B.A.R.

Byrd Mill grits

It really is a very fine restaurant, and God bless the people in the queue, but that's just silly

Isn't that the block Ruppert's was on? I thought all those buildings were being demolished. At any rate, best of luck to Chef Ziebold - an extraordinary talent

Almost a year and 6 months without a post. Dinner last night was great. Service at the bar was friendly and engaging. The meal was lovely. I have to say that I disagree with the "casual experience" of the title heading. This is not a casual restaurant, and entree prices can stretch into the $40's. That being said, dinner last night was a goddamned bargain for the quality of ingredients, skill of preparation, and always elegant setting. It's apparently Restaurant Week, something I did not know about, and so I called ahead to ask, "Is this going to be a typical serene 2941 experience or are you expecting a mob scene?" The lady on the phone chuckled and said she doubted it would be insane and to please come. Glad we did.....AND we ended up ordering a few appes and the RW menu because it looked so tasty. Go.

And I ate there last night and can confirm it is still a very, very good restaurant

I thought this place had closed, but I was driving past it during a World Cup game and saw all the TV's on and a few people sitting at the bar. Parking lot was empty though and I assumed it was the owners or someone just having a party. Is this place open?

We've poked our head in a couple of times and admired the handsome decor, but never had time to eat there (or even grab a drink). That's going to change. After a long week we threw the kids in the car and headed to Clifton last night, looking to get a cocktail and dinner while the kids had their heart set on a nice pizza margherita. The dining room is handsome, with a nice bar and, off to the left, a little salami, cheese and antipasta prep area. It really was a charming little restaurant. We wanted to sit outside, and were graciously accommodated. A quick trip down the halll and out the doors led to a spacious courtyard designed to look like an Italian Piazza with the walls decorated like different buildings. I generally hate such kitsch, and it looked less like a real small Italian village square and more like one envisioned by Restoration Hardware. But it worked, and was cute and quaint and perfect. There's a large fireplace surrounded by sofas, several fountains, and even a small bar tucked into a corner that I intend become a fixture at! The food is good, nothing that will blow your mind, but well prepared. Word of note: they do not serve pizza in the restaurant at night!!!!!! They stopped when the pizza oven proved too small to handle the demands of the pizza cafe, carry out, and the restaurant. It's a prudent move, as there's plenty of offerings on the regular menu. We had an order of lasagna, tagliatelle bolognese, gnocchi, and appes of mussels, arugula salad, and artichoke hearts. The pasta's were indeed fresh and perfectly cooked. My daughters bolognese sauce had great porkiness to it with flavors of fennel. My gnocchi was pillowy and light, none of the heavy, gluey characteristics one often encounters in gnocchi. I really appreciated my server proactively telling me the pumpkin raviois are decidedly sweet, not savory. And he was most gracious when my wife sent back her glass moscato d'asti when she meant to point to the glass of prosecco on the menu. We'll be back often, not only because service was great and the food was very solid, but because our bill for 1 cocktail, 4 glasses of wine, three appetizers and three entrees came up to $101 - a relative bargain in a great atmosphere.

To James Scott Brady, who spent the last half of his life devoting all of his energies advocating against gun violence. He died August 4, 2014, from a mortal gunshot wound he battled for 33 years.

I really can't see much distinction between what Templeton Rye sells and what Rudy Kurniawan sold. It is fraud. They have intentionally created a backstory and pedigree of a product that is not true, and once you taste the whiskey, it is readily apparent (to me) But as I type this, staring at a 3/4 full bottle of Templeton Rye I bought last weekend that I fucking hate, I take solace in the fact that I absolutely adore *gulp* Whistle Pig 10 Year Rye. So can I be angry at only the distillers who defraud me and I hate their product? I mean, I have purchased $500 worth of Whistle Pig this year with no regrets, but I stare at the bottle of Templeton with disgust and animous. The alcoolic beverage industry is full of this bullshit. Time to open up a bottle of Donhoff, where the Germans make sure you know exactly what's in the bottle. Or should be.

AMEN. I am this Wegman's worst nightmare, and I complain to them on Twitter, FB, in person all the time. To their credit, they are very responsive and I have even walked the store with the Front End Manager pointing out all of the things I find frustrating. As Joe H said, yes this is very busy store and changes they have made in the last 18 months have been horrible. The expansion of the hot and cold buffet area creates a huge bottleneck in an already crowded area. Moving the seafood bar to the front and replacing it with a lobster station killed that whole concept. We regularly go to WF now, as their seafood bar is what Wegman's used to be, but bigger. The endless endcaps, displays, and tasting stations that appear on the weekends further congest an already heavily trafficked area. But the wine section moving upstairs is the mother of all fucked up decisions. The last three aisles of traffic flow has been horribly altered, and people are constantly weaving back and forth down the center aisle, looking for items that used to be easily found before the shuffle. And 6 months later, the staff, many of whom I know on a first name basis, still have no idea where things have moved to. I don't need to download an app. I don't need to read the laminated cards at the ends of the aisle. Please stop moving shit around. They have HUGE amounts of unused space both downstairs and upstairs, I have no idea what they were thinking. Put the pharmacy downstairs. Put the flower shop downstairs. Put the hot cold buffet upstairs. Or better yet, just put everything back the way it was two years ago. I was always willing to deal with the parking, because the shopping was such a pleasant experience. That experience is gone, and I find myself shopping at Whole Foods more and more.

Funny you mention that. We had our Rehearsal Dinner at the Anita's in Vienna (where Maple Ave Restaurant is today) precisely for that reason. Our reception was at the Ritz Carlton and we wanted a completely opposite experience for the rehearsal dinner. When I told them our plans, they tried to steer us to the Anita's up the road, which had a large catering room. We declined, and rented the whole restaurant because we loved the character of the place!

To Stuart Scott, who went from my least favorite SportsCenter anchor to most favorite SportsCenter anchor in one speech. Keep fighting.

apparently Manresa caught fire this morning, heard on Twitter from @ReneRedzepiNoma

I imagine the service referred to above is service contracts, specifically on hardware, as well as travel time. The last service contract sent to me from Micros had the annual fees 35-40% of the original cost the hardware. Yet that same hardware costs have plummeted over time. For example, the service coverage charge an Epson TM-88 printer was $221 per printer, annually. Current online price of the printer ranges from $255-$284. Don't get me started about travel charges.

Song deserved the Red Card just for trying that hack move.....but I agree with Don, this was a grazing blow that Mandzukic sold. On a side note......I went to go buy a USMNT away jersey two months ago and found the $150 price tag outrageous ($180 with a name and number). So I am hosting a viewing party and thought I'd get the grey and red training top. Couldn't find one. The blue shirt with American flag? Sold out. The white collared home jersey? Sold out. The $150 Red, White and Blue? Nada. Exasperated, I jumped in a taxi this morning and went to the Nike Flagship in Georgetown, confident. They had T-Shirts, and virtually nothing else. And the very expensive Red, White, and Blue Away Jersey? The outrageously expensive $150 one (that I now covet) - they had them! 2 Men's XS and 3 men's XXXL. That's it. Amazing.

Yes. City of Fairfax tax is higher than Fairfax County

I read both recipes and I considered Zora's to be the better of the two. That should settle the matter.

Nope, I wasn't - so I signed up and voted for you. But first I read the description and recipe and thought it sounded delicious. Furthermore, I had no idea what was making for dinner tonight and had all the ingredients in my kitchen, save the poblano. A quick stop at the Americana grocery, and 30 minutes later these were cooking on the griddle. Topped it with some pullled leftover Peruvian chicken. It was really, really good & my wife loved it as well. I hope you win Zora, and thank you for providing me with a template for a wonderful family dinner tonight. Best of luck.

I can. Zaytinya. Despite being cavernous and having 280+seats- opened with a no reservations policy. AND a "only seat complete parties" policy to boot!. This lasted for the first few years. The place is a factory and could churn out food quickly, yet waits still exceeded 1.5 hours on peek - yet the masses came. And when they started to notice their revenues declining, they opened up for limited reservations at "off" hours and people booked. They continue to tweek their reservations policy to this day and remain in business. At their height of popularity sans reservations, they even had an upstairs room for Private parties you could reserve, for at least X people and a minimum spend. People rejoiced, not complained, and booked it! The only differenece between this and Roses is a) Zaytinya had the scale and infrastructure to take reservations and STILL chose not too, b ) no one thought it was that big of a deal, and c) they had valet parking, which I don't believe anyone on Barrack's Row offers because its in a neighborhood that has really no good parking options, for residents or people wishing to dine in the area. This only thing new about this is the outrage.

Could have swore I've read a few complaints that their rooftop reservations are elitist. I don't have time to re-read a bunch of threads now, but will later and if I don't find them I will amend my post

I didn't see anyone comment about Tim Carman's piece yesterday on Chef Daniel Giusti at Noma. Daniel grew up in DC, went to Langley, and cut his teeth at a young age with the Clyde's Group. Interesting story, even more so since I learned he was the opening chef at Clyde's Gallery Place. Glad Rene Redzepi did not hold that against him!

I've been to the Prime Rib only a few times, because I rarely want to don a coat and tie on a day off. If I want steak in an elegant (albeit pre-cambrian) atmosphere, I go somewhere else. I'd LIKE to go to the Prime Rib more often, but their dress code dissuades me. That's fine. I've been to Cafe Milano just once, and the food blew, the staff was insufferable, and it was outrageously overpriced. This does not seem to keep them from being filled on a nightly basis with Washington glitterati, but they wont be seeing me. That's fine. I've never been to the Inn at Little Washington. By all accounts the accolades heaped upon the restaurant are well deserved, but their pricing structure is too expensive for me, so I have not gone. That's fine. My wife cannot handle spicy food, so she has never been to Little Serow. When we want Thai, we choose to go somewhere else, somewhere more flexible. That's fine. It seems to me that Rose's wanted to open a reasonably priced restaurant serving great food in a neighborhood that can afford and support it. Taking reservations would exclude a significant amount of the neighborhood and increase their operational costs, so they chose not to. This decision means I don't get to go there often, and may never go again. That's fine, too. So I guess I am in the minority here because I don't care whether I ever eat there again and I don't see their no reservations policy as something to get worked up over. If it works for them, good. What I do find interesting is the backlash over where they do take reservations: the rooftop. Aside from the "rent it all" component, is there that great of a difference between what Rose's is doing with the rooftop, and Roberto's 8, Volt's Table 21, etc? Are we mad at those restaurants for taking away tables from "normal" patrons to serve a much more expensive fixed price dinner?

My brother-in-law. Eats there all the time, usually at the bar, lives four blocks away and loves it. Like my brother-in-law and his wife. As residents of the neighborhood ( BTW, which is probably the target demographic of Rose's), if the wait when they get there is too long, they just walk (or ride their bikes) someplace else. Having been to both, I think the Red Hen is a better restaurant, but you can't really make reservations at Red Hen either.

How about just spotlight a restaurant each week and ask herd here to go, and write, about it if they can? Maybe list restaurants in 4 week blocks, as some restaurants may require a bit more planning on the patrons part? And if you don't START with Rose's Luxury, you're a coward.

Dammit. If I'm being honest, it wasn't very good, but we still went frequently. The El Salvadoran man who worked the griddle in the AM was always very kind to my children. If only they could have made it through this weekend with Rolling Thunder, they could have closed with a bit more cash. Where will my girls and I sing to Johnny Cash with our breakfast now?