dinwiddie

On Saturday five of us met for dinner at Cedar. I had arranged with the restaurant for us to bring wines with us and Chef McCloud would create a five course meal to go with the wines we brought. With the exception of my son, I had never met any of the other diners before, but all were wine geeks I correspond with on the Wine Spectator boards. Dinner was fantastic. Chef McCloud tasted each of the wines before deciding what we would be served and also decided which wines he wanted us to serve with each dish. The only dish we specifically requested was the second course, foie gras. The pairings were spot on and the meal absolutely fantastic. We started with an Amuse Bouche - Grilled watermelon with a spiced watermelon sorbet and micro greens First course -Heirloom tomatoes 5 ways: fried green, smoked, marinated in olive oil and grains of paradise, tomato curd, and a spicy hot Bloody Mary sorbet. With house made feta and shallot caviar. Paired with a 2005 Shea Wine Cellars Shea Vineyard Pinot Noir (Williamette Valley.) (Who knew you could pair PN with tomato?) Second course -Foie gras with sugar plums and corn bread. Paired with an '07 Sea Smoke Southing. (Santa Rita Hills) Third course - Local Blue Rouge farm raised chicken with Virginia corn and caramelized cantaloupe. Paired with an '04 Martinelli Seven Mules Vineyard Pinot Noir (Russian River Valley) Fourth course - Idaho Wagyu with smoked corn husk, tea smoked venison with ratatouille in the center. Paired with an '87 Beringer Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. (Napa Valley) Final Course - Stilton cherry cheesecake, brittle, bing cherries, Amaretto crumb cookie. Or blueberries three ways, brule, cobbler, and jelled with sesame crisp. Paired with an '03 Martinelli Seven Mules Pinot Noir. Chef McCloud came out and explained each course. The service was fantastic and everyone had a great time. Our server Noelle (who is also the events manager at the restaurant and the person who I dealt with to set up the dinner) was fantastic, very friendly, very professional, and very efficient. Best of all, because it is a slow time of year, the restaurant waived the corkage fees for the wine. If I could figure out how to do it, I'd have posted pictures of the meal (and the wines).

We made a reservation for yesterday evening for after going to an afternoon movie at Bethesda Row. Not realizing how little time it would take to walk to the restaurant from the movie, we were early but they had no problem seating us even though the bar was very crowded. Two things stand out about Food and Wine Company. First, the wine list. Extensive, very well priced and full of interesting wines. Someone has taken the time to put together a very nice list that has the whole range of types and prices. Whether you want a Justin Paso Robles Cabernet or a 2000 Gaja Barbaresco there several choices that will fit any taste and price range. Second, these folks take themselves seriously about the food, but not too seriously about the atmosphere. An open kitchen that was obviously well run, and managers in suit coats with jeans. Dinner began with a half dozen Virginia oysters on the half shell for me, 3 Rappahannocks and 3 Old Salts. Well presented with a very nice mignonette and a cocktail sauce I never got to because the oysters were so good on their own. My wife had the fried baby artichokes, served with a sauce gribiche. They were a little salty for her taste, but I notice she didn't have a problem finishing them. For our main course my wife had the Crispy Tuna Salad. Slices of wonderfully cooked tuna, just crisped with a light breading and perfectly rare in the center, arugula, perfectly cooked medium boiled eggs hare whites, viscus yolks, with a sherry mustard vinaigrette. I ordered the mussels with smokey bacon and caramelized onion with a side of very good frites. We also ordered a side of the Gruyere Mac and Cheese. The mussels were fantastic, large and plump, lots of them, served in a sizzling hot cast iron skillet. The Mac and Cheese is something that every chef should aspire to being able to make. Creamy yet not heavy with just a touch of sherry on the nose. Yum. Dinner went very well with the 2009 Ornellaia Le Volte that the asst. manager recommended when my first choice was sold out. Dark fruits and spice on the nose, black cherry and blueberry with a slight hint of rose petals on the palate. Well structured with firm tannins and a nice long finish. It definitely needed time to breath but as the evening went on, it opened and was excellent. Dessert was a trio of Ice Cream sandwiches. Pistachio on a mini brioche, chocolate on two little chocolate chip cookies, and blood orange sorbet on something I can't even describe. Whimiscal and very good. Service was friendly, efficient, and except for the fact that I had to twice tell our server that I'd pour the wine, very good. This is definitely worth a trip and I will be going back. I've not been too impressed with the places in Bethesda when compared to going downtown, but Food, Wine, and Company is definitely a hit.

Since we had a 7 course tasting menu, our serving of the soup was only a small cup, but that was more than sufficient. It also had a large chunk of lobster in it. I loved how it was sweet and yet had that lobster/salty taste of the sea. I thought the Boar would have been interesting, and if I had been ordering on my own, probably would have gotten it. However, as noted above, we (my son and I) put ourselves in the very capable hands of the chef for him to choose what we ate. Our only requirement was that the meal include the Foie Gras. And the Foie Gras was the course of the night for both of us, but then we were predisposed to love it. I could have made a meal of 7 courses of it (if my heart didn't explode first) it was so good. The manager/owner also came by to make sure everything was OK (and to get a taste of the Sauterne). He certainly has a nice little place there.

foodobsessed6, So that was your party sitting up there. Now that I see your picture, I recognize you as the woman sitting next to us

We went out last night to celebrate my birthday. I had originally planned on going to Taberna del Alabardero but decided I didn't want to be that formal and canceled the reservation and made one at Cedar. I had never been but friends had recommended it. I called and asked about the corkage policy and was told that it would be $25 per bottle and please do not bring something that is on their wine list. That is about normal for DC on a Saturday night. When we arrived they were most accommodating. I had requested that I have a table rather than a booth when I made my reservation on OpenTable. When we got there we were shown to a hidden niche that had two booths both of which had a chair on one side. I indicated that I found that uncomfortable (and since I was dining with my wife and son, not a mistress or spy) was it possible to sit someplace else. They asked for a moment then set up a table for us sort of in the bar but to the side. It turned out to be perfect. We were looking at the menus, my son Jake and I noted that we really were interested in the tasting menu, but also really wanted the Foie Gras. The server (a very nice, personable, and really young lady) said that they could vary the tasting menu. She then asked if we were interested in having the chef put together a tasting menu to go specifically with the wines we brought. We said yes, but asked if it would be possible for just Jake and I have the tasting menu because my wife would not want to eat that much. After consulting with the chef, she said they could do that. So Jake and I opted for a 7 course tasting and my wife for a three course one; hers to include the Cedar Roasted Salmon, ours to include Foie Gras. The server then took the wines back to the chef for him to taste, and to build our meals around. The wines I brought with me were: 2007 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Schlossberg Cuvée Ste. Catherine L'Inédit! 2007 Kosta Browne Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir (the restaurant decanted the wine for us when we arrived.) 1990 Chateau Sudiraut Sauterne (375ml) (for the Foie and dessert) The meal started with an amuse-bouche of a lamb sausage tart. Spicy, lightly gamy, and just right. The first courses to go with the Reisling were (for Jake and me) Strawberry Salad, mixed spring greens, stilton, pickled fennel, strawberry balsamic, black pepper meringues Lobster and White Chocolate Soup Rabbit sausage on a bed of trumpet mushrooms For Karen House Smoked Carolina Trout with a salad of asparagus, lemon creme fraiche, phyllo, watercress The next course, to go with the Sauterne was Foie Gras au Torchon with grilled pineapple, banana nut toast, pomegranate molasses. Jake and I both agreed that it was fantastic. To go with the Kosta Browne For Karen, Cedar Roasted Salmon wtih barley, bacon and root vegetable risotto. Jake and me, Grass Fed Beef Tenderloin with horseradish-potato puree, Swiss chard, pickled ramps, and burgundy jus. I would have preferred it to be rare rather than medium rare, but it was tender, delicious, and went perfectly with the wine. Next came a course of 6 artisanal cheeses. The chef came out to explain them to us. Stand outs were the San Andreas, a semi-firm, raw sheep cheese, the Grayson, a semi-soft, raw cow milk cheese that was perfect for stinky cheese lovers, and the Stilton Colston Bassett. Deserts were For Jake a Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Bar with candied hazelnuts and gianduja ice cream For Karen a goat cheese cheese cake, and for me a lemon pana cotta with blackberry filling. Service could not have been better. It was friendly, discrete, and very efficient. Everyone went out of their way to make us feel welome and to make sure that everything went right. We shared the wines with our server (she loved the Sudiraut that was as old as she was), the owner, and the Chef. By the end of the meal we were stuffed, had spent 2 and a half hours enjoying ourselves, and decided that Cedar is definitely worth more hype than it is getting. We could not have been treated better, found more accommodating hosts, or enjoyed ourselves more. We will definitely be back.

Went last night on the spur of the moment with a colleague from work. My hanger steak was perfect and the warm fennel in cream sauce it was with was wonderful. Her tartare was also excellent. It is good to know where I can get a good one whenever I want. Service was very good and the wine service respected my wish to be able to do the pouring for us without a pause. Every time I go I am reminded why I like this place so much.

So . . . Will the court rule that the city did not have the authority to rent out a public alley to the restaurant as the boat club has asked them to?

Located in the strip of restaruants on Rt 198 at 15510 Old Columbia Pike, Burtonsville, Maryland. I've only been a few times, always with my son who loves to eat. However, he has become a regular, stopping in on his way home from work on occasion. We have been often enough that when we ask for the Kitfo, thy know we mean properly, raw. Prices are pretty good, but then all Ethiopian food is inexpensive compared to many other cusines. I especially recommend the platters for a way to taste a variety of dishes. The last time we were there, they put together a special platter for the two of us with some of our favorites: The Soretti's Kitfo, Lamb Tibs, Doro Wot, Misir Wot, Cabbage and Potatos, Green Beans and carrots, and Shuro. This is a small place, but the folks are nice and friendly, service is good, and it is as authentic as anything downtown.

It takes a lot for me to travel across the river to Virginia but the right music at the Birchmere can do it. However, the one thing I really hate is that I have to eat there. If you want a decent seat, you need to pick up a line number right after 5 and they let people into the room at 6. Since the show doesn't usually start until 7:30, you are stuck there and have to eat there if you want any dinner. On Sunday I saw a wonderful show, and had a meal that aspired to be mundane and ordinary and didn't come close to succeeding. The only thing I can say good about it was that the lettuce in my wife's salad was fresh and crisp and the mango salsa was good. Otherwise, everything else was either bland or bad. The chicken in her Margarita Salad was very salty. The salmon appetizer special was very fishy tasting, almost metallic, and very salty. The pulled pork was bland and there was very little BBQ sauce to punch it up (what little there was didn't do a very good job), the basket of onion "tangle" was greasy, and the ranch dressing to dip them in was thin and watery. The only good thing I can say was that the portions were ample, too bad I didn't want to even think about finishing any of them. On the plus side, service was efficient and polite. And the music was fantastic.

Thanks Don. I'm glad you recognize that some of us are passionate about the places to eat where we live. As much as I love coming downtown to dine (well since I commute in every day for work, I don't love the coming downtown again part) normally my wife and I eat at restaurants near where we live. There are lots of "outside the beltway" communities where some very good chefs are setting up shop. We want everyone to know about the good places to eat where we live in case you ever happen to be out our way and hopefully can convince you that a trip may just be worth it. I certainly look to this board to see what is available and recommended when I know that I'm going to be somewhere I'm not normally when it comes time to eat.

Does anybody know if they permit corkage?

My wife and I had dinner there last week and loved it. Nice room, airy and light. Service was friendly and efficient. We started with the fried green tomatoes stuffed with goat cheese. Good, but not great. A charcuterie plate of the house made pate and the duck prosciutto was quite good. The breads that came with the meal were fantastic. My wife had the salmon, perfectly cooked and served with sauteed Swiss chard and mushrooms (and ginger) that she thought was fantastic. I had what had to be one of the best bouillabaisse I've ever had. The bottle of Taval we had with dinner went very well. The wine list is not large, but well represented and for MoCo, fairly well priced. We will definitely be adding this restaurant to our rotation.

I don't take it personally, but I used to work in a fancy steak house and there were 8 gradations of doneness fopr beef, from blue to medium well. We would not cook anything over medium well. I don't think the steaks are better than RTS, but they have only been open a week, so I'll see how they do over time. Personally, I find it easier from where I live to go to Olney than SS.

We went to GrillMarX last night for dinner. Located in the new Fair Hill Shopping Center in Olney, they opened six days ago. If yesterday was any indication, they will do well. They were packed. The only problem we had was that they were so popular that they were not able to seat us until 8pm even though we had a 7:30 reservation. I think that they are still getting the hang of how to time their reservations. They were doing a thriving bar business and the raw bar was very busy. Dinner started with a dozen Wellfleet oysters. Very fresh, briny, plump and well presented. They were served with lemon, hot sauce, freshly grated horseradish, and a grapefruit mignonette. My son ordered the Kona ribeye, which is marinated in Kona coffee, brown sugar, spices and herbs. Very flavorful if not to my particular taste. He ordered it rare, and it came rare. I ordered the regular boneless ribeye, asking for it to be on the rare side of medium rare. Again, it came exactly as ordered. We ordered baked potatoes to go with them but though seriously about the classic paring of creamed spinach. The steaks are 14 ounces and were quite good. My wife ordered the crab cakes, asking for the mustard sauce to be on the side. When they arrived, the sauce was on top of the crabcakes. When she said that she had ordered the sauce on the side, they whisked them away and replaced them with new ones, sauce on the side, in 90 seconds. They came with a very good salsa of corn and red peppers. The wine list is not large, but well selected for the menu and considering that this is Montgomery County, well priced. Unfortunately, as in most restaurants, the wines are fairly young. We ordered a 2006 Franciscan Oakville Estate Magnificat that at $65 was the oldest, and one of the most expensive bottles on the list. A fair price for the wine for MoCo restaurants. We later added a half bottle of 2007 Stonestreet Cab that was not nearly as good as the Magnificat. Glassware was adequate and they brought us new glasses with the second bottle. Dessert was the Amaretto Mascarpone Cheesecake for my son and the Apple Crisp for me. The Apple crisp was huge, came with two scoops of vanilla ice cream and was quite tasty. I didn't taste the cheesecake, but he didn't seem to dislike it as it disappeared quickly. Service was friendly, and efficient. Because my son ordered iced tea in addition to drinking the wine (actually, my wife had less than half a glass of the Magnificat and we drank the rest), the waiter brought him two glasses at a time due to how packed the place was. All in all I think this is a great addition to Olney, which needs more restaurants of this category. I look forward to them ironing out the scheduling, but I can't say that it was their fault, folks seemed to want to linger. If I had any complaint it was that the place was quite loud, but that is to be expected when there are that many people there at the bar. We will definitely be back.

Do you know if they will permit corkage?

Joe, true there are many fine Washington wines that are not corporate owned. However, Don's original post, without saying so, implied that being corporate owned is a bad thing. Do I agree, probably, but then I don't normally drink those wines in the first place. However, as others have noted, these wines are fine for what they are, are easy to get, and are inexpensive. So they are exactly what 90+% of the wine buying public wants. More power to them, it leaves the other smaller productions wines to those of us who appreciate them and look for them. When a winery makes 700 cases of a wine, you aren't going to find it at Trader Joe's. Do you refuse to eat at a restaurant based on who their supplier is? Maybe yes, but for the vast majority of people, no.

My wife and I decided to try this place since it is nearby and we generally like small plates when dining. Several first impressions. First, Olney needs more places of this level, i.e., non chain, not geared to the beer crowd. Second, the place could use some carpet to hold down the decibel leve. We ordered six items. ARTICHOKE BRUSCHETTA - Grilled baby artichokes, pesto bruschetta topped with pecorino. I enjoyed it, my wife thought the pesto was a bit strong. It came as one bruschetta with two stem on baby artichoke halves. Fairly good flavor, nice mound of salad with pecorino on the side. CANNELLINI WHITE BEANS with Fresh mixed herb pesto and migas. Very tasty, not over cooked, nice herbs. FALAFEL with fresh herbs and tahini. 5 nicely sized falafel. They had good flavor but were somewhat creamy inside. My wife thought them a bit undercooked, I liked them a lot. I'd have liked a little more tahini to go with them however, CALAMARI FRITTO served with gazpacho sauce. Nicely fried, light touch with the batter. The gazpacho sauce was slightly spicy/peppery. However, the whole dish was oversalted, a problem several of the dishes had. The next two were specials for the evening. SHRIMP WITH GRITS - the shrimp was way overcooked, and the sauce while very flavorful, with nice chunks of sausage, was again, somewhat salty. The chef sent out a second serving upon us telling the waitress the shrimp were overcooked (Hey, she asked) and while they were better, they were still a little chewy and salty. GRILLED WHITE TUNA over a risotto topped with some very tasty onion relish. Again, a heavy hand with the salt however. Dessert was baklava and coffee. Very nice, not overly swimming in honey. Service was excellent. Our server was very nice, very efficient, and helpful. We didn't have drinks, as I'm a wine guy (geek actually)and the wine list was not at all interesting to me. It was however, fairly inexpensive by the bottle, not so much by the glass. Several Greek wines on the list. Prices ranged from $22 to $45 by the bottle, with most under $30 or so. They have a lot of"signature" drinks, after all it is a lounge as well as a restaurant (which might have been part of the noise problem) and they looked good if that is your thing. Bottom line, I would hope they learn to get a much lighter hand with the salt, because Olney needs some restaurants of this level.

It was the camp steak, not the sirloin, so it wasn't the most expensive. And enough already, I was trying to say that I was too harsh on them, I didn't want to create a tempest over me overreacting on a bad day. Now I'm resolved to go back sometime, just to be able (hopefully) to write about how great it was.

Service was good, they tried hard to make it right, everything else was very tasty. I was probably pickier than I would have been if I had been in a halfway decent mood when I walked in, and one man's medium is another man's medium rare. Since I like rare beef, what I called medium might have been what another would have called to medium side of medium rare. What I'm really saying is that I gave them a worse review than they deserved and I want to try to make it up to them. As I noted, I wasn't in the best of moods when I walked in, and that had nothing to do with anything they did. I had the camp steak so it wasn't like I broke the bank for dinner. If it had been a steak house that specialized in such, I would have been more (but not necessarily completely) justified in making the complaint I did. Normally I would ignore a restaurant rather than write a bad review, and here didn't follow my normal pattern and I don't think I feel good about that.

Looking back on this post, I realize I shouldn't have been so harsh. I was not in the best of moods when we went in to eat (if was spur of the moment as we were driving by and were hungry) and everything else about the meal was excellent. The wedge, the fries, the slaw, all great. I guess it isn't that hard to miss cook a steak and I probably would have given them a good review because the service was very good and they tried hard to please me. I really want them to do well since this area can use a restaurant of this type. I guess I'll drop in again sometime when I'm in the area and give them another chance, I just won't order any beef. I wonder how the soft shells are.

For Fathers Day, a 2002 Match Butterdragon Hill Cabernet. Delish.

Dropped by with my son last week to give them one more chance. They blew it again. I ordered a steak, asked for it rare, it came medium well. I sent it back and it came out medium the second time. If you can't cook a hamburger or steak correctly, go find some other business to be in.

My wife and I were in the mood for something different for an early meal so I went on OpenTable and made a reservation for a place I've never been, Ranzaul in the new Maple Lawn development off of 29and 216 in Howard County. (Does this development remind you of Pleasentville?) We ordered 6 tapas: We started with a cheese plate - smoked gouda, a sharp cheddar, Point Reyes blue, and a goat cheese that I can't remember the name of but I really enjoyed. Served with a bunch of delicious grapes, sliced bosc pear and green apple. Excellent. Sautéed Asparagus with garlic, shaved parmesan cheese, and caper anchovy butter. 6 large stalks of asparagus well sauteed and lots of flavor. Enjoyed it very much. Fritto Mixto - mix of crispy fried shrimp and calamari served with tartar sauce, and habanero salsa. Fried in a very light and well made coating, the salsa was forgettable, the tartar sauce not bad at all. The calamari was very good the shrimp less so but ok. I'd prefer it with just the calamari if I could get it that way. Grilled Artichokes with proscuitto, mozzarella, and tomato vinaigrette. The artichokes were tasty, the proscuitto was more a smoked ham than proscuitto and a little tough but good flavor. Not my favorite of the meal but again, not bad. Bruschetta Rojo - tomato basil bruschetta topped, and toasted with Gorgonzola cheese. Not quite what I expected as it was more of a half of a small bagette with the tomato basil on it with the gorgonzola on top then heated under a broiler. It then was sliced into three pieces. That said, the flavors were good, but I prefer a true bruscheta. Pan Seared Scallops over spring veggies, and crab meat on a crispy potato nest with lemon butter sauce. This was my favorite. The scallops were cooked perfectly, the potato next was crispy without being to much so, the crab meat and veggies was delicious. My wife loved it. They have a very good wine list. Well priced and a lot of variety in a range of prices. I ordered a 2008 Wolfgang Vineyards Grüner Veltliner Gru-Vee that at $30 was a very good buy. (it was a compromise, I didn't want a riesling, my wife doesn't like Chardonneys) The restaurant it self is fairly large, with large tall windows dark tables and a modern look. As we were there early, it was not very full so I can't say how the noise level would be in later in the evening. Service was excellent. If I had one suggestion it would be that they offered menus and a wine list when you were seated instead of having the server bring them when he comes to the table. On busy nights I could see why this would irritate some folks if the server was busy. Service was excellent. Our server was very efficient and friendly. The tapas came out two at a time and we were not rushed or over crowded on the table. Empty plates were wisked away without delay but without being obvious. Everyone kept an eye on the table and our water glass was always full. I told the server I'd pour the wine after it came, and thankfully he did not try to do so from then on. A nice addition to that end of the county, too bad I hate those kinds of planned communities and main streets. I'll return however since I really enjoyed my meal.

Tried this place for lunch yesterday. It was just after noon so they were really busy but they seemed to have the drill down. You order at the counter and they will bring your your meal. I sat outside as it was a pleasant day. They do not have a grill so my sandwich "the Great Albert Rueben" was toasted on marbled rye but that was fine. It is not a classic rueben as it is pastrami instead of corned beef, but since I don't like corned beef I always order them with pastrami anyway. The house made sourkraut on the sandwich was very good, and the pastrami while not piled high was more than enough and had good flavor. I was not impressed with the side of mac and cheese, not bad, but only ok. I had a glass of wine(a Malbec) with the sandwich and it was adequate for the price. It isn't like I was expecting a wine list. They offer a good number of sandwiches, and appear to use good ingredients and take care in making them. The menu offers about 6 salads but I didn't try one. Several soups, including a soup of the day. You can get a half sandwich with a soup or salad if you wish. All in all, I enjoyed the meal and will definitely go back when I am in the mood for a sandwich. I certainly hope they do well as this area can use more of this type of place.

So Thomas, what ever came of this? And let me know how you like Vienna