DonRocks

Believe it or not, this was an early failure by the Restaurant Eve empire. In fact, it was such a failure that they gave it away for free, on the condition that the new owner rename it. As a final humiliation to the Armstrongs, the new owner met the (now-binding) contractual requirement by simply applying one, single, diagonal paint stroke to the last letter. Cheers, Rocks.

Surprisingly, Kraft is the largest producer of Vegemite in the world.

Tonight I delivered a $703 check to Argonaut Tavern for Luis Morales, courtesy of everyones generosity at the picnic. Charity is a personal thing, but I do have spies out there, and I'm going to name a few people (in alphabetical order) who I know opened up their wallets and purses and gave beyond the norm. There are no doubt others, but because of the anonymous cash thrown into the coffee can, they will remain, as the Tomb Of The Unknowns says so elegantly, "known but to God." These people, among others, showed exceptional generosity to a complete stranger who innocently found himself in the path of an assassin's bullet. agm + NotQuickDraw crackers Crescent Fresh hillvalley Jacques Gastreaux JLock + Lackadaisi Joe H mdt porcupine + 1 RaisaB + 1 Cheers, and thank you all! Rocks.

Todd Kliman's review of China Cafe is here.

The following posts were split into separate threads: Marathon Deli (Pat) IKEA Cafe (JPW) China Cafe (kcl) Ratsie's Terrapin Eatery (bonaire) Myong Dong (Stretch) Udupi Palce (Pool Boy) Jerk Pit (fuzzy510)

I was there too, apparently after you. They truly were at capacity - I saw them turn a party of four people away because they had no place to put them. Honestly folks, the dr.com card should not be played here - when they say they're full, they really mean it. So I'm hereby giving the folks at PX my blessing to deny entry to any nefarious rogues such as you, crack-o, who mention dr.com in the future! No exceptions! (unless it's me) The last thing I remember, I was in a shouting match with Todd Thrasher over his lousy pickle martini at 2:30 AM. Finally, the denizens here at dr.com will be pleased to know that I'm never drinking again.

Forget the wine article; this issue is worth the price just to see the great picture of Jamie, and also Bustopher Jones in his FAB-O! two-tone shoes. I also think Todd's lead story is his best yet.

And so am I, thanks to your great posting! Thanks Demvtr, Rocks.

The following posts have been split into separate threads: House of Philly (Waitman)

I haven't followed this that closely, but here are some thoughts. I read his chat today, and believe he implied he was going to trash a 'name chef in a well-trodden area,' but he didn't imply that it would be this week. So, given that, here's my handicap, listed in ascending order of probability: 7. Comet Ping-Pong - Too soon, pizza is great (see next week's Lettres), not a candidate for trashing. 6. Johnny's Half Shell - Too soon, certainly a candidate when its time comes. 5. Montsouris - Too soon, not a big-name chef (who is the chef here?) 4. PS7 - Peter Smith not yet a big name (sorry), recently lost their GM (sigh) 3. Bastille - Christophe Poteaux not a big-name chef, but remember the "Don't count your poulets before they're hatched" comment in one of Tom's chats. 2. PX/Eamonn's - Important, great, cannot be trashed with any degree of credibility, but smart money has a review coming out very soon. 1. Lia's - Geoff Tracey, Friendship Heights ... take a guess where I'd place my bet. Cheers, Rocks.

I see an end! I see an end to this fucking Scriabin that has consumed my life for three months!

A CD is not "music" merely a binary representation of data to be fed into a CD player in order to generate music. Just a thought to keep you bored little doormice on your debative little toes.

[The jumbo slice is a Washington institution and merits its own thread, not that there's a whole lot to analyze...]

The piccolo is exactly like the flute except that it is much smaller and is usually made of silver or wood. The pitch of the piccolo is higher than that of a flute. Cheers, Rocks.

Please do not show up at Bebo until they officially open to the general public. All restaurants have soft openings, meals for family and friends, etc., and these occasions do not faciliate walk-ins. Until specifically told otherwise by management, avoid Bebo for the next several days; it will still be there next week - we hope! :-)

Click here for a previous discussion on taking photographs in restaurants.

I want to have sex with Paris Hilton.

A couple of crêpes this week, a French Ham and Gruyère at L’ENFANT in south Adams Morgan, and a Crêpe Parisienne at Le Pigalle, L’Enfants was $9.50, served with a mustard-cream sauce and a salad, and was quite good, Le Pigalle’s was $6.95, filled with ham, mushrooms, and béchamel, and was quite bad, although it was served with decent haricots verts and in defense of Le Pigalle, this was a weekend brunch, brought to life by a patio, sixty-five-degree weather, and full sun, still it was absolutely slathered in béchamel, probably by some fifteen-year-old working brunch, L’Enfant’s wine list is smaller, cheaper, and better than Le Pigalle’s, a Kermit Lynch Côtes du Rhone was only $24 a bottle and worth ordering although it needed ten minutes in the freezer, I had never eaten a jumbo slice at PIZZA MART in Adams Morgan, at least not that I can remember, or will admit to, but this week I walked in stone-sober, took stock of what I was about to do, and walked right back out, down the street, and into Bourbon, where I was regaled by the ninety different bourbons, whiskeys, and ryes on their drink list, I had been several times to the Glover Park location but never to the one in Adams Morgan, and I like it every bit as much, an important bar on several levels, not the least of which is that it can lubricate you to the point of being able to endure a nasty jumbo slice from Pizza Mart, a two-plate flopover that must weigh three pounds, coming from a 36-inch round pie, masochism defined, with no redeeming virtues whatsoever, I’d take even a Julia’s Empanada over this, and that’s saying something, I had several “as good as they get” dishes this week, one of which was Todd Gray’s gnocchi at Equinox, a drop-to-your-knees, thank-God-you’re-alive gnocchi that was taken over the top by being finished in a skillet, Gray can cook circles around just about everyone in town when he wants to, a pork-belly dish was nearly as good as the gnocchi, but Equinox is hampered by needing to accommodate an older clientele, and dishes such as the duo of beef can fall into the trap of stoic, herbaceous reduction that comes across as heavy and dull, and desperately in need of a brightness on the forepalate, lemongrass, lime, anything with some acidity to liven it up, there’s almost no Asian treble in these dishes, leaving them little margin for error, Equinox needs two things to climb back to the top, a renovation (which is coming), and a second great cook in the kitchen, it’s a busy restaurant and the very talented Gray can’t do it all himself, another great Equinox pasta was the egg fettuccini with shaved Alba truffle, yes, it’s that time again, I talked with Todd Thrasher at PX a couple evenings later and mentioned that I had my first Alban whites of the season at Equinox for a $30 supplement, and he looked stunned and said “$30?”, yeah, I said, it’s expensive isn’t it, but he shook his head no, and told me, to my astonishment, that the current supplement for truffles at Restaurant Eve is $100, but, he added, you get a lot of truffle, I’ve only visited Oya twice, but I’ve enjoyed every single course I’ve tried, although I haven’t had the sushi, which is a big part of their menu, the bartenders aren’t used to serving diners looking for a great meal, so if you sit at the bar, you’ll need to put up with slapdash service and worse, the pulsating techo-trash music blaring from the speakers, but the food is worth it, don’t forget Jonathan Seningen came from Le Paradou, and it shows in his French-rooted cooking, one bite of the Cream of Crab soup with white asparagus and crème fraiche ($8) made me wonder why I haven't been here in so long, an Escargot Roquefort Soufflé with watercress purée and garlic ($9) was a bowling-pin arrangement of ten escargots, served alongside a very mild Roquefort soufflé, the two French classics working well in tandem, and the laconically named Duck, with miso, sticky rice and green onions ($14) was a well-seared sliced breast, accompanied by perfect little green onions, hampered only by the sticky rice which wasn’t really sticky rice, but more of an over-moisturized short-grain which, though flawed, did not ruin the dish, Seningen runs one of the very best kitchens around MCI Center, speaking of which, Poste delivered, even in the absence of Robert Weland, a tuna tartare appetizer ($15), three cones of hand-cut tuna belly with crème fraiche and caviar, sounds so-so, but the tuna was bound by a light curry sauce, and the dish as a whole reminded me of an amuse-gueule I might see at Maestro, complex and exciting enough so that we ordered another one between our second and third courses, a halibut main was undercooked to the point of being raw in the middle, and anyone but me would have sent it back, but it actually made for excellent sashimi, a pork chop, on the other hand, was overcooked, but had an intensely interesting flavor profile, despite the missteps in cooking, this was yet another solid showing for Poste, final respects to Joe Raffa at Majestic Café, whose last day was October 15th, and when I asked for the chef to choose whichever entrée he felt like cooking, Raffa chose the crabcakes, and I’m glad he did, it was a wonderful meal, and I’ll miss Raffa's cooking at Majestic, fear not, however, after a much-needed vacation in Hawaii, he’ll be back in the Washington area, we’ll look forward to seeing where you turn up, Joe, another truly memorable dish this week was the fried chicken ($16.95) at Ray’s The Classics, which is as druggingly addictive and just plain roll-up-your-sleeves delicious as any I’ve ever tasted, it’s neither deep-fried nor pan-fried, but fried in this chicken-frier-skillet thing, covered two-thirds of the way up in oil so that the center is cooking regardless of which side is face-down, it’s going to be very, very difficult not to order this each time I go to Ray’s The Classics, congratulations also to newlywed Michael Hartzer, married just last weekend to his lovely bride Justyne, I’ve said a lot of things in the past about Tom Power at Corduroy, but I’ve never once said he was a trendsetter, but it’s time to start a trend, right here, right now, every chef in town seems to be using quail eggs these days, and let’s face it, the only reason we all order these dishes is because we want some egg yolk leaking onto our dishes, but as we all know, quail eggs are for dainty little simps, and Power has taken a primal human need to it’s logical conclusion, serving a Brobdingnagian Duck! Egg! on top of his duck confit salad ($14), served with chanterelles and frisée sitting on top of a tiny reduction of veal stock, the duck egg is the size of your fist, and the yolk itself is the size of a small plum, make it your life’s goal to get to Corduroy as soon as possible and order this terrifically satisfying salad, and remember that you've read this as duck eggs, glorious duck eggs, begin to appear on menus all over town, how was your week.

Michael had posted the above a week ago at 3:38 AM, and I deleted it the moment I saw it - praying it was merely a drunken rant, and hoping to save him from himself. Unfortunately, it has now become a legitimate item in the media (click here), and so I'm restoring it in full. I like both Michael and Marc, have no dog in this fight, and am posting without comment. Cheers, Rocks.

Can we at least nominate you for some type of award? After all, it isn't everyone who leaves the picnic, goes to the emergency room, then comes back afterwards to eat and drink more. Scarfing picnic leftovers in a big way right now, Rocks.

This is troublesome.

[You guys DO know I'm going to delete every one-liner in this thread, right? I mean, I'll leave the stuff about the Grecian chicken wings and such... but strip everything else off. Cheers (I think), Rocks.

Laugh if you will, but I swear to you that last month I had foie gras poutine.

Countdown to a Supernova 3... I do not need the Hubble I do not need a score for me to tell Vidalia from Bangkok 54. 2... A Martian went to Artie's he heard that it was swell he thought he'd find a Corduroy but found pig slop from Hell. 1... The Pleiades, M45, are seven sisters bitchin because they dined at Huong Que and not Colorado Kitchen. Ka-boom And Jackie's is as good as Ray's? Jaleo equals Komi? The critic's great, his writing too; the stars themselves can blow me.

Coming Soon: Lettres de mon Moulin Rouge.