Bart

Bottom Line Up Front: Go here soon, sit at the “At the Pass” table, let the chef pick all your dishes, leave full and happy.

My wife and I had a wonderful anniversary dinner at the Westend Bistro last night. I called them earlier in the day and asked if they had any sort of tasting menu since there wasn’t one on the website, and they said they didn’t have one but they did have an “At The Pass” table where you sat a granite counter looking into the kitchen. You could order off the menu or let the chef make all the decisions for you. So that’s what we did and essentially ended up getting a tasting menu and having a great view of the kitchen, not to mention lots of conversations with the chefs.

Right after we sat down we were presented with two glasses of champagne which was a nice and unexpected touch since I never mentioned it was an anniversary dinner. Since we were not going to order off the menu we had the option of a 5, 7 or 9 course dinner where the chef would serve us whatever he wanted to. We chose the 9 course option for $95 which was well worth it for the quantity and quality of the food presented. We wanted to do a wine pairing as well and it seemed like they were very flexible on how much you got. We wanted enough wine to enjoy through out the dinner but still be able to drive home afterwards. Ryme, the super sweet sommelier, said she could make it work so we would get a new wine for each two courses, and if we needed more or less, she would adjust.

Chef de Cuisine Devin Bozkaya came over and asked if we had any allergies or restrictions (no and no) and since he used to work at the Inn At Little Washington, we told him this was our anniversary and last year we did it at the Chef’s Table at The Inn. That was the only time we mentioned “anniversary” but they picked up on it and wrote it out on the dessert plates in chocolate. We spent a little time talking to him about his time at The Inn and where he lived then and now, etc, etc. He made us feel right at home

Chef Bozkaya served us all of our dishes throughout the night and gave us detailed descriptions as well as chit chatted as time would allow. We were able to ask him and the other chef questions about what they were doing and they couldn’t have been nicer. The service was friendly and fantastic and you really felt special being there. For us the service and hospitality at Westend blew away what we had at Rogue 24 in August. That wasn’t bad mind you, but this just seemed much warmer and more genuine.

As each dish was delivered, the chef explained what it was, what was in it, how it was made and even how some of the ingredients were made. For instance, he went into a very detailed description of how the maple cream in the soup was made using old whiskey barrels to impart some of that flavor into it (I think it was the cream that used the barrels).

Here’s what we had:

• Popcorn dusted with cheese (pre-appitizer)
  

• Mustard Greens & Apple Salad 14
  

honey-cider vinaigrette, candied walnuts

• Tuna Carpaccio 16
  

olive oil, chive, shallot and lemon

• Lobster Crostino 16
  

garlic aioli, coriander, baby greens

• Butternut Squash Soup 13
  

organic squash, whipped Noble maple cream

• Rhode Island Skate Wing 30
  

local beans, almonds, brown butter

• Lamb Kafta 11
  

ground Border Springs lamb 3 ways

• Pan Roasted Bass 32
  

bouillabaisse, crab, fennel, clams

• Border Springs Leg of Lamb 29
  

cauliflower cous-cous, pomegranate-rosemary jus

• Lime Sorbet
  
• Warm Chocolate Tart 9
  

Melting Whipped Cream, Caramel Sauce

• Brown Butter Pistachio Cake 9
  

Raspberries, Salted Pistachio Ice Cream

I’m not great at giving detailed and evocative descriptions of the dishes, but I’ll just say there wasn’t a clunker served. I’d gladly eat every single one again. Each had layers of flavor and was perfectly cooked.

All of the fish dishes were really great, especially the skate wing and the sea bass. The skate had this soft, almost fully texture that seemed very airy. It was almost like eating cotton candy or cotton balls. I know that sounds weird, but it was very light and airy.

This place is going to be reviewed in the Post next week, so get there soon, and ask for the “At The Pass” table if you want a special evening!

With their "we'll text you when the table is ready" policy you can turn your wait to your advantage. Put your name on the list and then explore Dupot, get a drink at another place, visit a bookstore or just take a walk. I love the fact that you're not chained to a small waiting area with one of those things with the red flashing lights.

That's funny. I always assumed at work and everywhere else, dress codes were put in place for benefit/education of men. My experience is that 99.9999% of women always dress professionally. It's those dopey men you have to spell it out for....collared shirts, no jeans, no hats, shave and shower before work, etc.

You know, if Eve didn't require a jacket for dinner, we probably would have been there by now. Not because I don't own a jacket or enjoy wearing one, but because my wife is so turned off by how ALL of their websites are written. Do they suffer by not having me as customer? Absolutely not.

Also considering the fact that I would never wear a jacket while eating, I almost always disrobe before sitting down.

I hate to change the subject away from the dress code thing, but the line about being turned off by Restaurant Eve's (and the rest of their empire's) websites caught my eye. What does your wife dislike about them?

I think I may be with her. Not so much the website (although I see some of it there too) but their menus and other written things like facebook pages. For some reason, I really get turned off and annoyed by the cutesy wording on the menus at Majestic and Society Fair and the rest of them for that matter.

Daniel Orkwis - The Wizard

It shouldn't bother me, but it does when I see titles like wizard, shadow, siren and oracle. I'm sure some people love that stuff, but for me it's such a turn off I have to use all my powers of restraint not to get up and walk out when I see that.

Or, from Restaurant Eve:

General Manager, Sommelier & Liquid Savant

I can barely handle "mixologist" as a title, but "Liquid Savant"?!?!? Check please!

Or maybe it's all the flash stuff that makes the websites user unfriendly?

The pictures aren't bad at all, and most of the food is visually quite appealing (the yak droppings aside).

Thanks for indulging me.

My pleasure. The acutal food looked much better than the photos suggest, including and especially the yak-infused dessert.

And I don't know if I made my point strong enough about the soup with dried, smoking grasses, but it was an awesome dish. I've never come across anything like it, but it was a winner on every level. People should rush out there and try it before they run out of peaches.

Here's the cheese course (that I thought was some sort of ice cream dessert):

Here's the dessert that was listed on the menu. It looked and tasted much better in person!:

Here's the second round of desserts:

Yes I do, but the quality is not that great. Lots of shadows to contend with and I was trying to be discreet so I just took the photos even thought the light was not great.

Here are 3 of the four apps (cashews not shown):

Here's the pizza with a knife and fork:

Here's the grouper:

And here's the steak cooking on the rock:

Went to the Ashby Inn last night and had a wonderful meal on the back porch. Perfect weather, beautiful views of the gardens and hills, a friendly and knowledgeable staff and a great meal with a couple of “WOW!” moments.

My wife and I got the Chef’s Tasting Menu with the wine pairing and, half way through, convinced a nearby table to do the same. The Tasting Menu is 8 or so courses of items from the regular menu. It should be noted that it seems like they change their menu often. The menu online is from less than a month ago and nearly every single dish is different from what was on our menu! Luckily they sent us home with a printed copy so I have some idea of what we had.

The meal started out with four “snacks”. Fried Pickles with spicy mayo (the only dish that remained on the menu from the online version), a long thin radish, that was pickled in vinegar which you dip into some spice mixture, salt cod and potato “fritters” and some spiced cashews.

The first real course was a stunner and possibly the highlight of the evening. The menu listed it as “chilled peach soup, ham & oat crumble, malt sabayon, sour cream, hyssop”. I’m not sure what some of those items are, but they all worked together to create a great dish. The real star however, was the presentation. They placed a large, shallow, white bowl on the table that held a smaller, clear bowl. In the clear bowl were a dab of a yellow substance (looked like an egg yolk), a smear of white (the sour cream), some herbs and some crunchy bits. Between the two bowls and visible through the clear bowl were some dried grasses that were actually previously on fire and still smoking when it arrived at the table!! The effect was wonderful - - you got this great smoky “taste” in your nose while you ate the soup. Speaking of the soup, they ladled it into the clear bowl at the table. It was really wonderful – the soup and the stuff in the bottom of the bowl all blended together to create a really memorable dish. Of course the presentation didn’t hurt either!

The bowl before the soup was added:

After the soup was added:

This is one of my favorite things about getting a tasting menu. You’re forced to try things you’d probably avoid. I love peaches, but probably wouldn’t have ordered peach soup because other items appealed to me more, but I’m sure glad I got this dish.

The next dish was called “Pizza with Knife and Fork” which was a deconstructed pizza. It had chunks of tomato, bread, basil, soft mozzarella cheese, and some tiny pepperoni cubes with a smear of pepperoni sauce.

The fish course was a seared grouper with eggplant espuma, wax beans and tomato and anchovy butter, capers and rye. This was another highlight as the fish was cooked perfectly with a nice golden “crust” on one side while the fish itself was moist and flakey.

The next big “WOW” moment came with the meat course. They presented us with a plate with a rock on it sitting on bed of salt. We were warned not to touch the rock as it was 400 degrees. We then cooked a little slice of beef on the rock…..about 30 seconds per side for medium rare.

Next was a cheese course, which didn’t look like cheese at all. It was gouda that they turned into liquid and whipped and smeared over the plate on top of kettle corn, along with rosehip gel. It sounds weird but it was very good and a bit of surprise to find that the thing in front of us that looked like some kind of dessert was actually cheese.

Two dessert courses were next. The first was “chocolate buttercake, nutella cream, hazelnut shortbread, barley ice cream, salt”. Lots of flavors and textures going on here, but it was really great. It’s unlikely I would have ordered something with barley ice cream in it, but I’m glad I got to try it. The second dessert wasn’t written up on the menu so I don’t have a nice description to refer to, but it was four little bites.

The wine pairing were a nice complement to the dishes and 2 courses featured Virginia wines. The dessert was paired with a Hazelnut Brown Ale.

My only complaint was that it was over too quickly and/or the portions were too small. I was surprised when the server announced the dessert because it didn’t seem like we ate enough to be on dessert. My goal was not to leave so fat and bloated that I couldn’t walk, but I could have handled another course or two without any problems.

All in all it was a great gourmet meal at a setting that has to be one the prettiest in DC area. And the staff were great too. If you go, I’d recommend getting there early enough to enjoy the daylight into sunset time period and make sure you sit outside. It’s never THAT warm in the shade.

We have vodka and love red bull

Love it!

Just made reservations for Aug 14. See you in a week!!

Thanks folks! 24 courses it is!

Don't think I can handle the "Rogue pairing" which seems to include a lot of cutting edge mixed drinks. My one and only mixed drink is voda and redbull as a motivator while doing yard work! I'm pretty sure what they serve at Rogue would be lost on me. I think I'll stick with the wine pairing to relieve myself of one more decision.

Wow, thanks!

I'm still trying to figure out how many "course options" there are. When I go to their website, I get redirected to another site for reservations (the main R24 site is "closed" because they are on vacation this week). Anyhow on that other site, there's a little drop down menu with dinner options: Progression (listed 3 times), Journey (listed 3 times) and Evolution (listed once). Unfortunately, the drop down window is not wide enough to show all the words displayed next to "Progression", "Evolution" and Journey. I'm assuming they list the number of courses and the price, but it doesn't show up on my (work) computer.

Maybe I'll try from home.

Has anyone done the full blown 24 course meal and compared it to the smaller meal?

I was reading somewhere (Chowhound perhaps since I don't see it here) that the small meal is more than enough food to leave you stuffed, and that the big meal would just be overkill with you unable to finish (or start) the last few dishes. Anyone have any thoughts or expirence with either?

Ha! You know Mark Ibold?!?!?

I had no idea he was a "food correspondent", and I must admit, I didn't get much out of his bologna article, but I did love him as the bassist for Pavement. I always wondered what he did after Pavement broke up. Now I know.

I'm still of the view that the vast majority of the D.C. food trucks are, alas, not worth the $$. Those that are decent tend to charge much more than comparable trucks in NYC. (The Jose Andres Pepe truck is a prime example -- very good sandwiches, but they cost as much or more than if you got them at Jaleo itself; they should be considerably less, but I'm sure they're charging what the market will bear . . . . Salt River Lobster, too.) .

I happend to be in L'Enfant Plaza at lunch today and the Pepe food truck was there. Being a big fan of Jose Andres, I was excited to try it. The sandwich was very good, but I agreee Mary, the price was outrageous for what I got.

I told the person at the window that I had never eaten here before and I wanted to get the best thing they had. She suggested the Pepito de Ternera (seared beef tenderloin, caramelized onion, piquillo pepper confit and blue cheese $14).

I got it and it was a very tasty sandwich (lots of interesting flavor combinations) but for 14 bucks it should have been twice three times the size (or came with a drink and dessert). To their credit, it was much better than most of my food truck experiences from a taste/flavor perspective, but I don't see myself going back because of the price.

The other thing that struck me a little strange was the lack of drinks. They only had Sangria or Pepe Tonic. No water.

My wife and I and a friend went here last night. It was our second visit and again we got the chef's tasting menu this time. I felt just about exactly opposite from darkstar above. I thought it was a crazy amount of food for a low price. For $55 dollars each, we got something like 18 courses/dishes and were defeated by the end. We could only eat about half of the desserts and 3/4 of the final entrees.

If you go to Graffiato, get the chef's tasting menu! The amount of food and more importantly the variety of flavors/tastes/dishes makes it all worth it. And they seem to change it up quite a bit. We were last there in late March and most of the dishes were different this time around. Our friend had never been there before and asked the waitress how many courses it was and she said three. I had to jump in and explain that each course had about five dishes!

Here's what we had to the best of my recollection (from the online menu):

First Course:

Broccolini $6

spicy pepper relish, walnut, feta

Baby Beets $7

house ricotta, orange

Roasted Cauliflower $7

pecorino, mint

Charred Sugar Snap Peas $7

lardo, sesame

Spicy Pistachios

Second Course:

Chilled Grape Soup $7

cucumber, ginger

Burrata $11

honey glazed onions, nigella

Caeser $8

cream cheese croutons

Cured Meats:

Olli Toscano, VA

Biellese Speck, NY

Prosciutto Di Parma, Italy

With Honey

Flatbread & Pepperoni Sauce $5

Pizza:

Countryman $18

black truffle, fontina, farmed soft egg

Third Course

Marinated Octopus $13

romesco, olives, almonds

Crispy Lamb $13

favas, yogurt, cucumber

Spiced Pork Ribs $11

tomato mostarda

Fettuccini $13

blue crab, summer squash, arugula pesto

Dessert:

Blood Orange Cheesecake $7

passion fruit, basil

Warm Chocolate Cake $8

fudge, salted caramel gelato

Blackberry Crostata $8

pine nut, whipped mascarpone

Everything was very good with one or two exceptions. Highlights included the charred snap peas, the chilled grape soup (like nothing I've ever had before), the caesar salad (with "croutons" that were hard on the outside but were filled with almost-liquid cream chese), the pizza (served with a sous vide (very) soft boiled egg on top that was broken and spread over the pizza at the table), and the desserts.

The only misses were the octopus which was a little tough and chewey. (the first time we were there we sat at the bar and were given an extra octopus dish that they mistakenly prepared and it was much better than what we had last night. So they can make it well, we just got one that was maybe a little over cooked). The other thing that was less than perfect was one of the final meat courses (the lamb I think, but it may have been the ribs). It was a little too salty for my tastes. But it hardly mattered as we were so stuffed at that point we could barely eat anything.

In conclusion, I loved the place!

It may not be "racist", but perhaps it is culturally insensitive for some white guys to drive around town serving Punjabi food while wearing turbans and fake mustaches.

I don't see it that way.

Surely it's not insensitve for white guys to serve Punjabi food, is it? No, of course not. Then the problem is them wearing fake mustaches and turbans while serving food. I don't understand the problem with that. To my knowledge they're not doing anything rude or crude or negative towards that culture, they're just wearing a costume or a uniform. I think of it the same way I would going into a 50s themed place, or "hollywood" place where the staff is dressed like James Dean or Marilyn Monroe. The staff is dressing up to create a certain vibe for the patrons.

To me the whole issue seems like a lot of phony outrage (from the guy who wrote the original letter, not directed at anyone in here)

Maybe I'm dumber than most of you (probably) and maybe I didn't read the entire thread carefully (definitely), but I don't understand the charges of racisim. Is it racist to talk in a fake Irish accent on St. Patty's day? Is it racist to break into an Italian accent when the big plate of spaghetti and meatballs hits the kitchen table? Is it racist to say "L'chaim" when toasting?

What's next, do we cry racism because a Spanish guy cooked my Italian meal?

Maybe I missed the entire point but I still don't understand what the crime was.

Graffiato probably wouldn't exist without Top Chef, and it certainly wouldn't have generated the same amount of hype leading to a second (and third) restaurant

Completely true! Mike himself told me that. No, I don't know him, just ate there once and had a 5 minute conversation with him at Graffiato.

I was a fan of his on Top Chef so we flagged him down and told him so. I don't know how it came up, but he flat out admitted that none of this would be possible without the exposure on Top Chef.

DC Food Truck Fiesta is a good one. It tells you where all the food trucks are each day and how far (as the crow flies) they are from you. It also has links to the food truck menus, twitter feeds and yelp reviews.

Thanks! That's pretty funny. He'd probably be one of the few chefs that I would recognize!

I could see Jacques writing a letter or making a few calls to get their jobs back.

Does anyone know what happened with Jacques Pepin at the Beard awards? I got a tweet from Anthony Bourdain that said, "Jacques who? Pepin? How do you spell that?.....sorry, you're not on the list"

Me no understand.

You know what else you need? An app.

I can't believe I just typed that becuase I'm a recent convert to the whole world of smart phones and apps and previously sort of turned my nose up at the whole idea, but I was driving home last night (actually riding) and we as we got near that new high end food shop, Society Fair, I wanted some information on what it was, how it was being received, etc and one of things that popped was a review in Urban Spoon (this was the first I heard of this outfit). They also had a free app, which is very similar to the yelp app.

I don't know if you want to go down this road but all the kids today are doing it. Of course this will cost money to develop. Maybe you could charge for it, but that would probably limit the appeal and the traffic. I downloaded Urban Spoon becuase it was free and I'll probably use it in counjuntion with yelp, chowhoud, DR, WashPost, etc.

I don't know if an app with further your cause or take you down a road you don't want to travel but these things are the wave of the future (or the wave of the present) for all sorts of things and all sorts of people use them. Might be worth looking into.

Okay, visitors can search now.

Sweet! That was my "gripe" before I joined. I try not to be too impatient, but I've noticed for me personally, that a side effect of the instantaneous nature of life on the internet, is that I'll blow something off if it requires more than a click or two. It's ridiculous, I know but that seems to be the way it is for me (and many others I'm sure). Case in point - if someone sends me a link to a newspaper article I'll read it if it opens when I click on it, but I'll blow it off if the site makes me register first. Hell, I don't even bother with youtube videos on my iphone because they take all of 10 seconds to load! It will be interesting to see it the increased access (even as read only) will increase the membership and participation.

This community could quickly devolve to "DC Chowhound" if member registration is loosened up. The process of being verified creates a sense of membership which comes with a normative obligation to be a good citizen. I like that. Content quality is very high. I LEARN stuff here! .

What do you mean about "devolving to something like DC Chowhound"?

The thing that Chowhound has going for it is it's ease of use for locals and out of towners. I can imagine a lot of travelers to DC check the various food sites and spend a lot more time on Chowhound because when they search for Komi, for instance, something comes up other than you need to login to see the content. I'm starting to restate my point from above, but it happened again to me last night.....I was using my wife's iPad to seach for something and got locked out/blocked out by the login.

I recently went to Miami and did all my restaurant reseach on Chowhound because it was easy. Maybe no one cares about ease of use for non-locals, but I'm sure the same issue drives locals away too.

But back to my original quesiton, what's wrong with Chowhound? Lowest common denominator?

I know this thread has moved on, but to address your first question, I had some thoughts.

I'm sitting here, sipping a Willett, and wondering why Yelp is kicking my ass ......

One problem may be the site access. I resisted joining for ages because of delays in getting an account set up. I know it only takes a day or two but almost every other "member site" out there allows damn near instant sign up and access.

Another thing that may drive people away is the fact you can't search the site without being a member. When I first found the site, I tried to do a search for say "minibar" and got shut out because I needed to log in first. I said, "screw it" and went somewhere else to find what I was looking for. I didn't end up joining the site until a couple of years later.

Maybe that just means I'm an impatient jerk, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who has been put off by not being able to at least search the site without being a member.

I'm sure you have good reasons for a non-automatic membership and a member-only search policy, but both policies slowed me down in joining/participating.

Just an FYI, that's all.