Joe H

As noted above, as a solo diner both Gary Danko and Boulevard were outstanding. Coincidentally these are two of the best restaurants in San Francisco. For Danko you will have to get there before 5:30 to have a shot at one of the 8 or so bar seats (which serve the full menu) and Boulevard is hit or miss all night. I've gone there at eight and had dinner at the bar AND in the dining room without a reservation. Note that this restaurant typically has a one month wait for a reservation at peak times. If you are serious about food you should try Danko-it is one of the best restaurants in the United States. Please read the link in my post here.

Edmond has one of the best steak houses in America, Boulevard.

This place REALLY feels like Paris. I do NOT mean this as a political comment but the slow service, the cramped tables, the deafening surrounding noise-it really does feel like Paris. While there are times when I might complain there are other times-most, in fact-that I really enjoy this just as I accept the imperfections and flaws of Paris and, after lifting another glass, say what the Hell! Two or three glasses later I love the noise and indifference and begin to fit right in....

It' not just the success of the new restaurants, etc. it's supporting the entire mall and maintaining their $600+ sales per square foot for retail. If the expansion cannibalizes the existing stores and restaurants (which to an extent it will) then it has not succeeded. To avoid this Tysons will have to expand its base drawing from a larger area or pull a greater number of visits from its existing base.

Given the major entertainment component of the expansion (i.e. food court, five restaurants, multiplex, etc.) they could have done something in the spirit of a Universal Citywalk, Downtown Disney or the examples I noted above. For me they built exactly what you noted: an expansion of a mall. Considering Tysons' stature and image both locally and nationally I had expected something that would become the "must see," "must be" place that television stations and the Post among others would have given a great deal of free press and airtime to. National publications, too, for when D. C.'s 16 million + tourists come here. (Remember, Tysons Corner AND Tysons II now have almost four million square feet of space with 9 anchor stores; I believe that this is second only to the Mall of America's 5.5 million ahead of Chicago's Woodfield, Orange County's South Coast Plaza and two adjacent North Dallas malls. All four of these are trumpeted nationally by the cities/counties they are in.) The expansion has received some press but I couldn't help but notice the teenager quoted in the Post's weekend article that noted something like it's a nice mall. The perspective of this article was that Tysons had built something for teens. I just can't help but remember when Georgetown Park opened or Harborplace or even the mall in Union Station or the Old Post Office. Essentially all four of those are malls or variations of yet they have their own personality. The Mills companies are doing some really exciting things in places like Southern CA's Ontario Mills and the upcoming development near the Meadowlands. I imagine that Lerner must have partied long into Friday night after walking through the expansion. I also imagine that Fairfax County will take a much closer look at the detail of Tysons' future expansion which is extremely ambitious. If this had been a home run that might have been an easier go for them. Now, I believe it will require a huge leap of faith that I am certain local homeowners and the County will not readily take

Actually, no. I'd wanted to go to Morimoto's new restaurant but we decided to postpone it not knowing at the time that it was not open yet. (Bill, they had a sign in front of it advertising for help!) This visit was part of a late walk (I walk about 25-30 miles a week) and it seemed a good excuse to check out the expansion. I probably spent 45 minutes or so wandering around, increasingly losing interest in returning. Walking by Brio several times I looked at what people were eating and nothing really looked that interesting. Their menu which seemed to focus on bistca fiorentina was intriguing but I can't imagine that it's anywhere near as good as some places in Italy. In truth it's really difficult to find good bisteca even in Tuscany since finding chiannina (sp?) is rare. At its best this is awesome steak. Somehow, Brio, with tables in the middle of a shopping mall didn't grab my interest. If someone else goes and raves about it I'll give it a try. Same with Pauli Moto's. Even Coastal Flats didn't seem too appealing in this setting. And I like Coastal Flats. Maybe I expected too much or expected something different.

At Allman's 1/4 to 1/2" uneven thick "slices", perhaps several inches long of varying width, which are lopped off of the butt, sometimes started with a knife as opposed to slicing a uniform fairly thick piece. Allman's is a bit different from the pulled pork I've had, say, in Tennessee (Bozo's, Interstate, Roundezvous, Gridley's, etc.) but dissimilar from other Q that is often referred to as sliced. This is not the best bbq anywhere but it's real Q in a setting unlike anything that can be found in the D. C. area.

Here's an especially good article about better Fredericksburg area restaurants from 7/30 of this year in the local paper.

Carl's equal (Yes, EQUAL) is Allman's BBQ on route 1 across from where the old bus terminal was. This is a 50+ year old Fredericksburg institution that for many years was considered the northern most outpost of great southern Q. The source of this was a full issue of the Sunday Post magazine devoted to local bbq about 25 years ago. Allman's hasn't changed much since then. When you go you want sliced (NOT minced or chopped pork Q which is a distant second to their sliced which some may called "pulled" elsewhere). This is not Carolina-their's has more in common with Northport, Alabama than, say, Lexington or Ayden. Sliced. It is fall apart tender cooked up to 13 hours in their pit outback. They also have exemplery sweet, thick bbq sauce made in house. You also want slaw: homemade, mayonnisey slaw. And you want a milkshake. They make their's the exact same way they made them when they opened in 1954, with the original Mixmaster, milk from a carton (or bottle), scooped ice cream and, if chocolate, Hershey's chocolate syrup. All of this goes into a metal canister which is placed under the prong of the Mixmaster for a minute or so of loud cranking (it's is 50 years old after all!). Unfortunately, the original Allman's (there have been more than one overtime but this is the ONLY one you should go to) is known well locally. Just as well as Carl's in fact, with lines to get into it on the Saturday two weeks ago when we were there. This is an enormously popular place that is worth the drive to Fredericksburg even if Carl's is closed. Here's a review from the Fredericksburg newspaper several years ago.

When I have written about excursions and experiences in the past, certainly places almost unkown on message boards, I've sometimes wondered if anyone else ever went and found what I have. At Harris' yesterday BaltoEllen said that because of my writing about Suicide Bridge and Waterman's (both linked above in the first post) they went. To both. And agreed with me about Waterman's that overall it may be Maryland' best crab house. I should also note that my wife who has shared in most of my exploits often disagrees with me. At Suicide Bridge (which I now consider Maryland's best overall "Maryland style" seafood restaurant) she did not like their cream of crab soup. I did. In fact with the addition of the side of a souffle cup of sherry (we were not charged for this) I thought this was the best cream of crab soup of any Maryland restaurant I've been to. Perhaps more lump crab than any other. The fresh rockfish filet topped with lump crab imperial (luncheon portion that was as large a dinner portion anywhere else) was outstanding. But the best were the two vegetable sides, baked butternut squash "chunks" which were crusted with brown sugar and butter and sweet, stewed tomatoes which together would equal any Thanksgiving Day vegetables I've ever had in a restaurant. Fried oysters were excellent with both tartar sauce and cocktail sauce made in house. On the way out I noted warm housemade peach cobbler with ice cream that, were it not for a three hour eating binge I would have included. Suicide Bridge's lump crab cakes (they have two-the lump are the best) are excellent. But I am now convinced having had G & M (a true disappointment!!! that I continue to wonder why anyone likes these), Angelina's (there are reasons why they recommend fried rather than broiled), Harris (although good I remarkably couldn't see much difference between the two styles of cooking there), Suicide Bridge and the Narrows (five or six times in the last 18 months) that my wife and I at least agree on this: the Narrows have the best Maryland crab cakes anywhere. We've probably had crab cakes at 15 or more places in the last 18 months, almost all proclaiming to have the "world's best." On this trip, sated and bulging, we didn't stop at the Narrows on the way home. But that's reason to revisit Waterman's AND the Narrows on the next trip! Thanks to Crackers for organizing this and to everyone for sharing a beautiful, sunny 80 degree day on Maryland's eastern shore.

Chef, you once mentioned that Uliassi in Senigallia was one of your favorite restaurants in Italy. Have you considered having chefs such as he or Massimiliano from Le Calandre visit Maestro and cook with you in your kitchen? Or to cook in their kitchens? Also, would you consider sharing your recipe for grappa risotto? Please.... Thank you again for creating such an extraordinary experience on this side of the ocean! You've put this city on a national stage.

I just returned from Tysons. It is a HUGE disappointment in absolutely every way. 1. The overall feeling is vanilla. This could just as easily be an expansion of Wheaton Plaza or Golden Ring Mall as it is Tysons. There is no sense of drama, no sense of spectacle, no sense of a special place. 2. Where Tysons upper level in the existing mall has sloping glass skylights 25 feet above the mall this has 12-14 foot ceilings of plain drywall on its second floor. The feeling of luxury and upscale comfort gives way in the expansion to a big box setting with no attempt to create a themed environment. 3. Wegmans has a themed environment for its newer stores with the ambience of a European market. On the lower level of the expansion there are four restaurants which all open to a central area. There is no attempt to have a town square in this open area. Pauli Moto's (which was NOT open and looks disappointingly like a variation of P. F. Chang's with a Japanese bent-yes, you will still have to drive to Philadelphia to experience Morimoto-we did NOT get what some of us thought Washington was worthy of), Gordon Biersch, Brio and Coastal Flats (which really suffers without the plantation appearance the freestanding building has at Fairfax Towne Center) are on four sides with the lower level of a Barnes and Noble in the rear. Much more could have been done with this. I cannot tell you how disappointed I was in the site plan and lack of any attempt at ambience. Of course to create an escapist or themed environment costs money and this is exactly what seems to be lacking in the expansion: the budget to design and execute the design in a way that would justify driving past Springfield and Montgomery Mall to go to Tysons. 4. Someone thought it was enough to build a huge box with three floors (theatres and ten outlet food court ((two were not open yet)) on the top floor with only ONE set of escalators on the side for access. 5. There is nothing spectacular, nothing to say "wow" about this. There is no sense of a special place or a feeling that this is a great place to be on a friday night. Or a monday night. What this really says to me is that I appreciate Reston Town Center and Fairfax Towne Center even more for their European town center ambience whose streetscapes are just wonderful places to spend time. I cannot imagine anything wonderful about Tyson's expansion other that the utilitarian function of eating or watching a movie and then quickly leaving. 6. Comparing this to West Edmonton Mall or the Mall of America puts it in even worse perspective. Both of these are designed to involve guests in an extended stay that is more than just shopping. They are downtowns for shopping, entertainment, just hanging out. They also demonstrate lynchpins of successful design: creating an ambience that suggests to a guest that he or she should stay a bit longer than they may have planned. With every minute that someone spends in a mall or a themepark there is a direct correlation to what they spend. This is a primary justification for the themed environment. There is nothing about Tysons expansion that makes me want to spend one minute more than I have to there. I cannot remember a single fountain, nor significant architectural feature that stood out; I cannot remember a single sight line that was striking. While I liked the "presentation" of the TGIFriday's on the third floor and felt that Gordon Biersch was acceptible I really thought Brio, Coastal Flats and Pauli Moto's failed in this: for me they just were not "inviting." They just weren't different enough from each other-they looked like what they are, restaurants in a suburban shopping mall. Just having a large bookstore, food court, theatres and some restaurants are not enough: it is how these are packaged and presented to the public. My criticism is of this packaging or the lack of. Tysons has had a number of owners over the past years. I suspect the new owner does not have the same commitment to Fairfax county that past ones have had; certainly they didn't invest money or imagination in this. There is so much that could have been done-I would have loved to see what Disney's Imagineers or Busch Entertainment or Universal would have done with this. Or Danny Wegman. For all those in D. C. who disdainfully look down on homogonized suburbia and all that is wrong about this you may be the only ones who are not disappointed. This will live down to every expectation you had about life outside the beltway. For me the values and priorities and budget that went into this project were more appropriate for, say, Wichita than they were for Fairfax County, Virginia. Perhaps the senior designer on this project and those who approved it have not really looked beyond Wichita for inspiration. We deserved better.

The headline restaurant is Pauli Moto's Asian Bistro ( http://paulimotos.net/ ) with a second outpost of the enormously popular Coastal Flats, the first DC area location of the Columbus, OH based Brio Tuscan Grille ( http://www.brioitalian.com/ ) , Gordon Biersch Brewery and disappointingly (for me) another TGIFriday's. A year or so ago Lettuce Entertain You was going to open their upscale Shaw's Crab House and Wildfire joining Coastal Flats and Pauli Moto's. Both of these would have been good additions to Tyson's yet for whatever reason are not part of the expansion. While I look forward to Morimoto's new "concept" restaurant and Coastal Flats, neither Brio nor TGIFriday's is particularly exciting for me. Sooner or later Houston's Pappas Bros. will discover Tyson's Corner and bring Pappasito's or Pappadeux there, both concepts that are missing in the Tyson's area. Does anyone from Lerner read this board?

Steve, when Roberto and Jeff Black came for dinner one of the wines was a magnum of '97 Sassicaia which Roberto opened himself, prying the wooden box open, decanting, etc. I bought this in Florence about five years ago and kept it in a Eurocave for almost the entire time. I cannot tell you how disappointed we all were with this. My guess is that the shop that I bought it from in Italy had not stored it properly and it overheated at some point because the wine seemed "thinner" lacking depth and actually had a bit of "bite" to it. I thought opening a bottle like this would have been perfect for that evening but I honestly do not remember if we even finished it before opening another bottle.

My apologies for typing a link but this summarizes my own experiences in quite a bit of detail. http://www.chowhound.com/midatlantic/board...ages/22272.html At the time I wrote this Saturday night's prix fixe was $148. Today it is $168. 2003's $555 dinner for two is now $600+.

The new issue of the Wine Spectator notes that 2002 Sassacaia sells for US $190.00. They gave it a whopping 87 points. Of course for Fattoria Del Barbi, this must seem rather generous considering the 78 points their '99 brunello received. This is a US $103.00 78 point wine!!!!! I don't believe I have ever seen a wine that cost this much receive so few points. "Earthy and funky...with some decent fruit." For one hundred and three dollars..... Of course there's the annually predictable Allegrini Palazzo della Torre whose '01 received 90 points. There's usually someone in D. C. (Magruder's?) who has this on sale for about $13 or $14.

Last night, driving on route 60 leaving Williamsburg, my wife and I saw a line at least 75 long snaking around a low slung bunker of a building, hungrily, patiently approaching one of two windows of an apparent 50's era William and Mary tradition: Sno to Go. With over forty flavors of shaved ice snoballs including "beetlejuice," "fuzzy navel," "Ninja turtle," "rumbleberry" and their legendary "Tiger's blood" this is a mom and pop Hawaiian/Baton Rouge style shaved ice landmark open three days a week for seven months out of the year. The ultimate indulgence is a stuffed snoball which involves layering a two inch nest of ice, a mound of vanilla frozen custard and then another slab of flavored ice all topped with whipped cream and more syrup drizzled on top. For most this is a Saturday night ritual similar to the University of Maryland's line for "The Vouz" where it wasn't about getting into the bar; it was all about the Line. At Sno to Go it seemed to be about both. Remarkably one of the most popular orders was a sugar free Snoball. I couldn't believe that anyone would stand in line for 30 minutes or longer to order something that wasn't based in lard, butter or whipped cream but at Sno to Go, the svelte students seemed to shy from true caloric indulgence favoring flavor at the expense of butterfat.

Fore Street has been an annual stop for me for a number of years. It's very difficult to get a reservation at the last minute but they serve dinner at the bar. An outstanding restaurant which Saveur once called the best undiscovered restaurant in America.

I'm not so sure that Emeril's is a "diamond in the rough." It is also very expensive with the majority of entrees in the low to mid 30's. I've had two dinners there, hosting a total of 14 people and will not return. Picking up the check for $1000 for 8 and having to apologize is a once in a lifetime experience. But it happened to me there. My wife and I had dinner three times at the original on Tchoupolitas street (sp?) when Emeril was still there in the mid '90's and we thought this was among the very best restaurants in America. Based on my two dinners in Orlando, there was little in common. In this price range I would go to Norman's but this has also been inconsistent. I went when it first opened and Norman Van Aken himself was in the kitchen. It was awesome!!! A return visit the next year was good, but nowhere in league with the first time. Vito's, owned by the Charley's group, is an excellent mid range steak house that is enormously popular with convention groups. I like it. A lot. Still, the Del Frisco's on the far side of town is far superior. Enzo's on the Lake is a very good, locally popular Italian restaurant considered by many to be the Orlando area's best. Straub's has very good rock shrimp and is also very popular. The best seafood restaurant overall is Disney's Flying Fish Cafe and their adjacent tapas restaurant is better than you might expect. Disney's best restaurant is their California Grill-NOT Victor and Victoria which is horrendously expensive. Your last meal should be at Seasons 52. Order the garlic chicken flatbread for your appetizer and planked salmon entree and post your thoughts about this on here. Any of a half dozen of the "fat test tubes" for dessert, especially the bananas foster. If you go, before 6:30 you should not have a problem getting a seat at the bar. In the dining room, on a weekday, the wait is one hour plus around this time (weekend two hours plus). About 80 wines by the glass.

"The end of the star system" might simply mean differentiation such as a. A half star which many papers and guides use, i.e. **1/2, ***1/2 with **** representing the top. b. Numerical scores such as Gayot and Gault Millau use within their system of 1 to 4 toques. Although this is in German it expresses it very well: http://all.gmserver.de/ar/rs/kriterien_6FC...8C889069FCF.htm Just a guess on my part. Using this Charleston may have rated a strong three, i.e. ***1/2 or 17 points (out of 20).

The "signature" dish at Toronto's North 44 is a filet mignon of tuna. I could be wrong about this but I honestly believe that it was "invented" here. I forget the chef/owner's name but he is known throughout Canada and has been quoted at length about why his version of this is so good. About six or seven years ago I was at North 44 and the French Laundry 24 hours apart. Remarkably, one of the courses at FL was a "filet mignon" of tuna. The portion was about one quarter the size of North 44 but delicious. Still, 24 hours apart, I thought North 44 slightly better. Today, this is an off the menu special at North 44. If you go give serious consideration to ordering it. http://www.north44restaurant.com/ Also, North 44's chef/owner has opened a new restaurant called Bymark. I have not been but it's already "notorious." Finally, for Toronto restaurants, there was once a GREAT fusion restaurant whose chef, Susur Lee, built an international reputation from. This is a link to the current edition of Frommer's: http://www.frommers.com/destinations/toronto/D49114.html He is back; I have not been to his new restaurant but if it is anything like the old one this will be an extraordinary experience. Finally, the best liquor store in all of Canada (ABC) is on Young street, about three miles in towards downtown. It's worth a stop. Fantastic selection of Canadian ice wine. Take care.

That should actually be "safe" for a business dinner-better steak houses usually fall into this category. If you have another night in that area and you're not on business there is a seriously good Italian restaurant called Locanda Veneta which I've been to four or five times and really, really like. It feels very much like you're in Venice. There is nothing in D. C. that I would compare it to. But it's excellent and, along with the formal Valentino, considered L. A.'s best. For what it's worth my wedding lunch was at Tommy's (double chili cheese) and dinner was at Chinois in Santa Monica. (crab risotto, sliced filet Szechuan, smoked lobster on a bed of deep fried spinach-I think this is his best restaurant, even more than Spago. There is a food bar at the rear where you can sit at one of about eight seats only a countertop away from where the food is prepared. A great experience!) Santa Monica could be a half hour or more from Beverly Hills though, depending on traffic.) At the time there was not an In 'n Out Burger anywhere around.

Matsuhisa and Spago. The first is the best Japanese restaurant in Southern CA and a temple to the raw. The second still defines power and business while also serving as Puck's flagship. This is an especially good link: "Spago: Beverly Hills" on seeing-stars.com Spago is also considered one of the best restaurants in L. A. For both of these you should reserve NOW. They are extremely popular.

Ah! DeJohn mustard!! Could there actually be DeJohn mustard? Hmmm..... http://www.recipebookonline.com/asp/viewrecipe.asp?ID=1381 It seems that DeJohn mustard is the secret ingredient in the "world's best barbeque sauce!" Who could have known?

Would you believe that Romano's wife does not drink wine?