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Hendrix is beyond an exceptional case. The dude made the Star Spangled Banner a counter culture anthem. I'm far from dismissive of the Grateful Dead. I love their music and I'm glad I got to see them a half dozen times. One of the strangest days I can recall was working security back stage at a Dead show at RFK. But the band's significance musically is an entirely different conversation from Dylan. Dylan is critical to understanding nearly everything that occurred after. The Dead is just a very good band with a ton of good songs. Their cult status owes more to pot culture than the music itself. Dave Matthews Band's enduring ability to sell out stadiums is exactly the same phenomenon. As a Virginia college student in the early 90's, DMB is essentially the Dead for me and my peers. I've seen them at least 60 times -- I've even gone on road trips to see them. Though a ton of people sound like them now, DMB was truly ground breaking when they started. But the fact that they sell out Jiffy Lube year after year owes as much to the 10,000 stoned twenty-somethings as it does to the music. Phish is the most extreme example of this phenomenon. Like the two other major "jam bands," they're absolutely brilliant musicians. They're great to see live, and I have a couple times. But their catalogue of good songs isn't close to the Dead or DMB. The main reason they sell out multiple shows at Merriweather every year is that it's a pot-fueled Buffett show.

I came to an appreciation of Dylan and his genius indirectly -- he wrote a significant number of my favorite songs played by other bands. The fact that so many great artists have recorded Dylan tunes is a clear testament to his brilliance. The fact that it is those artists and not the author that popularized these songs is equally a testament to his singing. HOWEVER, there are some Dylan tunes that no one else could sing without it sounding...wrong. "Like a Rolling Stone" is one. The Grateful Dead are a different matter entirely. They are a very good band with an impressive number of good songs in their genre. As with Dave Matthews, Phish, and many other bands that have generated a literally cult-like following, they're not much more than that. Their music spoke very deeply to a particular segment of the population at a particular time. What happened after was mostly just people following along, generally because they like to smoke pot and found a culture that legitimized it.

My job before law school was coding the "new" Bell Atlantic bill, when it went from tiny envelope-sized pages to 8.5"/11". An updated version of the same system is still in use today -- it generates your Verizon bill. As a result of this experience, I know a strangely large amount about phone numbers, nearly all of it boring. Some of the more interesting tidbits:* (1) the original area codes were all small numbers (e.g. 202, 301) to minimize the number of clicks on a rotary phone; (2) the "central office codes" correspond to a physical building that houses the switches that route calls,** a technology which undoubtedly could be replaced now by the computing power in a single smartphone (the central offices are still everywhere -- there's one behind the Exxon at the corner of Lee Highway and Washington Blvd); (3) there are more available numbers in each area code now than there used to be because they reassign them more quickly after they are disconnected (they used to "age" every number for years); and (4) seven digit dialing is still possible within any area code that has no overlay, including DC. * Yes, these are the more interesting tidbits. ** It doesn't really work this way anymore; they changed how calls are routed to enable you to keep your number when you switch from one carrier to another (this was originally envisioned as occurring between competing local carriers, but then cell phones happened).

I've lived in Clarendon for the past five years, and I'm not sure I agree. Tallula and Eatbar's problem was that they weren't in Clarendon (they were in Lyon Park), and there several restaurants opened in Clarendon proper that are just as good. I liked both, but rarely went because they didn't offer anything that inspired me to walk an extra three blocks. Eventide's problem is different -- it's essentially been rudderless for years. The arrival of chef Burrell changed that, and I went every Friday I was in town. The last time I was in, after he left, it was a bad copy of what it had been. In fact, I hadn't read that he was gone -- I knew it as soon as the food arrived and looked it up here to confirm. I haven't been back. Liberty Tavern, Lyon Hall, Green Pig, and Screwtop are packed nearly every night. Each of them would be an asset to any neighborhood. If someone were to open another restaurant of their caliber, it would be swamped too. So it's not inevitable that Clarendon will be overrun by chain restaurants. I's nowhere close to that now.

I did this for DCDiningGuide. It took f'ing forever, but the neighborhood boundaries are the best you'll find anywhere.

It's not the critics, it's the public at large. And maybe the concept. I think the problem, for most diners, is a perception of inaccessibility. It's location in an obscure alley may have a little to do with that, but it goes a bit deeper. What goes on the plate is some of the most interesting and artful food anywhere, bordering on genius. But the experience as a whole may leave some a bit cold. The atmosphere is fairly stark, with none of the luxury of CityZen or the quirky charm of Rose's Luxury. The menu, with its terse descriptions and unfamiliar ingredients, doesn't capture your imagination. Even the initial concept "“ a 24 course meal meant to take you on a "journey" "“ probably didn't appeal to most diners at that price point, who'd rather have a vacation. My meal at Rogue 24 was the most interesting I had last year, but not my favorite. The first course seemed fussy and bland, only revealing its brilliance with later courses as the meal built on its themes. The result was a symphony of sorts "“ far more cerebral than Minibar, which goes for novelty and shock value; far less comforting than Komi, where refinement ultimately gives way to an orgy of meat. The service revealed itself slowly too, growing friendlier as the night progressed. In the end, my guest and I felt like insiders. It was a great experience. Still, the most enjoyable meal I had last year was at a tiny tasting-menu-only BYOB in Philly, Farm and Fisherman. Owned by a husband and wife team, it was welcoming, delicious, and an amazing bargain. It's the kind of place I'd go again and again. Though I'm happy to have experienced Rogue 24, I wasn't inspired to rush back for another "journey." The new a la carte menu changes the paradigm, making the restaurant a bit more accessible. But it's still a moderately expensive proposition for a full dinner. I'd love it if there were a welcoming bar at the front, where I could stop in for some of the excellent cocktails and graze around the menu without feeling like I'm taking up space. But it's just not that kind of restaurant. Gypsy Soul is.

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It's an off-the-shelf Wordpress theme for restaurants called Barnelli. They clearly haven't finished it and probably don't know what they're doing. In any event, it's definitely do-it-yourself. Looks like undercapitalized and/or novice owners. Doesn't bode well for their chances.

Does anyone else think that Groupon and Living Social have become little more than a signal that a restaurant is either: (1) not doing well financially and, therefore, may not be as good as it once was due to cost-cutting measures (the dreaded "death spiral"); or (2) was never very good to begin with? I swore off both "deal" sites quite a while ago, but I haven't unsubscribed to either's email list yet. I still look at the "deals" periodically, but only to know what restaurants should be on my "avoid" list. It's funny how flawed this business model is given that nearly everyone, including me, thought these sites were the "next big thing" only a short while ago. It turns out, good places don't want to offer deep discounts and places that want to offer deep discounts generally aren't good places. It seems obvious . . . now.

To the last real newsman's newsman. No ones' courage has affected my life more directly.

Don't forget about The Partisan, which right now is in the same league as Rose's and Red Hen, but takes reservations.

That was certainly not the last of his troubles.

Apparently it's "American-style cuisine with Mediterranean influences," whatever that means.

The lounge at an upscale hotel might work well for this. The Ritz Carlton in Pentagon City is nearby and connected to the mall, which would make for easy parking.

It always has.

Thrillist just named Don's Instagram account one of the best for DC food porn. Except Don doesn't have an Instagram account. It's somebody else, who aggregates photos from hundereds of users. So much for "journalism." @dcdining is a great Instagram account, though. They often run images from our account @DCDiningGuide.

It's even easier than that -- all it would take is a relatively simple sql query that piggybacks off of the existing search functionality. What we're talking about is essentially the same as the existing forum search, only limited to one field, the title. It may take a few hours to get everything to work and look right (it depends on how convoluted the code is), but not more than that. My hunch, given what I've seen of Invision's code, is that it's probably a few lines of code in 2-3 templates. Anyway, it's definitely doable if you wanted to. The restaurant search functions in DCDiningGuide were coded from scratch and only took a couple of hours, most of which was formatting the damned search boxes (which you don't have to do because there already is one).

If what you want is a search to locate specific threads (i.e. restaurants), it would actually be quite easy to code a custom search, at least in theory (I couldn't tell you for sure without looking at the code/tables). You'd just add a search that pulls only from the table/column in the database that holds thread titles. It could also be seamless -- just another option in the drop down menu next to the search box.

Yes, but these savvy diners clearly know that in this country wheat flour is also used liberally, posing a threat to their enlightened but irritable bowels. Hence their decision to ask for rice.

I think Todd Kliman was simply mistaken. Clearly this family was enjoying their meal over rice as part of a gluten free diet.

It's in the board's toolbar (not Explorer's) that appears when you start composing your post (click on the reply box). It's on top, at the far left, and looks like a tiny little light switch. It's next to the tiny little eraser.

I have this problem in Internet Explorer. Click on the button at the top left in the tool bar, which activates the code editor, then go back to the post and click the quote button. If you click the button at the top left again, you'll be back in the text editor, and the quote will still show.

CityEats is gone!

There's also the original Sushi of Gari, which is at 78th and 1st in the UES.