Principia

With the resurgence of good Mexican cuisine elsewhere in the area, it's not surprising that Picante hasn't made the Cheap Eats list in a while, but it's still worth a look if you need a bite near Chantilly (along with Thai Basil, elsewhere in the same strip mall).

The +1 and I took in some Picante a few weeks ago... very tasty, if as gigantically portioned as ever. The waitress was very impressed that B ordered the Camarones al Diabla - apparently she can't even manage the dish herself, but he finished it. Admittedly, he didn't go on to consume the soup-bowl's worth of remaining sauce, but finish he did.

I recall the extra-gigantor portions dating back to when the place first opened... did they go through a phase where they'd made their servings smaller?

Went to NYC this weekend and picked up some bialys.  Does anyone know of a bakery around here that sells them?  I saw some (not particularly good) at Whole Foods a few months ago, but haven't seen them since.

Chutzpah Deli (http://www.chutzpahdeli.com) in Fairfax has 'em; Schiffman's Bagel Buddies & New York Deli in Fairfax has 'em; it wouldn't surprise me if Brooklyn Bagel in Clarendon or So's Your Mom in Adams Morgan has 'em.

I suspect most, if not all, of these would just be ones imported from New York, like from Kossar's (http://www.kossarsbialys.com/bialy%20making.htm).

Has anyone else been here?

Sandwiches continue to be tasty, but the fries appear to be a lost cause.  Save yourself the $1.99 and get something else.  I guess it is time to try some of their sides.

I got there for a very late lunch last week. My fries were nicely crispy, so I think it may just be an intermittent problem?

Very nummy all in all.

And why is it, that at every location, you must order your meat selections at least two degrees of doneness more than you generally would? I know the drill now, but Rare is Raw and MR is barely rare, across the board.

Are they trying to keep from appearing pretentious by avoiding the use of the existing French terms?

What's wrong with the Cheescake Factory? I am not saying the quality is good, however many people enjoy the food there. Is is really fair to pick on chains? They do serve a purpose to some, and are not all that bad.

In one of life's little ironic twists, I have to confess that I share the same opinion of the Cheesecake Factory as I do of California Pizza Kitchen: I'll eat much of what they offer, just not the items they purport to be their specialities.

Although I only eat there if a full shopping expedition is happening during the wait, the CF at Tysons Galleria has really good salads and other veggie selections. I'm still peeved that they discontinued the Frozen Hot Chocolate, though.

Given the choices available at most of the locations these joints are at, I'll take a GAR restaurant - except Carlyle, perhaps.

I only ever get to Coastal Flats and Sweetwater, and even so I've noticed menu creep.

I fail to comprehend why, if they are going to continue merging the menus of their various outlets, GAR doesn't just turn them all into CFs and STs? Or are they just too cheap to redo the buildouts?

Red Sage - meh. It was ok when I ate there recently before a show at the Warner. We were too cheap to pop for B9.

I love The Melting Pot (well, at least the one in Reston, can't speak for the other local iterations), but to nominate it for a RAMMY? Why? You're basically getting a bunch of ingredients and making your own food.

For what's worth, I was lucky enough to grow up in the era of Ms. Richman.  Reading her reviews over Saturday lunch is a ritual I miss.  When I was in college my mother used to send them to me and the photos included dotted my freshman dorm.  I only eat tomatoes for three months a year because Ms. Richman taught me to.  I miss her prose and imagine I am not the only one.

Mme. Richman's prose was indeed eloquent, but if folks think that Tom Sietsema has unrealistic expectations of service based on his experiences...

To me it was evident from her reviews that while she was theoretically supposed to be anonymous, if the restaurant didn't actually recognize her and treat her accordingly (i.e. like the Queen of Sheba, of course, while coyly pretending they had no idea who she was), they got slammed. I certainly don't expect a celebutante's reception when I go out to a restaurant, and in her latter days Phyllis R. really seemed to lose touch with the average diner's experience.

To be fair, one of my favourite restaurants on the planet is The Vortex in Atlanta. They are not rude - they are just very, very specific about what crap they won't tolerate being foisted on their staff.

Wegmans, if she's anywhere near one. Sutton Place, alas, is no more - she'll want to look up Balducci's in the phone book.

Even if we call it "potentially libelous", the way it was done -- providing enough information that a fair number of people could identify the restaurant -- was just effing classless.

I'm surprised if this person's friend was close enough to the restaurant team to be invited to a dry run that the friend doesn't know how to get feedback to the management. If the service and food really were as horrid (and illness-causing) as this person claims, then they need to let the restaurant know before it opens.

Not to mention the libelous implication that it was the food at the opening that made them sick....

On the other hand, if the poster had given enough detail so that people reading the chat could have a fairly good idea of what soon-to-open place was being discussed, then no, that wouldn't be fair.

....and my personal guilty pleasure, gulab jamun!

And mine? Sevai Payasam....

Does Ben & Jerry's Black & Tan count?

Here's the kiss of death for a dish--seen at Giant recently: microwavable molten chocolate cake in a shelf-stable plastic bowl. Betty Crocker or some such major brand. Yick. What hath Thomas Keller wrought?

Half-cooked microwaved brownie batter in a Gladware tub, that's what he wrought.

I wish I could commit to going but I can't.   

Sigh...

Jennifer

I'd love to come, but there are familial health issues going on right now, so I also cannot commit to anything further out than the next day or two. And I was so looking forward to some pierogies!

I thought he was referring to comparing it to taxes and the possibility of spinning off-topic.

I concur (as does Rocks, from his post - he wasn't saying we aren't "allowed" to discuss the topic any longer).

Okay, so here's a thought: would it be better if restaurants just had a servis compris on wine service? Is there anyone around here who does such a thing?

I can not possibly comprehend how you think that is a win-win situation.  Assuming you are not bringing plonk with you, the restuarant received a $25 fee instead of a $100 markup on the wine (100% on a $100 wholesale bottle) and the waiter got $5 (20% of $25) instead of $40 (20% of $200).

I'd say it's a win-win situation because in his scenario no-one is being taken advantage of.

Is it you Rocks? 

I was thinking Jacques, but perhaps our mysterious bon vivant might choose to reveal themselves instead of leaving us to guess?

Plus, Mark Slater hasn't chimed in, yet, to tell us what real sommeliers expect in terms of tips.

Enlighten us, people.

Somehow I'm guessing sommeliers aren't paid $2.30 an hour. Perhaps tippage is not as relevant to a sommelier as it would be to a member of the ground troops?

A 5% tip on a $1000 bottle of wine is the same as a 20% tip on a $250 bottle of wine.  Is it your point that a 5% tip on a $1k bottle of wine is stingey?

I think the point is that if you ask anyone in the business how much they'd like to get tipped on anything they sell, they're going to give you an inflated answer because they want as much money as possible. A perfectly understandable desire, but c'mon - 20% of a bottle that's already had its cost punched up several times over? I think not.

There's an interesting query for the wine drinkers out there in DR land: are you likely to give a better tip percentage-wise if you know you're not being raked over the coals on the price of the wine itself?

..Even the restaurants you enjoyed in Paris are trying to turn a profit.  It may just not be very noticeable to diners, but the profit margin is built into everything you enjoy there, including an unhurried dinner...

I would imagine this consideration includes making everything twice as expensive in order to accommodate the fact that one's clientele are going to spend the entire evening lolling around the restaurant long after they're done with their meal?

The practical consequence, I think, would be that people would mostly get the h--- out, the tables would turn, and maybe tips collected would even go up.

I think the current system many restaurants (such as The Melting Pot) employ of having seatings works just fine. You're not charged extra - you just have to get out.

I don't think a metered system a la taxicabs or speed chess would work. Potential abuse issues aside, as long as the table is continuing to order additional stuff, who cares if they're at a table longer?

The continuing to order stuff is key in my mind: I'd be perfectly happy to see places like Tryst start charging their "Oh, I think I'll milk a latte for four hours while I stretch out and surf the net having spread the rest of my crap out all over a four-top" clientele out the wazoo. Well, at least once the place has started to fill up. I can't imagine how much money places like that lose to leeching bozos who make it so people who actually want to spend money can't get a seat.

At least the average lingering-over-wine diner has paid to have a full meal first, y'know?

A topical article in today's Food Section: Booking a Table? Be Patient, Flexible.

'In no particular order' my ass. And to report that the restaurant is closing - as in perma-closing - without confirming it with someone directly? Oh, yeah, there's some responsible reporting.

I wish we could write the Post directly and tell them 'Hey, they're just taking a few weeks off to get Ray's The Classics up and running,' or 'What, the man can't take a vacation?', but sans input we'd just be speculating too.

Anyone else feel like you're reading Harry Potter for the first time, only it's the third book in the series?  

There's a back story here, and reading that restored thread doesn't quite tell it ... Like, why restore it? Why today?

This discussion has its origins in the Dino thread, where it was mentioned that someone from the restaurant *had* been posting here under false pretenses (i.e., not identifying themselves as coming from the restaurant's staff).

Apparently this person - Dino's GM, Michael - was the person who started the deleted (and now resurrected) "Washington sux!" thread. Evidently said thread was started because Tom Sietsema had had the temerity not to like Dino and had said so in print. Don may (or may not) have subsequently kicked the guy from the boards as a result.

Folks, feel free to offer corrections if that was not an accurate recap.

eta: see deangold's post below.

Does anyone have any information on this?  Thanks.

http://www.equinoxrestaurant.com/calendar.php