Keithstg

Call me crazy, but I think that this is something that perhaps should have been done sooner, economy nonwithstanding. If anyone's familiar with the layout of Per Se, they know that the bar and lounge area was pretty much dead space - used as people waited to be seated, etc., and did not see a ton of traffic from those popping in for a drink or whatever. Heck, had I known about this last Saturday I would have stopped in for a drink and a salmon cornet prior to heading across the circle for dinner!

Apparently they will be open within a month, per a report on NY1 today...some more discussion of this in the NYC thread.

Brian Pothier - welcome back!

Awful news - the original Totonno's location in Coney Island has burned down.Clickity

Congratulations Mark and Kathy!

DB Bistro, 44th/6th, or Thalia, 50th / 8th. Or, if you are a masochist, the Palm on 50th between broadway / 8th.

I never stated Sono the equal of Yasuda, but it is very good. And while I'm not defending the original statement that started this discussion, I do think it's silly for people to diss a restaurant without having been there. And there are multiple people who have written very kindly of Sono on this thread and elsewhere, so I think the skepticism isn't warranted.

As far as pricing is concerned, the last I heard Masa cost $350 per person and up. Is this still not the case?

My question for you is have you been to Sushi Sono? While GtownFoodie may have gone overboard in his praise, I have eaten at Sono a few times and it's very very good IMO. They have some inventive and tasty rolls which are not listed on the menu (make sure to ask your server). It's a pleasant space and decently priced. I couldn't care less where the chef is from, and I doubt you could tell he isn't Japanese by tasting his food. BUT, I understand the general sentiment, just as I tend to avoid eating sushi in Korean establishments.

I basically concur with DanielK - though I think the quality of the sushi may be as good as SushiKo's, we're probably splitting hairs here.

But Masa is not a sushi joint that 99.9% of people could ever afford (me included). A more accurate statement might be that Sushi Yasuda is among the best, if not the best, sushi restaurants in NYC at a non-insane price. :-) Admittedly, I'm going mostly on reputation, but I have eaten at Yasuda and the quality of the sushi is as good as any I've ever eaten. And I love the design of the space.

Many parts of the following may look familiar to you, Don

My dining companion and I always dine there "chef table" and have the most fantastic experiences--every single time. The chef-owner (Chef King, who also owns Sushi King but exclusively works at Sushi Sono) is an amazing talent who brings the best fish to the DC-Baltimore area--even better than NYC's best Japanese restaurant (at least according to Zagat), Sushi Yasuda.

Possibly the single worst meal I ever ate in my life.

Cute room, though. Sad that they could never get their kitchen act together.

How they lasted 20-odd years I'll never know.

I have dined at Vidalia on different occasions, and I have to say my most recent visit was certainly my last. This is very sad considering how my first few trips were quite impressive--especially the Crab Cakes, Five Onion Soup with Duck Confit, and Pecan Tart were very memorable. Unfortunately, the decline on the successive visits were as steep as the drop of financial stocks. A fellow foodie friend's face showed absolute disgust when I even mentioned the restaurant by name in a casual conversation--he had a (epically) bad experience as well .

On my last visit, the food was absolutely horrible. The only thing decent was the cornbread. The Chesapeake Crab Buster Chowder had wonderful jumbo lump meat, but the soup was so heavy (basically pink colored heavy cream) that the result was 1st degree homicide of such high quality crab.

The Shrimp & Grits had not-so-big shrimp with what basically amounted to a melted block of butter deemed "grits." I love the taste of butter, but this was ridiculous! If I wanted so-so shrimp with a hunk of butter mixed with some heavy cream, I could have made the same thing--except a fraction of the price and calories but a million times better in taste.

The kiss-of-death came with dessert, the Vanilla Cake and espresso. The " Vanilla Cake" was basically a cold block of sweetened butter. Again, I love butter but expect to eat more than a stick of it for dessert at a fine dining establishment such as Vidalia. I am quite tolerant of a diner, as this was the first time ever that I had to have a dish sent back to the kitchen.

When I had the cake substituted with the Lemon Tart, the result was similar "shock and awe." My sour-food tolerance is very high--I enjoy eating a slice of lemon (not Meyer) every now and then--but even still, I could not withstand the tongue-destroying tang of the grossly understated moniker "Lemon Tart."

Unfortunately, the espresso could not save me from the blast of fat from the Vanilla Cake or the taste bud-searing Lemon Tart because the espresso tasted like someone washed a coffee filter through with lukewarm water. I brought this to the attention of my waiter, who patiently tried a few times to bring out something that had at least the amount of taste as a thin cup of Joe but to no avail.

The bottom line is that I had only a handful other meals as regretfully bad as I had recently at Vidalia (I was tempted to include Pasta Plus, but it was so beneath the others that I choose not to even put it in this unceremonious list): Galileo, Colorado Kitchen, and Gerard Pangaud Bistro.

What do all three of them have in common (aside from the unjustified, snobby, and atrocious service as well as the rip-off pricing)? All three restaurants are closed.

I'm pretty sure Casey came in 2nd that year and Dale got 3rd. I remember Casey making such a big deal about Hung winning and how she was robbed.

All I could think was uh-oh worst sous chef ever. She took forever to chop onions two seasons ago.

Some notes from the past few weeks in NYC.

Irving Mill: Ryan Skeen has gotten a ton of press (and a Beard Nomination) since opening this restaurant, and it didn’t disappoint, more or less. More than a few people have told me that this place is a “mini Gramercy Tavern” – maybe I can see that in terms of décor, but that’s about it. We had salt and pepper pork ribs and pork toast with egg salad and caviar – the ribs were excellent – well seasoned and tender, but not fall off the bone. I didn’t get a bit of the pork toast, but my wife really seemed to enjoy it. Mains were the Waygu beef shoulder and cheek, and the Tagliatelle Bolognese. Both mains were very good, and a good value at $26 and $18, respectively. The pasta was an especially good deal, I think – it’s $4 less at lunch, and is fresh pasta, not boxed, which seems to be a little rare these days (looking in Westend Bistro’s direction here). We also split an order of Mac and Cheese with pork rinds. The mac and cheese was good, but the rinds were a little devoid of flavor, which surprised me. All in all, a very fun time – with one major caveat…the restaurant has a large bar area with a raised section of tables, and then a long, rectangular dining room. If you would like to have a more quiet dinner, request the back room. The front room was VERY loud. The soundtrack was great and the noise didn’t bother me, but I could see it being an issue for some folks.

Chanterelle: We really enjoyed our trip downtown to Chanterelle. Although the dining room was packed, the room was very tranquil, and the service was perfect from beginning to end. It’s easy to see how the Waltuck’s have been in business for as long as they have. Amuses were deviled quail eggs with caviar, and very tiny fried shrimp with remoulade sauce. The shrimp in particular showed the restaurant’s attention to detail – I don’t know of many restaurants that would serve an amuse that required separate execution – these had been fried to order and arrived absolutely greaseless. Appetizers were foie gras three ways –seared, sautéed, and in a spring roll; and dumplings stuffed with truffled potatoes and served with a truffle and Madeira sauce. Both appetizers were fantastic – I mean, when is foie gras ever bad; but I enjoyed the dumplings the most. Main courses were a proscuitto wrapped lotte with butternut squash risotto and seared duck with a smoked tea jus. Both were excellent – the butternut squash risotto along with the thyme jus from the lotte were real standouts. Dessert was a valrhona chocolate and star anise soup – this included a beignet of sorts to dunk in the soup. The star anise flavor was very subtle. The sommelier suggested a really nice Greek red for our meal – a Grenache / Montepulciano blend called Alpha 1, I believe. The only downside to the meal I can think of is that for a restaurant that has such a great wine list, they can do much better than Veuve Rose for their rose champagne by the glass. We look forward to heading back soon.

Blue Smoke: We hit Blue Smoke on a regular basis because it’s close to home, and really accommodating of our youngster. This has to be Danny Meyer’s busiest restaurant – it’s continually packed, and serves up pretty good BBQ – we especially enjoy the KC Ribs and the Brisket, although the brisket sandwich is better than the platter for whatever reason. The side orders are excellent, particularly the mac and cheese. Worth a trip for a quick meal on the (relative) cheap and with kids.

Wildwood BBQ: Met some friends here on Sunday to watch the Caps / Pens game. A member of the incredible shrinking BR Guest empire, this place is just ok. Decent smoked brisket, and my newest favorite cheap beer (Butternuts Pork Slap Ale) by the can. Not worth a trip, but ok for a quick stop if you are near Union Square.

Tom said it all last night when he begged the remaining contestants not to embarrass him during the last meal challenge. What a weak group. Leah's elimination could be seen coming a mile away. At least Fabio had some funny lines!

While the food was great, the wine was equally so and if you are into wine and haven't met Mark Slater and tried some of the offerings off of his list, you owe it to yourself to make a reservation so you have the opportunity to do so. Seriously, a little time with Mark and a few of his wines by the glass alone justify the price of admission here. Much of what Mark is pouring seems to have a story to it -- usually coming from a very small production and someone Mark knows well -- and there is some great stuff to be had a fair amount of it at not-so-intimidating prices. One such unexpected highlight was a Charlottesville, VA sparkling wine - I think a blanc de blanc. This tasted more like real champagne than almost any American sparkling wine I've had. Mark explained that the higher acidity level is what is largely responsible for that. It was delicate and well-balance and some seriously very good stuff. I believe it was from THIBAUT-JANISSON http://www.tjwinery.com/ With as much attention at Michel Richard gets for his Beard award, it is surprising to me that the other James Beard award winner in Georgetown isn't talked about more often.

Worst. Season. Ever.

Seriously, TC does NY and this is the best cast that they could come up with? Stefan is a lock to win at this point, but does anyone really think that he could hang with any of the prior winners (sadly, including Ilan), or even some of the strong contenders from seasons past - Dale, Tre, Lee Ann, etc.

I've had a couple of dinners at Matisse, as we have a client in that neck of the woods. I thought that the food was always prepared well, and covered all of the basics. My favorite thing about the place is the reserve wine list - prices are now creeping upward, but up until about a year ago Fritz had most Sine Qua Non bottlings available for way less than retail (but more than mailing list). Unfortuately as the word got out, that changed, and prices on SQN have increased substantially, but Matisse is a solid, locally owned restaurant with an excellent wine program.

There is a storefront at the corner of H Street and Benning Road (on Benning) that advertises "African Smoked Fish - Wholesale / Retail". Wish I could be of more assistance, but there was not a phone number on the store - at least that I noticed.

We were at APdC for a quick pregame meal last weekend (Keithstq - we were probably at the same game. Did you get your tix through the Caps Road Crew??).

"...I find it is still true that only a handful of restaurants here — Restaurant Eve and The Inn at Little Washington (tied for best), CityZen and Citronelle, when Michel Richard is in residence — can compete with New York's finest."

Seems to me that the article is, in fact comparing restaurants located in the "extended metro area" with those located in New York City.

Actually, there are now almost seven million in the D. C. area which I believe is the fourth largest metropolitan area in the United States.

Gee I would never have known that New Yorkers think food anywhere else sucks. I found the also ran section to be quite self-serving in this regard, it was rather insolent in tone and far too short on details to be of any use other than reinforcing how horrible a food town we are that she can simply dismiss two of the better restaurants with a couple of cute words (I never would have even consider Raiska for part of this list). Add to that the choice of West End and Source over say Corduroy, Oval Room, or Hook says to me that when writing this article she was far more interested in chasing big names not finding great food.

No clue, but Fabio is not staying with BR Guest, apparently.

We are staying at the Tides in South Beach. 3 ladies in late forties on a girls weekend. I don't know South beach at all. I find there are not as many resources to follow for dining as say new york, so for help so I am relying on my fellow rockwellians.

Fri Eve Clubbing: Setai bar or the Shore Club

Thanks to all.