Pool Boy

1 hour ago, MarkS said:

Yup.  Somehow I am coded as Chicken Mark from Annapolis.  Always order it and they think Naptown is next galaxy.  This is great Chicken.  Not Ruta Chicken but still great,

Nice. I'll have to check it out.

18 hours ago, Ericandblueboy said:

At its best, Rose’s Luxury was a relatively inexpensive yet creative and well executed joint.  Frank Ruta is no Aaron Silverman.  It’s restaurant that I'm glad I waited in line for.  I can't say the same about Bad Saint.  At this point, you can just pay the big bucks and get reservation for Pineapple and Pearls.

It probably was - I wished I had tried to get to Rose's Luxury before the real swarms of people descended on it. The lines would have been shorted and it'd probably have been worth it I am sure. I have thought about Pineapple and Pearls, but I am kind of over tasting menus where I do not get to pick and choose, Not a complete deal breaker but maybe one of these days I will give P&P a try.

6 hours ago, Ericandblueboy said:

@Pool Boy worships the ground Ruta walks on.  So I'm just pointing out how he's missing out because he hates waiting in line. 😅

That's because I love what he does with food! And I know my desire for reservations makes me miss out. That said, I have waited at places from time to time - like Hot Doug's in Chicago before it shut down. Or even the one decent restaurant in West Yellowstone this past fall while on vacation (but only because I had no choice)

4 hours ago, MarkS said:

@Pool Boy needs to have the crack chicken at the Boqueria.  They have reservations.

Is this what you are talking about? 

POLLO RUSTIDO Catalan style roasted chicken, Ibérico lard, lemon, herbs, salsa verde

11 hours ago, Keithstg said:

I've been half a dozen times, never waited in line. If interested: http://www.taskrabbit.com

I have heard of that. A possibility, but again - I prefer a reservation. Most other restaurants I can book days weeks, a month or more in advance. Why have the hassle of finding someone to do that for you the day of when you want to go and then, you may not even dine when you want to.

10 hours ago, FranklinDubya said:

They also offer same day reservations opening at 9am each morning : https://www.rosesluxury.com/reservations/ 

It's definitely worth checking out at least once if only for the lychee salad and the cacio e pepe

Same problem, no planning ahead ability - I must be unique in my desire to know I have a place  reserved for me more than 12 hours ahead of time.

Never been, never felt like I missed anything. The experience of standing in line for hours turned me off from the beginning. No reservations? I have no reservations of never dining there.

On 11/26/2019 at 4:26 PM, DPop said:

Kinda.  I'm not sure that thing will be the same if it's not coming out of the precise kitchen that Frank runs.

Can't wait for Annabelle to open up, I've been devoid of a high end celebration place in DC since he left Mirabelle

Truth. We last had his food in December 2017. I am really, really in need of an infusion - I look forward to Annabelle opening up ASAP.

We went once and enjoyed it. We were there on the early side since, as I recall, they do not take reservations. By the time we left, the place was deafening due to the place being packed. I was glad to get out of there so I could hear again. The food  was good, but the loudness does not have me racing back there to try it again.

We've been here a few times after dining at St. Anselm this year. We'd been going there maybe once a year for maybe 10 years. I was really impressed with the improvement in their wine selections (though not the prices) I have to say.

My wife and I were talking about going back again. We generally dine in he dining room. That said, the one time we wanted to head up to the bar to partake of the menu upstairs,the entire upstairs had been taken over for a private event. Foiled!

On 11/13/2019 at 10:16 PM, ktmoomau said:

HAHAHAHAHA no offense taken.  And you are likely right. 

But I complain here so people know whats going on, and can see if anyone else has experienced a decline in the experience, is this a blip, or is it a trend?  I don't really think my current standard- no obvious and visible mold on the item as being very picky. Some shoppers I have had were amazing- they would call and say for example, "leaf lettuce is down to a few damaged heads, should I sub romaine or organic." So actually their shoppers can be GREAT and way above expectations. That is why a lot of my friends were willing to switch to HT and use their shopping program after everyone hated Peapod and got burned, this has been to HT benefit and Giant and Safeways downfall.  Instant cart has pretty high standards, so to stay in the game, HT actually does need to be somewhat cognizant, Walmart is stepping up, and now the 500 pound gorilla coming in the distance Amazon, who has Whole Foods shoppers, who the perception is do care more about produce. (Peapod still is pretty terrible, HT is way above it already, no competition).  So they started me out with high expectations.  Plus, their stores are no longer designed to be able to handle the capacity of everyone like me shopping in person, they have cut way too much in personnel, plus I am an early adopter and therefore my ordering intuition and data is worth a very pretty penny, as online grocery sales will likely account for 15% of all grocery sales in only two years, so it's not just my convenience but their gain right now, as well. It is in their best interest to keep me ordering online so they can use my data to figure out how to increase cart loads with online orders. 

And to be perfectly honest- I am the future, unless we have an apocalypse, so to stay profitable, it's something to which they really are going to have to train their shoppers to pay attention. (Look at the stats of the decreasing number of persons who have gotten their drivers license and you will see why this is VERY, VERY important for them to stay competitive and why my data is extremely valuable.) Plus, they don't really want me to fully grocery shop in person because if I am going to actually go somewhere it is going to be Wegman's, which has a far better in person experience, so HT would lose my business. HT gets my business solely out of the strength of their online ordering program and it's convenience. So, it isn't as simple as it may seem. I admit us millennials are completely annoying in our incessant refusal to conform or settle, but so far, it doesn't really seem to bother us very much.

Yep it all makes sense. The winners of this niche will be the ones that can nail perfect shopping. That said, you are never going to get truly perfect unless you go in person. But I agree, sometimes the convenience is worth it.

On 11/8/2019 at 2:30 PM, ktmoomau said:

I used to REALLY like HT Express Lane.  And I will say it is MUCH better than grocery shopping on my own, and MUCH better than peapod, and much cheaper than InstantCart.  But my last two orders at the Old Town store have had obviously rotten produce in them.  I am going to make a new note about being very picky about produce, but these were not like- bottom of the carton things, one was an obviously not good head of broccoli they would have had to put in the bag.  And another was a bag of pears with one visible that was absolutely completely moldy.  I still really like Express Lane, I just am a bit disappointed in my recent shoppers.  If you call the manager they will replace and even bring things to you- I just really hate to be THAT person. I did return the pears for a fresh bag myself. Not sure if Potomac Yard location would be better, I assume that is a smaller store, so likely not as big of selection.  I haven't found anything in store that isn't on their online ordering. 

I had the recent Whole Foods 2 hour free prime delivery- which was very nice- although my raspberries had some bad ones they were hidden in the bottom of the thing. Other items seemed good. If they could combine that with their Fresh/Pantry so you could get all the things this would be VERY dangerous for my lifestyle. They definitely don't have all the things from their store on there, I assume they will expand with time.  

You know, if you are picky about produce or some other foodstuff (and you should be, especially produce), then I find complaining about what you get when you order someone to pick it for you kind of hilarious. Either go and shop yourself so you can make the judgement call on what is acceptable, or pay the price for the convenience you want - pretty simple. Not being harsh, honest, just matter of fact.

I lost 45 lbs on WW and kept most of it off for about 5-6 years. A confounding health issue curbed my exercise and then a job shange with big challenges got in the way and I gained it all back. Been getting better and the mild exercise thing of late, but diet is indeed an area that needs attention - mostly on portion control.

Well my Mother -in-law now lives in Annapolis-ish and so a Wegmans is good news. Especially since moving there she has mre or less decided she does not like to drive. So a good grocery store nearby means we can grocery shop at the same time at a good place.

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Oh so many places I just love so much are closing. I am so sad. But glad for them.

On 9/26/2019 at 6:55 PM, DaRiv18 said:

Sad news. Trickling Springs, my favorite local ice cream is shutting down. Link

Providing financial data for loans is pretty basic stuff. I assume either nobody knew what they were doing and were oblivious to requirements, or they knew exactly what they were or were not doing. Or, of course, they got and followed really, really bad advice.

The non-compete seems overly broad both in geographical location and cuisine style (not being able to cook American food for example...in America). Plus, per the Eater story, if the quote is true -- 'The agreement says the chef would be released from the non-compete if 'the employer decides to change direction/concept of the business ad Frank Ruta's employment would no longer be necessary.''. Given the owner no longer seemed interested in going for Michelin stars (something he was obvious about in planning the restaurant, sending Frank and Aggie to France for some time) due to the, also Eater quoted, 'Frank was let go for having very high goods and labor costs, cost management was an issue.' - it seems clear a change in direction and concept occurred. Plus, he fired both Frank and Aggie (in July 2018, not September = indicating maybe some presumed settlement/severance?). It is not like they quit to go work somewhere else - he fired them, ffs.

Anyway, if this ever goes to actual litigation, I find it unlikely that the agreement in enforceable as written. These things tend to get thrown out - I hope. This is sour grapes from the Mirabelle owner and he's trying to muck things up for Frank. Frank's got a new partner in Bajaj and hopefully access to an experienced attorney to handle this situation. What a pain in the ass.

I miss Frank's food and really hope this gets resolved quickly.

On 8/16/2019 at 12:47 PM, Kibbee Nayee said:

I'm not a Starbucks fan, and I typically avoid the place whenever I have a choice, but a business associate wanted to meet at the new Starbucks in the Marymount University building on the corner of Glebe and Fairfax Drive. It was actually a nice, clean, well-laid-out space. I had a cold green tea, which was not nearly as offensive as their coffee.

On that side of Glebe, I still can't understand why the continuously-empty SER is still in business. Unless they do an amazing dinner and weekend business, they must be going broke.

They actually do a surprising lunch and happy hour business.

We went again this past weekend. It was our farewell. We're ff on vacation and so sorry we'll miss the farewell parties for sure. To us, my wife and I, we've dined at Dino and Dino's groto probably 30 to 50 times between just us, DC Crü wino dinners and Mrs. Poolboy bookgroup dinners. It's another part of us that is dying, in a way, but we both have so many fond memories of going to both incarnations.

One of the things we were saying was this - 'Where are we going to go pre-concert at the 9:30? The Lincoln? The Howard? WTF!!!????' It is like an appendage being severed. <sigh>

We were there on the 29th drinking loads of great wine and eating as much of the menu as we could. Not looking forward to the day coming soon when I will not know where to pre-concert dine and drink before going to the 930, the Howard of the Lincoln. Boo.

11 hours ago, squidsdc said:

I sure wish Dino's was open for lunch. 🙁 Off at 2 today and need to wait until 6 for my ride home...would've been a perfect opportunity to stop in!

You need to make excuses for what is important.

Dc Crü will be there to represent......imminently

On 7/18/2019 at 11:47 PM, DonRocks said:

Frank is quietly (and happily) working with Ashok.

Yeah I figured - I was just wondering if there was any more news on exactly what that was evolving in to. Really looking forward to having his food again.

Anyone know how Frank

s next thing s evolving? I am impatient.

On 7/11/2019 at 8:36 AM, vsrnlr said:

Was there with a group of 6 late on a Tuesday night. Crowded even on a Tuesday and we had to wait, but they then put us in the back room which is much quieter. The biscuits were great and the variety of dishes we had received no complaints. The service was excellent. Would definitely return.

The one time we were there we were in the back room, too. It is indeed quieter - you can actually carry on a conversation.

We will be in at least a few time, Dean. I will muster the DC Crü as well - too many good meals there not to decimate your wine list and more.

We go maybe 4-6 times a year. It's in our rotation, especially if we are going to the 930 or the Lincoln or even the Howard. I hope they keep on trucking.