mdt

Twice I have run into chefs/cooks whose dinners I'd just eaten and to whom -- in response to their questions -- I politely and briefly outlined the shortcomings of the meal. In neither case did the chef appear at all grateful for my feedback.  Clearly their chefly egos were more acclimated to gushy praise.  

And this has occurred on this site more than once. As much as restaurant folks want to hear how folks truly feel, many truly don't. 

Any recent comments or are folks just passing it by? Somehow I have never heard of this place considering it's so close to me. I was just looking at their site and they are pushing the farm to table things like many places. Might have to make a visit as the menu looks good.

Tried an array of their beers recently and nothing to get excited about, with their brown ale being the tastiest of the bunch. Hopefully in time things will get better over time. Very nice space, but if I want my local beer fix I will head over to Forge.

Interesting. TS clearly a fan but didn't mention service beyond the wine pairings. Hopefully they get that on a more consistent track to realize the GM's ambition.

""We don't want to be thought of as a typical hotel restaurant," general manager Alex Obertop said in June."

This review will increase the interest significantly.

Does anyone really think he was not recognized?

Hey, mdt, can you give some more detail about your visit? I haven't heard anything about Komi in quite awhile, and it has been *way* too long since I've been. Do you think Little Serow has affected Komi in any way? I'd love to hear about your likes and dislikes.

IMO, Little Serow hasn't affected Komi in any way that I can see, at least not negatively. Dinner was excellent as always and service continues to be at the top of just about anywhere I have eaten. The mezzethakia are still seafood (and crudo) themed but vary between the plates to keep you interested as they come out. As one of our party noted the spicing and seasoning has expanded from your typical Mediterranean array to include flavors typically associated with Indian cuisine (I didn't take detailed notes). New standards for the main are a smoked beef rib and a slow cooked lamb neck that were enjoyed by all.

We do the wine pairing with dinner (half pour is available with no fuss) as they always seem to bring out some rather interesting selections that pair perfectly with the dishes. You don't necessarily get a full glass of each wine, but IIRC we had about 8 or 9 different ones.

Since I am a frequent diner here I know my experience is not typical and we see some extra dishes, but this place is clearly one of the top spots anywhere. You seriously need to get there again if it's been a long time.

Perhaps the others that dined with us will chime in with their comments.

We did the brunch yesterday, and we won't be back. Long lines for skimpy portions of proteins. Expensive and mediocre.

Was this a buffet option or are you talking about ordering off the menu?

No lollipops on Saturday night. I didn't ask if this was a permanent change. Anyone else notice this?

This is by no means a complaint in case anyone is wondering.

Mine is grilled octopus, not the one-tentacle thing usually served around here, but as you describe as a teenager....rubbed with olive oil and garlic and herbs and sea salt, and grilled to a nice char on the outside and tender on the inside. And with the smokiness you describe....

While not octopus the grilled whole squid at Itzakaya Seki is excellent.

Bob and Edith's is opening in Springfield in the K-Mart plaza on Backlick, in the space formerly occupied by Tommy Thai....

And that would be a plus for dining in Springfield.

Invited out by some friends to join them here for dinner at the DC location I was not expecting much after looking through this thread. I certainly didn't have any issues with the food or service.

Started with an excellently made Aviation. and my entree was the chicken and waffles. Two tasty and nicely fried pieces of chicken (one white, one dark) with half a waffle, mac & cheese (a little dry for my taste) and my choice of side (very good roasted winter vegetables). The pot pie my wife had was very good as well. For dessert we had Uncle Buck's beignets that are served with small dishes of raspberry coulis, caramel sauce, and semi-sweet chocolate sauce.

Should it be voted the best restaurant in Tyson's? Who cares about some dumb ass poll. Based on my one visit,  It has good food, good cocktails, and good service and I would certainly return again.

Does anyone know what the menu for Retro Rays is???  How is it different from Ray's?  I couldn't find it on his website and menupages seemed to have the same Ray's the Steaks.

Does the Retro even exist anymore? I was there a few days ago (made a reservation with Open Table, which seemed odd) and we were seated in the Retro space. The front door to the Retro space was blocked off and everyone was coming in through the main door so maybe it's one space now.

You don't happen to know if Meru is going to be in theaters, do you?

Meru won the audience award for best U.S. Documentary, but I did not have a chance to see it. The funny thing is that of all the conversations I had with folks about the various movies they saw and liked nobody mentioned that one. That all said, I did not hear about it being picked up, but I hope it is so that I can see it.

Recently got back from Sundance, blah, blah, blah, and wanted to let everyone here know about the excellent documentary City of Gold. I believe this got picked up and will be out in theaters (indie most likely) later this year.

From imdb.com

CITY OF GOLD is about the transformative power of food and food writing in how we experience where we live. Pulitzer Prize winning critic, Jonathan Gold, is our VIrgilian guide, casting his light upon a vibrant and growing cultural movement, a movement in which he plays the dual roles of high-low priest and culinary geographer of his beloved Los Angeles.

More info here and here.

Is this a good deal?  I'm intrigued but I've never paid this much for chocolate

http://www.costco.com/Neuhaus-Belgian-Chocolates-"Leather-Style"-Box.product.100080845.html

They come out to less than $1/piece which is not expensive for good quality chocolates. That said, I have no idea on what these are like.

Any recent updates?

I have had no contact with Melissa Harris in a long time, but I believe this is a Paypal issue. I'm certain that Melissa informed Paypal that she was suspending publication and requested that they suspend any automatic renewals. I don't think she should be blamed if Paypal is charging people. Paypal is eating the money, so the ire should be directed at Paypal.

PayPal isn't eating anything. If you setup a recurring charge the money is processed by PayPal and the recipient has a valid account (according to my view her account is still active and has a status of verified) the money will get transferred to her, minus the service charge. You need to cancel the recurring charge, which I did right after I realized that the magazine was never going to be coming.

Ok, so Hubby gave me a gift certificate that will cover two classes here and I am trying to decide what to take.  My problem is, I feel I am a little advanced past a lot of the beginner classes and they have so many couples classes.  I like my Hubby, but he doesn't want to take a cooking class with me and no offense to him, but I don't want to waste a class on him.  I think I probably have the knife skills taught in the basic class.  I am good at citrus supremes, cutting vegetables and cutting up a chicken.  I could use a class on de-boning as a whole though on multiple types of meat.  The sauce class really interested me, but it's a series on a weeknight and that just is asking for me to have an emergency trial pop up on my schedule, same goes for the pastry, which I would have to start this week anyway so that just doesn't seem to work and they don't seem to have make up session if you miss one of the series classes.  The bread making was one sold out and two again seems just a tad more basic than what I would want.  I can make basic yeast breads, I am more interested in say pretzels, yeast rolls, challah, etc.

So I am debating between pasta, dumplings or shellfish or biting the bullet and doing the sauce course?  Anyone take any of these or teach any of these?  Homemade pasta, dumplings and cooking with shellfish are all things I shy away from at home because I just haven't done them by myself.

Sounds like the pasta class may be what you want to take if you shy away from that at home. Not sure who is teaching that one, but I assisted Susan W.'s pasta class many, many times in the past and it is very good. You make various kinds of pasta (regular and filled) and it will certainly give you the tools you need to start making it at home.

While entertaining, the book is certainly much better. There is simply no way to cover Zamperini's amazing life experiences before, during, and after (not done in the movie at all) the war in ~2 hours. I am amazed that he and the hundreds of other POWs were able to survive the brutal conditions for such a long period of time. The human body and brain are truly remarkable.

We would like to ring in the New Year with raw oysters at home.  I see that Rappahannock River Oysters ships fresh oysters via Fedex overnight, but my husband has asked me to source Raspberry Points, which grow off the coast of Prince Edward Island, available via Marx Foods and Farm-2-Market.

Has anybody ordered oysters online?  Which vendors have you used?  Were you satisfied by the results?

I have only ordered Rappahannock's and have had no issues with them at all. You could also look at getting some fresh oysters at WF or Wegman's as they usually have a good fresh assortment for around $0.99/piece.

On 12/11/2014 at 7:05 AM, porcupine said:

I'm going to have about 8 hours to kill at LAX between flights.  As luck would have it, an old friend works near LAX and offered to pick us up and take us to lunch and help kill the time.  He's not much of a foodie, though he's willing to take us just about anywhere.

So, what's a good place for a mid-afternoon meal not too far from LAX?

Tsujita is where I plan to eat when I land there on Monday afternoon.

Story here. Oh and the name stays.

Great write up Charles. We were there on the early side and had a wonderful dinner as well. We both did the regular tasting menu and enjoyed each dish. The entire experience was great and you would never have known it was the last night of service. The take home gift of the thank you note put in the bar menu holder was a nice touch. They also had a guestbook for folks to sign on the way out. I was glad to have dined there over the years and look forward to Chef's new place!

So they only offer half yards, not full?  Pfffft.  Go big or go home

I can't tell from the beer menu posted, but are all of those on draft?  I would assume as much if you can get them by the half yard.  If so that's pretty impressive, but there are some offerings on there that I don't think are available year round.

Everything is on draft and they offer shortys, pints, and 1/2 yards of each beer. They also have special flights of 6 beers in various categories. It's an impressive ring of taps around the bar.

The place is huge! Lots of good beer, service is on the slow side, but they are working hard and it should (hopefully) improve. Burger was good, but it's not like anyone is going here for just the food. And there are TVs everywhere if you are interested in catching a sporting event.

If you ever get down south, try Blue Plate.  My mother used to send it to me in "I'm sorry you're in grad school in Illinois" care packages along with real grits, and one time was on a plane next to a woman who had a jar of it in her carry on to take to her son in Chicago.  It's serious stuff.

No need to wait as Amazon has everything! click.