smithhemb
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Everything posted by smithhemb
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Assuming (which I generally wouldn't without seeing actual contract language) that the lease extensions are solely the tenant's option, the landlord can just breach the contract and pay damages. No court will order specific performance (i.e. keep the building intact and housing the restaurant until all lease extension options run out) in a case like this. The logic of contract law (much to my surprise when I first took the class) is that you should breach whenever you can make more than enough money to compensate the person you contracted with and still come out ahead yourself. So it actually is all about money (specifically what was the anticipated benefit of the bargain to Chef Geoff) rather than right or wrong. Makes sense when you realize contract law is about capitalism and managing risk rather than about morality and keeping promises.
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Had a really nice dinner there last night. (Our first visit.) Service was slow but we were comfortable and in a leisurely mood, so it actually contributed to our enjoyment. Vegetables (collard greens and grilled carrots) were especially good.
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The FH branch died and was replaced by a Pain Quotidien.
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Just got back from London and I'm wondering whether a couple of things I tried and liked there are available in the DC area. Thums Up is an Indian cola and coco beans (which were in a really tasty hummus) seem to be French. I've found both online, but I was hoping for a local source and, now that we have a car, that can be defined more broadly. Thanks!
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Food was surprisingly mediocre last night from start to finish. Patio was delightful (weather was perfect), so it'll be a shame if I end up crossing Poste off my list, but if last night had been my first meal there, I would never have returned for a second. Judging from this thread (which I should have read before going, but it's a place I thought I knew -- we used to go there every couple of months a few years back), sounds like this is the new normal rather than just an off night. Too bad.
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I suspect that Sugar Magnolia's fate (both its existence and its demise) has more to do with zoning than anything else. Basically, the Cleveland Park overlay caps the percentage of street frontage that can be devoted to restaurants. SM didn't count as a restaurant (but enabled Ripple to add the space behind it to the restaurant). And it also put Ripple in a good position to reclaim the SM space as frontage the next time the overlay area fell below quota on restaurant space.
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Lease extended through October 31st. From the Save Max's Best Ice Cream Facebook Page:
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Didn't they close months ago? On April 8th, someone on the neighborhood listserv said they'd seen a sign on the door saying "Closed permanently. Thanks and sorry." Prior to that, speculation had been that the ongoing construction had cost them business. We, also, had the one-totally-mediocre meal experience there in February, i think.
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Thanks! I'm really looking forward to Lunchbox. Will probably just save Range for dinners.
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Anybody gone for lunch yet? Is it the same menu as dinner?
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Y'all left out Capital Grille and PF Changs. FH is a bastion of mediocre upscale chains -- and from what I've seen (Clyde's being the partial exception, especially for older people and their extended families), the clientele isn't really the neighborhood. It's shoppers and office workers and people hosting rehearsal dinners, office parties, etc.. When the locals go out for dinner, we generally leave the area (destinations vary -- the non-foodies head to Bethesda, the foodies spread out). Sushiko and Indique Heights are the bright spots. Interestingly, they're both places that my neighbors and I used to travel to (Glover Park, Cleveland Park locations) that are now close by/more convenient. I'm eager to try Range. (Though the menu makes me think that veggie-daughter won't be interested.) Can't imagine going regularly because if I'm going to drop that kind of money on dinner, I want to feel like I've had a night out (rather than in the local mall/metro entrance). What I haven't understood yet is whether it's just a restaurant or more of a food emporium. Must explore tomorrow.
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I miss the days when you could order off of either (or both) menus in the Cafe. (And when the fry plate didn't always include some component that once swam). We used to go to Palena all the time and now it's a pretty rare occurrence because the cafe menu seems so limited and that backroom never appealed to us. The crowd ti seemed to attract always looked almost comatosely sedate. Maybe they were all quietly worshipping the food, but it looked like a bunch of suits out on business dinners and taking comfort where they could find it. Has it gotten more lively? And, totally OT, but is that an epee you're sporting Shrimp -- or has too much Olympics caused me to hallucinate?
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Wow, from ecstatic to slightly bummed in two posts, LOL! Delighted to see Cava Grill coming to my 'hood. That said, what I crave is the braised lamb. Alas, I will now be "forced" to try both the braised beef and the ground lamb. Too bad there's no fast-food flaming cheese option....
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Blue 44, Chevy Chase DC
smithhemb replied to sheldman's topic in Washington DC Restaurants and Dining
We went the first week it opened. Pierogis were good. Everything else (arugula salad, baby back ribs, burger) was fine but nothing special. Owners/staff seem friendly and attentive. Interior has been pleasantly transformed and the food is a big step up from Senor Pepper's. It's walking distance from home and my kid fences nearby multiple days a week, so we'll probably end up eating there pretty regularly. But I can't say I'm excited about it. One of those "it's a convenience, not an event" kind of places and not a bargain either. I think I'd be much happier with a Burger Joint. Maybe I just need to drink more to appreciate these kinds of places, LOL! (Though if I did, wouldn't I find the Bud Light banner scary?) Jake's American Grille (a few blocks south) seems to aspire to the same niche. The menus just put me to sleep. -
Michael Landrum wrote: "The Mayor's office of economic development (a great group of people, by the way)" You might have a very different perception if, say, you encountered them trying to sell the heavily-used soccer field out from under your neighborhood's overcrowded elementary school. and "The truth is, the only people who deserve credit for Ray's: The Steaks at East River are the loyal, committed employees and other members of the community who show up everyday to make it happen." No disagreement there! Thanks so much for your answer.
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Yes, but Fenty's listserv shills are continually claiming the opening of this restaurant as one of his Administration's accomplishments. Reminded me of Reagan trying to appropriate Springsteen's "Born to Run" (but , alas, not as funny).
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the Steaks East River? Seemed like a Landrum-y thing to do regardless of who was Mayor, but what do I know?
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What you should not order as a birthday cake is the giant cupcake. It looks really cute, but it's not as good as the cupcakes (feels denser and proportion of cake to frosting seems off). Glad to hear a thumbs' up on their layer cakes; I'll try one next birthday! B&W isn't conveniently located for me, but at this point it's the only cupcake place I'll go out of my way for. It's a nice place to be (in or out), they take their coffee and tea seriously, the cupcake flavors are more varied than everywhere else, and there are good non-cupcake options. What's not to like?
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That's the one! I think I just found it in the Amazon marketplace under "Rotary Salad maker." I did a google image search on mouli-julienne, and the pictures seem to match. It's white now (I won't really miss the orange!). And the text says 3 discs but the picture shows 5 so we'll see what I actually get!
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My mouli grater died and I can't find a new one. The dead grater was sort of a cross between a food mill and a Cuisinart (flat, interchangeable shredding and slicing disks, hand-cranked, 3-legged, so a plate could fit under it). Now the only manual rotary graters I see are the handheld drum kind. Am I just looking in the wrong places (Williams-Sonoma, Sur la Table, cooking.com, amazon) or did my old style grater become extinct once food processors became standard equipment?
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I'd be tempted to call Cava on Capitol Hill and see what they could do. (They cater so maybe you could negotiate an agreed upon menu for a fixed price in your range -- otherwise the lunch menu looks like it might be limited.) I've only been for dinner and in Rockville, but the food is great and the format is tapas-like, which seems to encourage interaction. http://dc.cavamezze.com/site/info Oyamel (near Gallery Place) would be my other recommendation: http://www.oyamel.com/ Similar deal in terms of format. On the one hand, neither of these are restaurants that most people who say "cater to most palates" -- at least not in the way Clydes does (e.g. diner-like menu with familiar dishes in every category). On the other hand, both are very tasty (unlike Clydes, IMO), and offer lots of choices (e.g good options for vegetarians, a wide spectrum of spiciness). As someone who's not a big fan of office parties, I'd want the food to be interesting and, potentially, something to talk about. But if it's a convival group to begin with and somewhat risk-averse wrt food, then YMMV.
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Breakfast - The Early-Morning, Polyphonic Food Blog
smithhemb replied to txaggie's topic in Shopping and Cooking
We split a Dutch baby three ways. -
I really don't think it's a personal space thing -- as I said, in some places, I really like communal tables. In others, I don't. The difference isn't how physically proximate I am to other diners. And the stultifying sameness is usually conversational. It's just not that entertaining to hear the same logistics/kid wrangling/shopping/gossiping discussions in surround sound while you're eating something decent but not exciting. Maybe the difference is the type of community constituted by the communal table. Bucks is a potential community drawn together by somewhat shared tastes/sensibilities. (Who are these people? Why are they here? Same reason I am? Why am I here?) The G'town Pain Quotidien is a globalized urban melange. (Throw all these conversations in a blender and what do you get -- poetry or sludge? What would the people on my left think of the people across the table on my right?) In the end, communal tables work when they add entertainment value to the meal and detract when they add tedium. Which would mean that whether I'd put one in a restaurant would depend on how I wanted or expected the diners to interact. If they're just performing the eating function, give 'em space. If they're people-watching (Georgetown) or if the whole dining experience is a kind of performance (Buck's), then the communal table has a better chance of working.
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Pain Quotidien would be a fun case study. The G'town communal table is a blast -- hung-over college girls debriefing about their sex lives, cheek and jowl with foreign tourists, next to local European-wannabes. At the more suburban locations (AU Park, Bethesda), people avoid the communal table and/or use it to spread out (or give little kids more room). I've always liked the communal table at Buck's. At PQ I eavesdrop; at Buck's I'm more likely to have a brief funny exchange with someone nearby. Maybe that's because geographically and thematically you feel like the setting is more neighborly (genuinely communal). And/or because people are drinking and/or commenting on food, menu, chef (old days), etc. Bottom line hypothesis, communal tables work under two scenarios: variation on the bar in Star Wars/human zoo theme or the shared-but-somewhat-esoteric tastes/sensibilities theme. They fail the vast majority of the time because there's little or no entertainment value in watching so much stultifying sameness in such close proximity. Give each party it's own space so we can all just eat without being reminded of our own generic-ness. Communal tables just emphasize the feeding trough aspect of certain environments/rhythms. So alienation and integration work; replication doesn't.
