Mark Dedrick
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Everything posted by Mark Dedrick
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I'd consider DGS.
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I can say the following nice things about Old Ebbitt, which is in the same building as my office. Their beer list has gotten more interesting. Their raw bar happy hour deal is good. They will put soccer on for me in the middle of the day at the back bar if I ask. -
Extremely different atmospheres, as you know. I wasn't thrilled with Tosca the last couple of times I went, and I find the ambiance a little bit stuffy. So if I were going pre-concert I'd grab those early reservations at Graffiato.
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On Sunday we picked up two huge bone-in ribeye steaks from Red Apron, which looked like something from the Flinstones. Just a massive, ridiculous looking frenched bone sticking out of the steak. They were incredibly good.
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I know that they have been attempting to lock in a permanent seafood vendor, for the space at the far eastern end of the market, for a while now. This would be a wonderful addition to the market.
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Anybody been? I will be heading down there for about five days later this year. Recommendations much appreciated.
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Here's a nice piece from GQ on barmini - http://m.gq.com/blogs/the-feed/2013/03/the-latest-cocktail-mecca-jos-andrs-barmini.html
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I'll keep it unanimous here in not liking the format this year. My main complaint was the best-of-five format for the courses, rather than looking at the entire meal. I think it is quite plausible that one person could win only two rounds, but do so very convincingly cooking the two best dishes of the night, while the other person barely wins the other three, with each of them essentially being a tie. In that case I'd argue that the first chef should win, and in the past the judges had the flexibility to make that happen. That said, I think we had a deserving winner this time around, so I can't really complain. It was an ok season.
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Vigilante Coffee Company - Micro-roaster in Trinidad, DC
Mark Dedrick replied to Tweaked's topic in Shopping and Cooking
Vigilante will be a presence at the as yet to open Maketto on H Street, and will also feature at the H Street Coffee House (is it open yet? I need to walk by there) in the old Sova space. -
I have been trying to decide if I like this show or not, and I think I've finally reached the conclusion that I don't enjoy it. I'll still probably finish the season, but I think the format is seriously flawed. One, while I understand their attempt to rip off The Voice with the blind tasting, and get the visual of just serving each judge one spoon, I don't think this works. It doesn't give the judges a chance to actually explore the flavors and techniques on the plate over multiple tastes, and oftentimes doesn't even let them see if the goals of the challenges have been met (see the tom yum dish this week). Two, I don't fully get the point of the teams. They only get "mentoring" during the quickfire (which mostly means yelling), and people can get kicked off regardless of the team that they're on. I am pleased that they have begun eliminating contestants at a faster rate, however, because that means that the show will end sooner. Perhaps next week six contestants will be eliminated.
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In case anyone is interested, Capitol Lounge is tapping their keg tonight.
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Can't speak to this one, but every "special" dinner I've had at Toki has been fantastic, most notably the Chinese New Year meal with Scott Drewno and Eric Yang last year.
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Agree almost completely with RWBooneJr on this. I will try Barmini, although not until early April as that's as soon as I was able to get a reservation (and even then through a friend). But given my experience at Bar Centro in Miami, I expect very good cocktails and a fun time. We'll see how it goes. I'm keeping an open mind.
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Omakase is available only at the eight (six?) seats in the back. And you can, I believe, only get omakase there not a la carte. And they don't turn the seats, you make your reservation and you're the only person in that seat that night. At least that was their stated policy when I last dined there. Incredible experience.
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I meant to write about this as well, as I was also at the pop-up at Toki. A couple of thoughts: The tortillas were very good. This is a very important thing, and has me excited for them to open for real. I liked the salad quite a bit, and agree that it was well placed in the progression. The goat taco was probably my favorite thing on the entire menu, but I agree, it could have used some sauce. The chicken taco was nothing special, except for the tortilla. The empanada was quite good, we liked it a lot. The chocolate abuelita was very grainy. The margarita we had was out of balance. I don't like my drinks sweet, but this was overly sour in my opinion. Anyhow, I pretty much agree with DCandOhio. The tasting didn't absolutely knock my socks off, but I remain as excited for this restaurant to open as for any in the city (in large part because it is two blocks from my house).
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It hasn't completely vanished, the one on Pennsylvania Avenue on Capitol Hill is still trucking along. When I first moved to DC and had no money they had a special where if you bought four burritos you got one free. The trick was to convince at least three (ideally four) of your coworkers that they wanted to eat Burrito Brothers for lunch that day, offer to pick their food up for them, and end up with a free burrito out of it. I'd often eat that extra burrito for dinner. I was sad when they got rid of that deal.
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You can now purchase their sushi at P&C Market on Capitol Hill near Lincoln Park. I have not done so, but they are carrying it.
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This was exactly my thought as well when I saw this topic.
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We went for lunch, since I hadn't planned on going, and our evenings were booked by the time we decided to go. From what I understand it is still quite busy at dinner, and given how big it is, was quite pretty close to full on Friday for lunch. Lot's of business lunches taking place around us.
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They did. I wasn't expecting them, because I'd read something to that effect but was advised to still go. And they had all sizes available. There were four sizes, I think, and we got the second to the largest. We also got the wedge salad, conch fritters and some sort of side dish. And I felt as if I stepped back in time when I entered. I think if I paired dinner here with drinks at the Raleigh I'd turn into Don Draper. Or that may be asking too much, perhaps just Pete Campbell.
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I don't have time to fully flesh my restaurant thoughts right now, but I wanted to at least get something down before I forgot completely (a common occurrence for me). Yardbird. Awesome. Strongly recommend it. Incredible whiskey selection. Pubbelly. I really love this place, and had no trouble getting in on a Friday night (two people). Everything we had was ridiculously delicious, particularly the McBelly and the short rib tartare. Michael's Genuine. Good, but did not shine nearly as bright as the other two spots. I would not advise against going, I'd happily go back, but I wouldn't necessarily go out of my way to stop by on my next trip to town. Joe's Stone Crab. Had never been before, was told I had to, and I'm glad we did. Old school charm, great service, perfectly enjoyable meal. And we sat right near Don Shula, which was pretty sweet. Puerto Sagua. Really liked it once again, both the empanads and the oxtail stew. Las Olas Cafe. Really loved this place. Very low key cafeteria type place a few blocks off of the main drags in Miami Beach (6th and Euclid I think?). No menu, you simply point at stuff. Great crispy pork, beans, rice, tamales and a really good Cuban sandwich. Strongly recommend it.
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I met a group of folks there this past Friday for drinks, and we ended up getting a table and staying for dinner. A couple of thoughts on what was, for us, a wonderfully enjoyable evening out. Agree with thoughts above, their website is a disaster. I have zero experience with Balkan food or wine, so please take that into account. We were a group of six people and we ordered excessively and haphazardly, so my recollection of exactly what we had may not be 100% accurate. Service, both at the bar and in the restaurant itself was fantastic throughout. And we were asking a lot of questions, particularly at the bar, as there are many wines on their list that I have never heard of before. The have a happy hour until 7 pm that includes mediocre drink deals (Natty Bo for $4, overly sweet cocktails for $5), and pretty good food deals, such as the kabobs or the leek croquettes for $4. Best dishes of the night were the grilled calamari, the roasted squash salad, the wild mushroom salad, the cheese pie and the grilled duck. Nothing we had was bad, but the dishes I would not order again were the venison carpaccio (just not enough flavor) and the white veal soup (the same, although a squeeze of lemon improved it dramatically). We found the wines enjoyable. I won't say that I loved any of them enough to actively seek them out, but some of them were extremely interesting. So, we really liked it. The food was good, the service was outstanding, and I'd be happy to go back.
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Just a reminder, the Standard re-opens March 1 - http://www.popville.com/2013/02/t-minus-1-week-until-standard-reopens-at-14th-and-s-st-nw/
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It is not cheap, but it is delicious. The Fiorentina for two is ridiculously good.
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I agree with this. A group of friends and I do a steak dinner in Vegas pretty much every year, and we don't wear jackets or ties, so I think you'll be fine. And my favorite steakhouse in Vegas is Carnevino, for sure.
