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Marty L.

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Everything posted by Marty L.

  1. Marty L.
    I whirled today and can confirm . . . I think this is the best almond croissant I've had in the DC area.
  2. Marty L.
    As I suggested somewhere way up-thread, I think you'll likely find something to trash, if only because their ambition and unorthodoxy is is so unbounded -- but I'm also confident you'll find much to praise. And yes, linen shirt is plenty -- it's a fairly casual place.
  3. Marty L.
    Sietsema
  4. Marty L.
    I agree -- it's very good, if not quite EPR quality. They even offered a very soothing chicken soup as a special last week, one that they should put on the permanent menu. This is, btw, the same operation as Pollo a la Brasa, which has been in Bethesda for several years.
  5. Marty L.
    Yup, good call Smokey -- the soon du boo at Vit Goel. Great minds think alike (see above)! Hope to see you there sometime soon.
  6. Marty L.
    Shields and Urie were just brought on board in the past year, thereby radically altering the nature of the place.
  7. Marty L.
    I'm sorry you were there on a Monday, Joe. It's really quite an amazing place. John Shields and Karen Urie, and the local owners, are, indeed, attempting something fairly absurd -- to create a world-class, experimental restaurant that is not in the vicinity of any major (or minor) metropolitan area. Last June, for $45 or so, I had one of the best meals of my life there -- nominally five courses, but it turned out to be closer to nine or ten distinct bits of heaven. It is, indeed, an oasis in an area where previously Wendy's was (no joke) the best restaurant around for fifty miles or so. (Ever been to Ridgewood Barbeque in Bluff City, TN, Joe? --that's the closest great meal.) The photos say it all. John and Karen are very much the students of Trotter and Achatz. They take great pride in -- have a blast with -- the elaborate, intricate creations, the "you can't possibly combine those disparate things" disbelief of their clientele. They have extraordinary senses of taste, and abilities to tease out combos that one could not have imagined but that somehow work brilliantly (OK, about 80% of the time, anyway -- not bad odds at these prices). Truth be told, although it can be breathtaking, and shockingly delicious, it can also be too much at times. It almost overwhelms the diner, there's just so much going on. Almost not enough time to savor the novelty of any particular dish. I think that, as they become more self-assured, they will resist the impulse to be quite so bold, they'll simplify somewhat, in which case (I predict) their cooking will only improve: The wild experimentation might lead to a distilled purity that could be even better. Or not -- who knows? They could go in an infinite number of directions; they certainly aren't lacking for skills, imagination and inspiration. It's something to behold. Can it survive in Chilhowie? One would think not. But the owners themselves don't seem to need to turn a profit on this particular experiment, and they brought John and Karen there for the best reason of all: because they themselves wanted to be able to enjoy inspiring food in their own neighborhood. Of course it seems obvious that J&K might end up in DC, or back in Chicago, or elsewhere -- in which case their spectacular meals will cost three times what they do in Chilhowie. In the meantime, make sure not to travel to Asheville on a Sunday or Monday.
  8. Marty L.
    The Floating Market Noodle Soup and Tom Yum Pork Noodle Soup at Nava Thai (see http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/559929). The, uh, pho at Pho Hot. Any soup emerging from Frank Ruta's hand at Palena, including the ridiculously perfect consomme recently offered. Not soup exactly, but the Soon du boo at Vit Goel.
  9. Marty L.
    We hear this a lot on these threads and elsewhere. I think when most people write this, they are referring to a *high* fish/rice ratio. IMHO, however, that phenomenon -- huge pieces of fish on nigiri -- is one of the very worst characteristics of most U.S. sushi. The classic idea (or so I've been told -- and my experience at good sushi bars bears it out as the Platonic ideal), is that the fish should barely cover the rice, that the entire nigiri should be consumed in one bite, and that one should be able to savor the freshness of the fish and the rice in tandem, without one dominating the other. Better to have more pieces, and a better variety, than a handful of monster slabs of fish.
  10. Marty L.
    They ought to be the same -- two outposts of the same restaurant. Of course, it's possible that the ovens at the older location are more "seasoned," or something subtle such as that. But I haven't noticed much of a difference . . .
  11. Marty L.
    Kotobuki has a good, not life-changing, miso with clams.
  12. Marty L.
    That's funny, because I was there for lunch for the first time in a while on Saturday, and I was shocked by just how mediocre -- tasteless, really -- the pizzas were. In the early days, Comet's pizzas were alternatively delicious or inedible, but never dull -- aggressively flavored and salted, a wild crapshoot that sometimes paid off. This weekend, however, there didn't seem to be any salt at all in the crust, and it was all (i.e., two pizzas and the chickpeas) just so . . . blah. I couldn't believe it was the same joint. (Well, I still love the architecture, and the ping pong, and the staff is terrifically friendly, but I'm referring to the kitchen.) Which is not to say that Don is wrong -- to the contrary, I'll bet he did, indeed, receive fabulous pizzas. It's merely to suggest that this remains one of the more maddeningly inconsistent restaurants around, and that there's no "formula" in the kitchen, for better and for worse.
  13. Marty L.
    On Thursdays, the chicken special is very good. The chickpea dishes are excellent, as are one or two of the salads and noodle dishes. Whatever you do, however, be sure to order it authentically spiced. There's no restaurant in town with a greater distinction between dishes "not spicy" (pretty bland) and those that are ordered spicy. The spices apparently bring out the complex of flavors. P.S. Don't get your expectations too high for the ginger salad (good but not Myannmar level) and the Shweji (also good, but not life-changing).
  14. Marty L.
    I love Pho Hot, but think the wings are nothing special.
  15. Marty L.
    On another thread, Dean wrote that Bob "is apparently no longer affiliated with Bob's" 88. Any word on whether that's true? If so, is he still affiliated with Bob's 66? Anyone eaten at these places since (if) Bob left?
  16. Marty L.
    I had lunch there for the first time last weekend, and, based on that one experience, must tentatively agree with Don: The mussels were ok but nothing special; the fries and waffles very disappointing.
  17. Marty L.
    Tried Pho Hong Anh this evening. I don't know if it was simply an off-night, but it didn't hold a candle to Pho Hot, or even Pho 75. The broth was wan (almost as if there were no beef or star anise in it), the beef fairly tasteless; the Chang Muoi way too syrupy. Hard to believe this is the place Dean was raving about. Something doesn't make sense.
  18. Marty L.
    Agreed that it's fine in a pinch -- but not as god as Pho 75 a few miles up the road, and doesn't hold a candle to Pho Hot.
  19. Marty L.
    When that happens, they'll give you the sawgrass if you ask for it. And by the way, the short ribs on rice are really good, too.
  20. Marty L.
    The Thai language menu at Bangkok Garden.
  21. Marty L.
    That would be Thanh Son. And it is great.
  22. Marty L.
    Most of this is good advice. But the first bit of guidance -- "I wouldn't recommend working your way around the entire Eden Center restaurant offerings. We've done that. Four Sisters is the best hands down and some are pretty bad." -- couldn't be more wrong. The single greatest thing about the EC is working your way through it and finding hidden gems. There are a few -- never quite all the same -- in the interiors,a nd the tofu place right out front; but more importantly, of the ol' "standbys," Huong Viet and Viet Bistro are much better than Huong Que, notwithstanding that the sisters are, indeed, very nice.
  23. Marty L.
    Goodeats: I sincerely don't know what you mean by saying that this is a "thread-appropriate forum." Of course not everyone who visits this thread wants to know about Redwood's RW policies -- just as not everyone wants to know what the wine list looks like, or where the restrooms are hidden. But all of those things are relevant to the discussion of the restaurant, and all of them are informative . . . to those who care about such things. No one was asking Eli to "work out issues." We were simply trying to find out, and inform DR readers, what it was serving for RW. This shouldn't be like pulling teeth. As for my tone: As I said, I wasn't trying to be harsh or vitriolic. But I've gone back and deleted a couple of lines from this afternoon that might have been viewed as snarky, just to be sure -- thanks for suggesting that. FWIW, heaven knows I don't have a "beef" with Eli and have no desire to start a fight with you or anyone else. I'm assuming Redwood will be as terrific and as welcoming as Mendocino and Sonoma have been. Carry on.
  24. Marty L.
    Hey, I hardly meant to be harsh -- as I said, I'm a fan of his establishments -- and I agree entirely that this is not a BFD at all. Which is why it is all the more strange that Elias would go out of his way to refuse a very reasonable request for information from his customers -- to leave an impression of hautiness and disrespect where it is so unnecessary. Imagine, for instance, Mark, if someone on this list had called Citronelle trying to discover the price range of Rieslings there, had not gotten a clear answer, and asked for information on this board -- after which you had posted that the curious poster should PM you, but you proceeded not to provide a clear answer in the PM, let alone any accurate information here on the board for the rest of us who are interested. You wouldn't do such a thing, right? Because it would only antagonize folks who really like Citronelle, and its wine list -- loyal customers, that is. That's why I find this whole thing strange -- particularly for a restaurant trying to get off on the right foot.
  25. Marty L.
    Perhaps -- although none comes immediately to mind. But in any event, this isn't a matter of advertisement. Certain folks who are very interested in this restaurant, and hoping that it succeeds, asked what its Restaurant Week policies are. Certainly that's relevant information to those of us who are trying to decide whether to eat there during the Restaurant Week. It's not a state secret -- it's information now known to the hundreds of patrons who have been to Redwood in the past few days, and to anyone who asks on the phone. One of the proprietors actually reads the thread, and could save everyone here the trouble of calling/stopping by, by simply telling us this public information. But he doesn't do so, even though he bothers to post twice, thereby leaving it to others to find out and to announce it on the list. For what purpose? How is that "customer-friendly"? I'm genuinely curious, because this seems so evidently to be very poor customer relations. (And I say that as someone who has very much enjoyed every visit to Sonoma and Mendocino, and is looking forward to Redwood.) "We're offering any appetizer, any entree and any dessert on our menu for $30 this week. However, I should warn you that because we just opened, and it's Restaurant Week, we are already almost fully booked for the week. If you can't get a reservation, we'd love to have you join us even after Restaurant Week -- fear not, because as at Mendocino and Sonoma, we charge very fairly for the quality of fare offered." Would that be so hard?
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