Capital Icebox

Grouper is back! Music rocks! Fries have reached their zenith!

I had an idea like this last year, where my friend (and bitter rival) and I would cook in an open kitchen in the middle of the restaurant, cursing and throwing things at each other throughout service. We would also have to do a shot every 15 minutes.

I'll try to keep it brief: the "house made orrichette" were lifeless and bland and suffering under the weight of too many breadcrumbs, the softshell crabs were soggy and limp when they got to our table, and the branzino was overcooked and suffering similar problems as the softshells. I found myself in a rare spot of not sending something back because it would have meant sending everything back. I'd like to go back at some point and find that this was a major aberration. They're only a month and half into it, after all. Service was pretty good, but it did take somewhere between 35 to 40 minutes for our entrees to arrive, despite the restaurant being only a quarter full. Lastly, for a place that touts its commitment to local, seasonal dishes, the menu stuck me as something you'd want to encounter in December, not June: liver, roast chicken, meatloaf, steak and potatoes... Things I did like: excellent sweet tea, a good waiter, and the prices.

They have an in-house breadmaker who just keeps getting better and better.

Am I the only one who sorely misses the old Majestic?

Likewise Season 2's contestants had more established pedigrees than those in Season 1, hailing from Casa Mono, Robuchon in Vegas, etc.). Overall I thought the challenges in Season 1 were more conducive to assessing the chefs' abilities than Season 2, which brought us vending machine amuse bouche, canned foods, and overt product placements as part of the challenges.

Well, the Lobster Burger was assembled and frozen ahead of time during the Citronelle days, I don't know if using prepared lobster meat took place then or not. But I think you could argue that there are simplifications and shortcuts used in restaurant kitchens (there are a few examples in Heat about Batali's Babbo cookbook) that do not show up in their cookbooks.

Really enjoyed this piece, having had the Bosnian Burger only days before and still dealing with the onion breath when the article appeared a few days later. The article manages to blend the political and epicurean in a wonderful way. This week Carman takes on Michel's Lobster Burger, concluding it is cheaper (and much easier) to get it at Central than to make it at home. (But why an entire article on the Lobster Burger with no mention of the fact that they are frozen?) The piece brings up an interesting question about celebrity chef cookbooks: After attempting the lobster burger according to the recipe in Richard's book (laboring for hours and spending $35 per burger), he talks to Richard who tells him he buys pre-shucked lobster meat and uses scallops as well, two notable omissions from his cookbook. It reminded me of reading the recipe for pommes frites in Keller's Bouchon cookbook (an arduous task similar to that of the lobster burger, involving a soaking of several hours and two trips to the fryer) and then learning that at the actual Bouchon he uses frozen french fries (allegedly from Sysco). I'm all for shortcuts, so if you are going to use them at your restaurant why can't I use them at home? Would I be disappointed to pull open to a (hypothetical) recipe for Michael Landrum's crab bisque and not find instructions for steaming and picking my own Maryland blue crabs, but to just up a can of Phillips instead? Nope -- if it works for me at Ray's, it works for me at home. It strikes me as a little dishonest, or if that is too strong, misleading. Chefs like Keller and Richard aren't supposed to use shortcuts, even though it may be a necessity of their business, so for their cookbooks they come up with how they would make a dish if they had all the time in the world. I long for the chef cookbook that tells me how they actually cook in their restaurants and at home, something kinda like this.

I think the 1/2-price raw bar (oysters, shellfish, orca platter, etc.) runs from 3-6 pm and 11pm-1am Mon-Thurs.

Duke's is readily available at the Giant in Old Town. And to stay on-topic, is the patio back open at Circle Bistro? A few weeks ago it was closed for renovations.

Prawns? Do tell.

I was there, on the early side, and it is the perfect Sunday dinner. The torte was a turtle pie and the strip diablo style was awesome.

Yes -- Five Guys.

I've been a few times since February and it has been great on every occasion. Certainly not a formal coat and tie place, more of an slightly upscale bistro and even less casual outside (jeans would be appropriate in either). I would recommend the duck confit salad or steak frites, or if you're really hungry, both.

2 Amy's has them as a panini right now.

Le Gaulois is offering them as both an appetizer and an entree, with the added bonus of a great outdoor patio to enjoy them on. You might also check with Eve or Vermilion. I also wonder if Eamonn's will be frying them up at some point during the season.

Those wanting to have dinner at the bar here will have to wait a while -- until things get settled, only a limited selection of appetizers will be available (crabcakes, terrine, caesar, etc.). The Sunday dinner starts June 3 and will feature fresh chickens so reservations must be made by the Friday before.

Michael keeps his prices down by running a wine shop next door (where he also seats private parties or overflow tables on really busy nights). I usually go for a Barbera and have been very pleased. There is a large lounge section at the corner that has its own menu of appetizers that are $2-3 less than in the main restaurant (and where the Serbian guy usually waits tables). If you end up here, I strongly recommend the deep-fried sausage, which is housemade, then dipped into a tempura-like batter for frying and topped with a balsamic reduction. You get four pieces of sausage for as many dollars, and they are damn tasty. Another small dish I like from the regular menu is the fennel with parmesan, which delivers exactly that: braised fennel finished under the broiler with a generous amount of parmesan cheese, for $7. One night they were serving wild boar, another hit, and IIRC it was priced at $16. I don't see the point in lamenting the state of Bebo when you have A la Lucia around. The prices are on par with Donna's flop, the service (in my experience) has always been wonderful and if anything has only improved, and the food, while perhaps not at the level of sophistication of some dishes at Bebo, is down-to-earth yet refined. I am very grateful to have it in the neighborhood.

Any updates from the board on Beijing? I am heading there soon.

Considering the amount of cream in that soup, I have a hard time believing it is good for you in the end. It is tasty, however. The Po Boy is fun. A plea: if you are going to get the prawns, whether in salad or appetizer form, please do not discard the heads without sucking out the goodness first. Or simply place the heads in a napkin and PM them to me. You don't realize what you are throwing away.

Right, that's what I meant. I guess the point is that even thought they are technically paid a salary or wage, it amounts to almost nothing. But is minimum tipped wage the industry standard? I would be surprised if, say, Corduroy paid its servers $3 an hour.

Some of us were discussing this last night. It seems that there are plenty of people writing in to his chat that he is recognized, but he somehow still maintains that he is anonymous when he dines out. Well I doubt it. As someone pointed out yesterday, it is highly in the restaurant's interest to know who Tom is and when he is coming in, and they reward staff for keeping tabs. And wasn't Kliman recognized all the times he ate at Bebo? Along these lines, a Bill Buford profile of Gordon Ramsay in the New Yorker a few weeks back noted that the staff recognized Frank Bruni on all three visits. Even Ruth Reichl with all her disguises and split personalities was recognized at Babbo (if I am remembering this correctly from 'Heat.') And what about Tim Carman? He has hung out with Jose Andres, Michel Richard, and Bob Kinkead for recent columns. I suspect for him anonymity as a restaurant critic isn't a big deal. (And one could reasonably argue that it shouldn't be.)

Aren't servers in the U.S. paid a base salary (which is much less than a European server's salary) and tips are on top of that?

(ETA: The idea that there are only "a few" DC chefs worthy of NYC status) is almost as annoying as your recent article that implied that Northern VA is populated with die-hard Republicans, despite copious amounts of demographic evidence to the contrary: "...So why, then, is Andy Shallal thinking about calling his new Busboys and Poets outlet in this Arlington neighborhood the same name as the original lefty mecca in Shaw? B&P, after all is named in honor of [Langston] Hughes. “The suburbs are becoming heavily populated with people that have come from the city,” says Shallal. “They choose to live in the suburbs, and yet they still want some of the amenities that the city has to offer. So we’re sort of bringing in a little bit of the city feel.” Besides, Shallal says, not every neighborhood in Virginia bleeds red. His evidence? One of his employees told him the ZIP code where he’s opening shop in late June “has the highest concentration of gays and lesbians in Virginia,” says Shallal..."

Re-bump. Are China Star and Thai Square still on?