starfish

while you cannot add requests/comments after the reservation is made, most restaurants have an email contact listed on thier website. the more information that is communicated to the restaurant the higher the likelihood of a successfull evening (whatever one's criteria for success might be).

the wednesday through saturday bartender is thom dodge and we are very happy to have him on board. it was very nice to put faces to screen names for so many people, and to see old friends as well. we had a blast hosting the happy hour. as some of you know, all of the discounted wines were courtesy of the inventory inherited from nectar. the nectar gang had great palettes and a great selection of wines. unfortunately much of it is incompatible with our current concept. paul, aka crescentfresh, suggested that he would volunteer for the difficult task of helping to consume it. thinking that there might be one or two more people out there willing to accept this mission, we have declared the last friday of every month "legacy libations night" where wines will be offered at pretty steep discounts in the bar. for now it will be open to the public, however, should enough rockwellians wish to come, we will happily close down the bar for the dr.com crowd. rocks - i have cross posted this in the on a whim thread, please feel free to delete which ever one is most appropriate.

the wednesday through saturday bartender is thom dodge and we are very happy to have him on board. it was very nice to put faces to screen names for so many people, and to see old friends as well. we had a blast hosting the happy hour. as some of you know, all of the discounted wines were courtesy of the inventory inherited from nectar. the nectar gang had great palettes and a great selection of wines. unfortunately much of it is incompatible with our current concept. paul, aka crescentfresh, suggested that he would volunteer for the difficult task of helping to consume it. thinking that there might be one or two more people out there willing to accept this mission, we have declared the last friday of every month "legacy libations night" where wines will be offered at pretty steep discounts in the bar. for now it will be open to the public, however, should enough rockwellians wish to come, we will happily close down the bar for the dr.com crowd. rocks - i have cross posted this in the notti bianche thread, please feel free to delete which ever one is most appropriate.

notti bianche is a charming, fun, upscale restaurant in foggy bottom. we are seeking a similarly fun, intelligent, and charismatic manager. experience is preferred but passion is essential. if you enjoy good food, good wine, but good company most of all; we want to meet with you. finding good managers is akin to trying to catch lightning in a bottle, but that doesn't stop me from trying. this would be an excellent opportunity for a current server or bartender to make the jump into management, or even for someone looking for career change. this is not a zero responsibility paper tiger position. there will be significant operational responsibilities. salary is flexible relative to experience; health & dental insurance, vacation, and gym membership are among the benefits. send me an email or a pm. please attach your resume but, most importantly, tell me about yourself. even better, tell me a story. p.s. if you refer someone for the manager job, the referal bonus is dinner for two (four courses with wine pairing) if your candidate is offered and accepts the position.

as peanut will be attending, combined with the fact that most people on the forum are non-smokers, the bar at notti bianche will be non-smoking for the evening. i am looking forward to seeing old faces and meeting new people as well.

dlb, welcome to the fold.

tony chittum, the exec. chef of notti bianche, and i had dinner at the bar at equinox last night. i am not going to pretend that our experience is even remotely akin to that of most guests that walk through the door at equinox - tony was the former chef de cuisine, and i know many members of the staff there as well. we looked over the menu and the wine list more for curiosity than for purpose. the current chef de cuisinse had already indicated that he wanted to "cook" for us. we had 2 amuses followed by 4 very good courses each paired with highly complimentary wines. the dishes that stood out the most were... - a blue point oyster that had been shucked and laid atop a bed of shredded cucumber and caviar before being placed back in its shell. it was accompanyed by a shot of chestnut soup with a bit of lamb suasage. - seared fois gras served atop a peppered french toast and finished with a duck jus. - roasted duck breast and duck confit. i recall that the other things on the plat were quite tasty but my memory fails in my ability to identify them. - dessert was an exquisite cookie plate that featured an orange tweel, chocolate tweel, peanut butter truffles, and chocolate candied almonds. sweets are not an essential part of a meal for me - i usually repair with a bourbon and a cigar - this cookie plate may have turned me on this. the peanut butter truffles were insanely good. i don't recall having shared any of them. thank you ethan, travis, tony, eunis, and the 'nox crew. it was a sublime evening.

it wouldn't take much arm twisting to get me to palena tonight, but i could not get there until after 8pm.

what? you aren't in a post-restaurant-week induced coma?

we just had a cancellation at 7pm for a party of 2. if anyone here would like the table, call me at notti bianche - please indicate that you are a rockwellian when you call. have a great night all. eta: reservation has been taken already, but i will post cancellations for sunday here before releasing the table in opentable.

just had a cancellation for 6pm, thursday, party of two. i have blocked it in opentable to give any rockwellians that wanted it first shot. send me a pm - i will be checking the computer after lunch - if you are interested.

as a man who is about to embark on a stretch where i will work about a zillion hours in a week, i decided that i deserved a pre-restaurant-week evening out. i chose mendocino grille for dinner because of it's proximity to blues alley. after my first meal there in a few years, i have a whole host of reasons to keep choosing this charming and cozy restaurant. i started at the bar with a woodford manhattan that was expertly blended. and i was amazed to find that they use really cherries rather than the chemical nastiness that is the maraschino. (note to self - go get some real cherries for notti bianche). when my guest arrived we were led to a corner table in the alcove. i started with the lobster bisque which was creamy with just a hint of spice and very good. my guest had the soup du jour - i wish i could tell you more about it, but i was only allowed one spoonful. entree's were a rack of venison and a wagyu ribeye each cooked a shade over medium rare as requested. both were simply outstanding - better than all but the best steakhouse in this city. the service was friendly, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic. thank you, drew, eli and the whole mendocino crew. edited to add: mose allison is playing at blues alley through the weekend and puts on a very nice show

the new winter menu, which debuted on tuesday, is now available on the website. notti bianche dinner menu all of the pastas are new, some items may look the same as the last menu but many have been significantly modified.

the details on the wine pairing: for an additional $10, each course will be served with a "pairing portion" glass of wine (a touch larger than a 1/2 glass, not quite a full glass). dessert will be served with a tasting portion of graham's 6grape port, or our signature dessert cocktail - scintilare limon (a blend of housemade limoncello, and prosecco).

our new winter menu starts tonight, i would post a link to the website but it is still in the process of being updated. it should be current by morning. for restaurant week, our entire menu will be available with a few surcharges (most will be $2, none more than $5) for the more expensive items. in addition to the restaurant week pricing, we will be offering two wine specials – 1) a $10 wine pairing option and 2)discounts from 10-20% on about half of the bottles on our wine list. happy new year.

the bartenders that made my christmas list... mark and sonja - capital grille billy and george - cashion's krishna and billy - aroma daryl aka durty, kevin, song, laura - bedrock billiards dirty sarah - felix anna - the reef schmitty - childe harold tracy - charlie palmer's margaret ann - old ebbitt

as the only person that establishes policies at notti bianche, let me state very clearly that breast feeding mothers are perfectly welcome in our dining room. i apologize on behalf of the entire notti bianche family for this unintended slight to women in general and mothers specifically.

as with the past rw, a limited menu will be offered for lunch. the full menu will be available at dinner with some surcharges. we will also be offering a wine pairing option for an additional $10. tony and i are going to be putting our heads together to see if there are some other fun things we might be able to offer.

thinking about catching a drink by the fire at tabard inn, and maybe hitting lucky bar for some salsa (the dance not the food). edited to correct ridiculous spelling caused be insufficient caffeine intake

the blue room - believe it or not when they first opened (late 1999) they were a serious restaurant for about 3 months.

while everyone hopes to be able to make decent money doing this, i personally do not beleive that money is the initial impetus or even the dring force. but the sky is purple in my world, i could be speaking only from a romanticized and overly idealistic notion of my choosen profession.

a few thoughts regarding this matter... practically speaking, an investor is able to use a restaurant as a tax shelter because of the benefits that they gain from the relationship. if they use the restaurant for entertaining and the restaurant comps their meals and beverages, they have been paid for with pretax dollars. similarly, if routine expenses like dry cleaning, supplying a wine cellar at wholesale, a lease on a brand new mercedes e55 (you know who you are) are paid for by the business as expenses then they are also in effect paid for with pretax dollars. as has been previously mentioned, good restaurants and good restaurateurs are not in this business for the money. surely, no one has a burning desire to lose money, but great restaurants are created from a desire to create something great. forget about the extremely narrow profit margins, who would willing undertake an enterprise that requires an insanely high time commitment. the average week for a chef/general manager/hands-on restaurateur is in the 80+ hour range. maybe i am just projecting about my own workaholic tendencies but i don't know any slackasses that are good at this business.

luciano bistro tom tom - the version from 10+ years ago when it was a good place to get a pizza and a beer another vote for rocky's - more for the bar atmosphere than the food 1910 - really miss that joint

the resurfacing project which was supposed to be completed today - allowing us to open on saturday - is taking considerably longer than our contractor told us . we are hoping to open again on wednesday, 30 november.

link to event info notti will be serving Butternut Squash Soup, with goat cheese raviollini, gala apples and crushed armeretti