DPop

Based on the comments in here, Donburi seems to have taken a turn for the worse if my delivery order today was any indication. I went with the absurdly priced ($18!) Unagidon, which was a medium sized bowl of 80% gummy rice, 15% mushy, fatty unagi, and 5% out of place pickled veggies that did nothing for me at all in this dish. A really disappointing experience that I had been looking forward to after all of the positive comments I'd read.

Ouch, does not sound like a good split. From vacationing together in November to total dissolution in August.

Does anyone know if they do takeout?

That's interesting to see, there are no Truxton Circle signs within 5 blocks of that restaurant yet there are LeDroit, Bloomingdale, and even Shaw signs within 2 blocks depending on which way you go. I stand corrected, but if you live in the area (which I know you do), you think of Truxton Circle as the area on 1st Street below Florida Ave stretching down to NY Ave, and not where Anxo sits.

Not to nitpick, but this restaurant is not in Truxton Circle by any means. It's right on the corner of 3rd and Florida NW between Bloomingdale and LeDroit Park.

What great news. Looking forward to giving it a try.

The rebranding is a prudent idea by Derek et al. I could never get myself excited enough to go out for sherry and ham, even though I tend to enjoy both.

So is Jon Krinn still at the restaurant? Anyone have any insight?

Man, looking at that veritable All-Star team now (and including Adam Bernbach, who joined not long after it opened) brings back such fond memories. Proof was easily my favorite restaurant in this area from late 2006 to 2009.

The Duke #7 is one of the more creative pizzas I have had recently. It felt more like something you would see on a sandwich (nduja, giardiniera, sweet red peppers) but it really worked in this context, with the brine of the pickled vegetables nicely balancing the richness of the scarmorza and nduja. The beer list was also right up my alley, with both On The Wings of Armageddon and Ways and Means both on tap, fresh, and fantastic last night. Congrats to Sebastian, Mike, and the guys from Boundary Stone, all indications given the area surrounding and the quality coming out of the kitchen that this will be a mainstay for years to come.

I traded e-mails with the sommelier Kirsten yesterday and there are 2 options for wine pairings, $100 and $185, along with the wine list. Unfortunately, they will not allow corkage.

DonRocks, our source for BREAKING NEWS

Thanks for the post, was able to get a table on April 28.

Agreed, but 10 years ago at Houston's that wasn't the case. They are part of the problem, for sure, but I think when we as consumers just started accepting restaurants (including fast food chains) charging $10+ for basic salads and sandwiches, they all followed suit.

It's funny, I've seen that article posted on my FB, Twitter, and now seeing it here, all accompanied by people sharing fond memories and talking about how they are looking forward to going back. Incredible advertising for Hillstone, made all that much sweeter for them if they didn't have to pay Bon Appetit to run that article. I went to Woodmont for lunch last year and found it to be very expensive and very meh. I do have very fond memories of the Houstons in NYC back some years, though. The Spinach Artichoke dip and burger always hit the spot.

I'm looking forward to the day where every commercial space from Pennsylvania Ave NW to McPherson Square is occupied by a law firm, lobbying firm, or overpriced steakhouse/seafood joint. The streets will be flooded with bloated old men in poorly tailored business suits.

That is hysterical coming from a guy who doesn't like loud restaurants. His little decibel reader would have exploded last night as soon as he turned it on. He must have either just had a steak or there was someone different in the kitchen the night he was there.

When I read this yesterday I should have known that the jinx was on. Don can't get everywhere all the time, so I understand putting restaurants in Italics even without a visit, but I think if he ever does make it to Mastro's, I feel confident that the font will be changed and it will move down the page quite a bit. My wife and I should have known what we were in for the second we walked in the door to an eerily dark and tremendously loud, cavernous room. We were greeted (accosted?) by what sounded like karaoke night at one of the sticky bars up 18th Street, a woman belting out Taylor Swifts "Bad Blood" without a modicum of shame. I looked around in disbelief that no one was offended by this performance, but the crowd here trended more towards the Cafe Milano set rather than Bourbon Steak, so I shouldn't have been surprised that they were unfazed. I gave my wife the "should we go?" look, but ultimately made the call to give it a try as we had a late reservation (9pm) and didn't feel like seeking out something else in the snow. I wish we had. We were seated by the somewhat confused hostess, who couldn't seem to figure out if there was a quieter part of the restaurant to seat us in per our request. We looked at a couple tables and ultimately settled on a spot near the window, which unfortunately did not meet our criteria of a quieter dinner. I didn't want to risk what I was sure would be a shamelessly overpriced wine list so I carried my own bottle in, which I placed on top of the table when we sat down. It sat there, untouched for about 10 minutes before my wife asked for a glass of water and our waiter noticed it on the table. It disappeared for another 10 minutes before it finally came back unopened with a decanter. It was clear that the service staff wasn't getting it; we hadn't seen a menu, had our glasses filled, or really been provided any service apart from what we requested after sitting down for 20 minutes. I politely asked to see menus, to which our waiter replied "oh, yeah". I start wondering at this point why I didn't follow my gut and walk out as soon as I heard the cover band, but we pressed on. My wife had been jonesing for oysters for a week now, so we accepted the insulting $4/oyster upsell and got a half dozen Blue Points to start. These were odd as they weren't unpleasant, rather meaty with some very nice fresh horseradish to add a slight kick, but it almost felt like someone had washed the oysters with water after opening, as they were quite bland outside of a hint of salt and the punch of added horseradish. The liquor held no brine flavor at all, which was a shame as a hint of the sea was all these needed to be more than passable. We moved on from there to the appetizers, a safe Iceberg Wedge ($12) and an Ahi Tuna Tartare ($21). Nothing major to report here, both of these were fine if boring, particularly for the prices. When did it become OK to charge $10+ for a half a head of flavorless, nutritionless lettuce and some chunks of bleu cheese, tomato, and bacon? This didn't register with me until I was actually eating the salad, but it's a disappointing trend that is getting more common at restaurants in DC these days. Or maybe I was just cranky at that point as we were an hour into the meal and the songstress in the cover band was now butchering Beyonce's "All The Single Ladies" in the bar and our waiter had disappeared completely, leaving all of his responsibilities to the overburdened busser. For our mains my wife went with the 8oz Filet ($48) and I got the 20oz "Chef's Cut" New York Strip ($59). For sides we went with the Garlic Mashed Potatoes ($14) and the Alaskan King Crab Black Truffle Gnocchi ($33!). Normally I'd be embarrassed to admit that I ordered the latter side, but my wife and I don't get out as much since we had our first child in November, and King Crab, black truffles, and gnocchi happen to be 3 of her favorite things to eat, so who was I to turn her down? Unfortunately what arrived is what you the reader is probably expecting; a cheesy, gloppy mess with sparse chunks of overcooked crab (some with fingernail-sized pieces of shell still attached), no detectable black truffle flavor, and mushy gnocchi. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that you would feel better afterwards and certainly be more entertained if you took 33 $1 bills a mile down the road to Archibald's, grabbed a seat next to Michael Landrum, and used that money to "support the staff". The mashed potatoes were fine in a way that it's hard to screw up a dish that you load up with salt, butter, heavy cream, and potatoes, but again it was hard to detect what was supposed to be a primary flavor in the dish, the garlic. In the spirit of full disclosure, I must say that our steaks were outstanding cuts of beef and cooked to the exact temperature we requested. There was great marbling and a real depth of flavor to my NY Strip, with some hints of chestnut mixed in with the char and natural saltiness of the meat. If I was to come back here for a business lunch or dinner, I would happily order this steak and get a healthy side and be perfectly content, but to think that I passed up on going to The Grill Room (my other option) in favor of this $230 before tax and tip meal left me scratching my head as I strolled out the door and away (finally) from that goddamn band.

The difference being that both of those restaurants have award-winning chefs who are well established not only in DC, but nationally as well. Kwame seems like a talented guy, but if I'm not mistaken, he has under a decade of experience and this is his first Executive Chef gig. I don't think you can compare The Shaw Bijou, from a pure marketing perspective, to those other two. Another question would be is if alcohol is inclusive of that $150 price tag. If not (which is what I'm assuming), you're talking about potentially $200+ per person before tax and tip if you want to enjoy a bottle of wine. Is there another restaurant in DC that is that expensive for table stakes? Sushi Taro sushi counter? Is Komi that much with wine pairing?

That is an absolutely absurd price point to start off, especially when you are promising diners that they will NOT experience "jaw-dropping innovation or technique" in the cooking. Kwame's not wasting any time in trying to cash in on the Top Chef fame!

Will the environment be conducive for takeout? The menu reads like it could be but wanted to see what your thoughts were. Sincerely, Guy-Who-Wants-To-Eat-Your-Fish-But-Has-Trouble-Committing-To-An-Hour-Plus-Dinner-Out-Due-To-A-Constantly-Screaming-Newborn

Does this mean Massimo goes back to Tosca? I hope so, my last meal there was absolutely sub-standard when measured against Massimo's years. It would be great to be able to go back to the bar there with Jay behind the stick, John running the FOH, and Massimo in the kitchen. Tosca was one of my absolute favorite restaurants in the city from 2008-2012. Sad ending for this place, I think the chef move may have happened a couple years too late. Also, that space seems to be doomed, which is crazy because it might be in one of the best locations in the city right now.

My (not-so-bold) prediction for this little venture; it starts off with fanfare and pretty good food, although plenty of service and other glitches. Isabella is there to show face initially, shake hands, etc, and is never seen at the place after month 1 of operation. The food steadily declines for the next year, after which time the parties involve "mutually agree" to remove Mike's name from the venture, which won't matter because the damage to his reputation will have been done (see "Todd Gray's Watershed" for proof point). Another uneventful year or two goes by with the occasional horror story about crummy food and worse service until the space closes altogether and gets repurposed into something else. I'll be back in 2018 to check on this and will be shocked if 80% of what I wrote above did not come true.

Who else is excited for some Jersey-style pizza? Tweet from @AllPurposeDC leading to this article: "Where to Eat in 2016" by Jed Portman on gardenandgun.com (featuring a paragraph about All Purpose).

Sorry if I missed it, but are they doing carry out?