franch

Laura Hayes (WCP) is going tonight.

rereading the Sietsema piece, it's not as awful as on first read. he seemed to like the food for the most part, disliking the foie course and a course that features something he doesn't like of the savory courses. I do think tasting menus across the US neglect dessert as sort of a throw away a lot of times (notable exceptions including Alinea and Jean-Georges), which is a pity.

I think TedE is right. every review will not only be "is this food excellent?" but "is this food as good as the food at [Eleven Madison Park/Momofuku Ko/Pineapple and Pearls/Metier]" and the answer MUST be yes for Shaw Bijou to thrive.

still excited for tonight!

28 minutes ago, Jonathan said:

I just find it unconscionable to serve food for that price-point yet have people leaving hungry. While I am by no means suggesting every restaurant should be a Golden Corral, the whole staff should have eaten the meal from start to finish and then amend it.

I agree with this. this is the true crime. my wife and I could have hit up Ben's/Jumbo Slice after our dinner at Minibar as well, which was disappointing. (anecdotally, I've heard that about P&P too)

36 minutes ago, Tujague said:

Ouch.

the sky must truly be falling in the kitchen right now.

o I don't disagree that Shaw Bijou is more expensive than P&P. it's just my continued rage at the idea that the shaw bijou has a floor of nearly $1k for a couple.

8 hours ago, TheGut said:

I am rooting for Kwame and his team. I hope they succeed and earn some Michelin stars. 

I do have a question. Are there currently any African American chefs with Michelin stars?  I have not done the research and was wondering about it.  If Kwame is able to earn a Michelin star that would be huge.

Also, does anyone have any pics from opening night at the Shaw Bijou?  Would love to see what diners ate.

1 hour ago, notquiteanonymous said:

So with all of this extra publicity (any press is good press, maybe?), anyone been or have a reservation?

I don't know about African-American chefs, but Loiseau des Ducs earned a Michelin star in France in 2014, and Louis-Phillipe Vigilant, the chef, is the first black chef to earn a star.

I'll post pics and a summary after my reservation this weekend.

59 minutes ago, Gadarene said:

Compare that with Shaw Bijou, which is $170 for the food alone, not counting the 20 percent mandatory gratuity and the 10 percent tip (and the mandatory wine pairing, for all I know; who knows if you can order just one glass).

I don't know whether to attribute continued comments like this to a deliberate disinformation campaign or more likely one of the PR missteps that we were discussing above. There has never been a mandatory wine pairing of $170 or $185 or whatever. The hand wringing of Washington City Paper and others over a table for two costing a staggering amount when they include nearly $400 of booze has always annoyed me. ANY check is going to be expensive with $400 of booze added on.

Also, it is 20% service and 10% tax, not 10% tip.

On 10/31/2016 at 4:20 PM, Ericandblueboy said:

You need to go to Bibiana, Masseria, Fiola/Mare. 

no doubt re: Masseria, Fiola/Mare (and I've heard good things about Centrolina in this category too), but IIRC, they are priced more at a "special occasion" level than RPM is.

i'll check out Bibiana - I hadn't heard of it. 

I'm already outed as a ridiculous Shaw Bijou cheerleader, but I can't imagine rooting for the failure of a guy born in the Bronx, who lived with his family in Nigeria in a town with no electricity, and ultimately sold candy on the subway to put himself through culinary school and finance his catering business. Even if he was on Top Chef.

I finally made it over to Eric Ziebold's hype machine in Shaw. A building that contains both the more "casual" Kinship and the formal jackets-required tasting menu only Metier.

I came late on a weekday with my wife hoping to sit at the bar and have dinner. There were no seats, but were told we could hang out at the bar tables and it was likely that we could sit shortly. I had a glass of Riesling from Santa Barbara ($15) and my wife had a glass of Languedoc white ($12). One of the bar servers was very proactive in coming and updating us as to the status of our seats.

We were seated and presented with the menu. The menu isn't organized in any discernible way helpful to the guest, but rather based on the way Chef Ziebold came to create the dish. It's a cool story, but makes the menu a bit unapproachable without explanations. I side with Sietsema in pining for the days of menus with "small plates"/"appetizers" and "entrees" sections. In any event, each of the three columns has two small plates, two entrée-sized plates, and one dessert. There is also an "indulgence" column with more decadent entrees at more decadent prices ($28-80) and two desserts that didn't fit anywhere else. Finally, there's large plates "For the Table" - from the famous roast chicken to a whole lobe of roasted foie gras ($150, who wants to have a group Yelp date?) to a presumably gigantic salted caramel peanut bar ($24).

With the assistance of our server, we decided to over-order a bit to try more of Chef Ziebold's food, knowing we would be bringing some chicken home. We ordered the torchon of white mushroom (baby beet and wild mushroom salad, huckleberry gastrique, toasted brioche) ($14), the Maine lobster French toast (Asian pear, cucumber, and sesame mousse) ($30), and the Kinship roast chicken (lemon-garlic panade under the skin, pommes rissoles, frisee salad) ($56). To the server's credit, she noted that the chicken is probably enough food for two people, and didn't encourage over-ordering.

The white mushroom torchon was unreal. It looked like and had the texture of foie gras, but had the earthy taste of mushrooms. With the little fruit kick of the huckleberry gastrique, I would be hard pressed to not pick this over a foie gras terrine every now and then. The Maine lobster French toast was very good -- it was (understandably) small for $30, but the ability to put seafood and French toast together and have the best parts of both amazing foods shine through was well worth it. At this point we re-up on wine with a glass of a sauvignon blanc blend from DeLille (WA) ($16) and a Bordeaux blend from WA ($18). Bread is served with just-almost-at-the-point-of-melting spreadable butter.

The chicken is divine. If you've had the NoMad (NYC)'s famous black truffle/foie gras/brioche stuffed roast chicken, this is its less decadent little brother. The chicken is, of course, perfectly cooked. The lemon and garlic elevates it to a pretty amazing level. The skin was crispy. The dark meat was shredded into a frisee salad. The potatoes were decadent on a level I don't normally see. And the Parker house rolls are some of the best dinner rolls you'll have. We end up wisely boxing much of it to share a dessert.

The German chocolate cake (pecan ganache, poached cherries, toasted coconut ice cream) ($12) is, well, just as fantastic as it sounds. Everything works very well together to make a cool version of one of my favorite desserts.

I'll definitely repeat, and Metier has leapfrogged Pineapple as one of my next expensive tasting menu style places to go.

16 minutes ago, Bart said:

Where did you read about the exec chef quitting?  I don't recall hearing that (unless it was 2 years ago when this place was first announced!)

not only did he quit but he publicly dissed Kwame on the way out. upon reading, it was exec sous chef (not in the industry, so if that's a different position I apologize).

"Anything you'll get at Shaw Bijou you can get [at Barrel] for a third of the price," Ellish says, explaining he and Onwuachi take a similar approach to cooking. "We pull food from the same places. Memories and our interpretation of it. We're not waving magic wands and making crazy food. We take a base dish and tweak it a little bit. Super easy."

agreed with the above that it is kind of "clubby"/"lounge-y" feeling. I get it, but do not love it. still my favorite Italian place in the District I've been to, so i'll keep returning.

haven't had the chance to go here yet. for those who have been, how does this compare to Le Relais de Venise/L'Entrecote in NYC/Paris?

is there a sweet house wine deal like L'Entrecote has?

agreed on Gorsuch's tone deafness. I get how he's trying to toe the line between wanting 25-40 year old professionals to be interested while staying hip/hipster/trendy, but I think he managed to piss off both groups in those quotes.

Eater has some high quality photos out today.

with the pricing backlash and his executive chef quitting and publicly dissing him, Kwame basically has all his eggs in the Sietsema basket, I think. if his food (and everything else about TSB) is amazing like the places he's worked before and Sietsema publishes a glowing four star review, he may sell out December/January immediately. maybe he succeeds wildly and is in a great place going into 2k17 Michelin ratings.

but I really think that's his only success route. a scathing review from Sietsema and he may not be around for Michelin season next year. everything needs to be perfect starting Wednesday -- no room for fuck ups. no room for growing pains.

the washingtonian did a first look inside.

one week to go for me!

3 minutes ago, Simon said:

Plume is the worst "high-end" dinner I've had in D.C. ever.  At best bistro-level cooking in fancied-up surroundings.  A colossal waste of money and massively overrated.

I am new to DC, so haven't gone to every place that is on this list, nor everywhere that is either hyped up as the new hotness of the month or the old school places you simply must go as DC institutions (from Inn at LW to Plume to Old Ebbitt). i definitely got the sense that Plume was a high-end place in a fancy hotel for expense account dining where law firms/etc. could take clients.

Just now, Gadarene said:

Oh, wow...I could not disagree more about Noma.  It exceeded my expectations in every respect, from food to juice pairing to service to atmosphere to the 45-minute tour of the facilities after dinner.  For my tastes, it was truly stunning.*  (Particularly in contrast to Minibar, which felt moribund and gimmicky both times I went there -- which was, admittedly, before they changed locations.)

*Which reminds me that I still owe a detailed Noma review in the Copenhagen thread.

i haven't been, don't get me wrong. just some of the gimmicks he's engaged in over the last couple of years really annoy me as geared to the crazy food blog crowd. i actually read a blog article re: the London pop-up that the author was "delighted" to see live ants crawling over her salad. come on now.

Michelin is supposed to be based on food and the attendant skill, technique, etc. of the chef only -- when i went to Minibar (March 2k16), I was every bit as impressed by the creativity, taste, inventiveness, and technique that went into the courses as i was with my Alinea dinner.

Michael Ellis, international director of Michelin guides, said the following:

On three stars:
“The two-star restaurants had dishes that flirted with three-star level. We are convinced that the D.C. area is going to continue to evolve.”

On Rasika:
“We found that we couldn’t confirm the star this year. That in no way means that we cannot confirm a star next year,”

On Komi:
“We found that there was not a lot of harmony between the different courses. We did not find the level of consistency throughout the menu.”

On Inn at Little Washington:
“The impact that [chef] Patrick O’Connell has had on a whole generation of chefs,” factored into inspectors’ decisions, said Ellis. “It’s an iconic restaurant.”

33 minutes ago, Gadarene said:

If Noma doesn't deserve three stars, then Minibar definitely does not. 

haha... hard to compare the European guides. I would say if Alinea does, then Minibar does. (also, I find Noma's shtick horrendous and borderline foodie trolling at this point)

1 minute ago, TheMatt said:

I guess Inn at Little Washington got a special non-DC exemption? I thought this guide was supposed to be District-only.

that's the only thing giving me pause about this list...

no stars for Serow/Komi, Metier (too new?), or Fiola Mare?

still don't see how Minibar doesn't deserve three...

On 10/7/2016 at 6:12 PM, DonRocks said:

No 1-star for Kinship, Corduroy, Marcel's, or The Grill Room?

Interestingly (and this is not meant to be a slam), two of the five restaurants you predict for 2 and 3 stars - and your list may very well be correct - are largely pre-prepped food. Don't ask me to name them; just get to know people who work in their kitchens.

I cannot predict anything about the list, because the standards are so vastly different for Washington, DC than they are in France or other European countries that they do not compute (I've never paid attention to the Michelin system in other U.S. cities other than to take an initial glance the first year it came out for New York City - that was enough to make me ignore it going forward).

I knew I was missing something. it was Kinship. I wrote this list right after dining at the Kinship bar, which was a sublime experience. Corduroy I haven't eaten at and don't know enough about -- it's on my list.

Marcel's was also an omission - Michelin has a weakness for French food, and my list doesn't seem to have any French food on it.

you're correct about the difference between DC and Europe -- you should look instead to NYC or Chicago as a guide, and even that standard has changed. Chef's Table at Brooklyn Fare received three Michelin stars, prompting Chef Achatz to tweet about Michelin throwing the rulebook out the window. Chef's Table was, at the time, stools around a counter and BYOB. the only known criteria are relating to the food -- which is what a 3* BK Fare showed -- the idea that a restaurant must be luxurious or have a fantastic wine list was not necessary to achieve three stars.

(also, the two are Fiola Mare and Minibar, right?)

On 10/8/2016 at 2:36 PM, Eric Ziebold said:

I ate at El Bulli with Grant Achatz, he loved it but I didn't.

I am so jealous.

6 hours ago, DonRocks said:

(The answer is "Hell no," and even 2 stars is really pushing it for DC.)

imo, as far as mastery of flavor and cooking techniques and the personality of the Chef in each dish, I don't see a great reason why Minibar doesn't deserve 3 if Alinea does.

2 hours ago, dz50 said:

A restaurant can't be both Bib Gourmand and starred in the same year, but there have been restaurants that have been Bib Gourmand that have become starred in subsequent years.

I think there are "twofers" in Europe. there are none in the US.

57 minutes ago, Jonathan said:

A bizarre list of restaurants by a bizarre publication. I'm glad they didn't out El Sol or Baan Thai or the many other actual cheap eats that are far more delicious than this slapdash collection. But, hey, they will sell their books. And chefs and restauranteurs will have their bibs or stars to hang on their walls.

Bidwell, Das, Doi Moi, Lapis, Pearl Dive, and Royal seem weird. (and we know how I feel about 2Amys being lauded...)

not that surprising - the NYC Bibs are weird too.

Sietsema seems to think Bad Saint should have had a star (I haven't been)... I think Kyirisan could at least be in the running for a star...

my predictions:

3 Stars:
Minibar by Jose Andres

2 Stars:
Fiola Mare
Komi
Metier
Pineapple and Pearls

1 Star:
Bourbon Steak
Convivial
Fiola
Little Serow
Masseria
Rose's Luxury
Rasika
Sushi Taro

reminder: a Bib Gourmand cannot be awarded to a restaurant that gets a Michelin Star, and is supposed to be the "cheap eats" places - $40 for 2 courses and either a dessert or a glass of wine.

Bib Gourmands were awarded to:

Bad Saint
Bidwell
Boqueria
Chercher
China Chilcano
Das
Doi Moi
Jaleo
Kyirisan
Lapis
Maketto
Ottoman Taverna
Oyamel
Pearl Dive Oyster Palace
Red Hen
Royal
Thip Khao
2Amys
Zaytinya

truly upsetting. I guess i'll have to try out Keren and/or Chercher now.

I absolutely adore this place. It's my favorite Italian/pasta place in the city (I haven't been to the all-star rated places like Fiola/Fiola Mare or Centrolina, but they compete at a far different price point than RPM Italian). I've now been probably six times. Cooking pasta perfectly once is easy or lucky. Doing it this many times is a mark of a great restaurant.

Let me preface this by saying I wanted to hate this place. A vaguely Trump affiliated celebrity restaurant that's associated with a national chain brand that's more expensive than I'd like for some simple stuff? Ready to pass. Fortunately (or not), it didn't work out that way.

The first time we went was opening week. The sommelier (a woman who I have sadly forgotten the name of) was extremely helpful, explained how the wine bottles were selected, and picked a fantastic Valpolicella at a price point that was reasonable. We ordered the Truffled Garlic Bread circa 1963 ($9) and Lobster Caprese ($20) to start. The bread came in about ten pieces and was divine. It was literally the perfect garlic bread. The combination of crunchy bread, garlic, truffle earthiness, and butter was absolute perfection. The lobster caprese comes with more lobster and more buffalo mozzarella than you'd expect. It's very good, but that's a dish that sort of writes itself. I had the Carbonara ($18) and my wife had the Maine Lobster Ravioli ($25). The carbonara came with an egg yolk on top, which was mixed tableside. Both dishes were superb - the flavors were on-point (note that the carbonara is more Italian-style -- no cream) and the pasta was cooked perfectly al dente. We shared the Pistachio Cannoli ($9) which was as good as any cannoli I had in NYC.

We've returned several times and had many dishes. Nothing was anything less than great. Standouts include the Spaghetti and Meatball ($24), a simple dish with one giant perfect meatball, the Prosciutto Tortelloni ($16), which is as delicious as you think it might be, thankfully the prosciutto shines and doesn't get overwhelmed by the rest of the dish, the Pappardelle Bolognese ($20), and the Wagyu Beef Carpaccio ($16) with its truffle aioli. We have also tried the signature dessert, the Torta Meringata ($23). It is listed as serving 2-4 -- it's a big stretch with 2. It is a salted caramel and vanilla gelato cake flambéed tableside and cut into four "slices." It is decadent and rich and amazing, especially if you're a salted caramel lover like me.

For now, just another scene-y trendy overpriced U Street bar. 

The space is beautiful and large. They thankfully had a plethora of bartenders working to address the opening night crowd. It is LOUD - nothing to dampen sound, so even without any music, you'll be screaming to your companions.

Though their online menu lists house spirits, there are none yet. They're working on it. There's also no Manhattan flight. The drinks were fine to good, but nothing was great, and for $12, there are a lot of great cocktails to be had. They have a gin and tonic on the menu with house-made thyme tonic. My wife ordered one and was given a regular gin and tonic ($7). 

If you're on 14th and U, you're in easy walking distance to The Gibson, Quarter and Glory, and 2 Birds 1 Stone. If you care about cocktails and want to pay $12ish for them, they're all better choices. Though, I whine about the trendy/see-and-be-seen crowd and their bars, but it's clear this bar isn't targeting me, because there were surely a ton of people drinking those $8 Miller High Lifes. 

I won't return until house spirits show up.

4 minutes ago, jca76 said:

You're definitely right that 2 Amys is "family friendly" -- to put a nice spin on it? -- early in the evening, a fact that I've appreciated on the rare occasions that we've managed to convince child-having friends that they can come out in public for a meal.  But in general we go no earlier than 7:30 or 8:00, when the youngest/loudest kids have been taken home.  Or you could ask to be seated upstairs, which tends to be much quieter.  

this must have been near 9PM on a weeknight! i have noticed this about DC in general. it tends to be more ~family friendly~...even Zaytinya at 10:30PM was full of children. :-/

8 minutes ago, Jonathan said:

Well that is flattering;) that's my pizza. And I'm very passionate about it.

2 Amy's, dollar for dollar, though, is the best restaurant in DC.

hah! well, it's very good. 2 Amys was okay to good, but there's a baseline with Neapolitan pizza that unless something goes catastrophically wrong (rotten ingredients, drastically undercooked or overcooked, etc), it's still going to be okay. i am intrigued by the "wine bar" small plates and if i find myself up there, may return for those. however, this is just idiosyncratic to my wife and me, i like a good glass of wine and delicious small plates in a bit more of an adult atmosphere. i know we only went once, but there were SO MANY SCREAMING CHILDREN. running around, knocking into tables, sitting at tables screaming, what have you. that's my biggest reason i don't want to go back....