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Go to the front room of the Grammercy Tavern. Spectacular food, beautiful but informal setting. No reservations, so early or late are your best bet.

One Block West - A wonderful dining experience. While the service had some hiccups and the wine pairing pours were barely enough to scrape through the course, I would absolutely return and do the tasting menu again. It was $65 plus $45 for the pairings. First: salmon three ways - tartar, smoked and roe. A little over olive oily. I do not eat sushi but ate the tartar and smoked pieces nonetheless. Quite tasty. Second: drum over crisp razor thin bean slices with a sweet potato puree. OMG this was phenomenal. The whole combo just worked wonderfully. Third: Rabbit wrapped in prosciutto with feta and spinach over squash puree. Not a big feta fan, thought it was a bit overwhelming, but this was also very good. Fourth: Sausage with a sauerkraut eggroll. It really wasn't an eggroll, but it was wrapped in cabbage. (My wonderful german mother who fed us pork and saurkraut every new years day as what I thought was punishment for coming home drunk the night before would flip if she heard me say this) The saurkraut was amazing! It was not vinegary, which is how I grew up hating, I mean eating, it, but very sweet. Went tremendously well with the sausage. (edited to add this correct description of the dish) Fifth: Bourbon sorbet. Yum, yum, yum. Sixth: Lamb. Tender, flavorful, delicious. Seventh: Dessert. I didn't write it down, so I don't remember. I do remember eating the whole thing and being pissed b/c it was so good but I was full but I couldn't stop eating it. (edited again - clearly should have looked at the website before I wrote this. This was f-ing awesome. This place is absolutely worth the trip from DC. We stayed at the Wyndham right there in town. 2 blocks from the walking district, very convenient and only about 120 bucks. (although based on the aforementioned pairing pour sizes, I certainly would not have been nervous about driving back if it was required). I read great things about One Block West and am happy to report that the food was incredibly good. Oh, they had a person playing accoustic guitar in the dining room during dinner, which was quite nice. I wish this place was closer to home. We also walked around and stopped into the pub (Union something I think). Friendly people and staff, excellent beer selection and wines by the glass.

We had a wonderful dinner at a new place in Winchester, eM Restaurant, which is a block off the Pedestrian Mall. It's very small, under 40 seats, with a 5 stool bar area and reminds me of the chic noveau Old Town Alexandria restaurants both in style and quality. We went on a Friday evening with an early reservation and by the time we left at 7:30 it was packed. The wait staff was attentive but not intrusive. We started with drinks...my wife had a cocktail named "Sitting by the Campfire" which was a mix of Godiva liqueur and marshmellow vodka, an incredible chocolate grahamcracker dust on the rim, and finished with flaming marshmellow that was so good she had another during dinner, a rare event. I started with an Anchor Steam beer and moved to a Samuel Smith chocolate stout for the meal...two favorite brewers of mine that I was shocked they carried. Normally we'd have wine with dinner and reviewing the list, it is a small, but smart, selection of wines designed to complement the food. The menu changes daily. We started with a cheese, sprigs, and sun dried tomato flatbread that was delicious. My wife had the vegetarian eggplant cannelloni with assorted vegetables and ricotta cheese that was a taste treat. I had the Angus filet, which was a beautiful piece of meat seared to perfection with a touch of salt and spice, then covered with a delicious reduction that enhanced the flavors. We ended the meal with a maple creme brulee that was out of this world. I tasted it the entire 40 minute trip back home. Chef Will Mason has created a masterpiece in Winchester. There aren't many places in the Valley, apart from the Inn at Little Washington, I know I'm going back to. This is one of them.

Wanted to try someplace new on a recent trip to NYC, so this was one of the places we picked. Dovetail. There are so many places to consider trying in NYC. I am often overwhelmed with choosing so my wife usually narrows it down to 5-10 places and together we winnow it down to the place we finally choose - their menu spoke to me. We had a fun day at Die Neue Gallerie (and had had a fine, fine lunch at the restaurant there on the premises), and we were glad we had a later reservation to ease in to. I'd like to punch the taxi drive we used in the head, but that is another story. Great space. It felt very refined and elegant, without feeling too stuffy. I'm a nice jeans and nice Hawaiian shirt guy at heart, and I did not feel (completely) out of place. Nice hum to the room without being noisy. Easy to carry on a conversation. They have some prix fix options (3-4 courses), a tasting menu, and things like pre-theater and a la carte dining at the bar. We went for the 4-course option where we could pick and choose. After a small flurry of amuses (oysters, then some fried things (tine risotto balls? and I think tiny...what, almost like micro egg rolls but so much better), we dipped in to their fluke crudo (fluke crudo, morels, dill cream, fava beans) and white asparagus (white asparagus, prosciutto di parma, sage, orange oil), both wonderful but the fluke was the standout. Then we had primarily vegetable/salad courses next. Warmed avocado, summer truffles, rye, rocket arugula, was stunning. And the Spring green ravioli, asparagus, black trumpet mushrooms, nutmeg was wonderful. Very hard to choose a winner between these two. You'd be right to order both. Entrees were quite good as well. Beef tenderloin, green garbanzos, chanterelle mushrooms, pickled ramps is what they have listed on their menu now, but the preparation I had involved no ramps, but wilted/seared greens and I think morels. My wife had the Halibut confit, english peas, shishito peppers, clam nage though I also think it was slightly varied as I do not remember the peppers in her dish (and I forgot to take a photo of it!). Both were great, but a minor step down from the prior course. For dessert, we had these two - Macerated strawberries, vanilla panna cotta, lemon sorbet, crystallized violet and Rhubarb pavlova, hibiscus cream, pink peppercorns - the first being particularly inventive in its preparation and plating. The crystalized violet was essentially the thinnest meringue you could ever make shaped in to a cup/dome that was then dropped on top of the strawberries and other gooieds - hiding everything inside until you cracked in to it. So good, and not too sweet at all. Perfection. The Rhubarb pavlova was quite fine as I recall (missed the phot again!), but was a notch down from the other dessert. We ultimately also got more petit fours to take back to the hotel with us. Good wine list, good service, great space, great pacing and a good time. I'd absolutely go back. I'll append photos when I have time to upload them and link to them here from there. Now, what is really funny is this - despite it being an excellent meal and being largely sated, there was a Shake Shack literally right around the corner from Dovetail. We were just going to hail a cab back to the hotel, but we'd talked over dinner about how much my wife raved about the chicken sandwich she'd had at the DC outpost of Shake Shack. We popped in to split one of those so I could wee what the fuss was about. SO GOOD! Get one! And yes, that kind of put me over the top. OOOOOOFA. Pictures

I have a kind offer from my future mother-in-law for dinner anywhere in DC for my birthday. She keeps pushing for Nora, but I haven't heard much buzz about it recently. I was hoping to finally get to Kaz or Sushi-Ko, but perhaps I'd be missing out by not trying one of her favorites. I may also be missing out on the political points I'd score by letting her have her way. Has anyone been recently? How was it?

[posted on eGullet 2003-2004] For whatever reason, I hadn't been to Cashion's in about five years, and what I noticed most last night was how clean and tight everything was, without being ruined by the hamfisted saucing that is as much of a plague on society as is overuse of sourdough bread. The pork shoulder was beautifully presented in the form of a fajita, and could have actually used some sauce other than the pico de gallo. Also, the cheese course featured an all-American cheese selection, and it was good although it would have been nice to see some more aging and color in the cheeses (there was a little pomegranate seed salad alongside). The nuts in the raisin-nut bread tasted somewhat rancid to me, though I don't know where they source their bread. Along with that chocolate brownie, we also had this blueberry compote stuff poured over ice cream - it sounds a bit simple but was really quite good. The open-kitchen concept is okay, but when we were at the bar there were some less-than-savory aromas wafting in from the fryer. I was strongly impressed with Cashion's last night, and I only wish it wasn't so difficult for me to get to or I'd be back there often. I'm sitting here ticking off the courses in my mind: the oysters (the portion size of this is too small), the sweetbreads, the elegantly reductive fritto misto, and most of all, the earth-shattering tortellini in Tuscan meat sauce. These are all really, really good dishes. Cheers, Rocks

Had the chance to eat at The Bird recently. What a cool space -- the entire restaurant is decorated by local artists. There are four distinct parts of the restaurant themed after each of the seasons, complete with a "summer" patio outdoor space on the second floor. We both started with the Charlie Parker cocktail ($13) (rye, apple brandy, madeira, peach, pomegranate, bitters). It was fantastic and a boozy sipper. My wife and I elected to try some small plates to share, so we didn't order any of the main courses, despite being very tempted by the spicy fried chicken ($17). The triple fried Korean-style wings ($10) were topped with a soy-garlic style glaze and were fantastic. My only complaint about them is that there was so much sauce that the dish was a bit overwhelming and intense. The duck meatballs in spicy tomato curry ($9) were fantastic, and the spicy tomato curry made for a bit of a break from all the heavy fried-style food. The curry was spiced well and in a very balanced way. These came with a creamy yogurt to cool the dish down. The Hudson Valley foie gras torchon ($14) was spectacular, especially for the price. It came with walnuts, berries, and toasted bread. It's hard to go wrong with foie and fruit on toasted bread for me, and this is no exception. The flight of the egg ($9) consisted of three eggs: an organic chicken egg-pickled in tamari with gold rice, a deviled duck egg with duck fat mayo, duck pastrami, and toasted caraway, and finally a quail “scotch” egg soft poached, encased in sausage, breaded & fried. My wife's favorite was the chicken egg with gold rice - simple with a tang from the pickling; mine was the duck egg - decadent deviled eggs with some truly flavorful duck pastrami. The quail "scotch" egg was very good as well, though it's more of "fried sausage" than an egg, given the sizes of both components. We also had a side of Brussels sprouts ($7), which were a good diversion from the heaviness of the poultry dishes. Like at The Pig, their Brussels sprouts are cooked perfectly in a way I never seem to be able to at home. We finished sharing a miso caramel gelato ($3). This was just sublime. Imagine the best salted caramel ice cream or gelato you've ever had and make it a little bit more umami. The quality-to-price ratio is out of this world here. We expected this would be just enough food for us due to the plates being small, given the prices. This was not the case - this was SO MUCH FOOD. You get at least 50% more foie than you expect for $14. You wouldn't expect 6 large duck meatballs for $9. You certainly wouldn't expect a huge scoop of gelato for $3. The customer service here is truly impeccable. We arrived not terribly long before they closed, and asked if the kitchen was still open, fully expecting to leave and get some pizza or something. Our waitress checked with the manager and ushered us to a seat. We ordered quickly out of courtesy to the kitchen staff, but were told we could take as long as we like. We were so concentrated on the food that we had neglected our cocktails a bit, and our waitress asked if we didn't like them, offering to take them off the bill or have something else made. I'll definitely be returning -- very very impressed.

I like DC Coast (not sure why it doesn't get more coverage... maybe because of the lobbyist/expense account scene that seems to go on there). If for lunch, have the shrimp and grits. If dinner, they generally do good things with scallops, or there's the signature wok smoked lobster.

Is Kevin Sbraga going to be opening an outpost of Sbraga in Washington, DC? Source: Eater Philly Eater DC is reporting that Philly Top Chef champ Kevin Sbraga is opening an outpost of Sbraga in the nation's capital. Apparently Sbraga & Co. are looking at sites in D.C. proper for the restaurant, with the hope of getting something signed before 2013 closes out. In the meantime, Sbraga is finishing up work on The Fat Ham, his ode to Southern cuisine in UCity. Read full article >>

My wife and I live in the Washington DC area, but her family lives in Philadelphia. We were visiting over the Passover/Easter weekend and because we were staying in Chestnut Hill, decided to try Mica, a small BYOB restaurant a few blocks from our hotel. We are used to fine dining and to be honest, found that Mica could hold its own with some of the best here in DC Chef driven, the restaurant only has about 32 seats. The services was superb, and the food outstanding. We started with a smoked trout salad with marinated fennel that was described as "a taste", but actually a small appetizer. Next came Albacore Tuna Tartar with smoked jalapeno and carrots and a house salad. We shared all three. My wife ordered the arctic char and declared that it melted in her mouth. The vegs that came with it were perfectly cooked and were so flavorful that she wondered if she could order just a dish of them next time. I had the roasted sirloin of beef with smoked potatoes. Cooked perfectly (rare side of medium rare) and the potatoes were so good that I asked how they were done. (Boiled, smoked, fried, then dried) Dessert was a chocolate mousse with caramel and sea salt and a sour cream pana cotta. I brought a 2013 Radio Coteau Savoy Vineyard Pinot Noir with me and it went perfectly with the meal. And the glassware was perfect (not the cheap jellyglass stuff many BYOs give you) We enjoyed our meal so much that I have already made a reservation for when we are back in Phila next week to visit her parents.

I'm normally hesitant to post about somewhere so well known, but since Don asked... I feel a small sense of guilt whenever I go to New York (a few times a year) and end up at the same restaurant each and every time I'm there. Sure, I branch out as well, but at least one meal (and frequently several) is had at CraftBar. I've tried Mesa in Union Square - it used to be really good, but for a few years I've felt like I'm paying for the name attached. Same can be said for the Batali restaurants I've tried lately. Momofuku Ssam is still a decent place to grab a pork bun if in the neighborhood, but David Chang seems focused on his more recent ventures. Daniel Boulud and Tom Colicchio are definitely ruling the celebrity chef roost at the moment (in my opinion) - and I just find myself attracted to CraftBar more often. There IS a certain initimidation factor to dining out in NYC, particularly for unadventurous. Amazing and affordable food can be found if you have a playful palate and are willing to wander more than a few blocks from Broadway. If you're willing to drop a months rent, or at least a car payment, change your outlook on food with Masa or Per Se. But for a relaxed Saturday evening, or the in-laws happen to be in town? CraftBar is almost always a guaranteed homerun. I, too, get frustrated at times by the simplicity (even if its near perfect simplicity) of the original Craft and (insert other ingredient focused, protein centric restaurant here). Sure, I love a GREAT and FRESH piece of fish, but if you're just going to poach and plate it, there is only so far that respect for ingredients and freshness can take you (other than to a triple digit check). I'm in the camp that I would like to see what a chef can do beyond cooking my protein to a ridiculously perfect temperature. So enter CraftBar. The Pecorino Risotto Balls with spicy tomato sauce are consistently on the menu and are downright addictive. Sure, they're just risotto balls, but they're the best I've tried. There is almost always a pate or similar meat concotion on the menu, and these better than a safe bet as well (in addition to the pickles they come with). I've tried sweetbread dishes at every Colicchio restaurant I've been to - my advice is if you see sweetbreads on one of his menus - order the dish. Sweetbreads sauteed with Kumquats is similar to the most amazing rendition of Orange Chicken you'll ever eat. Sweetbreads with a ramp puree brought a bit of spring into a dish I don't normally associate with warming weather. Pasta's are another strong point of CraftBar - I've never been sorry to have ordered a seasonal gnocchi. So obviously I'm a fan. But last trip, I was made a believer out of a special pork dish for 2. Three different parts of the pig (including belly and shoulder) were presented with three different preparations, along with sides in what was a piggy nirvana. Easily enough food for 3 people was demolished by 2. Throw in a relaxed atmosphere with professional service, a quality beer program and good wine list, and a price point that isn't going to bring tears to your eyes and the guilt for being a repeat customer in a city of so many good choices starts to abate.

Bramble and Brine is the best restaurant in terms of execution.

Chef RJ Cooper will open his first independent project, Rogue 24, in the Mount Vernon Square neighborhood of Washington, DC. Projecting a winter, 2011 opening, Rogue 24 will be located in Blagden Alley at 1234 9th St., NW. Executive chef/ owner RJ Cooper, a seasoned veteran chef and James Beard Award winner, is thrilled to bring this landmark restaurant to the developing neighborhood of Mount Vernon Square in Northwest Washington, DC. The 2,600 square- foot restaurant will be tucked away in one of the vacant buildings in Blagden Alley, currently a trendy alley that houses experimental art exhibits. Blagden Alley, located directly west of the Washington, DC Convention Center, is in engaging new epicenter of revitalization. The project leadership of Norman Jamal of Douglas Development has lead a wave of recent development, from multi-million dollar condominiums to established art galleries, as well as a burgeoning social scene of coffee houses, bars and restaurants. This recent rehabilitation makes the neighborhood an excellent locale for the first fine dining restaurant in Blagden Alley. "The space is a perfect fit for the intimate, yet edgy experience of Rogue 24," says Cooper of the Blagden Alley location. "I look forward to joining the current and future independent retailers, artists and residents alike in developing this section of Mount Vernon Square as a distinct destination neighborhood." Celebrating Cooper's stylized urban fine-dining cuisine, Rogue 24 will exclusively offer an interactive 24-course tasting menu. Guests will be served a progression of small dishes that excite the senses, tantalize the palate, and awaken curiosity. The multi-course meal will offer a place at the table where guests can dig deep into a culinary team's philosophy: exploring their suppliers, cooking techniques and sources of inspiration. Rogue 24 will provide an effortless space for the diner to enjoy the imagination of Cooper's menu. The avant-garde beverage program will house a beverage director that will serve as both sommelier and mixologist and will prepare all beverages at a tableside cart, providing innovative pairings that will stimulate the entire experience. 8 beverage (a combination of wine, cocktails and beer) pairings will be offered throughout the 24- course meal. "It is my vision that Rogue 24 will provide an emotional experience. That is what creates memorable meals"”more than the food, the wine, and the service, the overall culture of the restaurant must evoke emotions in its guests." Working alongside Cooper, Harper McClure will serve as chef de cuisine. McClure hails from Atlanta's renowned Bacchanalia restaurant and previously worked with Cooper at Vidalia as his sous chef for nearly five years. The two chefs look forward to reuniting for this groundbreaking new project. ### Situated in the center of the 52-seat dining room, the state-of-the-art kitchen will showcase Cooper's creativity and desire to interact with guests. This architectural design will allow every guest to have an individual chef's table experience. Cooper has enlisted architects Brian Miller of edit and Lauren Winter of Winter Architecture, the famed duo behind Washington, DC's most creative and functional spaces including The Gibson, U Street Music Hall and Dickson Wine Bar, to execute this vision. Rogue 24 will be open for one dinner seating Tuesday-Thursday two dinner seatings Friday and Saturday evenings. The fixed menu price is $130, $140 for non-alcoholic beverage pairings and $170 for alcoholic beverage pairings. About Chef RJ Cooper and The Kid Can Cook, LLC Chef RJ Cooper's Rogue 24 will be the first of several restaurants as part of his and wife Judy Cooper's umbrella restaurant group, The Kid Can Cook, LLC. Rogue 24 will be followed by a variety of projects, including a more casual concept, Pigtails, to open in Washington, DC. Cooper is a seasoned veteran chef who has worked at some of the most prestigious restaurants in the nation, and has served as an integral part of the development in Washington, DC's fine-dining culture. Notable accolades include the prestigious James Beard Award for Best Chef Mid-Atlantic in 2007, as well as recognition from starchefs.com, as the 2006 Rising Star Chef. Cooper also works with the national non-profit organization Share Our Strength®, as a longtime advocate in the fight against childhood hunger. Cooper is the Chair of Share Our Strength's Taste of the Nation's® National Culinary Council, is the founder of Share Our Strength's Chefs on Bikes program and in 2008 was recognized with Share Our Strength's Leadership Award for Chef of the Year. Chef Cooper also serves on the Advisory Board of the startup, DC-based non-profit organization Chefs as Parents that is working to transform DC-public school nutrition programs.

It's too soon to break this news, but unfortunately, ARLnow.com got ahold of public records, and is going to break the story if I don't. So, with the blessings of Tim Ma and Joey Hernandez ... Tim and Joey, the owners of Maple Ave. Restaurant in Vienna, will be opening Water & Wall at 3811 N. Fairfax Drive in Virginia Square (in the old Pines of Florence space). "Water and Wall" is the intersection of where Tim and Joey lived in New York City when Tim was attending the French Culinary Institute, and interning at Momofuku Ko. In Joey's words, "It was in that building that we started to draft our ideas of owning a restaurant. We created menus there, created dishes there, etc. So, essentially, it was where the dream was born." The style of cuisine, and values of the restaurant, will carry over from Maple Ave. Restaurant, but Water and Wall will have its own identity. There is no word at all on an opening date, although it may well be in 2013. Tim and I talked about some of his culinary visions awhile back, but things are just too nascent and dynamic to even discuss. So I'm sorry this news is out so soon, but I'm happy to say congratulations, both to Tim and Joey, and also to the residents of Virginia Square. Cheers, Rocks P.S., also in Joey's own words: "In terms of Maple Ave: Our sous chef Nyi Nyi Mint will take over tomorrow as Chef De Cuisine. Nyi Nyi will also help out with Water & Wall. Nyi Nyi was trained by David Thompson, chef and creator of Nahm in London. Nyi Nyi also spent time in London's Hakkasan before it was bought out by corporate. Tim will continue to be the Executive Chef for Maple Ave."

Last night I stopped by the brand new somewhat Hemmingway-themed Bar Pilar on 14th St between S and T. The small space that used to be El Camino Real has been completely renovated and is now dominated by a huge and gorgeous antique bar, with a few east coast beers on tap (including the superb Clipper City Small Craft Warning Pils and Dogfish Head Indian Brown) and a full kitchen. I had the Tacos Pilar, which were more like a couple of small bias cut chimichangas, and they were a bit on the sweet side but very good. Service was spotty, which I think had more to do with the server than the kitchen or bar. About a dozen other bar food mexican type interpolations showed up on the menu along with side dishes like mac & cheese and tater tots. The great news is that, according to owner Mike Benson, the kitchen will be open from 6pm-1am daily. In the meantime, related bar/restaurant Saint-Ex a few doors down has a new chef, Barton Seaver (disclosure: I DJ at Saint-Ex once a month, but I'm there more often just as a patron). The menu is a bit more fishy now (pescocentric?) and I had a house cured salmon, chevre, tomato, and greens sandwich which was generous with the salmon and tasty aside from the bland roll. It looks like they're narrowing down the scope of the menu while putting a bit more thought & prep into each of the remaining & new dishes. They've also added Coniston Bluebird on draft, to my knowledge the first place in the city to carry it.

Walked by last night to what looked like a fully kitted-out restaurant in a cute space; was told it will be opening next week. http://tabledc.com/about/ http://www.popville.com/2012/10/new-restaurant-from-chef-frederik-de-pue-table-coming-to-shaw-looking-to-open-nov-3rd/

The New York Times' Pete Wells reviews Betony (slideshow). website

"Alton Brown Names Ma(i)son 'Restaurant of the Year'' by Kevin Stairiker on flymagazine.neet Maison, mark my words, will make it to JBF, along with other Lancaster culinary talents. My goal is to add Central Pa, to the dining map, one bite at a time. hungry, kat

In NYC over the weekend for a birthday getaway. Was able to spend several hours getting acquainted with The Dutch, the new-ish spot from Andrew Carmellini in SoHo. Unfortunately didn't ever make it over to a proper table as I was using the place as a meetup for folks. But got to try several of their items via the bar. Definitely get the fried oyster mini sandwiches (order several), the hot fried chicken (semi-famous in his cookbook), and anything they're recommending from the raw bar. The real standout, though, is the service. Top notch at every station -- the killer bartenders somehow made dealing with the Friday evening post-HH rush seem effortless and kudos to the beverage director Brynn who took care of us with a little extra. I'd recommend going for lunch or early in the evening during nice weather when the sun is still out and occupying the counter seating alongside the open windows.

This post is a little about hyperbole and a lot about a place called The Bartlett Pear Inn (BPI), IMHO The Best Restaurant On The Eastern Shore. The BPI has occupied the space formerly known as the Inn at Easton for about two years. Apologies in advance for a longer post...okay a bit of an opus...but it's as much about guilt for not having posted sooner as it is about having a lot to share. And, for those who hate long posts, I've tried to use liberal formatting (sections, bold face, spacing, italics) to make it more skimmable. You can even stop after the one line Executive Summary just below if you like. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Great and often inventive food from a humble yet driven perfectionist. Great people with genuine niceness and hospitable spirits. Great value at moderate prices. Go soon. FULL POST INCLUDING SOME MULTIMEDIA, LINKS, REFERENCES & DETAILS I have to say I'm more surprised this thread didn't already exist than with any other new topic I've yet seen appear on dr.com because... -- It's a truly great place and I'll go into detail on that below. -- It's run by a truly wonderful couple, Jordan and Alice Lloyd. -- The Lloyds were the buyers of the historic inn from Andrew Evans, of the previous tenant, The Inn @ Easton and of current "BBQ Joint" fame. Of course, The Inn @ Easton was loved on this board and had a fairly active thread. Surely some Rockwellians have investigated what moved in when Chef Evans moved out besides me? -- Not that I put much stock in those "other" food community sites but BPI has earned the highest ratings on virtually all of them (tripadvisor, urbanspoon, zagat, yelp, blah, blah). There has been a fair amount of media attention showered on the Bartlett Pear. Though will say TS underrated this place in my view--he was there on a night when the best aspects of BPI may not have been on full display. I hope he goes again soon. IT'S ACTUALLY MOSTLY MY FAULT BPI'S COMING OUT ON DR.COM COMES SO LATE (SHORT BACK STORY) The most blame for BPI's very late coming out on dr.com is best directed at me. Our (my SO and I) story with BPI goes back to December, 2009 and that nasty first snowmaggedon storm which started on a Friday night. It stranded us at the Inn at Perry Cabin in St. Michaels for most of a weekend. "Most" because we made it out for just one dinner--at the Bartlett Pear--the Friday night the snow started falling with the roads just passable for us to make it back to St. Michaels from Easton after dinner. Anyway, since then, we've dined and stayed at Bartlett Pear maybe half a dozen times. I thought I'd posted on it before but hadn't. I suck. So, on with it already. But, first a very brief and relevant word or two about exaggeration. HYPERBOLE Most. Best. Worst. Top 3. Top 10. Outstanding. Extraordinary. Fantastic. Too many of those words in amateurish write-ups like mine. That said, there will be some hyperbole in this post. There has been already. Catch that thread title? It's intended. I think the place rather unique. And, getting the cliched stuff out of the way early, I'll go on record with a somewhat audacious claim but one I think accurate. OVERALL BARTLETT PEAR HEADLINE BPI is at least the best food on the Eastern Shore and would be a Top 10 (5?) for sure were it here in DC. We love it. It's fabulous. We've sent many friends there through word of mouth. One of our very favorite spots in the region. THE BARTLETT PEAR INN/BACKGROUND + WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? As written briefly above, the BPI is now about 2 years old. It's a gorgeous inn as I'm guessing the Inn at Easton was (I regrettably never visited it then). Alice Lloyd, the innkeeper, keeps 7 lovely, luxurious, yet moderately priced, rooms in great shape. She also handles two young children and one boxer but, no worries, the boxer is never in the inn for those concerned about that. I know they did extensive renovation to the Inn before reopening it as BPI. If bath accoutrements are any litmus, they use L'Occitane here but the rooms are surprisingly easy on the wallet. It's a perfect base for exploring Easton and the area. But, The Thing that's most exceptional about BPI is the restaurant and Jordan Lloyd's cooking. Jordan's only 31 and originally from Easton (as is Alice, whose maiden name was the inspiration for the Inn's name). He has the resume of someone older, more seasoned and very accomplished: - culinary school in Pittsburgh - worked and studied under several famous chefs including: * Christian Delouvrier (Bal Harbour, FL) * Thomas Keller (Per Se in NYC) * Michel Richard (here at Citronelle) Even TS wrote "....Lloyd has the chops to back up his dream..." Beyond "chops," Jordan has the passion, ambition, knowledge and skill one would expect given his bio. But, beyond that, there are three things we think most worth noting about Jordan and his cooking. THREE REASONS WHY JORDAN LLOYD'S COOKING STANDS OUT First, Jordan has that gift, exceedingly rare among would-be culinary innovators, to combine and invent; to create new, delicious and, at times, surprising flavors. This is the stuff that can't be taught in culinary school. No foams, sous vide or crazy experiments gone wrong on a plate here. Most everything we've ever had here has just been really excellent; lots of wows. And, in any restaurant of however many stars or diamonds, that's the most important thing, right? Second, Jordan has drive. It's not just about work ethic--though while anyone really good in this industry works their butts off, I can't imagine it'd be possible for anyone to work harder than Jordan. It's about his intense focus to become a great chef and then keep improving. That's why he sought out the jobs he did before opening BPI. That's why he logs the hours he does. That's why he'll even cook in 145-degree ambient temperatures (more on that below). Third and most important, Jordan is just an exceedingly nice guy in a way that can't be faked. He's genuinely humble and unassuming. I wouldn't be so sure about this had I not had as many interactions with him as I have; had I not taken a cooking class with him in his pillbox of a kitchen or chatted with him many times in quieter moments at the Inn. Maybe it's because he's so young. Maybe he was just raised that way. Niceness isn't just what makes someone so likable. Less obvious is that it (and associated humility) are what make it possible for a driven professional to always improve and get the best from staff. Such is Jordan. The BPI serves a full hot breakfast every day and dinner every night save Tuesday. They have a great brunch on Sunday, which I'll use for this post's food specifics since we were just there this past weekend. I'll then post again with some specific dinner items after a future visit unless others beat me to it. FINALLY, THE FREAKIN' FOOD! BRUNCH. This past weekend, four of us planned a Saturday dinner and Sunday brunch at BPI during a weekend stay. But, alas, for the first time in all our visits to BPI, our Saturday plan went awry thanks to the crazy high temps that would tax nearly any air conditioning system. Jordan's kitchen was getting up to 145 degrees and, after sweating out a Friday dinner, he shut down Saturday night to give his staff a break, despite the loss he knew he'd take with the dining room fully booked. We went to plan B for Saturday, enjoyed discovering the Bistro Poplar in Cambridge (which Jordan personally booked us into and which now has its own separate shiny new thread on dr.com) and cursed our bad luck for not having eaten at BPI Friday night when we had the chance. After all, as nice as the Inn is, the food is the biggest reason we keep coming back for weekends. Ah, 20/20 hindsight. So, Sunday brunch couldn't have come soon enough. We'd had a few Sunday brunches at BPI before so knew to expect great things. Our two friends couldn't stop raving. We ordered a larger number of things to best try out the various proteins, produce, dairy and treats featured across the menu. BRUNCH HEADLINE (FOOD AND MEAL EXPERIENCE DETAILS FOLLOW) Wow! Delicious, interesting and impressive. Strongly recommend eating (and staying) at the Bartlett Pear. SERVICE The service at BPI, whether dinner, breakfast or brunch, is always attentive, efficient and genuinely friendly and casual. This is one of the memorable and unusual things about BPI. They effectively meld an elegance and outstanding quality with an informal and casual culture. Most of the servers are from the area and pleasures. We had a relatively new and younger server for the brunch who took great care of us and our various special requests. FOOD We enjoyed: - Truffled Scrambled Eggs ($7): served in cast iron after being continuously whisked, these are light, velvety, savory and really, really tough to duplicate at home despite Jordan's unassuming and deceptively simple directions. - Side of Applewood Smoked Bacon ($4): suffice to say, this isn't the applewood smoked bacon sold at Whole Foods. Need to find out his source. This is the bacon any serious breakfast place should be forced to serve. - "Eggs Benedict" with Stonehouse Farm Poached Eggs, fresh hollandaise, Inn-Made Brioche toast and the bacon ($14 or free if staying at the inn). Of course, the technique is predictably and exactly what it should be with eggs perfectly poached to order. It's the brioche and hollandaise that elevate this benny above most. - Chef's Sunday Inn-Made Pappardelle Pasta ($21): I always, always order the pappardelle whenever on Jordan's brunch or dinner menus. Again, a simple preparation with his hand rolled pasta, light butter, truffle, 8 or so well seasoned cockles and a cheese that really makes the dish and the name of which I can't recall. This dish = sumptuousness. Sumptuousness = this dish. - Stonehouse Farm French Egg Omelette w/ Roasted Bell Pepper Ragout, Homestead Farms Organic Green Salad ($11 or free to overnight inn guests). The omelette was lovely, light and beautifully seasoned but it was the bell pepper ragout that wow'ed. I'm not a big bell pepper fan. That said, these rocked. - Sugar Snap Peas, Roasted Garlic Confit ($6): Maybe an odd thing to get with brunch and everything else but I felt like an in season vegetable and these didn't disappoint. - Pear Tart ($4): Befitting their name, there are often pear-related dishes on the dessert menu in one form or other. This had light airy puff pastry and perfectly chopped tender pieces of ever-so-lightly-sweetened chunks of pear. - Pear Sorbet ($3): the menu calls this a "scoop" but it's actually a quenelle. The best fruit sorbets are an explosion of the featured fruit which makes you forget anything about frozen, ice or ice cream. This is that. - Fordham's Root Beer Float w/ Tahitian Vanilla Ice Cream and Ginger Spice Macaroon ($8): This was the only thing we did right culinarily Friday night, getting some tea and this at BPI's bar after a disappointing dinner elsewhere. Really refreshing and reminiscent of both past and current eras. Jordan's ice cream. A pear straw unlike anything I'd seen before. I'm not sure about the provenance of the roughly 4" diameter macaroon that capped the tall soda fountain glass but it was the perfect complement for the dessert if not quite up to the global macaroon standard :-) BEVERAGE We didn't really put this to the test this trip and others with way more expertise than me will have to assess it. But, I can say that the wine program is of nice size and forethought with about 40 reds, mostly European/French (Beaujolais, Burgundy, Rhone, Bordeaux, Barolo, Brunello) and 30 whites. Smaller selection of about 10 beers but with choices including a Saison Dupont Farmhouse Ale (Belgian/$12), Meredsous Brune Dubbel Ale (Belgian/$8) and Traquair Jacobite Ale flavored with coriander (Scotland/$12). THE END P.S., Go to Bartlett Pear. Stay. Have dinner. Have brunch. Have drinks. This place is a destination. [disclosure: I have no vested interest in BPI other than the history as described above. Just an avid fan.]

I'm still not caught up on Top Chef but I just watched the third episode and was so impressed by DC's Kwame Onwuachi, that I had to look him up to see where he was cooking. Turns out, his new place, The Shaw Bijou, is scheduled to open later this Winter. He's put up some great dishes so far, and won one of the elimination challenges but what impressed me the most was his attitude. For a 25 year old he seems wise beyond his years, very thoughtful and mature and a really great guy. He's almost got a Buddha like quality about him......I'm not totally sure what I mean by that(!) but he just seems super grounded and very together. On the show I just watched the chefs were paired into teams of two who would compete against the other teams, but there was a twist. Halfway through the competition, they changed it so now each chef was competing against his/her former partner. From teammates to competitors, just like that! Naturally, you'd expect no help from your former partner since it's a now head to head competition and if you lose, you could be eliminated from the show. But Kwame somehow had some extra time and was able to help his former partner and current competitor cut up his meat and cook his food! Usually in these competitions each chef is using every last second just to get the meal on the plate, but this guy was taking his own precious time to help the one guy he had to beat!! During the interview about it, he was so casual and matter of fact about it, it touched me and I had to look him up! Despite helping his competitor, he ended up winning the entire competition! Classy and talented. Here's an article from the Post from July about him and the new place: 07/15/15 - "The Shaw Bijou, from Rising New York Chef Kwame Onwuachi, is Coming to a 9th Street Rowhouse" by Becky Krystal on washingtonpost.com Here's an excerpt: "Next up: 25-year-old Kwame Onwuachi, whose résumé includes stints at such cachet-carrying eateries as New York's Eleven Madison Park and Per Se. Onwuachi expects to open the Shaw Bijou later this year." Wowzers!

Birch & Barley/ChurchKey has named a chef to replace Frank Morales.

The Philadelphia Inquirer's Craig LaBan reviews The Pass. website

My cousin booked Beauty and Essex for our family brunch gathering. I think my cousin hates breakfast food as much as me, so he found a place with a large diverse menu and we ordered quite a lot of food. The dishes are meant to be shared and our waiter offered to adjust the dish size to accommodate our large group, but we assured him it wasn't necessary. Chinese people are used to sharing, even a single grain of rice can be shared by an entire village. The red velvet waffles won the approval of both my daughters. We also had crispy fish tacos, chicken fried steak, fried chicken biscuit, frittata espanol, chilaquiles, brunch pizzetta, everything bagel & lox pizzetta, kale & apple salad, and Brussels sprouts and Serrano ham on toast. I would note that the chicken fried steak were hockey puck shaped croquettes of braised short-rib, topped with McMuffin like eggs. That was a distinctly weak dish. Otherwise the dishes are decent to tasty, though not meant to be authentic, e.g., I thought the frittata was too sweet and the chilaquiles not crunchy enough. The restaurant is fronted by a pawn shop. The vibe is hip but the service is friendly yet professional. This place won't win any Michelin stars but it is a fun place to go with a group of food obsessed people.

Hat tip to Jake for nudging me to this "real good" spot: The Wallace. Smart crowd but decor is tasteful and comfortable. Started with a spinach salad with grilled portabellos and blue cheese which was very nice and straightforward. Grilled Japanese eggplant over lentils was next, and possibly my favorite dish of the night. Lentils were smokey and delicious! Spouse ordered the squid ink pasta with Uni bescamel and ikura. Tasty but a bit too rich for me. And yet hypocritically I loved the next course, foie gras three ways: terrine, mousse, and grilled. All fantastic, with the exception of the mousse which was spectacular. It was served over what looked like crumbled feta, but was actually dehydrated foie gras! We shared a carrot cake that delivered. Many tables ordered a mushroom tartine that looked really good. Cocktail was an apple brandy and a duck fat rinsed orange liqueur with bitters. Very nice. And the wine was all good as well. Fun place! Service got weeded here but we enjoyed ourselves and had no subsequent commitments.