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DBGB Kitchen & Bar, A CityCenterDC Outpost of the Bowery Tavern - Chef Ed Scarpone Comes From Café Boulud


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DGDB (website) is currently open for dinner, rolling out brunch and lunch in the next few weeks.  Boulud said this restaurant was going to be the most American of his French restaurants.  Also it is noted because it will be serving the "Crabbie" with a nod to SpongeBob.  But all that makes it sound so much less of what the opening showed it is likely to be.

The bar, with marble and mirrored walls with etched quotes about libations was playful.  I liked the height of the space and it made it feel a little less loud while quite packed on opening night.  Wine, beer, cocktails were served, we tasted two of the cocktails which I have to say even on a packed night they were shaking up quickly and consistently, so kudos on that.  The upstairs private dining was much more normal corporate feel with carpeted floors and blue walls, it wasn't as colorful, but still had fun views with big windows on each side.  The upstairs was very loud, but there were also a lot of people up there because of the raw bar.  I hope the guys shucking oysters aren't there normal crew because one guy was kind of butchering all of his.

On the main floor going back towards the dining room from the bar there were shelves with plates painted by other chefs, cookbooks and other items.  The plates were really the coolest part.  Some chefs (cough cough Cathral Armstrong) were phoning it in, and some are really cool.  A few are so well done I wonder if they had someone do theirs for them.  But they were fun to see and some of the chefs I didn't know I was looking up to see what restaurants they were from.  It gave it a very casual feel, while not being super casual, reminiscent of a less Southern Empire State South.  The back wall can open up completely to the inner courtyard there of City Center which was a really nice feature, it really made the space feel open and kept that section a little less noisy even when really full.  I assume they are going to have some patio space, which would be nice given the large courtyard.

As to the food, there were a lot of excellent bites at the opening that represented dishes off the main menu.  I think the food will be casual, but thoughtful enough to pull off casual well.  There was an anchovy dip that wasn't bagna cauda that was really unusual, but so good, I hope this shows up somewhere on the main menu.  There were some nice surprise tastes in what might be a very seen it dish, such as their tuna with harissa, and amazing roasted eggplant with very melt in your mouth soft flavorful lamb and an escargot dish that was more than just butter and garlic, in a good way.  I thought the sausages in the chorizo ish hot dogs were well made and really flavorful.  You could tell from the menu this is a place that will be able to serve all day, which I think in this area of town is a good thing.  A huge advantage they have for them is the the bread will be from Mark Furstenberg.  A French restaurant with decidedly excellent bread can never be a bad thing.  This shouldn't be a surprise, but especially in DC it sometimes is, if the desserts on the menu are as excellent as the opening this is going to be a really strong portion of the menu, which is something I think is exciting.  The desserts are the items that really stayed in my head and would make me want to go back. Overall based on the opening, I am excited to see the menu and try some dishes.  I think it will represent as another solid option in that area.  So we will see.  But the opening was a lot of fun.  If nothing else the man can throw a great party and be the star of it very well.  

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It is a very comfortable and accessible space - having not been to DBGB in New York, it reminded me very much of Keller's Bouchon outposts.  The menu struck me as more of a place I would go for a lazy Saturday lunch wandering through the beer list rather than an evening out on the town, with its focus on bites, small plates and sausages - though the lone entree I saw - the fried chicken - looked excellent with rave reports from the diner.  The burgers also looked wonderful. 

The bartenders heavily pushed the sausages, which makes sense given the focus.  My wife is not at all an adventurous diner, so we stuck to the Vermont - a cheese-filled sausage served with hashbrowns and creme fraiche.  Together the plate was delicious, though independently I found the texture of the sausage to be a bit off-puttingly squishy (its a sausage filled with cheese - that is bound to happen).

It isn't inexpensive - 2 cavas, 2 drafts and 1 shared small plate came to $55 with tax and tip - but it will do well opening next to the Hermes boutique next door.

When you show up at a new restaurant at 5pm on opening day, as my +1 and I did, you have to do so with tempered expectations.  So with that, I'll say there were some minor snafus that I won't get into because I'm confident those will be rectified with a bit of time.  It was nice to see Boulud in the kitchen - hopefully he'll be staying close to this outpost even after the opening.

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I quite enjoyed my dinner at DBGB on Wednesday in spite of of a series of FOH issues. A packed house and a (not known to us at the time) VIP dinner going on upstairs probably made for a particularly challenging night for the first-week staff.

The kitchen is sending out very good food. I had the Sweet & Sour Eggplant, which was nuanced and balanced. Our party shared a sausage duo: Boudin Basque & Tunisienne. My coq au vin was textbook and absolutely delicious. I finished with the fig tart, which was mostly fruit and not very sweet--nicely restrained. 

All of the service staff that we interacted with were friendly and had the right attitude (i.e. solving problems instead of pawning them off). The only serious mistake was a completely-forgotten round of drink orders (we ate our mains without wine). The rest were predictable (long waits for service, multiple servers asking to take the same order) or amusing (fresh bread and butter randomly dropped off at the end of the meal). We weren't upset at all, and everyone took the initiative to make things right once an issue was brought up. The staff seem well-trained, with a good system of servers, runners, and roaming managers; it just didn't come together completely that night. This is just the last bit that needs polish in order to make DBGB a very solid addition to our dining scene.

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On 9/21/2014 at 9:03 AM, Charles Tsui said:

All of the service staff that we interacted with were friendly and had the right attitude (i.e. solving problems instead of pawning them off). The only serious mistake was a completely-forgotten round of drink orders (we ate our mains without wine). The rest were predictable (long waits for service, multiple servers asking to take the same order) or amusing (fresh bread and butter randomly dropped off at the end of the meal). We weren't upset at all, and everyone took the initiative to make things right once an issue was brought up. The staff seem well-trained, with a good system of servers, runners, and roaming managers; it just didn't come together completely that night. This is just the last bit that needs polish in order to make DBGB a very solid addition to our dining scene.

Thanks for this review, Charles. Even though you took things in stride, these sound like extremely serious service problems, although ones that are probably fixable. You ate your mains without wine? Really? That's enough to ruin the meal (imagine that happening at Marcel's, CityZen, Restaurant Eve, etc.), and I'll bet that if Central Headquarters heard about this, they would not be happy. However, this is what can happen when you run a restaurant from afar, and the responsibility ultimately rests in New York (they know this).

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On 9/21/2014 at 11:16 AM, DonRocks said:

Thanks for this review, Charles. Even though you took things in stride, these sound like extremely serious service problems, although ones that are probably fixable. You ate your mains without wine? Really? That's enough to ruin the meal (imagine that happening at Marcel's, CityZen, Restaurant Eve, etc.), and I'll bet that if Central Headquarters heard about this, they would not be happy. However, this is what can happen when you run a restaurant from afar, and the responsibility ultimately rests in New York (they know this).

just an FYI- I've seen a number of photos featuring Daniel Boulud that were taken this week at the DC location, including one from Wednesday night. I'm sure he was occupied - he was entertaining the new French ambassador.  not sure how long he is sticking around...

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On 9/21/2014 at 11:16 AM, DonRocks said:

Thanks for this review, Charles. Even though you took things in stride, these sound like extremely serious service problems, although ones that are probably fixable. You ate your mains without wine? Really? That's enough to ruin the meal (imagine that happening at Marcel's, CityZen, Restaurant Eve, etc.), and I'll bet that if Central Headquarters heard about this, they would not be happy. However, this is what can happen when you run a restaurant from afar, and the responsibility ultimately rests in New York (they know this).

This is what can happen during the opening of any restaurant run by anyone at any place or at any time.

I know you're predisposed to hate any non-resident chef restaurant, but c'mon...

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On 9/22/2014 at 0:19 PM, mtureck said:

This is what can happen during the opening of any restaurant run by anyone at any place or at any time.

I know you're predisposed to hate any non-resident chef restaurant, but c'mon...

You're mostly right except that I meant to imply it would *never* happen at a restaurant where Daniel Boulud was controlling the kitchen (it's my mistake if that didn't come across clearly).

"Hate any non-resident chef restaurant" is far too strong of a phrase. "Think it won't live up to its potential" would be more accurate (take a look at all the absentee chef restaurants that I have in Italic, and I even had Adour in Bold for most of its shelf life).

Also please understand that even though I may be the only person in the world who thinks so, Ed Scarpone is the Chef of this restaurant in my eyes, just as Scott Drewno is the Chef of The Source; I view Daniel Boulud as a restaurateur.

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My boyfriend and I ate here last night and we also experienced some not-enjoyable service snafus. First, we weren't given menus when we were seated and after waiting for quite a bit I realized that our waiter (who we hadn't met yet) probably thought someone else had already taken our order so we had to flag down the hostess and ask for menus. After that, service was pretty good until the bill came. When I looked over the bill, I realized that our drinks from the bar were not transferred to our check. I pointed that out to the waiter who thanked us for our honesty and came back with a corrected bill. In addition to our drinks from the bar, we also got charged $5 for sparkling water. When I pointed out to him that we had still, not sparkling, water he said that all of the waters are $5 so it doesn't matter. I didn't want to quibble over $5 so just paid the check and left. After thinking back this morning, I am a little ticked off. We weren't charged for the water initially and only charged after we pointed out that they left off the drinks we ordered at the bar. Also, this isn't bottled water that I know of. This is water that came from a reusable bottle that the restaurant could have filled at the sink. And it didn't taste any better than any other still water that I've received at restaurants. What gives? Did anyone else get charged for still water?

Also, we didn't get bread with our meal but saw that other tables had it. We definitely didn't see bread on the menu and it's not like we needed bread but not sure what to make of the situation. 

The food was quite enjoyable. We ordered the crispy egg, the chop chop, and the tarte flambee. I loved the tarte (nice cracker like crust and a good balance of onion and bacon) and the crispy egg. The chop chop was also good, although it seemed more like a bunch of delicious stuff tossed together in a salad bowl rather than a thought out salad. We also had the coq au vin which was rich and very good though the chicken was a bit on the dry side. 

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On 9/26/2014 at 10:47 AM, eatruneat said:

Also, we didn't get bread with our meal but saw that other tables had it. We definitely didn't see bread on the menu and it's not like we needed bread but not sure what to make of the situation. 

Even when splitting a small plate or appetizer at the bar here we've always received bread.  Sounds like they unfortunately just missed your table

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I called the restaurant for clarification on the water situation. The manager said that their still water is Vittel bottled water and I should have asked for tap water. I told her that the options presented to us were "sparkling, bottled, or still" and that tap was not an option that was presented to us. At the end of the day we got bottled still water so I didn't care to demand $5 back for the confusion. Good to know for next time just to ask for tap water.

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On 9/26/2014 at 2:46 PM, eatruneat said:

I called the restaurant for clarification on the water situation. The manager said that their still water is Vittel bottled water and I should have asked for tap water. I told her that the options presented to us were "sparkling, bottled, or still" and that tap was not an option that was presented to us. At the end of the day we got bottled still water so I didn't care to demand $5 back for the confusion. Good to know for next time just to ask for tap water.

This was obviously just a miscommunication that isn't any indictment on the restaurant. I know you're an experienced diner, so it's not your fault - it's just one of those things that will probably never happen again. "Forgive and forget" is the order of the day.

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On 10/7/2014 at 8:12 PM, Charles Tsui said:

I saw this, and briefly wondered about it - jumbo shrimp hasn't been here in awhile now. Actually, it isn't even jumbo shrimp; it's giant shrimp - we have a rockshrimp and a giant shrimp, but no jumbo shrimp. I wonder where they came up with that?

I'm sorry, Charles - you've been one of our strongest writers of late, and should get proper credit for it. :(

OHHHHHHH! It's your member classification! ROFL!

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Had a nice lunch here today.  I wasn't as impressed with the space as others, I found everything to be a bit cramped in the dining area, making it challenging to have a private business conversation.  Also, not a fan at all of all the signed chef plates and Boulod-aganda covering the walls, it comes across as kitschy and a bit lazy TBH.

Thankfully they can make a mean sausage and do not have to rely on the decor to please the diners.  I went safe and ordered the Sausage Duo, opting for the Boudon Blanc (pork, apples, mashed potatoes, pork jus) and the Vermont (pork and cheddar, hash browns, red onion creme fraiche).  The Vermont was pleasing in the way that something with pork, cheese, and fried potatoes tends to be.  It was a nice sausage and would satisfy pretty much any palette, although I thought that the creme fraiche was unnecessary and a bit distracting.  The Boudin Blanc, however, was worth coming back for.  I knew as soon as my knife sliced easily through the plump link that I would be in a for a treat.  Texturely perfect and porky in flavor, this should be one of the sausages you order if you get the duo.  One of my dining companions got the Beaujolaise (pork, mushrooms, onion, bacon & red wine link, with lentils du puy), which he loved and would probably be something I would give a try at the next lunch.

Service was extremely attentive, maybe a bit more than one would like at a meeting, but that is a minor quibble.  This place will do well if they keep the focus on sausages and other upscale pub food (which was the majority of the menu today).  This is NOT, however, an upscale dining experience, even if some of the entree prices on the menu might suggest such.  DBGB is what they advertise it to be; French brasserie meets American tavern.  Do not expect to be wowed by the food, you will be disappointed as they are not putting out anything that you haven't either seen before or that is going to change the way you feel about a dish or ingredient.  Go expecting a really good, straightforward link of pork or hamburger (which you will eat approximately 6 inches from diner seated at the table next to you).

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Went a week or so ago and came away somewhat disappointed, in light of all of the fanfare. The food and service are good, but I had higher expectations. My burger was not evenly cooked, the smoked salmon tuile was a miss, the sweet and sour eggplant was surprisingly the best thing we tried, the boudin blanc and foie gras terrine were both good but didn't stand out, and the crispy egg was more interesting than it was tasty. It isn't a destination restaurant for me, but it's a great addition to that area and probably one of the 50 best places in DC.

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Went last night...quite a disappointment.  

The space is the opposite of cozy and comfortable, rather like sitting in an airport terminal.  

We had eaten at Brasserie Daniel a few months ago and had a GREAT meal...service, atmosphere, food....so excited to try DBGB.  The tart Flambe...gooey creamy floury mess of under seasoned onions and some bacon on a crisp flat bread.  No need to waste any calories on this.  The bread served was dry, bland and tasteless.  Good warm butter though.

Smoked eggplant was a hit.  Coq au Vin was ok, nothing bad...but nothing amazing.  Not served hot enough, once again under seasoned. 

Fresh cooked made lines were very good, light fluffy with a crispy edge.  Not greasy.  Really good.

17$ for a grey goose martini?   

Service was good to start, then a large table came in and he was gone.  gone. gone gone.  really had to work to get a check.

Go to vegas if you want food from Daniel.

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I had a very good meal here last night.  I was pleasantly surprised, as I have been hearing mixed things (including the post from mdjordy).  Started with the sausages- Thai pork sausage with lemongrass, red curry, green papaya served on top of basil fried rice was excellent. Loved the Asian flavors. We also had Tunisienne lamb sausage with harissa, lemon braised spinach. and chickpeas.  This was good, but didn't quite compare to the distinctive flavors of the Thai sausage. I had fried chicken as an entree.  It had a very thick coating- crunchy, salty, and quite addictive.  The chicken itself could have been a little juicier, but it was good. My friend had coq au vin, which I tasted and found to be well seasoned. My husband was quite pleased with fluke grenobloise with cauliflower, grapes and dandelion. Skip the bread- the crust was burnt, and it was dry and flavorless.  

My favorite part of the meal was a pumpkin-cranberry sundae- pumpkin ice cream, cranberry compote, graham cracker, orange yogurt, marshmallow and whipped cream.  I would go back tomorrow to have this again. 

I've been to three of Daniel Boulud's restaurants in NYC (not Daniel) and enjoyed them very much, but they are more upscale and creative than DBGB DC.  The food here isn't revelatory, as others have written, but it's a nice spot for City Center and I believe it's well worth a visit.

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We went a few weeks ago for Sunday brunch. The space is very pretty and City Center will definitely be a welcome addition to the DC restaurant scene, the meal was good but just lacked something interesting especially at that price point. Maybe dinner would be a better experience.

Unfortunately, we went to Gypsy Soul for brunch before that and comparing the two, GS had more pop and spring in the step for tastes on a Sunday morning. 

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Had a quite good meal here tonight. More notes later, but the steak tartare is closest to what I have had in Europe - the texture alone is amazing. The crispy kale salad is unexpectedly good. The pancetta wrapped trout was really good. The  chocolate-chocolate is almost over the top chocolate, but the meyer lemon tart outclassed it. Drinks to start were quite refreshing and good - don't skip them.  Wine list has good selections but is a smidgen pricey depending. FWIW, they do not offer corkage.....yet.

The space is pretty, though a bit loud. Friendly and good service. Is it revelatory food? No (asterisk!). Is it well executed food that is delicious, sometimes bordering on greatness (in particular the trout), hell yes. I would go back just to do the tartare first, with a side of the kale salad followed up by the trout and a half portion of the meyer lemon tart if I could.

At the end of the day, I would still argue that either db Bistrot Moderne or Cafe Boulud win it in the Boulud empire (yes, I have been to Daniel, though not Boulud Sud yet).

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I went with some skepticism after a few bad reviews, but I was pleasantly surprised.  The food was more interesting than I'd assumed (i.e., more interesting than traditional bistro food, such as Le Diplomate) and quite good.   A kind of deconstructed crabcake (crab, soft cooked egg, mustard) with a maybe-pickled salsify and pine nut butter was interesting and delicious. So was a sweet and sour eggplant with middle eastern flavors -- yogurt and sumac.  A lemon-saffron pasta with bottarga, squid, and arugula was light and tasty.  (The waitress helpfully raised the question whether we would prefer a half order, which it turns out was plenty large).  A skate dish (substituted for cod, of which they'd run out), with padron peppers, romesco, and a white bean puree was delicious (though oddly plated with five or six pieces of skate wing and padron peppers placed atop each).  

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On 1/5/2015 at 9:05 PM, DonRocks said:

I'd love to get a dr group together - how many does it feed? Is it a snout-to-tail thing?

This is what the menu says:

WHOLE HOGVIEW MENU

Start with housemade clafoutis de légumes and grilled kale with sweet potatoes, pickled crosnes and a buttermilk dressing, then dig in to our Pennsylvania Green Village Farms slow-roasted suckling pig. It's stuffed with pork loin, onion, chestnuts, wild mushrooms, and swiss chard served alongside fingerling potatoes, and brussels sprouts. Finish the evening off with our flaming Baked Alaska flambéed with chartreuse!

RESERVE

We require 72 hours notice & serve only ONE piggy each night! Reserve yours NOW by calling 202 695 7660.

I called to ask about it and was told that you have to reserve through a manager so I'm waiting for a call back. She did tell me it's meant to serve 8. 

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On 1/5/2015 at 9:16 PM, Choirgirl21 said:

This is what the menu says:

WHOLE HOG[/size]VIEW MENU

Start with housemade clafoutis de légumes and grilled kale with sweet potatoes, pickled crosnes and a buttermilk dressing, then dig in to our Pennsylvania Green Village Farms slow-roasted suckling pig. It's stuffed with pork loin, onion, chestnuts, wild mushrooms, and swiss chard served alongside fingerling potatoes, and brussels sprouts. Finish the evening off with our flaming Baked Alaska flambéed with chartreuse!

RESERVE

We require 72 hours notice & serve only ONE piggy each night! Reserve yours NOW by calling 202 695 7660.

I called to ask about it and was told that you have to reserve through a manager so I'm waiting for a call back. She did tell me it's meant to serve 8.

I see. It sounds like the table must cut it - I wonder if they'll carve it for you once they present it. Nobody wants to wrestle with a pig.

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On 1/5/2015 at 9:25 PM, DonRocks said:

I see. It sounds like the table must cut it - I wonder if they'll carve it for you once they present it. Nobody wants to wrestle with a pig.

I will ask and post more details once I have them. I wonder if it's like the whole duck feast at Fork in Philadelphia where they present the whole duck to your table, then whisk it away only to return with dishes from the various parts. 

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On 1/5/2015 at 9:25 PM, DonRocks said:

I see. It sounds like the table must cut it - I wonder if they'll carve it for you once they present it. Nobody wants to wrestle with a pig.

I'd love to see some freshman congressman and family from one of the yahoo states wrestling with a pig. "I know what I'm doing...oops, sorry dear."   :lol:

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The mister and I had dinner here last night before going to see Patton Oswalt, who by the way was on fire, really hilarious but I digress. 

The mister started with a cocktail (The Colonial) which had a tasty house made cardamon salt rim that was great. I mentioned I'd had a bordeaux the last time I was in and loved it, of course no clue of the maker but our waitress deftly glanced through the menu and found it. It was again delicious. 

We split the steak tartare and the tuna crude. The tartare was some of the best I've had. It was a perfect mix of ingredients and paired nicely with the picked carrot and greens as well as the grilled bread. I had the tuna appetizer the last time I was in and it was amazing. This was a new dish and while the flavors were spot on with jalpeno, hint of grapefruit and chicharons (which this southern girl just calls pork rinds). The tuna was too largely cut in my opinion. I wouldn't have even mentioned it but both our server and another staff member came over to our table and mentioned it was the first time for this starter and wanted to know what we thought about it. I thought that was really courteious of them and so of course, we both told them honestly. This is as good a time as any to say how fantastic the service is here. This is my second time in and both times the service has been outstanding! Friendly from the moment you walk in to the moment you leave. Friendly and attentive with out being fussy or overly present. A+!

For mains we ordered the sausage duo (thai and boudin basque) as well as the fried chicken with collard greens, trite de grit (fried cornbread/meal) and their "DBQ" sauce.  Jim must have also ordered pommes puree but with all the food coming I missed that. Both of the sausages were outstanding, I especially loved the flavors in the thai but I have to give it to the boudin. The inside of the sausage was like silk, which seems like an odd way to describe sausage but it was amazing. Certainly my favorite dish in an already outstanding field. 

I like to think we have tried our fair share of great fried chicken and collards and DBGBs are definitely in the top, this was Jim's favorite dish. The chicken is bone in and I'm guessing double battered and fried as the crust is really thick and darkly browned and crispy... delicious. The greens also had some heat to them, which I love. And the DBQ sauce is tasty as well.

We didn't have room for dessert but the menu looked great and they do have a great after dinner drink selection. 

All in all I had another wonderful experience at DBGB and am looking forward to my next outing there... which conveniently is in two weeks for a girls dinner. 

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After reading about some good recent reviews of DBGB, the boyfriend and I decided it was time to get back there and check it out. We arrived promptly for our 7pm reservation and were immediately seated in the back, quieter, room. We decided to share everything we ordered and our server, Patrick, was great at spacing out the dishes and bringing us fresh plates after each course. To go with our meal we ended up going by the glass, 3 glasses of the carignan and 1 of the Cotes du Rhone. 

The first two dishes to arrive were the excellent curried cauliflower and the tarte flambee. The tarte was delicious though the crust on one end was burnt (and I don't mean charred). I was able to eat around the burnt ends but it would have been nice not to have to deal with that. The cauliflower was excellent. The vegetable itself was perfectly cooked and the curry did not overpower the cauliflower or anything else on the plate. The green apple and celery added a nice sweetness and crunch to the dish and the purple potatoes were also nicely cooked. The presentation of the plate was really beautiful with the various colors and made the dish that much more enjoyable. Our next dish was a pair of sausages: boudin blanc and tunisienne. The two sausages were also really good. I enjoyed the boudin blanc and its accompaniment of apples and pommes mousseline even more. The apples were great and the potatoes were very smooth and luscious. The Tunisienne was also good but we expected a little more "pop" in the flavor department since it was advertised with harissa. Everything was cooked and I especially enjoyed the lemon braised spinach. Our last dish of the evening was the sherry glazed duck, served with wild rice, roasted beets, and pomegranate. The duck was tender and perfectly cooked with just a touch of pink in the middle. I love a good duck. My boyfriend especially enjoyed the wild rice while I couldn't get enough of the beets. The pomegranate added a great flavor contrast to the other elements. The entree exceeded our expectations and is a great example of not only a well executed dish but one that had been thought out carefully so that each component complemented everything else on the plate.

Overall, I really enjoyed our second dinner at DBGB. Everything from the food to the service was much improved from our first visit in the opening weeks. French bistro food isn't my boyfriend's cup of tea so I will have to find a new dining companion for my next visit. 

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Had a very good dinner with eight former co-workers at DBGB on Friday evening. The restaurant was a bit on the empty side and I think many people opted to stay home due to the weather. 

Overall, we had a great dinner and the restaurant handled our large group well except for my missing entree that arrived several minutes after everyone else had received their entree. It didn't ruin the evening and everyone seemed to have a great time, partially because the drinks were flowing. I ordered the grilled kale salad and the sherry glazed duck. The kale salad was served with sweet potato, brussels sprouts, pickled water chestnuts, and a buttermilk dressing. There were probably equal amounts of kale, sweet potato, and brussels sprouts so I am not sure why it was billed as a kale salad but overall the salad was very good. Our table had six orders of duck total and everyone seemed to enjoy the duck a lot. It was perfectly cooked seasoned. The duck was served with berbere spiced kasha, which I enjoyed but others found to be too aggressive (either spicy or salty) for their taste. I agree that it was overpowering at times, but I liked it anyway. The spinach cigar added a nice crunch to the entree. For dessert, I shared the rocky road profiterole with two others. The profiterole itself was one humongous profiterole with coffee-cardamom ice cream, marshmallow, hazelnut, and chocolate sauce. It was a really fun dessert but the marshmallow got lost underneath the decadent chocolate sauce. I especially liked the ice cream and the hazelnut. 

Glad I got a chance to go back here. It's a wonderful place for a large-ish dinner party. They have two private rooms for parties of twelve or more, but since we were just nine we got tables pushed together in the back. A little fancy, but not too fancy. Everyone enjoyed the food and the drinks, and especially the company. 

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On 3/11/2016 at 4:39 PM, thepozno said:

Any 'chatters' about this place?

On 3/18/2016 at 0:59 PM, Rieux said:

Headed there Saturday.  Any recent reports, must-try items?

I think you'll be doing well to stick with the most French-sounding dishes (the Escargot Fricasée, for example), *or* one of their upscale burgers if that sort of thing strikes your fancy. I've heard people rave about the Côq au Vin, but I haven't had it in a couple of years now.

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13 hours ago, Rieux said:

Dear all,

Just to close the loop, we ended up going to DBGB, which everyone enjoyed.  It was a bit loud (but almost everything is nowadays).  We mainly ended up there because of the myriad suggestions above, it was the one that we could get into on short notice.  

The parents also enjoyed lunch at Union Market (Dad, the porkstrami from Red Apron and mom, getting adventurous, her arepa).

Thanks to all!

I'd love to hear some recent details about DBGB (here, or here) - even just a few sentences about what you liked best, or didn't like.

Side note: Did you know that DBGB stands for, I shit ye not, "Daniel Boulud Good Burger?!" This gives me the heebie-jeebies, which is the only way I can remember the name.

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9 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

I'd love to hear some recent details about DBGB (here, or here) - even just a few sentences about what you liked best, or didn't like.

Side note: Did you know that DBGB stands for, I shit ye not, "Daniel Boulud Good Burger?!" This gives me the heebie-jeebies, which is the only way I can remember the name.

Isn't the name an homage to the former CBGB music club in New York, which the original DBGB is located near?

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13 hours ago, DonRocks said:

I'd love to hear some recent details about DBGB (here, or here) - even just a few sentences about what you liked best, or didn't like.

Side note: Did you know that DBGB stands for, I shit ye not, "Daniel Boulud Good Burger?!" This gives me the heebie-jeebies, which is the only way I can remember the name.

13 hours ago, Deac said:

Isn't the name an homage to the former CBGB music club in New York, which the original DBGB is located near?

You're both right.  I suspect he came up with "DBGB" first, and filled it out w/ "Good Burger" later.

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On 5/2/2016 at 10:48 AM, DonRocks said:

I'd love to hear some recent details about DBGB (here, or here) - even just a few sentences about what you liked best, or didn't like.

Side note: Did you know that DBGB stands for, I shit ye not, "Daniel Boulud Good Burger?!" This gives me the heebie-jeebies, which is the only way I can remember the name.

a. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Burger

b. went last week for drinks with colleagues. Cocktails were very good (I got a Manhattan), barkeep unwelcoming and surly. Nice but really nothing special, kind of a cold space in a cold part of town. Burger that a companion ordered looked delicious.

 

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On 5/2/2016 at 10:48 AM, DonRocks said:

I'd love to hear some recent details about DBGB (here, or here) - even just a few sentences about what you liked best, or didn't like.

Side note: Did you know that DBGB stands for, I shit ye not, "Daniel Boulud Good Burger?!" This gives me the heebie-jeebies, which is the only way I can remember the name.

We've been there twice in the last 6 weeks (most recently last Saturday night).  Obviously we liked it enough the first time to go back.

On the first visit (with friends) we sat in a booth in the "upstairs" part of the restaurant.  I can't recall the specific cocktails we had, but I recall that two of them were excellent.  The third was a disaster - my friend asked for a "very dirty martini" but the martini was so salty it was undrinkable.  It was sent back and the second had the same problem.  In the end he just asked for a regular martini with olive juice on the side, and that was fine.  For dinner we shared a bottle of Bordeaux that was delicious (my friend is from Bordeaux so he chose the bottle and I have no idea which one it was).  Two of us had sausages as appetizers - the boudin blanc I had was one of the best I have ever tasted and my friend enjoyed his Burgundy sausage.  For mains I had the coq au vin and it was everything that that dish should be, but a bit too salty.  Still I really enjoyed it.  My other three friends had various fish dishes that were great - I think this kitchen does fish well.  Dessert was rocky road profiteroles.  The dish is a large profiterole filled with coffee ice cream, a marshmallow, and crunch under a large chocolate dome (like the Biosphere).  When they pour the hot chocolate sauce over the dish the dome melts and the dessert becomes an amazing gooey mess.  Overall that night our female server was delightful, unobtrusive, but always there when we needed her.

Second visit last week was with my 70's-ish parents.  We sat next to the window downstairs in a booth (I had requested a quiet booth).  This table was not as nice, and the music that night started out as a loud punk, but eventually switched to a more mellow jazz.  I think I prefer the "upstairs" section for future reservations.  Our server Saturday was fine, but lacked a certain polish and food knowledge, I think.  That said, we enjoyed our meals for the most part.

I started with the charred leeks with soy, crispy egg, and dijonaise (I almost got the boudin again, but wanted to branch out).  It was inventive, and good, but WAY salty.  The preparation is unique - the grilled leeks have a large deep fried egg on top (like a scotch egg without the sausage) but somehow the yolk remains liquid.  The mustard was PUNGENT, but I like it that way.  Again, I liked this, and would maybe even order it again, but the salt needs to come WAYYY down.  My dad had the Vermont sausage which is pork and cheddar with a delicious potato cake.  I thought it was good, especially the potatoes

For mains, remembering how good the seafood was last time, all four of us had fish.  Three of us ordered the halibut with asparagus, fingerlings, hollandaise, and meyer lemon.  This was very good, not great.  The meyer lemon crumble was aggressively lemony, there was not much hollandaise, and the fish, which was seared and roasted, was a little dry (although the flavor was good) the fingerlings were delicious, smashed and roasted.  That said, my mother's fish dish was extraordinary.  I was jealous of her olive oil poached snapper (usually cod, but they were out of it and subbed red snapper) under a sauce of clam chowder.  It was delicious.  Why no one has ever thought to use clam chowder as a sauce before is a mystery to me, and it is a trick I will steal for home cooking in the future.  Dessert, again, was profiteroles.  Everyone liked their meal, and the parents seemed happy. 

After two good meals I think DBGB deserves to be in the rotation, the food is good, you can usually get a reservation through Resy, and it fits a lot of different situations.  The burgers look fantastic.  Next time, I think I will try one of them.

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9 hours ago, Rieux said:

For mains, remembering how good the seafood was last time, all four of us had fish.  Three of us ordered the halibut with asparagus, fingerlings, hollandaise, and meyer lemon.  This was very good, not great.  The meyer lemon crumble was aggressively lemony, there was not much hollandaise, and the fish, which was seared and roasted, was a little dry (although the flavor was good) the fingerlings were delicious, smashed and roasted.  That said, my mother's fish dish was extraordinary.  I was jealous of her olive oil poached snapper (usually cod, but they were out of it and subbed red snapper) under a sauce of clam chowder.  It was delicious.  Why no one has ever thought to use clam chowder as a sauce before is a mystery to me, and it is a trick I will steal for home cooking in the future.  Dessert, again, was profiteroles.  Everyone liked their meal, and the parents seemed happy. 

Some years ago, Citronelle had a fish dish with clam chowder sauce. I always remember it because the chef de cuisine, whose English was not that strong, presented it to the staff as "clam shoulders" sauce. They don't have clam chowder in France.

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Had lunch here today. Much better than my first experience at a Friday night dinner soon after opening.

Had: Chilled Carrot SoupCoq au VinMeyer Lemon Tart

The latter two items qualify as excellent, but both extremely rich so I couldn't finish either. The carrot soup was adequate; could have been more chilled. Service was also excellent throughout. Based on only two visits, very far apart, the limited data indicates an upward slope but my margin of error here is high.

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This place does not evolve that much, but it does deliver really good food pretty well. The pancetta wrapped trout was solid and delicious. The tartare was still quite good (though, why oh fricking WHY will they not serve up tartare here less 'put together' and let ME the customer, mix up the accoutrements as I see fit?!?!?!). The octopus was tasty as well. The cocktails were among the best I have had in the past year or so - do not skip these! The crab cake appetizer was more of a Shanghai chili sauce delivery system and did very well in doing just that. I'll be back, but I really would like to see some parts of the menu change with some regularity.

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Met friends for drinks and light fare at the bar on Thursday night.  Friend and I split two of the sausages - both delicious (sorry, can't remember which ones we had).  Nice glass of rosé as well.  I do like the vibe there and the lightness of the atmosphere versus places like Capital Grille bar.

My one complaint . . . the bartender was attentive, overly so at times, but then was not to be found when we wanted our check.  This happens to me often when I dine out and I just don't get it.

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Nice group dinner here in one of the private rooms upstairs. Service was smooth, efficient and friendly. the passed canapés were okay--nothing really exciting but nicely executed salmon bites, gougeres, onion tarts (maybe?). The steak tartare and arugula salad choices for the 1st course were really good, as were the fish and steak entrees. Dessert was mixed berries with cream, or chocolate mousse. The berries were perfect; the chocolate mousse was okay, perhaps a bit overdone with too many additions. I'd happily come back to explore the regular menu based on this evening.

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