Finatic

Paul Stearman has left Marcel's to go to Lyon Hall in Arlington!

location, location, location! Or not!

On 11/15/2017 at 3:22 PM, DaveO said:

Thanks for the reference above.  I sort of have the same feeling as KN as he described above and several other times.

The interior of Columbia Firehouse is so attractive I would spend a lot of time there regardless of the food quality.

In fact I did, when it was Portners and first converted into a beautiful restaurant.  I found it to be great at the bar and invariably good at dinner.  I can’t recall the food.  In fact I bet it was never memorable.    Geez I always loved dinning there though.  Go figure.

If this place gets a serious uptick on food it should do gangbusters.  Good luck

Wow! Portners! Was that 30 or 35 years ago? Am I getting old?

How many millions of dollars did his investors and landlord lose for his prior Restaurant that was only open for a few months?

Sorry to hear about your bad experience, but I think you are mad at the wrong person.  Ownership and management are responsible for training their employees!

I had lunch here last Saturday. Not really lunch, as they were only serving brunch. I was disappointed to be unable to try the clam dish that Tom Sietsema raved about. All new restaurants have issues getting their service correct, and Hummingbird did not disappoint in this regard. What surprised me were the issues with the food! They had run out of chicken salad and the crab and corn fritters! We ordered the classic Caesar, tzatziki and the ham and cheese. The tzatziki was okay. I have had better tasting Caesar dressing from a jar! The portion size of the ham and cheese was ridiculously small, and I am not sure how you can put gruyere cheese on anything and have it be so bland. Clearly not yet up to the Armstrongs' standards!

Vermillion is back!  Had lunch there the other day. I ordered the pasta with the lamb bolognese. It is offered in two sizes and I ordered the smaller one. It was absolutely delicious, and the portion size was perfect for me! $12 if I recall correctly.

Here is a super easy recipe for a tasty appetizer. Steam mussels as you normally would (white wine, shallots, etc). When they are done, separate the shells, place the mussels on the half shell on a cooking sheet, add a small dab of pesto (Costco's pre made works fine) and broil for a few seconds. I guarantee you they will not last!

18 hours ago, DonRocks said:

I get the family part, but "salmon filet as well as anyone in town?" Really?

I'm not doubting you; I'm just a little surprised that their salmon is that good, and may want to try it - I've had some awfully good salmon, especially when fresh Alaskan hits the market - seasonal Sockeye Salmon is gloriously red, and almost melts in your mouth. 

Is it "Kinship Salmon and Asparagus" good, or "Sweetwater Tavern Short Stack" good? (Both are fine, but there's a *huge* difference between the two.)

Not sure why every time I post something you feel the need to disagree with me. Sweetwater over cooks their salmon. Have not had it at Kinship, but I have been there a number of times. Landini's cooks it so it has a bit of a crust but melts in your mouth! Perhaps you should try it before commenting!

18 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

My guess is that "100 King" is enough of a power address where it needs to be a global chain, running an outlet as a loss leader (like Carluccio's, only I guess not). How can all the terrible, touristy restaurants on the north side of King Street, near the Potomac, survive for so long?

I hope you are not referring to Landini Brothers! It has been there almost forever, and is probably the premier local hangout. I have been going there for 35 years, +/-. Always treated like family, and they cook a salmon filet as well as any restaurant in town!

There dozens (if not more) of restaurants within blocks of that space! Why can nothing survive there?

With a title of Ocean Prime, this thread has gotten a little off topic. Let me try to bring it back. I had lunch here today with my sister. (Yes, that is my story and I am sticking with it!). I had the crab wedge salad which was 1/4 of a head of iceberg lettuce, a very generous portion of humongous lump crab meat, a little diced red onion, blue cheese and dressing.  Phenomenal! I could not finish it. My "sister" had the seafood salad. Not having tried it, it is a little harder for me to describe, but it had greens, shrimp and shellfish. Based upon how much of it she ate, it was really good. With 3 glasses of wine, the bill was $88 before tip. That does not seem that outrageous to me in this day and age! Extra points to whomever can figure out who had the two glasses of wine!

by the way, anyone complaining about the dining atmosphere in DC clearly has not been here as long as me!

I normally think their food and service is pretty good, but had the grouper special at Carlyle the other day and the fish was way over cooked.

1 hour ago, DPop said:

Couldn't agree more.  I know that Don has said in the past that corkage doesn't make sense at all ("are restaurants supposed to start letting you bring in your own food at some point as well?"), and I get his point, but the horrific mark-ups basically leave me the choice of drinking a middle of the road wine with my great meal or paying sometimes more than the cost of the whole meal to get a bottle that matches up to the food experience.

Sounds like he's doing something right....

In fact, there are many restaurants in south Florida that allow you to bring in your own catch and then will prepare it for you! I have many fond memories of eating Mahi Mahi prepared three or four different ways at the same meal!

I ate there years ago at a Madeira tasting dinner sponsored by Mannie Berk of the Rare Wine Company. At the time Plume was trying to get their first Michelin star, which they did. Because the Michelin rules or raters prefer a European style of service, the service to me seemed very stiff and impersonal. I recall the food being excellent!

By the way, it is really easy to make. You need really high quality tuna, which you can normally find at Union Market. There are literally thousands of recipes on the internet. If you serve it over rice, be certain that the rice has cooled completely, or it will begin cooking the tuna. I like a little really finely diced jalapeño in mine.

On 5/11/2017 at 0:04 PM, DonRocks said:

Don't forget also, that this is essentially eating a mound of Ahi Tuna, which is listed as "Near Threatened" as a species. 

I remember having Poke in Hawaii and loving it, but it was so long ago that I just don't remember it vividly.

Ahi tuna is not the name of the species. Ahi is a Hawaiian nickname for yellowfin, sort of like Chilean sea bass not being the species name. Before the marketing department came up with Chilean sea bass, it was known by it's real name, Patagonian toothfish. It only became threatened as a species when it got a "cute" name.

Anyone been yet? I love Marcel's!

4 hours ago, mtureck said:

But lobster and dover sole are top-shelf products that people have been conditioned to paying top dollar for.

$26 for a ham sandwich is simply a different mindset.

For real Dover sole, you are paying for the airfreight on top of the fish. Not sure you always get what you pay for when you order it. Fish in restaurants and stores is, I hear, the most frequently mislabeled food item. Having fished for decades, I can attest that this happens. Not sure whether it happens at the wholesale or retail level.  Living in the DC area, I never got the lobster thing. Maryland blue crab put lobster to shame in my mind. Then my friend, Jon Mathieson (formerly of 2941 and Inox, now head chef for the Redskins), prepared butter poached lobster for me! Wow! Most people over cook lobster, both professionals and amateurs.

4 hours ago, silentbob said:

Strawman IMO.

No one is saying that a >$200/pp meal should be available for <$50.  But is it to unreasonable to think that one could obtain a comparable level of quality for, say, $100 to $150?  Or a $100/pp meal for $40 to $60?  Because I too have been able to accomplish that in Tokyo (with great exchange rate, and eating at lunch), San Sebastian, Portland, Toronto (go strong USD!), and most recently Lisbon.  Or in cities with corkage-friendly policies.

I am going to go out on a limb here. The restaurant business is notoriously fickle with thin margins. We in the DC area do live in a high rent area. Whether you put a fine dining establishment at 16th and K, NW or a Burger King, your rent is going to be the same, although your build out costs will probably vary drastically! I have eaten at Mirabelle. It was phenomenal! I tried to go back, but could not get a reservation because it was booked solid. It may not be worth it to you, but it is apparently worth it to many other people. One size does not fit all. I personally will keep trying to go back. I WAS ASKED TO DELETE MY PRIOR LAST SENTENCE WHICH I DID!

Everyone wants a Bentley for the price of a Hyundai.  The world does not work that way. Fine dining demands the best ingredients and more labor. There are dozens, if not more, restaurants in our area producing phenomenal food, albeit not cheaply. You get what you pay for. We all have different tolerances for price points of food. I paid $1200 for dinner for two at the French Laundry years ago. It was horrible. I also paid $600 for dinner for two at Le Bernardin. I would go back in a heartbeat!

You are correct. It is nice to know. Do we really need another ice cream store? How about a wine bar that knows their subject and service!

Just what Old Town needs, another ice cream store. There are four or five within three blocks of each other around 100 King street!

Wow.  Does not sound good.  Never understood the whole lobster thing for the longest time.  I would order blue crab over lobster every time. Then my friend, Jon Mathieson, now head chef for the Redskins, served me butter poached lobster not over cooked. An epiphany! 

I had lunch there yesterday. When we made reservations there 4 or 5 days earlier, the only available times were 11:30 am or 1:00 pm or later. I was surprised when I arrived at 12:45 that easily one half of the tables were unoccupied. They must still be operating on a soft opening schedule to iron out all of the wrinkles in the kitchen and the service. That being said, the place is beautiful. I ordered the yellowfin tuna nicoise. It came on an oval plate with a good sized portion of confit tuna, nicely dressed greens with thin slices of purple fingerling potatoes and a ramekin filled with (from top to bottom) extremely finely diced boiled egg whites, extremely finely diced olives, and red pepper purée.  A clever play on the standard nicoise, and delicious to boot! My host ordered the bouillabaisse, and based on how much was left it was delicious too.  After we finished eating we went to the bar for another glass of wine. I asked the bartender for something different and he suggested I try the Michael Shaps Petit Manseng from Virginia. I consider myself fairly well schooled in the area of wine, but I had never heard of the winery or the varietal before.  I am normally skeptical of Virginia wines, but decided to try it.  The wine was delicious, but probably more suited to drink with food than as an aperitif.  I will definitely be returning. Dinner service starts next week, I think.