ruslev

When a restaurant group shuts down one restaurant for "retooling", shifts the menu dramatically in a second one and then drastically changes prices in a third one...just after opening a new fourth place..it makes you begin to wonder if things are not as good as they seem. My last dinner at Ray's was as good as its been and I have been going to Ray's since the beginning. I hope I am worrying for nothing, but we have all seen this before in the restaurant scene.

what time does fried chicken start up on thursdays?

Happened to me today, too. Pretty gross, and really sad that it's a totally different product than 8 months ago.

A great sandwich can hold up. The old bread made it a great sandwich, no doubt.

You know I wanted to like it more. The ingredients were good quality, but the bread was hard in different locations and different times of the day. And I love the kind of bread used for subs in Philadelphia's Little Italy!

I use to work in MD for several years, not to far from Gallo's Italian Grocery in District Heights, MD and my taste maybe be skewed towards that style of Italian subs. I think Gallo's had some of the best subs and sandwiches in the DC metro area.

Potbelly is a totally different type of sandwich. It is like apples and oranges. I like potbelly for what it is...some people like subway. This is far and away better - at a different level. It starts with the bread - hard roll if like that kind of thing - and the sharp provolone. The ingredients in general are better than regular subshop fare.

I walked by that place yesterday. The menu is the only thing up. The place looks far from finished. How could they possibly do catering from that location? Not possible.

I used to drive to the Italian store for my pre-NFL sandwich binge...now I head to Bethesda. Try the fried risotto balls, really good. I have not had any line issues on the Sundays that I have gone. I do not know when their peak is, but on Sunday AM at the Italian store, the wait could be 30 minutes to place an order..I liked Taylors overall hoagie selection better...any place that has spicy broccoli rabe on a hoagie is worth it!

Hi. Where is the best place to get raw oysters? Thanks

Maybe we are a new category of restaurant. Better than fast casual but less formal than fine dining. I think that when you think about it we are as real as it gets but

I am open to discussion and am interested in your thoughts.

I have been to this place numerous times around 1pm on a weekday and this place has been quiet. When I go there, I consider it an expensive lunch out as compared to the typical lunch-type spots. But, I have enjoyed the food very much, and I will continue to go there.

In terms of the counter/table service issue, I think this system is more of a result of the restaurant space, more than anything else. I am not in the food business, but I do not think there is enough physical space or enough lunch traffic for total full service. The room would be cluttered, hectic and noisy. I have not been to dinner, but having a host seat and possibly take orders, makes sense as it becomes a higher price dinner spot to compete with the other places in Rockville Town Center.

BTW, I do usually tip the waiter during lunch because he does provide refills and such. I do not think I tip 15-20%, but I may leave a $1 to thank for the service.

In today's Politico there is an article about famous chefs who open restaurants in DC.

www.politico.com/click/stories/0912/review_top_chefs_underwhelm_in_d_c_.html

Here is a quote about Alain Ducasse:

"Trouble is: sophisticated, well-traveled diners are drawn to Ducasse restaurants for the obsessive attention to detail that is applied to the highest of high-end ingredients. His brand is probably less attractive to politicians who want prime rib or tourists who want sliders for their children. If he's attempting to please those groups -- plus some portion of the public that knows enough to want the chef's tasting menu -- he's facing a classic dilemma: It's hard to be all things to all people.

And it's unclear how much Ducasse knows about the Washington market. He himself admitted that he does not visit other restaurants here. "I really don't know what Washington has to offer," he said. "I do not need to know. It's never how I open a restaurant. I do what I am passionate about. I offer what I know."

I think that is a great business model. If you build it, they will come.

My question is whether these celebrity-type restaurants with absentee chefs are worthwhile to go to?

Sietsema has updates from ML today on Ray's the Glass, Ray's Hell Burger, Ray's the Catch, Ray's the Steaks at East River, and Ray's the Game.

I think this is very exciting for Michael. Congrats...when does he get a tv cooking show?

Just as I thought things were improving...

From Going out Gurus:

G Street Food, Furstenberg part ways

"No longer on the menu at G Street Food: Baker Mark Furstenberg. The muse behind the fledgling establishment serving street snacks from around the world (and egg salad, too) submitted his resignation to restaurateur David Choi over the weekend."

I went by there today and I am now very hopeful. The large confusing menu hanging inside is gone. Now, outside on a handwritten board are menu items like: meatball sub, sloppy joe, day after thanksgiving turkey, and deviled egg salad. Of course, the other selections are there- tartines, salads and pizza. I think the variety of choices for the common AND uncommon man is a great mix.

Btw there were no seats available at 12 today.

I have been back several times since my disappointing chicago hot dog and I received an email detailing new menu items such as Sloppy Joes. I do think they are slowly catching up to expand the menu a bit. I had their fish chowder and it was really great. The nicoise sandwich was ok, but not quite briny enough.

I hope things work out because there is no doubt they are trying hard. Competition is fierce in the neighborhood. In fact, Breadline is going to get some new competition next door from a Chicago-based eatery in the very near future.

I'm eating my Traditional Chicago Style hot dog as we speak. My bread isn't wrapped around, it's just two pieces cut from the same loaf, kinda like a bun. I don't know if that is traditional or not, but it's nice. The fries are good as well.

It was a third full by the time I got there at 2. I thought about sitting down at the table next to Michel Richard, but he seemed to be enjoying his pizza too much and I know I would have started a conversation.

like I said...comfort lunch food - you got the hot dog and Michel got the pizza.

Today I ventured over to G Street food. Having an office next to Breadline I was very interested to see what this new place was all about.

Let me start off by saying that if changes to the menu are not made soon then unfortunately, this place will be gone. I had picked up a menu last week to review. Many of the foods offered seem interesting, but for a place that is only basically open for lunch less interesting and more try-and-true is needed. I consider myself a foodie and have eaten in plenty of places around town so I am not one to be afraid of trying things, but for a lunch hour, a certain comfort is needed.

I went to the restaurant today and it was not too busy. The space is very nice and inviting. I went on a Tuesday because I wanted the chicago style hot dog. It was served with the Breadline-like fries which are very good. Unfortunately, the hot dog was served on a piece of county white bread. The condiments were placed in first and then the hot dog was placed on top with the bread rolled around. Needless to say, the entire thing fell apart in one bite. Since I specifically went with an easy order, I am completely disappointed that a traditional hot dog bun was not used and it made me think to myself, what is this place doing?

I sat in front of the door and watched the foot traffic. Plenty of people came in during the lunch hour. Given the location, you have a wide variety of people of all ages.

There was one common characteristic that I saw on everyone who came in and looked at the menu board -

total bewilderment.

cold moroccan tomato soup, summer minestrone, tartine of the day, pan bagnat, bahn mi, fattoush, moorish chickpea, tunisian mixed salad with tuna, bratwurst with kimchi, merguez, roman pizza

There were more people coming in and staring at the board with furrowed brows then I have every seen. For every 4-5 people in the door, 1 person stayed.

I feel badly because it doesn't even matter if the food is incredible, a lunch-hour crowd needs to read a menu board and find something that they can grab on to. With cosi and subway around them, competition is fierce. I cannot imagine the bewildered people returning because they know that a safe $6-$7 sub or sandwich is right nearby. Just taking the few extra minutes during the lunch hour to venture into a new place is something that one does ONLY once. One of my staff was sad to learn that the pizza place is gone - so maybe transitioning to this place with more daily pizzas may be a way to keep old customers...but the menu is such a departure.

I post this comment on the board because I was so truly surprised at what I saw. I hope the owners realize that normal lunch-crowd people really want to spend their money on interesting twists on food they know, not necessarily interesting food. That may be a sad statement to foodies, but we are talking about lunch, not fine dining.

I drove by 1700 K street and the dining room looks finished. It is a lot different from Restaurant K. I think they will be opening real soon. Hopefully this site is not cursed.

I think I saw a sign for Flippin' Pizza in Bethesda next door to Hamburger Hamlet/Chipotle.

as a follow-up, a guy in my building next to the breadline said that there was some sort of inspection on Friday.

I went to Breadline to get a scone and there is a sign on the door that they were closed to make improvements.

Stopped by Bobby's yesterday @ 4pm. They were out of the soft shell crabs, but I had a crab cake sandwich platter. Everyone tasted great. I think their cole slaw is quite unusual. Large chucks of cabbage in a very creamy slaw sauce. It tastes like a little blue cheese in there?

I took my husband here for his birthday dinner on Saturday night and left disappointed. We are in our late 20's, and I got the feeling that we were definitely treated worse, than the other diners there because of this. Or, maybe we just got unlucky, but I could not believe how poorly we were treated for such an expensive meal.

At first we were seated at a four-person table which was fine, except we had these spotlights glaring down at us that made it hard to look at eachother and was really uncomfortable. I would say the atmosphere is not fun or romantic either. Instead of looking at my husband, I was positioned in a way that I was facing the people at the booth across from me. I asked if we could switch to a booth, as three booths were sitting there empty, but they said the booths were reserved. I made the reservations in advance and was not given an option for seating, and was surprised that many people would request booths in advance.

I was there on Saturday night. My wife and I are in our late 30s. I called the day before and specifically asked for a booth because I wanted a quiet table. My wife and I rarely go out these days because we are so busy with the kids and I told that to the hostess. She gave me a booth at 630. Not only that, the waiter mentioned that he heard we do not get out often and to enjoy ourselves - not to rush. Service was very good. No one forgot the rolls or the fries. We were attended to by at least 4 different levels of staff. Twice a different host come over to check us. The food was very good. This is not a cheap place and it was a spluge. My wife had halibut which she enjoyed and I had a dry-aged rib eye. Clearly, Rays is the ultimate steak place, but we wanted more atmosphere and a chance to stroll around Georgetown.

So, totally different experience than the other poster.

I went tonight before the Nats game. I had the steak sandwich which was good. I agree with Don - pub food to go with the beers. The place fills up, but I was there early around 5pm so it was quiet. For a sit and drink at the bar place and eat pub food, I think it was a good time.

Pretty soon 8th St will be pub crawl material. Do people do those in DC?

Anyone been here lately? I am thinking of going before a Nats Game.

Surprised that Jamie hasn't posted this up here yet, but Carole Greenwood peaced out of Buck's and Comet.

I think the change will be good.

I saw a "closed forever" sign in Rockville Town Center on Wednesday.