Escoffier

RIP Bruce. Your posts were always good reads.

Unfortunately, this seems endemic. The demise of "independents" and the rise of programs like Facebook and TikTok and that ilk are destroying sites.

The poll closed in December. Maybe Pat can create a new one.

I'm sure that I could arrange a drinks/dinner thing there with no problem (ask my wallet ). I'm well acquainted with the management staff so I'm sure I could arrange or help arrange some sort of event. As this is the space once occupied by Columbia Firehouse, they have a fairly largish bar area and three floors of dining space. A party of 12 should be manageable but if smaller, I don't foresee that presenting a problem. As to location, you're correct, King Street Metro is close and the Alexandria Trolley runs up King Street fairly regularly and as a bonus, is free. They have a stop at King and St. Asaph St. so it's about a 1 minute walk to Josephine. Why not go ahead and do a poll, it may just pique interest in (re) starting all of those DR event we used to attend.

Unintentional honesty?

I'll ask Grover what she thinks about doing a dinner here.

What (and where) do you have in mind? If you'd like to venture to Alexandria, I'm sure a visit to Josephine might be gustatorily satisfying.

Grover and I and two friends were invited to the soft opening of the new NRG restaurant Josephine which replaced Columbia Firehouse. We were given the complete tour from the lower level (dark, romantic and not for the visually impaired) to the absolute top 3rd floor open space with its own bar. Suitably impressed with how well the old place cleaned up, Grover and I decided to return for Alexandria Restaurant week. At $45 per person it was a lot of food, very good food indeed. Where to start? Okay, the food I had: Hors D'oeuvres: Wagyu Steak Tartare accompanied by capers, cornichons, shallots, quail egg and gaufrettes. Nice prepared steak tartare (and definitely ample), with corned (for lack of a better word) Waygu beef. Almost enough food to qualify as an main course and very good. Entree: Boef Bourguignon with lardons, mushrooms, carrots and pommes puree. A rather interesting take on BB, a layer of pommes puree (okay, creamed potatoes) with a lake of an excellent wine sauce with a number of extremely tender pieces of beef, mushrooms, lardons, and the previously mentioned carrots. The beef could have been cut with a fork it was so tender. To use a rather old bon mot, it would melt on your tongue. Dessert: Black Cherry Clafoutis with Gran Marnier Ice cream. A delightfully cherry filled, smooth clafoutis. The Lady Grover had: Hors D'oeuvres: Beets, Burrata & Balsamic a light start with pickled green almonds, blood orange, hazelnuts, truffle and pomegranate molasses. This disappeared pretty quickly. She did say it was really good :-). In place of a entree, the Salade Josephine which contained mixed greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, dried cranberries, goat cheese, croutons with a very nice sherry viniaigrette. Her only complaint? Almost too much food for a starter. She did manage to eat about 90% before she ran out of room for dessert. Dessert was the cardomom creme brulee. Personally not a big fan of cardomon but she apparently enjoyed it because there was nothing left when she finished with a satisfied sigh. Now there was wine involved, but as I leave the choice to our server, I'd love to tell you what the pairings were but I was much too busy enjoying them to make notes. Conclusion? An American idea of a French bistro with really good food and no Paris attitude (even though every time we've been in Paris, the people were all great). The staff from the greeter to the servers to the bussers were all attentive, obviously cared that everyone was happy and satisfied with their food and friendly. Overall, a very good experience and now a regular stop on our Alexandria restaurant list.

I'll be in Eureka Springs until Friday. Has anyone been there and if so, do you have any good places to eat that you'd recommend?

I guess we'll have to go and look at the menu for the first time.We were regulars at Al Dente until Roberto left and when we went, he just served us whatever he thought we'd enjoy. It wasn't perfect all the time, it was just always right. 😊

Surely someone has been to Bastille since 2020. Grover and I went tonight and perhaps the no posting should have been a portent. I ordered from the Bistro Royale side of the menu; an appetizer, main and dessert. I ordered escargot, bouillabaisse and for dessert, the chocolate cake with chocolate ice cream special. Where to start with this disaster of a meal? Escargot, naked snails, mushrooms, unidentifiable pieces of vegetable somethings arrayed in a dish with a liquid at the bottom that wasn't butter, definitely was NOT garlic infused but did have pieces of mushroom (hooray for some flavor). The bouillabaisse? Avec Homard? Sure, two pieces of lobster, two shrimp, a limited sampling of shellfish in a somewhat flavorful broth. And for dessert? Chocolate round somewhat similar to volcano cake minus the volcano, topped with "almond" (?) slivers with sides that almost defied cutting with the supplied spoon. A tiny globule of chocolate ice cream sitting in lonely splendor. Once past the iron fortress of chocolate edge, the cake was almost the highlight of the meal. It was actually chocolate tasting. Quelle surprise. Oh, and the Sauvignon Blanc that I ordered to come with the entree? Well after a brief conversation with our server in which I had to convince her that it had never arrived, she graciously brought it gratis followed 5 minutes later by another server bringing another glass of wine. A bit too late for the main course, a bit unwanted as the plate for the entree was on it's way to a dishwasher in the back. The absolute worst meal I have ever had at Bastille. It's a good thing we're nowhere near Marseilles, the outrage would have been heard all the way to Paris. The first time that Bastille has been a total disappointment. I certainly hope that this was an off night. It is going to be some time until we take a chance here again.

I'm reasonably sure the the pizza is still under a $100 a person.

Went with Grover and some friends to a 4-course with paired wines dinner arranged by one of the friends on Wednesday night. We were seated in the private, small dining area which is conveniently close to the rest rooms but far enough away that we weren't disturbed by others. The food was okay, nothing really special. We started with Bruschetta topped with burrata. This was probably the most interesting dish presented. (I'm going to avoid the wine pairings because they were okay but not outrageously outstanding.) The second course was rigatoni with an unusual sauce which I can only describe as similar to bread crumbs. Interesting and tasty. The third course was a small filet with broccoli. I don't, as a rule, eat much beef so I had duck. I had a bite of the beef and it was quite good, closer to medium than to medium rare but tasty. The duck was actually the best part of the meal. Nice and pink centered and well seasoned. Dessert was tiramisu. Not really surprising or unusual but pleasant. The final tab for two was over $400. Yep, $200 a person. While the food was good, it wasn't quite that good as the price to value ratio was not quite in sync and definitely not in the Roberto category. If we happen to be in the Centerville area we might go for pizza but for fine dining, I think we'll stick with Roberto's Ristorante.

Grover and I celebrated a friends birthday there Friday before last. As usual, the greetings were convivial, Roberto was his usual out-going personality and the service was impeccable. We did our normal, three courses and dessert with paired wines. I'd describe the food, but was in a total food coma when we left. Suffice it to say, the food was the same, as in excellent. We liked it so well, we're going back next Friday with two other friends to do the same thing all over once again, I'll make sure to grab a menu this time, I promise.

Sea snail is quite common (well, not every day but now and then) in Korean cuisine. If you'd like to pick some up, H-Mart has Bai Top on the shelf.