Waitman

I've been warned by a Vietnamese friend to avoid Asian places this weekend, alas, Or I'd be at Rice Paper or Nha Trang.

So, I figured I'm going to the State Theater tonight, might as well get some Vietnamese since, I don't know, The State and Eden Center are both in Virginia so they must be right next to each other, right? Anyway, Lunar New Year. I finally get this Jewish New Year thing down and they throw another one at me. So, is there anything ethnic, different, exciting out that way that won;t be crammed with celebrants? Looking more for fun dining than fine dining.

Hmmm...not out of the blue but, now that you mention it, closer than I remembered and a quick jump (fingers crossed) to the airport.

Stumbling across this thread made me wonder if people realize that the "Barbecue-Bavaria" juxtaposition is not not a hipster/trendy fusion but a reflection of the actual ethnic make-up of the barbecue country around Austin and San Antonio (and Lockhardt) . Which in turn reminded me of this song intro by Steve Earle, who grew up outside of San Antonio. “I grew up in Schertz, Texas and attended OG Nederstein Junior High school and I lived on Kirche St., K-I-R-C-H-E - Kirche Street. The original white settlers in this particular part of south Texas were probably of German descent. I know this for a fact because I used to get the shit kicked out of me on a fairly regular basis by great big huge cowboys called “Otto.” They were all called Otto. Otto Bob, Otto Sue…..I didn’t know you could get from Texas to Tennessee any other way but to hitchhike until I was 27 years old.... First time I attempted that, I was pretty good and I got a ride all the way from Jackson Tennessee all the way to Texas and they dropped me off at Interstate 35 at the Schertz, Texas exit. Now, my parents no longer lived in Schertz, Texas by that time, we were renters and we moved around a lot. But, one time they moved and didn’t tell me…it was like…not on purpose or anything, I just didn’t go home enough. I went home, knocked on the door and this guy came to the door I didn’t know, a great big square-headed cowboy named Otto... Very quickly, nobody in Schertz, Texas remembered me except the police….they were in the Christmas spirit, however, they gave me a place to stay…." People who know more about these things than I do say that Texas Swing has a Polka rhythm to it, as well.

If you favor walking tours, try Big Onion for low-priced group tours (I've done the Brooklyn Bridge and the Jazz Lover's Tour of Harlem) or just follow the AIA Guide to New York City or this book of self-guided walking tours. Obviously too late to order from Amazon, but the BArnes and Noble on Union Square (where you can check out the Green Market even though it's off-season) may have one or both. We're on the subject, andy out-of-the-blue suggestions for killing two hours between an interview at 59th and Lex and a 1:30 flight out f Laguardia?

I think the great New York City budget meal is dumplings. I favor Prosperity Dumplings at 46 Eldridge Street, but I'm just a tourist. And good New York pizza is always fun. Arturo's at 106 Houston is a worthy establishment. More upscale -- if you take the money you saved by eating dumplings -- is the Tavern Room at Grammercy Tavern. I think the place is utterly charming,the food excellent and the service very pleasant.

Had an oddly disappointing lunch here the other day. The bisque and veal cheeks were competent but uncompelling, the onion tart was soggy and bland and we didn't bother to finish the chocolate tart. It was nothing you could really put your finger on, just a certain lack of zing. Service was friendly and the room comfortable, as always, and a declassified Mersault, at $35 was a bit of a bargain.

Doesn't get much play here, but the butcher shop apects of the place are worth exploring. Bought some excellent hangar steaks there the other day, noticeably better than the fine steaks I ususally get from Union Butchers in Eastern Market.

There's no more pleasant place in Denver to eat chicken wings than the Cherry Cricket, a neighborhood dive that always feels as comfy as an old pair of levis.

I did once drop $475 on lunch, by myself, as a walk-in, at The French Laundry ("you should have played the lottery today, you have excellent luck," said the maitre d' in a French accent that made things even more fun). The best was lunch at Bouley, the morning after a Dead show at Madison Square. We ordered a Chablis Grand Cru and when the waiter went for the wine list we said "wait, we haven't ordered the red yet." Tom Wolfe was two tables down and two super models were having greens and expensive water next to us, but nobody else was drinking two bottles of Burgundy at lunch, and so free stuff just started appearing out of nowhere. Of course, Craig Clairborne's legendary meal at Chez Denis -- behind the paywall, alas -- must be mentioned in a thread like this, and the summary is almost as good as the original article. And Russell Bakers' response deserves a read, as well. "For the meat course, I had fried bologna à la Nutley, Nouveau Jersey."

i was thinking more fkine food than fine drink, but classic bars are always an option. Thanks.

May have an hour or two to kill waiting for a train, and I figure no neighborhood can be worse than that around Penn Station for dinner. Maybe a bar seat at a decent/intersting spot where I can hurry up or go slow as circumstances permit?

I think I might know Don better than you think. it's not that he's evil or manipulative, I think that there's an inherent conflict here: If you're his position and pulling strings, however well intended, it's pressuring the restaurant. And you have officially gone down a slippery slope -- you have made using one's position as a "reviewer" a legitimate bargaining tool for every schmuck that wants to drop names. I know Don is a great guy. But think actions like that compromise the website and encourage objectionable behavior. I have no doubt you did this but I can't for the life of me remember when -- Eric and his team have been extraordinary gracious to Stephanie, Dylan, Nora and me many times, including --recently -- a pair of the worst days of my life. But, now that I discover that it's all your influence and none of my charm (Stephanie's, really), I will write a check for the wine and slink over to The Source or something for my next big night out. At any rate, I do know that you and Eric are close, and, as I recall you'd dined on cassoulet chez moi before I ever went to CZ, which suggests a somewhat organic triangle here, for whatever that is worth. You also did not post (until now) about whatever strings you pulled on my behalf, and I never wrote knowingly about a meal that you influenced. This whole thing is not to imply evil intent. Just to say that you are a semi-public figure and you harm both the appearance and reality of objectivity when you wield your influence on behalf of members.

I know I'm going to get my knuckles rapped for bringing up a grim incident but... It appears some of us are all upset that a diner will flash an (admittedly obxious) card with an implied threat/promise of a review on Yelp or elsewhere, which will likely turn to some extent on the level of obsequiousness the restaurateur/victim shows in response to the card. And yet, when Don offers to intervene on behalf of a Rockwellian with some allied maitre d', an intervention that contains exactly the same threat/promise, it's all good and kind and we're not extortionists or assholes, just a "community." Preferential treatment based on one's on-line presence is either wrong, or its not, and the vehicle through which this preference is obtained -- whether through a plastic card or a discreet phone call from an influential webmaster/critic or an announcement up front that you intend to post on DR (or Yelp!) -- is pretty secondary to the larger issue, I think.

For years, a go-to "decent" mid-week dinner has been skirt steak (the poor man's onglet, available at the bodega around the corner), with an anchovy/roast garlic butter, often made with the paste, but can be done with the filets as well. mm-mm good!

They have them at Georgetown. It's silly to compare a bagel and a bialy. They are different things. It's like complaining that an English muffin does not have hole and is not boiled. CW gets frozen H&H bagels and cooks them in store. I have never had fresh H&H, but the CW version is not the stuff of legends.

I think RR would appeal to Don -- I'm a briny type (Wellfleets!) and actually find most of their varieties a little on the bland side. I do like the Olde Salts, though. Wonder if they'll ever serve them with a crisp white Bordeaux. Or maybe just a flute of something effervescent.

Dupe

To the rowers who frequent the Anacostia Boathouse (me among them), the lovely stretch of the river running upstream from the low railroad bridge until its emergence from the woods at Bladensburg is known as "Narnia."

Au contraire. In the former case, you are imposing a caste system on restaurants, and dismissing swaths of the restaurant world as being unworthy simply because they are insufficiently elevated -- they are a priori without merit. You can dismiss dismiss them simply because of what they are, without even walking through the door. In the second case you actually have to eat the food and judge it on its own terms. In my opinion, Maggiano's fails even as a shopping mall chain restaurant. On the other hand, McDonalds succeeds as a fast food burger joint. If I object to my daughter's boyfriend because he is of the "wrong" race or social class, I show myself to a snob and a bigot, and also run the risk of depriving myself of the charms of meeting someone who might be a charming and intelligent young man. If I object not because he is of a different ethnicity or class but because he treats her badly, then I'm behaving like a responsible, if meddlesome dad.

Really? "Oh, ick?" I make a New Year's resolution to stop calling people "asshole" -- not, mind you, to stop acting like one -- and I get read out for writing "ick?" I may as well go back to my less temperate ways. Anyway, since you missed the point completely, let me re-iterate. It's not the criticism of Chef Geoff's per se that I find unfortunate. I'm occasionally critical myself. It's the strain of un-cut snobbery that seemed to be creeping into the discussion, as evidenced by the (yes, representative) quotes I pulled out. If I dislike Maggiano's it's not that it fails to exist on the culinary/artistic/ appropriate to someone of my refined tastes, nor is it that I'll have to rub shoulders with the proletariate I dislike Maggiano's it because it kind of sucks. Now, mea culpa. I'm not perfect in this regard, either. But I try not to trot out my snobbery as some sort of emblem of my refined tastes. A while back I was walking by the Applebees that has somehow sprouted in Columbia Heights, amongst all the hipster and ethnic joints, and being a bit drunk I told Mrs. B that I wanted to see what kind of unrefined idiot goes out to Applebees on a Friday night. Of course, the answer was obvious: "the stupid, ill-informed, unsophisticated, masses," the kind of people who are holding on to their homes against the yuppie juggernaught in Columbia Heights by their fingernails, and for whom Applebees is, in fact a big night out and a pleasant change from a busy life. Mrs. B of course gave me a withering glare when I walked out -- she was always the utlimate small d democrat -- and I felt, as someone once wrote "lower than whale shit." But it was an important takedown and a strong reminder that our access too and enjoyment of great food doesn't make us, or the restaurants and chefs we deign to embrace, somehow superior on a moral or aesthetic sense. And that thought, coupled with the fact that sometimes a bacon double cheeseburger just hits the spot, makes me feel, as I said, a little queasy when the discussion strays from the quality of the food towards the artistic merits of the joint at hand. As should be clear, I'm not particularly interested in some negotiated settlement between opposing viewpoints. I like finding common ground, and even post nice stuff every now and again (not that anyone seems to pay any attention ). But I'm more interested in a "free and frank exchange of ideas," as the diplos say, perhaps as part of some dialectical process which, even if it doesn't resolve itself into an obvious synthesis, does drive us towards a better and more complete understanding of a subject that is obviously important to us. Even if disagreements are not resolved, even if they become heated, I generally come away having learned a little. I, too, take time to consider before I write (though this gap was the result of a busy weekend and the websight being down, not three days of rumination). So it's a little disappointing to be attacked not for the substance of my work, but for the perceived shortcomings of my thought process. I kind of like being called "uppity," though. I guess I just don't know my place.

Unless it's me, in which case he's exactly the same. For all the talk of "delicious, fairly priced and memorable" and "the stupid, ill-informed, unsophisticated, masses," there is often much to be said for a convenient, decent, civilized place perhaps not to "dine," but to "eat.' Sometimes I feel as though the urge to dump on places like Cheff Geoff's or any Spike Mendelsson spot reveals a certain insecurity, as if we have to assert our sophistication to convince ourselves of it. I'm speaking here more to the grand pronouncements of the last few posts as opposed to the "I ate there and didn't really like it" analyses earlier on. "Since this is primarily a dining website, in search of artistry, I can't say that Chef Geoff's has culinary merit." Oh, ick. Does this mean we can't talk about Tater Tots and rotisserie chicken any more? I always thought it was a website for people who like to eat and I get all nervous when people start dividing restaurants into the "worthy" and the "unworthy." For what it's worth, I find CG's somewhere in the middle ground between truly loathsome places like Magianos and truly decent neighborhood places like Maple. I think it's a shade pricy for what they deliver, but if there was one in Columbia Heights, I'd eat there every now and again because it's decent and close.

I ran into John over Thanksgiving and, on hearing that he was again behind the line, tried to get a rez in the demo kitchen. Alas, then as now (and I just checked every Thursday and Friday through the end of the month) reservations are not available. Guess I'll have to settle for wine degustation instead. Best of luck luck to a great chef and a great fucking guy. And a lucky fucking guy -- I'd follow Melissa a lot farther than Pittsburgh if I was him.

I feel as though I've done more than my share in this regard. Twits.

Made it to Zuni which, in some sense, exceeded expectations by simply meeting them, serving up incredibly solid simple fare at a reasonable (for a famous restaurant in a big city) price. The onglet was indeed simply a better piece of meat that you usually get, the quail served in the style of their famous roast chicken rich and toothsome with a crackly skin, the lamb and merguez with harissa peasant fare at its finest and, again, made from tastier lamb than one usually (or, perhaps, ever) finds. The highlight was a a very simple soup of kale and onion in a fragrant broth, that took a second to appreciate and then ended up being fought over by the kids. No wines under $50 that I could see, though a 2005 James Johnson Vineyards “Câlin” was quite tasty -- so rare to find a decent cab with decent age and a decent price. Bonus points to the restaurant for seating an incomplete party without fuss and not giving me the hairy eyeball when I rolled in 15 minutes late (Cali time?) and more bonus points because when they accidentally served us a pile of shoestring fries, and then took them back, apologizing, and we said "hey, no problem, you can serve us accidental shoestrings any time (or words to that effect)," they actually brought us out a pile with the entrees on the house. A delightful time.