treznor

Some of us out the 'burbs don't actually live on the metro, yanno. But for anyone that is on the metro, it definitely is right across the street from the stop which makes it convenient.

Think the quoted wait time may be 4-6 weeks now. It's such a crap shoot when you see a wait time like that. Some places you end up getting it the next week, other places use up the entire 6 weeks. So annoying.

I would have -sworn- that it was 1000 points for $10 but when I went to go look it said 2000 points for $20 (same ratio but takes longer to get to the cash-in point). Good to see I'm not just losing my mind.

I won Jason's tickets that he was giving away on DCFoodies.com so I'll be there on Sunday. Heard about it last year and was considering going already, but $122 (can't really go anywhere without the +1 :-) ) is a bit steep for an event that I didn't really have any first or second hand experience for... But psyched to be going this year. Silly question, I'm guessing the trade hours are only for those in the trade? I'm guessing my purchasing of 5-6 cases a year doesn't quite qualify me as being in the trade :-) Having not been to one of these before, the website isn't incredibly detailed as to what exactly goes on. I've been to Vintage Virginia a couple times now, is this along the same lines, i.e. you get a glass on your way in and the wineries are setup to give free samples of the wines they brought? I'm pretty well acquanted with all the Virginian wineries for the most part so I can weed out some of the wineries, only try certain wines from each winery, etc. when we go to Vintage Virginia. How does one go about that at one of these things with 60 some odd wineries, most of which I know little/nothing about? Just trying to get the most out of the event to minimize the running around like a chicken with my head cut off :-)

I've been once now, about a month ago shortly after they opened. It wasn't our favorite in the area (which probably goes to Tokyo Japanese Steakhouse in Old Town or Sushi-Zen in Arlington), but since it's just around the block from me and sushi is popular with my GF and I, I'm sure we'll be back soon.

I haven't made it to Elevation Burger yet though I live only a couple miles away. Having one of the Five Guys that I find fairly consistent and good around the corner at Beauregard and King has meant that I don't have any particular drive to replace my burger fix. But reading your post, from someone that's obviously passionate about what he's doing, makes me want to stop by and see what the hubbub is about.

I like the new Cafe Atlantico website. It has all the information I could want from the menus, to the wine and cocktail list, as well as location, etc. Two small quibles I have are that the drop-down boxes don't seem to disappear after they drop down until a selection is chosen even if I move away from them (so if I accidently run my mouse over one I have to make a selection to get it to disappear) and that the link to MiniBar isn't quite noticeable enough. Once I saw the link to MiniBar it was very obvious to me, but for some reason it didn't stick out to me... Now as long as the menu and cocktail list stays updated so it's the same as what's actually offered, this would be an excellent example of a good restaurant wesite.

What can I say, I must be one of the few people in the world that actually like bagpipe music.

Yep, that was one of the items on the cafe menu. Didn't stick out to me as there are a couple vegetables that I don't particularly like, and cabbage is one of them :-) The bagpipe music coming from the fire department across the street was an interesting backdrop to eating outside by the way. Sounded like it wasn't a normal thing though.

In the cafe any of the main restaurant's items can be ordered ala carte. The apps are $13-$16 and the entrees are $28 I believe. Or stick with the cafe menu (which is exactly what I did on my trip there) for around $10-$12 each. The current cafe menu (from my memory): 1) Hamburger with truffled mayo 2) Roast chicken 3) Fried skate sandwhich 4) Fry plate (including french fries, onion rings, fried mashed potatoes, and fried Meyer lemons) - definitely big enough for two to share. and one or two items I don't recall. My GF had been looking forward to the hot dog and german potato salad that she had read about somewhere as her family is German and makes alot of german potato salad, but alas it wasn't on the menu any more.

Their website (and I'm talking about the designers, maybe the restaurant doesn't know any better because they've lived under a rock for the last couple decades) is possibly the single worst example of a website I've seen, especially when considering that it's a website designers website. You have to do the highlighting trick on their website as well to read most of the text...

That seems to be the way at alot of your more authentic chinese places. The have the main menu that they hand most people that come in, i.e. your standard Chinese-American fare. But many also have a Chinese menu (that is often printed in Enlish as well as Chinese) or others that will make whatever you'd like. I'd like to try some places like that, but frankly know so little about "real" Chinese food that I have no idea what to try. I'm guessing that some of my favorite dishes (Moo Goo Gai Pan, Kung Pao Chicken, Cashew Chicken, etc.) aren't exactly authentic.

Did end up going to Palena tonight. Picked up a couple extra people on the way so it ended up being four of us and since there was a rally of some sort in Dupont Circle we ended up not getting there until about 6:45. Wait was around 45 minutes, which wasn't too bad since there's plenty to do in the neighborhood. Got a couple fry plates, 2 burgers, 2 roast chickens, and a bottle of Gigondas. Everyone thought everything was very good, but the fried lemons definitely were the hit of the table. The roast chicken (as described a number of times now by others in this thread) had this most perfectly crispy skin that wasn't tough at all, just wonderfully crispy. And the flavors of the chicken... wow. I did manage to wrangle a bite of hamburger from my girlfriend and next time I'll definitely have to order it to have more. Desert was a couple of blackberry crisps, the chocalate ice cream sandwhich, and the cheesecake. The cheesecake was good but not out of this world good. However, the figs and the blood orange sorbet that came with the cheesecake were marvelous.

Just the two of us. Trying to decide between there and Majestic Cafe. Majestic is much more convenient but I've wanted to get to both for a while and haven't gotten around to it.

Thinking of going out to Palena Cafe tonight for the first time... I'm not in town during the week so can't go during the week when the line might be so long. But I'm craving the hamburger and the roast chicken :-) So, that being said, how long would the wait on a Saturday night?

Another twist... I frequently have no small change. Either I have no cash or only have $20s or whatever. I certainly wouldn't feel good about leaving $20 for something like this but since no check was presented I would have no way to tip on the service. How would you typically go about that? Ask that a $0 check be brought over so you can at least tip with your credit card? Ask for change (if you do happen to have any cash on you)?

No complaining about the service :-) Well okay, one person complained about something at Oyamel, but it was fairly tame.

Interesting. I've tried some of the Veritas wines, but I don't believe I've tried the Traminette. I guess I forgot to consider that a winery could end up with a wine the same name as a winery in the region :-)

That was possibly the Sweet Afton. I tried the Afton wines for the first time this weekend at the Vintage Virginia festival. Overall they were okay, with the Gewurztraminer being one of the first (if not the first) that I've tried from Virginia. Wasn't quite up to the Gewurtz I'm used to, but it's a start. Another winery (that I can't remember right now since I don't have my notes in front of me) had a Traminer that was quite tasty as well and unusual for a Virginian winery. Personally, I'm a big fan of Virginia wines and have 5-6 cases of it at home (which is a good 80% of my collection :-) ) and go out to the wineries as often as possible (6-7 times a year or so I guess) and get a monthly delivery from my favorite winery (Rappahannock). No, it's not up to the standard of the big boys, but it's reasonably priced and shows potential, plus I like to support the local wineries. The problem I had this year with the wines I tried at Vintage Virginia was that everything seemed to run together. I've heard that comment from a couple of friends of mine that enjoy wine and have tried Virginian wines but previously had put it up to them just looking down on VA wine. I'm not sure if it was this vintage wasn't all that great, or if I was just having an off-weeked (the partying the night before didn't help... to the extent that two people that were supposed to be going with me and my GF couldn't be roused to go :-) ), but I noticed something along those lines. All the Cab Francs (a popular grape for VA wineries) tasted so similar, similar for the Chambourcin (another grape used a decent bit in VA). The same couldn't be said for the Chardonnay's and the Reisling's and such, so I'm chalking it up me being hungover from the night before. Still walked away with a case of wine total from 4-5 wineries. I find that probably what VA wineries do best is the nice, simple picnic-style wines that are fairly cheap but very tasty. There are certainly wineries that are starting to produce (or have produced for a couple years) good, more serious wine so the state is starting to come along... Sorry for the tangent to the thread. It did tie in with the previous post a bit :-) That was possibly the Sweet Afton. I tried the Afton wines for the first time this weekend at the Vintage Virginia festival. Overall they were okay, with the Gewurztraminer being one of the first (if not the first) that I've tried from Virginia. Wasn't quite up to the Gewurtz I'm used to, but it's a start. Another winery (that I can't remember right now since I don't have my notes in front of me) had a Traminer that was quite tasty as well and unusual for a Virginian winery. Personally, I'm a big fan of Virginia wines and have 5-6 cases of it at home (which is a good 80% of my collection :-) ) and go out to the wineries as often as possible (6-7 times a year or so I guess) and get a monthly delivery from my favorite winery (Rappahannock). No, it's not up to the standard of the big boys, but it's reasonably priced and shows potential, plus I like to support the local wineries. The problem I had this year with the wines I tried at Vintage Virginia was that everything seemed to run together. I've heard that comment from a couple of friends of mine that enjoy wine and have tried Virginian wines but previously had put it up to them just looking down on VA wine. I'm not sure if it was this vintage wasn't all that great, or if I was just having an off-weeked (the partying the night before didn't help... to the extent that two people that were supposed to be going with me and my GF couldn't be roused to go :-) ), but I noticed something along those lines. All the Cab Francs (a popular grape for VA wineries) tasted so similar, similar for the Chambourcin (another grape used a decent bit in VA). The same couldn't be said for the Chardonnay's and the Reisling's and such, so I'm chalking it up me being hungover from the night before. Still walked away with a case of wine total from 4-5 wineries. I find that probably what VA wineries do best is the nice, simple picnic-style wines that are fairly cheap but very tasty. There are certainly wineries that are starting to produce (or have produced for a couple years) good, more serious wine so the state is starting to come along... Sorry for the tangent to the thread. It did tie in with the previous post a bit :-)

I'm really not sure since I've only lived in DC for around 3 years now... Cafe Salsa has been open a bit over 4 I think (not entirely certain). It's on King, between Columbus and Washington. Majestic Cafe (which I still have to get to as well) is one block further from the water, as a reference.

I'd nominate Cafe Salsa in Old Town. They've gotten some not-really-bad-but-not-really-good press, but I think if you go in knowing how to order, you can come away with a very good meal. The trick (unfortunately) is to stay away from their entrees. Some are okay-to-good, some are okay-to-bad. None have knocked my socks off and a couple have left me wishing I'd ordered something else instead. However, that having been said, their appetizers are delicious. When my GF and I go in we typically stick to two appetizers each and the tres leches for desert. The fried plantains chips and salsa they bring doesn't hurt either. The biggest draw for me though has to be the mojitos. I'd place them on par with Cafe Atlantico as the best I've had in the city. Cafe Salsa's are a bit different than Cafe Atlantico (though I've only been to Cafe Atlantico once so I don't remember exactly how, other than thinking when I was at Cafe Atlantico that they were a bit different than Cafe Salsa's) but both are the top rung for me. I'm not certain if I'd go out of the way to go to Cafe Salsa or not. I know my GF would in a heartbeat. We only live a couple miles away from Old Town and she works a couple blocks away from Cafe Salsa so it's convenient. And the mojitos draw me in :-)

Are crews still being organized for work? I know I'm a bit behind, but cut me some slack, I just joined. I'm a gluton for punishment and like manual labor, which my job doesn't really allow for.

Location takes me to a page with an inline Yahoo Maps object. Upcoming events takes me to a page that has a link on it that's the same as the "Happy Hour" link at the top of the page. Overall I think the website is not bad. My primary complaint about it is that some of the links take you away from the navigation bar on the right (like "Tasting Menu") and have no way for you to get back other than pressing back on the browser.

Two thoughts: 1) Personally, if I go to a restaurant that I know has a well thought-out wine menu at reasonable prices and are in line with the price of the food, then I would rarely bring in wine. As it is, I've only been learning about wine for a couple years and know the grapes well and the regions fairly well, though know little about specific wines or even really the "typical" prices for wines in each region. Part of this is my inexperience and part of this is that I have a poor memory and thus don't remember things until they become "ingrained" so-to-speak. Therefore many times when trying to decide on where to go for a dinner I'll look up the wine list for a restaurant and look for reviews of wines that sound interesting. When, in the course of that, I see wines that are selling at the restaurant for $60-$80 and I see I can obtain the same bottle retail for $15-$20... well, it discourages me from wanting to eat at that restaurant. When I see reasonably priced wine (don't know exactly what my definition of that is... maybe around a 50% or $20-$30 markup, whichever is greater) it definitely makes me more interested in dining there. When I see wines from regions that I'm unfamiliar with it definitately makes me think the program had some thought put into it and makes me more interested in dining there (assuming that after a bit of research the wine seems respectable...) 2) I'm a fan of the Virginia re-cork law. I wish that VA had corkage; it's unfortunate that it doesn't. Allowing patrons to take home un-drunk wine means that I'm much more likely to purchase a bottle of wine with dinner instead of sticking with by-the-glass. This generates more income for the restaurant and the state (through high taxes collected) and means I have a wider selection to choose from if I just don't think that I and my GF would finish a bottle with dinner (it happens occasionally, but not often :-) ). As well, it means I shouldn't feel the need to go ahead and finish the bottle since it's been paid for... I can drink what I wish and take the rest home. Honestly, I'd more than likely be perfectly happy with most of the "fine dining" restaurants not having corkage as most of these restaurants put time into their wine list... Of course part of becoming a "fine dining" restaurant is offering a wine list that complements the food, so I realize that is partially circular. However, unfortunately, alot of my meals aren't spent at restaurants such as these. Alot of my meals are at places like California Pizza Kitchen, Legal's, Bertucci's, etc. where the wine service isn't as well thought out and if you ask for advice on a wine a blank stare may be forthcoming (though quite often not at the particular places I mentioned above). However, it's the places of this caliber where the wine selection is often a mine field and I would appreciate a reasonable corkage fee so I could bring in a bottle from home to have with dinner. It would mean that my truly special wines would stay at home, but that I'd probably bring in a decent wine that I know would match the meal.

Treznor has been my online nom de guerre for well over a decade so it's tough to change even though I don't neccassarily even like Reznor's new stuff, so I couldn't even tell ya' when the new album is coming out :-)