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Josh

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  1. Josh
    Yes...we discussed it at some length. And I started the discussion last time. [Merged into this thread. Ed.] ETA: The addition of Rose's Luxury and the hopefully soon-tp-come Maketto make me even more excited about the culinary landscape of my little corner of the world.
  2. Josh
    Ugh. This again?
  3. Josh
    What a great place. We took an out of town friend last night around 9...the wait was about 20 minutes. We shied away from the family style mains this time around, so that we could sample nearly all of the small plates. A few notes: last night was the last of the strawberry pasta. They have something new and exciting coming in its place. The kitchen sent out a gratis order of cacio e pepe (thanks!) and we were back in Rome. I can find nothing about the version here that didn't match the best we had in Italy. The pork and lychee salad? Amazing. I tried to nitpick, but still came up empty. The sweetness of the lychee and coconut foam was perfectly offset by the spiciness of the pork. Total winner of a dish. The fried chicken with honey and benne seeds was obscenely juicy from brining, but still tasted like chicken (not always a guarantee). The breading retained some crispness even with the honey. Moves from great to greater with a dash of Crystal. Seems strange that a highlight would be the bread service, but hey. That shallot butter is some kind of special. We had much, much more that was uniformly good. Service was very informal, which fit the mood of the table well. No doubt, we'll return very soon, and often.
  4. Josh
    Say hi next time . I happened to be there last night for dinner. Agreed on the cocktail front. I had the "Gin Revived," essentially a great Corpse Reviver #2 with Green Hat's winter gin. I've had a bottle of that Root liquer around the house for over a year now. I fall in and out with it, but ultimately just decided to treat it like an American amaro and drink it accordingly. I'll be back in to try Grandpa's Candy. (That sounds really creepy.)
  5. Josh
    I brought my (14 month old) son for lunch the other day because he absolutely devours the veggie quiche every time we give it to him, and he was going through some sort of 2-day hunger strike. Short story short: I got maybe a bite myself before he took it down. But the real point of my posting is to discuss the cheesesteak. Damn...that is a sandwich. The meat was perfectly spiced (heavy on the black pepper, which I liked), and the roll had some heft to it...stood up well to the mountain of goodness contained within. No knock on Taylor Charles, as that's tasty in its own way, but I would need a really compelling reason to walk East to TC for a lunchtime cheesesteak anytime in the future. The fries that came with were a bit of a low-light...mostly soggy and limp. I've had the fries many other times without that problem, so I know that was just a "meh" batch. I wish I were around the neighborhood more for lunch...the young lady at a table across from us had the charcuterie sandwich and that looked to be a beast as well.
  6. Josh
    Nice report eatruneat! The Ma Po at Jin River is hands down my favorite version in the area. I really should've posted about this place since I eat there probably once a month. Sounds like you did well in the appetizer department, but the beef tendon is a great way to start your meal as well.
  7. Josh
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sqBYziYBAs
  8. Josh
    This reminded me of the dinner my wife and I had at Akelare in San Sebastian. The first thing you receive upon sitting down is a tray of "toiletries." An onion sponge, tomato basil hand soap (in a pump dispenser), a bottle of mouthwash with little plastic cup (turned out to be a cocktail with campari), a container of face cream (creamy cheese), and a plastic packet of bath salts (dried shrimp bits in an edible bag). Pretty cool, and set the tone for a wild ride of a lunch.
  9. Josh
    What a dispiriting thread this has turned into. I "liked" mdt's initial post, because I felt like he took the time to describe his experience of the meal. Was every course dissected? No, but enough description was given to understand his opinion and experience. Yes, there was a "meh" here, and a generic statement of opinion there, but all in all, I thought the quality of the post was on par with most of what else is written around these parts. The level of vitriol being thrown his way due to this one post is ridiculous. Mr. Cooper, I appreciate the desire to have substantive critiques in order to improve, but really, if that's what you're looking for, the attitude you have displayed in this exchange is not the way to accomplish it. I imagine that had you prodded the poster with probing questions about specific aspects of his review that bothered you, (perhaps via a private message) you may have gotten the answers you wanted.
  10. Josh
    As I understand this site, it is a community for food lovers to exchange thoughts and opinions on their dining and cooking experiences. It is not a focus group.
  11. Josh
    Hmm...I want to believe, but mark me down as extremely skeptical.
  12. Josh
    I'm sad to see the original go, and feel badly for the giant hole that will be left in the Cleveland Park neighborhood, but am selfishly happy to see the goodness move to a neighborhood closer to home.
  13. Josh
    I'm not so sure H St. NE has a higher than usual closure rate, but if you wanted to argue that it did, I agree with DCDuck and say that it's primarily due to unseasoned restaurateurs with not-fully-baked concepts of what they're opening. This probably stems from your first point, although, that is changing fast.
  14. Josh
    I went for a work function last night...Wow, this place is old school. The food was fine, but not worth the price, unless (like me), you're eating on someone else's dime. I had a fricasse of oysters and bacon, and the seared sweetbreads with a demi glace. The oyster dish was forgettable, tasting mainly of butter and cream, but the sweetbreads were nicely cooked. The sauce had a nice, if generic, flavor, but was on the sticky/gummy side. I had no idea that this place existed before yesterday, and I'll probably live out the rest of my days without heading back that way. If you're looking to drop some dough on grandma, and she still sees DC as seedy, I guess you could do worse than La Ferme.
  15. Josh
    Yeah, I stopped into Peregrine at UM right at 8am yesterday to pick up some beans, and saw Erik and a couple other guys getting things going...I thought it was awfully early for them to be there, but then saw the "Street food breakfast" announcement on their twitter feed. I love how they're keeping us all on our toes here.
  16. Josh
    We've been ordering take out from Zenebech pretty steadily over the past couple of months. This weekend was the first stumble. Our standard MO is to order the veggie sampler, and then a 50/50 with 2 meat dishes. We've enjoyed the kitfo, a few different tibs (really liked the dried derek tibs), and the goat stew. This was the first time we ordered the gored gored (raw, of course)...probably won't be getting that one again. The seasoning was fantastic, but several (most?) of the pieces of beef had terribly chewy sinew in them, totally ruining the experience. Bummer. I think we'll stick with the kitfo from here on out, which we've always enjoyed.
  17. Josh
    Funny story about Robuchon in Vegas...A friend and I did the tasting menu there a few years back. We were sitting along the bar, directly in front of the large flat top station. We were having a great time, devouring (and drinking) everything put in front of us, until we came to a grilled fish (I believe it was sole) dish. It was dry and waaaaaaaaaaay too salty (coming from 2 guys with relatively salty palates), and neither of us had more than 2 bites. We didn't say anything, as we were otherwise enjoying the night, but an astute chef/manager quickly noticed and asked what the issue was. After we explained, we watched him try a small taste of the fish, throw the plate into the trash, and walk directly to the large flat top where the cook had about 10-12 filets laid out cooking. The chef/manager said something that couldn't have been kind, and summarily swept all the filets off the grill into a trash can, and sent the cook packing. Like, actually told the guy to leave. We were mortified. About 10 minutes later, a new version of the dish came out, and was absolutely delicious.
  18. Josh
    Last night: Broccoli parmesan soup (from food52.com) Ham, taleggio, and pear sandwiches Tonight I'm cooking for a crowd: Malbec-braised Roseda Farms shortribs from the awesome guys at Harvey's Market Baked polenta
  19. Josh
    Wow...sounds like the whole menu is worth exploring. I have work to do.
  20. Josh
    Kliman has listed this place in his chats recently. Spit-roasted pork sounded like a good idea today, so I stopped in for lunch. Yia Yia's is a smallish place, and somewhat awkardly laid out. You order at a counter, and then shuffle around being in everyone's way for 10 minutes or so until your order is ready. There are several tables as well, although it looked as though the food was still delivered in takeout containers. The menu is succinct. There are 3 options for gyro: chicken, pork, and beef+lamb, all roasting on vertical spits behind the counter. The pork looked the best of the three today, and that's what I chose. The pork was well-seasoned, and as promised, there were plenty of pleasantly charred crispy bits, along with more tender pieces. The sandwich was served on thick, soft, pita with a healthy schmear of tzatziki and a small handful of chopped tomatoes and onions. It's definitely filling, though the hand cut fries I saw people munching on may be worth a try on a return visit. If you're in a hurry for lunch, it may be a good idea to call in your order ahead of time, as there seemed to be a good bit of confusion expediting the orders, and had I not remained visible while waiting, I think my order would've taken much longer to come out. Anyone else in DR-land stopped in here?
  21. Josh
    Thanks for the tip...that will be my strategy soon.
  22. Josh
    The beer scolding seems very odd to me, since I thought these places were just arms of the same umbrella establishment. More than a few times, I've brought (with explicit permission) my unfinished beer from The Pug upstairs to Toki. I wonder now if that is a true policy, or a gentlemen's agreement between the joints. I would've done the same thing you did, and probably wouldn't have reacted as nicely to the "scold."
  23. Josh
    Contrary to Escoffier's assessment, I know Japanese cuisine very well, and enjoy eating it...and I enjoyed our meal at Daikaya today. It was only brunch, and a short one at that, since the little dude decided to go into full toddler meltdown, but it was enough to convince me to come back. The 2 high points of the brunch (and now my 2 favorite brunch dishes in DC) were the chicken karaage with red bean-filled waffle, and the "everything" onigiri with smoked salmon, salmon sashimi, and ikura. Both were original, and more importantly, delicious. The miso bacon was also salty, salty goodness. The grilled eggplant (off the regular menu) wasn't much of anything. The mentaiko donburi was good, but could've used more mentaiko. Of course, unless something comes with 1/4 cup of mentaiko on top of it, I am of the opinion it needs more mentaiko. We'll be back sans toddler and with friends to sample more of the regular dinner menu, and get into some of the cocktails.
  24. Josh
    Had lunch here today with my son and was instantly transported back to Rome. The restaurant wasn't busy at all, and we enjoyed a nice leisurely meal of a perfect marinara pie (for him) and a capricciosa for me (salami, olives, artichoke hearts). We've been to Menomale several times in the past, and have always been impressed. This was the first visit where I can state with no reservations that it is my favorite pie in the area. (OK, fine...tied with Pupatella, but Menomale is 5 minutes from home vs. 20.) I see no daylight between the quality of ingredients and execution we had today and what we had in Italy. Bravo. Our server, Angela was great. With a mainly empty restaurant, I've often experienced "extreme" service, either none at all, or way too much hovering. No problems here.
  25. Josh
    We snuck in right at the wire, and had dinner on Monday night. I would enthusiastically put Maketto on the same pedestal as Little Serow. (I unfortunately haven't eaten at Pok Pok yet.) We had the menu posted by Porcupine above, with 3 additions: a spicy tripe dish with crispy rice dumplings, 2 skewers of grilled duck hearts, and a steamed bao with braised pork shoulder. The entire meal was a hit from start to finish. I loved the combination of the Okonomiyaki with the heat of the Thai chili paste aioli. The tripe was absolutely delicious, and my only complaint was that there was so much of it, and it was so good, that I filled myself up and had trouble finishing the rest of the meal. It was perfectly soft, with no rubbery texture, and played well with the crispiness of the dumplings. The sauce had a sweetness in addition to the spice, which was nicely cut with acidity from the pickled bok choy. Definitely a winning dish. The Cambodian dishes were great as well, with the fermented whitefish paste edging out the simple but flavorful soup. The closest dish to a "miss" was the ma po tofu. I'm admittedly a purist when it comes to my beloved ma po, and this is anything but a traditional take. Maketto's version is made with both fresh and fermented tofu, which lends a healthy "funk" to the entire dish that was off-putting at first. I did come around to enjoying it, but it wasn't a favorite. I absolutely cannot wait for this to open closer to home.
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