mbucher

I just got back. I went with my husband, he had the peperjack burger and I had the bleu cheese burger. Both were really good but I thought my blue cheese was more plentiful and the flavor was more pronounced. We shared an order of sweet potato fries and vanilla shake. I decided not to name drop but I still got a burger that was nice and medium. I recomended this place and will be back to try the onion rings, those looked good too.

PS will we see the barbecue pork burger on the menu anytime soon? I missed the deadline to vote but I would've voted for that if it was was really good cue which can be hard to find around here.

Hi, sorry to be behind this month it's the Eliot Spitzer Burger, which is the shirt rib version, and by popular 'rocks" demand we will have the "rocks" burger in July : smoked, then braised ( we're going to sous vide it) pork shoulder, pulled, hit with a tangy bbq sauce, and topped with cold fresh cole slaw" I forget who it was but indeed shoulder is the way to go on this one!

A Don Rocks Challenge: Vote for your favorite to be the burger of the month for June:

1 Daniel Boulud's braised short rib stuffed burger, with tomato confit and truffles.

2 BBQ Blast, stuffed with sauce smothered smoked pork rib meat, topped with ice cold crunchy napa slaw.

email me at mbucher@burgerjointdc.com so we dont clutter the board. Voting opens now and will close on the 30th.

You all rock!

Boulud is winning 6-2 as of this am 5/29/08

A Don Rocks Challenge: Vote for your favorite to be the burger of the month for June:

1 Daniel Boulud's braised short rib stuffed burger, with tomato confit and truffles.

2 BBQ Blast, stuffed with sauce smothered smoked pork rib meat, topped with ice cold crunchy napa slaw.

email me at mbucher@burgerjointdc.com so we dont clutter the board. Voting opens now and will close on the 30th.

You all rock!

Unfortunately I must report a poor experience at this establishment (5/26, 7 pm or so). Once my friend and I ordered we waited for a good while until his order came up. Unfortunately my burger order had disappeared into the ether and I had to wait further until my burger was done--not too long, I must add.

Once we got down to business, my friend thought his burger tasted odd, and it turned out that they had put pickles on it despite his specific request that only lettuce and mayo should be on the burger. He was also a little disconcerted when the garlic fries had garlic powder poured on them instead of something more creative (my interpretation).

My burger was ok and my plain fries were fine. I wanted to point out the problems to the folks up front but they looked so busy--I counted 7 orders up--that I didn't feel like interrupting them.

My friend probably won't be back, but I'm going to give them another chance 'cause they sound dedicated to their craft here on DR.

rob t.

Rob, come see me next time, this was the first night I took off and we got buried. I appreciate the comments, and we'll make it right by you! THX Mark

i have stopped monitoring the disintegrating food quality at austin grill. it disintegrated a long time ago. we seldom go to cafe deluxe, but my wife was there the other night and reported disintegrating food quality. there was also a lipstick stain -- on her plate, so there may be more favorable opinions around about the food these days than hers. they used to rev the place up by bringing in someone who could actually cook every once in a while, and that seemed to carry it. walking by on our way to palena i have also noticed declining business. and what's up with cactus cantina? i passed there on a recent weekend evening, and the entire corner smelled like a dishwasher.

Good point, hmmmm i heard that Giant finally, got neighborhood approval to redevelop that corner, basicaly from their store all the way up to Starbucks, and down to cactus cantina. Wonder if they are closing? that place used to be the standard I measured tex mex by in this town. I think they also own Lauriol plaza

It doesn't look like anyone is particularly happy with the new arrangement - three of AG's top people have left since the sale, including founder Chris Patterson. (Full disclosure: my husband works at one... for the time being. This is why the free meal. But trust me when I tell you, I'm over the place.)

chris patterson was not a founder. rob wilder (jaleo, zatinya, and anything jose andres does) and scot shaw were the founders. chris patterson was brought in to "right the ship" years ago. A few good men were there Kurt Miller, ( wonder where he landed) and some of the old school gms. They were/are great guys, but eccckkkkkk not even free kids dinners on Mondays can get my kids inside the place. yuck... there were a few threads on Siestmas live chat about the disintegrating food quality at austin grill and cafe deluxe in the same breath............ anyone else see of notice this?

Besides the usual concern when someone with no history in the restaurant industry decides to open a place, this quote from the article was quite telling: "Flaps was like Cheers with good food."

Flaps was more like a neighborhood diner that couldn't afford to buy the low-range stuff from Sysco, so went cheaper. I was dragged there 3 or 4 times, and never had anything edible.

If that's his goal, it shouldn't be too hard to hit. Of course, given the rent there, prices will still be through the roof...

you're right. Potomac Village, impossible spot for a restaurant, sky high rents, sky high customer expectations, ask the Potomac Deli guys," mission impossible.. Hunters across the street, just OK food, mucho dinero, and dirty@! yuk! and yikes. bezu, of course is the exception. they are of course above ground and in the other center where thers ample parking.

Even though DC retail rents are high (and Conn. Ave. around Dupont has some of the highest), Manhattan retail rents are typically 2-4 times higher. And Krispy Kreme seems to be doing fine selling for less than $4 right across the street...

Actually, thats the rub, i've been scouting the dc market for retail space for over a year, honestly the rents are the same in certain parts of NYC. Its crazy, retail rents have topped 100 psf after maintenance and taxes in DC. Krispy Kreme is a differet story, just because the are open doesnt mean they are making money, every chain has a flagship that loses money and you can bet its the Dupont store.

1) The manager didn't see that we'd been waiting for a while--I went up to the counter after 20 minutes and inquired about our food, and then one of the cooks yelled for the manager to come over and comp our meal (which I'm glad he didn't do). They responded to my complaint, but it certainly wasn't as proactive as your comment suggests. And, in my original post, my problem wasn't that they didn't anticipate the problem or read my mind--my issue stemmed from the dose of attitude we were given with the manager's response.

2) I definitely agree that a personal visit and some free brownies are both nice gestures. As I already mentioned, I didn't want anything for free. I was simply expecting a sincere comment, such as an apology for the mistake or a "we hope you come back and see us" sort of thing. Instead, we got an annoyed "So, what's the deal here?" (which seemed strange because he had JUST spoken to his staff and had been apprised of the problem) and a "These are on me" as he threw two brownies on the table. It was like he couldn't get away fast enough.

I get that he was trying to do right--the delivery just missed the mark with me, that's all, and it affected my experience enough for me to mention it. If my post came off as too whiny or critical, that wasn't my intention--I really did love the food, and I would recommend Burger Joint to others.

hi guys, its mark, the founder.... ugggh, these things keep me up at night. I dream of tickets printed in numerical sequence, and then one goes missing....... im so sorry for that experience. I cant promise it'll never happen again, but I can promise the approach will be gentler. On the other hand Im soooo glad you enjoyed the food and as you can see, the comments on these posts do have an impact, we switched the bacon presentation, to the strips instead of the chopped, im pysc'd you dig the fries. I cant tell you how backbreaking it is to prepare them, everyone in the world thinks we are crazy, but my committment to quality is unyielding. As a matter of fact I sent back 9 cases of tomatoes today, because they were "mealy" the produce rep told me that they are "good enough" for a certain high end hotel in town, I said god they can have them all! next time ask for me! thx Mark

Sometime I'll have to tell the story of my friend's Slim Jim chili and the Cha-Cha Chili Chill-Off and Rock & Rock Show.

Last night I had tacos at the Austin Grill downtown. I know, there aren't a lot of fans here, but the meal was free, and my al pastor was good.

About 6 months ago Austin Grill as a company was sold to Thompson Hospitality, a company generally in the business of cafeteria operations at places like courthouses and colleges.

If you've worked the grill at houstons or cheescake factory, we ned to talk. looking to staff up and only A players will cut it. we pay the most in the area, health, dental, and huge bonuses. CONTACT: mbucher@theburgerjointdc.com

I don't believe the Amsterdam folks are associated with M'Dawg anymore.

Amsterdam folks sold out about a year ago after a fight with their money partners dude runnign the place now has had it for sale for months, hes selling frozen sysco dogs, trying to make a living, but the "q" for quality " went out the door when the amsterdam folks left............. too bad..

mark-

thanks for your detailed replies! As for not commenting at the time- our energy levels fell rapidly and you were wrapped up in something at the time we finished, so we deemed it prudent to go home and get some sleep ;-)

best of luck in everything!

Im kind of new to this DR thing. BUT YOU GUYS ROCK! (that should be your slogan). I cant believe how many of you came in today, identified yourselves, and we had great chats. I think about 40 folks came in and simply stated "Don Rocks" to me. It was awesome@! Im in this biz because I enjoy people, and making people smile. You guys are awesome! I look forward to meeting more of you!

YOU GUYS ROCK!

Thanks for your great reply to everyone's concerns. I live in Bethesda and will be by to try it out soon!

ill be here ask for me tx mark

This detailed response is humbling. In all honesty, the reason I left without ordering is because (as DanielK said in this post), the patties looked so perfectly round and dense that I was under the impression they were machine-formed and frozen (are they?). One of the things that impressed me about the buns is that they're apparently delivered uncut - one of the cooks took a matrix-full of them, and sliced them before my eyes.

Thank you for your thoughtful reply, and I very much look forward to coming back - maybe in a couple of weeks when you've come up for air - and enjoying a burger, cooked to a "for real" medium, with a side of fries made from fully soaked, fresh-cut potatoes.

Cheers,

Rocks.

It's very interesting, when you come in i can show you in person a few interesting burger things. when the patties are hand formed and char grilled, ( the flat top method of cooking allows the cook to "press" down the patttie as it cooks to get a good meat spread" for a char grill we cant press " it's be a cardinal sin to squeeze the goodness out"" so the result is they "puck up". visualize a pattie, that is 1.5 inches in the center and very thin around the edges, makes for a hard burger to eat. This only happens with super fresh ground beef. so our processor ( recently, like in the last 4 weeks) worked with us to develop a new pattie system, that actually makes the patties vertically, meaning the beef is never "pressed" into a pattie, it merely gently falls into a ring then is cut horizontally. ( we applied to patent the system) all patties are hours fresh, never cryovacked or frozen. And yes the buns come in un cut, and we cut them all , one at a time. Trust me the temptation is to have them pre cut, ( which would mean they'd have to have a preservative added), but we will stay true to the promise of hand crafted all away around our place. Point in fact, tomatoes are another issue. everyone in the world wants to sell us a tomato slicer that will slice a tomato into wafer thin slices, like you'd see in a prison food line, we ripen every tomato in our place and hand slice them. each and every one of them. I cant look at a tomato the same way again. ask for mark or nate when you're in. well make sure is exactly right.

I resent that they are called burger joint "DC". bethesda aint DC.

thats the web url only, not our name.

I liked my french fries from the Hillandale location better than the fries I've gotten in Rockville. These were crispier. Like many things these days, I noticed at Hillandale that their prices (and I assume costs) have gone up. I haven't been to the Rockville location lately so I don't know if/when those prices went up.

Looking at the carryout menu which lists both locations (which I got from the Hillandale location) and comparing it to the online menu, for example, the buffalo wings were $6 but are $6.29 now, pulled pork and pulled chicken sandwiches were $5 and are now $5.49 and the plates were $7 and are now $7.59, and sides were $2, $4, and $6, but are now $2.29, $4.49 and $6.99, etc. On the other hand, the draft root beer, peach tea, and sweet tea prices have gone down from $2 to $1.88. I also noticed that the carryout menu says the sandwiches have a 5 oz portion while the online menu says the sandwiches have a 4 oz portion.

Word is it's a franchised location..............................................

i wish them the best of luck, how in the world they plan on paying DC rents, selling 4 dollar cupcakes is beyond me, They would have been better going to NYC for the same rent and a gazillion more people walking by night and day. Get em quick , they be gone in a flash.

michel Richard is a genius creator. c'mon people. the guy stays awake at night figuring out how to cook short ribs for 72 hours, his chef Cedrick, is a craftsman. Lets call Central and citronelle for what they are. pure restaurant genius. Thats why they are both packed and thats why they are both very different. If you want the same old grub, with nothing original,go to old ebbit grill, its good, if you want spectacular visit Michel's spots.

Hi all Donrockwell bloggers. Im one of the owners and yes i must be honest, the crazy dude/manager "yelling" on the cookline over the weekend. Im glad we got through it. I'm also glad to see your honest unfiltered opinions on this site. You guys should start a professional "restaurant pre-open food testing service" because your comments are honestly spot on. So here's the honest facts and details surrounding our opening this past weekend. Never in a million years, could we have planned or anticipated for the incredible reception we got from the residents of the surrounding areas. Frankly we were overwhelmed, and again truthfully we ran out of food twice between Thursday at 6pm and Sunday by 9pm. So indeed, we had to substitute a bagged fry on Saturday and Sunday morning, until our potatoes fully soaked overnight, so I forget who caught that but indeed it was true for a few hours this weekend, over salty also true, based on who we had "learning the fry station. It's a tough station as fries ar dropped in the fryer to order. Hopefully we get points for no "fast food" fry holding station where they sit under heat lamps. you'll never see that here. As for the burger meat, indeed it is certified angus, prime , dryaged ( the time period a secret, sorry) and freshly ground and pattied daily. It is processed for us in Baltimore at a Glatt Kosher processing house " that was just a coincidence", but we were impressed with the committment to cleanliness and the humane standards. The buns are delivered warm, every morning by a great french baker in DC. As for the char taste, thats a tough one, it couldnt bee clearer that we use a char grill, i think burgers are like coke and pepsi, some like one way and not the other, and when is it too much. Now to talk about the "doneness" scale. My intention was to cook burgers to temperature as all purists will know the only way to enjoy a fresh burger is medium rare. with a room temperature sun ripened tomato. Unfortunatley 99.9999999 percent of our customers were groseed out by ordering a fresh medium burger and seeing pink inside. I'm guessing we got back 50 burgers on friday and saturday, with folks saying they were undercooked, when I tell you they were spot on.So i guess we can thank the chains for training the general public to now enjoy burgers cooked well done! Identify yourself to us, and let us know that you "for real" want a true medium or medium rare burger and you will love it.

As for pricing, we have woodmont grill (houstons) up the street at 14 bucks, blacks at 15 for a bacon cheeseburger Incl a small portion of fries, plus tip on both of them. Tastee Diner is up the block ans they are about 5 bucks, they have also been there for a gazillion years and own their land and bldg, so they have no rent. Dont blame us for the burger prices, blame the landlords, and the suppliers, for making it very very very hard to make money in the restaurant business. Here are the facts, wholesale prime beef is a fortune, and we dont and never will use fillers, like soy. i bet none of you know that there are two local popular burger stores. that add soy to their patties, to cut down the cost, ( you can never tell) by eating it, but its dishonest in our book) you see some chains hold their price point at say 5 bucks, and when the price of beef goes up they simply up the soy, not the price. its absolutely 100% true. As for the "cardinal sin" of putting the soda behind the counter, we offer free refills, and even cherry and vanilla flavoring, problem is we are on a publc park,and it was cokes suggestion, as it hopefully will cut back on line jumpers trying to fill their starbucks cup with lemonade.

Lastly, I actually remember one of you in, after the car repair story. I remember asking you if things were good with your meal, next time you come in, know we are Don Rocks fans < and really lay on the criticism, or the praise, when your here. We are really working to be the absolute best at what we do and remain true to burger purists around the area. Lastly, as for the place being "white enough" there's Jimmy Hendrix and Prince on the wall, cmon dude....

So next time you're in ask for Nate or Mark, and we'll make sure it's perfect. life's too short to have an average burger......