Principia

I am curious that when it opens will people be able to order the pizza with the toppings that they want or will they have to eat the pizza the way Greenwood envisions it should be?

And anyone who mentions 2 Amys will get chucked out the front door like a drunkard being ejected from a saloon...

The +1 will be car-ing it in and picking me up from Metro, so we can pickup two more folks from whichever Metro folks think would be closest - I'm afraid I've checked WMATA and it has been most unhelpful.

Just got this in an email: mayhaps this would make a suitable consolation dinner for those who didn't/don't get into the DR events here or at Maestro?

CORDUROY

Presents

5-Course Vintner Dinner
Featuring the Wines of Maison Louis Jadot
Special Guest, Marc Dupin

Wednesday, February 8th
6:30 pm Reception --  7:00 pm Dinner

Passed Hors d'Oeuvres

Sweet Shrimp with Meyer Lemon
Local Shiitake Tempura
Squab Sandwiches
Bourgogne, Chardonnay, 2002

1st Course
Celeriac Soup
Chassagne Montrachet, 2003

2nd Course
Seared Sea Scallops, Sunset Beach Oyster and Leeks
Savigny Les Beaune, "Clos des Guettes", Premier Cru,
Domaine Gagey, 2002

3rd Course
Ballotine of Free-Range Chicken with Foie Gras Sauce
Moulin a Vent Cru, Clos St. Jacques, Domaine Louis Jadot, 2003

4th Course
Loin of Lamb with Rosemary-Bean Sauce
Beaune, "Theuron", Premier Cru, Domaine Louis Jadot, 2003

Dessert
Flourless Chocolate Cake with Homemade Port Ice Cream
Delaforce, "His Eminence's Choice", 10-Year Old Tawny Port

Chef/Owner Tom Power

$110 per Person, inclusive of Tax and Gratuity
For reservations, please call Rissa Pagsibigan or David Batista at (202) 589-0699
Reservations must be confirmed with credit card

The lottery is fair, but in retrospect, we should have probably closed the signup for this particular event a day or two ago.

Does three business days sound fair? Especially given that y'all are considerate enough to give us preannouncements when such events are upcoming. I say BDs, since I'm sure just as there are some members who don't have weekday/daytime access to the boards, there are likewise members who don't have time over the weekend or holidays to view the boards.

Looking back at the message trail, even cutting it off on the 30th would've left us with a draw of about 80 people for 56 slots, versus the current count of almost 120.

I think limiting the pool buildup time would also help keep our lovely event organizers sane, especially when there are multiple events that are being coordinated at once.

I need to revisit my smothie obsession. Any tips on where to start, new, strange concoctions welcome.

<I'm all ears>

One place to start, particularly if you're trying to replicate commercial smoothies without the ridiculous upcharging, is Top Secret Recipes - Sodas, Smoothies, Spirits and Shakes, by Todd Wilbur. He's got a fair amount of free recipes available on his site (http://www.topsecretrecipes.com), if you wanted to check them out first.

Don't EVER double-book at a restaurant...

Do you mean people making multiple reservations at a single restaurant? I'd ask if people ever actually did that, but given Nadya's RW phone encounter with that one lady, I'm sure it probably does. shudder

So, the ultimate jackhole would...

Be double-parking in a handicapped space while using his cellphone to make two reservations each at five different restaurants for Valentine's Day?

Of course not, darlink! Remember, it's your history in just ONE restaurant, not your consolidated dining-out record.  I don't think anyone is too bothered about one no-show.

And I would imagine they wouldn't be worried about cancellations either, since that shows you were at least considerate enough to do so. I mean, can you imagine how many cancellations folks like doctors must have on their records?

The obvious way around the opentable prohibition on multiple reservations is to have multiple accounts under different names.

So the would-be OT hacker can then have multiple comments from restaurants calling them a no-showing jerkwad?

Does OT not prevent someone from registering multiple times with the same contact info?

Another good reason for restaurants to prefer users of OpenTable.  It won't let you make two reservations at the same time for two different places.  (There is a way around that, but I won't tell you what it is.)

Since OT would then appear to be effective at heading off multi-res asshattery, does it seem feasible that restaurants could stop taking phone reservations in the foreseeable future?

Um... I have only lived in this area for10 years, so my locating skills are not like a native's. But isn't the American Legion Bridge the one on 495? That goes from Montgomery County via Cabin John to Mclean/Tyson's Corner? Wouldn't it be faster to just stay on 495 and go to Fairfax?

No. The HT in Fairfax is in the middle of "old town" Fairfax, and the traffic can be a total PITA... not to mention the lack of parking. Pentagon Row is both closer to the highway and features a larger number of other possible reasons to go there.

Of course, if one were to combine a trip to HT with a trip to Super H and/or Woodlands, then that might be sufficient impetus to venture into Fairfax.

Still unacceptable to me. What if someone else wants that reservation ?

Well, I agree - in similar situations where I've been the organizer, I've always made an executive decision on behalf of the group's vacillators.

Playing the devil's advocate, though:

Given the recent RW conversations about repeatedly cruising OpenTable, are you telling me that "someone else" is incapable of calling back at a later time or re-checking OT? To that theoretical person (or the restaurant, for that matter), what's the difference between someone cancelling the next day because it's an extra reservation and someone cancelling the next day because they found out they have to go on a business trip?

just across the American Legion bridge.

If I have my bridges right, I think that would probably put you closest to the one in Pentagon Row. I don't know that I could in good conscience recommend driving all the way out to the Reston/Loudoun County ones - although if you wanted to make a day trip to Leesburg (say, to visit the Mighty Midget) then either of the two Ashburns wouldn't be too far away.

I do wish Tom would have put his foot down on the multiple reservation thing.

I know... I'm tempted to check Emily Post and Miss Manners to see if they have anything to say about it.

Not that I've ever done or would ever do that, but I'd say that maybe, maybe making multiple reservations is OK if:

1. The reservations are being made well in advance, and

2. The excess reservations are cancelled within 24 hours of their original placement.

I can see where booking multiple restaurants might be tempting if you're trying to wrangle something for a group of friends and don't want to let one email straggler hold up the entire reservation process (et al), but it still seems inadvisable to me.

As a dear friend of a Special Requests Queen, I have to admit I'm also curious as to how nuts kitchens must get driven by all the diners who request major modifications to existing menu items.

And I mean normal restaurant kitchens, not the types of places where you expect the chef to come storming out onto the floor with a cleaver if you ask your server for a pepper shaker. What's an acceptable level of alteration?

And do any of our industry members have any fun stories from the trenches about the most ludicrous modifications ever requested to one of their establishment's dishes?

So in search of a particular beer, and out of general curiosity and interest, I'm heading to Harris Teeter for the first time.

Which one should I go to?  They are all pretty far for me, and looking at their website's store locator, it's an expedition whichever I choose.  So is one any better than the others?  Or better parking?  Or what?  Thanks.

The one in Fairfax has the worst parking situation, and the layout can be a little off-putting since it's on two floors. The one in Reston is a single-floor setup. I think the one in Arlington is also a two-floor store.

Where are you coming from?

I'm gonna go home and have bowl of  Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

Why am I envisioning some enterprising bartender using those as the toppers on a CinnaBunnyTini?

A lot of the food in Super H supermarket in Fairfax is strange (I almost said foreign) to most American shoppers.  My wonderful +1 (Grover here on DR.com) would like to know if up to 5 people would like a guided tour of the foods at Super H and a bit of help in shopping for Korean food and vegetables.

Really? If I lived closer they'd probably be my regular grocery store (pockypockypockypocky). That having been said, I know there's always more to learn. I'm up for it, but wouldn't want to crowd out anyone who's more in need of an introduction...

I thought I was the only person in the greater DC metro area who felt that way.  Escoffier, I'd like to shake your hand someday...  Wegman's is a waste of time and space.

And you shop for your groceries at...? I assume you must have better options near you, then.

My wonderful +1 and I decided we'd skip our usual trip to Super H... Loudon valley...

Not that it sounds like you have plans to go back... but it sounds like the trip wasn't recent, since there's now a Wegmans 10 minutes up the street from Super H.

I have to agree that their store organization leaves much to be desired - and it's not as though I've only ever shopped at Giant. I've been to grocery stores up and down the East Coast, and have never had similar problems finding basic items at, say, a Publix or a Genuardi's. Harris Teeter, though, has some of the same product-location problems - not to mention the almost-four-bucks-a-gallon milk.

It also sounds like you probably went there on a weekend which, as I mentioned upthread, is a suicide mission. I almost had to brain a few dozen people when the +1 and I hit the Dulles one on the Sunday of its opening weekend: according to the employees we've asked, the level of weekend nutsitude has never really decreased from that point, which is why we only go there during the week.

P.S. Super H = love. I wish I could get the +1 to head out there more often!

If your name is on the PM list you don't have to email me.  If you would still like to join them please shoot me a PM by Friday.  The cost is going to go over $20 but not by a whole lot and as usual I am going to ask for prepayment through paypal.

Sorry for the perhaps excessive pingage... but while I was listed, my +1 was not, and I wanted to make sure he was part of the headcount.

Negotiations are continuing with two restaurants...one is going to be the lucky winner...the food will be good, plentiful and no one will leave hungry.

Hey, if we go to Cafe Muse, then we can even rent out a noraebong and check out everyone's karaoke stylings!

My quick count shows 79 on the list. 

Is that even more people than on the Ray's lottery? Yeeks! I'm keeping my fingers crossed...

Is Christmas 2004 recently enough for you? If so, let me know and I can give you my recommendations...

#1 and #2 are good; assuming the night we pick doesn't interfere with his classes (W or Th, the day is still in flux), my +1 is interested as well.

#4 I don't mind so much, but it would be an awful lot of work for our "tour guides"!

And now for something (somewhat) completely different...

A $20 Korean dinner night ...

Guidance is always good.