lekkerwijn

This is a great thread. It is literally my job to contemplate the current trends around the meaning of "healthy" and work with companies to actualize these trends into food for consumers. Healthy historically has been a function of what Pollan describes as "nutritionism"- the health value of the food being the sum of its nutrient parts. The lower in fat, sugar, sodium, and/or calories and the more dense in vitamins and minerals the better. While that operationalization of the concept of healthy seems to work for fruits and vegetables, it also can lead to the Snackwells Effect. Current consumer trends around healthy are not so much about nutrients as they are about methodology of production and encompass health for humans, planet, and livestock. Think of this as a Whole Foods approach. Healthy is also an ordinal, rather than cardinal, conceptual continuum. Draconian or highly rigid food lifestyles despite being seen as healthy ideals are viewed by many consumers as being mentally unhealthy. So consistent with this approach of moderation and balance, portion control is another mega trend. This is intereting because Americans typically equate value with volume as opposed to quality. You see this through the proliferation of tapas-style small plates concepts, which are also pretty profitable. You will start to see more restaurants advertising half portions or offering to pack half a plate in a to go box before the meal begins. But for those who simply want help cutting calories when dining out, I suggest you take a look at www.healthydiningfinder.com . They even have an app. Yes, it is a lot of chains, but since they are required by many municipalities as well as Obamacare to do calorie labeling on their menus it is a great source of info for those of us trying to fit into our skinny jeans.

This sounds like the best menu so far. Very, very tempting. Any chance the Tile can be substituted with another fish on the menu? Like many women my age, I'm hesitant to eat it.

We also live in the neighborhood and agree about the dining scene and need for a brunch option. I'm not around during lunch time on a week day, but evenings and weekends the place is usually pretty much empty. I'll be honest, I've never eaten there. I'm not a fan of that cuisine and they don't do any PR in the neighborhood that would make me want to try it. I'm venturing a guess that many of the local residents are either unfamiliar with Jamaican or are unadventurous eaters making the menu at 876 a stretch. So unless they do a brisk lunch business, I can't see the place staying in business.

Our first time at Elisir for dinner on Saturday night was good but not great. Some menu items really were fantastic-gnocchi, veal and cheese plate specifically. But the general consensus of our group was that overall the food was- for lack of a better term- ungapatchka. The food was a little too fussed over and gimmicky. I'm not someone who worships at the altar of seasonality but white asparagus, "summer corn", "summer mushrooms", and English peas in on a menu in November? In reality, this is all nit-picky stuff. But after reading the reviews we went in expecting to be blown away and we weren't.

A group of six of us had a delightful post Thanksgiving family lunch at Terasol on Friday. We all started with a bowl of soup. The lentil soup was a special \and it was better than our last visit. Despite my previous doubts, no question it is homemade (as well as vegetarian). Three of us got the roasted chicken and vegetable soup. It is a really delightful bowl of soup- the broth was basically a consomme and loaded with shredded roast chicken and vegetables, including fennel, green beans, and carrots. Those who ordered the French onion enjoyed it as well. They have my favorite salad on their menu- poached egg, bacon and frisee. I really enjoyed it. The egg was warm and perfectly runny with a really bracing vinaigrette. My mother and sister both had the Caesar salad. My mother's complaint, which was not echoed by my sister, was that the salad would have benefited from a couple anchovies since she felt it wasn't fishy enough. My other sister had the beet and goat cheese salad which looked lovely as well. My husband had a mozarella, tomato and pesto panini which came with a side of that awesome potato salad and pickled vegetables. My father got one of the specials- seared sea scallops with cous cous and tropical fruit salad. I think this entree is probably indicative of what the new chef brings to the place. It was a stunningly beautiful plate. Four large perfectly seared scallops served with an arugula and fruit salad and some cous cous. At $20 it was a steal. This restaurant really is a neighborhood gem.

Same here. An iconic restaurant for people watching. I was once there for dinner and we were seated at a table next to Senator Ted Kennedy and a group of female interns.

We had dinner at Obelisk last night. I wasn't sure if I would post about the meal, but then I sat here and read through the whole thread on this restaurant. It is funny because it has a recurring theme of "had a meal here that didn't live up to my memories of the place"..."has anyone been there lately"... So it seemed incumbent upon me to contribute to the tradition. When I first came to DC as an undergrad I lived a couple blocks from the restaurant. I would often stop to look at the menu while walking down the block (I recall it being $55 price fixe; same handwriting though) and hope that I would meet a guy who would take me there on a date. Since then I met a guy and we have eaten there together several times- most notably New Year's Eve 2005; the next day we went engagement ring shopping. I still have habit of checking out the menu every time I walk by and momentarily I am twenty years old again. Sigh. We hadn’t been back to Obelisk in easily two or three years. No other reason than it seems like there were always other places we wanted to try or because you can’t make a reservation online and when you do call you generally can’t get a weekend reservation unless you call a week or so ahead. This time I called on Wednesday we could get a 9 pm table on Friday night. When we got there they had just turned over from the earlier seating. The restaurant was half full. By10pm it had filled back up again. They could probably squeeze in at least two more two tops along the banquettes. But I appreciate that they don’t since it makes the restaurant more intimate and you don’t feel like you are on top of anyone. Dinner started with cocktails. I particularly enjoyed mine which was gin, Cynar, and Valencia orange. Antipasti included their “standard” but exceptional burrata with olive oil, salt and pepper; room temperature marinated shrimp; porchetta with super crispy skin; perfectly fried arancini with squash and mozzarella; and a bracing salad of arugula, grapefruit, and fennel. No question their antipasti overshadows the rest of the food. Pasta course he had the chitarra pasta with a light coating of tomato sauce and polpettini. The meatballs were a mix of beef and pork with pine nuts. I had the guinea hen agnolotti in a broth with a poached egg. Not sure how else to describe the dish other than to say it was an elevated version of my grandmother’s kreplach soup. Main course he had cod with chickpeas and baby clams. It was described as a house-salted cod poached in olive oil. I had the roasted quail with potatoes, olives, and artichokes that was sauced with an aged balsamic. I would agree with the other comments that the mains are far better than the average restaurant fare but not particularly exceptional at the same time. Cheese course was an Italian blue, hard Italian sheep’s milk cheese, and a Pennsylvania goat cheese. Dessert he had the chocolate cake with caramel sauce. I’m fairly certain we’d had it there before. Other posts upthread would suggest that is highly plausible. I had chestnut ice cream and pear tart. Their ice cream continues to be a stand out. This flavor in particular- not too sweet and very subtle. Our check came with a plate of small goodies- salted toffee, chocolate-mint truffles, hazelnut biscotti. I’ll note it looks like they’ve been at $75 price fixe for easily 5 years, which is impressive considering food costs have gone up a bit. Overall it was a lovely, relaxed and high quality meal but also kind of unremarkable. That isn’t a bad thing.

Clearly I have been watching way too much Sandy coverage over the past three days. I am wondering if anyone else has noticed that Roberto Donna and NJ Governor Chris Christie are long lost twins.

We live nearby and have passed this little restaurant hundreds of times and each time we remind ourselves to try it. So this morning when it occurred to us that we should go for a leisurely brunch ahead of the Frankenstorm we remembered to give Terasol a try. Overall, we are very happy we did and plan to return. 12:30 pm and the place is about 1/3 full. Reasonably priced, French cafe style menu with a few specials all of which we were told were "very good". All of the food coming out of the kitchen looked very pretty. The three waiters on duty were friendly and efficient. To start I had the special lentil soup and my husband had the French Onion soup. The onion soup was the clear winner of the two. The onion soup was a classic preparation and with the right amount of browned, crusty cheese to gooey cheese ratio. The lentil was good, but was eerily similar to the Progresso version, which isn't a bad thing per se, but they did describe it as homemade. They also had a roasted chicken and vegetable soup on the menu as well as a creme of asparagus on special. I think next time I would try the roasted chicken and vegetable soup. Soups came out with warm slices of French bread and butter. Kudos to the warm bread but I have a real issue with ice cold butter. I don't understand why it can't come out room temperature when you take the time and effort to serve warm bread. Bread was above average restaurant variety but not as good as some of the bigger name local French places are serving. For an entree I had the herb omelet which was just as described. Two fluffy eggs with fresh herbs. Simple and good. The menu said it was served with a salad. I was expecting mixed greens but was pleasantly surprised to see it come out with an assiette style salad. Two slices of spicy pickled carrot, a pickled onion, small scoop of mustardy (whole seed) potato salad, and lightly dressed tomato and cucumber. My husband had one of the specials- two poached eggs with crab and shrimp, topped with a Béarnaise over frisee. At $12 it was a steal given the generous provision of shrimp and crab that was mixed together in a salad that looked to be the same dressing on my potato salad. To drink I had a coffee and he had tea. The only point of note regarding the coffee was that it was served in a French press. Tea was a choice of Tazo or Stash. The desserts will billed as homemade and so we decided to try the crepe with homemade jam. We were served two crepes folded into quarters. The crepes were a little gummy- either undercooked or perhaps reheated. The jam was strawberry and was just fine but seemed more like a higher end store bought product as opposed to homemade as billed. Total came to $58 with tax and tip. Overall, I would describe our meal as above average neighborhood fare with some French flare in pleasant surroundings. We will be back both for brunch and for dinner.

We met some friends there for wine and dessert on Saturday night. We got there around 9 and almost all the tables were full. We had two reasonably priced bottles of red wine (Morgan Syrah and Bodegas Laukote Tempranillo) which we enjoyed along with a platter of 6 cheeses for our pre-dessert and then the southern rum cake. The homemade goat cheese was a big hit. The only wrinkle was that they were out of the apple tart. The setting, food and wine were great complements to a fun evening hanging out with friends. Next time we'll need to go back and try more of the menu. We also heard that in the coming weeks they will start serving brunch. I can see Slate as being a place that you can go meet friends for a couple glasses of wine paired with approachable and easily sharable snacks. It is also a low key and more grownup alternative to the otherwise youthful and painfully preppy bar scene in Glover Park. Full disclosure: Elizabeth Banker is our neighbor. We have been hearing about her plans for months and are thrilled to see them come so successfully to fruition. We are equally excited about our other neighbor's new venture DGS Delicatessan.

Crumbs is Kosher dairy. I think they taste authentically like kosher bakery cakes too. Whether that is good or bad is in the eye of the beholder.

Agree on the blueberry tart. Really special.

Run don't walk for this special. We went last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. FWIW: I had no problem booking on Opentable yesterday afternoon and the restaurant was about 3/4 empty when we arrived around 8:45. Our meal was a mix of old favorites and some newer items on the menu. Two meals plus two glasses of wine and an iced tea came to just about $100. We are seriously contemplating going back tonight but that just seems greedy. First Course: chilled heirloom tomato and Thai chili soup Second Course: local crab "spring roll" (best thing we ate, no question) Third Course: Big Eye tuna on sushi rice with hijiki Fourth Course: pork loin with BBQ sauce Dessert: blueberry tart and chocolate tart

He creates the menu and he "cooks" the food. We had dinner there last night and that was clarified for us when we asked how one makes vegan cheese (FYI: ground macadamia nuts, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, salt--> ferment to a frothy texture). Jonathan makes his own. Highlights of the meal included the cauliflower brochette, fennel and white peach salad, and the stuffed heirloom tomato with truffles. The tomato was particularly good. It was dehydrated but still moist and stuff with vegan cheese and truffles. Service was friendly but spotty. They forgot to bring our intermezzo until after we reminded them and the entree had already arrived. Not really a big deal because the food is room temperature. Dinner was beautifully complemented by a 2002 Alsatian Reisling from Domaine Zind-Humbrecht. We figured that if we brought a really phenomenal bottle of wine that even if dinner was just ok, it wouldn't be a total loss. Luckily dinner was pretty great so it was a win-win. We were incredulous when we arrived and left believers that raw, vegan, gluten free food really can taste great. We'll be back. edit: their kale chips rock

Yes, that is what the woman behind the counter told me. I asked because the storefront lacked any aroma of baking bread. Obviously, one would prefer a croissant still warm from the oven. But still a welcome addition to the neighborhood.

It appears that they have opened a location at 1420 New York Avenue, right by the White House. I walked by today and they have a nice selection of viennoiserie in both regular size and mini, muffins, other French pastries, breads and a nice lunch menu made up mostly of sandwiches and salads. They appeared to be doing a pretty brisk lunch business. I tried a mini Chausson aux pommes and it was good but not excellent. According to their very sparse website they also have a location in Bethesda.

So good in fact that we got them again Friday night. Blacksalt was the perfect place for a group to go to celebrate our friend's recent engagement. I had never been seated in the back room before. It is a lovely space but the AC wasn't pumping in there the way it was at the front of the house. It wasn't uncomfortable but it was a little toasty. But that could also have been because Andrea Mitchell and Alan Greenspan were seated there as well on a hot double date.

Went there for dinner Friday night and had the yummiest soft shell crabs of my life. A special addition to the menu they were available fried or broiled (? ) and served along with a choice of fresh seasonal vegetables, any side from any other dish on the menu, or you could let the chef surprise you with something special. I took the gamble and ordered them fried with a side of surprise. I wasn't disappointed. The two large soft shells arrived perfectly fried in a batter that was almost tempura like, impeccably seasoned. Served on top of a potato, tomato, mushroom, bacon, and marscapone hash. Ethereal. A pet peeve: they didn't tell us the price of the special when talking about the additions to the menu. But we also didn't ask. So when we saw the dish joked that it was going to be fifty bucks. But was actually a reasonable $32.

Picked up lunch there today. Enjoyed the food- particularly the pineapple in the burrito desnudo. Nice touch. I was really excited about this place opening. I really want their operation to be successful. It is a great addition to the Metro Center lunch mix. But the process to order and pick-up your food is a total cluster f*&k. I dont think that is just because it is newly opened. The layout and operational flow is 100% the issue. We arrived at 12:15 and the line was out the door. The space is deep and narrow. A line snakes up to the first counter (near the front of the store) to order and pay for your food. They give you a card with a number on it. At which point you congregate at the bottom of a set of stairs (up which people are traveling to sit) to wait for your food near an open kitchen towards the back of the space. A runner bags or plates your order and then calls your number. From there, you travel back towards the middle of the space to the beverage station and toppings bar. The toppings/sauces aren't labeled. You exit through the same narrow and crowded space that people are lining up to enter. The kitchen was moving at a swift pace but the inefficient system coupled with long lines made it was a nearly 20 minute process from queing up to walking out with the food. Compare that to Merzi next door, which has a functionally similar menu, even with a line out the door you can be in and out in half the time in part due to a smarter flow.

Living only a couple blocks from the Van Ness Chalin's and having never set foot inside I can't speak for the food. I have observed that the Van Ness Chalin's is never full but is very large and assumed that they stay in business from weekday lunch business that is primarily a function of lack of better options in the neighborhood. As Tweaked mentioned, there are often large groups of Chinese people eating there. The Chinese embassy is only a block away, so it wouldn't be shocking that they would have a special menu to cater to that clientelle. This is highly intriguing.

I preface this by saying that I am remiss to judge a restaurant by their Restaurant Week performance. Their RW menu is pretty generous given the option to choose from all entrees but I thought the first course/dessert selections were limited to the least interesting selections on the menu. Soups and desserts were bland and unremarkable. The fish itself was all perfectly cooked and tasty although entrees varied significantly in size. My whole fried flounder was very generous; my husband's plate came with four mid-sized scallops seemed small in comparison. Side dishes served with the entrees felt like afterthoughts and were not as carefully prepared. Given the generally positive reviews of others and delicious proteins, still think PassionFish warrants a second chance just not during RW.

I just finished having dinner at Fiola. We got in no problem without a reservation around 7:30 pm and were seated at a two top near the bar. The place was pretty packed. Sitting in the front you get to see who is coming and going, including Jennifer Aniston complete with a small entourage and paparazzi snapping photos.

Agree with the recommendation for Pappadeaux in the E terminal in the Houston airport. I had a shrimp and lobster salad with avocado, mango and cashews in a tropical vinaigrette that was legitimately good. Not just airport food good. Also there is a wine bar in the C terminal with a pretty solid selection as well as an interesting menu. I had a margharita flat bread that I enjoyed. IAH is now an airport I won't mind having 2 hour layovers in.IAH

I'll be in San Diego at the end of the month, staying near the convention center, no car. I've been tasked with finding a really great Mexican restaurant for a dinner. Dives are totally ok. Any suggestions?

I think this pretty much sums it up for most people. The two times we ate there we did notice what appeared to be several "security" cameras throughout the dining room. We joked with friends that they were there as part of his deal with the DC/Arlington government so they wouldn't be able to fake their books.