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DaRiv18

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Everything posted by DaRiv18

  1. DaRiv18
    I get that you don't like the place, but do you hold all the places you frequent to this standard? This would wipe out like 60% of my food options. To provide context for those who haven't been here, you wait at the counter, place your order and pay, and then wait for the food to be brought out. I have not experienced table service for breakfast/lunch here.
  2. DaRiv18
    $6 for two. Here is the pork soup, 2 leek buns (ie one order), and chinese donuts with soy milk.
  3. DaRiv18
    Coffee here is really good, I was a bit surprised to tell you the truth. One of the better espressos I've had recently, actually. We came back for lunch. My wife took a bite of her Cambodian pork soup and was, "whoa, this is much better than the Union Market kind. Richer. " And she was a fan of the UM soup. But Chef worked with portable butane stoves there, and now has a monster kitchen here. World of difference. I like Frenchies pastries. She's using Trickling Springs butter, I understand, so the price is higher? Like you said, they are very good, and huge. Share them. Attached is the opening menu. As I described it upstream, can be really spicy! Waygu tartare and rice salad are personal faves for now.
  4. DaRiv18
    I would call Bell's Wine and Spirits. What are you trying to make, a Singapore Sling, or a Blood and Sand? Rothman & Winter's Orchid Cherry, or Plymouth Sloe Gin, are decent subs (if not improvements).
  5. DaRiv18
    I've been spending a fair amount of time at Daikaya upstairs recently, Jamie MacBain is the bev manager now. So categorically, you can't really go wrong with drinks. Food wise, I'm partial to the Rocky ($9), which basically has 5 or 6 types of eggs (chicken, salmon, flying fish, caviar, uni, others?) in this dashi. Awesome. Chawan mushi is great as well. I like the spaghetti with caviar too. Staff favorites are chicken skin on a skewer ($2). There is also a grilled octopus that I really like. Pickled cherry blossom rice cake is nice too. Trying to think of misses. None really spring to mind. I have personal preferences against donburis, and I'm not a big fan of their Filipino dishes either (but I'm picky there). I have been remiss in sharing my experiences there.
  6. DaRiv18
    Chef Erik says you'll know when Maketto is open on H St. when you don't see the Union Market space anymore. Honeycomb will be staying, though.
  7. DaRiv18
    Boundary Road hosted a pop-up this past Sunday night, and SMN just killed it. I am really looking forward to the opening. Chef Sam had a couple other guys helping him out for the pop-up, including Chef Brad at BR and Chef Erik from TU/Maketto. They offered about 7 small plates and 2 desserts, my friend and I ordered the entire menu. Braised goat in a smoked pepper raita was the standout for me, as was the poached sablefish with escabeche. Veggies were also a large focus of the menu, I particularly liked the pan roasted radishes. Desserts were also excellent, a carrot and orange ice cream SCOOP (not quinelle) with a maple pizzelle, and a flourless almond cake in pear compote. Plateware was thoughtful, similar to R'sL. Pickles and acid play a consistent theme in the dishes, but always playing a complementary role to the main ingredient. The fingerling potatoes in pork fat, for example, look just like little sausages served over the sauerkraut, that dish worked really nicely for me as well. Currently, H Street NE has a couple of excellent restaurants, a smattering of fine ones, and a deluge of okay places. With the almost concurrent opening of SMN and Maketto, I hope that more venues with focused concepts will try to hang a shingle in the neighborhood, and help create a brand of thoughtful restaurants on the strip.
  8. DaRiv18
    Friday night, enjoyed a private dinner party in the Maketto space. For those familiar with the tastefully busy decor in TU, you may be struck by the stark minimalism. There is a gorgeous tree in the courtyard area of the space, splitting the front Durkl market/bar area from the open kitchen/dining area in the back of the property. Upstairs is the coffee bar. Dinner was purportedly the opening menu: Pork dumplings spicy waygu tartare oyster pancakes scallion pancakes Cambodian rice salad sweet/spicy fried chicken seared steak with pickled veggies, served with steamed buns and hoison spicy coconut curry pork pate dish (served with rice) housemade sausage crispy whole fish stir fried veggies wok fired noodles Spicy, indulgent, fun! This place is going to kill it. Really excited for it and Sally's Middle Name to open, will edge H St closer to be a destination for thoughtful food options. EDIT: Add photo of dishes taken by my talented dinner guest.
  9. DaRiv18
    NoMa has been an absolutely terrible place for dining. Even the relatively new Haris Teeter there was temporarily closed down by the health department. And since it's going from nothing to high density buildings without any high-end hotels, I don't expect to see any extremely interesting (read: new blood) restaurants going in there since rents will be so high. And even if one does, hopefully they don't end up like Kushi. Best case scenario: Busboys & Poets, maybe a Spike M. joint too. EDIT: There will be a art-housey type of theater in NoMa soon, and they will dump $10 billion into renovating Union Station here in the coming years, and the restaurant scene should be worth checking out then, but I view that more of Union Station thing than NoMa.
  10. DaRiv18
    Los Angeles. Y'know, I am just trying to accommodate a friend. I am always confused by requests by LA people about dining in the DC area, and I hate responding to it.
  11. DaRiv18
    I think so, they are catching cabs from the airport and I don't think my friend has a car.
  12. DaRiv18
    An LA friend of my DC friend is arriving, and wants to try "soul food" in DC. Any suggestions? I was going to suggest DCity Smokehouse but is that even in the genre?
  13. DaRiv18
    I got this 12 quart All-Clad multicooker 10 years ago, and it is the most used cookware in our kitchen. Pasta, steaming dumplings on two levels, soups, etc.
  14. DaRiv18
    I have to defend the spaghetti dish. We were a table of 4, and ordered the entire menu. The dishes leading up to the spaghetti were very assertive, especially the pork and lychee salad immediately before, so for me the creamy spaghetti was a nice relief from several busier earlier courses. Saucing was outstanding and I thought the flavors were good. I agree that I would perhaps not order it if we were just a two-top and were ordering half the menu, depending on the other courses chosen. But if you look at the meal as a whole, then I feel this dish definitely was an needed space or counterpoint to some of the other more dramatic elements.
  15. DaRiv18
    . . . then you might be so far back in line that you aren't guaranteed seating that night. I showed up 20 minutes before they opened and missed out that night.
  16. DaRiv18
    About a month ago, their stand in Union Market was removed. No more display cases there either, UM has installed some much needed seating in that spot.
  17. DaRiv18
    I spent this past Christmas in Venice. I really dug Anice Stellato, the frittura mista excellent. It is in a casual bistro atmosphere, but it was all excellent and my favorite of our 2 week stay in Italy. And our family enjoyed Gam Gam in the jewish ghetto, above average food at a reasonable price.
  18. DaRiv18
    I thought this past Saturday would be "relatively easy" to get a table, since Restaurant Week is all about addressing diminished demand, and many would opt for Restaurant Week deals instead of places like RL. I was wrong: 4:40, I was about 100th in line.
  19. DaRiv18
    I think Union Station actually has the best chains in the biz. Pret a Manager, Chipolte, Shophouse, Roti. Would rather the Chop't be a sweetgreen. Plus, I get a certain pleasure of eating Shake Shack under the golden arches of Union Station's main hall.
  20. DaRiv18
    Amy is behind the stick here on Tuesdays and Thursdays, she comes from the Passenger and Jack Rose, among other places. So cocktails and drinks are definitely in good hands when she is there.
  21. DaRiv18
    I believe Adam Bernbach, when he was doing some sessions on cocktail variations (daiquiris 4 ways, old-fashioned 4 ways, and manhattans 4 ways), told me that he didn't even bother doing sessions on martini variations. He said martinis are like cigarettes: everyone is loyal to their own brand and want them exactly the way they want them. edit: My signature isn't showing for some reason, but it reads ""All martinis taste good but do not promote fine distinctions in taste or other areas of intellectual discrimination." Raymond Sokolov, How to Cook"
  22. DaRiv18
    Took the fam here last night, enjoyed a braised pork belly app, fancy mac and cheese with pork belly bits for the kids, and moules and frites for my wife and I. We agreed that these smaller mussels were tastier than what we recalled (it's been a couple years since we visited, our bad) and the broth has improved too from our recollection. I enjoyed a couple peach sour beers, that program is still excellent. I don't recall seeing many salad or vegetable sides on the menu, do they do that?
  23. DaRiv18
    The H Street NE location closed in August, there are For Lease signs hanging in the windows now. Last I heard it was moving near the Howard Theater but not sure where that is. A significant loss for H Street NE.
  24. DaRiv18
    Indigo is another NoMa spot, it is about as unpretentious as they come.
  25. DaRiv18
    I've seen larger fish prepped to loins, but definitely bigger than decks of cards. I too am not a fan of pre-sliced nigiri, especially when also used for sashimi orders. Nigiri and sashimi presentations should be different.
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