Jump to content

Colorado Kitchen - Vailed.


Recommended Posts

So let me get this straight: as soon as a cook - sorry, CHEF - opens for business and starts slinging good hash, they're expected to follow suit with white linen and a service crew that came from a world-class hotel? Ridiculous. Ignore the college-style service and take this place as a gift. Maybe if Gillian marketed Colorado Kitchen as a diner people could bark at the servers from across the room and she'd get a cover story in Gourmet magazine (actually, it's probably just a matter of time before she does anyway).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 336
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

I deleted a post similar to this (above) moments after I posted it, because I didn't because I didn't want to escalate anything further. But since it was referenced by a subsequent post I thought I would reproduce it here as best I could.

OK, Robin here (the other half of CK).  I thought for a long time that if we ignored all this it would go away...but NOOOOO.

Let's all be honest...for whatever reason we're the restaurant you all love to hate.

We can't suck THAT bad. 

Has anyone posted here or on eG that Colordao Kitchen sucked or that they hated the restaurant? Not that I am aware of (added - I'll still stand by that,)

Has anyone posted that although they had service issues at the restaurant the food was good enough to being them back? Yup.

Has anyone come to the defense of CK as soon as someone posts anything negative about it? Every time.

You should check out some of the posts about the places we really don't like:

Tequila Grill

McDonald's

Elephant and Castle

Sorriso

Cafe Spice

and the mother of them all...

Rosa Mexicano

Not a pretty picture, is it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So let me get this straight:  as soon as a cook - sorry, CHEF - opens for business and starts slinging good hash, they're expected to follow suit with white linen and a service crew that came from a world-class hotel?  Ridiculous.

I don't think it's ridiculous to expect a server to be familiar with what's on the menu - if I'm at Waffle House and the server can't remember my options as far as smothering, covering, and chunking my hash browns, they're not doing what they should even at $2.45.

Edited by brian
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think it's ridiculous to expect a server to be familiar with what's on the menu - if I'm at Waffle House and the server can't remember my options as far as smothering, covering, and chunking my hash browns, they're not doing what they should even at $2.45.

I hesitate to add to this conversation for two reasons. First, i am a long time lurker who has never posted, and I am not looking to make enemies. I am very happy to participate in the site and enjoy being here. Second, I am frustrated with the entire conversation and want it to end, somehow. Nevertheless, here's my two cents (in response to the entire conversation, not just Brian's post).

I went to CK alone two sunday evenings ago. I had a delightful, unrushed dinner, during part of which I read the citypaper. I arrived early, around 6:00 pm or so, purposely avoiding sunday brunch and late sunday dinner. CK was mostly empty. I ordered the rockfish. Five minutes thereafter, I decided it was about time I tried the onion tart. I asked the waiter (who warmly recognized me) if it would be ok for me to order the tart even though I had already ordered my entree. He said it was fine. I must admit that I was afraid to make the request given what I have heard about CK and given the tension I have occasionally sensed myself. If they had been busy, I probably would not have ordered the tart. If they had been busy, i probably would not have lingered over the meal. If they had been busy, I would have expected less attentive service, etc, etc.

I think we have a right to expect a lot from CK, but I sometimes wonder if we expect too much. For months and months I wouldn't even go to the place because i thought I might get my head cut off. On my first visit, I was surprised to find chef in the kitchen with a (zen-like) smile on her face, cookin' her butt off.

Have all of my experiences been perfect? No. I happen to be very frustrated with the small scoops of ice cream that accompany the delicious (and now unavailable) apple pandowdy, and occasionally frustrated that it can take a bit to be seated, even when there is no crowd. But i'm not sure what all of this means. This is not Citronelle, after all. What should I reasonably expect from CK? Is is possible that the race and gender are influencing my expectations? Am I bothered that Chef dares to speak her mind, black woman that she is? To what extent should I take into account CK's location and size and the fact that I don't have children and can simply sit at the counter if no other seats are available? I don't necessarily know the answers to these questions, but it certain helps me to explore them and to explore my motives as I sit fuming about the small stuff.

To be sure, I should expect a reasonable level of service and, in the case of CK, I have come to expect a comforting and delicious meal, but I have grown weary of what I experience as the sense of privilege surrounding people's food experiences, and not just at CK. Some weeks, I can barely bring myself to read Tom's weekly chat because I know it will contain complaint after complaint after complaint.

In the case of CK, I adjust and give the benefit of the doubt and everything else because I love the food. At some other places, I have had one too many disapointing meals where I felt cheated and disappointed. So, at CK, where I delight in the food (with few exceptions), I am willing to loosen up and enjoy the ride.

Edited by Monique DC
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think it's ridiculous to expect a server to be familiar with what's on the menu - if I'm at Waffle House and the server can't remember my options as far as smothering, covering, and chunking my hash browns, they're not doing what they should even at $2.45.

Okay folks....that was Robin with the "sucks" comment and the "nit picking". But I agree with her. I think that is a ridiculous criticism. I buy the wine and we don't have meetings and tastings every night...otherwise it would be more than $7 a glass. I know that my food is great. I work very hard at it and I care. I don't hire flunkies...its me back there making everything.

We have had--like every restaurant in town--ridiculous turnover. We started the month with 4 new servers. This is why much of what a server may and should tell you is written on the menu in my own brand of New Yorker humor. Yes...sometimes a perfectly cooked salmon--just a little underdone inside-- fills a customer with horror. I've already stated in my menu how I cook things. So they have been warned. New servers are worrying about so many things (oh shoot they're human and make mistakes sometimes...wow )

We have 10 bottles of wine at least and I change the menu every three weeks. Some of my servers work one night a week. Is it a crime to have the wine written down so they don't tell you the wrong thing? Give me a break. :P

As far as Barbara's comment is concerned about Sunday Brunch yes it is a zoo and yes you can wait almost an hour some days. We have had two pairs sit at a four top. There are also the two that waltz in passed the hostess and sit right down at a four simply to start something. Its not an easy dance to make people get up move in front of an entire dining room full of Woodley Girls being uncomfortable...there is no easy way to do it. Then there are the people that don't want to share their table. This is not an easy day for anyone when people come in don't want to cooperate for the greater good. Then there are the days there aren't any tables left for twos or fours and everyone has to wait. That is just how it is at restuarants. Cactus Cantina doesn't let you sit until your whole party is here...why should we?

The servers know what is on the menu. They read it and try and learn it everytime I change it. But I think it is a lot to ask for them to memorize the wine list of (ten to fifteen bottles and 6 different beers) every night. Shoot why can't they read it to you? Is that really a fair criticism? Just be fair everyone, and we can all have a good time.

We've been at this for four years now and it is easier and harder all at the same time. We had a terrible wait staff the first year and thank goodness they are all gone. But it is all we had. Now we have a group of kids who really try to make you folks enjoy yourself. But you know...some of them are going back to college, some of them are going to move to Chicago because they feel like it, some of them are going to find jobs that have a future.

Some of you are out there thinking that we don't want to read negative comments about us here and we poo poo valid criticism (no matter how you slice it I think it is really silly to slam someone for not memorizing the wine list). We take some comments with a grain of salt and others we memo and send around. I enjoy talking abou the food business. It is pretty much what I eat drink and sleep.

We have dedicated our lives to making CK better. We have printed out comments and letters and given them to our servers to read and if you visited us on 7/29/01 and then came on Sunday last you would think it was a miracle at how much better the service is.

We are so hard on them sometimes I think they hate me. I don't serve them pasta and eggs for dinner. I serve them food from the menu (another expense) so they can tell you about the crab cakes, or the rockfish...because they've eaten it.

Robin hired a hostess for Sunday...this poor girl gets yelled at and cussed at just because she won't sit a person out of turn. We have three servers and a bus person on sunday so the day will go more smoothly. For Sunday, there is little more we can do. The fact still remains that we only have 49 seats and a six burner stove.

I would take that all to mean that we have listened to the comments here, on eGullet, and Tom's chat and tried to work with people to come as close to perfect as we can. We are trying. If I am going to have to listen to people tell me that not memorizing a wine list is a valuable criticism, then you are going to have to listen to me rant and rave about all that I do to make CK better. Kapeessh? :P

And thanks Bilrus...I'm glad to see that we rank over McDonalds in your eyes. I wonder if they have supersize wine with that apple salad (so gratuitously marketed to black women...whats up with that?) do you play basketball? :P

I will do everything that I can to make everyone feel comfortable and not rushed, if you all agree to do the same for me. Pass it around to all your friends that next time they dine out, they should bite their tongue before hassling the server about the ETA on their entree. I don't like to feel rushed either. ;)

As far as the wait on Sunday. Shoot. Not much I can do. We do have those days where there is no wait and we scratch our heads and say...Is there a David Bowie concert or something? :lol:

But I am not going to make my servers memorize the wine list. Nope..I'm not. Because on Thursday a whole bunch more wine is coming in. That would be silly. They are going to have to read you the wine list. Some folks actually like to look at the bottle and do you know what they do...They bring it to you and let you hold it and see it. We even give you a little taste (that is if you are over 21). :P

So lets all agree that we can say what we want as long as The Don approves and there will be peace among us. I don't take myself too seriously, and you guys shouldn't either (ahem) :P . We can all eat some good food and drink some good wine and even if the jackass has got to read it to us, what's in the bottle doesn't change. Or maybe they should sing the wine list....yeah...that's what we'll do next. He'll push play on the boom box and rap the wine list. Whaddya think?

Gillian (Chef) (Not Robin) (Whatever)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe if the place was marketed as a diner some aging waitress would call me "sweetie" and wish me a good night rather than make it clear that my job was to eat, pay, and get the hell out.  Matter of fact, a diner waitress might just assume that I was there for the night, refill my coffee every half hour and clean the ash tray every now and again, as opposed to making me feel that I was somehow imposing on his/her existance.

I'm delighted if Chef (is there anything more disturbing that writing about yourself in the third person? As my son asked, while reading the table tent, 'what's up with this "Chef" stuff?' Fucking reminds me of Richard Nixon) is making the rent.  But don't tell me that day is night, love is hate, or the service was good. 

Play with the puppies or run with the big dogs. You can't just bask in the glory of high-powered reviews and then cop out on the "we're just a neighborhood place," when the criticism comes in.

Gosh...you are something aren't you. What got you so upset, man. The whole wine thing.

As a matter of fact, I consider myself a big dog. I weigh over 200 pounds. I've never said I was a neighborhood place. You guys keep saying that. Check my posts. Did your son say Fucking in front of you and your wife...sheesh. If your service wasn't good why not come talk to Chef. Chef will straighten things out for you she sure will

Do you really think I'm basking in any glory here? You're kidding me. I have one restaurant...one little restuarant that you guys jump all over because I dont do this or do that. Golly wow. Basking would mean that I was well, basking. Is that what I'm doing in front of that stove every service is basking. Do big dogs do that, Bask? I think I'm baking. Basking, huh? Friday, Saturday, Sunday is a total of six services for me. I cook for 600 people just on those days alone. Is that basking. I don't make enough money to bask.

I do welcome your criticism, please don't think i don't. I have had Tom say some pretty rough things about me. I can take it. (Read his review when he was at Sidewalk.com of Broad Street Grill) I've been around. But to complain about something as vague as being rushed or to say that the worst thing was that the wine list wasn't memorized or that you don't like my tent cards. There is no way I can please you. Sorry about that.

All we were trying to do was have a restaurant. So sorry I've failed you Waitman. I am so sorry. I will really, really try and live up to your expectations from now on. I'm not afraid anymore. But there will come a time when I leave you all and you won't have Chef to kick around anymore (just kidding)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Okay folks....that was Robin with the "sucks" comment and the "nit picking".  But I agree with her.  I think that is a ridiculous criticism. I buy the wine and we don't have meetings and tastings every night...otherwise it would be more than $7 a glass.  I know that my food is great.  I work very hard at it and I care.  I don't hire flunkies...its me back there making everything. 

We have had--like every restaurant in town--ridiculous turnover.  We started the month with 4 new servers.  This is why much of what a server may and should tell you is written on the menu in my own brand of New Yorker humor.  Yes...sometimes a perfectly cooked salmon--just a little underdone inside-- fills a customer with horror.  I've already stated in my menu how I cook things.  So they have been warned.  New servers are worrying about so many things (oh shoot they're human and make mistakes sometimes...wow )

We have 10 bottles of wine at least and I change the menu every three weeks.  Some of my servers work one night a week.  Is it a crime to have the wine written down so they don't tell you the wrong thing?  Give me a break. :P

As far as Barbara's comment is concerned about Sunday Brunch yes it is a zoo and yes you can wait almost an hour some days.  We have had two pairs sit at a four top.  There are also the two that waltz in passed the hostess and sit right down at a four simply to start something.  Its not an easy dance to make people get up move in front of an entire dining room full of Woodley Girls being uncomfortable...there is no easy way to do it.  Then there are the people that don't want to share their table.  This is not an easy day for anyone when people come in don't want to cooperate for the greater good.  Then there are the days there aren't any tables left for twos or fours and everyone has to wait.  That is just how it is at restuarants.  Cactus Cantina doesn't let you sit until your whole party is here...why should we?

The servers know what is on the menu.  They read it and try and learn it everytime I change it.  But I think it is a lot to ask for them to memorize the wine list of (ten to fifteen bottles and 6 different beers) every night.  Shoot why can't they read it to you?  Is that really a fair criticism?  Just be fair everyone, and we can all have a good time. 

We've been at this for four years now and it is easier and harder all at the same time.  We had a terrible wait staff the first year and thank goodness they are all gone.  But it is all we had.  Now we have a group of kids who really try to make you folks enjoy yourself.  But you know...some of them are going back to college, some of them are going to move to Chicago because they feel like it, some of them are going to find jobs that have a future.

Some of you are out there thinking that we don't want to read negative comments about us here and we poo poo valid criticism (no matter how you slice it I think it is really silly to slam someone for not memorizing the wine list).  We take some comments with a grain of salt and others we memo and send around.  I enjoy talking abou the food business.  It is pretty much what I eat drink and sleep. 

We have dedicated our lives to making CK better.  We have printed out comments and letters and given them to our servers to read and if you visited us on 7/29/01 and then came on Sunday last you would think it was a miracle at how much better the service is.   

We are so hard on them sometimes I think they hate me.  I don't serve them pasta and eggs for dinner.  I serve them food from the menu (another expense) so they can tell you about the crab cakes, or the rockfish...because they've eaten it. 

Robin hired a hostess for Sunday...this poor girl gets yelled at and cussed at just because she won't sit a person out of turn.  We have three servers and a bus person on sunday so the day will go more smoothly.  For Sunday, there is little more we can do.  The fact still remains that we only have 49 seats and a six burner stove.

I would take that all to mean that we have listened to the comments here, on eGullet, and Tom's chat and tried to work with people to come as close to perfect as we can.  We are trying.  If I am going to have to listen to people tell me that not memorizing a wine list is a valuable criticism, then you are going to have to listen to me rant and rave about all that I do to make CK better. Kapeessh? :P

And thanks Bilrus...I'm glad to see that we rank over McDonalds in your eyes.  I wonder if they have supersize wine with that apple salad (so gratuitously marketed to black women...whats up with that?)  do you play basketball? :P

I will do everything that I can to make everyone feel comfortable and not rushed, if you all agree to do the same for me.  Pass it around to all your friends that next time they dine out, they should bite their tongue before hassling the server about the ETA on their entree.  I don't like to feel rushed either.  ;)

As far as the wait on Sunday.  Shoot.  Not much I can do.  We do have those days where there is no wait and we scratch our heads and say...Is there a David Bowie concert or something?  :lol:

But I am not going to make my servers memorize the wine list.  Nope..I'm not.  Because on Thursday a whole bunch more wine is coming in.  That would be silly.  They are going to have to read you the wine list.  Some folks actually like to look at the bottle and do you know what they do...They bring it to you and let you hold it and see it.  We even give you a little taste (that is if you are over 21). :P

So lets all agree that we can say what we want as long as The Don approves and there will be peace among us.  I don't take myself too seriously, and you guys shouldn't either (ahem) :P .  We can all eat some good food and drink some good wine and even if the jackass has got to read it to us,  what's in the bottle doesn't change.  Or maybe they should sing the wine list....yeah...that's what we'll do next.  He'll push play on the boom box and rap the wine list.  Whaddya think?

Gillian (Chef)  (Not Robin) (Whatever)

Amen,

Gillian I love your food and the service and the bathrooms!!!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What drives restaurant business in one of the largest metro area in the world?

1)Food quality and quantity

2)Prices

3)Customer demand at that Location

Actually, what drives the business most in DC is the slavish pandering to the guests' bloated sense of self-importance and/or the shameless hucksterism, circle-jerk hyping and masturbatory self-promotion of the restaurateurs.

Small wonder, then, that the very, very few restaurants that truly care about what they do, whose endeavors are labors of love--paid for with blood, sweat, tears and burn-marks--and who refuse to sacrifice the integrity of what they do for the demands of oh so many Veruca Salts who have Tom's on-line chat to go running to every time they don't get their way (Tommy, I want it now, Tommy, now), small wonder that these restaurants come under criticism for the very things that make them what they are, when what makes them, or at least their food, great is the fact they are not typical DC restaurants.

The fact that the list of these restaurants is also the short list of DR and eG favorites is not a coincidence.

Citicize CK and Gillian, yes, but for what she does if it isn't good (I believe it probably always is) and for what she promises to do if she doesn't live up to her word (I believe she probably always does) but not for what she, or her restaurant, isn't.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually, what drives the business most in DC is the slavish pandering to the guests' bloated sense of self-importance and/or the shameless hucksterism, circle-jerk hyping and masturbatory self-promotion of the restaurateurs.

You hit the nail on the head.

Well said, Michael. (You have such a way with words!)

I couldn't have said it better.

Small wonder, then, that the very, very few restaurants that truly care about what they do, whose endeavors are labors of love--paid for with blood, sweat, tears and burn-marks--and who refuse to sacrifice the integrity of what they do for the demands of oh so many Veruca Salts who have Tom's on-line chat to go running to every time they don't get their way (Tommy, I want it now, Tommy, now), small wonder that these restaurants come under criticism for the very things that make them what they are, when what makes them, or at least their food, great is the fact they are not typical DC restaurants.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mea culpa.

I confess.

I have a "bloated sense of self-importance." I am Veruca Salt.

I am "something," (ain't I?).

When I write, people find the word "gestapo" hidden in the letters. I should be more careful.

I may have "an agenda" (and who doesn't, these days?)

I'm desperately sorry I mentioned the wine, it was meant as an illustrative detail not a major complaint. But that's beside the point now, the anecdote has a life of its own and I trust that it will be a long and happy one. The Fume Blanc, btw, was pretty swell. I found the Semillion flat, but props for putting an unusual wine on the list.

The Nixon anology was a cheap shot, and I retract it (though I continue to think that writing about yourself in the third person is odd.)

I'm not "fair."

I expect "white linen and a service crew that came from a world-class hotel."

I pick nits.

I "love to hate" Colorado Kitchen. I go to restaurants "looking to be rushed." And I have nothing better to do with my life or money than follow Woodleygrrrl's cyber footsteps through the Washington restaurant scene in a desparate attempt "to prove WoodleyGirls point."

It's clear that any problems I may have imagined that I had are solely the result of my own poor powers of perception and I regret having given them life in this forum.

cheers.

Edited by Waitman
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Edited.  I stand by my posts, but I'm going to take my end down a notch.

:lol: Wow...man. You did so say that I was basking in my glory. Right here at this post...which I later quoted. You are a piece of work ;) Are you out playing with puppies?

Will you gladly pay me Tuesday for a Hamburger today? I am stunned...that's right stunned that you took your post away.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

;) Wow...man.  You did so say that I was basking in my glory. Right here at this post...which I later quoted.  You are a piece of work  :P   Are you out playing with puppies?

Will you gladly pay me Tuesday for a Hamburger today? I am stunned...that's right stunned that you took your post away.

You're right about the basking thing. I apologize. I'll knock that out. I wrote that larger post, of which it was a part, when I was angry and took it down as a peacemaking gesture. No intent to hide anything; it just didn't seem to be moving the discussion in a productive direction.

If you want, I can put the post back.

And the "stunned" the thing -- not the content of the little notes. I just thought it was funny that someone would put so much time into little commentaries that struck me as so oddly pitched. That someone would make their first impression to me with a lecture. It was kind of a "what are they thinking?" moment.

Puppies, as you might guess, will not play with me. :lol:

Edited by Waitman
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So let me get this straight:  as soon as a cook - sorry, CHEF - opens for business and starts slinging good hash, they're expected to follow suit with white linen and a service crew that came from a world-class hotel?  Ridiculous.  Ignore the college-style service and take this place as a gift.
Why should we take bad service as a "gift"?

I have no dog in this fight - we've never been to CK because kids aren't welcome. I'd just like to know the reasoning behind your statement, Don.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why should we take bad service as a "gift"? 

I have no dog in this fight - we've never been to CK because kids aren't welcome.  I'd just like to know the reasoning behind your statement, Don.

HOW CAN YOU SAY KIDS ARE NOT WELCOME AT CK? Just because the management will not serve them dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets and let them run around under the tables?

Places like CK actually treat kids with more respect than so-called kid-friendly joints.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

HOW CAN YOU SAY KIDS ARE NOT WELCOME AT CK? Just because the management will not serve them dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets and let them run around under the tables?

Places like CK actually treat kids with more respect than so-called kid-friendly joints.

I am not sure that my kids would know what to do with dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets. Did you make those up? And they are not permitted to get up and run around so that's not the issue.

No, I say that after reading the rules and asking and getting a less-than-welcoming response. Nothing is more stressful than taking kids to a place where they are merely tolerated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would suggest seeing for yourself before you judging a place. Too bad, because I have been there with kids and they are always perfectly welcome.

I am not sure that my kids would know what to do with dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets.  Did you make those up?  And they are not permitted to get up and run around so that's not the issue.

No, I say that after reading the rules and asking and getting a less-than-welcoming response.  Nothing is more stressful than taking kids to a place where they are merely tolerated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would suggest seeing for yourself before you judging a place.  Too bad, because I have been there with kids and they are always perfectly welcome.

So despite asking and getting a less-than-welcoming response I should take my kids there anyway? I am puzzled...aren't parents that do things like that generally called clueless by folks on food boards?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So despite asking and getting a less-than-welcoming response I should take my kids there anyway?    I am puzzled...aren't parents that do things like that generally called clueless by folks on food boards?

Heather...have you indeed been to CK...my kids are there everynight and have been for four years. We have kids that are regulars. We even have a collection of CK babies...Kids that have eaten CK in utero. Just ask Stretch...Baby Stretch was in for lunch two weeks ago. My kids are now 12 and15.

Gillian

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So despite asking and getting a less-than-welcoming response I should take my kids there anyway?    I am puzzled...aren't parents that do things like that generally called clueless by folks on food boards?

Heather, I think you've been around here and eg enough for me to ascertain that you are a very conscientous individual. I don't believe you could ever be one of the "clueless parents" no matter what you did. And that is one of the reasons why you made the decision to not try CK; I believe that you would NOT want to be viewed as one of the clueless ones by having a difficult situation in a restaurant. Sometimes too much information is a bad thing as we all make decisions based on the information we receive from others...you may decide to never try CK because of your own reasons, but I do feel it is important, when presented with information that may support a different decision, that one should "see for themselves." Unfortunately, this discussion has singled out and "targeted" you, so to speak, because it brings forth a sore point that both sides want to defend. But I also feel this has become more about defending one's position rather than the actual situation it is.

edited for misspelling!

Edited by squidsdc
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Heather:

I have not memorized the little tents on each table which contain the 'rules'. However, I think I remember the gist of the two major 'rules':

1. Kids need to order off the menu as its written. The 'small plates' are especially appropriate for kids:

Basically, this 'rule' states that the kitchen is not going to make grilled cheese sandwhiches, chicken nuggets (any shape) etc. Not sure what is wrong with this. CK is a small restaurant with limited staff and space. They do not advertise a kids menu so why should they start making stuff on the fly. Additionally, it can't hurt to have kids learn that they can't always get something special, food-wise.

2. The restaurant does not provide special placemats, crayons, etc and discourages kids from getting out of their chair, playing around, etc. The owners have a philosophy that kids should be part of the meal with their parents, engaged and interacting.

Again, good on two levels. Practically, it sends notice to those parents (not you) who let their kids run around and bother everyone. Second, it espouses a philosophy that we need more of in the US: bringing kids into the discussion, into the meal and teaching them.

Now I cannot see how either of these rules are cumbersome or offensive. Clearly, I did not experience whatever response you got from CK. However, I think its always best to test something for yourself, in-person, before making a judgement.

Written with deep respect for all parents, of which I am not one (yet).

So despite asking and getting a less-than-welcoming response I should take my kids there anyway?    I am puzzled...aren't parents that do things like that generally called clueless by folks on food boards?

Edited by DCMark
Link to comment
Share on other sites

But I also feel this has become more about defending one's position rather than the actual situation it is.

Well stated. I was playing a little devil's advocate here. I'll try CK with the kids, and if things turn out badly maybe we'll get a mention in one of Tom's chats. :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Email from CK today:

There's still time to run out and pick up that big screen TV.  Colorado Kitchen will be featured on The Food Network's Roker on the Road this Tuesday, July 12th at 9:00 pm and again a few hours later at 1:00 am.  Be sure and tune in. We're also pleased to announce that its that time of year again. Chef's Strawberry Shortcake is back. Remember, this yummy summer treat was featured on NPR last year. You don't want to miss those sweet local berries in their own sugar-coaxed juices on a tender shortcake biscuit with a puff of lemon-kissed whipped cream. Or enjoy it with a scoop of our super premium French Vanilla Ice Cream.

I'm gonna try and catch both!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i'll theoretically be heading there tomorrow evening with the in-laws, assuming travel goes as planned (we're coming in from philadelphia), etc. i'm interested to see what the experience holds, for several reasons.

they haven't been to CK so far in part because of the no reservations thing. the MIL is disabled, and the FIL generally doesn't want to go anywhere that doesn't take reservations; he gets huffy when things don't go smoothly, and it's gotten worse as he's gotten older. i believe if he knows what he's getting into things should be fine, but it makes me edgy when they're like that. but now they want to go in part because their neighbor's kid is one of the servers.

siiiigh. all i wanna do is go eat good stuff, and i don't care if there are service issues or waits, generally speaking. if only i could get over there without them, i suspect the experience would be much more to my liking. oh well.

anyway, on a friday night, how long, generally, is the wait for a table if you get there earlyish, like 6-630?

(1st post over here, how y'all doing, i'm james or jas, from philadelphia)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had the Lilliputian fried chicken dinner a few weeks ago and it made me verrry happy.

For those of you who haven't encountered this dish yet, it's a first course portion (my hypertension rating: four salt shakers)

of the most delicious homestyle fried chicken, little corn cakes and a nest of cooked baby spinach spiked with bits or bacon (or a simmilar-tasting pork product). Al Roker would totally jam on a Lilliputian dinner like that now that he's a little man. That's what made me think of it just now; seeing that Al Roker had discovered Colorado Kitchen.

Edited by Meaghan
Link to comment
Share on other sites

in case y'all are wondering, we did indeed make it over there on friday night after about the easiest drive we've ever had to DC. got in slightly before 7, had a nice meal with no problems. thanks for the pm's and info and whatnot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am in love. Yes, in love. I treked up all by my little ol' lonesome to Colorado Kitchen this afternoon for a break from a writing project. I totally underestimated the amount of time it would take to get to the restaurant from Capitol Hill. I arrived at the restaurant at 2:10 (they stop serving at 2:30). The place was still hopping. I sat at the counter which was in itself a treat.

Okay, the gushing continues... Though it was late in the day, I ordered breakfast scrambled eggs, chicken sausage, grits made with real hominy grits, great ice tea. Then I remembered the discussion about donuts. The servers guided me to the donut holes instead of the three assorted donuts. OH my... better than beignets in New Orleans I swear. Oh and I cleared my breakfast plate. :P

I am already planning my dinner there this week with friends. Am soooo excited to have found this place through y'all... Thanks!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mr. Bimbap and I had not visited CK for Sunday brunch in at least two years, even though it is the go-to place for taking out-of-town guests to dinner. We decided to recitfy that situation yesterday.

Highlights:

-The service was quick and pleasant. That's right! You heard me. Still, we were out of there in a hour. Mainly due to the fact that we ate so fast because it was SO DAMN GOOD!

-The donuts. My husband now thinks we should always have donuts as appetizers. Or at least CK's donuts.

-The crabcake benedict brunch special. There was no filler in the crabcakes! Solid meat! The hollandaise sauce was buttery and bright with lemon juice. Chef put just the rights amount of sauce on each serving rather than the more typical drowning.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:P

Introduced a bunch of friends to Colorado Kitchen this morning for brunch. I arrived early to stand in line. All those who arrived before 11 mingled pleasantly while we waited.

So, the doors open at 11 a.m. Everybody was seated promptly. My friends had gotten lost and were just then parking. The restaurant nicely seated me even though they ask you to wait for the whole party to arrive. I ordered a six plate of donuts in a show of good faith.

Oh the donuts... worthy of a song. We ended up ordering 9 total for a five top. Is that bad?

Oh and those chicken sausage. yummmm

Service was great. The food delicious. A perfect place for Sunday brunch.

Thank you Chef...

Edited by NCPinDC
Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the Food issue of the Oxford American (edited by John T. Edge), Ann Cashion says that the chef for Colorado Kitchen is one of her favorites in the city.  I'm going for dinner tomorrow.  Recommendations?

I was there last week and Gillian was offering (in our honor!) an appetizer of Whine and Cheese - fried disks of goat cheese served with a Chardonnay Jell-o.

But I'm partial to the Liliputian Fried Chicken Dinner as a small plate.

Oh, and don't forget to have half your party show up early and demand to be seated right away. :P

Rocks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was there last week and Gillian was offering (in our honor!) an appetizer of Whine and Cheese - fried disks of goat cheese served with a Chardonnay Jell-o.

But I'm partial to the Liliputian Fried Chicken Dinner as a small plate.

Oh, and don't forget to have half your party show up early and demand to be seated right away.  :P

Rocks.

two big slabs of meatloaf with mashed potatoes followed by strawberry short cake with the best biscuits is a full meal. they ran out of hocus pocus last weekend, but i prefer the beers over the wine. you may think the lemonade is too sweet -- until you let the ice start to melt. this place cooks up a storm.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the Food issue of the Oxford American (edited by John T. Edge), Ann Cashion says that the chef for Colorado Kitchen is one of her favorites in the city.  I'm going for dinner tomorrow.  Recommendations?

Pineapple upside-down cake for dessert.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thursday night is also hamburger night, so I'd consider getting that with one of the small plates -- unfortunately the fried fish with tartar crack, er, sauce doesn't seem to be on the menu anymore (boo hoo).

I am happy to report that the fried fish with tartar crack (and that is exactly what it is!!) is available at sat/sun brunch. On several recent consecutive saturday mornings, I plopped myself down at the counter, ate that delicious fish, and savored every drop of that tartar sauce, and i don't even like tartar sauce.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Has anybody had dinner at CK on Sunday nights?  Do you all think it is a realistic choice for a party of 14 adults and 7 kids?  Probably isn't but I have to ask...

Just call Gillian Clark at a time when she is not cooking, and ask her if she can accomodate you. The worst she can say is "No" and that never killed anybody.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...