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reverbbrad

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  1. The wife and I are going on our first sitter-powered date night ever on Friday. Of course, we made these plans from planet busy, so didn't find out that it's restaurant week until afterward. I mean really: Friday! RW! Doh!!! And so, of course everything is booked up - at least, every restaurant that's participating is in RW is. I'm looking for suggestions on dining contra restaurant week madness. Here's what I am hoping: 1. Proximity: Dine in Arlington, DC, or nearby northern Virginia. 2. Kinda Quiet/Mellow, empasis on service. Even if I could score an RW reservation, I'd be hesitant about the crowds. I'm hoping for a good non-RW option - which might have the added bonus of being a little quieter than usual? 3. Price is not that important, short of, say, the tasting room at Restaurant Eve. We need the night out without the little beastie, even if it ends up being milkshakes at Lost Dog (which are a fine thing), but I am hoping we can do something a bit more romantic. Suggestions?
  2. If there is time to make this happen, Beezy and I would love to join the fun!
  3. I enjoyed the cucumber fizz well enough to ask for the recipe, which one of the bartenders was kind enough to share. And get the Peekytoe crab soup. Fantastic!
  4. Absolute agreement. The portions are a normal-person size, not the 1200 calorie monsters from Chipotle that leave you wondering why you didn't just go ahead and eat a pint of Ben and Jerry's instead. The ingredients are a cut above, which makes for a cheap, flavorful burrito. One of these days, I will get around to trying one of the Tortas.
  5. I'll second the rave about the chicken. It really has an incredible, intense flavor; definitely not the 'menu default' chicken. Try it. It is special.
  6. When I was slogging through some long, soul-sucking days in Tysons Corner, the short ribs at Colvin Run Tavern and a nice scotch would always make me smile.
  7. Oddly, after suggesting you pick restaurants with reputations to protect, two of his four rec's are there because he thinks the restaurant's reputation needs to be established. I suspect you will do better if you choose as he does, not as he says, and go for places with something to prove. (I do like the thought about going for a particularly unmalleable style of restaurant such as Fogo de Chao, but I've yet to try something like that). All that said, though, RW is always going to be a mixed bag, and I think the restaurants that do really well tend to be quite customer focused to begin with and keep their RW offering in close line with their regular menu, even if the number of options is limited. I think places that place far more emphasis on food than experience are the ones likely to really fall down -- the kitchen has to manage a different approach, and the service may slide further. My best RW memories from prior years: Corduroy, Dino, and Colvin Run Tavern, which I used to visit for lunch when I worked in Tyson's Corner. I'm very hopeful for a nice dinner at Indigo Landing tonight.
  8. I like it quite a bit. It makes it easy to see if a particular time slot is available, and search quickly for your next preference, without going through a long song and dance over the phone. On occasion, the ability to put a note in for the restaurant is handy - asking for a quiet table or such. My experience is that once the note/request is in a system somewhere, it is more likely to be attended to (even if just by a polite decline); otherwise, your request seems likely to be forgotten. Plus, it avoids dealing with the occasional Unpleasant Restaurant Host/Hostess, of which I've encountered more than a few.
  9. A few months ago, in need of a sure-thing for a special occasion (a birthday dinner for my wife, attended by her mother and very fussy grandmother), I decided to put my fate in the hands of Dino. After sending a PM pleading for a little extra attention, and a couple of phone calls to arrange for things like flowers waiting at the table, etc., they delivered beyond my wildest expectations. All details, large and small, were attended to by our waiter and the GM, ranging from the aforementioned flowers presented in advance, a ground floor table for easy access by my wife's grandmother, a perfectly chosen wine for the occasion, and completely thorough service. The meal itself was so spectacular that I tried to write about it a few times after that evening, and scrapped my posts feeling that I had failed to deliver the gist of how good the food was. So, rather than try to re-live it here, I'll just say that my fond memories about the cheese plate and steak special particularly are still with me. After a stingy RW dinner at a different restaurant, I was reminded by contrast of how completely generous, in both spirit and flavors, that night at Dino was. It's about time I mentioned it here.
  10. My wife and I had an absolute dud of a RW experience last night. We arrived with a mixture of curiousity and hope for a dinner that was late enough that our appetites were stoked a litte high. What we got, well... We knew going in that the RW menu was on the spare side, in terms of offerings: we were able to select from 5 apps (2 with substantial upcharge), 3 entrees (1 each of steak, fish, and chicken) and 2 desserts. And a look at the other side of the menu indicated the RW price was a substantial drop from their general menu, where apps run mostly between $12-20 and mains run from around $25 to $50, though both apps and mains also offer substantially higher-priced choices as well. My choices were the prawn salad with tomato sorbet and celery ribbons (+$7), the flat iron steak with polenta and diced carrots, and the cheesecake with blueberry compote. (My wife also chose the steak). The dinner began promisingly with an amuse that was announced as calamari, but actually had a fishy taste and thicker tentacle meat that made us both suspect it was actually octopus. It was dessed nicely in a slightly hot pepper sauce that had a slight vinegar tang. The prawn salad was, in fact, two medium sized prawns (partly deshelled, but with head, tail, and legs on) on a bed of greens and tomato. They were awkard to de-shell; for one of them I had to resort to some extended fingerwork. The tomato sorbet was nice, offering a slightly inventive approach, an alternative to the classic cocktail sauce. The celery ribbons, which I imagine might have offered a slightly peppery contrast, were MIA. It was an ok appetizer, but part of me couldn't let go of the nagging thought of a $7 upcharge for a two-shrimp dish. (Incidentally, the Tuna Tartare carried a $9 upcharge). The steak followed. The flat iron steak was roughly a 6 oz portion (no scale at the table, so eyeballing, of course), and had a nice flavor, but was on the tough side, even for a flat-iron, with one or two pieces remarkably tough to cut/chew. My wife's medium showed little difference to my med. rare, at least to the eye. The polenta was a round cake roughly the size of a silver dollar, nicely crisp on the outside, but bland and watery within. The diced carrots were probably plated with a teaspoon, although perhaps I am being unkind; it might have been a half-full tablespoon. Though still hungry through the dinner course, my experience was partly rescued by the cheesecake. This was a real winner, creamy without being too heavy, with a nice dab of lemon-infused whipped cream on the top, and just enough blueberry sauce that it added a nice additional flavor without being intrusive. In this one course, I found the luxurious experience that I'd been hoping for from the evening, and which was entirely missing from the previous weak offerings. In the end, I was left wondering why this restaurant was participating in RW; while I can accept a somewhat spare number of choices, the actual portion sizes (even with upcharge) seemed miserly as well, and not particularly well prepared. It just seemed like a begrudging effort, and it left me wondering whether it was in line with the quality of the rest of their food or was simply a failed attempt to "step down." Either way, it doesn't say great things about the place, and it didn't make me want to come back on my own dime, or even, frankly, on an expense account.
  11. It's funny, my wife's (Beezy) and my experience was so different that I re-read your post just to see what you had. You and we had ordered almost diametrically opposed sorts of dishes: we've started with cold apps (salads, etc) and moved to more classic protein-based dishes: I've had the hangar steak, chicken, and one of the fish specials, and was impressed by both the steak (not a Landrum steak, but quite nice) and the fish, and pleased enough with the chicken. But neither of us, as far as I can recall, ventured into the pasta or pizza selections. Could be a case where the kitchen does not do the all parts of the menu equal justice.
  12. Just fyi, the answer to all of these questions: "What do you think I should get?" "Is the special, like, good, or should I just go with the steak?" "Which one is your favorite?" is "ShutupshutupshutupshutupIdon'tcaaaaaaaaaaaaare." Don't Play Stump the Waiter "What's sopressata?" "What's a croutade?" "What's the difference between Blue Point and Kumamoto oysters?" Fucking google it later and don't embarrass yourself. Drink, You Asshole! I hope this person is, in fact, a former restaurant worker. Getting angry at customers that don't drink is bad enough, but getting angry with those who express an interest in what they are eating is pathetic. I hope he or she found his true calling in the exciting field of health insurance claims rejection adjustments.
  13. Fine, make me ask the obvious question: what is the pretheatre menu offering? Studio-theatre-goers want to know.
  14. I've been in this situation relatively recently, too. My approach: if you can be discreet, by all means, add to the tip. If not, suck it up. It's probably not worth creating the drama between you and your friends for a few bucks. The last time this happened to me, I wasn't able to add tip on the spot. I found myself at the same place a few weeks later, noticed the waitress who had served us, told her the quick story, and gave her the "rest" of the tip. She seemed delighted that anyone would do that. If this had happened at an expensive restaurant, where the difference was significant, I'd probably make a point to go back afterwords and get a manager that could help me add to the tip.
  15. I find that if I ask politely for a fresh glass, it usually works out quite well. I don't suspect it is a very uncommon or demanding request, particularly if your drink has run out of ice or uses lemon, or sugar, or whatever. It is asking a slight bit more work from the server, so think well of them at tip time.
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