Gadarene

14 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

This isn't the chef.

My guess is that he got himself a sweet deal, and is doing what the investor tells him to do.

Just hope that whenever he runs into a line cook making $18 an hour, he thinks to himself, "There but for the grace of God ...."

Agreed, and I think that was Bart's point (or at least Bart's hope).

I would add that, even if the chef doesn't find the relentless money-seeking douchiness of his co-owners off-putting, I would expect that he presumably had some sort of say in a concept that expressly disavows seasonality and inventive technique in favor of cramming a bunch of tritely luxury ingredients into dishes (caviar! foie! lobster!) and calling it a day.

Like, I'm sure the food will be good, and I'm sure he's a great chef (positive, in fact, based on everything I've heard), but that approach seems more than a little lazy to me.  And I find it disappointingly transparent as a way to justify charging an insane amount of money, as well.

23 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

Here's your answer:

Do you think Mike Isabella smiles 24 hours a day?

I know virtually nothing about this man (as I type this, I have no idea what his last name is), but I'm honestly wondering what he has done that 90% of people wouldn't do in the exact same situation.

Start with the waterproof Icelandic sheepskin bar seats and the sommelier calling you several days before your (uncancellable) reservation to assess how much you're willing to shell out, and go from there. 

Just now, Bart said:

I'm a Kwame fan from his stint on Top Chef and the attitude he projected was completely opposite from what's been discussed above.   In fact, he didn't have any attitude at all other than being nice and kind and mellow and being a team player even helping out competitors in challenges.   He was the most unpretentious guy possible on Too Chef  even when he was crushing the other in the competitions   

So I wonder if he's the same old mellow dude he always was but sucked up into the PR machine of his investors, the owners and the GM?  I don't recall seeing any offensive or pretensions quotes coming from Kwame. From the other two, hell yeah!  But not from Kwame himself. 

I agree with this 100 percent.

I've eaten at the Adams Morgan location twice now and really enjoyed it both times.  I think the first time was only a couple of days after your review, Don, and they no longer had the Garnaxta Blanca on the menu.  But I had something else, which was lovely (forgive my lack of recall -- I'm not good at reviewing my meals in detail).  The lobster roll slider and the crab imperial were delicious and high-quality; the wings and radishes were good; the gumbo was tasty but lacking a bit in depth of flavor.  On my second visit I took a chance on the chicken braised in late summer green chiles, because I'm a sucker for dishes that overtly acknowledge their seasonality (and things that are braised!  and green chiles!), and it was superb.  It know ordering chicken at a seafood place is zigging rather than zagging, but I'd order it again in a heartbeat.  Lovely flavor, lovely heat, and the chicken was more than just a sauce delivery device (but the sauce was phenomenal as well).  For "dessert" on my second visit I opted for a half-dozen oysters, and it was a great decision; they were quite delicious.

On the whole, I'm really happy to have this in my general neighborhood.  The bar is long and excellent (and the bar staff quite personable), and it feels much less stuffy to me than Cashion's did.  I tried Pop's Raw Bar once and never went back, because it was predominantly about fried food and I don't love fried food, but Johnny's menu is varied and interesting and I will certainly return.

7 minutes ago, funkyfood said:

funny--i've LOVED Convivial every time i've gone, but feel the exact same way about the Dabney that you do about convivial.

Heh.  Different strokes, then...I find the atmosphere and sceniness of the Dabney off-putting, but I've really enjoyed all the dishes I've had there.  Granted that their prices do also twinge my annoyance meter, but I've found it better value.

Maybe in part it's that few things on the Convivial menu ever tend to jump out at me as appetizingly must-try the way they do at Dabney or (as I just mentioned in another thread) Hazel.  I went into Convivial a few weeks ago with the intent of getting something fairly light at the bar, since I was snackish but didn't want an entree or anything too heavy.  The only thing that jumped out was the Heirloom Tomato Salad, but the pricetag ($13) and the fact that it was, generously, at the tail end of tomato season dissuaded me.  (Looking at the menu online now, it looks like the same one I was given then -- surely they're not still serving the heirloom tomato salad? -- I also considered one of the pickled/cured/crudo fish dishes, but I remember having the rockfish before and thinking it was, while tasty, a pretty tiny portion for $16, so instead I just got a glass of wine and left.) 

Again, it's more than possible that I just don't mesh with this type of cooking.  The dish I remember liking most out of the two or three times I've been to Convivial was the Leeks Dijonnaise, but while I really enjoyed it, there's something about the sense-memory of it that has kept me from ordering it again.  I'm sure I'll give Convivial another shot at some point; the rainbow trout on the current menu looks tasty.

This is Rose's-lite, and I mean that in the best way.  Larger menu, slightly more upscale (but still comfortable) feel, but definitely going for that same sweet spot of conviviality and seasonal, flavorful, well-executed comfort food (as Bart says, "funky and eclectic").  And not so hyped (yet) that you can't easily grab a bar seat on a weekday or snag a day-of reservation.  Plus a really interesting cocktail and wine list, and -- best of all -- everything is pretty reasonably priced, especially for a new place in a new space in a hot neighborhood.  (Contrast with Tail Up Goat, which -- and I am a giant fan and have been there probably two dozen times -- is certainly not cheap, especially its drinks.)

I might actually try to hit the bar here tonight.  If only it was a little more convenient to me, I think I'd be here a lot.

On 8/9/2016 at 9:20 AM, NolaCaine said:

I have been carefully considering my review but am feeling far too lazy to put much work into it.  Convivial underwhelmed at every turn even though I used this thread as ordering guide.

The entire time I was dining, I kept thinking "Chaplin's around the corner was so much cheaper and far more interesting in concept..."  also "Why are we not at Corduroy?" (because I Didn't make the reservation).

The deep- fried duck thing is good because it is deep fried.

The coq au vin is like described up-thread; General Tao's chicken.

I did have a fish and beet dish that were very good, very very good but the online menu is not pulling them up. I'm tempted to delete this poor excuse for a post...

I've been consistently underwhelmed the several times I've been at Convivial.  Everything seems a few dollars too expensive for how the dishes taste.  I think I just don't get it (other than that beef heart salad I raved about a few years ago, I've never really LOVED Mintwood Place, either).

14 minutes ago, franch said:

I'm already outed as a ridiculous Shaw Bijou cheerleader, but I can't imagine rooting for the failure of a guy born in the Bronx, who lived with his family in Nigeria in a town with no electricity, and ultimately sold candy on the subway to put himself through culinary school and finance his catering business. Even if he was on Top Chef.

It couldn't have less to do with his being on Top Chef.

29 minutes ago, Bart said:

Has anyone been here recently?  Does a line form prior to opening like Rose's/Little Serow?  Or can you just arrive on the early side (5:30) and get a table?

I've walked in twice on weeknights (I think Tuesday both times) as a solo diner around 7 pm and been able to get served at that little ledge near the bar, albeit not the bar itself.  I don't know what it's like for people wanting a table; both times it was lively but there was no line or milling crowd and it didn't seem like they were turning people away in volume.

In any case, the food is good but not great, in my experience; I actually think Bar Pilar offers better value of late, though Compass Rose has a more interesting wine list.

59 minutes ago, Marty L. said:

Not if the intended audience for his statements are the well-heeled folks, with oodles of disposable income, who assume they will be admitted to the club!

I'm more talking about how Shaw Bijou has been ridiculed for being pretentious, douchey, exclusionary, and expensive, and they double down by offering a totally different thing that is pretentious, douchey, exclusionary, and expensive.

I don't think I would get along with the guy, is all.

On 10/30/2016 at 9:05 AM, Bart said:

Marty - I literally laughed out loud at your comment. I'm guessing it was the last two paragraphs that set you off. They definitely did it for me. I'm against HOT lanes in principle so there's a zero percent chance I'll apply to the club so I can hang out with "curated people". 

The last two paragraphs from the article:

Another component of the Shaw Bijou is a members-only club, slated to open on New Year’s Eve. Few details have been released, except that members will have 24-hour access to the space, and a private second-floor bar. While the concept sounds pricey, Gorsuch says dues “won’t be much—just enough to keep frat boys out.” He says a panel will ultimately pick members based on character and career over who can pay top dollar.

“It’s more about curating people, a social experiment” says Gorsuch. “We’re shooting to have people in different circles, because otherwise it’s going to become a boy’s lobbyist club, and that’s what we do not want. It will be more about seeing what people are doing in their industries, and putting them together.

This is absolutely amazing.  Gorsuch may be one of the more tone deaf people around.

32 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

Fair enough.

Now I'll play Devil's advocate: I have All Purpose ranked #5 in Shaw right now - are you sure you're criticizing the right person?

I don't mean to be seen as criticizing, and I apologize if it came across that way.  Your review was exceptionally well-written and immensely helpful in allowing me to make a decision about whether or not I'll be trying the restaurant in the near future, far more than any ranking, italics or otherwise, would have.

As I said, I think I could easily name many more than 5 restaurants in the Shaw area that I think I'd have a more consistently better experience, based on your review, but that's subjective quibbling.  We both agree that Sietsema ranking it as the #1 restaurant in DC seems like stark insanity, and that's the important thing!

36 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

*But*, if that experience had been tweaked just 10% in the kitchen - something very easy to do - things would have been different - that's why it's in Italics even though this one meal might have fallen somewhere short of that. Don't try and see things in black and white; there are many shades of gray - I upgrade and downgrade restaurants all the time while not even setting foot in the door, based on what I hear and read from trusted diners.

Please do not look at me as some kind of king, waving my hand and casting Final Judgment on a restaurant after a single visit - the rankings are just as important as the ratings, but both are a *rough guide* for those seeking guidance.

Devil's advocate: it's being able to do that 10 percent consistently that separates great restaurants -- or at least restaurants that are a cut above, which is how I've always interpreted the Italics -- from mediocre or even good restaurants.

Knowing that I could have an experience like yours doesn't make me want to go there, particularly at that price point...and ESPECIALLY if you only ordered the dishes that you had reason to believe the kitchen was proudest of, since those should, theoretically, be the ones in which you can have the most confidence from night to night as a diner.

And that pizza looks frightening.

On October 27, 2016 at 7:04 AM, DonRocks said:

I went to All Purpose this weekend at around 7 PM - the restaurant was fairly full, but with no wait, and there were seats open at the bar.

Let me start out by giving the highest possible praise to my *wonderful* bartender Kyle, who raised the quality of my dinner all by himself - he noticed when things were going wrong before I said anything, and proactively took action to make them right. He knew the ingredients in the dishes, and was just one of the best top-to-bottom bartenders I've encountered in quite awhile - he was great.

I wanted to begin my meal with a cocktail, so I asked which Gins they had, and they only had three: Beefeater, Green Hat, and Catoctin Creek - one of which is mass-produced and innocuous; the other two of which are almost undrinkable in my experience. Nevertheless, I ordered a Gimlet with Green Hat ($8 + $2 supplement for something) because I've only had it a couple of times; unfortunately, I didn't notice which of the five stripes it was (Green Hat makes five gins, each one having a different colored stripe). I like Gimlets - which are essentially Gin and Lime - because they allow the Gin to shine through. Unfortunately, this must have been the Navy Strength Green Hat because it was overwhelmingly strong. The lime juice appeared to be squeezed in-house, but was done so earlier, poured from a plastic container, and a deeply macerated cherry was curiously added on top, which I've never before seen in a Gimlet - it was a pretty lousy drink, all things considered, but it was mostly my mistake for not sticking with Beefeater. Like Bombay (regular Bombay; not Sapphire), Beefeater is an industrial, but perfectly inoffensive and decent Gin that I usually get when regular Bombay isn't available, and I want something neutral - this drink was mostly my fault, but I'm not happy with All Purpose's selection of Gins.

After my cocktail, I switched to a white wine which took care of me all the way through my meal: a 2015 DeAngelis Trebbiano Blend ($9) from the Le Marche region - this medium-bodied, dry white has a fine supporting backbone of acidity (albeit very high-toned acidity) that was more than enough to stand up to all my courses. I should add that awhile before I went, I asked someone deep on the inside of this restaurant what dishes they were most proud of, and ordered exclusively from the list I got in return. All Purpose has a mostly Italian, very workable wine list, with almost 50 wines by the bottle, ranging from $35-70, seemingly averaging in the $45-50 range; you can expect to pay about $10-12 for pleasant, drinkable wines by the glass, and $7-$11 for each beer on their medium-sized, well-chosen list, with 4 luxury beers priced well into the double-digits.

I began my meal with a nearly delightful Sicilian Tuna Mousse ($10), served in a bocal with salsa verde, (pickled) baby celery, and four thin slices of well-toasted bread for spreading - just enough bread to provide for a liberal spreading of the mousse. This was a very good dish, and would have been excellent had it not been doused with finishing oil - I suspect the mousse is made earlier in the day, and finished a la minute with the salsa verde - something very much like a nutless pesto - and the oil, which (combined with the upcoming courses) contributed to making this meal heavier than it should have been.

Spaghetti Squash "Aglio e Olio" ($12), a large platter of shredded spaghetti squash with brown butter, lemon, herb-roasted ricotta, and breadcrumbs that drew questions from both sides of me ("What is that?"). This was an oily plate of food, and lacked seasoning - "Aglio e Olio" means "garlic and oil," and while I got a lot of oil, I got virtually no garlic. However, in one bite, I took what I thought to be a quarter-sized wheat crisp - lo, it turned out to be a piece of crisped garlic, so there it was after all. The highlight of this dish - by far - was the herb-roasted ricotta, which had the same look and texture as thinly sliced vanilla meringue, and I mean that as the highest of compliments - this was wonderful, sheep's-milk (possibly goat's-milk) cheese presented in a novel fashion, and saved the dish from failing - I took about half of it home, having it the next day, and since it theoretically had lemon in it already, I added a few much-needed grounds of lemon sea salt, making it a much better plate of food. Although I reheated it in my microwave, it was actually much better on day two because it was simply too hot when it was served, and the oil in the dish retained the heat throughout the meal - it was markedly better at a slightly cooler temperature, and certainly with the added seasoning - I didn't enjoy it at the restaurant; I enjoyed it at home. 

With my Squash, I had the Crispy Fried Mushrooms ($14), an intricate dish of four sliced, cremini mushrooms with smoked mozzarella stuffing, and chives, sitting atop a puréed avocado ranch "dressing." I say "intricate" because the insides of this mushroom would fool most people, as it fooled me, into thinking there was some veal in it, but it was a vegetarian dish; the only problem was the breading which was bland and desperately needed some seasoning - the same problem which plagued the accompanying squash. More "interesting" than "good," I would consider getting this again if the batter changes, and if I had a second person to split it with - as it stands, it's priced out at $3.50 per fried mushroom - not unreasonable for what you get, but also not something one person wants to stuff himself on.

After these three courses, I was pretty well stuffed, so I got half of my Spaghetti Squash to go, and ordered a Buona Pizza ($18), with tomato, huge slices of pepperoni, mozzarella, chili honey, basil, and grana - also to go. I paid my bill, walked back to my car, opened the pizza box, took one bite of the cornicione, whispered a four-syllable word, and headed home. Over the next 24 hours - including that same evening - I played around with the pizza, and have several conclusions:

1) The cornicione, or "periphery of the crust," badly needs work: It's way too big - an inch long, and about a half-inch thick, and is dense and has a flavor not much better than a decent cracker. If you don't mind spending $18 on a pizza, only to ignore the end crust, you may well like these pizzas; for me, the crust is an integral part.

2) The honey in this particular pizza conglomerated around the rim of the crust - I don't know if someone used a squirt bottle in a circular motion, and the centrifugal force forced it outwards, or if it just crept towards the end in the oven, but there it seemed to be conglomerated.

3) The toppings were busy, but excellent, and the middle part of the pizza was delicious - even better at room temperature than it was when hot, because you could taste the honey; at full heat (or close to it), the cheese tended to overpower the more nuanced toppings. 

I've officially initialized coverage of All Purpose in Italic in the Dining Guide, and have it currently ranked as one of the Top Five restaurants in Shaw. This will undoubtedly change in the future, but for now, I can't rave about All Purpose, which is trying to be "Etto-ish" in nature, but not pulling it off quite as well. Still, All Purpose is a good, 2 Amys-style restaurant that can improve if the kitchen stays focused; the service I had was top notch, so there isn't much room for improvement there. The wine list (by the bottle) is quite good, but the bar needs work.

I have to say, this doesn't sound like an Italics review.  It's a wonderful, evocative review, but it makes me want to steer clear of All-Purpose far more than to go there.  I feel like I could pretty easily name ten better restaurants in Shaw, if my experience there were to be comparable to Don's.

I've always been pretty disappointed by Donburi, which pains me to say, because I really want more good, interesting, small-space options in town.

3 hours ago, DaRiv18 said:

I mean, H2M closed about 10 months after Adam started at Bar Pilar, 8 months after Cork opened, and Gina didn't start at PS7's until 2009.  I lived at the Central's bar back in the day, so of course Justin invited me.  But I don't think of DC bartender's guild as an exclusionary type of group.  And if there are secret cocktail places now where they go, then I have surely fallen out of favor, too.  If anything, it's like everyone wants you to come to their shift??

Sorry, I thought you posting that photo meant that it was back up and running.  And I've just been pretty down lately generally, so apologies for any snarkiness in my post.

Cool, I guess.

I've been a serious cocktail drinker in this town for years and years, back when Adam was at Bar Pilar and Tom was at Cork and Gina was at PS7's, but I've never been hip enough to earn the merest whisper of an invite to the secret places where the cool kids drink.  Seeing that Hummingbird thing just reminds me of that fact. 

And, to link the Dining Guide discussion and the Bib Gourmand discussion, color me pretty surprised that Boqueria received a Bib Gourmand over either Estadio or Barcelona (or Compass Rose, or etc.).

1 hour ago, sandynva said:

 Though I generally don't love Tom, I  really respect him for championing jaleo.  There was a time, maybe 10 or so years ago, when Jaleo seemed old hat, no one talked about it, or really seem to respect it. And then Tom came out with a great  review of it. I remember being shocked when they when the review came out, and then being convinced to go again and then being very pleasantly surprised by what I had. Does anyone else remember this?  I think it took guts to write a rave review of a place that was seen as sort of passé at the time  and more than that, he was totally right. It is great.  I haven't had top us anywhere else in the US, but I definitely think the food is better than estadio, and I think the tapas and gazpacho are as good as what I had in Spain 

I'm going to need to make it back to Jaleo, then.  I remember back when it was one of the first "good" restaurants in the Gallery Place area in the early 2000s, and I definitely remember the phase you're talking about where it just felt tired and touristy and mediocre and I stopped going.  If it truly has experienced a sustained renaissance, it needs to be back on my radar.

(Disclaimer and perhaps unpopular opinion: I like many things on Estadio's menu, but (small voice) I find I like Barcelona better in most respects...other than the perpetual teeming crowds anytime but brunch, of course.  The free bread and olive oil at Barcelona is delicious and, well, free, the portions of ham and cheese are a little more generous (and I think cheaper) than they are at Estadio while being comparable quality, and I'm always surprised at how good their boquerones are -- better than most places I had them in Andalucia or Madrid.  I struggle to remember a bad dish I've had there.  I think Barcelona tends not to get much respect because it's a chain restaurant and overrun by the 14th Street hordes, but it really does have surprisingly good and interesting food and drink (and that brunch bloody mary bar!).)

14 hours ago, Tweaked said:

Re: Indian, Sietsema says he has been to Tamarind in London and thought Rasika was equal. For whatever that's worth.

In my experience, I've been to Michelin 1 star Junoon in NYC and at least food wise Rasika was much superior, at half the price. On several dishes DC second tier Indian restaurants, like Masala Art, serve much better versions of what Junoon serves.  Of course Junoon has splasher decor and has an extensive and expensive wine book, which it would seem the Michelin reviewers take into account.  But I'd take Rasika over Junoon any meal of the week, not even close.

Anecdata, but I've got some upper middle-class friends who are originally from India, are reasonably well-traveled, and now live in the DC area, and one quite wealthy acquaintance through those friends who is some prince or other in Rajasthan and is now living in New York; last I heard, all of them think Rasika is one of the best Indian places anywhere.  Like you said, for whatever that's worth.

10 hours ago, lotus125 said:

How was Studio?

I enjoyed it!  Food was uniformly good; got to chat with one of the sous chefs a decent amount since I was seated at the counter.  Nice atmosphere and service.  I was pretty full from having gone to Geranium and Radio the day before, which probably made it a little harder for any single dish to be memorable (and meant I didn't drink anything!), but there was something they did with shellfish stock that was especially awesome.  Lunch is the time to go here, because (as far as I remember) you get the same menu as dinner, but it's significantly cheaper.  Plus the view is great over the river.

I didn't end up going to Geist (as per the post you quoted) because I heard a number of mixed things about it from bar and restaurant folk over the previous few days.  Instead I was super, super-excited to try and snag a walk-in spot at 108, noma's more casual offshoot that's supposed to be really delicious in its own right.  Plus they're open Sundays!  I think their opening time is 5, so I was going to get there around 4:40 and didn't expect to have much of a problem; apparently around half of the space is reserved for walk-ins, and this isn't like D.C. where you need to stake out a spot in the Bad Saint or Rose's line a couple of hours beforehand.    My plan worked perfectly: I showed up at 4:40, and there was no one there at all!  Except, literally, there was no one there at all: a sign on the door informed me that they had had an electrical outage and would be closed that night.    I know I had already eaten at noma a couple days before and thus couldn't really complain, but still...I was pretty disappointed.

More so when I then went to two Relæ-affiliated properties for dinner instead, up in Nørrebro.   The first one, Bæst, was pretty good -- tasty pizza, good conversation with the bar staff.  But they then recommended that I go to Manfreds wine bar for a further snack, and I didn't really like that place at all.  Service by the oh-so-French bartender was distant, spotty, and off-putting, and he seemed more intent on upselling certain dishes than he did on providing a good experience (despite what the guy at Bæst said, I found the steak tartare at Manfreds bland and overpriced).  The other thing -- and maybe this is just me -- is that they had a spit bucket behind the bar, and it was apparently the directive for staff to (1) taste each wine before serving it and (2) spit most of the taste out.  Which is fine, I guess, except that those of us seated at the little bar had a continuous view of waiters and bar staff spitting wine out of their mouths, often from a reasonable height.  I found it weird and not conducive to a good appetite.  Only positive note is that I got into a conversation with the American sitting next to me, and he and I had a great time talking; we then continued the conversation down the street at Mikkeller & Friends brewpub, and the people at Mikkeller could not have been nicer.  That was a really fun place.  Manfreds, not as much.  

17 minutes ago, The Hersch said:

Yes, I suppose it would be like that vibrant dining scene in Rosslyn, where all the tall buildings are. After all, Parisians all flock to La Défense at dinner time, don't they?

...or if so much of the city wasn't government buildings, embassies, nonprofits, and churches.

You jest, but it's pretty hard to argue that if more people lived closely together, there would be more food options to accommodate them.

18 minutes ago, The Hersch said:

Just for the record, many if not most of the other cities you mention have population densities lower, and in many cases far lower, than Washington. Houston's density is only about 1/3 that of Washington. Charleston's and Melbourne's are only about 1/10.

Fair point.  It may not be a dispositive factor, but it's certainly a factor.  Absent the height restrictions, how different do you think the downtown dining scene would look?  I'm guessing pretty different.

27 minutes ago, jca76 said:

so this is his defense for minibar's right to three stars: "The avant-garde restaurant, basically a 30-course magic show, is very much in the vein of Arzak, a Michelin three-star in San Sebastian, Spain, where I had the great good fortune to eat two years ago and where one of multiple astonishments was an ocean-fresh lobster displayed on a tablet computer, its screen animated with blue waves. Was it “worth a special journey?” Absolutely."  arzak is probably the most disappointing/baffling-that-it-has-three-stars restaurant i've ever been to; it felt incredibly dated.  

An ocean-fresh lobster displayed on a tablet computer doesn't sound particularly astonishing, in my opinion.

I have a hard time believing that Sietsema really finds the lack of three-star designations for D.C. to be "shocking."   If so, he's far more blinkered than I would have thought.