Simon

Hi, all,

I'd greatly appreciate your help with this -- I've been asked to look into a venue for a private business for 10 to 12 people in DC.  In the past, we've used a private room at the Tabard Inn, which fit all our needs, but we're disinclined to return for obvious reasons.

Here are the criteria my boss has set:

• Spacious room: we're planning a three-hour lunch/discussion, so we'd like a room that's not mostly filled by the table.  We'd like for people to be able to walk around the room as needed.
• Enclosed room: not merely separated from the main dining room by a curtain
• Windowed room (preferably)
• No pre-selection of entrees: we'd like to be able to order off a menu at the time of the lunch (though a constrained/limited lunch is fine)
• Cost: we're priced out of most hotels.  We're willing to pay $250 or $500 for a room fee, but not $1,500.  I think at Tabard we paid $250 for the room.
• Food: we're happy to order a three-course meal, but we don't need passed hors d'oeuvres or anything like that.
• Location: in/near downtown DC.
• Equipment: we don't need screens or projectors, but a conference phone would be nice.

I have no idea if such a place exists, but I'd appreciate any leads you fine folks can give.  Don, any thoughts?

Thank you!

Simon

A textbook duck confit at the bar at Corduroy last night.  Is there another kitchen in town putting out classical French cooking of this quality?  

Wow! This has been on my list for a month or two but hadn't made it yet. Should have tonight but plans got mixed up and we ended up at Beucherts instead (see that thread). Was this the unicorn-like "off day" or is this place in decline already?

I've had two good experiences at weekday lunch this month.  The brisket was deserving of every superlative on both occasions, and the ribs were very good.  I would have liked less aioli on the Meaty Palmer, but the smoked turkey in the sandwich was outstanding -- smokey and moist and full of flavor.  I haven't enjoyed the sides, though, except for the pickles.

I had lunch at the restaurant on Thursday and Friday and was told both days that PC was in the kitchen.  And it showed.  Subtle & complex flavors, expert modulation of heat, & impeccable seasoning in everything I ordered: dry fried eggplant, bamboo flounder fish, cilantro flounder fish rolls, and house special flounder fish filet (#34).  I've never had Chinese cooking with this much finesse here in the States.    

Is the entire menu available at lunch? The website is a bit confusing: it has a one-page 'Lunch' menu that is very abbreviated and doesn't contain very many interesting dishes.

Yes, the full menu is available at lunch.

Peter changs new place for the win

Indeed.  That was fast.

Just for kicks ... I think there are enough clues there, but maybe not?

Is the restaurant open for lunch during the week?  Sorry for asking the question here, but the website's down, and the information doesn't seem to be in any of the usual places (and the restaurant's voice mail box is full...)

I'd be remiss if I didn't add that I've had several good experiences with the Shio and Mugi-Miso ramens ordered without the bean sprouts.  I do think that the onions and scallions, which can get burnt in the wok, sometimes add an unpleasant note of bitterness.  But the broths have been very good, and the noodles and pork belly outstanding.

I really didn't like the vegetable ramen I had at lunch yesterday.  The broth did have good depth of flavor (if not clarity or subtlety), especially for a vegetable broth, and the noodles were fine.  But the balance of the dish was overwhelmed by the sheer mess of wok-fried vegetables thrown on top, which felt like they belonged in a Chinese stir-fried dish, not a bowl of ramen.  No sense of balance, no sense of composition, no sense of a harmonious whole.  I was also astonished by the amount of bean sprouts being heaped on top of the other ramen preparations I saw going out.  I sensed a "more is better" philosophy that goes against much of what I love about ramen, and Japanese cuisine in general.  

The chitterlings and dandelions at St. John were impeccable.  

Interesting - one of the principals wrote me in the past 24 hours and also said the cocktails were better than they are at Columbia Room, using that specific example.

Thanks for joining and writing your first post, outsideshot.

lol

I really didn't like the vegetable ramen I had at lunch yesterday.  The broth did have good depth of flavor (if not clarity or subtlety), especially for a vegetable broth, and the noodles were fine.  But the balance of the dish was overwhelmed by the sheer mess of wok-fried vegetables thrown on top, which felt like they belonged in a Chinese stir-fried dish, not a bowl of ramen.  No sense of balance, no sense of composition, no sense of a harmonious whole.  I was also astonished by the amount of bean sprouts being heaped on top of the other ramen preparations I saw going out.  I sensed a "more is better" philosophy that goes against much of what I love about ramen, and Japanese cuisine in general.  

Tako Grill on Wisconsin Ave is very good, or at least was when Chef Kudo was around (he went back to Japan a couple years ago).  It wasn't cheap but it also wasn't the most expensive place, either, and had good fish if you knew what to order / whom to ask what to order.

Never mind.  Just read an old review posted by, um, me in the Tako Grill thread that gave a less than stellar report about the restaurant after Chef Kudo left.  Having not been back in years, I had forgotten just how much quality had slipped.

On 6/18/2013 at 8:09 PM, Cizuka Seki said:

you want even better yakitori, try tori shin.  their sake selection is also good -- not as good as ours, mind you -- but well, good 'nuf. service is slow. also, that "stew" skewer is probably trying to evoke "sukiyaki", which is a classic hot pot of beef, mushrooms, tofu, and a bunch of other goodies.  and coverting this dish to a skewer is not a "thing" -- it's certainly specific to totto.

+1.  Based on my meals this weekend, Tori Shin blows Yakitori Totto out of the water.  My only gripe: you can only get the "special skewers" (kidney, heart, knee gristle, neck, oyster, etc.) if you order the $50 meal.

And the one at WTF (served as a random special) is fabulous. I've had it twice now.

+1000

It's my favorite sandwich there.

The lady at the Ethiopian food truck downtown today recommended Walia on New Hampshire Ave in Takoma Park.  Has anyone been?  There doesn't seem to be a thread on it here.

Haven't yet tried Range. This makes me a bit nervous about doing so but we'll still take the plunge there.

I'd say the best of Range (the rabbit roulade, e.g.) relies on far simpler preparations than those you've described here.

I've found the special sandwiches and salads here to be hit or miss, but the roasted lamb and pita at WTF I had yesterday was the best sandwich I've had in a long, long time.  Robust yet balanced flavors, with nice heat.  And, bonus points, the pita was well-engineered and didn't fall apart into a delicious mess, as they sometimes do here.  WTF, can you please add this to the regular menu?

Le menu:

Calamari Salad, Olives, Roasted Tomatoes

Korean Spiced Grilled Shrimp, Kimchee

MaPo Tufu Burger, Fried Rice

It's not every day that Jeff Heineman personally cooks your dinner, but there he was on Saturday night, not just expediting but working the line, flipping our MaPo tofu burgers on the griddle.  Obviously, we were known to the house, having mentioned DonRocks when reserving our table, and Jeff was very gracious when bringing our food to the table.

That said, the food stood on its own merits, and the tasting menu was a fun way to experience three very different dishes.  The calamari salad, with a generous portion of squid, evoked pleasing Mediterranean flavors.  My mother, who is Korean, loved the authentic gochujang flavors in the grilled shrimp, which were well balanced with sweetness from brown sugar.

My favorite dish of the night was the MaPo tofu burger, which had real heat but also a subtlety and refinement from the ground mushrooms and bean sprouts one doesn't usually encounter in Chinese restaurant renditions.  I only wished for a softer bun for the "burger" and probably would have been just as happy with rice as an accompaniment.

A very enjoyable evening out.

Has this place gone downhill already?  I wrote a somewhat mixed, but generally positive, review upthread from two visits last spring, but I found the kitchen last night to be one in decline.

The dish I enjoyed the most this spring, the garganelli con porri e salsicca, now served as rigatoni, was inedibly salty and sent back.  Its replacement, tagliatelle with shrimp, was fine but undistinguished (and unfinished).  The prosciutto had a bit of a dried out quality, kind of like sliced prosciutto that's sat in my refrigerator for a couple days.  Surely it couldn't have been pre-sliced?  

Sadly, the kitchen probably doesn't need to be better than this for the pre-Kennedy Center crowd.  You don't need to outrun the bear...

The Chiang Mai chicken and noodle curry is a triumph.  That is all.

The question that Casa Luca leaves me with is this: for better or for worse, like it or not, Le Diplomate has changed the dining equation in DC. Jeff Buben as much as admits this in his plans to revamp Woodward Table. As good as the food can be, Casa Luca is not the Italian version of Le Diplomate...

Don't get me wrong--I like the food, and I don't think every place should aspire to be Le Diplomate.

Good God, I hope that the future of dining in DC isn't Le Diplomate.  That place is a theme park of a restaurant.

Jeff Buben also cites McDonald's Happy Meals as a model (seriously).  God help us all.

So, who are the good guys, Dean?

Where did I dine?

where.JPG

California Pizza Kitchen?

The other problem is that the place isn't well set up for a 1-hour lunch that's pretty typical for the neighborhood office workers. Having table service just slows things down too much and adds 20% to the tab, even though the service itself is very nice and attentive. It would be better for lunchtime to move to an order-at-the-cash-register system.

This. Including tax and tip, I think I paid, what, $20 for a Chivito? Too pricey to be in the regular lunchtime rotation.