Keithstg

The Prime Rib, on K Street.

STK? It's definitely atypical. In the meatpacking district, so caveat emptor.STK Website

That's correct. I might be wrong, but this three tier shipping situation seems to be a recent development (e.g. in the past year). You know things are bad when Copain (one of my favorite wineries), will now ship to MD, but not DC. Torture...

Steak Tartare is ground, much more often than not. Point taken on carpaccio, howeverClickity

No Steak Tartare or Lamb Carpaccio?

I assume that when Puck says stay at home if you want to order steak, he means unless you are going to eat at Cut!

Well, no argument from me on the ***'s, except that I believe Masa to be a *** experience. The list in its totality is pretty disappointing, though. No Eleven Madison Park, period? Peter Luger still gets a star? Spotted Pig? I think Grub Street said it best this year - "denying Esca a star is like printing Made in Seacaucus on the cover". Congrats to Etas Unis and A Voce, however.Ed Levine's take on Michelin 2008

Wow. Casey absloutely blew it. It would have been great to have Dale executing at this high a level from the beginning - too bad he was rusty. In all honesty, Hung was pretty much the only choice. Technically head and shoulders above Casey, and Dale was just putting everything together as the show wrapped. All in all a good choice I think - certainly better than Ilan, anyway.Nice to see Rocco in a kitchen, and not schilling Fancy Feast or Purina or whatever else.

Of the restaurants you list to replace nora with, I'd take either Sushi Ko, BlackSalt, or Equinox in that order - mostly just to keep the pace changing a bit each night, as I think all three are great. Like Waitman said, you might want to break up the dinners with a Vietnamese or Salvadorean stop too.

hold up, what?Re: Sea Smoke Ten, it is big, but I think part of the issue with this wine is that 1) most bottles are consumed too early, and 2) few decant Ten, or let it breathe enough.

Recently saw this via Grub Street - Ruhlman / Bourdain Awards 2008 Potentially hillarious. Who else for the "Rocco" award but Rocco?

Come on. At what price point would you find the place acceptable? 50 selections under $20 - Half of the glasses $10 and below under $5? $35 for an interesting, well thought out bottle in a major city is a good deal. Were you unhappy with the glasses less than $10? Did you not like any of the bottles less than $35?ETA: I agree with Waitman on both the merits of cheap local wines and his range of pricing, but for the OP to continue to split hairs after a correction seems to be piling on.

If last night's episode was any indication, they have turned the sensationalism (and the budget) waay up for the US version. In the UK version, it seemed as though you got more of a sense of the people behind the restaurant and their struggles - and you want to root for them. Last night I just laughed my butt off at Peter, who I bet takes the LIRR in to the city every weekend to eat at a Chodorow joint...Also missing was the usual re-visit in a few months, but Fox could be saving those moments for a "where are they now episode" toward the end of the season.

Ace Beverage, or Wide World of Wines.

I believe that was during the Heffernan era, and I had the same experience as you did. Incidentially, at that same time period Andrew Carmellini (A Voce) was at Cafe Boulud, doing incredible work (somewhat) under the radar.

Oh - I saw the title of the thread and figured this was about Sloan and Harlan...

I know, seriously. Just shows how starved (no pun intended) the H street area was for a sit-down restaurant...

I actually thought that Rocco was a decent judge. I think that Bourdain, and many others, are dissapointed in Rocco more than anything else. I still remember the meals I had at Union Pacific during Rocco's tenure there - he was (is?) an incredibly talented chef. Bourdain correctly notes that since leaving UP he has crashed and burned - I mean Rocco ran a 3 * NYT restaurant, and is now not cooking, but rather hawking Bertolli frozen dinners and hosting an on-line cooking show. Were it Rachel Ray or some other purveyor of schlock, I doubt Bourdain would be as bothered. Rocco is tremendously talented - it's just a shame that he would rather be a b-list reality star.

Boy that is awful - wonder what will happen to the Federalist's wine list??

We made it out to Doc Moore's on Friday night. For a restaurant on it's first night of business, things went extremely well! The place is dimly lit, and has tons of atmosphere. The upstairs bar is very large, and there is a small "beer garden" out back as well. The food was very good - moules come prepared seven or so different ways, and both the tamarind and veggie broth versions were enjoyed by our group. The mushroom risotto was well-prepared as an appetizer, and the frites were very good, although probably not as good (and absolutely not as expensive) as Beck's, which are our current favorites. They are still waiting on the "beer bibles" to arrive, but all in all a very fun night out on H street. We're glad to have Doc Moore's in the neighborhood!

How about the sheer number of Gordon Ramsay restaurants included? I guess that pictoral was bound to cost them. I had an ok, but not amazing, meal at his NY outpost last week...

Nobody in the top three could ever run a restaurant. That said, my money is on Jen. I see a Jen/Bonnie final. It's amazing how far the series has backslid in terms of cooking talent - there were at least a few actual chefs on Season 1.

Or Artisanal - if a bistro will pass muster. The original Bobby Van's is just down Park in the Helmsley building, although I don't recommend it.

We had an excellent meal at Proof this past saturday. Highlights included an excellent cheese course - with a staff member taking the time to determine which cheeses were pasteurized and which were not, at the request of a pregnant friend. The staff apparently had not had the "pasteurized" question asked before, which is completely understandable, and went out of their way to be accomodating. We also had the burrata and speck dish along with the other cheeses - the only comment here was that the flavor of the speck overpowered the burrata. First courses were tuna tartare, gnocchi, and meatballs. The meatballs were the winner, although all of the first courses were very good. In fact, I think a great meal could be had by two people splitting an order of each first... Seconds were sablefish (x2), hangar steak, and salmon. The sablefish were fantastic! Clearly the best dish of the second courses, although the hangar steak and salmon arrived beautifully cooked and well seasoned. Portion sizes also seemed to be larger for the sablefish, IIRC. All in all, the food was excellent, the service was friendly and accomodating, and the wine service (Deutz NV Champagne and a Anne Gros Burgundy) was impeccable. The list is very balanced, not too "New Worldy", which is a welcome relief from 15+% abv monoliths. We can't wait to return. Also, the bar was PACKED from about 8pm onwards - seems like the word has already gotten out about Proof, which is great!

Interesting article in today's times... NY Times