Pool Boy

Glenfarclas is one of the last holdouts IIRC

We get Naf Naf at work at east once a month at work - it is quite good. Mmmmmmm

Their recipe book is excellent - I highly recommend it.

On 6/17/2019 at 2:58 PM, Rovers2000 said:

I think the sheer size of the space and the fact that the retail aspect of the shop seemed like an afterthought (at this specific location) likely were problematic.

The retail component is one of the big things I think Screwtop over in Clarendon does very well.  Though with Total Wine on the other side of the development, maybe that was a hard sell.  Its unfortunate as I enjoyed the bar for after work drinks with colleagues when I was in the area (and its walking distance from my house).

I completely agree. I will miss it. But the cheese counter there really and truly was an afterthought. Every time I stopped by early evening to buy some cheeses it seemed like I was causing problems for the staff.

I still want to order the Meat Mountain.

On 11/7/2018 at 9:52 PM, Pool Boy said:

The Tortillas.

That is what I ended up doing - the meats and accoutrements were fine.

We still get these guys maybe every 6-8 weeks at work and now I know how to build my own experience.

On 6/8/2019 at 1:31 PM, Keithstg said:

You may choose any dish from any menu. No need to chose one menu or another in its entirety.

Good to know and thanks!

This one was tremendous played live at the Lincoln Theater here this past week. Wow. Just wow. Below the official version is a version of it live.
 

Part of me still wants to go back here before he's dead or it closes. But the price seems kind of outrageous. Without any beverage whatsoever with tax and tip you walk out for $620. You throw in wine pairings You are basically over $1K (with tax and tip). Even if you order carefully from their wine list, cocktails and/or after dinner drinks, it's still quite expensive.. It does look like you can pay a $50/$75/$125 corkage fee for any wine you bring as long as it is not on their list and is limited to two bottles, so that's a way to economize at least.

Then there's the whole 'I am so over tasting menus' thing. It looks they have 3 to choose from, but I assume it means you pick one of them in their entirety - no picking this dish off of this menu and that one of of another, etc as long as the total combined courses are identical. 

Hmm - will have to think about this.

@MarkS - thanks for reminding folks of Charleston - I really need to get back there and looking at a recent menu I cannot believe I have not been back sooner.

We were here in the last week for a special meal. Happy to see our favorite FOH guy at Metier, but sad we could not experience him in Kinship. Such a great meal.

My wife and I went here...hmmm...1999? We keep talking about going back at least one more time - I keep thinking yes. Should we?

On 5/27/2019 at 12:16 PM, DonRocks said:

Five years ago, Eat the Rich had dethroned, not only BlackSalt, but *everything*, as "Best Seafood in DC," without any serious competition, but after Julien Shapiro left, that went to hell very quickly. I mean, click on that link for a reminder of just how great this restaurant was.

Nothing could be more true. What an amazing ride that was for as brief as it was. Blown away was I.

On 5/8/2019 at 12:19 PM, mtureck said:

In Tom Sietsema's chat this morning, he said that Frank Ruta just signed on with Ashok Bajaj to work at one of his restaurants. Haven't decided which yet. 

I read that too. Looking forward to having his food again as soon as he's set up and ready to go!

On 4/17/2019 at 11:38 AM, Ericandblueboy said:

This is an easily avoidable mistake that really is the responsibility of the person placing the order, not the server.  Why try to pin the blame on someone else?  And did Tom more or less tell the poster that the server was at fault too?

On 4/17/2019 at 12:04 PM, Bob Wells said:

I would agree. If there was only one pinot on the list, why would the server even say "The Hirsch"? He'd just say, "The pinot, very good sir." As soon as he said "The Hirsch," the diner should have thought, wait, there's more than one pinot? I better check this out.

I agree that it really is the customer's responsibility to make it clear to the server what wine they want. I am not saying the server should not take it on themselves to be clear - they should. But it seems in this case they did ask a follow-up question (perhaps a bit too vague?), though clearly the confirmation was imperfect.

I almost always make sure that, when I am the one ordering the wine, I make sure I not only say the words of the wine I want, but I point to it on the wine list so they know exactly which wine I ordered. I also always make sure that the wine that is presented to me before opening is actually the wine I ordered (it is usually not a problem of the completely wrong wine entirely - most often the wrong vintage, or they grabbed the wrong bottling because they had two or more wines from the same producer). That said, on one of the occasions where I did not follow my normal procedure, I ordered a bottle of champagne that was similarly $100 higher than what I thought I was ordering - they made sure to ask.I confirmed. They presented it. I confirmed. I tasted it and accepted it. I continued tasting it for a few minutes and realized the quality was some notches up above what I ordered. But the damage was done since I confirmed everything every step of the way. That is my perspective.

I think the person that posed the question did the restaurant a disservice by not bringing up the mistake (yes even after the meal was done and the surprise tab appeared) at the time it happened. It is entirely possible that the restaurant may have been willing to make some accommodation at the time - they is plenty of buffer in that $146 wine tab for them to, if not just charge you for the bottle you thought you ordered, at least split the difference. I understand people do not want to make a scene or are uncomfortable with the perceived confrontation this might cause - but clearing things up as they happen is in my opinion the best course of action. Just my two cents.

On 4/23/2019 at 2:06 PM, DPop said:

I can't understand why the landlord wouldn't be up for that idea, it would have to be better than the $0 they have collected for that space since Palena closed 6 or 7 years ago....

I think it was 5 years ago to the day.  All of my memories from that day are memories I wrote of all of the many, many times I dined and felt at home at Palena.

I'm so hoping Frank finds the next thing soon - I am in serious withdrawal.

On 4/12/2019 at 2:46 PM, DonRocks said:

The only reason Michelin shouldn't rate Kinship two stars is because there's Métier (sometime this year, Métier will be receiving a special dcdining.com rating).

Look at this bounty (and this is only part of it):

We only ever went to Metier once. It was very good. Really good. But I found that I far preferred Kinship. We all have our preferences.

I do not really know what I missed. Always sad to see a place close though.

We were here in Novemberish for a game dinner - skipped the wine pairings that were special to the night. It was very good but not mind blowing.

Wild Pheasant Dashi withmatsutake, golden ossetra and clotted cream
Pheasant egg scramble with dungeness crab, white truffle and alliumDry aged squab with brioche, foie gras and quince
Red deer with koji, squash, black truffle and apple.

Very good service and, since it was mid-week, it was not crazy noisy in there.  Honestly, I would have preferred the preparations to be more simple as I think that can best highlight the game itself. But upscaling it did not harm the experience.  I would have also preferred to pick and choose things, perhaps from a larger game-centric menu but I totally understand it is difficult to gauge what diners will and will not like and order, and a safer way is to do a set menu where all you have to do is guess how many people you think are going to order the set menu.

Went again in February of this year with friends and enjoyed it again. One highlight was that the person who used to do cocktails at Macon Bistro is now here doing her thing. The cocktail options, while not a problem area before, I think will enjoy her talented contributions here in the coming months.

Hit up the izakaya recently. Enjoyed most of it. Stand outs were the beef tongue and the chicken kara-age, but enjoyed everything else too. Except the cacio e pepe udon - that was bland, boring and mushy and even on first taste. Very weak dish.

Interesting and extensive selections of Japanese beer, whiskys and so on. Rather uninspired cocktail choices overall so I passed. Acceptable by the glass selections of wine though, which is a plus. I'll be back.

There are many Crowded House songs (from this album alone even, mind you), but this is a pretty darn good one.

I really,really love this one - especially live.

Another favorite, one of the best, I got to see them do in their current form just a week ago - they did a great job - especially Mr. Ehart. FUcking brilliant!

Wait for the end....you'll think it is over and it's not.

On 2/23/2019 at 8:11 PM, Count Bobulescu said:

Interesting, and sparse, as I recall. I couldn't figure the economics of it. 

Well true that. I think I only ever went there once or twice.

On 2/18/2019 at 9:26 PM, Count Bobulescu said:

Mitchell's a knowledgeable guy. He used own/run The Chesapeake Wine Company in Canton. I believe he opened a 2nd store somewhere in Baltimore. Guess it didn't work out.

 

AFAIK there were some shenanigans over that Laurel license. HT initially said they would operate the store. Then HT got bought by Kroger who backed out. The developers applied to Annapolis for, and received six on-premise "special district" licenses. The developers then went back to Annapolis the following year and successfully sought to convert one on premise to an off premise.

 

As I understand it, the developer rather than the store and restaurant operators owns all the alcohol licenses, and the licenses are valid only for that location, meaning if the store or restaurants decided to move across the street, the licenses stay put, for the developer to dole out to new tenants.

I remember going there once or twice years ago and finding the selection interesting.