Joe H

There was a different photo that showed two tops side by side. Your link notes that the photo is of their "inaugural group." Originally the photo showed different tables. Regardless the point is that there is a $1,000 food minimum whether it is a large picnic table or three or four individual tables that could have been used to address the reservation issue.

This is one of the most interesting threads in the nine (?) years of this board. I come back to my point about the $125 prix fixe price x eight people plus beverage, tax and tip (I.e. $1000 food minimum) which is a response to all those who ask for the possibility of a reservation. Rose's is pushing two top tables together to accomplish this. Why couldn't these same two tops be used for individuals rather than what amounts to corporate space or a small private party? For me this move only reinforces what Alan Richman wrote about in his excellent piece referenced in another thread. Waitman's comment about the value of one 's time standing in line is worth emphasizing. A several hour wait can add to the cost of a meal. As Tom mentioned it lessons the cost for the restaurant but it places another cost/demand on who eats there. The reference to ageism is interesting, too. Demands like this go after a younger crowd. I would also like to know who in the neighborhood has the time to stand in line enough to be a regular? But this comes full circle: this is much more than a neighborhood restaurant. They know how good they are. They know the publicity they receive from their rigid no reservations (unless you guarantee a $1000 food minimum) policy. Fortunately for them they have been discovered nationally. Unfortunately for them they are doing a poor job of managing their popularity. Mark's comment is well taken. But I have no problem with guaranteeing a minimum on my credit card if I reserve and don 't show up. Which, by the way, is exactly what they are doing for their private club.

I have no problem with chefs insisting that I should eat a dish without any change to it: I want to taste what is envisioned with the spice or heat that is intended. At least for my first bite. Over the years there have been countless tastes that I have had which were extraordinary and I never thought that I would even like them. Where I react is when a restaurant will only accept reservations through e-mail, does not publish a phone # and, as Waitman noted above, when a restaurant "with pretenses of fine dining" does not accept even limited reserations. It doesn't matter if once you get in the door the service is outstanding. Sometimes it's what the restaurant insists on putting you through that you never even get to the door. Or return.

In 1980 Paul Prudhomme opened K Paul's on Chartres street in New Orleans. Mimi Sheraton raved about him and the restaurant in the New York Times and it took off. We ate there a few weeks before the article as well as afterwards. K Paul's didn't take reservations and lines built on the street which oftened involved 2-3 hour waits to get in. At some point locals stopped going. They didn't want to to stand in line. Meanwhile K Paul's prices started going up. They went up a lot. At some point K Paul's started accepting reservations. It took them a number of years to do this, but they did.

There's another point here and that is when Rose's Luxury opens what amounts to a private club on its roof with a minimum guarantee of $1,000 for up to ten people who sit at two tops which are pushed together. These tables could have been used for reservations. But no, whatever the size of your group, they are your's. For a thousand dollars. I applaud Red Hen who have a limited number of tables available for early reservations. Rose's could have addressed this but elected the private club. Appaulse to Tom for an excellent and timely essay.

Absolutely outstanding writing both above and on your blog. Thank you for sharing-real pleasure to read. Also interesting to read your comments about the Willows from a year and a half ago.

Absolutely, totally disagree. Cioppino to crab gazpacho (which I am eating as I type this) to green curry seafood stew (lunch on Tuesday). Next time you go, the green curry seafood stew. Cannot imagine going to the Narrows and ordering anything from the "land." We've probably been twenty five to thirty times over the last fifteen years and at this point I may have worked my way through virtually every seafood dish they have although, to be honest, my wife orders crab crakes and cream of crab soup every time. The Narrows actually "suffers" from doing two things (cream of crab soup and crab cakes) so well. While I am not a fan of their red crab soup they do an excellent job with the three mentioned above among others.

We had lunch at the Narrows today on Kent Island, Shark on the Harbor two nights ago, Liquid Assets last night, Captain's Table, etc. in O. C. I passionately believe that the Narrows is the best seafood restaurant in the state of Maryland.

Should be some kind of comment from someone about Flint Hill, VA and the great restaurant that was once there.

From the Baltimore Sun weblog in 2010: "They had to change the name after original owners Frank and Nazz Velleggia successfully sued the new owner after the Little Italy location was abandoned and he slapped the name on the vacant former Water Street Exchange." I know Vellegia's dating back to my first encounter with Little Italy in 1971 or '72. It was always considered one of little Italy's best-forty years ago-although Maria's 300 was my favorite. FWIW I have both restaurant's menus from then and Maria's promoted that, in the '20's, it was the restaurant of choice of Al Capone when he was in Baltimore. Anyway, Vellegia's signature dish was Saltimbocca. BUT, that was forty years ago and a different location and different owners. I can't find either a Baltimore Sun or Baltimore Magazine review of this "new" place and I'm not familiar with any of the sources of their awards. For serious Italian American I would go to Chef Vola's in Atlantic City.

I liked Vetri but I didn't love it. I'm also one of the few people who gave up after three disappointing trips to the Inn at Little Washington. We went for a 50th birthday, an anniversary and I went a couple of years after it first opened. The low point of the evening was their famed cheesecart which I had to move my chair for twice so it could pass. Patrick O'Connell is a fantastic chef but I never fell in love with the overall Inn experience. Frankly, today I would find a way to do Roberto's Eight or land one of the six nights at Riverstead in Chilhowie. For a special occasion I would return to Fiola Mare and reserve a window seat. Or, what my wife and I did for our anniversary two years ago was go to the Birchrunville Store Cafe. A year ago Zagat gave this a 29 for food, a point higher at the time than Vetri. negative is that this place is legendary in the greater Philadelphia area and a nearly impossible reservation on a Friday or Saturday night unless you do it 90 days in advance. Extraordinarily beautiful countryside. BYOB-all in, you're $200 or less for an enchanting evening for two. I was also a huge fan of Tarver King when he was at the Ashby Inn. We're going to Patowmack Farm in a few weeks and really look forward to trying him there. We've been to Patowmack Farms a number of times over the years and with Tarver there this could really be special. By the way, have you been to Vancouver? Most beautiful setting of any city on earth. Now, a great restaurant city, too.

Here is the original article from January, 2011 in the New York Times that first told the world about this place. Last Monday evening it's chef won the James Beard Rising Star Award. This is a review of it from a person named uHockey who is extremely well known on Chowhound. Although he's based in Columbus, OH he has a national reputation on CH. This is from his blog, including detailed photographs of the experience. I should also mention that he's eaten his way through DC and most other significant restaurant in the US: http://endoedibles.com/?p=1854 All of this is going to be academic. I'll be shocked if you can get in. Good luck.

http://www.riverstead.com/ As of this morning they are now accepting reservations. This is John and Karen Shields from Chilhowie's Town House Grill along with the Ashby Inn's Neil Wavra who are "reopening" for a total of six days in the Farmhouse that was associated with the Town House Grill. Three days in June, three days in July. Simply this is one of the Great dining destinations anywhere. There are also two rooms available in Riverstead. Prices are $200 per person all inclusive for dinner. $800 all inclusive for dinner for two, lodging and breakfast. I am not sure if these prices include wine or if there is corkage.

I'm actually making this Saturday night and it is a frightfully expensive dish to make: good carneroli from the Vienna Italian Market for $8. $26 for gorgonzola dolce (I'll use 2/3 of and serve the other 1/3 as part of a cheese tray, 12 for Reggiano (I'll use a portion of) and 5 for a half pound of French butter from Whole Foods (I'll use all of!). $7 for pistachios, $13 for chardonnay, 4 for packaged chicken stock, 1 for an onion, A $38 bottle of olive oil that I'll use five dollars worth of, This is a total of almost $70 hard cost for risotto. Ideally, there were will be eight servings because it is so rich, perhaps even more. Roberto makes the best white Alba truffle risotto I have ever had. Typically he'll feature it in October and November for special dinners. Alternatively the recipe is in his cookbook, Cooking in Piedmont. Wegman's Fairfax carries Alba truffles in the Fall; alternatively you can send away for them from Urbani on Long Island. I am sure if you ask Roberto, when truffles are in season, he will make it for you.

I think some of this will be companies who will take the reservations and end up inviting clients and employees to total the 8 to 10 people. Almost like a kind of private box. I'm not sure why they decided to do this for only a single group rather than individual tables but I'm glad to see it as an option. Sooner or later there will be a couple who show up and pay the $1,000 for just themselves. One will then propose to the other, waitstaff will photograph it and, frankly, for $1,000 they'll have a helluva memory of the proposal. And a meal to match!

This is a serious book, arguably the best risotto book in the world: http://www.risogallo.com/risogallo/eng/edizioni.html It is Risogallo's (who make excellent carneroli) Gallo Guide to the "100 best risotti in the world." Several years ago this company sponsored a competition for the best risotto in the world. This book is the result of that. Almost every risotto is imaginatively conceived; almost everyone is at a great restaurant including many with two and three Michelin stars. It is in both Italian and in English with metric amounts. I would describe this as a fascinating book to read through-there are photographs of every risotto. As a cook I would describe it as very sophisticated and advanced. It assumes you already understand technique. I have eaten nine or ten of the risottos from the 6th edition (8th edition is current but you can still buy the 6th) in the restaurants they are from. I've also made several of them along with others. As an example of what to expect: from Gualtiero Marchesi (three Michelin stars in the '90's-note Fabio Trabocchi was at this restaurant before London which was before Maestro) there is a "beetroot risotto with Spumante sauce." Included in the recipe is 3 dl beetroot juice from 3 blended beetroots. "1 bottle Franciacorte Spumante." It does not specify the size of the bottle. "100 g cream." It does not specify the kind of cream. You are going to have to make assumptions, i.e. size of the bottle, that it's heavy cream, etc. The "risotto of the year" is a remarkable presentation: simply called "risotto with my brown meat sauce" it starts with making a stock with a kilo of "finely chopped veal bones with some meat remaining" to which are added olive oil and herbs, carrots, onions and celery, roasted for 2 hours, then transferred to a stockpan with water, boiled and then cooked down by 3/4 for 8 hours or more. After straining, marsala is added. The risotto itself is a straight forward presentation except that it includes "tomato skin" which is "baked until dry" and used as a garnish along with chives. Point is that you'll be able to make the risotto correctly but it's complicated and time consuming. Many of the recipes in this book are like this. But if you are serious about making truly great risotto, this is the ultimate book for sourcing ideas and recipes. One more note: it is not just about using carneroli or violane nano or baldi. For some it will come down to the producers and the belief that a particular rice from one producer is better than another. When I travelled to Italy several times a year on business I always brought back either Ferron, Lucidio (sold by Dean and Deluca) or Tenuta Castello. In additiion to Dean and DeLuca the Italian market in Vienna has an excellent selection of carneroli and violane nano both of which are more difficult to find then you would expect.

Rose's Luxury is accepting reservations. For a larger party. Well, actually, you're going to need to get a small group of people together since it is designed for 8-10 people. This is for their "private luxury roof garden" tables @ $125 for "all you can eat" per person and as much time as you want to spend. Plus, "booze", tax and tip. And they "have an awning." This is a private dining "rooftop" which is designed for eight to ten people. (You can reserve for two but you'll pay for eight.) They accept reservations on Monday mornings @ 11:00AM through their website (no phone calls). They are also already booked through May.

This is from a post of mine when my wife and I tried our best to eat our way through Venice in '09. We arrived early for his first seating. Presentation was a large, shallow serving bowl with a mound of risotto nestled in the middle of each. Both were studded with shrimp, scallops, squid and other fish along with a white, creamy wine laced flavor and texture to the carneroli. A bit of steam rose from the center; I bent over and inhaled letting it waft into my nostrils. Sometimes, it is not just what food tastes like or feels like in one's mouth. It is also what it smells like. The aroma can frame the taste and the feel. Alle Testiere's risotto framed a portrait, a Master. Superb, just superb. One of the best dishes we had in the whole trip. I love Alle Testiere. It is one of the best restaurants anywhere on earth. I also love Il Ridotto whose owner (and chef) is a close friend of Luca at Testiere. But the key to the above post is the comment, "takes up two burners on the stove." Alle Testiere has a total of four burners for the entire 24 seats of the restaurant. One is needed for the pot that the risotto is prepared/stirred in and the other to keep the stock warm which will be ladelled into it. Coincidentally, we were suppose to leave for Italy tonight with dinner at Il Ridotto next Monday and Alle Testiere on Tuesday. We postponed the trip several weeks ago but this thread, and Alle Testiere and their "two burner risotto" has been on my mind for a few days. They make a Great seafood risotto. Even in northern Italy it's not easy to find this. Most restaurants, as mentioned above, look for shortcuts. Whether it's "two burners" or the person standing over them, it's a labor intensive dish to achieve the texture. It's also possible that some reading this, even if they could find/have the kind of risotto I am talking about, may not feel that it is the best. Some of this comes down to what one is use to. Or expects. Still, I come back to what I first noted: it is about tasting each individual kernal of rice within the creamy texture. Of course all of this has been about the texture. Somewhere we need to talk about flavor. And, above, I mentioned the aroma of Alle Testiere's seafood risotto. Or the gorgonzola dolce toasted pistachio risotto which is linked. Or Fabio's grappa risotto which was a dish that I would lean over the table and inhale. Before I even tasted it I knew I would love it-the aroma really can frame the taste and the feel.

Whatever it looks like, it is. Now there is a comment, "continuous stir." That's misleading. When I say "stir" I mean there is a lot of stirring but it is not, literally, continuous. A great deal of this comes down to looking at the risotto and making a judgment of when to start stirring. Someone is going to learn this from looking over a shoulder, not from reading a printed word. I can try, but it's still visual which is why I call achieving "proper texture" an art. Each time a ladle of stock goes into the pot I will stir a couple of times. Then I will let it boil down for 30-45 seconds or whatever amount of time-it's judgment for knowing what it should look like. At a certain point I will start stirring. Then, I'll stir a lot. I don't know about "continuous" but I'll stir a lot. At some point most of the liquid is absorbed and I'll add more, then the process repeats itself. Depending on the kind of risotto and the amount of stock will determine how many times you'll go through this process. How do I know when to add more stock? By what it looks like. No idea of how to express this. Again, for anyone reading this, you need to make risotto a bunch of times and understand "when" to add stock, when to stir. It's not an easy dish to make correctly. It's technique and experience, perhaps like kneading dough. You just learn from experience. There are a lot of shortcuts: all because this is a labor intensive dish and most restaurants cannot afford to have someone stand there all night stirring, judging, looking over the pot-whatever verbiage works. Someone can make a risotto that is some percentage as good without all of the stirring. But I am talking about "the absolute best." "Proper" if you will which is what you would expect from walking into the restaurant in Burano that I linked above. And have been to and had their risotto. I must also note that the person who makes it puts on a show in the same way that a pizza maker puts on a show with tossing the dough. In Burano it is "tossing" the creamy mass of risotto in the pot with several feet of it in the air. But he nails the texture. Whatever it looks like, it is. They make a great risotto. An "absolute best."

http://bistrobis.com/ is the website for Bistro Bis which would be my first choice. About a block and a half walk.

Google "world's best risotto" and note what the first link is. I was told over one million hits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyQvTefwP48 is the link for Anthony Bourdain eating risotto in Burano. What is important is that the video will show the texture of what I call a "proper" risotto. It is very difficult to find this especially in the U. S.

Rice. Violane nano. Stir. It's about texture as much as flavor. You want to be able to "feel" each individual kernal of rice within the creamy risotto. It's an art to make this. Flavor plus mouthfeel. You're not going to get this without stirring. The pot may sit on the burner for a couple of minutes without stirring but at some point you're going to stir. And focus on what you are stirring. Risotto made in a wheel of Reggiano is a spectacular presentation. I first had this in the late '90's in a candle lit room in Paris. But it's not about a Great risotto. It's presentation which can be memorable. Roberto. I had a half dozen risottos in his Laboratorio, each equalling anything I've ever had in Italy. Roberto's Four on two trips were their equal. On the last visit his La Tur risotto was one of the best dishes I've ever tasted. Flavor, texture, mouthfeel-just an extraordinary dish. (Of course I think he uses carneroli.) Roberto. Addendum: years ago I entered a contest called "the best Italian chef in D. C." First prize was $10,000 and a trip to Italy. My entry was crab and black truffle risotto. I was one of the ten finalists which was held before a couple of hundred people in a banquet room at Maggiano's in Tyson's Corner. I didn't win. Although John Harter (then, from channel seven and one of the judges) told me when it was over my dish was the best of all of them. When I was making it I stood in the kitchen of Maggiano's and their chef came by my station and asked why I was stirring so much? I told him I was going for texture. He said that I didn't need to do this, I could find the texture I needed without stirring so much. I listened to him and stopped stirring so much. I didn't nail the creamy, individual kernal creamy texture that I wanted. I didn't win. I should have. I should have kept stirring. I would have nailed the texture. Of course Maggiano's put the winning dish on their menu for a month and if I had won they would have had to pay someone full time to stand there and stir risotto which wasn't in their best interest. Which is one of the reasons it is so hard to find "proper" risotto: it is labor intensive and few kitchens can devote someone to stand there full time and stir. I should have kept stirring. Anyone that tells me that you can make a "proper" risotto with "proper" texture without stirring is not someone I trust. Again, the pot may sit on the burner for a minute or two but at some point you are going to have to pick it up and study it and stir. A lot. For several minutes. Incrimentally adding warm stock and letting it cook down each time. You may do this four, five, six times. But you are going to have to do this for the absolute best risotto. There's a visual on knowing when to add more stock and after doing this letting it cook down for a minute or so before continuing to stir. I come back to my point in the link I supplied above: making risotto is an art. I should have won that contest. Stir. Or, Roberto.

TedE, please seriously consider the "Fiola Mare Oysters and Caviar" in a prosecco zabaglione also. An incredible compliment to the Fruitti di Mare. An imaginative dish with texture and flavor that I have not had elsewhere. A Great dish.

Congratualtions!