Nadya
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Everything posted by Nadya
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You made your reservation through OpenWhat??
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I think that would have to depend on the layout of the restaurant - for instance, are there steps involved, how wide is the space, is it possible to manouver without nicking something, etc. We have three steps down separating the lounge area from the main dining area, so getting past these would take some planning but certainly can be done. I imagine it would be different for every individual restaurant depending on the layout. Also wanted to say big thank you to everyone for your very kind and warm words of support, it means a lot to me. Once I recover from the weekend, I will post something meaningful. Edited to add I agree 500% with what Dean wrote re: accommodation. It's all about common sense, what we have and what we can and cannot do without imposing on others.
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My name is Nadya and I'm not rethinking my laud. I am leaving aside the issue of a possibility of an off night. Anyone can have an off night. Michelle Kwan fell in her freeskate in Salt Lake City in 2002 and that does not make her a not the idol champion legend skater. I am leaving aside the possibility of a difference in taste. You say tomaytoe, I say tomahto. You scintillate, I titillate. File under "W", that's "whatever." But I must differ from the claim that Palena offers a "fairly priced, casual menu." Palena offers exquisite food at ridiculous prices. On my last visit, amongst other wonders, we had a smoked goose/foie gras terrine. We had gnocchi with castelmagno and balsamic. And these are not the items one finds at a casual neighborhood joint, and certainly not at what, $15 a pop? Most casual neighborhood restaurants can't tell foie gras from viah grah. Most casual neighborhood joints don't even know what castelmagno is. Desserts never titillate? Pumpkin mousse cheesecake with pistachio brittle is the best damn dish ever. I had it around Thanksgiving, and I still tell stories about it. I used to hate burgers. No, it wasn't the Palena burger that converted me - you can't get deflowered twice, I'm afraid - but if I discovered Palena before Mendocino, you know who'd be sporting the honor. To me, there is no better comfort on a Monday night than biting into that juicy burgermagic Palena serves up. And oh, I have plenty of friends in Woodley/Cleveland Park who think the food is excellent, the dining options are plenty, and life is good. And they don't even know about Palena! Palena's reputation does not depend on the scarcity of options around it. It depends on the bloody fantastic, soulful and uncompromising food that comes out of its kitchen. Somehow I doubt that the best chefs in this town would have been seen with some regularity at a "casual neighborhood" place on their only day off, when the world is their oyster. And will you people stop telling your friends about this place? I mean, we had to wait for a table, on a Monday night! Enough with this unrestrained publicity already. -
Comfort Dishes, Guilty Pleasures, and Old Favorites
Nadya replied to DaveBVI's topic in Shopping and Cooking
Y'all can just go ahead and call me trailer-trash....whipped mashed sweet potatoes with bits of crunchy marshmallow. From Boston Market. Hell yeah. Oh, and really good caviar on skinny toast triangles. With just a touch of butter. Without all that fuckwittage of grated boiled egg, onion, capers, peanut butter, bacon bits and diet coke that can stay in the trash can where they belong. Мама, я хочу домой!!! -
Of course, calling to cancel is much more considerate and preferable to a no-show.
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Of course not, darlink! Remember, it's your history in just ONE restaurant, not your consolidated dining-out record. I don't think anyone is too bothered about one no-show. It's when you pull up someone's history and it says, "Reservations: 17. Cancellations: 2. No-shows: 15." you wish you could say, "Hmmmmm....come to think of it, we ARE fully booked tonight, Sir."
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I don't think so. Even when OpenTable costs become negligible. Human intelligence will always triumph over the machine, no matter how well-designed. I say onto you: if OpenTable tells you no tables are available, go ahead and call the restaurant. You never know. OpenTable seating plans are programmed with a certain degree of conservatism, and if the management is good at seating, they will push and extend and seat far in excess of what OpenTable permits. But they will not transfer that judgment power to the computer. We had most spots blocked on OpenTable during RW because we wanted more control over reservations. I used an old-fashioned spreadsheet with paper and pencil that worked just fine.
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Multiple reservations are vile. You only have to have a party of let's say eight people to no-show once or twice during the night to screw up your seating plans. I did NOT enjoy turning people away during RW only to have multiple deuces no-show minutes after I could have seated that table. That's revenue for the restaurant down the crapper, people! There is nothing like getting baleful stares from waiters twenty minutes after their big table no-shows, and now you have to turn your carefully thought-out ballet-like seating plan into a Chinese firedrill clustershmuck. Edited to add: OpenTable history shows the number of cancellations and no-shows on your record. Somewhere out there, a hostess is rubbing her little hands when a repeat no-show calls for a table.
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The Moving Finger writes; and having writ, Moves on; nor all your piety or wit Shall lure it back to cancel Half a Line, Nor will your tears wash out a word of it.
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It is actually not bad at all. I don't remember any outlandish demands left via OpenTable. If any show up, which is quite rare, it would be something like "one person in the party is a vegetarian" or "I am allergic to XYZ", which is a REALLY important piece of information to have, so I say type away. It helps both the servers and the kitchen. The funny bits conveyed by OpenTable requests usually come from first-time diners as they clearly can't be made by anyone else. Example: "we would like a quiet table by the window in your wonderful restaurant" request on a Thursday night during Restaurant Week. Well, we don't any windows OR quiet tables, and certainly not during RW. But as I said, the majority of comments are helpful. You should also feel free to indicate birthdays/anniversaries as many restaurants would be happy to know that ahead of time, we certainly are.
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The comment on inferior seating for OpenTable reservations is complete malarkey. The means by which reservations were made do not factor into seating decisions, at least not when I'm the one making them. This is how seating is determined, in priority order: Factor #1: Presence or absence of special requests. "Want a booth," "want table by fireplace," "want corner table," "want a quiet table" (SOL here), "want to sit upstairs," etc. If this request has been communicated, the diner gets a table they requested, assuming the numbers make sense and no conflicts arise. Factor #2: Type of diner. Regulars who come a lot and have known likes and dislikes will get seated at their favorite tables, assuming there is no conflict with prior requests. Factor #3: Workload of waiters. If there are no special requests on file and you are not known to have a favorite table, you will most likely get seated in the section of a restaurant covered by the waiter who is next in line for a table. Remember, the host who assigns seating has to make sure that all the waiters have at least equal opportunity to make a comparable number of counts on any given night. Also, if you show up late, you will likely get seated in the "closing section," which gets late diners from let's say one hour to closing and onwards. To recap, it doesn't matter if you make your reservations via the phone, OpenTable, registered mail, or telepathy. All I want to is to make you happy
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Joe worked with Chef Buben for a long time and was at the helm of our lunch shift before his appointment. I would like to point out that the lunch shift at Bis delivers a unique kind of pressure as a hundred-plus people descend on the place and want to sit down all at once and get out in an hour. It takes great skill and organization to do this, so I'm not surprised at Joe's move up. He's also great to work with, always cheerful and composed, which is an underappreciated quality for a chef. I hope he makes an appearance here before too long.
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After a vile, meager lunch that came out of a can, and a grueling 2-hour workout, Monday Night @ Palena has finally rolled around. It was everything I wanted, with a few unexpected and heavenly bonuses. Anything pasta that comes out of Frank Ruta's kitchen should be painted, framed and lovingly kept in the family. The dish that shone the brightest for me last night was Yucon gold gnocchi. That was sheer orgasm in the mouth that never subsided until the plate was clean. The taste was a beautiful merger of light but full of potato-ey goodness with creamy castelmagno that I thought differed wonderfully from the variety of cheeses one tends to get on one's gnocchi. Coupled with a sweet kick of balsamic, the result was almost like...like cheesecake but savory. Gorgeous. Blissful. Angel comfort food. I rave of pasta, but am often reminded that this kitchen does magical things with all house meats. Honestly, I'm not a big charcuterie person, but any piece of Frank Ruta's meat I would devour to the last piece. Last night, smoked goose and foie gras terrine - oh so good, so rich, so smooth and melting. When bollito (beef brisket with coddled egg and veal tongue) made an appearance, I was already getting full and that was the only reason why I may have had less than one half. Intensely flavored, fork-tender, surrounded by meat juice, runny egg and herb mixture, that was a polish-your-dish with a piece of bread thing. I continue to be baffled by complaints about service. Last night, we shared every dish and our waiter took care, without any requests from us, to bring every item except the unsplittable bollito, evenly divided between two plates, including a burger that was cut in two with surgical precision. I would describe the service as quietly competent, looking ahead and completely unobtrusive.
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Palena haiku (note harmonious, eye-pleasing slope of line ends): It's Sunday night. I'm squirming in my seat, Swallowing loudly in anticipation. Can Monday night come any sooner?
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Had dinner at Taberna a couple of weeks ago. While the food details are blurry in my mind - technically sound, quality ingredients, but nothing truly special - there IS something about it that stands out. So many posh restaurants today specialize in making you feel forever young. This is achieved by an overload of chrome, glass, stainless steel, and seating that makes you either stretch or perch. The resulting effect is the feeling that you OUGHT to be under thirty, sport the latest label on your snookerball bottom, toss back cosmos, throw your head back a lot and generally look like you are having the most fabulous time known to man. It is tiresome enough to watch on twenty-somethings; when fifty-somethings fall into the same stream, it becomes downright sad. Taberna's dining room, with its dark crimson walls, massive molding, plush seats, lacy covers and an objet d'art-ified bar, makes you sit up straight and feel unabashedly adult. This is the place to wear grown-up clothes, have grown-up conversation, drink grown-up drinks and practice grown-up manners. It makes me want to balance my checkbook, use protection, watch my posture and go to bed before midnight. Every now and then, the feeling is even welcome.
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Today's Washington Post says... The week's Washington Auto Show is full of fast, fabulous machines, but what really got our motors running was a chance to hang with the fast, fabulous Redskins running back Clinton Portis . But when we rushed to the Convention Center on Tuesday night, who's the first person we bumped into? Sen. George Allen test-driving . . . a Segway. The Virginia Republican zipped back and forth, grinning broadly. (This was his first time on the geek machine, so, no, he's not the guy who rolled into Bistro Bis.) We asked what his Segway Platform will be if, as rumored, he becomes a presidential candidate in '08: "Keeping America moving forward with new innovation!" Nadya says: The Moving Finger writes; and having writ, Moves on; nor all your piety or wit Shall lure it back to cancel Half a Line, Nor will your tears wash out a word of it.
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Driving around New York Avenue, one does not expect to see fancy food. As one tools down, one glances over copious MickeyDees and KayEfCees with a tired, resigned eye. This is why this little mom-and-pop shoebox of a deli cunningly buried in a row of sketchy Greyhound Station meets Port-au-Prince market storefronts is such a delight. Crammed to the hilt with all kinds of Italian goodies, wine, pesto, pasta, cookies, fancy anchovies, Litteri's has been there for allegedly close to a very long time. In addition, it churns out very satisfying subs, a half of which I just happily devoured for lunch under the resentful glare of my Lean-Cuisine-lovin' coworkers. In case you are wondering, the other half has been reserved for a healthy afternoon snack. I feel happier about living in the 'hood knowing that it is there.
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Some things in life you appreciate just because they are there. You give your picky eyes a break. You turn off the fastidious part of your brain. You send your sarcasm on vacation. You simply revel in the comfort of their presence. Over the last two weeks, I have parked my bottom on a BdC barstool at least five times. And sipping my bubbles and tucking into my onglet - so reliable, so chewy, so everything I expect it to be - there is no place I would rather be, no place I feel more comfortable. Yeah, the food is sometimes pedestrian, yeah, the servers give you shit. It's smoky. It's noisy. But you know what? Something about the mix of all of the above and a chance to be yourself draws me in over and over again. I am grateful such a place exists within an easy stumble from soon-to-be-not-my-house.
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I have a day job so I am never there for lunch shift. I can check for you and report back. Off the top of my head, I don't see how the Abramoff scandal should be related to lunch traffic. They still need to eat, right? It's not like the Hill is the fine dining haven. There's us and Charlie Palmer's, and that's about it.
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I have never got out of Komi in less than 3 hours, and that's on the short side. And I would stay longer if they didn't have to close.
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We had a blind guest dine with us once with a guardian dog. That dog had better manners than most children. Walked the lady to her table and made himself comfortable under the table while she ate, not a motion or a sound. No problem at all.
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I think I am going to pre-empt Rocks and say that this discussion should NOT! NOT! NOT! evolve into a hatefest of pro-Segway vs. anti-Segway sentiments. These passions, be they what they may be, are best taken elsewhere. Certainly, my original intention has been to appeal to the pro-common sense vs. anti-common sense boundary. You know, this story almost got buried in "the trenches" collection. Don't go hatin' on people, it makes it easy to dismiss you. Edited to say: damn you Rocks! You raced me!! Off to watch Eurosport. Men's short program about to start, I can't be dallying with you here.
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And I also wish to point out that if not for y'all, then today I would have been doing what god intended - i.e. watching European Figure Skating Championship in my office via Eurosport webchannel and screaming with every popped salchow. On the other hand, compulsory dance and ladies short program was a snoozefest, so no big loss. Will watch on tape later. Instead of, you know, hitting "refresh" here every two minutes.
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To recap what may have been lost in pages above: Reasonable accommodation is gladly given to guests with disabilities. In my experience, we had guests in wheelchairs, guests with guardian dogs, guests on crutches....Of course those with disability have a right to enjoy dining out, just like everyone else. Of course we make accommodations. Doesn't everyone? The point of the whole story is that a Segway is a fairly large contraption that is most certainly disruptive in a crowded area. A front lounge of any restaurant on a Friday night of Restaurant Week certainly qualifies as a crowded area. If other guests have to step aside or move or be otherwise inconvenienced, I think it's reasonable for them to expect that the inconvenience comes from a compelling reason (such as disability), not a mere preference. And since there was no indication of disability whatsoever, the impression we got was that of entitlement, not of disability. Let me repeat that if a guest mentioned to us that he had difficulty moving around by usual means, everyone would have had nothing but understanding for their situation, and this story would never have been written. And let's not forget about one more thing. In addition to being large, aren't these things, er, rather expensive? What is something goes wrong while they are being stored in a coatroom? Should a restaurant be expected to assume liability for safe-keeping? What if they are kept in the corner and someone stumbles and falls? What if there is a theft? Do you see what arises when things are stored in places where they are not meant to be stored without a compelling reason?