B.A.R.

I just aspirated my coffee.

Not if you're the O.E.D.

I'll have to try them again. I stopped in around the holidays to get some wine and cheese for a party I was heading to. Quite literally, the cupboards were completely bare. Aside from mass produced plonk and frat boy beers, there was nothing in the store worth drinking. And there was no "gourmet food" anywhere in sight, save for Route 11 potato chips. The gentleman working there explained to me that they "Just ran out of a lot of things" as if four tour busses had departed as soon as I pulled in the parking lot. I figured they would be out of business soon, and never went back. I'll have to poke my head in there this weekend.

....because man sandals are just prehistoric Crocs.

Don't be too sure That was me. I clealy remember the encounter and how he looked because at that moment I had a decision to make. Do I not follow the rule and decide "you look good enough" and seat him. Or do I follow the rule and turn him away, thereby relieving myself of making decisions on guests attire that some could view as arbitrary. I eventually got rid of the rule altogether, with nary a customer complaint. In my years manning the front of upscales restaurants, there was no shortage of perfectly atrocious attire that fell within the guidelines of the dress code. And there were many instances where guests were turned away, despite looking clean, polished, or presentable, because they were in violation of the "rule". My decision to lessen the dress code requirements was because (1) I found the hard and fast rules to be constrictive, (2) the rule was were detrimental to my business, (3) I thought the restaurant should strive to be inclusive, rather than exclusive.It was a nice restaurant, and 99% of the guests STILL chose to dress up. I honestly cannot remeber a guest complaining about the attire of another guest in the five years after the rule was removed.

Terry- I've never been to Zola Wine and Kitchen. What about the venue and staff made you think of this unique tasting format?

Cheese (yet to be selected), various chacruterie.

Terry- Thanks for joining us and this sounds fantastic. I assume all of the pertinent details are at the Zola website? You single-handedly opened up my mind, world, and stomach to the joys of riesling, for which I am forever indebted. Hopefully the DR.com community can tear themselves away from "Dress Code" gate and realize you are here. As an aside, I have not picked my wines for father's day consumption yet. Any recommendations from your latest imports?

FYI - Terry Theise is in the house. Check out Events & Gatherings.......now, back to our originally scheduled programming, joined in progress

If the restaurant chooses to seat an underdressed guest, it is THEIR FAULT, not the guests.I used to be maitre d' of a fancy restaurants. Jackets required, no jeans. A very well dressed gentleman came in, looked better than half the people already seated. Resplendent in a lovely Saville Row jacket, impeccably tailored french cuff shirt, Italian loafers, and.....(gulp) jeans. Me: "I'm sorry sir, but we don't allow jeans in our dining room." Him: "But these are Armani jeans" (stated in 1991, when $300 denim was a rarity) Me: "Sir, it does not matter who made the jeans or how much they cost. We don't allow jeans. I'm sorry." Him: "That's bullshit" It was MY decision to honor my patrons who I had told, ahead of time what the dress code was. Had I sat the man in question, and other patrons were upset by it, that would have been on me.

It will have been three years since Galileo closed until this incarnation reopens. I would say the dining landscape in DC has changed dramatically over that period of time. We have seen DC become a benchmark dining destination within the States. We have a seen the rise of many dynamic and innovative homegrown chefs. We have been overrun by "big name chef's" looking for their slice of the pie (Ducasse, Ripert, Puck, etc.). And we have seen the economy falter. Bring your A game.

To summarize: Some on the board feel it is a diner's responsibility to "dress their best" when at fine dining restaurants. Others feel you should wear what is comfortable. Still more feel that it is the restaurant who should be the arbitor of what is, or is not, appropriate. Some on the board feel that other opinions are elitist and snobby. Those holding these opinions are thought of as pompous dickheads. Those that are in the "dress up" contingent feel the "dress down" group are uneducated asshats. Michael Landrum is sure this can all be hashed out over two hits of acid and an endless loop of Caddyshack. BlakeG thinks Hitler is involved. I am surprised Joe H hasn't weighed in, and can't wait 'til this thread is locked down.

Please name that deli! I have found no redeeming deli's in my 'hood.

Escoffiers comments didn't seem rude to me, just snarky........and snark IS the official currency of DonRockwell.com Now, saying my hometown of Fairfax has NO REDEAMING QUALITIES, those are fighting words

I'll admit, I am horribly vain. My vanity may be exceeded only by my wife's. We like to dress up and go out to "dine" and we like to be casual and go out to "eat". Regardless of whether we are dressed up or dressed casually, we always enjoy good food. Sometimes we even stumble upon a restauarant when we hadn't planned on "dining" and seem under dressed. Oh the horror. So we ask if it's alright to dine in our current attire. And if the restaurant says OK, I don't have the slightest idea why it would bother someone who was dining, say, next to me, or across the room from me, or in the next room from me. If the misses and I decide to get dressed up because we want to look good and feel good, what a stranger might be wearing four tables away from my wife doesn't effect my night a bit. I am dining with her, not them, and she's hot.

It's my home, so that's kind of redeeming . And the schools are great as well. On the food front......Tippy's Tacos at the corner of Germantown road and Lee Highway is good, cheap eats.....Blue Ocean for Sushi in the Trader Joe's shopping center...Sakoontra and Panisa Thai for, well, Thai......Woodland's and Bombay Bistro for Indian......Raffagino's in Burke for Italian, and La Dolce Vita isn't great, but is a fun an moderately priced Italian.....Burger and a beer at Artie's bar (the last still good GAR restaurant).....Two must do's, however: Lunch at the Wegman's seafood bar- $2.50 pints of Dogfish 60 minute IPA and $11 scallop entree with veg. And if you've ever wondered where those restaurant's are that appear on the American version of Kitchen Nightmares, may I recommend Vinnie's Steakhouse. Have several cocktails first....be prepared to spend lots of money.....don't get angry, just soak in the madness. Like any suburb, there is plenty of crap to wade through, but dive right in and let us know what you've found.

On my way back to my office with lunch from the Juice Joint Cafe, I walked past a Korean food cart on the North side of K street between 15th and 14th. I spied the simple, handwritten menu and beautiful kimchi on display and decided I was going to eat two lunches today. You only have 6 choices : dumplings, Bibimbap, Beef teriyaki, Chicken Teryaki, Spicy Chicken, and Spicy Pork. I ordered the small spicy pork and it was great, served with a big scoop of perfectly cooked rice and a healthy portion of kimchi. It was enough for a meal, and it was $4, even.

Since this thread is "Rotisserie Chicken" and not necessarily just for Peruvian and other ethnic chicken joints, I'll put a plug in for the Wegman's Kosher Rotisserie chicken. It's delicious.

I miss college.

So the WP has a new business & economics blogger, Ezra Klein. He posted a blog about menu labeling laws, that cam e with a picture of the following sandwich: Anyone know where I can order this?

I live 5 minutes from there but have never been. Our "go to"ushi place is Blue Ocean, which is great. Does Sushi Jin compare well, as I could literlly walk home after a belly full of sushi and sake.

There are very good reasons these seating rules are in place. However, that shouldn't stop hosts/managers/owners from thinking. It's called the hospitality industry, so set your policy but still try to be a little hospitable.

Anything inspired by Rocks would certainly include geoduck, no?

Hopefully Michael will have time to post his recollections of the day. I'd like to know if they really did just "show-up" or was there some advance notice.

Well said Joe.