Bart

Just now, Ericandblueboy said:

Lots of Chinese restaurants in the area have them - usually on the Chinese only menu.

Really?!??!  Wow, that's great.  I love those things.

Do you recall any places off the top of your head?   Any idea how a non Chinese speaker/reader would order them?   Show them a photo on my phone maybe?

Definitely get one of the garlic sprout dishes (chicken, pork or shrimp I think). Very interesting and unique look and flavor.  I think they're the only place in the area that offeres them. 

I love their dumplings too. (But I love dumplings in general). 

I like the duck better at "Peking Duck" on Rt 1 in Alexandria. It's cheaper and better as they carve it very quickly so the meat still warm and the skin still crisp when you eat it.  At PGI they carve it too slowly. 

Wow.  Sad.  I'll be cranking the Allmans on the train ride home tonight in his honor.

46 minutes ago, DaveO said:

Will drink to you and the reported to be several million around the globe.  Haven't seen reports of violence and in response to that concern saw a comment to the effect that. " They were large groups of mom's, they shared and helped one another" .   or something to that effect.

Lots of moms and other assorted females, but lots of dudes too.

As far as the "sharing and helping each other" goes,  I was somewhere on the mall near 7th St and a group of people were chanting "WE NEED AN EPI PEN, WE NEED AN EPI PEN" an a minute or two later, a woman came running through the crowd to the rescue.  Very cool. 

There's also a old school, family run Greek Place in Crystal City called Athena Pallace or something like that. This is probably the most "normal" and least expensive of the three

Jaleo in Crystal City

Lebanese Taverna in Pentahon Gity

Bumping for historical reasons.  This threaded started in 2005. Its pretty interesting to read what people were asking and saying back then compared to now. 

And back then most or all of the tastings were free. Not anymore!

The Hirshhorn website is criminally bad.  I clicked on it when the original orchid thread was posted and I reclicked on it again in this thread. Each time I do it, I know less and less about the program!!!  Absolutely awful.  No actual information is actually conveyed!  

Rant over.

6 hours ago, Simul Parikh said:

Went last night to celebrate lady friend's career transition...

You mean your special lady?

53 minutes ago, ktmoomau said:

 I am so impressed to find a Japanese restaurant daring not to have sushi, and to be doing a tasting menu that changes so frequently- it was really refreshing.  It felt like somewhere off the street in Kyoto.  

I just checked the menu they currently have online and it has no resemblance to yours at all!  I don't know if they already have next week's menu up, or just that they can't keep up with the changes in the kitchen.  But I agree, it is very daring to have a Japanese restaurant with a set menu which you aren't fully aware of until you're experiencing it.  Let's hope this is the beginning of a new wave of unusualness in Old Town.

Is molecular gastronomy dead?  I ask that based on Don's comments from 4 years ago in this post's link.

Is Minibar the only remaining MG restaurant left in the area?

Thanks for the update Keith!  Boy, they've had a revolving door at the chef's station ifor the last few yeas. 

PS - I just looked at the rates.................It ain't cheap! 

For something completely different you could do a western dude ranch sort of trip.  I'm not sure why I thought about it, but rereading this thread made me think of a place my wife and I went in the mid 90s called Idaho Rocky Mountain Ranch.  http://www.idahorocky.com

My memory is a little fuzzy, but it was an absolutely beautiful property, with a ridiculously beautiful view of the Sawtooth Mountains off the front porch.  It had a main lodge and bunch of small cabins, so that may not be what you're looking for as you all won't be sharing the same space.  They have horseback riding and hiking and fishing and all those types of things (we only stayed one night and didn't do any of that), but they also had a huge pool that was heated by a natural hot spring.  That was awesome!

We went just after Labor Day the weather was amazing.  No humidity, pure blue skies, warm during the day, cool at night and perfect break from the summer heat here.  I imagine the weather in August would be similar.  The other thing that sticks with me other than the lack of humidity was the lack of traffic.  We were doing a half hiking/camping trip and half hotel trip and as we drove from place to place, we would drive for miles and miles without seeing a single car in either direction.

After far too long of a break, my wife and I had another victorious dinner here tonight.  For once we didn't over-order and only had four (completely new) dishes.  In fact in all of the times we've been here, I don't think we've ever ordered the same thing as on a previous visit.  Of course that's not hard to do with a menu that changes this often.

The service equalled the food and we especially loved our French waiter in the bar area, whose booths have become our favorite part of the restaurant.  

There's nothing like ending a hectic first week back in this gourmet temple of serenity.  

Oh yeah, I must salute them once again for the range of wines and prices on their large wine list.  We had a wonderful Petit Verdot for $45 which, if memory serves me, is $15 dollars cheaper than the least expensive of the handful of wines at Momofuku.  

11 hours ago, dcs said:

 You can drive right up which addresses mobility issues.  

Many have elevators too

6 hours ago, Ericandblueboy said:

It's not the high road.  Jose's gonna get whacked, if not on the law then on the facts.  Jose is not a smart man.  He wanted to make a political statement but he didn't count on Trump getting elected.  Now he's shitting bricks.  Notice he didn't make the overture until Trump was elected.

Is it Opposite Day?

11 minutes ago, Simul Parikh said:

The night I went to Nasime, I planned on going to Namaste. My friend assumed Namaste was a typo and that's how I ended up there that night... didn't feel like making him walk over to Namaste since I was the one that was late.

This ^ reminds of this:

In an amazing coincidence, I read this page on the metro going home tonight. 

2 hours ago, DonRocks said:

I'm not rehabbing; I've gone 8 years without a correct diagnosis, and nobody is helping me.  

Don - Have you read "Healing Back Pain" by Dr. John Sarno?   It's not just about healing back pain but all sorts of pain throughout the body.  I'm only a couple chapters in (after purchasing the book years ago), but one of his main points is people with pain (back, leg, neck, shoulder, elbow, foot, heal, (and even things like ulcers and colitis) etc) are often misdiagnosed and the physical pain you most certainly feel is not due to a physical problem but rather an emotional problem.  Your mind is dealing with some type of stress by causing your body to feel pain.                                                        

  Like I said, I'm only starting the book, but one example he gives is that largest bone in the body, the femur, can be completely broken, and completely heal in 6 weeks (with relatively little pain), yet people suffer for year neck or back pain that "they got" from a very minor car accident, or picking up a very light object.  He even talks about some high powered, high stress executive who suffered from the onset of debilitating pain one day while sitting at his desk.  He had to leave the office in an ambulance and spent a couple days not being able to move at all without excruciating pain, yet there was no physical trigger for the pain.                   

Another interesting data point he mentions is that the chronic pain people suffer from most usually occurs during the "earning years" (30-60 I think).  This is when people are typically under the most pressure to perform, get raises, be successful, etc.  Many people suffer pain in these years and it's often diagnosed as some degradation in muscle mass or bone mass, yet in the older parts of the population (70-90) people don't suffer from these same problems in the same numbers as younger people do.  His point is that it's not the muscles or bones wearing out otherwise the oldest people would be completely debilitated and you could plot it on a curve related to age, but that doesn't happen in the real world.                                                          

Another story he relates that hits home with me is that how many of his patients had pain that would move around the body so as your lower back pain goes away, it's replaced by neck pain.  When your neck gets better, your leg starts hurting.                                                     

Anyhow, it might be worth reading.

1 hour ago, Ericandblueboy said:

I'm just called and got a reservation for this weekend....

I hope it meets your standard for authenticity. 

8 hours ago, DonRocks said:

I called tonight at 6:15 for a party of 3, and we got in at the time of our choosing (6:45-7 PM), at the chef's counter.

Any other long-extinct myths you want dispelled?  

As sweth noted a month ago, the price has gone up from $47 to $48 - prepare for it to increase closer to $60.

You got a table 30 minutes after you called?  Is that what you're saying?  

Any details on the meal?

Regarding the "price increase", I wonder if the original $47 price quote (1st post in this thread) wasn't a typo.  The Washingtonian article was published 2 days before the first post here and Jessica Sidman has it listed as a $48 meal. 

1 hour ago, silentbob said:

"There's a Massive Restaurant Industry Bubble, and It's About to Burst" (a.k.a. "America's Golden Age of Restaurants is coming to an end")

Posted without comment because I don't know the first thing about the restaurant industry or its underlying economics.

Very interesting.  And ominous.

Finally, this place is getting some press!