Steve Plotnicki

List of Top 100 Opinionated About Dining Survey Top 100 U.S. Restaurants can be found at http://opinionatedab...og.php?ID=11539. And there's a link to a groovy slideshow of the Top 100 at the end of the list

I am in the process of preparing a slideshow of the top restaurants in the country for the 2012 Opinionated About Dining Survey results. I am looking for photos taken at Komi. If you allow me to use one of your photos, I will give you credit on the slideshow. I am not sure if the credit will be a clickable link but if so I will link it to your site/blog/Flicker account etc. If you would like to contribute to this project, please email me at stevep@opinionatedabout.com and we will take it from there. Thanks.

Steve,

Book arrived today and nicely done. I have one MINOR quibble however. I think Bryan Voltaggio would be somewhat surprised to find that his restaurant is now in Fredericksburg, VA. The last time I checked, it was in FREDERICK, MD. Now, those two towns are only about 3 hours apart but I don't think I'd want to make reservations and drive to Fredericksburg only to find out dinner was going to be an additional wait of 3 hours (or more if it was "rush" hour).

Yes I know. It was actually corrected, then uncorrected for some reason. It was fixed for the eBook (which should be released in about 2 weeks).

Please include both an email and snail mail address in your PM. Thanks and enjoy.

That's great news for Fabio because he's a good guy. But ultimately the Four Seasons is notorious for being a lousy restaurant because the people who frequent the place don't really care about food. Too bad, I was hoping he would find a backer who would allow him to cook what he would like to cook. I can't imagine that will be the case at the Four Seasons. C'est la vie or however you say that in Italian.

Just a quick note to say that the 2009 OA Dining Survey for the U.S. & Europe can be downloaded at the link below:

2009 OA U.S., & European Downloads

Just a quick note to announce the new OAD website. Lots of DC Area restaurants are included in the survey results as well as restaurants all over the U.S and Europe. It's still in beta test phase so if you find and problems please send me an email. Otherwise I hope you find it useful.

Opinionated About Dining

We have just released our list of Most Overrated Restaurants 2008 which covers the 10 most overrated restaurants in New York City, the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe. The list includes a full review of each restaurant and a few snippy comments offered by our ratings panel. You can read the list by clicking on this link;

OA Most Overrated

In addition, we have posted an online version of the 100 Best Restaurants in North America & Europe using our groovy new flip-book technology. Just click on the link and wait for the cover to load. Click the top right hand corner to turn the pages.

100 Best Restaurants

My plugs are much more electric that than one.

I enjoyed myself. It was the second radio interview for me (I did Jennifer English in Tuscon, AZ) and I was more comfortable this time. Afterwards I told my publicist that I'm ready for Mike & the Mad Dog and Hardball!

If I get invited back, I will try to give Don Rocks a plug.

You will have to remove these from the list:

Formal & Contemporary Café 15 (doesn't exist)

Formal & Contemporary Café MoZu (basically a hotel coffee shop)

Formal & Contemporary Galileo (doesn't exist)

Formal & Contemporary Gerard's Place (now a bistro)

Formal & Contemporary Il Laboratorio del Galileo (doesn't exist)

Formal & Contemporary Ritz-Carlton, The Grill (Washington, DC) (defunct)

Formal & Contemporary Roof Terrace at the Kennedy Center (never been a serious contender)

Formal & Contemporary Seasons (about to undergo transformation to Michael Mina)

Actually they have already been removed from the survey (save for Gerard's Place.) I copied this list off of the Excel spreadsheet and didn't takethe deletions into account.

Makoto is ethnic but not inexpensive

The category is Ethnic & Inexpensive. I know that reads like inexpensive ethnic, but it is actually both experience and inexpensive ethnic. It's one of the pitfalls of trying to cram two categories into one.

Nice piece about the survey in USA Today

USA Today

Otherwise we are already collecting data for the 2009 Survey. This time it won't just be a top 100 and I am hoping to publish a comprehensive guide to dining in the U.S. that includes all levels of dining and an additional 3,500 restaurants in the U.S. are being added to the survey in a few weeks. If you would like to particpate (it would be greatly appreciated,) just click on the link and register. I will send you a free copy of the 2008 guide in the mail as soon as you begin rating restaurants.

Opinionated About Dining Survey

Also, I could use some help with the list of D.C. Area restaurants that are being added to the survey. Please let me know if you think there are restaurants that need to be added, or which need to be removed for that matter. I can especially use some help with inexpensive ethnic restaurants that are worth telling people about when they are visiting D.C.

Formal & Contemporary 1789

Formal & Contemporary Café 15

Formal & Contemporary Café Atlántico

Formal & Contemporary Café MoZU

Formal & Contemporary Citronelle

Formal & Contemporary CityZen

Formal & Contemporary Equinox

Formal & Contemporary Galileo

Formal & Contemporary Gerard's Place

Formal & Contemporary Il Laboratorio del Galileo

Formal & Contemporary Kinkead's

Formal & Contemporary Lafayette

Formal & Contemporary Le Paradou

Formal & Contemporary Marcel's

Formal & Contemporary Mini-Bar

Formal & Contemporary Nora

Formal & Contemporary Obelisk

Formal & Contemporary Palena

Formal & Contemporary Ritz-Carlton, The Grill (Washington, DC)

Formal & Contemporary Roof Terrace at the Kennedy Center

Formal & Contemporary Seasons

Formal & Contemporary Teatro Goldono

Formal & Contemporary Tosca

Formal & Contemporary Willard Room

French & Italian Al Crostino

French & Italian Al Tiramisu

French & Italian Belga Café

French & Italian Bis

French & Italian Bistrot Lepic & Wine Bar

French & Italian Capri

French & Italian Central Michel Richard

French & Italian Filomena Ristorante

French & Italian Geranio

French & Italian i Ricchi

French & Italian La Bergerie

French & Italian La Chaumiere

French & Italian Lafayette

French & Italian Landini Brothers

French & Italian Lavandou

French & Italian Le Mistral

French & Italian Le Refuge

French & Italian Les Halles

French & Italian Mon Ami Gabi

French & Italian Montmartre

French & Italian Notti Bianche

French & Italian Olives

French & Italian Petits Plats

French & Italian Primi Piatti

French & Italian Sette Bello

French & Italian Tivoli

French & Italian Tragara

Modern American 701

Modern American Acadiana

Modern American Addie's

Modern American Agraria

Modern American B. Smith's

Modern American Black Market Bistro

Modern American Black's Bar & Kitchen

Modern American Buck's Fishing & Camping

Modern American Butterfield 9

Modern American Cashion's Eat Place

Modern American Coeur de Lion

Modern American David Craig Bethesda

Modern American DC Coast

Modern American Del Merei Grille

Modern American Firefly

Modern American Georgia Brown's

Modern American Grapeseed

Modern American Grille, The

Modern American Majestic Cafe

Modern American Mark and Orlando's

Modern American Mendocino Grille & Wine Bar

Modern American New Heights

Modern American Occidental

Modern American Oval Room

Modern American Palette

Modern American Persimmon

Modern American Poste Moderne Brasserie

Modern American Tabard Inn

Modern American Vidalia

Modern American Zola

American/Steaks/Seafood BlackSalt

American/Steaks/Seafood BLT Steak

American/Steaks/Seafood Capital Grille, The

American/Steaks/Seafood Charlie Palmer Steak

American/Steaks/Seafood Clyde's

American/Steaks/Seafood Colorado Kitchen

American/Steaks/Seafood Harry's Tap Room

American/Steaks/Seafood Little Fountain Café

American/Steaks/Seafood Morrison-Clark Inn

American/Steaks/Seafood Hank's Oyster Bar

American/Steaks/Seafood Jerry's Seafood

American/Steaks/Seafood Johnny's Half Shell

American/Steaks/Seafood Legal Sea Foods

American/Steaks/Seafood McCormick & Schmick's

American/Steaks/Seafood Oceanaire Seafood Room

American/Steaks/Seafood Old Angler's Inn

American/Steaks/Seafood Old Ebbitt Grill

American/Steaks/Seafood Pesce

American/Steaks/Seafood Prime Rib

American/Steaks/Seafood Ray's The Steaks

American/Steaks/Seafood Sam & Harry's

American/Steaks/Seafood Sea Catch

D.C. Ethnic & Inexpensive 2 Amys

D.C. Ethnic & Inexpensive Bangkok Joe's

D.C. Ethnic & Inexpensive Bombay Club

D.C. Ethnic & Inexpensive Bread Line

D.C. Ethnic & Inexpensive Ceiba

D.C. Ethnic & Inexpensive Ceviche

D.C. Ethnic & Inexpensive Curry Club

D.C. Ethnic & Inexpensive Diner, The

D.C. Ethnic & Inexpensive El Pollo Rico

D.C. Ethnic & Inexpensive Five Guys

D.C. Ethnic & Inexpensive Florida Ave. Grill

D.C. Ethnic & Inexpensive Fogo de Chão

D.C. Ethnic & Inexpensive Heritage India

D.C. Ethnic & Inexpensive IndeBleu

D.C. Ethnic & Inexpensive Indique

D.C. Ethnic & Inexpensive Jaleo

D.C. Ethnic & Inexpensive Kabob Palace Family Restaurant

D.C. Ethnic & Inexpensive Lebanese Taverna

D.C. Ethnic & Inexpensive Leopold’s Kafe & Konditorei

D.C. Ethnic & Inexpensive Makoto

D.C. Ethnic & Inexpensive Mourayo

D.C. Ethnic & Inexpensive Open City

D.C. Ethnic & Inexpensive Pizzeria Paradiso

D.C. Ethnic & Inexpensive Rasika

D.C. Ethnic & Inexpensive Regent Thai, The

D.C. Ethnic & Inexpensive Rosa Mexicano

D.C. Ethnic & Inexpensive Sake Club

D.C. Ethnic & Inexpensive Sushi Taro

D.C. Ethnic & Inexpensive Sushi-Ko

D.C. Ethnic & Inexpensive TenPenh

D.C. Ethnic & Inexpensive Zaytinya

Virginia/Maryland Ethnic & Inexpensive A&J

Virginia/Maryland Ethnic & Inexpensive Azucar

Virginia/Maryland Ethnic & Inexpensive Bangkok54

Virginia/Maryland Ethnic & Inexpensive Bombay

Virginia/Maryland Ethnic & Inexpensive Bombay Bistro

Virginia/Maryland Ethnic & Inexpensive Crisp & Juicy

Virginia/Maryland Ethnic & Inexpensive El Gavilan

Virginia/Maryland Ethnic & Inexpensive Elevation Burger

Virginia/Maryland Ethnic & Inexpensive Faryab

Virginia/Maryland Ethnic & Inexpensive Haandi

Virginia/Maryland Ethnic & Inexpensive Huong Que

Virginia/Maryland Ethnic & Inexpensive Huong Viet

Virginia/Maryland Ethnic & Inexpensive Kazan

Virginia/Maryland Ethnic & Inexpensive Layalina

Virginia/Maryland Ethnic & Inexpensive Luna Grill & Diner

Virginia/Maryland Ethnic & Inexpensive Mark's Duck House

Virginia/Maryland Ethnic & Inexpensive Passage to India

Virginia/Maryland Ethnic & Inexpensive Peking Gourmet Inn

Virginia/Maryland Ethnic & Inexpensive Pho 75

Virginia/Maryland Ethnic & Inexpensive Rabieng

Virginia/Maryland Ethnic & Inexpensive Samantha's

Virginia/Maryland Ethnic & Inexpensive Shamshiry

Virginia/Maryland Ethnic & Inexpensive Tachibana

Virginia/Maryland Ethnic & Inexpensive Tako Grill

Virginia/Maryland Ethnic & Inexpensive Taqueria El Charrito Caminante

Virginia/Maryland Ethnic & Inexpensive Tavira

Virginia/Maryland Ethnic & Inexpensive Thai Square

Virginia/Maryland Ethnic & Inexpensive Woo Lae Oak

DC restos in the 2008 survey: Komi, Minibar and Citronelle. Minibar actually shows up in the Worth Going Out Of Your Way For category -- one of nine North American restaurants on that list; the others are Alinea, French Laundry, Jean Georges, Manresa, McCrady's, Per Se, Splendido and Urasawa. Urasawa is actually the top-ranked North American restaurant in the guide, just edging out Flaundry.

Steve, how close did CityZen come to making the list?

I'd eat there over Morimoto, Cyrus, Boulevard, Alan Wong's, Joe's Stone Crab and Matsuhisa (among others) any night of the week. Well, unless Nobu himself was cooking omakase in that little Matsuhisa side room again!

CityZen wasn't even close and it currently has a score in the high 80's. It's one of the bigger disappointments in the survey. If I had to put my finger on what is driving the score, people who ate there more than a year ago rated it significantly lower than people who have been there over the past year. I've noticed that as new people rate the restaurant, the score keeps inching up. But since the experience score of the average diner who ate there is 11.58, it's going to take a bit of time to correct itself, unless a few diners with high experience scores add new ratings to the database where they rate it in one of the three highest categories.

How does Citronelle rate?

Hey Mark how are you? Citronelle had a score of 99 points which makes it a "Top Local Choice." That's down from the last survey as recent ratings that have come in over the past 6 months have been somewhat lower than what I was saw last year . In terms of popularity (meaning the number of times it was rated,) it was the 30th most rated restaurant in the survey which is very high. As for the experience of the panel who rated it, the average diner had an experience score of 9.6 which is about the same as places like The French Laundry and Alinea, but lower than top French restaurants like Arpege which has an experience average of 12, or Alain Ducasse Monte Carlo which had an experience factor of 17.

The results of the 2008 Fine Dining Survey are posted on my home page. They have also been published in a 56 page guide that is available for $6.95. If you participated in the survey, you should recieve your copy in the mail sometime next week. If you didn't participate and would like to recieve a free copy, you can still get one by filling out the survey. Just click on the link below and follow the registration links on the home page. Or, if you would like to purchase copies, you can do so using a PayPal account on the home page or most independant book stores will have copies by the end of the week. Thanks to everyone who helped with this project. It was loads of fun and its the tip of the iceberg.

Opinionated About Dining Survey

Sorry I couldn't post this on Friday but I've been swamped. This past Friday, Opinionated About Dining Survey was featured in an article about restaurant guides being published in 2008 along with those "other two guides." Here is a link to the article:

USA Today

For the many people from this board who participated in the survey, I wanted to say thanks for all of your help. We certainly couldn't have gotten to this point without you. For those of you who might be interested in participating, data collection is taking place until January 3rd. Just go to this link to

register

I am happy to announce our new Rating Reward program where OAD survey participants can earn reward points which they can redeem for discount coupons and gift certificates to a select group of retailers including:

Bryan’s Fine Foods

Casa Oliver

Chamber Street Wines

Chefshop.com

Farm2 Market

Grateful Palate

Hudson Valley Foie Gras

Jeni’s Ice Cream

Kitchen Arts & Letters

Murray’s Cheese

Russ & Daughters

Terroir Select Coffees

For the details of how you can earn and redeem points and coupons, click on the link below and click on the link labeled "Awards." If you have already participated in the survey, your ratings will roll over into our reward program. Enjoy yourselves and thanks for all of your help.

Opinionated About Dining Survey

So data collection has been great. Since opening this phase of the survey we have collected over 2000 ratings which is ahead of where we were last time this point into the survey. While data in the D.C. area is coming in at a steady pace , the following cities/locations could use a bit of help. If you can add anything to the database for the restaurants in these locations that would be great;

1. Portland/Kennebunkport, Maine

2. Philadelphia, PA

3. The South including Atlanta, Charleston, Birmingham

4. Las Vegas, NV

5. Seattle. WA

Just click on the link below and go to the bottom of the page and click on Create an Account. I will approve your registration as soon as I am notifed. Thanks.

Opinionated About Dining Survey

My apologies to everyone for not responding to your posts. The email notification must have been disabled and I didn't realize there were responses to my posts. Let's see if I can make up for some lost time.

My questions - Will you be screening the participants for future lists to ensure that they have "significant international dining experience"? And what does that mean to you? Finally, for this list, did you participate, and if so, what "weight" did you give to yourself? In otherwords, of the 175 panelists, where did you rank yourself?

There isn't any screening of particpants. Everyone is welcome to rate as many restaurants as they want.

This sounds like an interesting survey, but it is aptly named -- Opinonated is the operative word, since the surveyors are self-selected. I wonder what the geographic distribution of the surveyors is, since if heavily weighted in favor of say the NYC metro area, then the dining experience of that group would probably reflect a wider familiarity with that region leading to a greater number of establishments from that region showing up on the list.

The first suvey was very New York and London-centric because that is where most of the members of my discussion forums live. But the geographic distribution of particpants of the new survey is more diverse. But just as a point of reference, Citronelle is the 14th most rated restaurant in the U.S.

I just got my top 50 email and it seems to me that this list is based on how much money you have. When I read it I just see wealthy foodies blubbermouthing about their cellar and "the last meal I had at Per Se....wawawa.". It doesn't have a whole lot of soul to it. I think I'll wait four more years for Reichl's american list.

Well this is a fine dining survey and the original price point for inclusion was a tasting menu at $75 or higher or 3 1/2 courses for that price. As I started compiling the list I changed tacks and I based it on the price of the entrees. There is going to be a different survey that launches this fall which focuses on moderately priced and inexpensive restaurants (all the way down to hot dog stands) so anything that missed this survey because it was borderline will appear there.

Look all I'm saying is that it seems a little over the top in its presentation:references to $50 sushi pieces, 10lb turbot cooked to perfection, renting a helicopter to return for another dinner, beluga caviar with gold flakes. What about the progressives?: The Hebberoys in Portland, Anice Stellato in Venice, and Komi here in DC. I know that Anice may not be "fine dining" but it's a tremendous restaurant that reflects not only the local cuisine but also foward thinking in food.

Well it is directed at a specific type of diner. For example, I love going to Falls Church to eat Vietnamese food. But I wouldn't make a special trip from NYC just to do it. But I would make a special trip to eat at places like Mini-Bar, Citronelle, CityZen etc. and then visit Falls Church on the same trip. And while this might not describe your dining habits and preferences, it does reflect the habits of the fine dining community and this publication is directed at them. Hopefully, the places you deem "soulfull" will appear on a future survey.

Anyway getting down to more serious business, data collection for the new survey is going great. The following restaurants in the D.C./Mid-Atlantic region have been rated often enough to have been assigned a score:

Cafe Atlantico

Citronelle

CityZen

Eve

Inn at Little Washington

Kinkead's

Mini-Bar

Palena

The following list have been rated enough times to have a contingent score:

2941 Restaurant

Equinox

Komi

L'Auberge Chez Francois

Tosca

Plus there are many restaurants which are on the verge of a contingent score like Charleston or the Inn at Perry Cabin. If you havenm't already registered to particpate, you are welcome to do so at Survey. Or if you have registered and haven't finished rating all of the restaurants you have visited, please log on and rate away.

Thanks for your time and thanks for your participation and once again, thanks to Don for letting me post this ehere. And feel free to ask as many questions as you want. I will try and be more prompt about answering them in the future.

The second Opinionated About Dining survey is now live. If you would like to participate, go to Opinionated About Dining Surveys and enter your details into the database and tomorrow morning you will receive an email with a pre-approval code. The survey contains close to 2,400 fine dining establishments in North America and Europe, including 39 restaurants in the DC/Northern Virginia/Maryland region. I've included a list of the restaurants below:

1789

2941 Restaurant

Asia Nora

Augustine's Fine Dining

Café 15

Café Atlántico

Café MoZU

Charleston

Citronelle

CityZen

Colvin Run Tavern

Equinox

Eve

Gerard's Place

Hampton's

Inn at Easton, The

Inn at Little Washington

Inn at Perry Cabin, The

Kinkead's

Komi

L'Auberge Chez François

L'Auberge Provençale

Lafayette

Le Paradou

Lemaire Restaurant

Maestro

Marcel's

Mini-Bar

Nora

Obelisk

Palena

Patowmack Farm

Ritz-Carlton, The Grill (Pentagon City)

Ritz-Carlton, The Grill (Washington, DC)

Roof Terrace at the Kennedy Center

Seasons

Teatro Goldono

Tosca

Willard Room

Participating in the survey is simple. You are presented with interactive maps of North America and Europe and you can click on any region where you have dining experience and rate the restaurants in that region which are listed by various sub-categories. 175 people participated in our last survey. The participants ranged from people who were able to rate as many as 250 restaurants to those who were only able to rate a handful. EVERYONE'S RATINGS ARE FACTORED INTO THE RESULTS REGARDLESS OF HOW MANY RESTAURANTS THEY ARE ABLE TO RATE.

Since July 1st when I first started sending out the current results via a .pdf download, 350 additional people have expressed interest in participating in the upcoming survey. If you haven't already signed up and you would like to participate, go to the URL listed earlier in this post and enter your details. I plan to publish a document this fall titled, "Opinionated About Dining, 100 Most Recommended Restaurants in North America and Europe."

Thanks for your time and I hope you decide to take part in helping us create what I hope will become the best guide to dining available on the marketplace.

Steve Plotnicki

First of all, it's not "my list." It's a survey that 175 people participated in, some of whom are members of this forum. And the only restaurant from DC that made the list was Citronelle. Mini-Bar just missed. The only other restaurant that was mentioned was Cafe Atlantico which had the dubious distinction of being on the list of least recommended restaurants.

I am about to launch the second version of the survey in a few weeks. Since I began sending out the downloads (about a week and a half ago to the public although people who participated recieved copies more than a month ago,) more than 250 people have signed up to participate. Some from this forum. About 1/3 of the people who request a download indicate an interest in particpating in the survey.

If I have to say so myself, it's a pretty nice document. The editing/graphic design team who do the Food & Wine Annual Wine Guides worked on the project and it has a nice look and feel to it. And if you are type of person who likes to travel to Europe to dine (or other parts of the U.S,) I think you would find it a useful document. And all it costs is your name and email address!

But Steve isn't really denigrating Fabio's abilities, in fact he is saying that he has been held back a bit A) at Maestro because it is in a hotel and that he expects the problem to continue or be even worse at Fiamma because it is catered to a more mass audience and is not trying to turn out Washington Post 4-star, New York Times 5-star or Michelin 3-star food.

Correct. When I went to Maestro, it didn't live up to its billing. I was expecting cutting edge Italian cuisine. So I would have hoped that if Fabio came to NYC, he would be moving to a restaurant that encouraged him to get a NYT 4 star rating and I don't expect that is going to happen at Fiamma.

Pardon the interruption, but people should know that receiving your promotional materials is not free: the cost is giving you a full name and a personal email address, to do with whatever you want. Caveat Lector

Yes and an email address as well. Otherwise how would I send you the download?

This guy is here to promote his blog, nothing more.

Actually I came here for the sole purpose of promoting my survey which people can get free by clicking on This Link and following the link in the announcement. But when I asked Don if it was okay to post my link, he encouraged me to post here. I really didn't intend to, and the only reason I posted on this thread was that it has to do with a chef coming to NYC, which is where I live.

One could argue if New Yorkers palates are so refined why are Jeffrey Chodorow’s restaurants and places like Spice Market packed to the gills?

Costumers dine out for many reasons and unfortunately I doubt exceptional cuisine is rarely top priority. The higher the population the more knowledgeable diners per customer base. Generally I suspect demographics are rarely the reason.

Robert you know from discussion on OA it has nothing to do with refined palates but the proximity of business diners to a restaurant. If DC had the population, and as many business visitors to the city as sNew York and Chicago, it would have a completely different restaurant environment.

Hotels are particularly problematic in that they want the restaurant to appeal to gourmands as well as the clientele that is staying in the hotel, who are likely not to be very knowledgable about food. This is why you don't see many avant garde restaurants in hotels. Can you imagine El Bulli in Las Vegas and some high roller gets comped there and he walks in and he is served lamb brains with carrot foam? The Per Se/shopping mall model is somewhat better in that the restaurant helps bring a certain type of clientele into the mall that it normally wouldn't attract (jazz at Lincoln Center does the same thing,) rather than a hotel which needs a high end restaurant as an amenity for its own clientele.

Fabio's departure is a blow to DC dining and yet I still feel grateful that we had such a great chef in our midst for quite a long time.

.

Maybe the hotel will hire a suitable replacement.