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DC Restaurants Featured in Travel & Leisure


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An article about DC restaurants and no Ben's Chili Bowl?  It's blasphemy.  Clearly they know nothing.  <_<

I was wondering how Oyamel was selected on that list. Equinox, after a recent meal, is a real stretch to be on the list with most of the others.

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Actually, let's be fair. That article has WAY more hits than misses.

Equinox

Palena (and mentioned the front room)

Le Paradou

Citronelle

Maestro

Minibar

Oyamel

CityZen

He also called out Penn Quarter, Rasika, Acadiana, Michel Richard's new venture, Ris Lacoste location hunting, etc.

We could quibble about some of the choices, and there are definitely some board favorites that aren't on here, but that's a pretty fine list.

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I think this is a pretty damn good article on the DC dinning scene. They really did their homework, and this should give some credibility to food in DC! We are still far behind other major cities in some minds, as it relates to food. This is the most comprehensive good list I think I have ever seen published in a national magazine about the area.

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i would eat at equinox every week if dinner for two actually added up to $120.

and what about the chicken at palena? i assumed this was a bigger draw than the hot dog, which goes underground many nights. also, the tables in the back were anything but hushed the last time i checked.

i have mixed feelings about jose andres establishments, they can be inconsistent, and i know why it makes a good lead, but i am wondering: minibar or minibore? just asking.

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i would eat at equinox every week if dinner for two actually added up to $120.

and what about the chicken at palena? i assumed this was a bigger draw than the hot dog, which goes underground many nights. also, the tables in the back were anything but hushed the last time i checked.

i have mixed feelings about jose andres establishments, they can be inconsistent, and i know why it makes a good lead, but i am wondering: minibar or minibore? just asking.

Have you been to the minibar? I have not been in about 2 years, but my experience was anything but boring. 30+ bites of whimsical, interesting, tasty (OK some are not) bites prepared for you while you interact with the staff.

Have things changed since I have been?

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All in all, I thought it was a pretty good list for a glossy like T+L.

The travel mags are notorious for the ability of junkets/free food/PR people to influence what goes into editorial content. To see that they actually got some independents on the list is unusual and nice.

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Have you been to the minibar?  I have not been in about 2 years, but my experience was anything but boring.  30+ bites of whimsical, interesting, tasty (OK some are not) bites prepared for you while you interact with the staff.

Have things changed since I have been?

i suspect that very little has changed at minibar, although i have only been there once, fairly recently. maybe some of the novelty has worn off. basically, we had a good time in a test pilot sort of way, but for a real meal i would go elsewhere. i'm just wondering how people feel about it. i would prefer a real restaurant with a chef who uses the minibar techniques and doesn't just turn them into a show.

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i suspect that very little has changed at minibar, although i have only been there once, fairly recently. maybe some of the novelty has worn off. basically, we had a good time in a test pilot sort of way, but for a real meal i would go elsewhere. i'm just wondering how people feel about it. i would prefer a real restaurant with a chef who uses the minibar techniques and doesn't just turn them into a show.

Did you not enjoy the various courses? As I mentioned above, I enjoyed my time at minibar. It is a unique experience that is not your 'normal' dinner. I think your test pilot analogy is pretty close to what the experience is all about, letting people taste/experience food differently and have a bit of fun while doing it.

I am pretty sure that a couple of the items that started as minibar courses have ended up on the regular menu at Cafe Atlantico.

Can (or did) you post your menu? I would be interested in seeing what is on it now.

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Can (or did) you post your menu?  I would be interested in seeing what is on it now.

you can find it on the cafe atlantico web site: http://www.cafeatlantico.com/

click on the minibar icon, and you can download it from "about."

there are some different items on this menu from what we had, though some mainstays are easy to recognize.

also, this appears in the article:

"His wildly experimental Minibar, where I consumed this cutting-edge feast—six sushi-bar seats at the heart of Café Atlantico, a high-volume restaurant—is but a couture test run for a much more ambitious stand-alone place to open in the near future."

that's what i'm talking about.

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gs, your comment isn't about the food, it seems--it sounds like you didn't enjoy the hopped-up-on-a-barstool, less-conversation-with-your-mates-than-with-the-cooks style of service. It's a valid complaint--I enjoy that type of setting, but plenty of folks don't.

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gs, your comment isn't about the food, it seems--it sounds like you didn't enjoy the hopped-up-on-a-barstool, less-conversation-with-your-mates-than-with-the-cooks style of service.  It's a valid complaint--I enjoy that type of setting, but plenty of folks don't.

this doesn't apply to many of the items that are sent your way at minibar, but when you find something you really like, you can't get enough of it. isn't there a comedy routine where w.c. fields, or somebody, starts to dip his spoon into the soup and then the waiter whisks it away because there's been a mistake, or everytime he tries to take a bite of something, it's removed. that's my real problem about the format at minibar, even though you do have a pretty good idea of what you're signing up for. sometimes, one bite is not enough.

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Ive eaten at the minibar three times, once right after it opened, two summers ago, and last summer. The menu was very similar the second and third times, and all three meals had alot of overlap. The execution has gotten steadily better though, and while the novelty wears off a little I thought all three meals were great. One of the chefs said it was hard for them to add new dishes to the menu because of the pacing.

Jose Andres made similar comments about opening a more serious restaurant here in a profile in the NY Times awhile back, only then he said the restaurant might open in New York.

In alot of cases the prices quoted in the article appear to be just the price of the tasting menu doubled, which is of course way off the actual price.

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I think this is a pretty damn good article on the DC dinning scene. They really did their homework, and this should give some credibility to food in DC! We are still far behind other major cities in some minds, as it relates to food. This is the most comprehensive good list I think I have ever seen published in a national magazine about the area.

I think the article said that the author worked at Citronelle in its early days.

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Actually, let's be fair. That article has WAY more hits than misses.

Equinox

Palena (and mentioned the front room)

Le Paradou

Citronelle

Maestro

Minibar

Oyamel

CityZen

He also called out Penn Quarter, Rasika, Acadiana, Michel Richard's new venture, Ris Lacoste location hunting, etc.

We could quibble about some of the choices, and there are definitely some board favorites that aren't on here, but that's a pretty fine list.

I hope I didn't mislead anyone with my response. What I meant was that even though we could all name a place we thought should have been on the list since we are local and have a fairly decent knowledge of the dining scene in DC.

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Dinner for 2 at Palena: $130.

Dinner for 2 at Le Paradou: $110.

Surely that can't be right. Neither restaurant's website shows prices, and of course Palena's website still shows the Winter 2003 menu, and I haven't had the pleasure yet of dining at Le Paradou, but isn't Le Paradou significantly more expensive than Palena?

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How in the name of the arse did Oyamel make the list? Its mention is positively jarring next to places like Citronelle and Vidalia. And Oyamel is as much a source of "vibrant, authentic flavors" as Crystal City of true urban hipness. Bleah.

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Dinner for 2 at Palena: $130.

Dinner for 2 at Le Paradou: $110.

Surely that can't be right. Neither restaurant's website shows prices, and of course Palena's website still shows the Winter 2003 menu, and I haven't had the pleasure yet of dining at Le Paradou, but isn't Le Paradou significantly more expensive than Palena?

I took a dear friend out for a special dinner at Le Paradou about a year ago. My recollection was that the total for the big degustation menu with wine pairings, bottled water, tax and tip was came to around $425-450, if not a little more. It is comparable to the cost of the Creatione menu for two with wine pairings at Maestro.

It sounds to me as if the writer(s) took food prices and didn't factor in drinks, tax, or gratuity. And in the case of Le Paradou, the $110 figure might be for 3 courses each for two people before tax and tip and without any beverages. I'm just guessing based on one visit.

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Dinner for 2 at Palena: $130.

Dinner for 2 at Le Paradou: $110.

Surely that can't be right. Neither restaurant's website shows prices, and of course Palena's website still shows the Winter 2003 menu, and I haven't had the pleasure yet of dining at Le Paradou, but isn't Le Paradou significantly more expensive than Palena?

Maybe they meant to add another zero. I am only slightly kidding. Dinner at Le Paradou was the most expensive meal I have ever had. In retrospect, I think maybe we should have held off on adding the white truffle courses to the already nine course meal. But, it was all amazing!
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