bennybig1

i had a great meal at bebo HOWEVER it was in the private party room for a party of 20. and EVEN THEN, there were service issues. the maitre'd insisted that the large table in the middle of the dining room was for our party- even though nobody else was there and it was 5 minutes after the start of the part. odd i thought that even the birthday guy's family isn't here yet. I asked again- are you SURE this is the table for the xxxx party? Oh yes. of course we then noticed the back private party room with 10 people already in it. my wife ordered a sour apple martini that literally, NOT a joke, was nothing but vodka. it wasn't green. i think the bartender put it up on the bar as he was getting the sour apple mix and maybe the waiter just grabbed it. I can't think of any other reason. but the food was wonderful. so it seems like if Roberto would put the emphasis on hiring and training good staff as he does on the food- which MOST of us find wonderful, he'd have a bigger hit than just a "great food, crappy service" place he has. saying a restaurant is crowded doesn't necessarily mean it's top notch- 1) it's crystal city- not a lot of restaurants with world class chefs there 2) not everyone cares that they get crappy service if they're eating at a restaurant staffed by a famous chef. i would give Bebo another try and hope the service has improved, especially since I haven't had the pizzas yet.

had a very good Bethesda Rest. Week dinner at their bethesda location. we were seated at a table in teh bar area which was a small strike against them. plus, the bartender was our server. i was already getting skeptical- being close to the noisy bar and having a waiter who had to run back to pour drinks every 3 minutes. yet somehow he managed to always be right there when we needed him. There were out of Pisco sours so I had a pomegranate martini which was great. started with heirloom tomato salad with housemade mozzarella. it was good if not spectacular. a good size portion of both yellow and red tomatoes, a balsamic vinagrette on top and a nice piece of creamy mozzarella. the lobster corn chowder that another person had was wonderful. creamy without being heavy. for entrees we had PAN SEARED DIVER SCALLOPS Aromatic Quinoa, English Peas, Pernod, Citrus-Lobster Sauce and PAN SEARED VEAL MEDALLIONS Wheatberry Pilaf, Roasted Garlic Spinach, Sherry Mushroom Sauce both were wonderful- the scallops perfectly cooked and the citrus-lobster sauce not overwhelming. the peas were delicious- perfectly cooked. The veal was a perfect medium and the roasted garlic spinach was not too garlicky, as is often a problem. both my friend and i had clean plates at the end. I love the fact that they list all the nutritional info in the back of the menu. Granted, it might go out the window for dessert, but at least you have a sense as to how good 'healthy' food can be. Not once did I think "well, it IS healthy." It was just delicious. I had the blackberry creme brulee for dessert which was excellent. My wife had the chocolate cake which our waiter said uses 1 cup of flour for every 40 cakes, so it's practically flourless. both were very nice- not the greatest creme brulee ever, but I love blackberries so I'm always willing to try a blackberry dessert. The hummus that arrives with the bread was so good we actually bought pints to take home- now this, unlike the garlic spinach, was very garlicky but great. About $6. I'm not sure the soft multi-grain bread is the best accompaniment for hummus, but without it we would've been eating it by the spoonful. I wish we'd been seated in the main dining room, but with 4 full tables, it's clear they use the bar as a 2nd dining area. overall a very very good meal for rest. week prices which probably saved us a few dollars off the ala carte prices.

There is also one that just opened in Germantown- HALLELUJAH- something to finally get excited about in Germantown- it's in the LOTTE MARKET on Germantown Road- take I-270 to exit 15B and go about 1 mile down the road- there's a shopping center on your right -Germantown Plaza. it's in there.

had a wonderful meal here recently. yes there is usually a wait. b ut it's worth it. yes, some edges of the pizza can be a bit TOO blistered. But overall, the softshell pizza was glorious. IMO even the plain old "plain" was great. The wings were very interesting- marinated in an asian style sauce with chili peppers and some sweetness to cut the heat. The desserts are nothing special, nor do they really try to be. I'm not looking for a Citronelle experience here. I want great thin crust pizza- different than what i'm getting at Paradiso or 2 Amys. and this place delivered- w/o Greenwood in the kitchen. a tiny bit- say 5% of the pizza crust overcooked- i'm willing to live with that for the remaining 95% that is great.

was lucky enough to attend a wedding in the private room there. wonderful stuff. I'll have to post the whole menu when i get a chance. the service was exceptional, plates all placed at the same time instead of 1/2 the table waiting for their plates to arrive. all the little things were done very well and a bowl of cotton candy on each table at the end is a great way to end any good meal!

any suggestions for NON-price fix places in MoCo, MD? seems like every place has their usual 75 dollar 4 course menu. trying to think outside the box for something in silver spring or preferably bethesda/rockville area. any new places in bethesda to recommend? otherwise I think i'll cook up a fancy meal at home.

The Mrs. and I went to Jackie's last night- I'm trying to wittle away as many Washingtonian Top 100 and Cheap Eats places as I can, and jackie's falls on BOTH LISTS (not sure how they qualify for a cheap eats listing- 1 app, 2 entrees, 1 dessert and 1 beer were $68.) I love the decor- modern funk in what apparently was a rundown space. It's befitting the entire silver spring revival. taking some older structures and keeping the exterior in many cases while revitalizing the inside. The exposed brick and the construction site lightbulbs hanging from extension cords from the ceiling just seem to fit with the minimalist decor. Our waiter was very friendly. He did a nice job explaining some of the specials and steered us in the right direction. Was debating about which beer to have and he recommened the Belgian Hoegaarden- a very good choice (apparently made by the same folks who make Stella Artois- yum!). We had 2 mini-Elvis burgers to start- and they are addictive. Perfectly cooked to medium rare with a big dollop of pimento cheese spread. HOW CAN YOU GO WRONG WITH PIMENTO CHEESE? I mean, it's not like head cheese. ew. the buns were nicely toasted and it set a good tone. Unfortunately the fried chicken that so many rave about is now a daily special and wasn't offered on our visit- I believe it's only Wednesday nights now. The bread was good but the butter was ice cold and unspreadable. Can't someone tell restaurants that ice cold butter from the fridge and room temp bread don't go together? either use olive oil or use whipped butter. but I can't fault them too much as the bread by itself was very nice. I had the Flat Iron Skillet steak medium rare. Our waiter said it's grilled between 2 hot cast iron skillets and it's a thicker cut, so my medium rare had a center that was still quite rare. but the other 90% of the steak was wonderful. Reminded me a little of a hangar steak but quite flavorful with a green romesco sauce. The fries were very good- not quite Mannequin Pis quality where they're still smolderingly hot, but very good. My wife had the special- roast beef with mashed potatoes and haricot verts. The beans were perfectly cooked and the mashed potatoes were also very nice. The beef was served with a brown gravy. While it was good, for $17 it's pretty hard to make roast beef that's going to live up to the price IMHO. Good but not great. Dessert offers some unique choices but we decided to split one or I'd have headed for the blood orange sorbet or the cheese plates- some nice choices for 9-12 dollars. But we split the waiter-recommended chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream. Our waiter said it used to come with caramel sauce but didn't anymore but asked if we'd like some. We said SURE. I thought that was a great touch and it added to the dessert so kudos to him. The brownie was good- topped with nuts, but not "wow" inducing. Pretty typical actually- like something you'd get at an Applebees or Fridays. In fact, I was surprised that the vanilla ice cream didn't have a speck of vanilla bean in it- I'm not expecting homemade ice cream, but come on, even Breyers has specks of vanilla beans. The ice cream was a bit of a letdown. The serving of brownie was enormous- a good call to split it, but unremarkable. Overall, I'd try Jackie's again. I'm not sure how it qualifies for cheap eats status when the apps were 6-9, the entrees ran 16-27 and the desserts were 5 or 6++. If we'd each ordered 3 courses and a drink we'd have been pushing 80 dollars before tax and tip. Having lived in Wheaton years back, I'm excited about the Silver Spring revitilization, and I see some potential with this restaurant. Not everything was a hit, but nothing was a big miss either. And I had to laugh when the chef (formerly of Cashion's Eat Place in Adams Morgan) was the one wearing the thin dishwasher-type chef's shirt, while one of the line cooks had the nice thick chef's jacket with an embroidered name. Guess the chef doesn't want the attention. The open kitchen is a joy to watch- how 4 or 5 people operate in such a tiny space is amazing.

oh great- and I bet you guys don't even SING happy birthday and disrupt eveyrone's dinner!@#*($ well I certainly won't be going to your place anytime soon folks, if you want singing waiter, go to chi chis or chuck e. cheese.

Mannequin Pis has it well laid out- ON the menu the chef writes: this is not a kid-friendly restaurant (i.e. don't ask me to make mac and cheese b/c your 4 year old doesn't like belgian food), this is not a vegetarian restaurant tho if you call ahead we can accomodate you and please, no substitutions, sounds little SOUP NAZI-ish, but I actually respect it. at least before you order you know the guy has set the expectations and the food was great when we were there. It just stuck out in my mind that he had the guts to say all that right on the menu.

i saw a posting mentioning the chef yells loud enough to be heard in the dining room. while i didn't experience it, it seems likely- the menu specifically says IN WRITING: this is not a children's restaurant. and something about not asking for substitutions. and also it's not a vegetarian friendly restaurant unless you call ahead. i have to kind of respect a chef who says "this is what i do...if you don't like this, that's fine, but please don't ask me to change how i cook" ballsy but i respect it. I love the swipe he takes at the Montg. County ABC control board. the belgian beers are great if a little pricey. the waiter we had knew his stuff and was able to recommend some good ones- I've had a number of lambics and duvel and chimay before so wanted to try something new- Delirium Tremors- YUMMMMM. the mussels are great- a half dozen or more styles of preparation. the frites were excellent. hot and salty just like they should be. the frisee salad as others have mentioned is CHOCK FULL O' BACON. how can you not like that? it's not a cheap meal nor is it overpriced IMO. and chances are you'll drive by the rundown shopping center it's in 2 or 3 times on your first visit, but inside the place is nice, dark and relatively quiet the night we were there- the tables are close together so I imagine on a full house it could get noisy. but the chef, blunt though he may be, serves up some delicious food. How I wish he'd open up closer to the rockville/gaithersburg/bethesda side of Montg. County.

apparently the opening is a ways off- my friend walked by the other night and said it's still got a ways to go. i emailed them so hopefully i'll get a ballpark date and post it here if i find out.

Marios in Va is legendary- my boss grew up in NoVa and took me there- 2 of the cooks have been there I believe over 30 years each. amazing.

if this has been discussed before, just shoot me- I'm still a relative DR newbie. But I figured there are so many serious foodies here that there should be some interesting answers. My top 5 foods or meals if I was stranded on a desert island: 1) chili dogs from Yoccos with a side of pierogies (Allentown, PA) or Ben's Chili Bowl with chili/cheese fries-(DC) 2) Passion fruit ice cream from Bebo Trattoria 3) my choice of Belgian beers from Mannequin Pis or the Brickskeller 4) MD crab cakes from Kokos (a dive bar in Baltimore that doesn't look like it would have the best crab cakes in town, but it does). 5) Butterfish from Roy's Hawaiian. now of course I've just thought of 100 other foods I love but I'll keep the list at 5, so for now, those get my vote.

NOTE: PLEASE do NOT hate me- I was a guest at an amazing party at Bebo last night (Sat. 1/27/07) with a 7 course tasting menu. so....my review isn't entirely 'fair' b/c my friend's business acquaintance happens to write all the insurance for Chef Donna's companies so we got a very unique dinner that was not entirely representative of what a 'normal' meal would be. having said that, however, most of the reviews seem to say the food is great while the service can be spotty. as a private party we obviously had a designated waiter, busboy, but there WERE a few times when service dipped below what one would have hoped. I will say there were a few tiny service issues that I can imagine would be magnified if we weren't part of a party. We came in at 10 after 7- cocktails started at 7 and asked for our party by name. The maitre'd said 'oh that's right here' and pointed to a giant empty table in the middle of the room. Odd I thought to myself- we're the 1st ones here and it's right in the middle of the floor when people were bringing birthday gifts and 'roasting' the birthday guest with speeches- it sure seemed odd to do that in the middle of the dining room. the hostess corrected him but he insisted so we stood at the empty long table for 5 minutes until we noticed a member of the party in the back room. drink orders took a while to come out and my Tanqueray 10 and tonic was tanquery and soda. not wanting to wait another 10 minutes I just drank it. my wife's sour apple martini looked oddly pale- normally they're a bright green. I took a sip as I carried it to her and thought 'that tastes like straight vodka'....and it was. a bright green sour apple martini soon appeared. the sommelier was with us most of the evening as we polished off about 15 bottles of wine- I didn't have the white but loved the 2000 Barbera and the Il Tocco- I don't know much about it other than it was about 90 a bottle and thank goodness I WASN'T PAYING!! WHEW! he was very nice and explained to me and the other 'food geek' there about the wines, how he was prepping the glasses (pouring a tiny bit of the wine in each of the 20 glasses and swirling it prior to pouring the full glass), etc. Ironically I had just read a review on DR and someone mentioned the 2000 Barbera so the sommelier laughed. so on to the menu: passing appetizers: risotto balls- delicious, tasted like panko on the outside. just great. mini crostini w/gorgonzola and tropea onion marmalade- also delicious though the pieces of bread were pretty large- not what i'd call 'mini' but delicious nonetheless. mini potato and onion fritatta- also good but served slightly cool rather than warm, though the texture was wonderfully smooth and mild. now the MENU: sauteed scallop over braised leeks w/orange sauce. YUM. i know you're expecting something more definitive than that...but seriously...YUM. scallop cooked perfectly and the leeks were soft and mild with just the tiniest kick from a dusting of red pepper around the plate and a mild orange sauce. poppy seed pappardelle with a lobster ragu and cauliflower. the cauliflower pieces were so small they didn't really factor in for me but the ragu was rich and hearty and wonderful with the softness of the pappardelle. probably a tiny bit past my 'al dente' meter, but still delicious Risotto with saffron and pesto. the punch from the saffron and pesto together had all of us practically licking our plates. not everyone liked every course due to various tastes, but there were 20 shiny clean plates after this one. roasted filet of red snapper over puree of celery root, roasted pearl onion and a red wine sauce. YUM part 2. my wife didn't seem to love the fish- she's not a huge fish person so I benefited by getting 1 1/2 servings (tasting size for each mind you). the fish was seared to a light crust and the celery root married nicely with the strength of the wine reduction. and caramelized pearl onions- what's not to love. like the scallops- the kitchen knows how to cook fish just right. roasted veal ribe eye with dauphine potatoes and roasted hen of the woods mushrooms. The veal was perfectly cooked with just a hint of pink in the center. The crust had a moderate sear on it but it could have just been the piece I had. The dauphine potatoes were light and airy and the roasted mushroom 'stalk' was quite good. can't remember the last time I had 'hen of the woods' mushrooms but they were sliced horizontally almost looking like a cross-section of broccoli. nicely browned. liquid tiramisu- i don't know exactly what was in this- I think I tasted Frangelico- the hazelut liqueur, and of course a dusting of cocoa on top of the espresso cup this was served in, but 3 or 4 demitasse spoonfuls later and I was floating on air. Chef Donna came into the room at this point to bring out the final course and of course we applauded what had already been a wonderful meal. but being a passion fruit fan (and in general any tart food-fan), the last course was the best in my opinion. Passion fruit souffle and a superbly tart but creamy homemade passion fruit ice cream. The souffle's texture was nice and smooth inside - sweeter than the ice cream due to the bottom of the souffle dish being coated in a sugar, but the punch from the ice cream was almost like a lemon intermezzo- it just woke up your tastebuds after 6 other great courses. I felt like I needed to be rolled out to my car afterwards. I am still thinking about how great the food was and how lucky I am that I didn't have to pay the bill. What a meal.

went there last night 1/25 for Restaurant Week. luckily we got the 'chef's table' where you can look in thru the glass into the kitchen which i loved. the RW menu wasn't huge - 3 desserts about 6 entrees and 3 or 4 apps. the host was very nice. our waitress- i detected an irish or scottish accent (David Craig is scottish- maybe some connection?) was okay. my wife had the mixed greens salad- typical- nothing to swoon over. I had some great PEI mussels- they were the most tender i've ever had- cooked just to the point where they were cooked enough but not chewy. I was surprised there was no bread on the table- especially for mussels. only later when i turned around did i see another table with bread and asked for some- big disappointment b/c the mussel broth would've been great to dip with bread. oh well. my wife had the cornish hen. beautiful crust and nicely cooked meat. some swiss chard to accompany. I had the "Braised Veal Cheeks. Parmesan Semolina Gnocchi. Swiss Chard. Golden Raisins. Pinenuts." YUM. 1st time having veal cheeks- they're soft and tender pieces of meat- practically fork tender. delicious. the gnocchi were 3 half dollar sized circles. also wonderful and creamy. the desserts were good but not great- choice of grilled pound cake with sauces, an ice cream dish, lemon meringue (deconstructed) pie and bittersweet bread pudding. my wife had the bread pudding and I had the lemon meringue which was deconstructed on a plate with a cookie as the 'crust', some candied citrus rind and the lemon custard and meringue on top. delicious. the bread pudding was good also. both had a raspberry coulis underneath. not sure the bread pudding benefited from it at all. it was an additionally tart punch to the lemon, but I like tart things so no complaints. overall the food was an A- in my book, the service a B (A for the host but C for the server- we had 1 waitress take our order and another bring us our check? odd.) and the decor is very nice- understated, a little dark in the back area given the bright light from the kitchen window, but I loved that feature- an open kitchen without all the noise. RW price was $35- a decent bargain- the 3 items ala carte would've been about $10 more. definitely will be back again.