B.A.R.

30 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

And what makes you think it was a "he?"  <--- You have every right to hate me for this.

Because we are generally less scrupulous! I think CMS needs to give a far more detailed account of what happened.

Can someone explain to me why they cannot determine who cheated and who did not? Obviously they know the Master who gave out the information. Who did he tell?

That person needs to have the results stripped? Was there an unusual amount of people that passed the tasting? Did everyone pass the tasting? This seems to be an overly Draconian step....and there is NO guarantee that those that passed the test this year, legitemately, could pass the test next week, or four weeks hence.

Having tasted many wines blind and gone through numerous tasting classes with profile grids and deductive reasoning....blind tasting is a bitch! Theory is memorization (a ton of it). Service is rather silly if you ask me and too subjective. Blind tasting? Even the most educated of palates need a wee bit of luck* to get through that.

*Not luck as in "guess" but luck as in familiarity with the specific vintage, varietal, & appellation

Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us and I have read several of your outstanding reviews since Don began retweeting them.

The internet is all about car crashes and trainwrecks. Disasters always interest people. So, if you feel comfortable disclosing, what was the worst, or most disappointing, 3-star restaurant you have dined at? Thanks!

It's gone....what did it say?

14 hours ago, Keithstg said:

I can’t remember seeing a game penalty in any setting either as a player or a spectator. Point penalties sure, but those were few and far between. 

Me neither. Ever.

She was clearly the better player in the match and her groundstrokes were deep, heavy, and blazing . Ive been watching tennis for a long time and cannot ever remember seeing a game penalty code misconduct in any match, and I can certainly remember lots of times players have said far, far worse to an umpire with no repercussions. The umpire insinuated himself into the match when there was really no need, or precedent, for him to do so. I agree with the Sally Jenkins piece in the Washington Post. 

It is a shame, because Osaka played well. Also, terrified to click the "squeal like a sodomized chipmunk" link above.

City should roll through Group F as well

I have a 7 year old 50,000 BTU convection oven, natural gas that is free for anyone who wants to come get it in downtown DC. A Few notes:

* It has had a hard life but is fully operational. Thermostat and temperature control harnesses replaced in last 6 months

*Needs a good cleaning

* DOES NOT have a stand

Looks like this but without stand. Please PM me if interested.

convection oven.webp

The restaurant industry is incredibly challenging with razor thin margins. What works in one neighborhood, city, region, state can be an abject failure in a similar locale. Looking from the outside, his expansion was far too broad and fast, with too many different restaurants and service concepts. Had he (they) been able to maintain this level of expansion and success, it would have defied all odds. They seemed to have stopped paying rent (and possibly other things) far earlier than the press reports regarding harassment.

I am unsure what he or his investors were thinking, but clearly they saw in Chef Isabella a golden goose who could do no wrong, and obviously developers and banks thought so too. This is particularly mystifying to me, as he became famous (notorious?) for being depicted as a boor and mysoginist on a reality TV show. Those business plans and pitches must have been all-world.

The "cauliflower steak with risotto and broccoli rabe" I had last night was the worst dish I have ever had in a restaurant. Half a barely blanched head of cauliflower, dusted with smoked papika and thrown under a salamander. Farro risotto that tasted of nothing. Bitter, greasy broccoli rabe piled up on a plate with I swear to god random other green veg that seemed to be eust left in saute pan.For a restaurant "founded" by "farmers", they dont seem to give a fuck about vegetables.

The beef tartare  was a debacle. Served more like a gigantic bruschetta with a hint of meat, smattering of capers, and lots of "deviled egg". Not good.

Cocktails were very good! I had both versions of the pisco sour (preferred the one with star anise) and the "millionaire" with absinthe and gin. The bread pudding was very good as well.

Glad to see the farmer's are raking in the cash. Go for a cocktail. Leave to eat.

Had the tuna tartare and mussels at the bar before a show and it was pretty good. They have a nice wines BTG program as well, although everything there is about 20% more than it should be

Right. Must be an insurance thing. I can see why they would be unsalable to damaged labels, etc...but not undrinkable

why would the wine need to be thrown away due to a flood?

On 1/24/2018 at 3:49 PM, Marty L. said:

they'd sell countless more loaves if they were available from, say, 8 to 6. 

Making bread this way takes crazy amounts of time, between 10 an 16 hours per loaf (or batch of), depending on loaf. I would imagine the time they sell bread is a direct result of the time they put in prior to baking, factoring in multiple stages of fermentation and proofing. I am an amateur baker and will start making bread at 3pm to have out of the oven at 7am and still be able to sleep 6-7 hours.

On 1/28/2018 at 12:49 PM, DonRocks said:

I'm going to take something of a contrarian position and praise Seylou to High Heaven for what they're doing. Yes, the prices are stratospheric, and no, the business plan is probably not sustainable, but I applaud them for sticking with their guns, and for trying to do something truly special in this world full of mediocrity.

Amen.

The bread is exceptional, with a deep, heavily charred crust and a ridiculously moist crumb (the hydration percentage may be 75%+). The sour tang in the Pain au Levain is pronounced.The Rustica has a dense, yet spider-webby crumb and delicious nutty flavor. I have not torn apart the baguette yet but will when I get home.This bread may not be for for everyone, but it is the highest quality bread I have had in quite some time.

As Don knows, I am kind of into bread. I started baking bread after reading an article about WSU's bread lab a few years ago. I had not seen this before and am heading over right now. Dialing Uber!

I have a super-duper man crush on Poivrot Farci

On 6/20/2018 at 6:36 PM, PollyG said:

"this meal was prepared by immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal, Mexico, and Guatemala.  Termination of the Temporary Protected Status program for workers from El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua will cause a restaurant labor shortage in the coming years?"  In order to avoid ICE harassment, the card would likely need to include a statement that the restaurant uses E-Verify to confirm that all workers are entitled to work in the US.  

Almost all TPS recipients receive an EAD (Employment Authorization Document) at the same time. There are roughly 35,000 TPS recipients from El Salvador alone in the DC Metropolitan area, and they are huge contributors in the restaurant, hospitality, landscaping, construction, and renovation industries (to name a few) throughout the region.

I *believe* that legally, if you call an automatic, extra charge a gratuity, then it must go to the server, but if you call it a service fee, it can be split up among many members of the service team, including managers, or even a portion kept by the establishment.

Service charges are also subject to tax. Since this is "pre-tax" my calculation is $165 + $33 + $19.80 = $217.80

Still worth it because Komi rocks

I wonder how the street closures affect the restaurants in the area? It would seem to me if you are a Bar, it's good, but if you are Proof....not so good?

I am very much in favor of paying a living wage to all workers and changing from a tipped minimum wage to just minimum wage would go a long way towards that. The costs of this would absolutely be borne by the consumer, as very few restaurants could absorb the financial hit wage increase would cause, without significantly raising prices. A 100 seat restaurant that serves lunch and dinner seven days a week with approximately 12 tipped staff working each day, would see an etsimated increase of $300k in payroll, mandatory sick leave, and PTEB expenses over what they are currently paying ($3.33 vs $11.50).

DC is an expensive city to dine in already (primarily due to rent) and hyper focused on the expense account crowd. This would seriously hurt the small, independent restaurants.

13 hours ago, DonRocks said:

Although we can cordially disagree about the virtues of Bell's Two-Hearted Ale, .....

#FakeNews

One of the most important restaurants to open in the area in the last two decades. Surely a loss to the dwindling Old Town dining scene but very happy that the Armstrongs and their team have new, and old, ventures going strong.

I have a new neighbor whose dog is Harry Houdini. Escapes all the time and frequently is captured by myself or other neighbors and held until the owners get home. They gave me a bottle of wine as a thank you, which I graciously accepted, thinking it would be plonk. Went to the bag an hour later and removed the tissue paper, and saw the capsule of the wine. Wow.

Smiling, I pulled the bottle from the bag to see it was a 2013 RdV Lost Mountain. Certainly a generous gift for being neighborly and an hour of dog sitting. a few days later I was chatting with another neighbor, who also captured the dog and also got a bottle of wine as a gift. Excitedly, I asked what they received. "No, idea. You know we don't care about wine" So I asked to take a peak. They got a bottle of Mark West Pinot Noir.

Now, I was intrigued. The next time I saw the dog owners I thanked them for the gracious gift, and asked them if they were wine aficionados. They like to drink wine but "really don't know much about it". Turns out, they were just re-gifting wines left at their house or given to them! I told them the wine they gave me was quite good, hard to acquire, and very expensive....offering to give it back. They chuckled and declined, saying "you'll seem to appreciate it more than we will" and that was that.

I have had two terrible experiences at Halal Guys. The gumbo at Fat Tuesdays is decent. Bangkok Golden will do in a pinch. You can pretty much ignore every other venue that serves food