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Showing results for tags 'Knightsbridge Restaurant Group'.
Found 9 results
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This place has gotten a few mentions - most recently in this weekend's first edition of the Wall Street Journal's Weekend rag. Slated to open in November, it's supposed to bring Portuguese-influenced Indian food from the Goa region, as well as coconut and curry leaf dishes from Kerala and almond and pistachio infused cuisines from the Mogul region. 633 D St. NW. Any other buzz? -
Sounds like part of Ardeo+Bardeo will be re-vamped into Bindaas, an Indian street food restaurant with Vikram Sunderam overseeing the food: "Rasika Chef Vikran Sunderam to Oversee Upcoming Indian Street-Food Restaurant" by Becky Krystal on washingtonpost.com At 50 seats, I'm assuming the smaller side space that used to be Bardeo will become Bindaas. Targeted opening early August, but you know how that goes. According to the article, Ardeo+Bardeo will continue with a dining room and the upstairs patio.- 43 replies
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- Local Chain
- Cleveland Park
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Well, he's carefully weighing options, and open to hearing more, with the idea that he's looking for something that will have longer term successes, and a place to build relationships. Many people have reminisced about Palena, and I think he'd like to work towards achieving and earning that status ... for both employee and guest. Frank is actively seeking work, as well as talking to potential employers already - if you're a restaurateur, you should contact him (through me, if you'd like).- 82 replies
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- Dupont Circle
- South Dupont
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I went with a friend to Ardeo a few nights ago. When we sat down and took a once over of the menu my friend asked if we should go to Indique. We both paused for a moment and then decided to stay. Big mistake. We started with the soft shell crab appetizer and the goat cheese and white asparagus salad. I should have known better. Asparagus season was over a few months ago. But it sounded good and refreshing, which was what I wanted. At first glance it looked like a mound of arugula. After some digging I found a few spears of what turned out to be pretty good white asparagus with a disk of goat cheese on one side and the marinated wild mushrooms on the other. Not bad, not great. The soft shell appetizer was a tempura fried soft shell crab served on a corn risotto. My friend ordered the dish for the corn risotto, breaking the first rule of ordering: don't order for the accoutrement. The tempura fried soft shell was small but fine. Nicely fried but nothing to write home about. The corn risotto was more of a corn pilaf. It was served with some sort of sauce around the plate but I don't remember what. At the end of the appetizers my friend had two comments: 1) the apps sounded great, were good, but I wouldn't order them again and 2) this reminds me of good dinner theater food. Our mains went downhill. My linguine with English peas and prosciutto in a cream sauce was okay. Again, I should have known better since peas aren't in season. While eating it I kept thinking that I should be down the street checking out Dino's new meat slicer. When we traded plates my friend didn't even realize that it was prosciutto in the dish. Our other main was vegetable lasagna with beet and basil essence. We checked before ordering and found out that the pasta was house made. We had a little hope. It ended up being two layers of decent pasta with the most pathetic vegetables I have seen in a while. Cauliflower, broccoli, beets, snow peas and broccoli rabe. Not a bad combination except it is the height of vegetable season and only one of those is good right now. Oh, and cherry tomatoes. The cherry tomatoes were the worst looking tomatoes I have seen lately, especially considering we are in tomato season. The dish was just sad. There was greatness to be had, but failure reigned. We went down the street and apologized to our palates with a glass of wine and a cheese plate at Dino. Next time we'll go straight for the cheese. It's been a few years since I was last at Ardeo and I am sad to say that it is yet another restaurant that has let itself go downhill. -
So...based on this review it sound like Oval Room is deserving of its own thread. Anybody besides Waitman and Mrs. B been since Chef Secich took the helm?
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Tonight was exactly two weeks to the day (according to the delightful hostess who seated us) since Bibiana's opening. If this is a restaurant that's still ironing out early kinks though, it really doesn't show it. Service was clicking, the food was--with two minor quibbles--excellent, and in general Bibiana feels like a place that's aiming high. Service deserves a call out...the meal was well paced, and there was always someone around when we needed something. At one point we stopped another waiter on his way back to the kitchen, who graciously and knowledgeably walked us through the wine list. Two different managers came over to ask about our meal. Overall I really got a sense of genuine, shared enthusiasm for the new venture. Highlights of our dinner included a wonderful little plate of saffron arancini, a creamy, earthy risotto encased in a perfect little crunchy shell. Great stuff. A squid ink spaghetti with blue crab was wonderful, each component intensely flavorful on its own but even better in combination. My entree of whole grilled branzino, filleted tableside and served with a lemon and dill sauce spooned on top, was fresh and well cooked and would really have been a winner if it had been served skin side up to preserve the skin's crispiness. That was minor quibble #1. When I mentioned this to one of the managers who had come over to ask how things were, they apologized and brought over a glass of wine on the house. Completely unnecessary, and I really don't think I gave the impression I was unhappy, but a nice touch. Earlier in the meal I was a bit unnerved by how quickly the grilled sardines came out of the kitchen...sure enough they were warm, but hardly seemed like they'd been grilled - no char, no crispy skin. Not sure what went on there...too bad, too, since they were really very tasty little fish. That was minor quibble #2. Desserts were delicious. Overall we were really pleased with our first meal here, and I wouldn't be surprised at all, just given the energy and enthusiasm of the place, if it gets even better over time. -
I hadn't seen my husband (or eaten a decent meal) in a week, so we decided to try something new for Friday's date night. We headed over to NoPa with high expectations, having all of our wonderful experiences at Rasika in mind - clearly, we knew that the food would be different, but I think we figured the "bones" would be very similar. I wasn't completely disappointed, but in my mind, NoPa still has some tweaking to do. We sat at the bar, which is pretty small, but we found two seats relatively quickly. Service at first was attentive-bordering-on-clingy - we barely had time to look at the cocktail menu before he wanted us to order. I started with a very good "brasserita," which was spicy and tangy and really tasty. Jason had a gin and tonic of some sort, but I'll let him post separately about what he thought. I also ordered a strawberry-basil-vodka cocktail that usually comes with soda in it, but the bartender was happy to leave the soda out (indicating that it wouldn't make a difference overall), and it was very fresh. I probably should have ordered it with dessert. We got a bread basket early in the going, which had decent "regular" bread and some delicious rosemary pull-apart rolls. The butter served with the bread was the proper temperature (yay), but it was unsalted (boo). For our first round of apps, we tried the twice-fried chicken and the smoked salmon croquettes. The chicken, for $10, was a drumstick and two thighs of delicious, perfectly fried chicken that was crispy (and NOT greasy) on the outside and moist and juicy on the inside. All it needed was a little salt, and it would have been among the best I've ever had. The homemade ketchup served with it was quite good, though. I thought it was a great value. The croquettes were technically well done, but they had more of a dill flavor than a smoked salmon flavor, which thrilled my husband and disappointed me. Second round, we ordered the olive oil poached octopus and the duck confit. The octopus was tender and cooked nicely, but it had way too much olive flavor going on, and I am not a fan of olives, so it was definitely not something I went back to over and over. On the other hand, the duck confit was amazing - crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, and PERFECTLY seasoned. There was also a sour cherry mustard sauce that went perfectly with the meat (when we weren't just sucking the meat directly off the bone like animals). Fantastic. Jason had some beers and I had a glass of sauvignon blanc (neither were anything to write home about - didn't think their selection, at least draft/by the glass, was particularly exciting), and we noticed that service had definitely taken a turn for the slow. Empty plates would sit in front of us for much longer, and other than the occasional, "Everything good?" there really wasn't much engagement. I already knew, from research, that I was interested in dessert. We ended up trying the fried strawberry pies and the maple pecan sticky bun. YUM to both. They each came with ice cream, but Jason will have to tell you about those - I was definitely only in it for the pastries. The strawberry pies were filled with fresh strawberry filling that was naturally sweet, so it was great that the pastry itself was more neutral and you didn't get that super sugary donut-esque cavity-inducing thing where the dish as a whole is just too sweet for more than a few bites. It was nicely balanced, and I would like to make some myself. The sticky bun was just decadent. Soft on the inside, though, and gooey and sticky and divine on the outside, with a few candied pecans sprinked on top for good measure. It would be the perfect breakfast pastry, if it wouldn't give you an epic sugar crash about an hour after you ate it. It made me think of my grandpa, who could never say no to a big ol' pecan sticky bun - he really would have liked this one, and I smiled while I was eating it because it allowed me to go back down memory lane and think of all the sticky buns we shared while he was alive. So, 4 apps, 2 desserts, 2 cocktails and a glass of wine for me, and then I think 1 cocktail, 2 beers, and a glass of port for Jason, and the total before tip was $139. I gave the overall experience a B-/B. Dessert was a real surprise highlight for me. With a few service and seasoning tweaks, this could be a great repeat place for us (ya know, not every week, at those prices, but for more special occasions). Has anyone else been? I'm sure Jason will pipe in shortly.- 22 replies
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- Penn Quarter
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Although I've had many a late night drink/dessert here while listening to live piano jazz over the past few years, the food was never something to come here for. Well, gotta say that may be changing. I joined a group of 4 friends which chose 701 for dinner on Friday night. We were pleasantly surprised with our meals [we were sampling each others all night]. Seems that 701 has a new Chef Bobby Verua [sp?] who started this past Restaurant Week [whatta time to start lol]. Think he hails from NY, and brings subtle Asian influence to the dishes [but not in what I call the normal retread way]. For starters, we tried the Beef Carpaccio w/ Arugula, shaved Parmesan, & Mustard Vinaigrette, Ribbons of Tuna [Crushed Avocado, Rice Crisps, and a creamy Garlic sauce ... great contrast w/ the rice crisps and the tuna!], Fried Calamari [perfectly fried lightly w/ a light coating ... but the accompanying sauce really kicks it up], and Asian Pear/Romaine/Bleu Cheese salad, and a small plate of Pumpkin Raviolis [glazed Chestnuts w/ Truffle-Sage brown butter sauce, lightly sweet]. Very good beginning to our meal. For mains, we tried the Horseradish-Crusted Veal Chop w/ Quail Egg, Potato Dauphin, & a Sweet-Soy Bordelaise [hunk a scoop of everything in one bite, great], Glazed Pork Belly w/ Sweet Potato Puree & Pickled Cherries [tasty fatty goodness, another place for me to get my Pork Belly fill lol], Stuffed Saddle of Lamb w/ Braised Tomatoes, Crisped Potato Confit, and Pear Demi [quite good but didn't love], Dry-Aged Sirlion Steak w/ Ancho-Soy Glaze, Gingered Shiitakes and Truffled Potatoes [nicely done], and Roasted Mahi-Mahi w/ Sweet Potato Ravioli, Malayasian Chili Sauce & Basil Oil [liked but also didn't love]. Perhaps my tastes of the Veal Chop & Pork Belly tainted the rest of my tasting, dunno but the flavors of those 2 were excellent. As for desserts, not so much. We were cautioned by the server that the desserts aren't there yet, the Chef hasn't focused yet on them [putting his stamp on the 1st/2nds] but will be very soon. Thankful for that information [and not particularly attracted to the dessert list], we still shared a couple w/ coffee. Lemon cheesecake [eh], and honestly an Apple-something else which was cold [i.e. not fully cooked, not easy to cut through] that underwhelmed me. Our thoughts were that warm desserts would have gone over well with the cold weather, perhaps something lightened like a warm ricotta cheesecake, else a bread pudding or sorts. There are lots of choices if the Chef peruses the competition, looking forward to trying his versions once ready [just based on what we saw with the other courses]. As for service, it's fine as it's always been for me. He had a good sense of humor, chatted us up, and nicely prefaced our expectations about the desserts [so as not to ruin or lessen our experience much] We were mentioned how happy we were with the meals to the server, that the Chef stopped by to thank us. He's young, looks to be only in his early 30s perhaps? Very gracious. Server mentioned how liked he was so far, & has the kitchen's respect already. [guess plugging away at 200 meals during a RW night on your 1st week can do that heh]. Now I have an excuse to actually try meals at 701! Maybe take advantage of their Pre-Theater menu for less than $30. -
I'm going to the Bombay Club for the first time tonight for dinner and I want to know what dishes I should make sure not to miss. I'm surprised that there is not already a thread for this restaurant. Does that mean that it is not worth my time? It seems to get good, solid reviews, but there is an absence of fervor about it. Any idea why? I really, really want to like it.
