Keithstg

On 9/17/2015 at 11:53 AM, porcupine said:

 

Mache Bistro offers creative modern American food. I ate there twice, once at the bar where I ended up conversing with the owners of Tea House 278 for most of the meal; the second time my husband was sick so I ordered little and ate fast. As a result I'm not sure I can offer details, but everything I tried was distinctive, flavorful, and well-prepared.  It deserves better treatment than I'm giving it here.

FYI, the Mache Bistro team now operates CIAO, which was very good, but will now do an occasional pop-up throughout late summer/ fall. They are on a kind of hiatus.

Tea House 278 is closed now, sadly, and the building is for sale.

Stopped updating this thread, but here are some thoughts over the past month:

Bar Harbor:

Masks, masks, everywhere. Awesome display by local government and restaurants to mandate masks and compliance is around 99%.

Mt. Desert Ice Cream: Open on Firefly lane, across from the green - location on Main Street is closed. Takeout only, same as it ever was.

Blaze: Best restaurant in Bar Harbor, for what that's worth. Wood oven/ hearth and a wide menu encompassing sandwiches, etc through composed dishes. No beer brewed on site, but Blaze beers are brought in from their brewery in Bangor, ME. On Main Street. Dine in (or outside) or takeout.

Galyn's Galley: Still fighting the good fight 25 years later (at least). Dine-in or takeout. Menu hasn't changed a bit, but well-executed seafood and good wine prices (though pay attention to vintages).

Burning Tree: Open for takeout only - plus selling off their wine list.

Northeast Harbor: Most restaurants only open Wed-Sun unless otherwise noted.

Abel's: New management, which will surely please those who didn't "get it" before. Friendly, efficient service for all and not just the multi-generational summer contingent, which was not a hallmark of Abel's of old. Take out or delivery.

Nor'Easter: Fantastic new edition to town. In the "old" tan turtle space, and the "even older" Mast & Rudder space. Full service seafood market alongside a large restaurant and bar turning out excellent lobster rolls, local mussels, etc. Take out, dine in, dine outside. Open seven days.

Colonel's: Same as it ever was. Worth it for the baked goods.

Southwest Harbor:

Claremont Hotel: Closed and for sale. Terribly sad.

Red Sky: Still fantastic. Dine outside only.

Coda: Four course prix fixe each Thursday/ Friday night. Excellent, varied menu and spacious outdoor space. Weather permitting, no take out. HIGHLY recommend.

Come on up here - weather's great and there are alarmingly few tourists.

10 hours ago, Kibbee Nayee said:

There's a fun exercise. Maybe Ashburn? Great Falls?

I would push for the suburban sprawl that is Lorton, Springfield, Burke, Kingstowne....but that's just me.

Hmm, bucolic heaven sounds more like Clifton or Great Falls to me than the other monuments to poor zoning and worse development mentioned above.

2 minutes ago, Keithstg said:

wow. Sad news. Joe was a legend and among the first, if not the first, to see the potential of a revitalized/ re-imagined H Street NE.

7 hours ago, Tweaked said:

Joe Englert has passed. 

A partial list of bars and restaurants he was involved in includes: 

The Argonaut, The Palace of Wonders, The Rock and Roll Hotel, The Red and the Black, The Pug, Granville Moore's, Sticky Rice, The H Street Country Club, Big Hunt, Lucky Bar, DC9, Trusty's Full-Serve Bar, the Capitol Lounge, Pour House, the Insect Club, Politiki, McClellan's Retreat, State of the Union, Truxton Hill, Toledo Lounge, Andalusian Dog, Carmela Kitty’s, Nero’s, Pennsylvania Avenue Pourhouse, Club Random, and there's probably more. 

wow. Sad news. Joe was a legend and among the first, if not the first, to see H Street NE's potential.

Without talking (too much) out of school, the founders who left early made out well, and subsequent events made this outcome sadly inevitable.

3 hours ago, Bart said:

To summarize my long-windedness...….I think this article sucks and it just proves that no good deed goes unpunished.

The comment section is even worse than the article...though this is likely true for any article with a comment section.

Thanks! We're staying at Farmington, so takeout is an option, just not a super-desirable one. Could work for lunch though. Thanks again.

21 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

If recent means 2019, Lampo Pizzeria was really good (a level up from 2 Amys).

Sure - I'll take recent as anything from 2019 - just pre-covid.

Any recent Charlottesville recommendations?

12 hours ago, naxos said:

I looked at the takeout menu and soups are still on- apparently available warm and maybe one can choose frozen if I read the menu correctly.

Yep - I picked up some frozen soup and a large wine order a while ago. Soup reheated beautifully.

1 hour ago, DonRocks said:

I'm sure that some restaurants are doing okay right now, but I don't know of a single one that is.

I'd like to remind our readers that Corduroy (menu) is open for dining Wed-Sat, 5:30-10:30. I just made my reservation, and I encourage everyone to follow suit - Tom *loves* cooking for people, and he's one of the very best chefs in DC; the problem is that he's *terrible* at promoting himself or his restaurant. Corduroy could have won a James Beard Award by now, but they haven't even been nominated - not once. This hits home with me, hard - in a lot of ways, for what are (hopefully) obvious reasons.

In other news, I heard Kojo Nnamdi talking several times yesterday about Kwame Onwuachi, who has replaced Mike Isabella as the current media darling.

1 hour ago, naxos said:

We have followed Corduroy from the first location to the new. We frequented the bar for early weekend dinners and the restaurant proper to celebrate special occasions. While we are not dining out now, I am sorely tempted by chefs wonderful soups.

They do take out.

3 hours ago, Kibbee Nayee said:

 the Tower Club

LOL

8 hours ago, DonRocks said:

This is a pretty sweet dining room.

Always kind of reminded me of the Willard room, or the University Club dining room. For classic club dining rooms, hard to beat the MC or Cosmos.

I'm amazed that this concept didn't take - either in Tysons or DC. I'm sure COVID didn't help any, but seemed like a good concept and restaurant group for both locations.

I dined indoors last night. Waiters were wearing masks and gloves, and we were wearing masks when not eating. My experience was that regulations were being adhered to by staff and customers. While I personally do not feel that dining indoors is a high risk activity for me/ my family, I completely understand those who feel differently and respect their decisions.

We felt as safe as one can feel in this environment and the food (Auberge Provencal) was as good as it's ever been.

On 6/1/2020 at 7:11 AM, curiouskitkatt said:

My dear friend, David Ortiz, recently visited the Inn. 

Have a reservation for this Saturday. Looking forward!

Headed to Maine in a month, as restrictions on those of us from away have lifted a bit (our selectmen did wait until after property tax payments were due to send a note to the summer population telling us we were unwelcome - I got a good laugh out of that), though we will have to quarantine at our house for 14 days, which seems totally reasonable to me.

Planning on heading to Zermatt between Christmas and New Year's this year (using travel credits from cancelled spring break trips)...doubt we will have the whole family on a plane before then. I truly miss travel.

6 hours ago, NolaCaine said:

Holly crap those are some prices but if you take a drive today, or already live near, Ashby should be at peak porch for the next few days. 

🙄

The Ashby will be at peak porch for the next month or so, easy. Please note that seating is limited and if the inn is filled with overnight guests there is little/ no reservation room - and no walk-ins.

Jonathan Leonard remains at the Ashby, where we had an actual restaurant meal last night. The patio seats are very well-spaced apart, and significant precautions were taken to ensure safety, IMO. Our visit was more about supporting a restaurant than the food itself, but our food was excellent.

Asparagus Bisque X2: Well prepared - sour cream and a bit of truffle salt here.

Garden Salad: Our Daughter enjoyed the salad, which featured blackberries, radish, and an onion vinaigrette

Filet X2: Well prepared filet from Martin's in the plains. Served with demi-glace (not specified beef or veal but assume beef), caramelized onions and potato puree

Mushroom Risotto: Great dish. Fried shiitake mushrooms in a risotto with grana padano, spinach, and egg. Wasn't mine, but tried to steal what I could.

Ny Strip: Also from Martin's, with an excellent gratin dauphinois and brussels sprouts. All meats were cooked to a perfect medium rare.

I skipped dessert, but enjoyed a tranquil night on the patio with some excellent and fairly priced wines. Worth noting that the current patio capacity closely matches the Inn's room capacity, so on weekends may be tough to secure seating if the Inn is full and only the patio is accessible.

Thanks so much for passing this on - looks awesome!

1 hour ago, Bart said:

That was a great, touching, and moving discussion.   I was particularly struck be the rage in his voice when he ranted (in a good way) on how "I will never let my employees ever be this exposed again"

Dave is a good guy who genuinely cares for his people. I know it's cool to hate out of town chefs (unless they sell ice cream), but the derision that Dave inspires is truly misplaced - especially since he's from VA.

FWIW, picked up some wonderful wines and snapper bisque at Corduroy yesterday. Very easy to purchase, and excellent pricing!

Truly looking forward to being back in person soon. And picking up some more wine in the coming weeks...

16 hours ago, DonRocks said:

Here are some official announcements from the website:

I loved Nishi. Sad to see it go. Dave Chang commented on both CCDC and Nishi in his most recent podcast and his sadness was palpable.