendly Let’s Dish! Meals featured on WUSA9”
> “Wow the crowds at home and on vacation!”

By Jeremy Kugel | Posted in Culinary Inspiration, The Dish On | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)
June 10, 2008 – 3:00 am

Let’s Dish!: The savings might surprise you.

Boston Globe: Rising Cost of Groceries GraphicGas station. Coffeeshop. Dry cleaners. Just about any place you open your purse or wallet these days, you’re spending more than ever. This is especially true when it comes to shopping for food. According to a report from the Department of Labor (cited in the Boston Globe), a year-on-year increase in food prices like this hasn’t been seen in nearly two decades. Eggs are up 60%, pasta 30%, fruits 20%, and vegetables 20% versus last year – just to name a few examples.

So where does a family turn when faced with these economic challenges at the dinner table? Let’s Dish! is part of the solution. When you compare our costs to what you’d spend at grocery, you’ll find that the more you dish, the more you save. In fact, to illustrate just how much we save our dishers, we recently did a comparison of grocery costs vs. dishing costs for two of our most popular menu items (cited in a previous blog): Thai-Marinated Flank Steak and Mahi Mahi with Red Ancho Marinade.

The savings might surprise you. Here are some of the highlights:

  • If you bought all the ingredients at a grocery chain, you’d spend up to 7% more per serving than you do at a Let’s Dish! in-store session.
  • Those leftover ingredients not only clutter your pantry but they create additional costs. That Red Ancho Marinade, for example… you only need $0.69 worth (or 2 TBS) but the grocery store charges $9.95 for one 14.4 oz jar!
  • Check the price of flank steak recently? We can offer you the entire, marinated meal for close to the same price as steak alone!

Accounting for waste, Let’s Dish! can save you almost 50% vs making it yourself. And who wants to go through all that shopping and chopping hassle, just to spend more money than you would by dishing?! Check out the numbers for yourself. We think you’ll agree there’s no better (or more economical) way to put dinner on the table than with Let’s Dish!.

Don’t let rising food costs force your family into unhealthy dinner choices. Let’s Dish! is convenient, healthy, and always a great value.

Jeremy’s Signature

RECOMMENDED LINKS:
> “Surging costs of groceries hit home“: Boston Globe article cited above. Graphic (right) in post courtesy of the Globe.
> “More time and money are just a dish away“
> “Kid-Friendly Let’s Dish! Meals featured on WUSA9”

By Jeremy Kugel | Posted in Most Popular Posts, The Dish On | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (2)
May 13, 2008 – 12:01 am

Don’t miss the Bon AppĂ©tit Top 100

from Bon Appetit magazine
On May 13th, Bon AppĂ©tit launches their new website, and the most interesting feature for those of you who are “foodies” is that it focuses on the Top 100 recipes from over 50 years of the magazine. Yes, these “100 Dishes you need to know right now” are their favorite, Test Kitchen-approved (and reader-rated) seasonal recipes of all time.

So, check out bonappetit.com on Tuesday, May 31th. The recipes, according to the Editor-in-Chief, will vary with season and keep you up to date on what is hot and what is not in the food world. You will know first hand what will wow your guests at your next party!

Of course, we at Let’s Dish! will be watching this new website as well as other foodie favorites on the web closely to incorporate fresh new culinary ideas along with the “tried and true” into our monthly menus, so you can say, “bon appĂ©tit!” at your very own dinner table.

Click to continue reading “Don’t miss the Bon AppĂ©tit Top 100″

By Lisa Hardiman | Posted in Culinary Inspiration | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)
May 9, 2008 – 12:45 pm

522 Free Meals and Counting! (New Moms, only 2 more days…)

Free Meals for New Moms IconThanks to all the new moms who’ve visited Let’s Dish! this week! As of 1 PM Friday, at least 522 of you won’t have to worry about cooking dinner this Sunday!

And for those who’ve not yet made it in, remember that our Free Meals For New Moms (those with children born in 2008) goes until Mother’s Day… so stop by with your baby’s birth certificate, birth announcement or hospital bracelet and get in on the action!

Jeremy’s Signature

RELATED LINKS:
> Free Dinner for New Moms during Mother’s Day Week: Click for full details
> Let’s Dish! Celebrates Mother’s Day on WBAL-TV
> Make Your Mom’s Day Even Brighter
> Buy Mom a Let’s Dish! Gift Card

By Jeremy Kugel | Posted in The Dish On | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)
May 6, 2008 – 11:45 pm

100 Free Meals and Counting…

Jennifer and Tyler: Free Meals for New MomsJennifer Bernhardt and her 8-week old son, Tyler, came into the Let’s Dish! store in Fairfax, VA, on Tuesday afternoon to pick up their free Japanese Miso-Glazed Salmon. Congratulations, Jennifer! Even if you’re not sleeping through the night, at least you know dinner is taken care of!

New moms, come in by Sunday, May 11th, to take advantage of our offer of Free Meals For New Moms (see full details here).

Happy Mother’s Day!

Jeremy’s Signature

RELATED LINKS:
> Free Dinner for New Moms during Mother’s Day Week
> Let’s Dish! Celebrates Mother’s Day on WBAL-TV
> Make Your Mom’s Day Even Brighter
> Buy Mom a Let’s Dish! Gift Card

By Jeremy Kugel | Posted in The Dish On | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)
May 5, 2008 – 2:00 pm

Let’s Dish! celebrates Mother’s Day on WBAL-TV

In case you missed it, our own Lisa Hardiman and Jeremy Kugel hosted Sunday Brunch on WBAL-TV on Sunday, May 4th. Lisa and Jeremy shared a few ways Let’s Dish! can help you make your Mother’s Day celebration special this year and dished up our popular French Toast Peach Cobbler. It’s the perfect for brunch for Mom (with the side benefit of delighting the the rest of the family too)! Served with the always available Let’s Dish! Signature Scones, baked to warm, just-crumbly-enough, golden delicious perfection - and, oh…, Mom will know how much you appreciate all that she does for you.

Free <a mce_thref=Jeremy also took the opportunity to share a fantastic Mother’s Day offer from Let’s Dish! - Free Dinner for New Moms - good only from May 4th to May 11th, so find out the details and hurry in! Or, for the ultimate gift, get Mom a Let’s Dish! Gift Card, available for purchase stores or online (where you can print it right away for that last-minute gift option). Even better, send Mom meals directly with our new DishDelivery service and she won’t even have to lift a finger. Now, you can’t say you’ve got no idea what to get Mom this year!

Here’s the video of Sunday Brunch - and as a special bonus for all you Food for Thought readers , continue reading and you’ll find the recipe for the Let’s Dish! French Toast Peach Cobbler!


(If you can’t view video above, please click here to go to this post on Food for Thought or watch on YouTube.)

Buy a Let’s Dish! Gift CardRELATED LINKS:
> Free Dinner for New Moms during Mother’s Day Week
> Make Your Mom’s Day Even Brighter
> Buy Mom a Let’s Dish! Gift Card

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Click to continue reading “Let’s Dish! celebrates Mother’s Day on WBAL-TV”

By Alexa Corcoran | Posted in The Dish On | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (2)
May 4, 2008 – 4:00 am

Make Your Mom’s Day Even Brighter

The Dish On…Top 5 Ways Let’s Dish! can make your Mom’s Day even brighter:
Buy a Let’s Dish! Gift Card(small space)

5. Cook Mom dinner! With help from Let’s Dish!, anyone can be an expert chef (yes, even your husband)!

4. Get Mom a Gift Card from Let’s Dish!. Guaranteed she’ll eat it up (so to speak).

3. Make your Mother’s Day brunch special (and especially easy). Pick up our popular and delicious French Toast Peach Cobbler (featured on WBAL-TV’s Sunday Brunch) from our Ready Made case. Or, dish up a Florentine Egg BFree Meals for New Moms Iconake, currently on the Let’s Dish! menu.

2. Send your Mom some meals with our new DishDelivery service.

1. If you’re a new mom, stop by our store and get a FREE Ready Made meal! No purchase and no obligation. Offer applies to anyone who became a mom (or became a mom again) in 2008. Click here for more details and be sure to pass it on!

Lisa’s Signature

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Recommended Links:

> FREE Dinner for New Moms: Click to find out more!
> Buy Mom a Let’s Dish! Card
> View the Let’s Dish! menu
> See how you can always save time and money with Let’s Dish!
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Click to become a Let’s Dish! “fan” on Facebook!
Show the world you’re a fan of Let’s Dish! and enjoy exclusive offers through Facebook, the Internet’s most popular social networking site.

By Lisa Hardiman | Posted in Family Matters, The Dish On | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (3)