Bart

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

I posted this in ChowHound almost a year ago, but I just got a note saying they are getting rid of all their reviews. Strange. Anyhow, I didn't want all my brilliant thoughts, and all that typing to be lost to the ether , so here it is: Bibiana 3-30-11 For my wife’s birthday I wanted to do something different and I’ve been reading a lot of Anthony Bourdain lately and he always seems to be able to walk into a place a have the chef serve whatever is fresh, or his personal favorite, or some type of special off-the-menu items. I didn’t know if a normal person could do that so I asked about it in here and was advised to call the restaurant and ask, so I did. When I called to ask about it, I spoke to Francesco, the sommelier, and he told me they could do whatever I’d like and to ask for him when we got there. He said they could do a meal from 2 to 2000 courses; it was all up to me. Too easy. Right after we were seated, Francesco came over and asked if there was any item we didn't want to eat. Peppers (sweet ones) don't agree with my wife so that was our only restriction. It was also just about the only input we had in the meal. He asked if we wanted wine and of course the answer was YES, and I asked about wine pairings. He actually suggested we just get a bottle because he felt the pairing would be too much wine. When does a restaurant convince you to buy *less* of something from them?!?!? I thought that was really cool and unexpected and left us with a very good taste in our mouths. It seemed to say, "just trust me, I've got your back." A minute or two later, Francesco, returned with two glasses of champagne as his gift to us for my wife's birthday. No charge! The first course was Carciofi Alla Guidia, which was fried artichokes. This was the only thing we requested (based on reviews in Chowhound) and I’m glad we did. The artichokes were fried, possibly deep fried, but they didn’t have any breading or batter on them. They were just crispy, crunchy artichokes, but they were really different and really good. Strangely, the best part of the dish, or the most surprising part was the little bits of fried parsley that was like a garnish. The parsley was also crispy and crunchy but still had that distinctive parsley taste. It was almost like eating tiny potato chips that were parsley flavored. I’d get this dish again just for the parsley! The second course was mozzarella (I think) cheese and beets. It was something I never would have ordered and I was so glad that I left the ordering up to someone else because this dish was another winner. When Francesco delivered the plates he said he picked up the cheese today from Dulles airport and that it was just flown in from Italy. This seemed strange because to me, mozzarella was just something you put on pizza or maybe had with a slice of tomato. Well, this mozzarella was a completely different animal from anything that I’d ever seen. The plate had three little chunks of different colored beets that were (maybe) pickled on one side and a blob of cheese on the other. The blob of mozzarella looked like a soft boiled egg, complete with ground pepper on top. The most amazing thing was that the cheese *acted* like a soft boiled egg too. It was creamy and liquidy in the middle and it flowed out when you cut the outer layer. I don’t know if this a common way to serve this cheese, but I’ve never had it and it blew me away. It was such a weird surprise and very good too. The third course was the pasta course and it was some sort of homemade linguini but it was two or three times as thick as normal. It also had some sort of spice infused/injected/inserted into the pasta. It was cooked very al dente and was really good. Very hearty. It was served with a hunk or two of lobster which was also great. I couldn’t find this dish on the online menu, and I don’t know if it’s on their regular menu since we never saw one, but it should be! This dish also had those amazing little bits of fried parsley. The forth course was halibut over some vegetables. I honestly don’t remember what they were. Sorry. They were some sort of pickled thing I think. Whatever they were, they were very good as was the fish. Light and moist. This is another dish that I can’t find on the menu (the online menu). The fifth course was my favorite of the night and this one is on the menu. It’s called 'Ossobuco Milanese' and it was veal cheek on a bed of mushrooms and risotto. The veal almost had the consistency of pudding and by that I mean it was so tender that you almost didn’t have to chew it. It practically turned to liquid in my mouth. It was amazing and I could have easily eaten 3 or 4 more. Looking back at the online menu, this was another dish I probably wouldn’t have ordered. I probably would have picked the lamb, but again, it was much better that I left the ordering up to someone else because this dish was killer. Next came the dessert and a special (extra) dessert for my wife for her birthday. Both were great. The real shocker was when the bill came. There were only three lines on it. One for wine and two for “Open Hot Food” which was code for our tasting meal. The price per meal was only $72. I tried to calculate what it would have cost based on similar items on the menu and I ended with something about $20 more per meal! This seemed like a great bargain to me and (again) the best part was we didn’t have do anything other than enjoy. No thinking, no agonizing over menu choices, just sitting back and waiting for the next surprise to come. If you’re up for a great meal and a little bit of an adventure, call Bibiana, ask for Francesco and leave it all up to him. We had a wonderful meal, a different experience and a great night. To quote Homer Simpson, this meal was “seven thumbs up!”

Not so Majestic....... After a wonderful meal at the Majestic a few months ago, my wife and I decided to take my parents there when they were in town last week. I wish our recent meal was as good as the earlier one, but sadly it wasn’t. Nothing was horribly wrong or needed attention from the manager, it just wasn’t great. Our server was competent but not polished and had a look that just didn’t belong in a nice place. Scraggly facial hair is not appealing in someone bringing you your food! He also did the old upselling trick on the salads…..”Would you like a house or Caesar salad with that?” My parents both said yes, because where they come from when you’re asked a question like that the assumption is that the salad comes with the main course. I didn’t say anything as I didn’t want to spoil the mood (and was picking up the tab), but those salad were an extra 10 bucks each! Had my parents known this, they would have been appalled and not ordered them, or it would have badly tainted their meal. The next bizarre bit of service came when the main courses arrived. Someone, a hostess or manager (not our server), arrived at our table with one dish in each hand, held at shoulder height. She stood there for a few seconds without saying anything and then said, “I need to slide this” in a tone that suggested a bit of anger like we’ve all done this drill hundreds of times. Yes, that’s a direct quote, and no, we didn’t know what she was talking about or what to do about it as there looked to be enough room on the table to put the plates down. Using all my powers of deduction, I surmised that “I need to slide this” was code for, “Could you please make some room for these plates?”, we did and she put my father’s plate (the plate she needed to slide) in front of my mother. Hardly the end of the world, but a little weird and borderline rude. I really hate when a server arrives with both hands full, says nothing and expects the guests to be mind readers. If you’d like me to make some more room on the table, just ask! The meal itself was also hit or miss. My venison was rubbery and chewy except the end pieces that had a little more char on them and were very good, and the accompanying greens were oversalted and most remained on my plate. My mother liked the meatloaf but it was nothing special and either she or my wife could have made a better one. I’m a fan of meatloaf, but wouldn’t order this one again. My father liked the mussels and my wife liked her Restaurant Week choices: butternut squash ravioli, key lime pie and the best dish of the entire evening the appetizer called “Tomatoes and Potatoes”. Onions, potatoes, fried green tomatoes all toped with a sunny side up egg. That was a true winner and worth going back for. The onion ring appetizer was also a big hit. The pace of the meal was also strange. The place was only1/3 full when we arrived, but there were very long pauses between courses where we just sat and sat. Our plates probably sat on the table for 10 minutes after we were all done eating and it was another 10 minutes of waiting for my wife’s dessert. We eventually flagged down our server and asked for it to go. From the service to food, it was one of the least enjoyable meals I can remember in recent years, which sounds horrible, but it’s actually a comment on how many great meals I’ve had lately. This meal was far below what I’ve grown accustom to and really stood out. Do you think the Armstrong’s are getting stretched too thin? Who knows, but sadly, I've lost my desire to return to this place.

Do you have a garden? I've been growing them for 4 or 5 years (ever since a former coworker from PR gave me some seeds). I never know what to do with them, but keep growing them just because they're so different and I never see them in seed catalogs. Mine look like this and have a mild spice/heat to them. When fully ripe, they are a much deeper red.

He was likely downstairs in Little Serow. We saw him there the following night (Thursday) in the kitchen.

Thanks! I sort of knew a different Peter Chang from "Duck Changs" and "Peking Duck"

Can someone explain the Peter Chang referecne? I sense there's some back story. Thanks!