mdt

Funny MDT

I only responded this way because the lack of information you provided.

Enjoy your life. I don't have friends on this board. I'll end it by saying eat well and enjoy life. Your comments are noted and valued however if you would provide real information it would help us.

In the future you may want to help instead of antagonize.

MR Rockwell. This will be the end. There will be more information provided to this site by rogue24 or gypsy soul.

MDT. Attack my character. Thanks.

Honestly, what do you consider helpful? Outside of the noted snippy comment what did I say that was so offensive? Do you expect diners to say that a dish could have used more salt? More lemon? Addition of some other ingredient? It's food, taste is subjective.

I don't know RJ and he has not communicated with me outside of this thread other than a brief drunken conversation at Vidalia years ago.

I asked for details because your review was not useful.  Comments such as "meh, "Just okay," "I liked it but my wife thought it was just okay" do not provide a useful level of detail that can be applied by potential diners in deciding if they should go, nor do they help the restaurant to determine if something needs to be changed.

I asked about the date because I felt, upon reading your review, that it was long ago, and that you had lost the necessary level of detail from your memory banks to make a useful post.  I also secretly hoped RJ would see the date and remember a night or two around that time when things weren't up to par for whatever reason, and you two would find some common ground.

I'm not sure why you dragged me into this.  You sound like someone whose experience was poisoned by perceiving you were ripped off on the wine price, and perhaps that clouded the rest of the night.  It happens--perceived value can easily enhance or wreck a meal.

We had already made our opinion of the meal on before we got in the cab to go home. It was not until days later that I discovered the price of the wines when looking up information on them to make note of what were served.

I guess you have issue with non-detailed posts that state meals were "great" or "the best ever" with no supporting details. Whatever, I posted enough info to convey what we felt about the meal. Sorry the post was not up to your standards, maybe we should have guidelines so future posts provide the appropriate level of detail to be of value to future diners.

It really amazes me that one less than glowing review, after many positive ones, would cause so much trouble.

You seem so caught up on the fact that I dared to post about the markup of the wine pairing, which turned out to be a result of an error from your staff. I

Now what I'm hung up is on the fact you day you say you give criticism, did not know meh was that.

And you hide behind a screen name. Lovely debate. I have better things to do with my energy and time. Like make our guests feel comfortable and give them them beat we can. We have many and many on this board.

You can post that rogue 24 suck donkey shit because: but please give precise criticism not "ok" "meh". Or this price of bottle was x. I guarantee that your captain asked you thorough out your evening if everything was fine and you said yes. Because if you did not. We would be having a discussion about how we fixed the problem. Communicate on the spot and the problem would have been fixed.

How many refills did you have through out your progressive menu?

Funny how after I politely declined your gratis offer you decided to respond negatively to my posts.

I admitted that my "meh" comment was snippy, but I had enough other information in the post to justify what I thought of the meal. I guess my positive comments on many of the dishes are invalid as well. I never once doubted that others have had wonderful meals at your restaurant and that others will in the future. I never slammed your restaurant or you or your staff, but all you have done is try to discredit my views because they were not 100% positive.

I guess you had your buddy Troogs ask what date I was there to find out who I am. I considered posting my real name, but considering how you have responded here I don't think it's wise.

So now by questioning the number of refills that I had, you are trying to claim that I got more value on the wine than my original statement. Well IIRC, I received one top up when I finished my half pour before the 4 courses it was paired with were finished.

MDT,

I would encourage constrictive criticism as it helps us grow as crafts people. What you wrote was no better then the shit I find on yelp.

Thanks.

No better? Please, you just want folks to post glowing/positive reviews. I guess, in your opinion, I don't have the right or knowledge to say that I did not enjoy the food? I posted honestly about what we thought of the food we were served. You want constructive criticism from an amateur like me, really? How about reading what I wrote in the beginning of the post, quoted for you below. The dishes that we thought were the weakest were those that involved the diner combining the ingredients, gels, and sauces. Those dishes proved to be unbalanced and in some cases severely muting the flavors of the main ingredient.

Sure the setting and presentation of the dishes was terrific, and I am sure that the ingredients are well sourced, but this is a restaurant and ultimately it's all about what happens when you put the food in your mouth. When looking back at the meal and what we thought were the best dishes they were the ones that did not involve combining the various components on the plate into the proper combination.

You seem so caught up on the fact that I dared to post about the markup of the wine pairing, which turned out to be a result of an error from your staff. I guess you are also offended that I stated that based on my experience I would rather go to other places in the area when spending that kind of money. I guess, we the paying public are not allowed to express that view unless properly certified, whatever that entails.

eta: And in thinking about this more, you call yourself a crafts person. That would be similar to an artist, writer, poet, sculptor, furniture maker and so on. Dining at restaurants then is no different than going to an art gallery or reading books from various authors or visiting various furniture showrooms. After those events if I said that I preferred to spend my money on books by authors A and B over C is that any different than saying that I would rather spend my money at restaurant A and B over C? I could write about my views on what I saw and/or read. I don't need to provide them any constructive criticism. It's food, it's subjective, not everyone is going to like every restaurant.

Well said Darkstar965.

Overall I think this has gotten out of hand. MDT posted his opinion of his meal at Rogue 24. It wasn't glowing, which is his perogative. There was a factual inaccuracy, through no  fault of his own presumably that could have been easily corrected and then the matter could have been dropped. I personally had an excellent meal at Rogue 24 when I went, quite contrary to MDT's and that single review in the midst of my own positive experience and those of many other people on this board would not stop me from going back. It's only if I consistently saw similar reviews that I would start to wonder if standards were dropping, and that would imo be of serious concern to Chef RJ as well.

I understand why a chef/owner would take criticism personally and perhaps things were exacerbated by the focus on the inaccurate information on the price markups on the wine pairings

Sorry, but there were no factual inaccuracies in my post. I stated what the price I was charged for 4 half glasses of wine and did some research to find the retail prices of the wines that I was served. Based on that information I stated that I thought that the markup versus retail was higher than the norm, or in my words excessive.

I know I am not the only one that has compared the price of wine at a restaurant versus retail. Based on my amateur knowledge restaurants don't pay retail for their wine or do they? I am sure there are folks here that can answer that question. There have been many discussions on this board about various restaurants wine markups and what places have the best value for the customer. Maybe a separate thread discussing it would be interesting.

Unfortunately RJ's responses will probably prevent other folks from posting less than stellar reviews, which is unfortunate.

MDT, do you mine stating the date you dined there?  Also I would be curious if you have more details on some of the courses?

It was early October. Don't have much more on details other than what I posted, but I will try and answer any questions.

You finally hit the nail on the head!!!! Holly Shit!!!! It is a matter of opinion and we take the opinions and the comments from all of our guests with a great deal of respect and it has influenced and changed the restaurant over the course of the last 3 seasons.

Good job you proved my point.

Thanks.

We value all our guests, and again if your experience was not up to my standards (I don't know if I was there) then we would want to make up for that hard earned money you spent.

I should probably let this go, but proved your point? I thought your point was that we amateur reviewers shouldn't be posting our (negative) reviews as we don't know what we are talking about. My original post/review was always an opinion as every post/review on this site is, positive or negative. Nobody on this site is getting paid to write anything on this site. When writing about food it's all opinion as taste is not a hard science and folks will have different views on what they are eating.

The only fact that I posted was about the cost of the wine pairing based on information received from your staff. The opinion was that I thought that part of the meal was rather expensive.

I am sorry you did not enjoy r24. What discussion are you trying to continue, a debate on value or more on your opinion.  However I am offend that you picked us apart and determined value of products that are not marked up at all higher then other restaurants of our level.

You commented that we serve a half glass pour, in fact the pours for the progression menu are 5 ounces. A full glass of wine. Which is the standard I was taught by the great Jeff Buben. 

I am continuing the discussion of this restaurant that has a good deal of posts, mostly positive I might add.

I stated that we received half glass pours because that is what the sommelier told us we were getting. My wife asked if she could get a half tasting, which we have been able to at other restaurants, and the sommelier told us no need as the tasting is just 4 half glasses. I used that information, which came directly from your staff, to make my value judgement on the cost of the wine pairing, which is the only value portion of the meal that I commented on in my post. If I had been told and received full glasses of wine I would not have posted anything about the value of the pairing. I did ask the question if this was as extreme of a markup as I thought. I figured someone would tell me if it was normal or not.

I don't know what you do for a living, however if I were to publicly ridicule and determine value on your product and proceed to communicate a value of a product form research online you would be offend as well

Not that this makes any difference in what I said, but I have been a consultant for many years and my work is constantly critiqued by my customers who are always evaluating its value. They use all the tools available to them to determine if my rates are appropriate and that they are receiving value for my product. Have you heard of Angie's List? There are many professional services discussed there where folks write about their honest opinions about what they received for the money. I am sure you are constantly evaluating your vendors to ensure that you are receiving value for the product that you are getting, sure maybe you don't post about it, but I am sure that you discuss things with your fellow restaurateurs.

Secondly, are you really saying that you need to have the complete experience to make an true observation of the restaurant? I don't know how to respond to this.

I am sorry that we did not live up to your expectations that evening. Please call the restaurant or email me directly rjcooper@rogue24.com. We would like to invite you in next Saturday for the evening gratis.

-chef-

Thank you for the offer, but we will not accept. I did not make my post with any intention other than continuing the discussion. Besides I don't think it would set a good precedent.

Long delay in getting to post this, but here it is for what it's worth. Luckily I wrote most of my notes the morning after my meal.

The decor and layout of the place is great. It is interesting to see the kitchen in the middle of the place. Clearly this feature was intended to provide the diners a view of the action. However depending on where you are seated it may be difficult to see any of the detailed work.

Overall the food was good, but very few of the dishes were that exciting or interesting to eat. As my wife commented, "For the money being charged you expect that each dish is going to excel" and for us on this night they did not. Sure the setting and presentation of the dishes was terrific, and I am sure that the ingredients are well sourced, but this is a restaurant and ultimately it's all about what happens when you put the food in your mouth. When looking back at the meal and what we thought were the best dishes they were the ones that did not involve combining the various components on the plate into the proper combination. The first 4 bites pretty much set the tone for the evening, this presentation was there and while the dishes were good, nothing really stood out as excellent. On discussing things on the way home, neither of us felt that we wanted to return. There are plenty of other places at the same price point in the area where we enjoy the experience and the food.

We had the wine pairing with our meal which we were told was 4 half glasses, one for each set of 4 dishes. For those scoring at home that is 4 half glasses for $55 which equates to $13.75 per ½ glass. Upon hearing that I thought that was rather expensive and when I got home I decided to look up the bottles online, which were easy to find, and the average retail for the wines we had was ~$22/bottle. Seems like a rather extreme markup, right? While the wines paired well enough I just feel that this was a bit extreme.

Then menu that they provided us at the end of the night was a nice touch, but some of the dishes that we had were different so not all the details are listed.

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

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.

*Spiced cracklins: Good, but how could fried pork rind not be.

*Oyster (don't remember type) with pressed cucumber: Any taste of the oyster was lost as this only tasted of cucumber.

Wine: roederer estate/brut rose/anderson valley/ca (retail $27)

avocado/sake salmon roe/cilantro/togarashi/lavash: Fancy guacamole for lack of a better description. An interesting presentation with the mashed avocado smeared on a rock. The dish was good and we enjoyed the mix of flavors.

salsify/oyster leaf/seaweed/oyster gel/salsify puree: A good dish of (braised?) salsify was served with the mentioned garnishes.

sepia/olive oil/lemon (I believe our waiter told us it was lime)/potato/garlic/chive: A few small pieces of grilled sepia served atop some pureed potatoes. Our waiter said the sepia gets a smoky taste from the flame grilling. Any flavor of the sepia, smoke or otherwise, was lost behind the potato and lime gel.

urchin/rice/seaweed/coffee: This dish was enjoyable and certainly an unexpected combination. The coffee was in the form of crumbles atop the urchin.

Wine: poet's leap/riesling/columbia valley/wa/'11 (retail: $20)

foie gras/blueberry/honey/ice lettuce: Good, but don't remember any specifics.

pigtails/bitter herbs/smoked peach gel: This dish appeared to be a springroll and was one of our favorite dishes of the night.

snails/potato/garlic threads: The snails were the basil fed ones and this was served with a potato skin broth as a soup. I will admit that a broth made with potato skins did not sound that appetizing but this dish was fine.

pigeon/rice/offal/orange/hazelnut:Didn't write any notes on this dish and don't remember it.

Wine: tolaini al passo/sangiovese/tuscany/it/'08 (retail: $20)

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

*chocolate with raspberry sorbet: One of the top courses of the night that we had and the small portion of sorbet was intense in flavor.

*white chocolate with passion fruit: This was our favorite dessert, and was new to the menu.

There was another dessert, that was not the same as our menu but we forgot the details.

Wine: mad cuvee/late harvest royal tokaji/mad/hu/'09 (retail: $20/375ml)

*Not on the menu we received so I don't have the details

Look up "no knead bread" and have a go at it.  Fabulous flavor and texture, minimal work.

Click here.

There is a "Florence Diner" in Florence, Italy that is under the same ownership as an interesting restaurant across the street that serves a steak with blueberry sauce and has 2 branches in the US.  Cant remember the restaurant's name -- it looks like a tourist trap but its actually worth trying.  Not sure about the diner"¦ we didn't have hamburger urges while living there this past summer.

It has been too many years between visits to Europe for me, but this last trip I was surprised to see the number of places (many that are not close to tourist traps) offering hamburgers on the menu. I even saw plates of sliders brought to tables.

I can't think of a single American restaurant in Barcelona  but I do remember an American restaurant in Venice which had laminated pictures of all the food in the window outside.

There is Peggy Sue's (Food from America) http://www.peggysues.es/. And there is an outpost in Madrid too.

Finally going to be dining here and looking forward to it. I usually stay away from the wine pairings for these types of meals, should I here?

While I generally enjoyed my meal, I was disappointed that the dishes were not that spicy, including the soup that was specifically labeled as being spicy.  Nice friendly service.

Wonder if it was an off day or something as I have had some spicy dishes there, even ones that were not labeled as such. Overall the food is very good and this reminds me that I should get back there.

I think what you want is a Bavarian. I can get you a recipe when I get to my cookbooks.

TrummerFest!

From September 17th to October 31st, the intimate third floor Gallery of Trummer's on Main will be transformed into an Austrian wine & beer tavern for an event playfully namedTrummerFest. Owner and Mixologist Stefan Trummer grew up in Austria, and his roots will be on full display as the restaurant serves up remarkably traditional Austrian fare like his mother's apple cake, traditional Austrian dishes, and unique sausages in honor of Oktoberfest.

Info here...http://trummersonmain.com/events/trummerfest-pop-up-restaurant/

Devils Backbone Ichabod Crandall Pumpkin Ale; Lexington, VA"“5.1% ABV, 14 IBU: The hits keep coming from Devils Backbone! This new seasonal Ale is a lower-ABV Pumpkin Ale that uses Pilsner and Crystal Wheat malts along with oats to make for a smooth, approachable drink that carries some of the graham cracker/pumpkin pie flavors found in much bigger, sweeter Pumpkin Ales. - See more at: http://www.vacraftbeer.com/?event=weekly-beer-tasting-at-arrowine#sthash.g9HkdlhF.dpuf

Picked up a six of this on a recommendation from the beer buy at Arrowine. Easily the best pumpkin ale that I have had in a long time. The spice is there, but not overwhelming and most importantly none of that cloying sweetness found in many others.

Anyone have any suggestions for dinner spots?

That's because it's more a condiment than actual chili.  Eating a whole bowl of it is about the same as eating a bowl of ketchup, but I guess people do.  It's not bad for its intended purpose, though.  And Ben's half smoke is a decent, if pedestrian, sausage.  I look forward to a half smoke "all the way" when I head to Nat's games.

Actually, you know what Ben's chili reminds me of?  A spiced version of the stuff that's left over in a can of Chef Boyardee ravioli after you eat the raviolis.  Kind-of a tomato sauce with little bits of meat.  The fact that I do not have children, yet know this, is causing me to regret some recent nutritional choices.

I think you just confirmed Waitman's point, which I agree with.

I wonder if it will be well marked in the stores. I assume that these birds will be priced on the cheap side. Buyer beware!

Where did I dine?

Easy, but only F&F will know until tomorrow at the earliest. 

Great news!

Only 12.5% alcohol but absolutely delicious.

I don't understand why a 12.5% wine being delicious is a surprise? This is an honest question, I know we don't have the same taste in wines, but does higher alcohol really equate to better tasting in certain wines?

How does this get around the lack of BYOB?   Not doubting you, just not understanding.

Maybe the "private party" aspect avoids ABC laws.  Seems like a large loophole if true.

Yup, loophole. It is "invitation" only and done in a separate room. Kind of like a house dinner party where you pay for the food.