Jump to content

Heather

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    4,788

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Heather

  1. Heather
    A credit card number to reserve, maybe. A contract? No. Life is simply too unpredictable, and dining is a pleasure that's easy to do without. Make it an obligation, like theater tickets, and pretty soon dining rooms with be as empty as the symphony halls. A ticket is sort of a contract, but most people don't like to think of their pleasures that way.
  2. Heather
    Agreed, 100%. Dining out is not as important as airline tickets, or opera tickets. Frankly, my kid's ear infection, or the server blowing up at work, is going to suck enough without getting dinged for $100 on my missed dinner res.
  3. Heather
    My take here. I join those who would like Atlantico back.
  4. Heather
    Not especially new, as I would swear that we ate there a couple of times before my 10 year old was born. They don't have to be anything exceptional, because they have that giant King Farm subdivision as their customer base. Proximity & delivery trump authenticity for most, especially on weeknights.
  5. Heather
    I'm not opposed to it, but it would definitely require constant moderation and IMO would be detrimental to the community if politics and religion were allowed topics of discussion. I would not participate in a new forum if those were permitted topics. ETA if you want to talk music, or find out other interests you could friend on Facebook, follow on Twitter, read a blog, or join Google+ There are literally dozens of ways to connect these days. I like this place for its focus.
  6. Heather
    I'm not certain what you're getting at here...also, the original version of your edited post is preserved in my answer to it. I stand by my comments. Looking over Spike's comments, his attitude brings to mind P.T. Barnum's apocryphal comment...
  7. Heather
    Censorship? You are free to say whatever you want, and I never said otherwise. Disagreeing with what you say is not censorship. (Self-censored to remove an f-bomb )
  8. Heather
    Of course you have the right to opt out. I never said that you didn't. The highlighted phrase smacks of elitism, however, and I would wager drives down participation & conversation on this board. I have a couple of Creed-loving friends with otherwise excellent taste in music. They like what they like, and I don't take it upon myself to judge them.
  9. Heather
    I think your straw man is on fire. I think what Mr. Generic was trying to say is that despite our desire here at donrockwell.com for purity of intent, food is not the only component retauranteurs take into consideration when setting their menus, prices, hours, decor, etc. How often are those taken into consideration on the board when, say, 2941 gets a beat-down for repositioning themselves in a tough market? Maybe this action will allow them to survive until things are better, unlike some other recently closed suburban NoVa restaurants?
  10. Heather
    It certainly left me wondering which of them have a publicist. And why should local chefs have the definitive word in this? Getting your knickers in a twist about Spike's success is as futile as raging at Creed's radio play at the expense of the 500 outstanding indie bands you love that don't have platinum records. The public gets what the public wants, and we "foodies" are a pretty tiny subset.
  11. Heather
    Charles said everything that I'm thinking right here. Picking on Spike is as safe here as praising a Michael Landrum establishment. ETA: Excellent points, TedE
  12. Heather
    Burgers. So over it. $5 burgers, $10 burgers, especially $15 burgers. Over the cutesy clever names and ridiculous toppings.
  13. Heather
    "Simply Heinz" ketchup has no HFCS. I've been buying it for a while now. It's a little more expensive.
  14. Heather
    I don't see any reason to shut down this discussion. If others want to start new threads on other topics, great. Authenticity, PR, celebrity & its place in food/dining culture, the concept of "paying one's dues, and even free expression in the marketplace...all worthy of discussion and debate.
  15. Heather
    Thanks, Jason. I agree with all of your points here. He got a break, and is making it work for him. I'm not a fan - in fact I wouldn't know who he was if it wasn't for this board - but he doesn't deserve vitriol for doing what he can to make his businesses succeed. No amount of online foot-stomping is going to make him less popular. The best you can hope is that he fades into obscurity once he's no longer the flavor of the month. I would bet cash money that there are many chefs on that list paying people to shill for them, either directly or indirectly. By which I mean PR flacks, advertisers, bloggers, etc. It's not confined to celebrity chefs.
  16. Heather
    I'm a maybe.
  17. Heather
    Five years later, and El Golfo is still going strong with solid, dependable food (stick to the non Tex-Mex) and a welcoming atmosphere. We walked in last night and were pleased to discover that they have added surprisingly good live jazz on Wednesday nights.$5 gets you a seat in the front room and a margarita. They have a similar program on Thursday featuring local blues acts. We had lomo saltado, and hummed along to standards like My Baby Just Cares For Me. Will definitely go back for the music.
  18. Heather
    Clyde's, Daily Grill, Gordon Biersch, Cafe Deluxe, McCormick & Schmick, etc. etc. pack them in downtown, too, along with Fuddrucker's, California Pizza Kitchen, Bucca di Beppo, Cosi, Potbelly...bad taste is not confined to outside the Beltway.
  19. Heather
    But Old Town is walkable. It's possible to stroll around before dinner, shopping or window shopping. Tyson's, not so much. L'Auberge is a destination restaurant where people go to celebrate special occasions, in an extremely wealthy area. Does anyone decide to pop in to the bar there for a glass of wine or a meal after work? It also has a parking lot - it sounds trivial, but a lot of dining decisions are made around the perceived accessibility of parking around the restaurant.
  20. Heather
    We had dinner at Satsuma Saturday night after running an errand in downtown Bethesda. Seaweed salad was average. The fish (yellowtail & mackerel) on our nigiri was rather clumsily cut, and the sushi rice wasn't great. Miso ramen was a generous portion of noodles, but with wan broth and scant toppings. The +1 ordered spicy beef broth, which came with two hunks (literally) of tough, inedible beef, and a lot of whipped egg white mixed in. Not great, but only $4 so it was no great loss. We had planned to order more sushi, but what we got was so thoroughly meh that we asked for the check and went home. Satsuma is literally across the street from my office, and it's not bad for an occasional quick lunch special. I doubt if I would come back for dinner.
  21. Heather

    Pie

    Heather replied to Heather's topic in Shopping and Cooking

    I'm not sure, Don. That's exactly the way I feel about most restaurant food these days. It's heavy on the cleverness, light on the deliciousness.
  22. Heather
    She's not a chef. She's not even a particularly inventive cook. Paula Deen is a caricature created by the Food Network that sells a certain anti-elitist, anti-intellectual approach to food. Her own decisions aside, I'm sure her employer has no interest in repositioning her brand. Her shtick reminds me a little of Paul Prudhomme, who wasn't nearly as vilified for peddling caloric cuisine despite being too obese to walk. If you don't like her actions, then don't watch her show or buy her books. Sure, it would be nice to see her use her celebrity for education, but IMO she is under no obligation to do so. If we are all responsible for our own choices, then why should we vilify a TV personality for not telling her fans what to do? Aren't they accountable for their own diets?
  23. Heather
    Ripple?
  24. Heather
    I'm now a maybe, since my kids aren't going to be picked up by dad at 5 as I had planned on.
  25. Heather
    It is sad that she hasn't chosen to use this as an opportunity to educate, but she is performing an important service - she is enabling us to congratulate ourselves that we would have done better. I wonder how much class is playing into the approbriation. If it was a French chef, would we be as quick to condemn? It's not like steak & bernaise are fat-free.
×
×
  • Create New...