KeithA

Agreed. This is the best restaurant in Bethesda right now, and has been for some time.

Yes, better than Black's.

The olive oil for dipping had a flavor that I quite liked but can't quite describe.

Had a very nice meal at Dino on Friday night. First time there with Chef Bouillon and you can see the changes right on the menu - a bunch more vegetarian options that made my wife happy. I started with the polenta with wild mushrooms which was very good. Less cheesy than the last time I had it, but equally good. Not sure what kind of mushrooms they were, but nice and woodsy. My wife and friend had the butternut squash soup of the day which was very well balanced with cream - not too much and not too little. I had a taste and wish I'd had a second taste, but they ate it all fast. Also I got to try the very good lamb pasta - although I wish it came with a different type of pasta. I've had the gramigna curved tube pasta at Dino before and I just don't like its shape (the taste is fine), it doesn't have an opening wide enough like a rigatoni to hold the sauce and it is big curve causes sauce to splash around when grabbing a bite (although it could be I'm a messy eater ;-) The 2 others split the halibut which they said was very good with a nice farro? unusual grain risotto. Ordering this fish gave our server an opportunity to shine - she noted that it usually comes with crumbled proscuitto which was a godsend because we don't eat pork, so we didn't need to push it off or send the dish back when we were surprised (the proscuitto is not listed as part of the halibut's lengthy menu description, but it should be - it is not like it is parsley or something minor). We also shared the burrata which was good,but didn't wow me over like the last time I had it (seemed like a smaller ball with less ricotta than I remember). What did knock our socks off was taking Dean's wine book recommendation to try one of his Reislings - we had the fruity, semi-dry Montchhoff which was so good, after I left I walked down the block only to be disappointed that CP Wines didn't have it in stock. The wine was a great accompaniment for the food. Overall, a really nice dining experience and with the more varied veggie options one that won my wife over to come back again soon instead of having to drag her there. So thanks Dean.

One bit of constructive criticism, I know all restaurants need to maximize the number of seats, but in the front window 1st floor section, have tables of 3 in the center which are the same tiny size as the 2 tops is not very comfortable. Besides being in the center of the dining room with servers squeezing/bumping by, the table is just too small for 3 people's dishes plus the bread, side plates, and big salt/pepper shakers. When we arrived I asked for a bigger table, but was told that the bigger 4 tops are for parties of 4. Like I said I understand the need to fill seats, but for the odd parties of 3, these 2-3 tables downstairs are too tight IMHO.

Just got back from eating some amazing mushrooms in Spain and have a hankering for fresh porcinis and other wild mushrooms. Anyone know of a good source? I saw some fresh porcinis at the Dupont farmers market this weekend, but passed at $20/lb. Was that stupid of me? Any place to get good ones at a less expensive price? Thanks.

The food that accompanies the wine will be cheese, charcuterie, chocolate, and caviar. I am going to do my best to make sure all beverage/food comes from the US, but I won't sacrifice quality.

Please feel free to offer up suggestions for wines, beers, decor, etc., but I probably won't listen to them

Regards,

Adam

There's been many an enlightening conversation here and on TS chat about the reservation being a contract. OK. Let's assume it is a social one in the sense that there is a true obligation for the patron to meet his part of the bargain and show up in a timely fashion. However, does the patron know that he is expected to respond to a confirmation call 24-48 hours in advance? It didn't seem so in the case today. So you go out of town, or are out of touch or for whatever reason are not tied to your phone like an umbilical cord and you miss the call. The restaurant makes an erroneous assumption that you intend not to make it. You show up all shit, showered and shaved and are told your table is gone.

The restaurant owes the patron a big ol' apology and should take action to correct their mistake. That is just wrong.

If the restaurant's has a policy to call and clearly expect confirmation and this is communicated, then maybe they have a case in making this assumption and give the table to someone else.

But, I agree with Porcupine. The tone( and action) is inhospitable and adversarial.

Went last week for first time. It is a welcome addition to the neighborhood. The space is nice with its changing colors on the wall and open to the air (it has garage style doors when it is warm enough). The food was pretty good - some hits and some misses. We stuck to tapas, but the black bean soup and steak looked popular. I'd love to hear what others thought about those dishes.

The good: tomato salad with gazpacho vinagrette, lamb taquitos (lamb seemed stewed or braised along time and had lots of flavor), wild mushroom quesadilla with zippy lemony guacamole. The desserts: small dense chocolate cake with really good dulche de leche ice cream and their take on tiramisu which wasn't all that different but tasted more chocolate than coffee than usual, which I enjoyed.

The so-so: vegetarian empanadas - nice pastry and bright chopped chunks of vegetables, but it was calling out for some kind of sauce or liquid - too dry as is; patatas bravas - slices of potatos with a tomato-based sauce was ok, but the sauce needed some spices added.

The bad: side of saffron rice - blah very bland; escabeche and olives - nice pickeld onions and carrots, but the olives themselves weren't very good. I've had much better from the whole foods olive bar;

I wouldn't rush here, but it is a nice neighborhood spot and especially nice if it is a warm evening.

Baby Lamb in Wine/Mushroom sauce. Bone-in, fallapart-tender, delicious. Right now it is the only thing in the world that makes any sense. $9.99+tax, and worth every penny (on a bed of pasta, with a side salad and bread)

Went last night for the first time. Sorry for the long post - but it is broken down, so you can skip parts.

The Annoyance:

Overall it was pretty good, but first I have to recount my one big annoyance. The dinner started off well, we showed up and checked in with our opentable reservation and they said we could sit outdoors on the nice patio or in the dining room. Since it was a nice night we chose outside. The patio was half empty then and at least a quarter empty all night. The dining room was half empty or so all night too. Which isn't too bad a statement for a restaurant on a sunday night on a holiday weekend when lots of folks have left town. I had seen on their website that they had a deal on Sunday nights for 1/2 off most bottles of wine. The website says in the dining room only. So we get our menus and the sizeable wine list, and I double check with the waiter before ordering wine that we can get the deal. He checks with the wine director, returns and says no it is only for the indoor dining room. So I ask to speak to the wine director who tries very nicely to explain their cockamamie, nonsensical policy of only giving the wine discount to people sitting inside. I responded this made no sense seeing as we were going to eat a full meal of 3 courses (which we did) and would like the same benefit (vs. someone only eating a quick bite or drink at the bar). She explained the deal is there to draw people inside because the patio already draws people to the restaurant in nice weather, and she offered me a table inside. Further, you can't get a reservation supposedly for the patio, only for the indoor dining room. Now I appreciated her trying to make this work, but this made absolutely no sense and I explained this to her. Since the patio never filled up all night, my table never stopped anyone from sitting outside who wanted to and I did in fact have a reservation and the hostess asked me if I wanted to sit outside or indoors. But the wine director held firm to her policy and wouldn't give us the discount unless we moved inside. So guess what, we passed on wine and they lost out on a sale of booze (maybe they didn't care because the markdown diminished their profits) and left all of the table annoyed. Not a good start to dinner. The dinner ended with an annoying reminder too, when the sizable check came with a printed note to ask for details about the 1/2 off wine deal on sundays.

Anyways enough of my rant. Here is the food/service review:

Bread:

• normally I don't comment on bread baskets, but the mini biscuits and whole grain bread were very good. I especially liked the salty biscuits.
  

Small Plates (really apps, but separate part of the menu):

• 2 goat cheese tartlets - good price of $3 for a nice personal phyllo cup of goat cheese top with nuts and beet bits. I didn't think the taste I had was great, but my two companions really liked theirs.
  
• cod croquettes - 3 tasty fried balls of fish in a nice aioli. However they were tiny, each one bite and they could have used more fish and less fry batter. Still only $4. 2 Amys take is much much better.
  

Mains:

• 2 halibuts - my companions thought the big fish was ok, but the dish was ruined by the "mushroom emulsion" which was this super thin and foaming mushroom juice that created in a big pool that ruined the accompaning mushroom risotto. Also there was only one tiny spear of white asparagus. Overall a downer.
  
• Seared tuna - pretty good. Big piece of tuna that was cooked medium rare (chef's rec), probably would have been better as rare. The fish was kind of plain, but once you flaked it into pieces and mixed it with the currant sauce, pine nuts and quinoa grained it took on a nice flavor. I enjoyed the contrasting flavors of the cooked fish, fruit and nuttiness of the pine nuts and grains.
  

Desserts:

• Pears and Apples - very good, but odd presentation. Really four mini desserts in one. However, they are served on a large square plate with each mini bite segregated to its own corner. Each was good - a mini candy apple, candy apple ice cream with bits fo candy in it, a poached pear, and a pear cake bite.
  
• Trio of Ice creams - great presentation and delicious. Scoops of sweet corn (tasted more like good vanilla with hints of corn), mint (really strong herb mint flavor, not like store bought mint chip), and caramel with brownie bits. The flavors weren't a perfect fit for their descriptions, but the ice creams were well made and good. The nice presentation came about from the 3 different mini cookies that were placed a top each scoop. Cookies tasted great too.
  

Service:

• despite the silly wine policy, service was so so. The small plates came out really quick and then we had a really long wait till our mains and the desserts took awhile too. We had to ask a few times for more water and for the check. But no real problems beyond the small delays.
  

I'd go back, but not regularly.

The Falafel "Abdel" ($6.50 for four balls) was lousy, as bad as Amsterdam Falafelshop, with thickly-breaded coating surrounding a granular-feeling inside, it was edible, but no more than that. ...

All this food, with two glasses of wine and two beers came to a mere $56.67. You don't hear me raving about the food, but once again, Zaytinya has shown itself as a fun, convivial place to eat, where you can nibble, nosh, and socialize without spending a fortune. A culinary temple it ain't, but in my past three visits it has delivered at its price point - I can't ask for any more than this.

Cheers,

Rocks.

I do wholeheartedly agree with your general assessment of Zaytinya - it is great fun, nice price (not cheap, but not break the bank), and certain dishes sing, while others fall flat.

Went last night for the first time for dinner - it is nice to see the wide array of sushi and appetizer special available. I had to sing the praises of the delicious seared salmon belly signature sushi (2 piece nigri) - just excellent combo of melt in your mouth with a big of cooked flavor from the searing. I also had some other sushi which was good as usual. However, my wife and I did not like at all the salmon tempura roll hot appetizer. By frying the salmon you basically get overcooked, bland fish which is only helped alittle by the ginger sauce poured over it. Skip this one.

I think it's great. Reminds me of an iphone. I guess some of the pictures could have better clarity before you highlight one, but I find it very creative.

Clearly, the feature in the Washington Post was written a little prematurely. The poor guys are swamped.

They were swamped. I showed up at 12:20pm and that line didn't move at all for 10 minutes before I jumped ship. My buddy ate there twice earlier in the week and said the Post got it right - the guys at thecart are learning as they go and it seems they weren't not ready for prime time. Good news is my friend said that they were improving quickly. So maybe worth a try in a few days or week after the hype dies down and the cart operator figure out how to deal with a lunch rush.

So today I had some spare time, extra beef and extra ketchup so I figured I'd try my hand at making barbeque sauce from scratch. For my first time, I grabbed an internet recipe and it turned out ok, but not great. It had this either too vinegary or too much Worchestershire sauce after-taste. But it was still fun to make and easy. So I thought I'd try some more concoctions. Any suggested recipes for BBQ sauce?

The sauce can be any kind, and I know there are a zillion variations - just share your favorites. Also please say what type of meat the sauce should go with. My personal eating preference is for sauces for beef or chicken or for something different a mustard, not tomato based sauce.

Hakone

Also I need to mention, the best way to get a Japanese feast that will make a regular omakase menu in DC pale in comparison is to stay at a ryokan, country inn, that usually include a huge dinner and breakfast. This website has good info on ryokans and booking them: http://japaneseguesthouses.com/index.htm

We stayed at Mikawaya Ryokan in Hakone and had a crazy 10 or so course dinner: big sashimi boat, shabu shabu, tempura, all types of grilled fish and mini treats like seafood custard, miso soup, Japanese pickled vegetables, rice, and dessert. Check out this pic. Definitely the best way to gets lots of good high quality, traditional Japanese food.

I second (or third?) the Washington Deli suggestion. For those who prefer a lighter lunch, you can get a slice, a side salad and a soda for the same price of $6.50. A good deal, and the slices are delish!

They also have awesome soups...their chicken noodle is my comfort food when I am having a shitty day at the office.

In case anyone what to see indepth what takoyaki and okonomiyaki is I suggest you look for the replay of the No Reservations TV show with Anthony Bourdain. He goes to Osaka and shows what this stuff is really all about.

I just got back from Japan and what DC really needs is a ramen-ya. Bar/Diner that serves big bowls of ramen. Not really a different concept than a pho places but different flavors. Ramen are thicker noodles and while many ramen soups come with pork at a ramen-ya you can get great vegetable (yasue) or miso flavored soups. Hmm hmm good.

Went last weekend and for the first time had a seat upstairs in the new dining room. Very nice space with about 8 tables, mostly two tops. Seems like they are still figuring out service up there, but it was pretty much equal to downstairs. Had a great special pizza with roasted tomatos, fried eggplant (this was great, crisp outside - delicious soft inside), pine nuts, smoked mozzarella, and roasted garlic.

I believe Sichuan Pavilion has been closed for quite some time. If you want Asian, head to Nooshi on 19th (next to the Greek Deli), which is better than Cafe Asia - though I do eat at CA from time to time because it's closer.

I agree with most of the suggestions listed and I'll add a few:

Nirvana - K st between 18 and 19th - vegetarian Indian lunch buffet around $11

Juice Joint - great smoothies and healthy but good food on Vermont Ave between 15th and 16th St, closer to McPherson Square. Try the fresh grilled salmon salad with mango relish.

Teasim bentos (might have already been mentioned)

Roasting House - hole in the wall looks like a coffee bar, head to the back for fresh turkey and big salads. On Vermont other side of the street from Juice Joint

Malaysian Kopitiam

Washington Deli on 20th st between K & I. Bit of shlep but worth it if you want good NY style thin crust pizza by the slice - 2 oversized slices and a soda for $6 I think.

As for Naan & Beyond, I've been several times over several years and it depends on your taste. Some love the chips or the tikka wraps. I think the best stuff is the big tandoor chicken with sides or the chicken biryani. never had one but the tikka pizzas always look good too. The chutneys are needed for extra flavor, but they don't compare to a real Indian restaurant.

Is Cafe de Paris still open? It used to be a great pretty romantic place when I lived in Columbia a few years ago. I tried calling the number on their website, 410-997-3904, to order a gift certificate for a couple moving to Columbia soon and I got nothing. Anyone know what's up? Thanks.

Kyoto; Tokyo

Just got back from Japan on vacation. I had lots of good food - you can't go wrong with the freshest sushi found all over or their great noodles. Zaru soba - chilled buckwheat soba noodles were great for lunch after sightseeing in the heat of summer. We mostly ate at little local places wherever we found ourselves. 2 places are worth mentioning in particular:

Kyoto - Asuka is a tiny place near the Westin Miyako hotel in Eastern Kyoto. It is in Lonely Planet too. It is a great, cheap place that serves all a pan-Japanese menu - all kinds of noodles, soups, tofu, sushi, tempura, etc. They also have a great in-depth English menu. Despite the obvious tourist aides, this is still a local place frequented by Japanese.

Tokyo - for a special occasion, Casita, on the third floor of the La Porte office building a 5 min walk south of the Omotoesando shopping street. This place is pricey but had spectacular French/Asian "fusion" (the fusion was not so strong, mostly french with Japanese top quality ingredients like kick ass premium Japanese beef and fish) and excellet sushi. The real trip of this place is to get someone like a hotel concierge to make a reservation and let the restaurant know about your special occassion, like an anniversary. The restaurant frequently mostly by Japanese, goes over the top to acknowledge your occassion - often with kitsch that Japanese love, like personalized menus and writing your name s in chocolate on a dessert plate, etc. This isn't the half of it - we actually had a semi-large goodie bag that went home with us of all of the different mementos. The service as you can guess is great. Also, they have a great open-air terrace which is a great place to have a drink or tea after your meal.

I've always been a big fan of Ardeo. What did you get?

Apps:

• Asaparagus and Goatcheese fried thingy (it was kind of like a light eggroll batter) with a salad of mixed greens (nicely dressed and pretty peppery) all on top of a great tasting grilled piece of fennel. It also had some kind of dressing that had me sopping it up with bread.
  
• Also had a bite of others mixed green salads which were ok - just like a bigger version of the salad part I had.
  
• I didn't try but the calamari looked good. It is not fried but rather cooked and marinated with I think a citrus relish. I heard only hmm hmm hmm from across the table.
  

Entrees:

• Lamb loin and shoulder. Very good and different. Really a duo of lamb. A small piece of loin with a nice seared crust on on side and some small sliced pieces that went well with the blackberry gastric sauce. The second part of the duo is the shoulder which is kind of like a mini hamburger - molded meat - but mixed with carrots and veggies. The loin was good, the shoulder only ok. It also comes with a great piece of eggplant rolled around some marinated chopped veggies.
  
• My wife had the Steak which is big and cooked perfect. nice char flavor. Comes with creamy mash potatos and a nice reduction sauce to dip.
  
• Others enjoyed the halibut and the gnocci (very tiny, very soft little pillows with lots of veggies).
  

Desserts:

• My sweet tooth won out so I tried all 4. The best was probably the cherry cheesecake. It is a cross between American and Italian cheesecake - softer and less dense, but not all riccota-like. Great with the fruit.
  
• Pear-upside down cake with caramel sauce and butter pecan ice cream was very good. The ice cream was great. The cake was moist and covered in pecans so it had more of nutty flavor than a fruity one. I couldn't really tell it was pear, but it didn't matter
  
• Chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. Cake is BIG and a little dry. It is kind of like a molten cake but the outside could use a swipe through the ice cream or chocolate syrup on the plate.
  
• Trio of sorbet. 3 big scoops last night of ginger-citron (too tart for me, but wife loved it), "blueberry herb" which is really good but heavy on the basil flavor with a fruit finish, and rasberry.
  

We also ordered one of their less expensive bourdeaux wines and the female sommelier/manager was nice enough to see if it was ok to make a substitution for a more expensive bottle since they were out of the ordered one and only charge us the lesser price. Nice touch. Overall a good experience, the staff seemed alittle overwhelmed though - but service wasn't affected.

That's what I would guess. Believe it or not, I think the charred, crunchy crust is not as appealing as the doughy, soft crust for most people. It might have to do with the fact that most pizza places serve soft crust, thus making it more a familiar and safe option for a lot of consumers.

That said, last week's special when I was there was excellent. It was basically a gussied up Margherita with the addition of squash blossoms, a few garlic slivers, and great roasted red and yellow tomatos. The tomatos added such a nice flavors - they should have that topping all the time.

Another thing to note is that it appears they removed most of the center tables from the bar area and now are using it as more space to wait. Although there are still tables ringing the bar area and seats at the bar.

maybe i mentioned this before, i can't remember, but if you hang out on the dark deck trying to feel your way into comet's restrooms your surroundings may start to resemble something by the side of a lake resurrected from a slasher movie (friday the 13th?). it's creepy back there.

Sadly, just had to cancel a reservation at New Heights for tonight at 7:30pm for 2 people. Go and get it.

On a different note, had a great RW meal last night at Ardeo. They were a little hectic when we arrive at 8:00 and had to wait 15 min for our table, but once seated everything was smooth and delicious.