funkyfood

my fiance is out of town this weekend so I was on my own for dinner.  i wanted something decent in my neighborhood but wasnt in the mood for Ethiopian or El Sol and everything else in my neighborhood (save Unconventional Diner) is small plates,  which don't really work for one person. Then it hit me: the bar at Corduroy. Done.

At 8 pm, the restaurant was busy but the bar was empty,  save for one man in his 60s/70s reading the same issue of The New Yorker that i brought.  I had a phenomenal simple and fresh kale salad that was nearly a ceasar, perfectly cooked steak of some sort with whipped potatoes, and a phenomenal peach dessert (peaches are my favorite) for $30. they were out of the soft shell crab, but my steak was delicious, with a delightful red wine sauce.  $30 for these 3 is highway robbery.   once my septagarian barmate left, i was the only one up there the entire dinner.  my mezcal negroni was unremarkable,  as ive found cocktails to be here generally, but the bartender was attentive and nice to talk to.

i dont go here much during the summer because there aren't any windows,  but i look forward to frequent visits this winter.

@Kibbee NayeeI'm certainly no expert on the subject, but do the versions at bub and pops not suffice?

2 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

To put this in perspective, I didn't even know Casey Patten met with Donald Trump until two-minutes ago. I don't believe that's the only reason behind the closure.

they cited overexpansion too

This is NUTS.  I've had their delicious Logan salad three times this week (blue cheese, apples, craisins, kale---yum). 

I am partially to blame here: two years ago I was given by a cashier a "friends and family" discount card that got me 10% off my whole order EVERY time I went.  So, every time I went, I would get that 10% off, plus $5 back for every $50 I spent via levelup, plus THEY DIDN'T CHARGE EXTRA FOR AVOCADO.  It was too good to be true.  Unfortunately, i'm a mere 10 visits short of a "catered party for 10" on their app

My go-tos before shows at Lincoln Theater or U Street Music Hall tend to be Seki or Archipelago. Ranging slightly further afield, other pre-show favorites for us at 930 Club, DC9 and Black Cat include Hazel, Haikan, Kyirisan, Bar Pilar, Lupo Verde and Doi Moi.  

how is the food at Archipelago? the menu looks interesting

if that's the same shrimp toast that was on their menu at one point, it was the best thing i ate last year 

I ordered their chicken parm as takeout this week.  I think it was the best I've ever had.  Two incredibly crispy pieces that somehow seemed to have gooey cheese inside them.  It came with a side of standard plain spaghetti.  Expensive at $23, but wow

Shouk. Entirely vegan and delicious. 

Just now, Ericandblueboy said:

Did you write in to the chat today?  Lots of people took umbrage with that "woke" comment.

nope i'll look now 

6 minutes ago, ktmoomau said:

Do nicer restaurants usually use straws?  I can't recall having a straw at a nicer restaurant, except for maybe a metal one on a mint julep or something like that.  I am not a big straw person anyway, but I wouldn't not go somewhere that uses them, but I do think you are unsure of the cleanliness of your glass rim if you provide me a straw at anywhere that isn't casual.

yeah if you order an iced tea, coke or even a highball cocktail (often), they'll come with a plastic straw almost everywhere (Cotton & Reed is actually the only place I recall having a paper straw recently)

3 minutes ago, dcs said:

Trendy bans on plastic straws are mostly bunk, by Adam Minter, June 17, 2018, on chicagotribune.com.

I still support a ban on plastic straws because every little bit does count.  But let us not delude ourselves about its impact or divert our attention from reducing the other sources of plastics defiling our oceans.

i'm not making a normative statement about whether straws are good or bad.  i'm only saying that it seems odd for Tom Sietsema to single out La Vie for this when he's never done it before and most restaurants are offenders 

Fun read, but that criticism about the plastic straws almost delegitimized it for me.  SO few restaurants have paper/metal straws and I've literally never seen him mention that before. 

Somehow i hadn't been here before last night.  This is,  in my opinion,  the best pizza in dc, by a large margin. 

---

Call Your Mother (arldiner)

some good photos of the food here:

"Salads Take Center Stage at This New Fine-Dining Restaurant" by Missy Frederick on dc.eater.com

I'm surprised there's no thread for this place yet. It's a very pretty warehouse in Ivy City across the street from Dock FC. Like Masseria, it's tasting menu only, with a variety of dishes of all styles to choose from. You choose 4 5 or 6 courses, with the last one having to be dessert. Each person much also choose the same number of courses.  We noticed that there were exactly 20 dishes on the menu, so the four of us decided to go 5-dish ($87) and share everything on the menu.

We all loved our cocktails, which were creative and well balanced.  Instead, I got two mocktails which were nice, bubbly and gingery, as mocktails often seem to be.

The food had some great hits and some bad misses. The bread and herb butter were nice to start, and they brought us seconds.  The best dishes included sashimi style tuna, phenomenal scallops with caviar ($21 upcharge), a beautiful summer veggie salad with tiny carrots and radishes, chicken that tasted like Convivials poulet rouge, an egg a anson mill grains soup/porridge and an outstanding braised beet dish that was so creative and delicious. We liked the duck a fair bit too.

The duds included halibut that was as dense as a brick and just as dry. The tomato salad, while still tasty and pretty (I love tomatoes) had too much basalmic.  I dont eat pork, but my tablemates didnt even finish it and even had to spit out a chewy piece.  Sweetbreads were decent but a tad salty.

Everything was exceptionally pretty to look at and instagrammable.  

The most notable parts of the meal, I think, were a few odd service quirks.  My friend was getting dripped on by the air conditioner far above him on the roof. Upon politely bringing this to the attention of the young manager,  the manager could not have been less sympathetic. It was shocking really. He said they had no spare tables and that's just condensation from a new air conditioner being used in the summer. He gruffly suggested he could help move our table a few feet, but didn't seem to agree it was a big concern.  He also suggested that they had no plans on fixing this apparently recurring problem before fall. So bizarre!

Unsatisfied, my friend then raised the issue with another blazered floorman, who happened to be the sommelier.  He was a bit more sympathetic but also said that's kind of just how it is, though at least he apologized and brought us some cardamaro. 

When the bill came, we noticed that they charged us for 5 four course meals instead of 4 5 course meals, which cost $45 more total. We brought it to the attention of the sommelier, who joked "that fifth one was for me!" and went off to fix it without apologizing for the error equal to the cost of 4 extra cocktails.  When the manager came by with the revised bill, he was confused about what correction had been made and did not offer an apology. Not the kind of attitude that lead us to want to come back, even if the cooking is creative and has lots of potential. 

That does look good but,  ugh, does that golden T stand for "Trump "?

This place has changed their menu quite a bit recently, and has gone higher end. Very few tacos on the menu, for instance. The food is really good though.

We got chips and salsa (they've eliminated the spicy options unfortunately), two tacos romanesco, a thai influenced iceberg salad, and a coconut chicken tamale, plus a cocktail each.  Everything was really great, plus they have a dog friendly patio.   Bill was $100 before tip, so not cheap and I could have eaten a tad bit more, but the quality is definitely there.

I hosted a 16 person bachelor party group here once and they handled it equally well

Maybe the name "1000 Degrees" pushes customers away (even if subconsciously) during the summer?

not exactly a scientific study but...

I tend to agree 

To my mind, Campari is an amaro or a bitter liqueur. "Bitters" to me (and I'm not sure) implies something like Angostura

In my mind, bitters are high-proof, bitter alcohols used to add certain flavors to cocktails.  Bitters bars, however, serve, generally, bitter cocktails, without citrus.  

I learned recently that amaro has no set definition, but people usually think an amaro must have 3 things: 1. 25-40 ingredients, 2. be bitter, 3. macerate at room temperature (as opposed to in heat or chill--which would make it a different type of liqueur whose name escapes me)

5 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

This comment seems random - do you have reason to believe Lukas will be running a bitters bar?

One thing about Proof: It still has one of the nicest bars in town (and I mean the physical space, wedged-in column notwithstanding). We should probably start a separate thread for "Bars - What Are Your Favorite Bar Spaces?" or something like that. 2 Birds 1 Stone is great, too, in a completely different way - it was essentially converting basement space into something useful other than storage.

Yes, sorry. Lukas is an avowed bitters fan and opened a bitters bar pop up below Smoke n Barrel last year but the setting and client base didn't really seem to work

14 hours ago, JPW said:

Adam's out

"On August 27th, I’ll be leaving 2 Birds 1 Stone, Proof & Doi Moi side of Fat Baby restaurants. It’s a bittersweet departure, but I appreciate my time with these wonderful restaurants & anticipate wonderful things for both myself & the group in the future.

It’s been a fantastic relationship that began nearly 10 years ago, talking about dining philosophy over lunch with Mark Kuller. Through that relationship, I’ve learned so much. I’m grateful for all of my experiences with the group. First at Proof & the opportunity to be involved with Estadio with its opening in 2010 & Doi Moi in 2013. Of course, above all the myriad of reasons, both personal & professional, I’m grateful to Mark is the opportunity to open 2 Birds. After Mark passed away in 2014, that relationship continued on with the Kuller family, in general, but specifically, his brother, Jason, & his son, Max. I’m so appreciative to have been able to continue with the group in the subsequent years.

In the 5 years since we opened 2 Birds, it’s exceeded my own optimistic expectations, Mark’s, & those of pretty much everyone who was involved its conception. Of its achievements, I’m proudest of the bonds developed there. Those between colleagues, between guests & bartenders, company & community. I’ve long believed in the beautiful function of a bar to foster relationships & 2 Birds has only solidified that belief for me. Chief amongst those is my bond with 2 Birds’ bar manager, Lucy Dunning. Lucy’s talent & work has been a massive boon for 2 Birds, but the influence of her personality & humor has been so essential that I can’t imagine 2 Birds without her. It’s hard for me to really express how much I appreciate the people that I’ve worked with & all of the people who have supported us over the years.

Fat Baby will be reconceptualizing the 2 Birds space, driven by the brilliant Lukas Smith & I anticipate great things. In the meantime, Lukas has taken over the cocktail duties at Proof & Doi Moi.

As far as what I’ll be up to… Well, I’ll still be working with Estadio, making Gintonics & Slushitos & the like & working towards exciting developments in Estadio’s future! With that, you’ll see me on the floor at Estadio at bit more I’m involved in some great new projects- some as a consultant & some a little more heavily part of- & I look forward to talking more about those in the coming months. I’ve got smaller, more goofball fun drink stuff littered throughout the fall & I’m really really psyched for those.

For the month of August at 2 Birds, we’ve put together a menu of the best & most representative (& sometimes, just our favorite) 2 Birds drinks. We invite guests to write down their own favorite from the menu on their checks or credit card slips in a meddle-free poll, culminating in one 2 Birds’ drink to remain with the space.

We’ll be open for a special evening Monday August 27th, commemorating our 5th anniversary with one last bash. Please feel free to come by & watch me devolve into a maudlin mess."

Is there any chance the new bar by Lukas will be a bitters bar? Here's hoping.