genericeric
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Everything posted by genericeric
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Mrs. Genericeric is not big on seafood and even less so on raw seafood but gamely went along to dinner. She was willing to try the first few raw seafood courses, even if I ended up eating most of her bites, but was never so happy as when she saw the caesar salad bite presented. I don't remember the courses here being particularly exotic per se (I know the menu changes over time but I don't remember any uni or fois gras courses, for example), and I use the word bites purposely because the crudo dishes at the beginning of the meal tend to be pretty minor percentages in terms of the quantity of food consumed (but man, are they good). I would be most concerned if she has an aversions to the larger proteins served at the end of the meal (goat, pig, etc). Some of the other members who may have gone in the last few months may have more guidance on individual courses, but I think if you can get through a few raw seafood courses at the beginning and mention any protein aversions when making the reservation, she may really enjoy many of the smaller courses and her overall meal. -
Even when splitting a small plate or appetizer at the bar here we've always received bread. Sounds like they unfortunately just missed your table
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I've been in search of a decent pizza in the general Rosslyn/Courthouse/Clarendon area for awhile now that comes with broccoli as a topping (something about that slightly charred broccoli on the pizza just makes it for me), so finally tried the Brooklyn from Piola last night. I should have read this thread first. I've probably tried 50+ broccoli pizzas in my day, and this marks the first time I've ever had a restaurant put frozen broccoli that looked straight out of the little white box from Safeway on a pizza. I didn't even know what to say when I opened the pizza box when I got it home. I mean I realize this is totally #firstworldproblems but frozen broccoli? As a first time Piola customer, I will say that the staff was pleasant, the bar area looked decent, the crust was in the 'ok' range, and the Barbabietola (beets, tomato, orange, goat cheese) appetizer ($10.50) was pleasant enough. The site they contract with for online ordering was a bit of a challenge to navigate but I appreciated that they had online ordering. But the frozen broccoli.... man oh man. That left a mark.
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I completely agree with DaveO - this place is a triumph of market research and real estate, filling a much needed void. I'm sure between those packed happy hours and the nearby hotel business that it will remain a very viable business, however having been there on a half dozen or so occasions, I've stopped counting on having dinner there. Smoked Short Rib Tacos ($8) have been the most popular snack among our group, though I've found the short rib varies from good to dry and stringy between evenings. The HSAH Fried Chicken ($9) is a set of bone-in drumsticks with your standard sweet/spicy glaze. The Alehouse Salad ($7) may be the biggest bang for your buck - it is very large salad considering its on the small plates menu, but the night we ordered it was overdressed (and I'm not a person who minds some dressing), and they'd replaced the olives listed on the menu with capers, which unfortunately my +1 can't handle. I've had better luck with the pastas, enjoying a Braised Rabbit Garganelli ($19), though the pastas do trend toward the heavy and creamy. I will admit I haven't tried the open grill section of the menu yet, but with most prices there north of $25 per plate, it's not in my target zone for a brewpub. It is a shame they don't offer more from their lunch menu at other times of day. The Woodgrilled Tuna sandwich ($12) was the best thing I've had here and the Cuban ($12) was pretty good, but they are only available at lunch. Slightly nitpicky thing - please please please if you are an 'alehouse' please keep your beer list a little more up-to-date. The Hell or High Watermelon was still on the menu two months after selling out, and that wasn't isolated. Also seems a bit odd that they seem to run out of their own line of beers on draft so often.
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There have been a lot of changes at POV recently - in terms of management, food, and the recent remodel. The Remodel I'm told that everything on the roof was removed except for the black and white tiled floor. For those who have been before, you'll notice the change immediately when the elevator doors open, as you are greeted with a wide red wall/art piece instead of the former white surrounding windows. The biggest improvement has been to the interior lounge area. One of the worst physical bars I've come across - a two level situation where the bartenders lorded down on you from on high with cheap plastic outdoor chairs has been thankfully been replaced by a gold colored metallic bar at an average height (though the bar itself is quite deep - they still keep a good bit of distance between you and the bartenders). On the wall behind is a gold display that models the silhouettes of Washington, Lincoln and Ben Franklin with chandeliers that mirror the wall faces. Outside on the terrace, the south bar has been replaced and is now much wider. The north bar has also been replaced with a curved bar designed to look like the Capitol dome under a new lighting scheme. This seems to have substantially shrunk the size of the bar, both for customers and the bartenders trying to squeeze around each other while serving. Another big improvement is new furniture throughout the upstairs space. There are now comfortable lounge chairs and wooden stools with soft seats, as well as a rail to place your drinks on - it is a much more pleasant set up to spend some time having a cocktail. (though during a strong rainstorm Saturday afternoon one of the designers panicked - apparently its not weatherproof?) The Food When Jean Georges contract ended, the bar menu food - which had been passable - became awful. We were told this was temporary as a new food and bev program was transitioned in with the arrival of Barry Koslow and the redesign of the hotel restaurant, but man it was truly bad. The good news is they have reportedly tapped a sous chef to oversee the new menu upstairs and its now better than under Jean Georges. Lamb Kofta was juicy and flavorful, Crispy Mussels were crispy and flavorful, and both the lettuce wraps and steamed pork buns were delicious. My overall feeling was that this is now a more comfortable place to get a decent cocktail (albeit pricey) and enjoy the view, but the food now matches the scene.
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It is a very comfortable and accessible space - having not been to DBGB in New York, it reminded me very much of Keller's Bouchon outposts. The menu struck me as more of a place I would go for a lazy Saturday lunch wandering through the beer list rather than an evening out on the town, with its focus on bites, small plates and sausages - though the lone entree I saw - the fried chicken - looked excellent with rave reports from the diner. The burgers also looked wonderful. The bartenders heavily pushed the sausages, which makes sense given the focus. My wife is not at all an adventurous diner, so we stuck to the Vermont - a cheese-filled sausage served with hashbrowns and creme fraiche. Together the plate was delicious, though independently I found the texture of the sausage to be a bit off-puttingly squishy (its a sausage filled with cheese - that is bound to happen). It isn't inexpensive - 2 cavas, 2 drafts and 1 shared small plate came to $55 with tax and tip - but it will do well opening next to the Hermes boutique next door. When you show up at a new restaurant at 5pm on opening day, as my +1 and I did, you have to do so with tempered expectations. So with that, I'll say there were some minor snafus that I won't get into because I'm confident those will be rectified with a bit of time. It was nice to see Boulud in the kitchen - hopefully he'll be staying close to this outpost even after the opening.
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The Crab Cakes I've had in the past here have been as good as the other Clyde's, and I've found the presentation/sides are more interesting than the standard Tom's Potatoes and Corn Chesapeake at many other locations. Side note - I've been told they recently started doing crab cakes in smaller batches to avoid what had become a problem - the fresh cakes were great but many tasted a bit stale. Hopefully that will rectify the problem.
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Dinner here Saturday night with friend was a mixed bag. Major upside - table for 4 at 7:30 was available without any wait. Major downside - three minutes after sitting down they lowered the lights to almost being non-existent. I don't mind a bit of down-lighting but this was to the point of being a bit odd. As usual the steamed pork buns ($10) were great - even though these have become common in so many restaurants, Momofuku's continue to be among the best versions around. Kimchee and pickle jars ($5 and 6$ respectively) were good as always, and an order of Peekytoe crab with apple and mango ($16) was a light starter but somewhat bland. +1 had the Beet salad with a sunflower hozon, duck prosciutto and raisins. This was a pleasant enough salad but the earthiness of the beets, match with the earthiness of the sunflower, became largely one-note without much raisin to offset. My Seafood Hotpot ($19) came with a generous amount of squid in a green broth that tasted mostly of coconut milk. It was disappointingly one-note, greasy, and lukewarm. The real winner of the evening was the Boneless Porgy Ssam ($39) which was plenty to be split for 2 and had a nice ginger scallion flavor. My favorite part of meal may have been my Rodenbach sour ale ($9) - if you like sour ales, definitely one to try.
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As a meat-eater, Le Verdure continues to put out some of the best vegetarian food I've come across. Lunch here on Friday consisted of the Scarpetta ($9) which was incredibly simple, yet one of the best dishes I've had this year. Grilled bread, heirloom tomatoes, 'milk of mozzerella', olive oil and salt - a great starter and a relative bargain at the 9$ price tag. My +1 had the Enslata di Estiva ($16) which was a grilled summer vegetable salad with ricotta, fried polenta cubes and almonds. Other than the polenta (which was pre-fried and a bit soggy) this was a great mix of hot, grilled summer squashes balanced by cool cucumber and heirloom tomatoes surrounding the ricotta - summer squashes aren't my top choice but this was a pleasant salad that ate like an entree. My rule based on previous experiences is to always get the Bruschetta del Giorno, which on this day was roasted artichoke with fresno peppers ($14) and was the first disappointing dish I've had here - it wasn't bad per se, but could have used more peppers as the blended artichoke ended up mushy and bland. Pre-tax bill for three dishes and a shared bottle of Prosecco was $78
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My wife and I dined here recently as well and felt the same way about the bucatini with crab and sea urchin, which is also a nice way to introduce sea urchin to someone who hasn't had it before - its noticeable but not overpowering. I didn't care as much for the sweet potato crostini - there wasn't anything wrong with it per se, I just didn't dig the concept of cool mashed potatoes on top of the grilled bread but the parmigiano gellato with balsamic was excellent. Our service was pretty poor but only dining there once, I'll chalk that up to a bad night. Overall I left thinking this would be a really good place to have a glass of wine at the bar during happy hour and try more of their pastas, which seemed to be the strong suit.
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Paul, who is primarily based at the Rhodeside location, is trying to amp up the cocktail offerings across their locations and seems to be making headway. The weekly cocktails recently have been improved, and if you ever see him behind one of the bars, just let him know what you're interested and he's usually happy to make something interesting. Side note - watch for the daily specials at Rhodeside, they're usually far above whats on the standard menu (though Ragtime is a bit less expensive). Also a big fan that Ragtime has 21st Amendment's Hell or High Watermelon on tap - makes a nice afternoon of sitting on their patio with a cold draft.
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Very pleasant service from both waiter and manager last night, truly awful food. Deviled eggs that were way past their prime, steak salad that was inedible from salt and too much grated "parmesan", grits that were cloyingly sweet. But what surprised me was when the waiter said the company was opening a more upscale branch soon (believe the name was Double Eagle?) next to the new Marriott Marquis at the Convention Center. Yes, it was a Monday night, but a Monday night during restaurant week and Del Frisco's was only 1/4 full. I can't imagine paying even more for the upscale version of the food we were served.
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It's worth noticing that all the modest appreciation mentioned above also seem to involve dining at one of the four bars. I work nearby and may end up at OEG more than any other restaurant in the area due to convenience, but it's also because it is an extremely comfortable place to have a drink after work or on a weekend afternoon. Don asks if it is a tourist trap - while I've rarely had a bad experience at one of the bars, of the dozen or so times I've tried to sit in the dining room, things haven't gone as well. Tables in some parts of the restaurant are crammed together, it is extremely loud, the atrium seating section lacks the "charm" of the rest of the restaurant, and the service is often lacking - in other words, you get all of the liabilities of a mass-serving establishment without the benefits of the personal service from the bar tenders and the more relaxed environment. I can very much appreciate the lack of cost-cutting measures so many other restaurants fall into, but it does seem in the last 2-3 years the food quality has decreased - less seasonality, much tastes pre-made (the crab cakes are still awesome in July when the special is occurring, but often taste stale and fishy at other times). Of course, at the same time, the beer list has gotten much more interesting, so I'll be keeping my bar stool.
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I find myself at Clydes restaurants quite a bit and find the Tower Oaks location to be the best of the lot. Some of the locations seem to phone it in from the kitchen - the food isn't bad per se but definitely nothing worth going to if there are other options (Chevy Chase, I'm talking to you). Others seem to have persistent service problems (Gallery Place). But Jeff Eng typically puts out solid offerings that you may not expect to find at a Clydes and the bar service is generally top notch.
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I was a bit hesitant to book a table at Proof last Saturday, knowing the team was in the midst of opening a new restaurant but Proof fit the bill for what we needed, so off we went. Happy to report that the service was as good as ever - attentive without being obtrusive. I did get the sense that things were a bit off from the kitchen. S.O. started with the Goat Cheese with Honey - I'm not usually a fan of this type of dish because they typically come out overly sweet. This rendition, however, was offset by Rosemary and was not flooded with honey, making it a really good starter. I ordered the Sauteed Veal Sweetbreads served over corn, mushrooms, bacon, heirloom tomatoes and yukon golds. The bacon/vegetables underneath the sweetbreads were delicious, but the sweetbreads themselves were overcooked - not as much crispy on the outside with a creamy center, but dry and somewhat chewy. I also felt that the sweetbreads didn't incorporate into the dish, it was one on top of the other. My entree of Cavatelli with Heirloom Tomatoes was a delicious summer pasta dish (I may be getting cheap in my older age but $24 for a smallish plate of vegetarian pasta seemed a bit extreme but hey, it was really good). The S.O.'s chicken had a nice amount of stuffing but was doomed by also being overcooked. Overall I'd probably wait until things calm down a bit with the new restaurant before returning - $160 (w tax/tip) for two without dessert isn't inexpensive considering 2 out of 4 dishes were disappointing.
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Stopped in last night as a sort of last resort option after trolling Clarendon for a little while. The space feels like a slightly more upscale version of Maggiano's, but less cavernous. Last night at 8:30 the bar area was full, but maybe half the tables were occupied. Wine list was fair but not extensive, I was surprised to see a Quintessa on the menu, and at $205 the markup wasn't out of line. The odd part was that no vintage was listed It' sounds strange, but with hundreds of combinations on the menu, I actually found the selection somewhat limited... Not being a huge fan of pasta as my main, other options were pizza, baked dishes, and a few proteins. The pasta selection seemed pretty heavily in favor of cream sauces - again this is personal preference, but not being a big cream sauce person, tomato or wine-based sauces were limited. I ended up getting the Lasagna Verde ($15.50) - a sizeable portion of lasagna with spinach, golden raisins and pine nuts. Once I got past the slightly odd texture of the pine nuts in the mix, I really enjoyed this dish. On the flip side, my +1 ordered the Traditional Lasagna ($16), which was a disappointment. While I'm not a fan of salty foods as much as some, this was almost inedibly salty. It also came topped with a strangely orange tomato(?) sauce that reminded me of Chef Boyardee canned sauce. 4 mini scoops of Gelato for dessert (6$) to finish things off. All in all, it was $72 for 2 wines, 2 beers and one cocktail, 2 mains and 1 dessert. Not too bad, though we trended on the less expensive side of the menu.
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After a pretty long day, headed to The Spence, helmed by Richard Blais on Saturday night. Having been to a number of 'celebrity' chef restaurants, this was the first where the chef was doing more cooking than posing for pictures that I've seen - Blais was working hard on the line throughout our meal. The menu, as even our waiter pointed out, is confusing but this server was helpful in navigating starters vs entrees, etc. I was a bit disappointed in my food to be honest. Started with the bone marrow, topped with tuna tartare, all topped with quail egg. The marrow and tuna went well together, I just could have done without the egg, and didn't really understand its purpose on a plate that already had the richness of the marrow. For my main, I had the beef tartare appetizer. This was more of a matter of personal preference but there was a pickling spice in some of the onion within the tartare that overpowered the dish for me - I didn't care for it. My wife's food, however, was excellent. She had the pork leg, which was excellent in a homey way. Her asparagus salad with freeze-dried strawberries and goat cheese was definitely the star of the evening. Desserts - carrot cake and orange cake, were excellent. The real highlight of the evening for me were the cocktails. I don't remember specifics (hence the good cocktails) but they were inventive without being showy for the sake of it. $130 for two with apps, mains, desserts and drinks, including tip.
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I, too, miss the Rays to the Third bar area. It had started to develop that neighborhood, regular patron, comfortable feeling shortly before it needed to be converted due to the aforementioned real estate snafu. Hopefully once Hellburger finds a new home it will return - was a great place to get a glass of wine or two while waiting for your to-go order on a weeknight.
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They went up recently - now $15.95 for half dozen, $25.95 full dozen, with half off during oyster happy hour. I asked why the sudden jump (a half dozen went up three bucks in one hike) and was told they were losing a few bucks a dozen during happy hour, and that at the volume they sold the loss was adding up. I would think for a place that charges north of $5 for a miller lite at a time when other bars have good happy hour drink specials nearby, that would make up the difference, but they seem to have forgotten to ask my opinion...
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The bar you're referring to (I believe) is technically called the Corner Bar - then there is the Walrus bar (to the right up front), Grants Bar (through the restaurant toward the back) and the Oyster Bar (around the back of the Walrus Bar - a hidden gem). This may be a sign I drink here too much...
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After recommending Craftbar pretty strongly for years, I hate to say that my last few visits have been disappointments. Not sure if it's because the previous chef has been promoted and a new toque has taken over day-to-day, if Collichio is stretched a bit thin these days, or if I've just been on off days, but with so many other great options it's hard to justify going back. On the previous three trips, the bar service has been indifferent, the menu less appealing (personal preference plays a role somewhat there) and the food wasn't executed as well as it used to be. I also haven't seen the great pork dish for two since last spring. All in all there haven't been any major errors per se, just retracting my previous full-throated recommendation.
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Made my first visit to Death and Company two weeks ago based on this and other recommendations... Overall I agree with DCDuck and other posters here who were fans - got there right at six and had a short wait to get in (warning, they are very strict about only seating complete parties). The wait staff was wonderful and worked with the bartenders to craft an off-menu cocktail for me based on feedback after a few others. Drinks were top-notch in way that was inventive but not too over the top. The one complaint I did have was the space at the tables - I'm a decently if not freakishly tall gentleman, and after two hours of trying to stay in the small space I was alotted, I don't think I could have sat through another round. Not uncommon around there, but made what would have been a great visit less enjoyable. Also had a few bar snacks, including a flatbread pizza that wasn't bad. Best drink of the evening was Sforzando, which was rye mixed with mezcal, benedictine and bitters - the smokiness of the mezcal definately came through. It was a cocktail that I didn't care for at all after the first sip, but wanted three more after the last.
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Ulysses on Stone Street is a nice place to pass an evening. Particularly on Sundays when the crowd of Wall Streeters is thinner and Keith the Bartender leads an inoffensive quiz night. *Adding caveat that I haven't been down there since Hurricane Sandy and am unsure the extent of damage if any
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There aren't as many places as one would think in that section of downtown at the DC location - especially for those of us that work south of Pennsylvania Ave. I know a fair number of coworkers who go there for business lunches and the occasional happy hour more because of a lack of better options than any other reason. Personally I've found the service to be so slow that I can't commit to a two hour lunch during the week. I've generally found the food to be ok and have met people at the bar for a weekend lunch a few times where the service is a bit speedier.
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That is correct, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to clarify. I just meant that I otherwise may have said to myself, there are a lot of changes with Geoff Tracy right now and this chain of restaurants, and excused the numerous flaws based on that information. The article referenced made it difficult to believe that was the case.
