Pizzaandbrew

Evening Star has cask ale.

The building was sold but the article doesn't make any mention of the future of the restaurant.  Given their lease probably transfers to the new owners, the restaurant may have been in the equation for what made the purchase make sense.  

On 10/24/2018 at 12:26 PM, curiouskitkatt said:

Recommendation on where to dine on Thanksgiving

Hill Country Barbecue Market in Penn Quarter has a cool mix of the traditional and stuff off the beaten path.  Awesome packages available for pick-up and also open for All You Can Eat all day with TVs to boot.

You mentioned it was takeout.  Any chance it just didn't hold well?

On 3/31/2018 at 9:59 PM, Ericandblueboy said:

What Beard award has Foss won?  

That release you posted said ‘his James Beard award winning cuisine.”  So what did he win?

Not a Beard award per se but recognition of a guy who knows his stuff.

"Chef Magazine Special Report: Chefs Nationwide Reflect on 2009, and Offer Their Predictions for Next Year" on chefmagazine.blogspot.com

Weather permitting, we'll be out there tomorrow.  It's a work in progress but outside, fun, green, adult beverages and good food..

Is everyone going to understand he was "targeted" or get his humor?  I have the utmost respect for his food and his restaurant.  In this forum, just questioning what the ROI on a neighborhood argument is?  Don's comment about hits on donrockwell today may indicate "all news is good news" and could very well be right.  Simply offering a different perspective.

The restaurant clearly has neighbors who see the restaurant as one.  I've operated in Glover Park, Barracks Row and 14th Street.  The people around you might not be your biggest customers but if you don't treat them as you would someone who lives next door to you, right or wrong, you're in for trouble.  

12 minutes ago, funkyfood said:

I'm less likely to go to corduroy than I was this morning

As the kids say, "Boom!".  The folks coming to the convention center are in and out of town. They don't show up at ANC hearings and they don't call the Health Department.  Your neighbors do.

Whatever reasons you have for being confident he is correct, it doesn't make his response right.  Especially (but not just because) when you have a neighborhood place (and regardless of what he thinks, this story illustrates he clearly does), doing right is more important than being right.   

Miles is really talented and Cliff is back in their fam too (Penn Commons).  Miles might not be able to make lumpia as easily as Cliff but he's not on an island.  Hope they find a way to work in the smoked lobster with crispy flash fried spinach...  

Hiring people without experience isn't a problem.  If management is any good at all, they can train anybody how to carry a tray or take orders or learn about product; it is far harder to train people to smile, give a shit or finish a shift as strong as they started.  I've worked with/hired/employed more than a handful of brilliant folks from there who were and are real pros - including Greg Engert (NRG) and Nahem Simon (Jack Rose).  I also interacted with plenty of others who couldn't have been any less interested.  IMHO, it is always the person, not the experience that matters and hiring  for the quality of the person is a reflection of management.  Hiring for experience is lazy.

This promotion had a line out the door and down the block in Chinatown last Tuesday.  

Oct 3, 2016 - "How To Get Free ShopHouse Every Tuesday in October" by Rachel Sadon on dcist.com

12 minutes ago, alexandria1 said:

A cocktail that's too avant-garde for a "vintage pizza bistro", but too folksy for an "american kitchen + spirit"?

That's a very specific off-thread jab

Penn Quarter location closed yesterday.  

Oh, Don, never underestimate the power of greed. :-)

Great American has existed for 40 years and has 14 restaurants.  You can take shots at their culinary aspirations or creativity but to say they are looking for easy cash grabs is unfair.  They shoot for consistency and have brought anything and everything in hospitality that is reduce-able to a science to a science.  In this regard they have an undeniable track record of success.  Celebrity Chefs "strike while the iron is hot" and members here don't flinch.  #doublestandard

You'll be doing yourself a favor if you *don't* turn up your speakers and click on their website, which features a Valentine's Day menu (with fake wine) and blaring - and I mean blaring - opera. Don't succumb to the temptation and click on the link in my previous sentence.

You go to the Victor Cafe completely for the experience.  The food is fine but it is not what you'll remember.  It is for Mario Lanza what the Brickskellar was for beer (and better maintained).  Victor's is as Philadelphia as Geno's, Pat's or Jim's.

Carlos and I started at the same time at Evening Star Cafe under Chef Brian Hooyenga.

I'm very excited for Carlos! Congratulations homie!

Ditto!  So happy to see Carlos stepping into the spotlight.  Well deserved...

So our family is gathering for the un-Super Bowl party to celebrate my inlaws 40th anniversay but we've been slow to organize. So now I need your help - we're looking for a nice restaurant in Montgomery County that has a private room for 10 people (8 adults and 2 small kids) available this Sunday, Feb 3rd. Due to dietary issues, we need some place that has some vegetarian and fish options (but not Asian) - probably American, Italian, French, or Middle Eastern would fit the bill. So I know it is somewhat specific, but we need your help - suggestions please!

So bummed I didn't catch up with this earlier.  We would have been thrilled to have had you at matchbox in rockville.  Glad to hear all went well.

Chris

Jennifer left in December.

Really enjoyed my first dinner experience here with my wife last night.  Scallop and Tuna Ceviches to start set the bar high and my wife and I shared the Skirt Steak and Short Rib from the asados section along with sides of brussel sprouts and braised lentils.  Nothing left us disappointed.

Support service was solid.  Howard, our server who told us he's been there since Day 1, was exceptional.  When he let us know the Willamette Pinot Noir I ordered was unavailable, he suggested Salton Volpi PN from Brazil as comparable.  Knowing nothing about Brazilian wines, I deferred to Howard and was thrilled with the substitution on its own merits.  I was blown away when he dropped the check and the substitute was almost exactly 1/2 of the price of the wine I had originally ordered.  Only thing even close to a complaint was for the price point ($150 for two on food alone without desert), you are right on top of the tables around you (my wife's coat and purse was intermingled with the woman at the table next to us and we were easily able to answer the questions of the friendly party of four on the other side us as they ogled our food; support staff knocked (but fortunately did not knock over) items on our table multiple times as they served the tables around us.  Our server regularly needed to relocate if at our table for more than a minute or two at a time.

I'll be thinking about the food long after I forget those petty quibbles though.

Last night was Nate Waugaman's final service at Tallula.

The talented Waugaman singlehandedly raised Tallula back up to where it was under Nathan Anda: at the top of the Clarendon listings in the Dining Guide. Unfortunately, that can no longer be the case, as one talented chef can greatly affect this small kitchen - for now, I'm demoting Tallula and EatBar out of conservatism. I have been asked to remain silent about Nate's future position, and must honor that request.

Of note: the extraordinary talent that Neighborhood Restaurant Group has been able to secure to work here: Nathan Anda, Andrew Markert, Barry Koslow (thanks Christopher, sorry Barry!), Brian Wilson, and Nate Waugaman. If they want to (and, at this point, with so many large moneymakers dwarfing tiny places such as Tallula, it's a *big* if), they will find a capable replacement; for now, some of their Virginia locations need shoring up.

Don't forget Barry Koslow...

Is anyone else in this boat? I like Matchbox's beer selection, the sliders and the onion straws on top of the sliders, but truly that's all that gets me back. The pizzas I've had range from "meh" to not good. The curry chicken salad sandwich is OK, but I don't crave it. The other sandwiches are lamb/beef meatbombs. For my eating habits, I'd prefer a selection of chicken or turkey sandwiches, but that's just me. The menu hasn't changed much, if at all, since the Mosaic branch opened. Do they tend to mix the menu up occasionally in the other locations?

Dr. Xmus - You'll be seeing menu changes very shortly at all the matchbox outposts.  We've committed to 2 menu changes a year as a general rule of thumb.  Our Executive Chef in Merrifield, Daniel Watterson, is as antsy about the first menu change in Merrifield since we opened in April as you are (he inherited the opening menu).  With stops at The Inn at Little Washington and The Ashby Inn on his resume, Daniel's food is simple, rustic and consistently delicious.  I'll let you know when the changes go into effect.

I just read this, so let me offer my thoughts, for whatever they're worth.

I was with you, up until the penultimate paragraph. It may (or may not) be true that "the manager put it on by mistake," but I would have taken the server at her word, paid it (assuming you wanted to leave 20%), and thanked her for checking - she already knew you were bothered by it, so the additional comment seems superfluous to me (but again, I wasn't there, so I can't really "judge" the situation).

That having been said, I also read Christopher's thoughtful response, and I agree with him more than i agree with me.

I would be very surprised if the manager auto-tipped a party of four - I hope Biergarten Haus reads this.

Without wanting to belabor the point much more or wage a war of semantics, I would also offer if a server says they "can take it off" a check, they didn't need a manager to put it on the check.  At the very least, the server was innocently delinquent in failing to review the check before presenting it.  Worst (and probable case), this is a server targeting holes in a business' system and the people who patronize (or used to) the business.

Can't speak for Biergarten Haus or their operating system, but operators on the whole have become incredibly sensitive to the ability of their employees to violate the trust placed in them by guests.  Unfortunately, the reality is many people are out for the quick buck regardless of how shortsighted or inscrupulous it may be.  Many operating systems have safeguards in check which (at the owner/operator's discretion) require managers to add the "auto gratuity" for a server.  My gut would tell me that, regarding saf's experience, a manager wouldn't even be inclined to look at a table of four's check without reason much less add the auto-gratuity by mistake.  This sounds like a server who knew they could manipulate the system.  SAF, as an operator, I would always beg you to ask or question circumstances like these, not only so you keep your well-deserved money in your pocket but so the dishonest people are taken out of the system and get what they deserve.  

Best of luck to the entire team. Does anyone know who the Chef de Cuisine is?

Brittany Frick, I believe, is the name on the menu board at the door.