danfishe

Friend and I went to RedRocks for lunch today. It was superb. We started with the antipasto plate, excellent combination of cheese, olives, prosciutto and salami. We also had the bruscetta, which achieved the success of keeping the bread crispy and warm while the tomato mixture cool. Our pizzas (margarita with pepperoni, sausage and onion for me, sausage for my friend) were crisp and light, with the topping cooked perfectly, especially the pepperoni. Including a couple of cokes, we got out for $60 which isn't bad for gourmet pizza. Service was good, great at the beginning when the restaurant was empty, a little less at the end when it was packed. All in all, nothing fancy but a great, great stop for a weekend lunch. Having been together to RedRocks, Bebo and Comet in the last month, I would probably rate RedRocks a close third behind Comet and Bebo, though my friend said he liked it better than Comet. The service and general atmosphere was in any event better at RedRocks.

As someone who has occasionally criticized you, let me take my hat off and say that is truly a wonderful thing to do, and shows a high character.

On top of the chaos I experienced the other day, I'm not sure what that says about the future of this restaurant.

I actually meant they each had sausage and onions, sorry.

Sounds great and I'm looking forward to it. Will there by heat lamps and coverings on the roof or will it be a may to September thing only?

I just returned from a comically bad meal at Bebo with a friend of mine. To begin with, after being escorted to our table by the pleasant hostess, we were left unattended for 15 minutes (at 7 pm on a Thursday in a 2/3 empty restaurant). The busboy then came over and poured our water, and then we had another 5 minutes with no attention until the waiter finally came over. On a number of previous visits to Bebo, we had ordered as an appetizer a number of the cured meats which had their own menu. This menu was nowhere to be found, and when we asked the waiter, he said in broken English "it's no more" but that he could bring us "some." We then tried to order beer but were told they only had bud, bud light and miller light (maybe those are the beers they always have, I didn't recall; but they were all draft beers so it seemed like an incredibly odd selection for an upscale italian trattoria). After a few minutes our cured meats were brought--mortadella and salami--with no explanation of why those were chosen or what they were (I assume that the cured means menu is no longer being served but who knows). The meats were ok. I should actually add at this point that the bread was excellent. Next, our pizzas came, and high comedy began. I had ordered sausage, mushroom and onion and my friend had ordered sausage and mushroom. The pizzas that were brought to our table had pepperoni (salami, technically) instead of sausage. Ok, mistakes happen. We told the person who brought the pizzas about the mistake, and he said he would fix it. Our waiter then came over and asked us if they could just add the sausage on top of the pizza instead of bringing us a new pizza with our ordered toppings! After we politely told him no, he slinked off. Finally, our correct (sort of) pizzas were brough, except they each had sausage and mushrooms, not the toppings we had ordered. Not wanting to tempt our fate further, we ate them. On the bill, we were charged for the missing toppings, but we had had enough by that point and paid and left. All in all a terrible experience service-wise and I can't figure out why there is no longer a cured meats menu. That being said, the pizzas we finally got were good--I thought they were very good, but not as good as Comet which I had last week; my friend thought it was excellent, and better than Comet. Interestingly, my friend, who is not a major reader of these boards or of restaurant literature and whose only prior experience with Roberto Donna was in a number of meals at Galileo, was stunned that he would let his name be associated with Bebo given the problems. Would I go back there again? On a casual weekend lunch, perhaps, but never for dinner and never with anyone I did not know well.

Ah, the quality of discourse I've come to expect from the Rays' defenders...oh well, I'll try posting again next year.

That is certainly fair enough and I look forward to your post.

Wait a second. He continually uses these boards to expound on his philosophy of running his restaurants. I assume you don't dispute that; I can provide you cites if you do. If he is going to do that, and refuse to answer perfectly legitimate questions about his restaurants, what do you call that? Seems pretty close to disingenuous to me, or at a minimum not participating in the board in good faith. He of course has no duty to answer any question but once a restaurateur takes it upon himself to actively discuss his establishment, I think an obligation arises to answer basic questions that arise.

I agree completely. It is not clear to me why Mr. Landrum feel it is appropriate to use the forum as a soapbox for your opinions about the proper way to run a restaurant, and then refuse to engage with perfectly acceptable and reasonable questions about your establishments.

Not clear why you would make assumptions about people's political leanings on a food board...is good food "progressive" and bad food "reactionary"?

As I have been wanting to try their pizza for a while, I went to Bebbo on Friday night and sat at the bar by myself. The two bartenders were very nice, one was obviously new but they were both attentive, no complaints there. The salumi starter was excellent. I had a pizza with onions and pepperoni. Amazingly they ran out of buffalo mozz at 9:30, so I had the regular cheese, which was fine. Overall the pizza was good, though not discernably better than 2 Amys or even Sette Bello. On another note, the air conditioner was broken, and the entire restaurant was uncomfortably hot (and not entirely full). Would I go back for a quick pizza lunch or a very casual dinner? Absolutely. Would I go back for more than that? No.

It appears we will also need the secret password to order this particular dish.

Went to Bebo late Friday night with a party of 5. Service was terribly confused, wrong apps and entrees brought to our table even after repeated corrections, bread not brought with meat starter, wine not brought with meal. Would have mentioned to manager/hostess but she was on her cell phone the whole time. Pastas were excellent and prices reasonable, so would probably go again, but only for lunch or an early/casual dinner--not as part of any kind of special evening or night out.

There is free, convenient parking in the DHS building in Clarendon, a close walk to everything. An excellent idea by the County to put that in. Not sure I see the issue.