Bart

Pop up note on their website: Dine In Service Will Be Unavailable Starting Tuesday, March 17 To Go Service Will Be Offered Beginning Wednesday, March 18 Given the mandate issued by the DC government, Kinship and Métier will be closed until further notice. This is an effort to navigate uncertain times and to protect our team members, guests and community.

They started their delivery service last night. The lychee bowl is on the menu for $15. I couldn't find any info about delivery area or delivery charges though.

Thanks! Love the tip on the Nat'l Gallery's insta acct!. Here's another Van Gogh movie done in his style:

Thanks Tweaked! If you, or anyone, wants to start a list of good art movies/docs I'd love to see it. I'm talking anything from general art history to a very specific subject like the movie Pollock (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0183659/ ) I know so little about any that stuff, but want to learn more!

Switch to wine? Problem solved!

I just saw on Instagram that Rose's is now taking reservations for any size party, any night they are open. Wow! They also have this note pop up when you go to their website: To our guests: We are taking steps to keep our restaurant safe, we have always and will continue to follow and exceed food safety and sanitation protocols required by the DC Department of Health, CDC and WHO. Additionally: Our staff is utilizing company wide paid sick leave to make sure we keep our workplace healthy and safe. We are vigilant with sanitization of all high touch surfaces. We are offering hand sanitizer throughout the restaurant. We have added additional spacing between tables to allow for staff and guests to remain at more comfortable distances. We are implementing no-touch payment options. If you wish to dine out, we want you to know that we are now accepting reservations for any party size, any night of the week. As well, Rose's at Home will come cook in your home any night of the week. We will also have takeout and delivery options coming soon.

That submission to Tom was from you, KN, right? That's the first thing I thought when I read his chat.

Reading the above made me think of this line from a Post article from a week ago: “We have contained this,” POTUS economic adviser Larry Kudlow told CNBC the last week of February. “I won’t say airtight, but it’s close to airtight.” The article, linked below discussed how the POTUS administration botched the response to this. It was from last Saturday and since then the only thing they have done is banned foreign nationals from entering the country...…..like American travelers are somehow immune. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/POTUS-coronavirus-response-squandered-time/2020/03/07/5c47d3d0-5fcb-11ea-9055-5fa12981bbbf_story.html Another fun fact: Two weeks ago, on Feb 28 POTUS called the virus a hoax.

I'm a little slow...……...what are you saying, Don?

Thanks! I thought it was a great value for what was delivered.

Correct. I think the wine pairing was $45. I can’t tell if you think that’s cheap or expensive or are just asking?!?! 😉

My cousin was in town for a conference and she comes from a place of very limited restaurant choices so I wanted to take her somewhere different and unique, and I have to say, I crushed it on the restaurant choice! 😉 I mean, how could I go wrong with a Spanish-Japanese mash up?!!? We opted for the omakase meal and we completely blown away from start to finish. Every dish was as beautiful to look at as it was wonderful to taste, and every part of each dish was just fantastic ( there were no throw away components). Shockingly, the place was fairly empty on Thursday night, but I'm hoping that's because it's so new. The only complaint I had was with the lighting. It was too dark to see the beauty of each course without using the light on my phone. When we were leaving the chef was at the host's stand and we raved about the meal for a bit and then, since I had a captive audience, told him my complaint about the low level lighting. He said they just turned the lights down tonight for the first time because the restaurant designer/stylist told him that with the lights turned up it made the place look like a fast food joint! Unfortunately, neither my words, nor the photos do justice to the experience, but here goes. First up was Hamachi/Citrus Dashi/kumquats - we were encouraged to eat the components and drink the broth at the end. Amazing! They could have served the broth alone and it would have been a successful dish! The fish was so tender that I "chewed" it with my tongue! It was also served at the perfect temperature for maximum flavor. Chawanmushi/tempura oyster/seaweed was next, and it was another wonderful combination of tastes and textures. The tempura oysters were topped off with roe and they were great on their own, but the real star was the chawanmushi. I think I could eat a gallon of that stuff! Botan Ebi/ponsu jelly/uni/crème fraiche was the third course and it was another combination a dozen different flavors and textures. We were told to stick the spoon all the way to the bottom and get a bit of each layer. This dish was very hard to photograph, but I included two photos below so you see the layers. Steamed Cod/Gazpachuelo/Potato Trinxat was up next. The description is how it's written on the menu they gave us to take home, but it was described as Black Cod vs. Cod. Either way, it was amazing. Again the cod was tongue-chewable...so tender!! The fish was amazing but the other components were equally impressive the potato thing was shockingly good, as was the foamy broth on the bottom (visible on the left side of the photo). I don't know if that was the gazpachuelo or just part of it, and I don't care! It was fantastic. I'd also like a gallon of it to take home!! Nameko Mushroom Rice/Scallop/Guanciale was next. It also included the soft, internal part of burrata cheese (not visible in the photo below). We were told to mix the rice and burrata together and eat it like that. The scallop was absolutely perfectly cooked and absolutely delicious yet it was the least impressive part of the dish!! The mushroom/rice/burrata combo was mind blowing. SOOOO GOOOOD! The final dish was Quail/Salsify Puree/Foie Gras Escabeche. The quail was very tender and moist and the foie was ridiculously tender (much more so than what I had at Clarity earlier in the week). The salsify was also a surprising hit. I'm not that familiar with salsify, but I'm considering growing it now!! Dessert was a "Gin and Tonic" - I have no idea how to describe this and the photo below is awful. It was a wonderful and unique and had little bits of cucumber in it! Whatever it was, it was a great success! We also got a Winter Citrus Tart/yuzu curd/mandarin sorbet/coconut which was very good, but probably the most standard/least interesting dish of the night. The final little bite (not described on the menu) were two little candies. One was gumdrop type of dish that was good, and the other was combination of miso, caramel and salt. This was an amazing bite! It was one of those dishes that makes you wonder why no one ever combined those flavors before! Fantastic!! I wanted a dozen more! I did the wine pairing which was nice and included a couple sakes, including a rose' sake that got its color from red yeast. Who knew that was a thing! I can't recommend this place highly enough! This was the most interesting and memorable meal that I've had in a long time and two days later, it's still all that I'm thinking about!

I just got the email about that today. I did a double take at the price!! 30 bucks for a dinner at Kinship?!?!?! Cray cray! I'd be all over it but I have a conflict on Wednesday

Had a wonderful and interesting meal here on Tuesday night. The place was completely packed when I arrived at 7:15, including the private room which had a party of probably 30 in there. As usual, the menu was filled with interesting dishes and ingredients. I ordered the foie gras app 1) because I love it and 2) because I feel duty bound to order it whenever I see it on a menu to encourage the chef to keep "weird things" like that on the menu. It was nice size piece of meat, but I must admit it wasn't nearly as tender and creamy as the much smaller piece that was in a dish at Cranes (more on that later). We also had the rockfish with fiddleheads and morels (again with the special ingredients!!) and the lamb leg marinated in miso and herbs. Both dishes were great. The lamb was super tender and served in slices off the bone. Photos of the foie and rockfish are below, (the lamb wasn't all that photogenic). All in all it was a high end "downtown" meal out in the 'burbs. Message to Clarity: please open another place in Alexandria!!

Wow, I see your point.....sort of. Is the wording on the menu really the make or break decision on going to a restaurant?!!? From a related menu "scandal" I remember when Kinship first opened there was a lot of chatter about the way their menu was laid out and how "confusing" it was to some people. I always felt if the Kinship menu was to difficult to grasp, then you're probably not qualified to eat there. Then again, I'm a bit obnoxious.

Not sure if this is sarcasm or not. The menu doesn't look any different than any similar local restaurant, does it?

The word "prescription" seems unnecessary.

The only key ingredient you left out is your address.

Kinship is wonderful and quiet. I haven't been in way too long, but I can't imagine it's ever too noisy in there. The last 4, 5, or 6 times I went there I had a booth in the bar area, and even then it was very quiet...….but I tend to go early.

Thanks Don for all the great tips!!! Thanks also for the word on Saint Tropez. I'll skip it. Monaco, Cannes and Saint Tropez are not my scene at all, but if I'm there, I figured I might as well knock two out of three off the list, even if both visits are very short. Thanks again.

I went here last night for my first time. It's been one of those places I've been trying to get to for years, but never made it too for some reason. We did the Chef's Family Table option (aka their tasting menu) and it was fantastic. It was a nice variety of dishes but surprisingly, a lot of them were not on the actual menu. In fact, the only dish that we were served that was on the regular menu was their "Our Daily Focaccia"! Service was wonderful and friendly and they read the note on OpenTable about it being a birthday and took care of us nicely with a greeting in the beginning and some treats at the end. The only bit of weirdness was with the price of the meal. On a computer (desktop) the price was listed as $64, but on a phone, the price was listed as $75. I'm pretty sure we were charged $64 but I somehow managed to lose the receipt so I can't verify. We started with Halloumi, octopus salad, deviled eggs with caviar, and turnups with whipped ricotta. Somewhere in there came the daily focaccia bread, which was like a small deep dish pizza! Next was agnolotti with (I think) more ricotta inside and a different type of bread with some nice spice (heat) to it. The main dish was an ultra tender braised short rib that was finished on the wood fired grill/oven served with some charred and smoky broccoli rabe. This came with a cold shaved fennel salad which was nice and refreshing. Dessert was actually items that were on the menu and both were great: Milk Chocolate Semifreddo (w/charred pineapple) and Crispy Greek Yeast Donuts with orange blossom syrup. They also surprised us with a high end chocolate bar on a stick with "Happy Birthday" written on it and two glasses of limoncello. It was a perfect place to spend a cold and windy night and a great meal from start to finish. I can't wait to go back when it's warmer to enjoy the outdoor section! (the food looked better than the photos!)

Awesome, thanks so much!!!! Great stuff here that I need to digest slowly. Thanks also for the links!!

I remember seeing Jaques Pepin answering a question on whether untouched bread in a bread basket should go back to the kitchen and get re-served to someone else. He said his chef would beat him if he threw out untouched bread! Obviously he wasn't "Jaques Pepin" at that point in his career!

Regarding masks, here's a clip from a Post article today: <<<<<<< And those surgical masks? If you’re not sick, you don’t need to wear them — and you certainly don’t need to buy every box your local pharmacy has in stock. “The main point of the mask is to keep someone who is infected with the virus from spreading it to others,” Brewer said. The CDC agrees, writing on its website: “CDC does not recommend that people who are well wear a facemask to protect themselves from respiratory diseases.” Common surgical masks block the droplets coming out of a sick person from getting into the air, but they are not tight enough to prevent what’s already in the air from getting in. There are specialized masks — known as N95 masks because they filter out 95 percent of airborne particles — that are more effective, and some online retailers are sold out of them. But there’s a problem: The masks are difficult to use without training. They must be fitted and tested to work properly. “If you just buy them at CVS, you’re not going to do all that,” Brewer said. “You’re not going to get it fit-tested, and you’re not going to be wearing it properly, so all you’ve done is spend a lot of money on a very fancy face mask.” >>>>>>>> https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/02/26/how-to-prepare-for-coronavirus

Thanks CB! I've heard the Friday market it not to be missed. And back to your initial comment, when you say, "I've always hired a car", does that mean you rented one or hired a driver?