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FranklinDubya

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  1. FranklinDubya
    I think the last note is especially interesting because I've even had cases where the try-everything "tasting menu" option was actually excellent (Little Pearl, Maple Avenue brunch) but still doesn't actually feel like a tasting menu but rather a procession of dishes. Little Serow is rare in pulling off a low price point tasting that actually flows like a tasting menu - the symphony analogy is excellent. *I personally liked the Roses 5 year menu a lot, but sharing an entire loaf of bread plus a whole pork / lychee bowl between two is not would I would think is an ideal "tasting menu" start even if both items were delicious. Thank you for posting the menu! Sorry lindzjax for not posting the day after as promised - not a great excuse but I was extremely hungover and stuffed the next day and derped on it. I thought the 5 year anniversary meal was fantastic although I thought the portions were a bit crazy and I'm by no means a light eater. Favorite dish by far was the foie gras french toast with cinnamon toast crunch ice cream although I'm still enthralled by the pork / lychee bowl and the meats were very nice as well. The only real letdown was the herb pistou crab pasta which was fine but kinda one note. I also splurged on the night's optional caviar supplement which was four different kinds of caviar served with house made sweet potato chips and creme fraiche which I thought was great (much better than P&P's weird caviar and gummy bears things IMO).
  2. FranklinDubya
    Like many people on here I read everything Tom puts out but the Fall Top 10 has always been a bit of a head scratcher to me - it seems like it's trying to highlight a variety which makes sense for a guide but in a countdown it's weird seeing a 3.5 start at #4 and a 3 star at #3 - I'd prefer just a straight up power ranking top 10 although I'm sure people would bitch and moan about "only fine dining for the 1%" crap that you see in the comments sections. The format as best I can tell generally tends to be #10-6ish newer places that are usually good value, 6ish-3ish highly rated nicer but non tasting menu places that have generally opened within the past 2-3 years with usually one that's opened within the last year. #3ish - 1 : The tasting menu spots. With P&P at #2 I'm predicting Inn at Little Washington at #1 tomorrow (it's had quite a year in terms of recognition) - I would've personally still picked Komi over P&P but if reviewed I'm sure it'll get a similarly high rating.
  3. FranklinDubya
    I'm going tomorrow and can post after! I'd guess there's probably some shots of it already under the Rose's geotag on Instagram.
  4. FranklinDubya
    Ahh I should've been more clear - I'm asking more what he thinks contributes most to a city or region having great food both in terms of the michelin level but also across the board *irrespective of the cuisine / cuisines one finds within*.
  5. FranklinDubya
    Following up on questions above regarding how the quality of food varies from country to country (or even region to region) - in your opinion what's the biggest factor in an area having exceptional food? Is it more history, quality of local ingredients, talent or something else entirely?
  6. FranklinDubya
    When I was at LB I thought mostly the same thing about the service. Perfectly attentive and without any weird long breaks, but slightly overly formal. Did not enjoy inquiring for more details about how a dish was prepared only to simply be read back the list the same list of ingredients used again... *I did like the somm we had at least. The food when I went was simultaneously fantastic (the Dover Sole was without a doubt the best piece of cooked fish I'd ever eaten) and slightly underwhelming only because I thought it would blow the 2-star places I'd been to out of the water and on that short NYC trip alone I enjoyed my food and overall experience better at Sushi Ginza Onodera and Aquavit. That being said I don't know if I've truly been impressed by a cooked fish dish on a tasting menu since going to LB so it definitely raised the bar on that front.
  7. FranklinDubya
    Ate here for lunch today and got two things: 1) Lychee "dumplings" with pork. I put dumplings in parentheses because the pork was stuff into the lychee bulbs directly. I really enjoyed eating this just because I love lychee but the dish itself didn't blow me away - perfectly good starter though. 2) Rabeing roast pork curry. Now this was badass - extremely tender pork in both thin slices with some bigger chunks mixed in, with rambutan, and basil in a red coconut curry sauce. The pork was very good, and I loved the flavor the rambutan added to the curry much more than something like pineapple. The base curry already tasted a bit more complex than an average red curry but then they had a little holder with 4 different things you could add to it : crushed chili flakes chili vinegar, this darker salty brown sauce with some meaner looking chilis,, and a sweet smelling sauce that I didn't try. The base spiciness level was already a nice medium but I opted to add some of the chili flakes and the salty brown sauce which really kicked things up a bit. Definitely was one of the best thai curry items I've had. Saw a lot of cool items on the menu for future visits. I'm so close to Elephant Jumps at my apartment and Essan (McLean) which I love that I haven't ventured out much to try other Thai places but was glad I did today.
  8. FranklinDubya
    Derp, I never sent it, but thank you for the response! I think your response sorta hits the nail on the head with my experience at To Sok Jip when I went there which I personally didn't mind at all. My dining companion and I are typically devour our food quickly and go in with a good idea of what we want which worked out well. ... whoops.. well this is tremendously helpful for next time so thank you!
  9. FranklinDubya
    Kinda sad it's getting replaced (even though the overall lack of new dishes prevented me from going back recently). I thought it occupied in a nice medium between the Fiola level and the kinda upscale casual Italian places we have a bunch of in the city... honestly it also seemed to be cheaper in practice than Sfoglina with it's small portion size $24 pastas. Didn't realize Erin Clarke had left either... seems like at the Trabochhi places this happens quietly and gets reported on after the fact.
  10. FranklinDubya
    Went to To Sok Jip last night for dinner. After all the warnings about the service being "mean" from personal stories / Yelp I was pleasantly surprised on that front - it was no nonsense for sure and they kind of expected you to know how things worked but we were treated just fine. Got the seafood pancake and the bossam - both were great I thought, and the portions were massive. One thing I wouldn't have known without randomly seeing a youtube video on this the night before was that they put the salted-shrimp (saeu-jeot) with the rest of the banchan but adding this to the bossam wraps was pretty essential. One question for more experience Korean diners - how does one properly eat a seafood or kimchi pancake? The slices they had were a bit unwieldy for chopsticks but it didn't seem to work great as hand food either... we felt like we were probably missing something.
  11. FranklinDubya
    Nooooo I would've wanted to try the lamb ribs one more time before they went off menu although everything I've there over 4 visits has been so amazing I'm not terribly worried about them filling in something else amazing. I meant to get them last time I went about a month ago but they had a dairy cow strip steak special with ramp butter... this was probably the best steak I've ever had (small pieces of wagyu excluded) - even besting Kinship's incredible ribeye in my opinion. I'm sure I'll be back soon to try the new pork (or whatever else) being that at the moment Tail Up Goat is pretty easily my #1 favorite place in DC outside of tasting menu spots.
  12. FranklinDubya
    Update from Tom's chat this week - the comment last week was mean to imply the Spoken English menu was available at Brothers and Sisters for people with disabilities (that would prevent them from standing) only. Apologies for spreading fake news here.
  13. FranklinDubya
    Yes - thank you sir 😁
  14. FranklinDubya
    Went here last night and would definitely say it lived up to the hype - I don't think I've heard one bad thing between here, friends, Instagram, reviewers which is pretty rare. My favorite city restaurant (excluding tasting menu spots) is Tail Up Goat which this reminded me quite a bit of with the friendly but snappy service, bread program and overall high level of cooking however it's even more neighborhood-y and definitely cheaper. My dining companion and I got the tuna crudo, spicy farm apples, spring tartine, kimchi toast, clam spaetzle, and hot duck with biscuit plus the famous goat cheese cheesecake for dessert. Pretty consistently killer across the board although the spring tartine and the apples really blew me away (both felt like perfect light, fresh, but still flavorful and balanced spring things). Got a loaf of country bread to take home as well. Will edit later with pictures.
  15. FranklinDubya
    In Tom Sietsema's chat yesterday he said that you can order off the Spoken English menu at Brothers and Sisters - I thought that was a super good tidbit as the menu at the former was more interesting the but the standing situation was unappealing to me (even as someone who will happily wait in line). --- [See below - DR]
  16. FranklinDubya
    Maybe they saw the Rake's Progress "Crown of Duck Price" at $110 and figured they had to bump it up to avoid their duck being perceived as too cheap to be high quality?m
  17. FranklinDubya
    I never enjoyed the Mosaic Requin so not really sad to see it go... service was almost always unpleasant, on my best visits the food maybe broached "good", and at worst was terrible, and the price was consistently way too high for what you got. The wine list, cheeses, bread and desserts were all good but the overall experience left me unhappy more often than not. That should be a good spot for a restaurant so I'd love to see something (not from Isabella) get put in there.
  18. FranklinDubya
    Havent seen this online anywhere but apparently the Requin at Mosaic District closed this weekend (per a server at Mosaic Alta Strada). Apparently they were already struggling a bit as is and walking by after recent Isabella news came to light the place was near empty even during prime hours.
  19. FranklinDubya
    The original story he could have *maybe* talked his way out of if nothing else had come out. The Washington Post article brings up numerous incidents which are corroborated by multiple people and gives the idea that the whole operation was a shitshow. Furthermore it seems like this is likely the tip of the iceberg and that more stories will continue to come out.
  20. FranklinDubya
    Destruction...
  21. FranklinDubya
    Totally agreed (especially with Korean food), although my issue here would having friends I could sell on Korean seafood without having been myself so my maiden voyage will probably be solo. I have the same 'issue' where I feel like I haven't properly tried a restaurant unless I've ordered two things. That seems like a good plan though - I'm gonna try and go some time next and will report back in this thread.
  22. FranklinDubya
    - Probably by myself : I'm very close to Annandale on days when I work from home so I was hoping to go for lunch... unless someone tells me going solo is a dumb idea. - I'm mildly familiar? I've been to Gom Ba Woo a few times plus Kogiya, Yechon, and a few others. Outside of kbbq items I've had a couple different types of soups and pancakes. *There's definitely more that I haven't tried than I have at this point* - I'll definitely shoot Escoffier a pm, thanks!
  23. FranklinDubya
    Any recommendations for things to try at Blue Sands? I've been interested in going but wasn't sure where exactly to start with the somewhat large menu.
  24. FranklinDubya
    * I didn't dislike the fried chicken, however it was disappointing to me after hearing it lauded as one of the best dishes in DC : I think it was Washingtonian's dish of the year, and also featured on the Post's list. My meal overall there about a year ago left me a *tad* underwhelmed but in fairness it was at Sunday 9:00PM on the second week extension of "restaurant week" in the middle of the Super Bowl... I certainly need to check it out again under more normal circumstances.
  25. FranklinDubya
    Don, is this something you'd be able to elaborate on? It seems like there's been less notable openings in Shaw of late - but not sure if you're referring to that or more a decline in quality among places that are already there.
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