jpschust
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Just a heads up. Tonight the Reef is trying something kind of new- Sundays through Wednesdays are really the locals only nights- you don't find many crazy people from out of the area coming in to have beers. Tonight on the main floor they will be showing the Jerk at 10 PM. All beers will be available for tasting, though I know they are going to be changing out some lines soon. The new beer list hasn't been confirmed, but if you want to try the Iris I'd probably get on it fast. "I know we've only known each other four weeks and three days, but to me it seems like nine weeks and five days. The first day seemed like a week and the second day seemed like five days. And the third day seemed like a week again and the fourth day seemed like eight days. And the fifth day you went to see your mother and that seemed just like a day, and then you came back and later on the sixth day, in the evening, when we saw each other, that started seeming like two days, so in the evening it seemed like two days spilling over into the next day and that started seeming like four days, so at the end of the sixth day on into the seventh day, it seemed like a total of five days. And the sixth day seemed like a week and a half. I have it written down, but I can show it to you tomorrow if you want to see it. " -
www.primetimetables.com
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really? on a yo the house has 11.11 percent odds.
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WINNER!!! Virgil's root beer through the nose.
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Don't pity it. It was asking for it anyways- I mean just look at how much clevage it shows.
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OK, my fellow bourbon addict, this burger stinks. Every time I've had it the burger has been so dry and terrible that it was awful. The food to have at Bourbon is the grilled cheese and tomato soup. And tots. yummy yummy tots.
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This is kind of an interesting thing- the chef there is a great guy and was brought on board in a pinch. He's just beginning to change the menu around to suit his tastes a bit better and to be a little more unique. I'll be able to talk about it a little more in the coming weeks, but expect a menu change and the quality of the food to get significantly better. I'm not sure it's ever going to be on par with some of the top restaurants in the city, but at the same time I think it's going to be very very good bar food. One thing to keep in mind is that the owner of the Reef almost exclusively buys organic and family farm meats and vegetables. He makes a major attempt to keep the food in there coming from sustainable sources, thus making his purchasing a bit more difficult. There are a few things on the menu that are currently really worth eating- their burger is in my opinion the ONLY burger worth eating on the entire 18th street strip. They have a great spanakopita dip right now that is perfectly flavored. The hot pretzels with DeKonick mustard sauce are great as well. The bison dog is very very good. They know their menu needs work and they are working on it, but the goal is to create a better menu one step at a time that continues to serve a bar crowd a bit better than it has been.
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Coming from 18th street, turning on Kalorama to go towards 16th street you hit a split on a street whose name escapes me at the moment. It's right by Marie Reed. It looks like Kalorama ends but really it continues all the way out to 16th street. Between Ontario and 17th street there's almost always parking except for the saturday nights.
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You need to know the secrets of parking in Adams Morgan- park on 17th street or on Kalorama past the split- it's much easier. If I recall isn't the iris the one whose yeast actually comes from the air and the dew settling at night? It's not for everyone- certainly not my favorite, but it's very very unique. Also the Konick Winter is being served ONLY at The Reef in the United States. The Reef has exclusive rights to it this year.
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The Reef has no bottles, so yes
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Reef's current beer list: Allagash White Ettaler Curator Doppelbock Het Anker Margriet Winter Konick Cantillion Iris Snow Goose DoConeck Rogue John's Locker Stock Chimay Triple Kasteel Framboise Belgian Sunrise Yuengling Pilsner Urquell Miller Light PBR 5-7 PM dollar off, 10% off your tab with a zip code on your DL for the Adams Morgan area.
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this is how i deal with my hatred of this awful woman who should never ever be allowed to be called a chef: http://www.slobak.com/rachaelray.html
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would I be out of place tonight if I wanted to eat in the Cashion's bar in jeans and a dress shirt?
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it's cold out, thus I'll be drinking a maple leaf soon- (yes I'm working from home today). makers + lemon juice + maple syrup.
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if you order a steak medium well you deserve to have your cut pan seared and thrown in a microwave. what are you going to notice the difference anyways- they flavor would be zapped out anyways.
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It's looking as though Robyn might be out of town in a month or so, and thus I am considering putting together another tasting. Can I gauge a little interest here?
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Anyone up for a post work drink tonight? I've got to go skate over in Ballston at 2, but I'll be done by 3:30 at the latest and then headed back into dc. I'm up in Adams Morgan, so anywhere there or around DuPont would be ideal. I've got nothing on my schedule until a 8:45 2941 reservation.
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I'm not talking about the seating in this comment- I'm talking about the dinner service. There is NEVER an excuse when people sit at a table when all are complete and it is clear that the dinner service is complete and waiters/busboys stand NEXT to the table and don't clear it. That is inexcusable and certainly unfortunate. I don't understand why this place is being heralded as an untouchable entity. Even my favorite places have bad nights, and I'll chalk this one up to a bad night, but that doesn't mean they are free from criticism. $90 is a lot to pay for a meal with crap service.
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Even so, no excuse for sitting us in the same section at a worse table when the other table sat open the entire meal, plus for us having to sit there with empty plates for extended periods of time while servers/busboys sat directly behind Robyn to just chat. I think each of the things I've mentioned, even being short a server, should have been easily taken care of. The fact is the place was just not on their game with the service, and it's unfortunate and inexcusable.
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yes, they told us this is all they had unless we wanted to wait 10 minutes. for tables that were already open. including tables in the same section we were already seated in. the food was decent, the service was just well...stupid.
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forget that: http://www.believermag.com/issues/200608/?...doughnut_voodoo
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no dessert- fine, but as far as calling ahead, these were true walkups. plus many of these tables sat empty the entire hour and a half to two hours or so we were there.
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Robyn and I went to Hank's last night on a whim, and the food was good to ok, but the service was bizzare to say the least. I arrive first and there's no host in sight. A few minutes later he comes in and I said that I've got another coming about 2 minutes behind me. He encourages me to have a seat at the bar, without looking at the bar. There was no earthly way I was going to be able to sit at the bar as there wasn't a single open seat, and in that space there isn't anywhere to stand either. So Robyn gets there and we ask to sit. He looks around the restaurant and there are 5 open 4 tops and 2 regular two tops and 1 high top in the worst possible location (right by the door with no protection from the cold). He says, "I don't seem to have a table at the moment other than the high top, you can wait 10 minutes for the 2 top if you want." Huh? There aren't even any reservations on the books from what I can see as after he sat us at the high top people just strolled in without reservations and sat at those tables- including pairs at the 4 tops. We ordered a half dozen assorted oysters on the half shell and some sake shooters, all of which were acceptable. I didn't think anything they had on their oyster menu was outstanding, but they were ok. They took about 15-20 minutes between when we finished our oysters and a glass of wine and a beer to come back to ask what we wanted for dinner. Oh yah, we were sitting right next to the server station. If they missed us they weren't even looking. We ordered and Robyn got the ceviche whereas I wasn't terribly hungry so I got a couple of sides- mac and cheese and onion bread pudding. The ceviche was good, though not great. The mac & cheese was served scaldingly hot and oily as can be, as well as somewhat bland and tasteless. A good helping of salt, pepper and hot sauce helped it taste like salt, pepper and hot sauce which was something. The bread pudding was good, but only served luke warm. Then, after we finished it took them almost a half hour to clear our plates. We were just sitting there glancing around the room for a server or anyone while two waiters or busboys or someone stood next to our table and just chatted with eachother about nothing in particular. We asked what they had for dessert and Hank's has no dessert menu, though they happily bring you bland chunks of chocolate at the end. It seems strange to me that they would have no dessert menu, but whatever. So overall, total bill with tip was about 90 dollars for a half dozen oysters, 2 sake shooters, sides of bread pudding and mac and cheese, ceviche, 2 glasses of chardonay and a beer. Not cheap, but not terribly expensive. All said, I'd be hesitant to go back again unless it was for happy hour.
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So here's the follow up. I have an opportunity that looks to have fallen into my lap. A good friend is a sous at a very very high end, world recognized restaurant (not in DC, and I'm not going to name names here), but he was both a Wharton and a CIA grad and knows a thing or two about running a business and a restaurant. We are talking about starting his first restaurant together. My experience is primarily in finance, and this would put his and my experience to work on the business side of things with him mainly getting to focus on the food. I'd also have a large hand in running the bar as I've tended in the past and know the financial side of a bar pretty well. Nothing is for certain right now and we are looking at 2-3 years down the line to getting all the financing, build out and whatnot together. Exciting stuff. (also, the chances of it being in DC are slim to none, so no worries about competition from me chefs and owners )
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I've liked this place so much in the past that I'll gladly give it another go tomorrow or Friday.