Capital Icebox

The Grill is open Wednesday and Thursday...

(And darn if I don't have a lunch meeting at Bobby Van's on Wednesday...Sigh...)

Also, there was the following important info in Galileo's email today about the grill:

"Please note: the grill will be on a brief hiatus for at least 2 weeks and will probably open again around August 31st. We will e-mail you the week of August 29th with an update. We hope to see you this week!"

I hope it's cool enough during those two weeks to make the trek to Breadline. Have they invented Air-Conditioned Segways yet?

we do have a cozy little bar, and it usually is open a little longer than the dining room.

What's the Notti Bianche lunch crowd like? I work at the Watergate and want to come by and check it out. And I'll leave my Hyundai at the office.

Anyone else notice how uncomfortable the chairs are here? They have straight, narrow wooden backs and hardly any padding on the seat. It was like being in Charm School again.

JLK said:

It's criminal that Ceiba isn't offering the churros as a dessert choice for RW.

RW Update:

Last night had a great dinner at 1789 -- scallop ceviche "margarita," mussels, softshells, and more scallops for the lady as an entree. I told the waiter it was her birthday (which it was -- thank you, RW gods!), and her dessert (warm choco cake with the mintiest mint choco chip ice cream you'll ever have the fortune to come across) arrived with a candle and a birthday card from the staff.

Lunch at Oceanaire yesterday -- Surprise! The RW menu is dinner only (damn you, RW gods!). I just don't get the appeal of this place, unless you like feeling like you're on a loud, overcrowded ship -- if I need seafood again and can't make it to O'Learys in Annapolis, I'm heading to Kinkead's.

Strike one: the oyster po' boy looked like a package of van de camps fish nuggets dumped onto two giant pieces of puffy bread.

Strike two: the following conversation --

Me: "Where do you get your crab meat from?"

Waiter: [eyes dart side to side, shuffles a bit...] "They're a Chesapeake Bay Style crab cake, one of our most popular choices."

Lady: "They're huge! And full of meat."

Me: "Yes, but where do you get the crabs?"

Waiter: "We get them from Philips; they provide most of the crabmeat in the region."

Me: "Which is from Indonesia."

Waiter: "Yes, but it's a very large crabcake."

(Fortunately, the waiter went back to the kitchen to check and that day for some reason they had Marlyand blue crab.)

Strike three: I still didn't like the crabcake. Too much breadcrumbs and parsley edging out the crab.

With such a fat stomach and thin wallet, I decided to cancel my lunch at Vidalia tomorrow and go back to Breadline for the heirloom tomato salad and some chocolate + marscapone cookies, at half the price of a RW lunch (and no tips!).

You can always salt your own butter.  The only time I have found salted butter at a restaurant in the least bit appealing was at Nectar, where they sprinkled the lovely stuff with sea salt.

1789 had some wonderful salted butter to go with their rosemary foccacia last night. Nice, big chunks of sea salt.

Thanks for posting the descriptions and pictures!  I walked in this past Tuesday just as your group was getting started but unfortunately had to take my lunch back to the office for a lunch meeting.

Kliman has a mouth-watering review of TemptAsian in this week's City Paper.

Yes, JLK, there is a corn chowder.

It is good.

Very good.

Very very good.

And it only gets served to good boys and girls.

How bilrus got a bowl, I'll never know.

Has anyone been able to confirm that they're extending their RW menu through next week?

Yikes - I have reservations for Friday. Open Table, here I come.

My report from Corduroy here..

RW 2005 -- two down, two to go.

Last night we had a 5:30 table at Corduroy. I, too, was saddened by the absence of the Scallops, but I did have the Oysters as an appetizer and they were delightful, the perfect summer app. For the entree, the Wangyu Strip. It was cooked a little more than I would've liked (ordered medium rare and showed up medium), but the flavor of the beef more than made up for it. I had the local blueberry tart for dessert and was ready to take on the humidity again. The place was full by 6:30 -- I think it will be good to get so many people at their tables this week, given the reports here of an almost empty dining room the rest of the year. I'm looking forward to going back and working my way through the bar menu in the weeks ahead.

Monday was Colvin Run, which had a more seasonal kick, and an even more diverse RW menu for the four of us at my table. Gazpacho, fried green tomatoes with a shrimp and lobster remoulade, market greens; flounder, rockfish and cod for the second course (The fish was cooked just right, the sauces used sparingly); and local strawberry cobbler for dessert. There weren't any tricks or gimmicks here (minus the pop rocks garnishing some of their "martinis"), just well-prepared, delicious food.

Service at both establishments was excellent -- I was impressed considering how both places were serving a full house. I don't usually think of RW as a means of discounted fine dining, but rather as a way of exploring restaurants I'm curious about but not wanting to risk the $$$ for, especially when there are a few solid, consistent venues where I know I'm guaranteed something special (Ray's and Eve -- see below -- immediately come to mind). But with Corduroy and Colvin Run, it felt like any other night, but at half the price.

Next up: Oceanaire for lunch and 1789 for dinner today; Friday is lunch at Vidalia.

The best meal of the week (and may continue to be) was the Lickety-Split Lunch at Eve -- market greens and a softshell crab sammy. The crab was nice, but the tomato on that sucker was the one I was really after. As DR pointed out, you can go there any day of the year (that they're open) and put together something immensely satisfying for $20 at lunch and $30 at dinner. The cocktails are extra, but they are during RW as well. And where else are you going to find a tomato water bloody mary that took over 24 hours to prepare?

Can't help you, I'm in a post-shoulder coma.

Verdict: tasty and delicious, frickin' huge, the best bites were the first and last. Next time I might try the chicken so I can better taste the green sauce, which was my favorite part. Those sausages looked damn good too.

If you've never tried the hot dog, give it a whirl. The homemade mustard and ketchup are refreshingly mild and Roberto-oh-my-loins puts bits of real bacon in his saurkraut. It's less of a meal than the pork loin or meatball, but you'll be able to actually walk out of the restaurant at a moderate pace and even stay awake in your flourescent-lit cube for the rest of the afternoon.

Tomato season has arrived at Breadline, and with the heat wave over and gone, I trekked over there for lunch today. I had the BLT, which was on wheat bread, and my friend had the Tomato and White Cheddar Grilled Cheese Sandwich. In structural composition, it was the same as any other, with the aforementioned ingredients of BLT and some nice creamy (but not overpowering) mayo. The bacon was just right with a little crispiness on the edges; the lettuce was just some chopped iceburg, and the wheat bread held it all together quite well. But the real standout of the sandwich is the tomatoes, piled on three deep and melding together almost into a chunky paste of ripe, salty goodness.

As for my friend's sandwich, it had less tomatoes but plenty of cheese between two giant, texas toast-sized pieces of white bread. He liked it, but the bread looked a little too thick for my tastes.

The frites are still great (and under two dollars), and the peanut butter cookie contraption I had for dessert was tops. They take two cookies and, a la chipwich, smear a nice gob of what I presume to be Furstenburg-crafted peanut butter between them.

All this for ten bones, and the people-watching at the tables outside is gratis. Look! David Gregory from MSNBC! "Hey! David! What did Scott McLellan deny and when did he deny it ?!"

The Grill will be open Wednesday and Friday this week.

While the food was good and the service great, I have to say that I can't possibly imagine paying double what I paid for the dinner last night.  The prices on the wine list are criminal.  It seemed like most of the wines were prices in the $300-400/bottle range.  It was hard to find a wine on the list in the $100 range.  I get the feeling that the place is living on its reputation. 

Keep in mind also that the restaurant is actually 4 restaurants.  There is the Lab, the regular restaurant, the Osteria and the lunch grill.  The Lab is probably the only part to make a fuss about.

And keep in mind that you had a special seating in the Lab and a personal visit from the Chef. We sat in the regular dining room a few weeks back, and while the meal was an overall enjoyable experience considering the discount, I definitely wouldn't go back to pay full price at a later date.

I'd be interested to hear back from others that have been for the Galileo promo. Would you go back and pay twice as much for the same deal?

I read this article and had a real hankerin' for crab cakes afterwards. Picked up some backfin (not from Indonesia) for $11 a pound and had five cakes for dinner that night.

Like MSG, I need more, so this weekend we're heading out for crabs. We probably can't go as far as Cantler's, so I'm curious -- has anyone been to the Quarterdeck for crabs?

Well since the restaurant themselves put out the promotion and informed diners how to handle it, then it should not feel awkward.  Hopefully the staff is not going to treat those  who use the discount poorly.

After reading your review, I think the staff should feel awkward at serving food that is a disappoinment.

The awkwardness was my own -- it just felt weird handing the waiter the coupon. That, however, isn't anything I blame them for. It was the food and general lack of warmth from the waitstaff that resulted it my disappointment. With several succesful recent trips to Eve, Atlantico, Ray's and more under (and expanding!) my belt, this place was definitely not up to par. But like I said in my original post, this was just one visit during the first week of the new menu, and perhaps it will be different for others, like the couple who also went last night and really enjoyed it.

I should add that it was a bit awkward handing our waiter the email "coupon" at the start of dinner. It felt very out of place in a restaurant of Galileo's reputation. Maybe some of you DRers have ideas on a different way to do this that we could suggest to Galileo? Perhaps by confiriming that their email address is on their mailing list when making a reservation?

Went with some friends last night to try out the new menu at Galileo. The good news is that everything on the menu -- including the wine -- really is half-price. So you can order the $75 tasting menu (three courses and dessert) but will only be charged a cool $37.50. And try some wines that won't break your Starbucks credit card in two.

The bad news is that the food and service was a disappointment: Chewy, overcooked lobster with a bland herb emulsion; limp, sandy scallops; no help from our waiter on what to order (Me: "It's our first time here." Him: "Well, everything's there on the menu." My brain: "You don't say!"); many items from the new menu posted online weren't on yesterday's menu (crab cannoli and stuffed veal among them, sadly); and the biggest disappointment -- none of the new desserts were available last night, and I had my heart set on the Apricot Chocolate Lasagna.

It wasn't a horrible experience by any means -- nothing of "Titanic" proportions -- it just wasn't anything special. It might be worth waiting a few weeks for the menu to settle in, especially since the deal is running all summer.

I am busily booking tables for the week on opentable.com based on your advice, so thanks, all. I assume 1789 will be the first to go.

I'm curious to hear what places are a must for restaurant week? And what places would you avoid?

Personally, I had a nice lunch at DISH one year and a lackluster one at Cafe Atlantico the next.

Look like Chef Andres is making more changes to the menu at Oyamel. The happy hour menu, which previous was a limited full price menu of tacos and ceviche with drink specials is now drink specials, full menu, and 'small bites' happy hour specials of smaller portions of some of the dinner items at reduced prices (Ex: three plantain fritters at $1.50), and I believe individual tacos.

Anyone know the times for Oyamel's happy hour? 4-7?

I had the tuna w/ Moroccan spices for lunch today, and, unfortunately, it was really soggy - like so soggy I needed a fork to finish it because it was just falling all over the place. I think they sliced the olive bread too thin, but from the second I picked it up it was just sagging and dripping all over the place. Disappointing. 

Yeah, the olive bread seems to have issues supporting the tuna and egg salad sandwiches. They need to either slice it thicker for these or pack it well onto a sturdier baguette. But lordy, that prosciutto...

I've been there several times for breakfast (my boss stays at the Ritz when he's in town). Every time, it's been pretty underwhelming and overly expensive. The waitstaff had little command of the English language and served us a glass of milk warm once. No idea if dinner is any improvement. Not a bad spot for a drink, though.