darkstar965
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Posts posted by darkstar965
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Maybe Central would do it if you ordered ahead and picked up? It's a bit further than Bethesda...downtown...but their fried chicken is excellent. Different style from what the General Store was doing.
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Has anyone had experience with Paul in Europe? I'm sure I have on trips to France and the other countries where they operate but, for the life of me, can't remember the marque related to a specific quality or type of baguette.
Yes, very high hopes on this one. We'll know in a few weeks.
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Is there anything within a few miles of Landover/Hyattsville....where 50 and 95/495 intersect that would:
- be a suitable spot for a business meal or coffee at mid morning on a weekday
- would have decent, if not great, food or joe
I need to set up a meeting there and don't know the area well.
Thank you!
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Mindful of the number of threads on DR.com about the state of baking and bread in our area and my own long time wish that we had more spots that really baked like the French, Mark Furstenberg, others who really do it the right way, I was very intrigued by this post.
While the proof will be in the rise (and run) come May, I pm'ed the poster to ask for more info. With permission, I post the response I received here. Could this really be what has long been lamented as not viable or at least present in DC?
In response to my request for more info about the people and methods behind the planned open (unedited):
"PAUL is going to serve traditional breads and pastries using the 120 recipes developed over 5 generations by the Holder family of French bakers. The breads you buy here in DC are exactly the same traditional breads you’d find in a bakery in Paris. The chief baker in Penn Quarter has just moved here from France and has worked at PAUL for many years. He will be providing rigorous training and oversight to our locally-hired team of bakers. The hand-crafted bread is baked on-site (and throughout the day to ensure freshness), using a traditional 7-hour fermenting and baking process to ensure the bread’s taste, texture and aroma. Please come try it out when it opens on May 2nd!"
And, here's a link to a Post article from last weekend with some of the back story (the bakery is mentioned about 3/4 of the way into the article):
Good luck PAUL! Please let us know as you get closer to open and can share more details.
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Trip to PHL last week. Was able to hit a couple of spots celebrated on this thread (which I hadn't read prior) and a couple of others that don't seem to have been written about much or at all here.
Fish
Went here with friends from the area with whom we'd enjoyed a few excellent meals at Little Fish some years ago. In a word: mixed bag.
Food:
- Started out with a dozen oysters split between west and east coast varieties. Excellent quality. Reasonably priced.
- round of apps were good but felt seriously over-priced relative to quality and portion size (forgetting what we ordered here; too many restaurants ago!)
- halibut main was good but, at $32 again overpriced given it wasn't anything special
- a friend thought the skate very good and it looked very good
- a salmon special was like the halibut: fine, fresh, but ordinary and expensive
Service:
Friendly and incompetent. Our waitress was nice when she appeared but seemed to lack any ability to anticipate needs and disappeared for long stretches of time that had us getting up to chase someone down for necessities like sliverware, napkins, water and our orders.
Paesanos
This is a 2 or 3 location sandwich spot that we thought was worlds ahead of more over-hyped options like Pats, Genos, Tony Lukes. They don't do "cheese steaks" per se though the "paesano" is a beef brisket sandwich that looked amazingly delicious. I got a roasted pork special and it was outstanding. Liscio's bread (a close match for Sarcones), "long hot" peppers, generous and delicious pork, broccoli rabe. A truly great sandwich. We went to the location on Girard Avenue. Not so great neighborhood but everything a Philly sandwich shop should be with just 6 or so stools at a counter in a shoebox of a space and cases of local sodas for the dorm-sized fridge being passed up to the cook through street-sized windows as I left. This is the kind of place I imagine the local Taylor guys had in mind when they marketed themselves as recreating what they loved from home but never came close to actually doing.
La Colombe
By Rittenhouse Square. A long-time, much-loved coffee house with product, environmental and social responsibility emphases. These guys are really serious about coffee. No menu. No lunch or savory food of any kind. No wifi. Plenty of tables. Great location. Excellent joe. Perfect spot to enjoy whatever coffee beverage you favor, made properly and talk or read.
Cochon
We had a great experience here I won't detail too much since already well covered on the thread. Escargot, pork rib app, pan fried gnocchi and the signature whole roast suckling pig atop lentils and crispy brussel sprouts were all standouts. Quirky but efficient waiter. Reasonably priced given the quality and portion sizes. Strongly recommend unless you don't eat pork. This place is a homage to the pig. We also ordered a rabbit dish at our table but it was really about the pork.
Cafe Lutecia
Heard about this neighborhood french cafe as a good choice for breakfast and it was. On Lombard at 23rd. Almond croissants, coffee, salads and quiches all good. The soups (a chicken egg drop spinach soup and a tomato bisque) were outstanding. We most enjoyed the feel of the place. Nothing fancy but really would fit in fine if it was in one of Paris' more bohemian neighborhoods.
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Their website says they are a go...
They're definitely a go. We headed over tonight at around 6:30. It was a 3-hour wait and they'd stopped taking names. [We didn't wait so can't comment].
Wow! With only 25 seats and months of buzz and social media it may be quite awhile before Toki calms a bit.
FWIW, there's a relatively new mongolian BBQ type place called "Khan's Bar & Grill" a block west on H that's okay if you're desperate for a Plan B, out of time and without the flexibility to range farther afield as we were. Fresh, inexpensive with 6-9 sauce options. Just have to keep close watch on the cooks who throw everything on the big circular grill so they don't over-dice, over cook (proteins) or under cook (veggies like onion, broccoli and carrot)..
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For those who'd asked about the brunch, we tried it today.
Three options at $17 each. All are offered with a first course choice of either the dinner salad, a yogurt parfait or a small fruit salad (not 100% sure I'm recalling the last one correctly but saw something like that on another table). Then, the three main choices of:
1. Basically a somewhat smaller portion of the dinner combo of sliced steak and frites (can add a poached egg to this one for another $2 or $2.99)
2. A "MediumRare" Benedict that includes a poached egg atop some steak and portabella mushroom sitting on a square slice of bread and slathered in hollandaise. With frites, of course.
3. Three poached eggs with frites.
Beautiful day today. Another 10 degrees and we'd have been breaking in the outdoor tables. That'll be great when it starts.
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What a killer this request gets posted a week after the General Store closed down
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yes...have been there twice in the last month and all was well...great duck carved by Quak (yes, that's his name) tableside and everything else as well...
So, based on the input here, we went back...twice since the above post. And, indeed, all was well. Chef Kwok carved. Duck was great.
I'm still a bit troubled that we experienced the two off-nights, both when Chef Kwok was there and the place wasn't busy--hard to understand.
But, more important, the duck remains the standard we've always had. Best Peking duck in the area.
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Another case where I'd have been better to have read the DR.com thread before going.
Lunch today at Kushi for a first visit. Mixed feelings.
- Dined with a friend and we both ordered a lunch special that combined three skewers with one tuna sushi, one flounder sushi and a california roll.
- My skewers (shrimp, pork belly and wagyu steak) were a mixed lot. The shrimp was nicely sized and probably the closest thing to a good value we had at $4 if ordered separately. Pork belly was a bit overly fatty as others have reported but otherwise enjoyed it. The wagyu was very disppointing, over done with any flavor it may have had summarily radiated out of it.
- The tuna and flounder sushi were both fine but not different or better than Taro, Tachibana, etc. I added an order of hamachi sashimi and received 3 nice-sized slices for $8 which were fresh but otherwise not standouts.
- Agree with Dean about the wasabi and appreciated that the very common shortcuts of not using fresh wasabi or crab stick in standard cali rolls weren't taken here.
- They seem to change their desserts with some frequency. I ordered a honey tangerine sorbetto and enjoyed it.
$55 for two before tax and tip. Kind of expensive but not excessive. A couple of things very good. Nothing (except the wagyu) terrible. It wasn't busy and I'm sure any A-team wasn't there. We'll go back for a dinner sometime this spring and follow some of the counsel already offered on this thread. Especially the 'two classes of fish" guidance to see if the feared bait and switch has happened.
Totally unfair to base a comparison only on this lunch but, at this point, I think there's significant daylight between Makoto and Kushi with Kushi on the losing end of the equation.
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Penang downtown (at 19th and M NW) is closed. No connection to the Bethesda Penang, which is still very much open and was always much better/authentic.
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Can't wait to try Medium Rare but am curious if they would substitute more salad for the frites? While I can have steak, I am really supposed to stay away from fries (aren't we all?). Anybody venture a guess.
This is going to be the tension point for MR I think. Like another poster speculated, I too think they'll do the salad-for-frites switch. They were super-accomodating when I went Monday and I thought it sincere. But, much of the expected flack that MR will elicit online will no doubt center on the narrow focus. You can have anything you want for dinner so long as it's salad, steak & frites (or the off-menu vegetarian portabella option). I guess one could argue (certainly many do) that we should all stay away from steak as well as frites since neither is especially healthy. But this place has been very clear about what it is: a France-modeled, American-adapted (i.e., you can get ketchup here which generally wouldn't happen in Paris) steak & frite place. I don't know where they'll draw a line (or if they will) at requests to alter the menu but I think okay that a restaurant has focus and lets the cards (customer demand) fall where they may.
Next question: How have the lines/wait been?
(And thanks, darkstar, your posts have been informative.)
Was a slow ramp-up Monday night with more than half the tables still free an hour after opening. But, by 7:30 or 8, it was full. I think the lines/wait will only get worse as the buzz builds. Thank you for the compliment!
It was only there second night last night, but the dining rooms have been pretty full said the management. Last night when I went kind of late it was crowded, but only a short wait around 8:30pm and stayed that way for the next few hours. I passed by around 10:15 and it was pretty empty as you'd expect on a weeknight. They are on opentable but appear for this week at least to have blocked out all of the reservation except really early and really late. I'd say give it a go and don't worry about waiting at all or too long. We'll see what the weekend brings, I'm sure this weekend at least there will be some waits.
They're not currently planning to go whole-hog on opentable. Tom let me know that they want it to be a walk-in/no reservations model. That said, they just put the early and late times on OpenTable this week to better fill tables and they recognized the value of just being on OpenTable in terms of some customers simply expecting/valuing that. Kind of a logical yet wacky approach since many will try to book and, absent a policy on the website and opentable that clarifies (something I think they'll do shortly), it'll be confusing and frustrating to some. Palena Cafe operates without reservations and they do fine.
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Any idea on tne brunch menu?
Other than the "steak and egg" dishes that were mentioned in one of the blogs or post writeups pre-open, not sure yet. The menus last night were roughly 5x7 laminated with the fixed price dinner taking up most of one side and the drink menu the other. I should have asked to see a brunch menu but didn't think of it. But, they are serving brunch on both Saturdays and Sundays so we'll know soon enough. Hopefully someone can make it and post.
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Anyone know where they will be getting their beef? Local farms?
Buried in the more detailed review above. Three sources currently. One called Allen (not sure exactly who that refers to), one local/regional and another in the midwest/Chicago area.
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Totally checks out. Just back from a great experience on Medium Rare's first night. As expected, Mark, Brian, Cedric and Tom are clearly on to something.
My SO: "Really liked it. I'm so glad it's here."
Friend: "Excellent; great f++king deal"
Me: "Really good. Super value. Will do very well"
As we already know, it's a very simple and focused concept. On menu, just the fixed set of salad, cap steak and frites. 4-5 each on red wines, whites and beers.
I most appreciate three things about MR:
1. Value: pretty astonishing relative to other spots around town. "Seconds" on cap steak--are you kidding me? [they weren't]. Nice-sized salad. Generous portion of bread. Seconds on frites if requested. All for $19.50. Tough--maybe impossible (?) to beat that. Be sure to order plenty of drinks as I fear they're not making any margin on food (kidding...kind of).
2. Humor and Accessibility. Love it. Tom out front couldn't have been nicer or warmer. Likewise Brian who was all over the dining room and just exemplifies the professional and hospitable owner/host. Listen carefully in the rest rooms. French pickup line lessons waft downward from ceiling-embedding speakers and include gems like: "I have a hot tub in my house, " "You are soooo bee-yoo-ti-ful" and, my personal fave "My name is Gerard." Not a shred of pretentiousness in this place. The brick walls aren't just gorgeous and exposed; in spots they're rough patched in ways only a true non-professional could do. Note on the menu that each item is shouted in bold caps in English and then small, lower case, italicized french.
3. Quality. No joke here. They've focused very narrowly, had to do what they do well and...they are. Item by item:
- bread: this was the first sign of what was to come. Knew I'd had this pain campagne before. Excellent, fresh, airy, crusty and...the same as that served at Citronelle from Panorama.
- salad: very fresh greens with a few grape tomato halves very lightly dressed with a mustard viniagrette. I'd have liked mine to be a bit more dressed which I'm guessing they'd have done had I asked.
- cap steak: really tasty and super generous on portions even before the "seconds." I was told they're sourcing from three farms currently. One local (maybe VA?), Allen and then a third I didn't get. I'd like to learn more about that. Minor nit that a couple of us ordered the steak medium rare and it came out more slightly right of medium but this wasn't a big deal for three reasons. First, it was still delicious. Second, our seconds were spot on. And, third, Brian told us what was already obvious to us: if anything isn't as we like, simply let them know and they'll fix it.
- the secret sauce: to be honest, this wasn't life changing for me given the build up but it was very tasty. Wine, mushrooms, beef stock/jus, fresh pepper.....not sure what else. Loved getting an extra small pitcher of it with our seconds.
- frites. Excellent. Thin, hot and crispy. I was really glad to see that they're hand-cutting the frites, especially knowing how labor intensive that is and how many other places opt out and buy them pre-cut. It makes such a difference. These alone are a reason to try MR.
- drinks. keeping the choices minimal and the menu simple, they have put clear thought into the mix. On beers, they're offering the 8.5% Delerium Tremens for $8, an interesting pilsner and then the more pedestrian choices of Harpoon and Miller light. Something for everyone. I also had a nice burgundy they were pouring instead of a listed beaujolais but we didn't try the other wines.
- dessert. we really didn't have much room left but felt compelled to at least give one a try. Saving the monster sized fudge layer cake, sundae and cheesecake (NYC) for future visits, we opted for an apple pie slice with vanilla ice cream. It was surprisingly good with fresh crisp apples, a nice crust and not overly sweet. The Ice cream and a latte were less remarkable. I didn't ask what coffee they're using but suspect that may be a good upgrade opportunity.
I think MR is gong to do very well. It started slowly at open but was nearly full by 7:30. The staff all seemed very friendly and reasonably efficient for the first night--that'll of course only get better with time. It's a great formula, a comfortable neighborhood spot that will draw from beyond CP with no trouble. All very tasty. And, really phenomenal value.
Welcome to CP, Medium Rare. Very glad you're here.
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This is actually the first thing I thought of as well. I don't necessarily disagree with Charles, but when I'm making a burger at home (which is about once a year), it's usually a pretty big patty (sometimes on an English Muffin, btw, which absorbs the juices on the inside, but is structurally sound on the outside, and small enough not to steal the show); also, I always use really good potato chips and never french fries (with a big burger, the chips add texture and aren't as overwhelming as fries). Then again, I usually cook for two, and that's an awkward number when buying packages of ground beef (one pound doesn't cut it for me and Matt)!
City Paper mentioned in a recent Best Of column, 'who needs a shake after a burger and fries,' and I agree with them, but the 1950s malt shoppes (think Arthur's in "Happy Days") probably had burgers, shakes, and fries that were more along the lines of what Charles is thinking in terms of size. As a polar opposite, Palena's burger really isn't all that big, but is in wonderful balance. A deceivingly complex subject, to be sure.
Those are my two top burgers: hell and palena. Totally polar opposites so I don't think they should really be compared directly. One is delicious/in your face/big/messy and the other delicious/gourmet/refined. Then, of course, to complicate things even more is Ray's HB Too's "Lil Devil" at 6oz. Haven't ever tried that one (seems wrong to do there in the same way it'd be a bit jarring if a 12oz drippy giant came out of Palena's kitchen).
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Where does that leave the "original" hellburger (10 oz)?
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Sure they aren't already here?
Peek a Boo!
Excellent! And, in less than one hour from the time the question was posed. Best of luck, Mr. Bucher--though I'm guessing you won't need it, never hurts to have it.
This dr.com forum is indeed a different deal than all else out there in the cloud. Rocks, maybe you can wave a wand and make something in the loooong vacated McDonald's space in Cleveland Park---Tackle Box or otherwise---actually appear by summer? Know it's supposed to be open soon but...not a lot of noise or activity from inside and we've seen that movie before.
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Yes, that is what Mark Bucher told me was the plan as well.
Walked by today. Looks to be very much on track for Monday open. Tables set. Staff training. Knives hung on magnet board in kitchen. They won't be doing lunch initially. Outdoor tables and chairs once the weather warms. Super addition to the 'hood--can't wait to try. Hope we get the chef/principals on the board soon! Doesn't Rocks usually twist whatever arms to make that happen when cool and interesting new spots open?
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If you go to the WaPo story (the link) they real story is far more complicated than what you get on the fb page and even then I don't think you're getting the entire story. It's bizarre (like apparently almost everything associated with this place).
You're not kidding--definitely more complicated and clearly not the full telling. Sigh--it'd be great to just get more candor from key stakeholders (whether landlords, lien holders, or renters/operators) in cases like this and others I won't re-name that have preceded this. We all make mistakes. How refreshing it'd be if folks serving the public, human like the rest of us, would just 1) own up to (aka communicate openly and apologetically if appropriate) mistakes when made and 2) learn from them so they're not repeated. Unrealistic I guess.
Really a shame--Chef Clark is such a great talent but the dining public doesn't get to experience her food very much or for extended periods of time. Hopefully the next place on K St or wherever, whenever it opens, will stay open longer. These operators have both the brand and the skills to be hugely successful over the longer haul. I'd love to see the next spot offer the general store fried chicken, the colorado kitchen brunch and stay in business for at least 5-7 years. Now that'd be something!
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It's apparently a tax problem according to the landlords, so no real cause for schadenfreude on the part of those who think less of the proprietors. Always sad to see a business close, even if it's not one that I was wont to frequent.
Geez--just "discovered" g-spot a couple of months ago and have gone 5 or 6 times since then.
The facebook page says the store "is closed" and further that it's because "The landlord has not paid his back taxes and the county is taking back the building. " Further, a message at the main phone says only that the GnrlStore "will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday due to unforeseen circumstances" and "check back for more information."
All in, hard to tell whether it's closed now or at some point in the near future. Also, not totally clear the new building owner (aka the county) would want g-spot out? Need to learn more.
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A first visit to Bibiana for lunch today--should I have said hi to someone? :-)
Liked it and, it was lunch so not a full test as dinner would be. Overall I'd score it a 3.5 out of 5 (not to evoke another online restaurant review site or anything).
Two of us had:
- Calzone ($13, interestingly $2 less than advertised on their website): my dining companion ordered this and our first reaction to it was its hugeness. he didn't again comment on it and I didn't ask since we were too engrossed in conversation but he did finish all of it so that's a good sign.
- Pasta e fasul soup ($8). OK. I could be wrong but I think they used some cream in this where it may not be necessary since based on heirloom beans. It was creamier than I'd have preferred and, of course, if I am right, the cream kind of works against the simpler, healthier and more delicious bean base. The pancetta and parmigiano were added in nice proportions to round out the flavor.
- Prosciutto Piandina ($12). Arugula, prosciutto di parma and mozzarella (seemed like a good quality cows milk domestic variety) on some kind of likely house-made roman flatbread. It was good and filling. I appreciated that they kept it simple and didn't "innovate" in any way to distract from good flavor.
- Capuccino ($3.50): Inspired by our new energy on the coffee house thread, I asked from whom they sourced their coffee before ordering. I wrongly guessed it was Illy since, well you know, Illy's widely available, respectable and Italian and Bibiana is Italian...never mind. To his credit, the waiter knew the correct marque, mentioning a "columbiano" brand in NY that I have not heard of. I asked about the distributor and, after checking, he told us they ordered direct from NY I think. The cap was fine--nothing exceptional but not disappointing.
Service was a bit too attentive, starting when our waiter invited us to "feel free to use the [unoccupied] chairs [at our table] to rest bags, jackets, etc. Uh, okay. Really can't complain though--I'd much rather have a bit too attentive or a bit awkward than indifferent, incompetent or combative. Bibiana is a higher-end dining room and our waiter probably just needs more experience and polish to be more natural but he served us well.
Props for something basic about the website which annoys me with many others. They have their menus integrated with the site/coded in. So you don't have to wait to launch at attached PDF file. Cool. Easier.
I'd go back again and try more interesting things the next time. Maybe for a dinner. But probably not very soon as I'll forget this experience too quickly. Next Italian lunch downtown will be G3 for sure!
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I like the VIBE of Swings- -feels like stepping into a time machine........but have only ever used theit coffee to warm my hands on the cup as I walked to an event!
I say go for it at the Law Center! They're nice folks over there.
FILTER tomorrow, I think!!
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and, Filter verdict, wlohmann? Inquiring minds want to know--especially inquiring minds who've already revealed their sentiments :-)
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I liked the Maine lobster roll I had a couple weeks ago. And immediately felt stupid for paying $15 for a snack from a truck.
One might argue that given the in-chassis self-serve soda dispenser, ipad point of sale "register" and affiliation with NY-based brick and mortar retail and Maine-based processing facility, this is a "truck" in name only. Sort of a truck in the same way that certain other countries call their huge vacation mansions "cottages." Not sure if that makes the $15 feel better but it is an excellent roll. Just don't fall for the ballcap ruse--they don't even have it customized (yet) for DC.
Landover / Hyattsville, MD
in Help Needed
Posted
Not sure. I need to look up what hotels are nearby. If mostly the four points/quality inn/courtyard/holiday inn types then might be too low on food quality. But maybe something better exists. Just wasn't sure about the area and initial search didn't yield much.
Ah--and to clarify. By "meeting," I just mean for two. So no special room needed. Just a spot with decent food and/or coffee quiet/calm enough for a professional convo.