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Congratulations Joe, Jane, et al!

2009 James Beard Foundation Journalism Awards
Newspaper Food Section
The Washington Post

Disclosure: I am an employee of TWP. (But I don't write for the Food section. [Except for the two times that I did.])

I am NOT an employee of TWP, just a longtime reader, but I have been very impressed with the quality of the food section over the last several months--both taken on its own and when compared to other food sections in the country, many of which I feel have declined. During a time when newspapers are struggling and their future is insecure, I am delighted with the way the Post has managed to improve its offerings of both recipes and food reporting. In my humble opinion, this honor is well-deserved.

Congratulations to all of the people at the Post who put such hard work into the section, which I look forward to reading every week! Now go have yourselves a nice, celebratory meal!

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Did you see the front page story in the Post on Tosca, including a layout of the tables and who sits where on A12?

Oh well, we can only go for dinner and the pre-theater deals. Wonderful food and service!

Yes, I could not believe the specificity of detail. When reading it, I kept thinking of the observer effect in physics. Once you have authoritatively detected something, it's already gone...

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Sorry but I could not find this topic anywhere. Could be me. I am confused as to why the Post would publish another of these, "I can't make this dish, I can't cook, but my neighbor who is also not a cook makes great [...] In this case, matzoh balls. While I really liked the photos of the pyramid-shaped matzoh balls, it seems to me that a lot more actually useful information could be had. So once a year you have a holiday where there is a special dish, and you have one line from a pro, Dean Gold, who cooks [matzoh balls] for a living, and some other random amateur dude who is an architect gets all the ink. I can't wait for the big architecture piece in the Post about some chef who makes skyscrapers in the shape of osso buco.

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This is "public knowledge" but news to me and maybe to others at DR.com. Joe Yonan will be taking a year-long leave of absence to write another book. I don't know when the year is starting, but deputy editor Bonnie Benwick will probably be replacing Joe during the time he is gone.

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As someone who misses the Minimalist, and has yet to find something to fill the gap, I am pleased at the direction the food section has been taking recently.

Two weeks ago there was a useful piece for home gardeners on how to use up quantities of herbs. When I prune this weekend, I'm planning to make the rosemary oil.

Last week they had more useful information with a few articles on making veggie stocks and even bouillon you can keep in the fridge. I also enjoyed the fathers' day article about gin and tonic.

Not being a doughnut fan, I can't speak to the contest results or the leftover doughnut recipes published this morning, but I did find it odd that they also carried a 'making healthful choices' article in the same section. Fingers crossed for something new and interesting next week.

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Guest DCDiningGuide

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By Dave McIntyre

Benoit Gouez waved off the champagne flute in favor of a traditional tulip-shaped white wine glass. As chef de cave for Moet & Chandon, Gouez is personally responsible for a substantial portion of the champagne Americans drink, and yet during a recent visit to Washington, he was intent on challenging … more »

Source: Washington Post Food Section

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Guest DCDiningGuide

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By Edward Cody

It is the warmest memory of many a vacation in France: the little Paris restaurant where a white-aproned waiter served a dish glorified on the menu as something homey like blanquette de veau grand-mere, topped off with a still-tepid creme brulee that was just the right mix of crackly and … more »

Source: Washington Post Food Section

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Guest DCDiningGuide

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By Fritz Hahn

Ask brewmasters, beer writers and frequent travelers about the best “beer towns” in American, and you’ll repeatedly hear “Portland,” “Denver” and “Philadelphia.” D.C. doesn’t come up as often as it should, but that’s slowly and surely changing. Here are three reasons the Washington beer scene is on the cusp of greatness.

Read full article >>

Source: Washington Post Food Section
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I don't see a thread for the "Free Range" Post chat, but I would like to note this somewhere, as it's a different answer than I've ever seen to the question, and just, awwww....

Q.

LAST MEAL FOR BRYAN VOLTAGGIO
What would you want for your last meal and who would be cooking it? Why?
– July 24, 2013 11:17 AMPermalink
A.
BRYAN VOLTAGGIO :
I would cook my last meal for my wife, her choice.
– July 24, 2013 12:46 PM
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Who knows what if any effect it will have on the food section, but the post has been sold

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/washington-post-to-be-sold-to-jeff-bezos/2013/08/05/ca537c9e-fe0c-11e2-9711-3708310f6f4d_story.html

Welcome, Jeff Bezos.

I have an idea that could earn your new company seven figures a year.

Please feel free to get in touch when things get settled.

Cheers,

Rocks

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Don, please reach out to him. Assuming your plan banishes TS to the blogosphere or the City Paper

It does no such thing.

What it does, however, is eliminates old-school reporter types from droning on, and on, and on, and on, about their eventual demise. Yes, we get it. Internet = No Trees = No Brainer. Plus, no more "I have a microphone, and you don't!" Now, please stop, step into the land of equal footing (even though it's not - I wish I had a $250 million employer with play money), and report on something.

Exhibit A <--- This is like Washingtonian telling their friend, President Obama, where he should dine. B)

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Tom Sietsma wrote a piece on the front page of the Wash Post hard copy and visible on the web in the regional version of the Wash Post. Its about the evolution of dining habits, how menus have changed, how the very descriptions of items and categories on menus have evolved, how small plates have come to dominate, how wait staff can spend a long time describing menus, etc etc.

"Menu Confusion: Plates Of All Sizes In Quirky Categories Befuddle Hungry Diners"

Very interesting.

I certainly dine on small plates.  Can't get away from it.  I don't like them.  They leave me hungry.  On the other hand they so often provide instant taste gratification and surprise.  They are certainly inventive.

I have a basic business context with regard to small plates, and it ties to my old experience as a commercial real estate broker and one that leased to restaurants decades ago.   Rents in this market, including through various suburban corridors are through the roof.  I think they really exploded like crazy over the 2000's and into this decade.  They have to kill restaurant profit margins.

On the other hand I imagine small plates provide enormous profit margins on food costs.  I'm sure they are marginally more involved on the labor side but I also imagine they are dramatically more profitable on the food costs side.   I bet small plates help restaurants fight off the crazy increases in rents.

Anyway its a very interesting article; certainly thought provoking.

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Tom Sietsma wrote a piece on the front page of the Wash Post hard copy and visible on the web in the regional version of the Wash Post. Its about the evolution of dining habits, how menus have changed, how the very descriptions of items and categories on menus have evolved, how small plates have come to dominate, how wait staff can spend a long time describing menus, etc etc.

"Menu Confusion: Plates Of All Sizes In Quirky Categories Befuddle Hungry Diners"

I appreciated this article a lot, even if it did employ a few of his more annoying writing tics, and certainly didn't deserve front-page exposure. One issue, for me, is not small plates in and of themselves, but how (as Sietsema notes), there usually is no way to discern how well they might be divided between a set number of people, if that is how one chooses (or is encouraged) to dine. The guidance of "two to three plates per person" winds up being maddening, even for those who are accustomed to this sort of dining experience. And yes, the over-creativity of menu divisions and titles is wearying. Even at Rose's Luxury, it's hard to decide how to order, especially when the kitchen routinely (but not consistently) sends out complimentary dishes. This can also be tricky at Italian restaurants where it's not always clear how well the pasta course will serve as a main dish, or if it's best treated as a course between the starter and the main. And even many prix fixe menus can leave the diner wanting these days. I guess there's a reason that the old "Appetizer-Main-Dessert" paradigm has endured, despite all the efforts to up-end it.

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I'm sorry, I just can't take seriously anything written by people who would write: "Both were generally uninterested in their fish courses; apparently horseradish crème fraí®che and shaved artichokes aren't crowd pleasers with the pint-size set. We were a little disappointed that they didn't try to expand their horizons"...about two children still in diapers.   I'd also suggest that their suggestion that "fine dining with toddlers [is] actually possible" is not supported by 40 meltdown-free minutes at the Oval Room -- a respite apparently won only by constant attention from and distraction by the parents.  The term "fine dining" suggests to me a more leisurely pace and more adult conversation.   

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a kid hater and have a much harder time recalling a meal diminished by children (other than my own ;) ) than several that suffered from obnoxious adults nearby.  But still, rushing through a two-hundred dollar dinner while plying two-year-olds with dinosaurs and videos is not my idea of a good time.  

Also, anyone who refers to a restaurant as a "concept," -- as in "Michael Schlow's hot Latin concept on 14th Street" -- should be bludgeoned.  Conceptually.  

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I'm sorry, I just can't take seriously anything written by people who would write: "Both were generally uninterested in their fish courses; apparently horseradish crème fraí®che and shaved artichokes aren't crowd pleasers with the pint-size set. We were a little disappointed that they didn't try to expand their horizons"...about two children still in diapers.   I'd also suggest that their suggestion that "fine dining with toddlers [is] actually possible" is not supported by 40 meltdown-free minutes at the Oval Room -- a respite apparently won only by constant attention from and distraction by the parents.  The term "fine dining" suggests to me a more leisurely pace and more adult conversation.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a kid hater and have a much harder time recalling a meal diminished by children (other than my own ;) ) than several that suffered from obnoxious adults nearby.  But still, rushing through a two-hundred dollar dinner while plying two-year-olds with dinosaurs and videos is not my idea of a good time.

Also, anyone who refers to a restaurant as a "concept," -- as in "Michael Schlow's hot Latin concept on 14th Street" -- should be bludgeoned.  Conceptually.

You make very good points, except I have to disagree with your first sentence - both Jessica and Nevin deserve to be taken seriously - I look at this as more of a fun piece than any kind of scientific test.

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I'm sorry, I just can't take seriously anything written by people who would write: "Both were generally uninterested in their fish courses; apparently horseradish crème fraí®che and shaved artichokes aren't crowd pleasers with the pint-size set. We were a little disappointed that they didn't try to expand their horizons"...about two children still in diapers.   I'd also suggest that their suggestion that "fine dining with toddlers [is] actually possible" is not supported by 40 meltdown-free minutes at the Oval Room -- a respite apparently won only by constant attention from and distraction by the parents.  The term "fine dining" suggests to me a more leisurely pace and more adult conversation.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a kid hater and have a much harder time recalling a meal diminished by children (other than my own ;) ) than several that suffered from obnoxious adults nearby.  But still, rushing through a two-hundred dollar dinner while plying two-year-olds with dinosaurs and videos is not my idea of a good time.

Also, anyone who refers to a restaurant as a "concept," -- as in "Michael Schlow's hot Latin concept on 14th Street" -- should be bludgeoned.  Conceptually.  

HAHAHA!

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You make very good points, except I have to disagree with your first sentence - both Jessica and Nevin deserve to be taken seriously - I look at this as more of a fun piece than any kind of scientific test.

I will keep an eye out for their byline, but this piece definitely rubbed me the wrong way for some reason.

This reminds me of an exchange on eGullet where somebody asked what would be the best 3-star in Paris to take a 3- (or maybe 5-) year old to and I suggested that they were possible not right in the head for wanting to spend three hours and thousands of dollars trying to keep a bored 3-to-five-year-old amused in a restaurant they wouldn't appreciate or enjoy.  I got called all kinds of terrible things by the crowd that believes with a religious-like fervor that their kids are dying to expand their culinary horizons and -- apparently -- have a far greater capacity for conversation with a small child than I ever had.

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I will keep an eye out for their byline, but this piece definitely rubbed me the wrong way for some reason.

This reminds me of an exchange on eGullet where somebody asked what would be the best 3-star in Paris to take a 3- (or maybe 5-) year old to and I suggested that they were possible not right in the head for wanting to spend three hours and thousands of dollars trying to keep a bored 3-to-five-year-old amused in a restaurant they wouldn't appreciate or enjoy.  I got called all kinds of terrible things by the crowd that believes with a religious-like fervor that their kids are dying to expand their culinary horizons and -- apparently -- have a far greater capacity for conversation with a small child than I ever had.

My wife and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary a couple weekends ago at Per Se.  There was a family 2 tables away with 2 children under the age of 8 or so.  They were totally well-behaved, but really...why? We have a 2 year old who is a very adventurous eater, but there is no way we would even think of bringing him to a restaurant at that level.  For that matter, I have a number of adult friends I wouldn't bring along simply because they wouldn't appreciate the experience on a level high enough to justify the cost.

We asked our waiter if the kids had the full tasting menu.  He said these in particular did not, but he's seen kids as young as 4 tackle it with some success.  I guess once you have a certain level of wealth, taking the kids for dinner at Per Se is no different than heading out for a burger and a beer with them at Brookland Pint.

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I guess once you have a certain level of wealth, taking the kids for dinner at Per Se is no different than heading out for a burger and a beer with them at Brookland Pint.

I think you answered your own question - as you know, there are plenty of people in NYC worth $10 million+, and some even worth $100 million+, for whom buying the restaurant (not buying it out; buying it altogether) would be just another day at the office.

Would I like to be that wealthy? Sure. Would I want to do what it takes to get there? No way.

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Reading that article today, I was just waiting to see all the comments (& I was not disappointed)- as one who leans towards a curmudgeonly,grumpyass view on small children in restaurants (I am a parent, who held off on taking kids to a nice restaurant until their behavior was manageable), it was QUITE interesting to read everyone's varying opinions on child diners. It doesn't affect me much, I cook at home most days, but it was an interesting read.

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I'm sorry, I just can't take seriously anything written by people who would write: "Both were generally uninterested in their fish courses; apparently horseradish crème fraí®che and shaved artichokes aren't crowd pleasers with the pint-size set. We were a little disappointed that they didn't try to expand their horizons"...about two children still in diapers.   I'd also suggest that their suggestion that "fine dining with toddlers [is] actually possible" is not supported by 40 meltdown-free minutes at the Oval Room -- a respite apparently won only by constant attention from and distraction by the parents.  The term "fine dining" suggests to me a more leisurely pace and more adult conversation.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a kid hater and have a much harder time recalling a meal diminished by children (other than my own ;) ) than several that suffered from obnoxious adults nearby.  But still, rushing through a two-hundred dollar dinner while plying two-year-olds with dinosaurs and videos is not my idea of a good time.

Also, anyone who refers to a restaurant as a "concept," -- as in "Michael Schlow's hot Latin concept on 14th Street" -- should be bludgeoned.  Conceptually.

I think Waitman raises a good point about how it would detract for other diners experiences if the children were not entertained and unhappy. The dining experience is not a necessity like air travel, something everyone should be cognizant of and grin/bear.  However perhaps this is something for some restaurant or chef to champion. Exposure to food if not possible at home could be very rewarding at a good quality restaurant. Maybe a Crybaby breakfast?

As a new parent, I definitely look forward to taking advantage of the Performances for Young Audiences at the Kennedy Center. Or if we lived closer to Blue Hill at the Stone Barns think the FarmCamp would be an incredible experience.

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People do what people do. If a family came in to a nicer place and started spreading out toys everywhere and letting the kids get up and walk around, that would be pretty annoying if I was sitting nearby, but that is me.

The iPhone has made the need to spread out a selection of toys obsolete...for better or worse.  I will say that I have no desire to know what it was like to take long flights with toddlers before the advent of the iPad.

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The iPhone has made the need to spread out a selection of toys obsolete...for better or worse.  I will say that I have no desire to know what it was like to take long flights with toddlers before the advent of the iPad.

When my kids were very small (10-15 years ago), we used to travel with these quaint old things called books.  :P

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18 minutes ago, Marty L. said:

This is exactly right -- I've had two excellent meals here this week, and the prices are very reasonable.  But they're already booked most nights, and a Sietsema review is on the way, so by Labor Day it might be virtually impossible to get in . . . .

People continue overestimating the longevity of WaPo reviews, but I guess as long as people *think* it's crowded, they'll stay away. (I'm not sure that makes any sense.) :)

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OK, look at it this way:  It's already booked solid virtually every night.  Sietsema will (probably) increase demand exponentially.  And then *if* they retain the quality and value, the difficulty of getting a reservation will last for months or years.  Of course if the quality slackens, or they raise prices considerably, it'll become easier.

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6 hours ago, Ericandblueboy said:

Going Out Guide Article - Transplants say D.C.'s bagels (and pizza and cheesesteaks and...) don't measure up. Here's where they go for a taste of home.

I don't know if the content is obnoxious but the formatting of the article is so annoying I can't be bothered to read the article (you have to wait for text to pop up next to each picture).

In the future, your "online experiences" will converge with real life, be it a film, or virtual reality, or ... ?

My eyes about popped open when I saw Bub and Pops listed for Cheesesteaks - I had that sandwich not thirty minutes after having met Ruth Tam, not having a clue that she had an article coming out which mentioned it.

(BTW, congratulations to Ruth for writing that piece - she has written numerous articles for The Washington Post, and was the web producer for The Kojo Nnamdi Show.)

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