mdt

It was stuffed with the roe and a forcemeat of shad trimmings, scallops and sorrel which, without contact to the air or too high of a poaching temperature stayed green after cooking.  It will be treated as a ballotine; seared in lard and served with cured pork belly and a sorrel sauce thickened with onions and rice.

Absolutely delicious! I am the only one that misses all the things he made when at Society Fair?

Interesting read, nothing too surprising.

Here is the Eater story and here is the full text of the secret document.

They do discuss bloggers in general and provide this info. Of course there are those places that dislike the non-glowing amateur reviews.

With bloggers we will normally know ahead of time that they are coming as their attendance to a media event is prearranged and it's very rare for a blogger to simply show up and attempt to not be recognized.  Basically, they're in it for a free meal, which we happily provide for some positive coverage.

For what it's worth I was just discussing it with some friends who went last year.  They said they had fun, eventually left full, but said they wouldn't be going back this year.  They said they felt like the price was that high because they were floating the costs of every media person who was comped (and loudly proclaiming their VIP status).

Pictures sure look awesome though.

I wonder, how many of the media folks were local bloggers?

Any chance this is available on Wednesday?

This discussion reminds me that 1) the next time I'm in New York I want to go to Le Bernadin (I was coincidentally just discussing it with a potential co-conspirator last weekend, in fact) and that 2) by far the best chapter in Bourdain's otherwise mediocre "Medium Raw" was the chapter about Justo Thomas, the the guy in Le Bernadin's basement who knifes through a thousand pounds of fish a day for Mr. Ripert. I was unable to discover a link to this chapter through the normal method of Googling through the internets searching for brazen copyright violations, but I did discover that  that a number of other reviewers singled out this chapter -- "My Aim is True" -- for praise, as well.  I was unable to turn up any internet pirates, alas, but anyone who loves food and respects craft would do well to at least read the chapter for free in some bookstore aisle, if there are any bookstores left near where you live.

And I did discover this video.

IIRC one of Bourdain's shows was about Le Bernadin and they spent some time talking to Justo. He ate at the restaurant and said that it was the first time he had ever done so.

Certainly an odd situaiton that could ahve been handled better

Also, I want to know what a Waffle Quiche is.

Grab "a" beer??? I should have known what JoeH was saying was too good to be true. We arrived before 7 and the quoted wait time was 2-2 1/2 hrs. We opted to try to grab dinner at the bar, which was a total clusterfuck as we watched people who came after us hone in on and take seats before us. After an hour and no sign of eating anytime soon we left and went to Acadiana. I said this to them and I will reiterate it here, bar seating should have a waitlist just as the tables do, at least on weekends when it is so packed that everyone at the bar is eating a meal and there are crowds of people hovering in hopes of grabbing seats. That might also improve the service people receive when ordering drinks.

Pretty much the typical scenario when getting a bar seat at any tapas place in Spain.

I think the only local place that manages the bar seats is CityZen, or at least they used to do this.

Review of the new Moorsetown Mall location here. Interesting info on the difference in the price of wine between PA and NJ.

At some point Rose's WILL start accepting reservations.  I believe it will have to.  There is a huge wave of people trying it now because of the press.  There is tolerance for the waits and the early dining times.  But at some point this is going to grow old.  I believe that the level that Rose's is on should not be about trying to squeeze a third dinner turnover out of a table.  For dinner of this quality it is appropriate to accept reservations even charging more to allow this.  They are running the very real risk that people while acknowledging that they are excellent will no longer want to make the extraordinary effort to dine there.  And it IS an effort, even on weeknights.

I disagree. While not the same type of place, Little Serow has been operating with no reservations for some time now without any trouble as folks are still making the effort by lining up before the opening bell. If the food stays at the same level, people will still show up. Are there any examples of places that have not switched to reservations that have been adversely affected because of that policy BTW, they also do not seat parties larger than a 4-top.

Had dinner here the other night and the beets and pirogi were excellent as starters. The pastrami was rather dry and lean which made me wish I ordered something else (maybe an off night?). The other folks enjoyed their selections.

Went there on Wednesday evening and the kitchen closed early because of the snow storm. Had a pickle plate and some of the horseradish vodka, which was surprisingly tasty. We went with some grad students/postdocs from Russia and they were excited for a taste a dishes from home, but they had to settle for returning on another night. I will be returning at some point as the menu looks pretty good.

You're entitled to misinterpret my observations to your heart's content.

The part about the large bar in the middle is that it's in the way. It is awkwardly huge and truncates the dining area into clumsy subsections. Having been seated on the two-top side of the bar with teensy round tables insufficient in size to hold even appetizers, I was attempting to point out that a competent reviewer would have noted this layout as a design flaw.

The part about distinguishing it from other 2-star places is that Candy Sagon rates just about anything 2-stars. Thus there is no distinction in her qualitative assessment between Osteria Marzano and any other place she is allowed to review, most of which are irrelevant out-of-the-way places across the Virginia suburbs, like Opa Mezze Grill in Ashburn or Mala Tang in Arlington or The Light Horse in Alexandria. It is difficult to calibrate her qualitative assessment when everything is 2 stars. I wouldn't cross town for one of her 2-star reviews, ever.

The part about Sietsema giving one-and-a-half-stars to Monty's was my observation of the Post's inconsistent ratings. I would put Monty's at least on a par, and maybe a notch above, Osteria Marzano. Todd Klimann would agree with that qualitative assessment. Apparently the Post's qualitative ratings are somewhat inconsistent and subjective, at least to me.

But whatever you thought I was saying was obviously confusing to you, and I apologize for any lack of clarity.

So if they don't see it your way they are not a competent reviewer, interesting. I don't think the layout is bad, but as it has been pointed out in another thread I am just a amateur blogger/poster that does not respect the craft. 

Is Opa irrelevant because the food is not that good or because it's in Ashburn, where a huge number of Post readers happen to live? Why is Light Horse irrelevant?

It would be interesting to know what places she reviews versus what the editors select for publication to see if they are choosing ones with the similar rating.

I typically dislike Candy Sagon's reviews in the Washington Post Magazine because they are unenlighteningly empty and they are written about a place in the Virginia suburbs that you'll never go to -- even moreso after reading her vapid reviews. I wonder how such an individual can score a "second seat food critic" role with the Washington Post.

Today, her review of Osteria Marzano wasn't bad, but it also wasn't spot-on:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/osteria-marzano-expert-italian-cooking-shows-up-in-an-alexandria-office-park/2014/01/29/6e7d06f8-771d-11e3-af7f-13bf0e9965f6_story.html

What she describes as a design feature with the huge bar down the middle, I would consider a design flaw. That bar is so big that it's actually in the way. The obvious early struggles in the FOH are nowhere to be seen in this review, and the ubiquitous two-star rating distinguishes this place from no other restaurant she has reviewed throughout Virginia. Somewhat remarkably, however, she actually provides some good detail on the food.

[What's worse to me is that her boss, Tom Sietsema, gave only a one-and-a-half-star rating to Monty's Steakhouse, just a few miles away on the other side of Springfield. To someone like me who has eaten at least a dozen meals in both places, I would have flipped the ratings, or at least given the same two-star rating to both. For special events like Valentine's Day, you'll find Lady KN and me at Monty's.]

The large bar was not praised in the review, just discussed as a decision made by the owners, I think it has worked out rather well.

Why does it have to be distinguished from other 2-star places? The rating, which I think is right, can stand on its own and let folks know that the place is pretty good, as evidenced by their definition of the rating (below). The equivalence shows that it is comparable to other places in the area. It certainly shows that it is better than the many other places nearby.

Good: Restaurants with generally appealing cooking, service and settings; they tend to be worth driving across town for. 

I wonder how much the "magazine" generated? Zora any word from the publisher?

After a less than stellar experience at another highly priced restaurant left us wondering if this type of dining was just not that exciting or interesting to us anymore. A visit to Komi earlier this month proved that we were wrong, very wrong. The dishes were beautifully plated, interesting and most importantly absolutely delicious. Unfortunately they do not hand out menus, so I am not going to detail each dish and just provide some of the highlights.

• Slow cooked uni and egg with chives "“ a custard of uni and egg presented inside an egg shell served with a garlic knot.

• Peeky toe crab with coconut with lime "“ absolutely awesome sweet crab matched well with the coconut (which was an extremely light mousse/foam) and the great acidity of the lime. One of the best dishes of the night.

• Whole prawn with burrata "“ perfectly cooked prawn on a bed of burrata with basil oil(?), I wish I had more details on this dish as it was exceptional.

• Ham sandwich (open face) house cured ham, jalapeno, on house made sourdough bread. Think of it as a take on banh mi.

• Duck hearts with Ethiopian spiced lentils and crispy injera

• Main was a bone in veal chop and perfectly cooked they had the standards of goat and suckling pig, but he veal was new to us and we opted for that. Not sure if they ask all diners, but we have been many times and we were asked if there was anything we preferred.

• One of the desserts was a chocolate custard with a layer of olive oil custart and sea salt "“ Delicious, my only complaint was that the serving was too small!

• And if anyone is interested the lollipop flavor was birthday cake

There were two one-bite dishes that we did not enjoy, but not for a fault of preparation, just flavors that did not go well in our opinion.

• Steamed brioche bun with white chocolate and osetra caviar - This is a combination from Blumenthal that was analyzed by a chemist that showed similar flavor compounds. I am all for science, but it didn't work or us. It was OK, just nothing special.

• The other was a combination of chocolate and paprika, IIRC, that didn't work for us.

The wine pairings were excellent and went very well with the food. The pairings ranged from reislings, to white rioja, to a spiced Italian beer, to a 2003 Chateau Musar (great!), and finished with Madeira. I think we had 8 or 9 tastes which they said would be about 5-6 glasses total and they served a ½ pairing for my wife with no issues.

As usual excellent food and stellar service made for a wonderful evening.

Possibly heading to Garland, TX in a couple of weeks. You Texas folk have recommendations for Q spots for dinner?

Are you talking about Michael himself hand-cutting meat behind the counter? I have never been convinced that this was anything more than show. The sheer numbers of hamburgers sold (sometimes near 1,000 a day) negate the possibility of this being representative.

Folks were certainly hand grinding meat at the original location. My guess is that they had more grinders going once business really ramped up.

The crispy chicken wings are pretty darn good here.

Went and had the antipasto plate and a pizza. Nothing surprising here and the antipasto plate is rather sparse for the price, a selection of some cheese, cold cuts, and some super sweet (cloying in fact) roasted peppers. The pizza was cooked well but had your typical flavorless crust. Maybe the Italian entrees are better.

Damn good pizza with a wonderful crust. Amazing how many places make tasteless dough considering how easy it is to make.

Is this a change of employer or as suggested a spin off of Al Dente? If a spin off, will he be moving between places?

Any chance he is current on his payments?

Hi All, Sorry for delay in getting a response out, no yoga for any of us this week, but some of us have been very busy with children, and final exams, and Christmas travel, etc going on. We have fb/emailed some of you directly, if we had your contact information, to discuss the matter. Nonetheless, the Foodshed paypal has been disabled for some time. There should not be any auto renewals happening. Since it is disabled, we have no way of seeing those renewals when they come in and do not have the capacity to send them back. We are in communication with Paypal to make sure this is rectified. In the interim, if you have had an auto renewal, please call us at the office and we will refund it promptly and we do apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. We have received one phone call and one email to date about this, so we did not have any knowdlege that it was occurring and it does not seem to be a large scale issue.

P.S. No one is running off to Jamaica, simply a fb post that was posted incorrectly. We will be here to make sure things are taken care of. Happy Holidays.

I paid for a 1-year subscription in April and have yet to receive one issue. Will I be getting a refund?

I have not changed since I wrote the above, much earlier in this same thread.  I would strongly suggest that MDT stop by and meet Chef Cooper and introduce himself.  Perhaps over a glass of wine or two or three.  The anonymity of a keyboard is not helping this.  Also, to be honest, I have a great deal of respect for Chef and for his talent and his contributions to our city.  I love Rogue 24 and look forward to his new restaurant in Merrifield.

I also have respect for his heart, health and stress.

I will toast you tonight, Chef, with a bottle of good Virginia red.

Joe I understand where you are coming from on this, but go back and re-read the posts. After the way he decided to attack and bully me after declining his offer, there is no way I would even consider it. I posted an honest write up of my experience and was treated with hostility. Maybe that is small of me, but I certainly don't owe him that after the way he responded, considering that at the same time he was demanding respect. Sorry, respect goes both ways.

RESPECT THE CRAFT!!! MEH. COMMUNICATE AND WE WILL BEND OVER BACKWARDS FOR OUR GUESTS. YEAH ROCKWELL ALL CAPS. AND IT SHOULD STAY THIS WAY. WE WANT TO GIVE AND MAKE GUESTS HAPPY. WE WANT TO LEARN FROM OUR MISTAKES AND GROW. WE WANT TO STRIVE AND BE THE BEST.

IM sitting at a diner a vary popular well branded local Chain with two beautiful 7 year olds. Ava did not like her eggs she ordered them soft 2 eggs and sausage. They came out hard with 1 sausage. Oh and the pancakes didn't make it as well. However as a 7 year old she communicated and they fixed the problem. It's hospitality and we want to give it. From a 7 year old to anyone who walks in our door.

My only real bitch is the fact of no real fat to grasp on what we did with the food. I get the wine we changed that immediately after 2 plus years in business. Thanks MDT we will now look and change that language.

PEACE. THIS IS NOW DONE!

ENJOY THE HOLIDAYS.

Respect is not something that can be demanded.

I will try to clarify what I meant with my offensive comments because they still seem to be a sticking point to you.

puff/prawn/whitefish/ossetra/dill:This was a prawn puff topped with caviar, just ok.

I don't know what kind of fact I can give about this dish. It was an uncomplicated dish in appearance, and as I stated, a puff topped with some caviar. The puff was crisp, slightly fishy in flavor and the the caviar was caviar, nothing wrong with it. Certainly nothing that I could complain about, it's not like the crisp was soggy or something technically wrong with it. We thought it wasn't that interesting when we ate it, thus the ok. I guess that statement of my perception of this dish is offensive.

pinenut/arctic char roe/dill: A small pinenut cookie topped with arctic char roe and dill: I liked the bite, my wife thought it was just ok.

This was a one-bite quarter sized cookie topped with some roe and a small sprig of dill. IIRC there was also come creme fraiche. I thought the combination was good, but my wife did not. She did not find it terrible, again, just not something that she would opt to eat again. Thus the second ok.

goat curd/nasturtium/espelette/sour dough: Meh.

IIRC, this was a small portion of curd with the various accoutrement on the dish. If you could remind me of how it was plated I might recall more details. In thinking back about this dish the only thing I really remember about this dish is that it was rather bland and when I wrote my notes the morning after the meal I wrote "meh." And like I admitted before was probably snippy.

I just did not enjoy those three courses that much, two of which were bites as part of the starting 4 appetizers.  It's as simple as that. As for my other negative comments I think I provided enough other information for you to use as you wish. I did not know that I was required to express these views with the staff before I left and had the audacity to write about it on a regional website that discusses food and dining.

Ha.  You give your opinion of the restaurant--you're entitled to do so.

I'm giving my opinion of your post--I'm entitled to do so.

Making a baseless accusation?  No one's entitled to do that.

What baseless accusation did I make?