Joe H

Interesting discussion.

The restaurants are simply unable to solve every issue for every customer.  There is no easy solution.  I'm surprised that they didn't offer an alternative date or dates and some kind of "good will" offer to try and make amends for the problem they caused you.  By not extending an offer of some sort they potentially lost a customer, possibly a repeat customer, and possibly one who could and would refer others.  And if that is the case, its a costly loss.

I will never go back.  We've had anniversaries and birthdays at both Patowmack Farm and the Ashby Inn when he was there.  For a $350 dinner I don't want to fear a call that they've got something better, even if they offer another date.

The other date may not be our anniversary or birthday.

I'm not saying "I agree with it," but I definitely understand - it's because they're so far away that they can't risk having five covers on a Saturday afternoon in October when they could make thousands of dollars selling the place out for a wedding. This is far enough in advance where people can have their choice of any other restaurant in the area. I guarantee Patowmack Farm gets burned every weekend by people calling at 4 PM and saying, "We've decided not to make the drive." It's because of weddings like this that the restaurant remains open for the rest of us. This type of action happens routinely at restaurants all over - buyouts, where hapless managers are tasked with calling to cancel reservations. If the diners really rescheduled, the restaurant would do well to comp them a bottle of sparkling wine, or something similar.

This is an interesting way to do business.  Cancelling reservations because something better comes along?  I didn't write about this when it happened but when I saw the note on Tom's Chat it told me that it IS their way of doing business.

I want to talk about how expensive this place now is:  $88.00 prix fixe.  $138.00 with the wine pairing.  That's $276 + Va Tax + 20% tip for a dinner that costs $350 for two.  But they cancelled us.  A restaurant which hosts a lot of special occasion dinners cancelling reservations because something better comes along.  Simply, I'm not going to gamble $350 on a dinner that they may or may not decide to serve us.  Especially if I am celebrating a birthday or anniversary.

I like Chick Fil A.  Specifically their breakfast burritos and their grilled chicken and grilled chicken club sandwiches.  They have something called "Chick Fil A" sauce in a little tub like container which is delicious.  It is also 140 calories for about two ounces.  Years ago I made a wrong turn near the Atlanta airport and found a place called the Dwarf House which was like a Toddle House with a Chick Fil A menu.  Sometime later I found out I had unintentionally eaten at Chick Fil A #1.

From the Washingtonian review linked above:

"The good news for everyone sick of "hand-cut, artisanal fries": Delicious curly fries. From a bag. Cashion's house-made ethos carries over for most items, but thankfully these starchy spirals of goodness aren't one of them."

Respectfully to the original Thrasher's on the lower end of Ocean City, MD's boardwalk (ONLY this location), Vleminckx in Amsterdam, Maison Antoine in Brussels or Duckfat in Portland, ME I am not "sick of hand cut artisinal french fries."

I also associate curly fries with Buffalo, New York where I have had some seriously good ones.

I look forward to trying them at Pop's Seabar.

This is from Tom's chat in Wednesday's Washington Post. It is near the end of the Chat:

When is a reservation not a reservation? apparently not at your recently reviewed Restaurant at Patowmack Farm. Planning ahead to get together a group of people from diverse areas we made a reservation for Saturday brunch on Oct 11th through Open Table. I received a call from the restaurant saying that my reservation was cancelled because they were now hosting a wedding. Ended up negotiating a similar time for 2 weeks down the road but unfortunately some of my party can't make that date. So what is your take on a restaurant that ditches you for a bigger better deal.

I assume this place is still very hard to get in to, as I assume they still do not take reservations. If you want to dine at 8PM, I assume you need to get in line at.....6PM? I'd love to try this place, but I loathe long waits for tables and I really prefer dining after 6PM, usually well after, not at 6PM or before. So are my assumptions correct still? Let me know and TIA!

Poolboy, I think if you went @9:00PM on a weeknight you would be OK-less than a half hour's wait.  I'm guessing-but this is actually what my wife and I are planning for the future.  I don't want to stand on the street in the late afternoon for an hour or so thus this seems like a reasonable alternative.  The eight seat kitchen counter is a huge thing at Rose's.  If at all possible try for that.  https://twitter.com/RosesLuxury  This is their twitter site.  As recently as August 27th (a Weds.) they noted that there was no line 30 minutes before opening.   

Thanks, John.  The communal aspect is what would be important to me as a kind of framework for the evening.  It really is an adventure that everyone is sharing.

At $800 per couple for dinner and an overnight stay, expectations are naturally high for the Riverstead experience. Add 10+ hours of round-trip driving time, and it becomes a very difficult decision. How likely am I to be disappointed when the bar is set so high? Although I had regretted not dining at Townhouse while it was open, and I had told myself upon reading of the new Riverstead dinner series that it would be too rare an opportunity to pass up, I waited months before pulling the trigger. When a dinner & lodging reservation opened up for my birthday weekend, I decided to just go for it.

A superb post that is sincerely appreciated.  Charles Tsui thank you for taking the time for the photographs and your thoughts.  Question:  I am surprised that there were individual tables.  For whatever (?) reason I thought this would be a communal experience where the 12-14 guests would be at a single, long table, even two six-eight seat round tables.  Did the individual tables makes a difference?

Regardless of the tables this is an extraordinary experience, to be one of 12 or 14 diners for the evening, at the kitchen table (s) of great chefs.  I know of nowhere else in America today that somehow can have an evening like this.

I want to add an addendum:  honestly, I do the same with most of the wine I drink.  This includes what I buy with the Kirkland label as well as wine that I buy as futures.  A couple of years or more of bottle age and the proper presentation makes many reds taste better.

Glen Manor PV was sold to case club members.  I qualified because I bought several cases of Hodder Hill, '11 Rapheus (great dessert wine) and petit manseng.  I believe there were only two or so barrels of the PV which is about 50 cases.  (Same is true with Linden's '10 Boisseau)  Having tasted the '09 and also attending the barrel tasting noted above I knew what I was getting into. I chased it.  Literally pestered the hell out of Jeff for the '10.    There was simply never enough for this to be served in the tasting room.  Same is true for Linden Boisseau.

My wife would say that I buy too much wine, regardless of the reason and regardless of where it is from.

Sorry for the rant.

I had a serious argument with the tasting room manager at King Family Vineyards:  they were asking $80 for a bottle of their '07 Meritage and, after selling it, they poured it in tiny, precious sized glasses.  If I had swirled it once it would have spilled on the counter.

I should also mention that it was served warm.

it didn't matter than this had won an earlier VA Governor's Cup:  their presentation of it was awful.

I gave Glen Manor's '10 Petit Verdot, LInden's '09 Hardscrabble Red (and '10 Boisseau) and the upcoming '10 Delaplane Williams Gap the presentation which I described above.  I'm not trying to be difficult but these are all very young wines that will improve even more with age.  I am just trying to taste them as best I can right now.  I believe they will improve, perhaps dramatically so, with age.  I am trying my best to realize, to taste that now.

Seaside Heights comes to D. C...

...I say that respectfully.  I talk about Thrasher's and Fisher's caramel corn, both on the lower end of the boardwalk in Ocean City but there is also the original Carvel with its 1940's era ElectroFreeze machine (directly behind Casino Pier) and some of the best and freshest seafood I've ever had sitting on a backless stool on the lower end of the boardwalk in Seaside.  Clams oreganata, anything with maranara sauce-I travelled all over America for over 30 years and this was one of the best destinations of all.

Joe - unfortunately we are actually set up for April 5th at 3pm.

I have never had the petit verdot - but I bought half a case of the '10 that I'll be picking up while we do the vertical, so I'm really looking forward to the tasting.  I think it was one of your descriptors that really peaked my interest when you compared it to Valpolicello  and I was further interested when Jeff used some of the the ripasso techniques with his '10 vintages.

I posted yesterday about the '09 Linden Hardscrabble Red and I thought it would only be appropriate to open a bottle of Glen Manor's '10 Petit Verdot tonight.  (Tomorrow night, for the trifecta, I go for Delaplane's '10 Williams Gap!)

I made something of an investment in this since I believe that Jeff's '09 Petit Verdot is one of the best reds ever produced in VA.  I hesitate to write this for fear that he will read it and...raise the price when he releases his '13 (which from the barrel is incredible).  This is the first bottle I've opened since picking it up in April.  I first tasted this last fall and then again at the PV tasting which you were at.

It is really interesting to see how this wine has evolved over time.

http://www.amazon.com/Schott-Zwiesel-Stemware-Collection-28-4-Ounce/dp/B00284AIP8 is the link for Schott Zweisel's 28 1/2 ounce fishbowl sized burgundy glass which are on sale for $14 a glass (regular $25) with a set of 6.  I opened the Petit Verdot an hour ago straight out of a Eurocave @55 degrees.  I poured a quarter of the bottle from one fishbowl sized glass to another and then back.  And then back again.  Swirled it a few times and left the room for the hour noted.

There are caramel like syrupy streaks of ink oozing down the sides of the curved bowl.  Quintarelli like driblets sluicing into the black pool.  Darkest, thickest glass of liquid I have ever seen in Virginia.  Seriously visually reminiscent of a pool of the best amarone.  Actually the best syrah.  Charles Smith, Sine Qua Non, Sanguis Six White Horses:  this approaches their league on the sides of and in the deep thick puddle in the glass.  My nose is a third of the way down the inside of the glass.  Blackberries, figs, blueberries-pick a dark fruit and it is there.

The mouthfeel is thick, syrupy, a balance of sweet and candied fruit, lucious as it goes down.  And lasts for a while.

I thought Jeff's '09 Petit Verdot was the best red he has ever made.  His '10 is better.

A remarkable, breathtakingly good wine.

Cult wine.  In Virginia.

Totally agree with you about dining choices.  For seafood, Hooked around 80th and Coastal Highway is excellent as is Captain's Table and Shark on the Harbor.  Liquid Assets is a good non seafood coice, too.

Hooked is probably the "hot" restaurant of the moment in O. C. right now.

I opened a bottle of '09 Hardscrabble Red last night (noted above as three stars (out of three) by Dave MacIntyre in the Post) and it has really opened up over the last year.  Lucious, fruity, mouth coating, very silky and smooth-this is a wine that I would and will pour for anyone wondering what the best VA wine tastes like.  Jim Law also believes that it will get even better with more age.  For myself this is national class wine right now that is an absolute steal for $45  (5% discount with a case).  I WILL PUT THIS ONE ON ONE WITH ANY CALIFORNIA WINE AT THE SAME PRICE POINT.

If anyone reading this has a bottle-open it this weekend.  The word "delicious" really fits.

Waitman, a superb essay.  Thank you for taking the time to share.

The Shack strongly reminds me of the original K-Paul's on Chartres street in New Orleans when it opened in 1980.  Mimi Sheraton raved about it in the New York Times and lines formed an hour before they opened for dinner-they did not accept reservations.  There were about 40-50 seats and almost every one was used.  A four top could be taken by two couples or a couple and two singles or a single and a group of three.  It was communal style throughout the room.  Paul Prudhomme was in the kitchen every night and literally oversaw everty single dish that came out.

Over time K-Paul's eventually enlarged and the lines gave way to reservations with Chef Paul spreading his Magic Seasonings around the U. S. with roadshows.

Still, some of the best food I ever had was in its original plain, simple dining room shared with strangers.  On one trip to NOLA I ate there three nights in a row spending a total of almost five hours over those nights waiting on Chartres street to be let in the door.

  I'm not a fan of the name.

I am going to bury this in this thread and, perhaps, a half dozen people will read it:  Sanguis '09 Six White Horses is the single best red wine I have ever tasted in my life.  I had it tonight.  I picked the empty bottle up, turned it upside down over my mouth and let the last few drops drip in.  Never mind the fifty years of wine that led up to it but it is unctuously, mouth coatingly evenly jammy, structured and satisfying.

I also made a spectacle of myself but it was worth it.

...Romano Dal Forno would have wanted a taste.  Quintarelli, too.  (Yes, I've had each of their '97's)

Reservations on Friday and Saturday at their tasting room by appointment only.

By the way,  the Wine Enthusiast agrees with my comment except limits it to the "best CA syrah ever."

Some time soon I am going to have this side by side with '07 Royal City.  This is not a wine to compare to Bionic Frog or Stonessence.  It is a big, opulently rich 15.8% bomb.  I have not had Sanguis 1/1 of which there is literally a single barrel.  But having had their Six White Horses (helluva image!) I no longer need to.

Stops right here.  Best red I have ever had.  With all due respect to Sine Qua Non's ten+ year waiting list this, too, would have been worth the wait.

I have not changed in my passion for Bellatoria.  We unapologetically eat one every two weeks or so.  Harris Teeter has carried them for a couple of months and I stand by every word I first said six years ago.

I would make the argument that Washington has more in common with a number of European cities than any other.  It certainly has the feel of one.

They open @5:00PM.  I would get there at 4:30.  Good luck!

Both Rose's Luxury and the Shack have outstanding twitter sites and tweets.  Rose's Luxury is https://twitter.com/RosesLuxury

Ian Boden, chef owner of the Shack is https://twitter.com/chefiab It also seems that Chef  Boden photographs almost every single dish he serves and posts them on this site.

FWIW he had an interesting tweet about the waiting time last Saturday (one of only two days that he does prix fixe service; other days is a la carte).

The Shack"@chefiab

Doors are open and we are completely full!

We've never eaten there-it just looks seriously "awkward" in its location.  I was only partly facetious above-it really, to me, looks like something other than what it is.  In fact I probably drove by this a dozen times without realizing it was a restaurant.

I believe that Tom captured its overall impression quite accurately in his original review from 2008:

"FROM A DISTANCE, Alto Plaza looks like a budget motel on growth hormones. Up close, the sand-colored, three-story, hexagon-shaped, $16 million behemoth in Centreville looks like one of Saddam Hussein's gaudy palaces."

I actually thought this was either a Tex Mex restaurant with motel rooms on the upper floor or a communal retreat with a soup kitchen on the lower floor.

Or a real estate office...of sorts.

Serious...if the Gulf of Mexico was on the far side of the parking lot I would feel differently. But it's not.  A major highway is.

But it's not even the best new restaurant in DC? [*snicker*]

I don't understand the "snicker."  Red Hen won the Rammy and is an outstanding restaurant.  Rose's Luxury is not a member of the Restaurant Association and, because of this, was not eligible.  Regardless, if Rose's was eligible Red Hen may still have won.

We are fortunate to have both of these restaurants.  They have each been enormously successful.  They also both play to long lines and long waits.  FWIW I was at Red Hen two weeks ago on a Monday night and there was still a line out the door at 9:30 at night.

I am not favoring one over the other; rather I believe Red Hen is due every bit as much respect as Rose's.

Bravo to both!

It's already crowded during off hours.  Tysons is also actively installing gates in a number of their parking garages in an attempt to dissuade those taking the Metro who might be looking for a place to park.  Interestingly NOBODY walks from the Tysons Metro to the Galleria.  NOBODY.  I stood in back of the new 22 story Intelsat building and watched 75-100 or more people walk from the Metro to Tysons Corner Center.  I didn't see a single person in this time walk to the Galleria.  My guess is that Tysons Corner Center will greatly profit from the Metro and the closest buildings on the Galleria side will, too.  Lerner has a couple of 30 story buildings slated for their side of the Metro.  But for the Galleria, the Ritz and the buildings on either side of it I cannot help but believe the Metro is largely irrelevant.

I should also note that it is a two thirds mile walk to the Galleria from Metro's platform (measured by me on my Mapmywalk app) and, even when it is dry, for many people, that is too far to walk.