Keithstg

One of the worst ideas ever. Predictably, our (hopefully soon to be former) mayor supports lifting height restrictions. Also funny that Vince is going to attend a hearing called "Shaping Washington DC for the future", as he's a walking, talking anachronism.

Although on the plus side, what are the air rights to my townhouse worth?!?!

Aside from the gratuitous observation that the food "didn't look like anything special," NovaLawyer's post looks completely legitmate to me. He came, he saw, he left, he posted. It's unfortunate that Chef Black didn't care for the comment about the food, but the thrust of the post was about the service, and that concern remains unaddressed.

There is value in getting members' backs, even when they disagree with a famous chef.

Just seeing this, but +100. Also, regarding real names, I think it would be an asset. The wine board I frequent is a real names only board (berserkers), and things seem to run smoothly.

The city is fantastic, and doing very well. The best that can be said about the One City crew ( 2/3 of which are now out of office, with one more to follow, one hopes) is that they have managed to confine their incompetence to personal endeavors (theft and fraud, mostly). Personally, I'm drinking to Ron Machen. Also a drink to Tony Williams and Adrian Fenty, who got the ball rolling fast enough that even a cadre of complete morons can't stop it.

To Aldo Conterno, RIP.

Chuck Brown. Rest in Peace...

The veal chop is now $48 - wasn't that veal chop $44 just a few weeks ago (according to Joe H, it was). They just jacked the price up 10%!

For what it's worth, the veal chop at Le Paradou was $48 - $50 for nearly the duration of that restaurant's existence. While I enjoyed it, the portion at Fiola is at least 1/3 larger than what Yannick served. I think that Fiola's veal chop presents a (modest) fine dining value at it's current price.

To the Hartford Whalers, who played their last game on April 13, 1997, to Kevin Dineen, who scored the final Whalers goal, and to 19 year old me, who lingered in my seat long after the game ended.

To Acadia, surely the greatest cocker spaniel ever. 1999 - 2012.

I have not been able to find City Paper as a print paper in a while. It may still be out there somewhere, but I'm not seeing it. A few years ago, they were pleading with people in the print edition to patronize their advertisers so they could continue to put out the paper. I'm sure the "best of" editions are among their most popular (and the voting attracts people to them).

Pat, I'm guessing you live on the hill from your posts here - you can find the "dead tree" version of the City Paper at P&C Market, the corner of Tennessee Ave and East Cap NE, or the Corner of 11th and N Carolina NE. Hope this helps.

- No affiliation with the city paper - just deeply appreciate the work they do, especially their city politics coverage.

Yet another: failure to pay staff, vendors, landlord and tax authorities will result in handwringing cries of how wasted culinary talent was (literally and figuratively). Party on chumps!

Whoa, whoa, whoa. As this owner has nothing in common with Donna's other ventures, I think it's premature to speculate as above - although I was going to ask (jokingly) when the DR.com discounted meal days were....

Any good? I need an <envy> emoticon>

They were both phenomenal - probably the best wines I've had in 2012. The Chapoutier was slightly better to my taste. Both criminally cheap, BTW. Those two followed a slightly maderized '68 Inglenook Cask and a stunning '68 Louis Martini Cab the night before. Tampa is horrible, but Bern's is a national treasure. Will be back for some burgs in two weeks.

'66 Chapoutier Hermitage Le Sizeranne

'66 Revol Cote Rotie

It's always great to eat at Bern's.

http://wineberserkers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=61172

May be a bit geeky for some, but this thread on WB has incredible background on RK's last attempt to auction some wines, including very dubious lots that were called out by posters on the bulletin board, in close to real time. Fascinating.

Why is this so hard for people to stomach in the hospitality industry when it is done for hotel rooms all the time? They show you the cancellation policy and you either agree and continue or disagree and go somewhere else. Seems like a good situation and the folks that don't want to be bothered with a potential loss can be try their luck as walk-ins.

One thing this thread has done is remind me how long it has been since I have been to CityZen...

Completely agree. On both counts.

As someone obsessed with punctuality, and who regularly stresses out over being ten-fifteen minutes late to ANYTHING - I can't imagine no-showing to a restaurant, as I'm sure is the case with 99% of the folks on this board. I have no issue signing a contract if necessary, or providing my credit card number to a restaurant while making a reservation. In fact, having done this with a few restaurants within the past year, I can say it had absolutely no effect on either my enjoyment of the meal or perception of the restaurant. Maybe I'm not sufficiently emo, but I just don't understand how a restaurant taking the same precautions as virtually any other industry can be perceived as a slight.

No argument that I'd rather eat at nearly all of the Chef's establishments you name above than Graffiato, Good Stuff, or WTP.

BUT:

"You should be ashamed of yourself - not for putting out a bad product, but for having the audacity NOT to acknowledge the greatness of these individuals who come way, way before you in the pecking order of things"

The pecking order of things according to whom?

Take other industries, for example: Is an American Idol winner remiss for not acknowledging Elvis, Buddy Holly, B.B. King, Diana Ross, John Lennon, etc etc etc while promoting their new album?

How does one / would one properly "acknowledge the greatness of individuals who come way, way before you on the pecking order of things", anyway?

Or, should folks in similar positions to Isabella and Mendelsohn decline any/all media requests and refrain from promoting their enterprises (which probably collectively employ hundreds of Washingtonians) in an effort to be properly deferential to a list of "superiors" determined on a whim, no matter how different their styles of cuisine may be?

Just thought of an interesting question: Say the Association of Independent Restaurants receives membership applications from Chefs Medelsohn and Isabella - are they accepted?

Rather than labor over a paragraphs long re-hash I'll simply say this, again: I agree that the correct formula can work in spite of (or because of) location.Upthread, as now, I was not ascribing specific reasons to any restaurant's closure. As you note, and as is obvious, restaurants can and do close for numerous reasons. However, openings and closings on the high-end evidence that (a) DC is a more attractive location than Fairfax County for high-end dining investment, and (b ) when high end restaurants close in DC, they are replaced by similar establishments far more frequently than Fairfax County. Yes, Colvin Run is an exception, but is Chef Geoff's cuisine similar? Nope. Will the old Michel space be filled? Likely, for reasons that you note. With something similar? Maybe.

In hindsight, I should have been clearer in my initial post, but it was 6am...

I did not close my restaurant, it was doing fine till I left; I chose to have a life and to leave the restaurant business. My ex wife was running it the last two years.

Chef, I did not mean to imply otherwise - just that after Gerard's Place closed, another restaurant took over the same space. That's all.

CityZen Wagyu Fried Rice w/ wagyu tataki and garlic chips ($15 supplement). Seems like elevated fried rice is a Big Current Trend* in the city's higher-end, non-asian restaurants, which I didn't realize when I ordered this. It was wonderful. I meant to ask what type of rice they were using. It was incredibly light and fine like a shorter grain jasmine but clearly not jasmine by smell. Plenty of wagyu chunks and just very satisfying. Maybe not the value of just going with the soup but no regrets here.

Not sure about the wine markups here but know this to be one of the more interesting and varied wine lists in the city in a way we didn't at all exploit. From a food perspective, I'd have to agree this is one of (if not the) best values to be had in super high-end dining in our city at $50 before any up-charges, wine, tax and tip.

Chef Zieblod has been famous for his fried rice (among many other dishes) for some time - as I recall, he made fried rice to accompany the DR.com Waygu tasting at Vidalia back in the day <edit: went back through the archives - it was in 2007 - what a fantastic event, btw> No argument re: the quality of CityZen's wine list, however regarding markups - '09 Catena Malbec may be readily had at retail for between $17-$22 depending on location.

I think an expensive, high-end restaurant is as likely to do well out in Fairfax County as it is in DC. We've seen some successes and lots of failures in both places. For every suburban Maestro, Michel and Colvin Run, we've had metro Gerard's Place, Butterfield9, Asia Nora, Olives and multiple Galileos downtown.

Individual restaurants succeed because they provide consistent-enough value in the eyes of enough customers over time to ensure long-term profit. That's all very hard to get right whether in Tysons or on K St.

No argument with the last sentence, but while you may think that an expensive, high end restaurant is as likely to do well in Fairfax County as DC, in practice this isn't the case. While the Galileos are a poor example for reasons that don't bear repeating, in DC for every Gerard's Place there is a Siroc to take it's place, for every Olives a PJ Clarke's, etc etc. Even looking across genre in DC - say high end Italian, Galileo's demise (since you mentioned it) is countered by Elisir's opening. For every Michel / Maestro / Monterrey Bay / Inox in Fairfax County, there are empty buildings.

Sorry to have missed this - although I will definitely make the next one.

Was RDV considered? . Really hard to believe that this wasn't one of the winners: serious question, was it even entered?

Joe, both RdV and Thibault-Janisson did not enter. No clue about the others you mention.

ETA: Congratulations Jeff - well deserved!

I will be there, closer to 6pm, pre Caps game.

\ And, yes, big growth almost never works out that well for people that valued the initial concept.

I don't think it was a question of Curt and Pres NOT wanting Friendly's to be bigger, but rather a question of them wanting someone else to deal with the growing. They were certainly not wed to any romantic notions of what Friendly's concept was.

I think this may be the longest thread devoted to an establishment at which none of us has ever dined!! Chalin's has ceased to be an actual restaurant and has become a purely symbolic entity!

I may be dating myself here, but I think that the Indian Ocean / Coat of Arms thread may give this one a run for its money...

I timed a trip to Target poorly, and ended up needing to feed the kids before shopping. If you have the choice between Friendly's and McDonalds, for the love of God, go with McDonald's. Friendly's has bad food, and even worse service.

Back before their expansion and several sales Friendly's was a solid spot. The Blake brothers could be difficult (to say the least - Curt / Pres stories are legendary in the corner of Maine I call a (summer) home, and I have some doozies), but they built a regional chain that served for the most part solid food and ice cream to a broad audience. Ah, memories.

Ending up with 600+ locations wasn't part of their plan, and didn't bode well for the chain overall...