DaRiv18

The above review did come on a Saturday night (although we got there just as they opened, and the place never got more than 1/3rd occupied). Although I don't accept pre-sliced sushi, I acknowledge the volume crowds who want their meals in a decent time-frame. And, as a cocktail enthusiast, I have begrudgingly accepted the practice of pre-juicing the citrus at most bars in order to meet volume demand. So, after last night at the Columbia Room and a bit hungry from all of the vermouths we had been exploring, I walked over to Kushi to give them a fair shake. After all, I don't normally go boozing on the weekends (unless I'm with my wife at Central for dinner), and generally target Monday thru Wednesday nights for my outings, sitting at the bar on these slower nights. Under those favorable conditions I've evaluated most of my dining and cocktail spots. And that's the impetus for my return visit: I would be an out-and-out hypocrite if I judged these guys on different standards. A hypocrite whose words could not be trusted. A hypocrite whose name would conjure ridicule. Yes, I'd be a hypocrite whose mouth should be regarded lower than those unflossed. With that in mind, I sat at the sushi bar. It was not that busy at 9:30 when I ordered: tuna ($6), flounder ($5), fluke fin($6), and yellowtail ($7). Eggplant ($3) and pork belly ($4.50, with sauce) from the grill, and opted for a Echigo stout ($9). The food was much better this time around, to Kushi's credit. The rice had a better texture to it this time. The nigiri was cut generously, and everything was extremely fresh. I particularly liked the fluke fin, in my mind the hanger steak of sushi. Yet the execution was still uneven; fresh wasabi was applied to my flounder with a heavy finger, and I choked on the surprise assault. The pork belly was also much better this time. They had grilled it enough where it was actually served hot, and it had carmelized nicely. I was not so impressed with the eggplant as much, as the skin had been grilled to the point that it tasted like resin. But the flesh was very nice, almost like a grilled banana. At this point, I felt more confident about the ingredients being used, their skill, and the overall food safety awareness of the crew. (Hate to put it that way, but the ama ebi really was that awful last time). Time to take it to the next level, and to invite the sushi chef's artistry. I ordered the chirashi ($20), hoping for beauty. With this dish, sushi chefs have an unfair advantage over other chefs. There's just so many fresh, vibrant colors that they can play with, on one single plate. Soon, my order arrived. And that's where the festive carnival music stopped. Chirashi translates to "scattered sushi", and that's how the presentation struck me. Sure, the fish was still very fresh. But the variety was skimpy (I counted about 7), whereas I've experienced upwards of 20 different flavors before. Chirashi is one that begs the sushi chef to express his personal soul; instead, I felt that this chirashi was designed by the head chef, and that either 1) each sushi chef had no discretion to alter the presentation, or 2) my particular sushi chef really didn't care to riff on a classic. The cuts looked more like nigiri than for chirashi, the arrangment wasn't particularly interesting . . . keep in mind, it was delicious, just not visually inspiring. Perhaps it's not fair for me to call out the sushi chef like this, but those are my expectations when I do sushi, and Kushi is certainly priced similarly to the excellent sushi bars I know. So: Kushi performed much better in my second visit. I do have a bias to great sushi, and I'm used to going to places where there is a head sushi chef (oftentimes the owner) that can really wow your socks off. This isn't that sort of place, and I didn't see a head sushi chef that night (that bar seems pretty egalitarian). It was suggested to me that Kushi is no more interesting than Asia 9. I don't think I would go that far. The bottom line, I'd follow Rock's ordering strategy above, and also catch them on a slower night for sushi bar stuff. Your mileage may vary.

Now that was a nice cocktail. I'm a sucker for fizzes, too. Thanks for sharing.

Let's be fair here, lest those who haven't been get the wrong idea. Yes, Central does comfort food, those entrees are in the $15-25 range, plus a couple of steaks in the $30s. But, they also do more "refined" entrees, generally in the $25-35 range. I can have my meatloaf, while you can do the rabbit or beef cheeks. (Now, if we're bringing a vegan [or even a vegetarian] along, they will be SOL). That's been their approach since opening, so to say it's turning into Waffle House is misguided.

Rocks presents Kushi pretty fairly actually. While I don't think it's ordinarily fair to bash a restaurant in its first week, they do have some system flaws that I assume will continue. Most notably, the sushi bar is not acceptable to my standards. We did order the Chef's Choice ($40, 12 sushi) and were sorry we did so. Sure, the fatty tuna was nice and luscious, and the uni tasty. Liked the fresh wasabi. The rice is pedestrian. The ama ebi, slimey and sour. As to the system flaws: we had dined at a table, and I walked by the sushi bar on the way out. Many of their sushi had been pre-sliced, which is not acceptable. That practice increases the surface area of the fish, which is why my tuna, salmon, and flounder were all somewhat dried out. Rocks, was your sashimi actually sliced sashimi-style? I wouldn't be surprised if these pre-cut fish doubled for their sushi and sashimi. We will try Sushi Taro next for our fish fix. I might as well round out my experience: Buta Bara pork belly, one salt, one with sauce ($4.50 each): ho hum, neither version had any sort of carmelization. I prefer Mazu's grill, at 11th and New York. Gindara (miso cod, $11): not bad Oshinko ($3.50), Tako Sumiso ($7), Gomaae green bean ($4) Hita Nest Red Rice Ale ($8) tasty Agree with Rocks, this is a fun place for larger groups. I hear they will have a late-night menu down the road, and will be open until 3am. I will return to give the grill another chance, but the sushi bar was bitterly disappointing.

We went last night. While the offerings and categories of that menu you've linked, TedE, are the same, the prices in the actual restaurant are uniformly higher. Also, sushi orders include 2 pieces, and the prices for the order are more than double than your linked menu. Expect for your food to arrive blazingly quickly. If we had to do it all over again, I would have just ordered no more than 2 or 3 things at a time.

My go-to meatloaf recipe is MR's version in his "Home Cooking with a French Accent", with lentils in it.

Not that this matters too much, but our party was actually my family (me, wife and daughter) and my best friend's parents (mom and dad). I said "she" instead of "my best friend's mom" (which I admit was very confusing) as the one who will only eat well-done. Thanks Marshall! I suggested this to my best friend's mom, but she ended up going for the salmon special While the most truthful answer would be in the "because it's all about ME" genre, I will instead point out that every time they come into town, we end up going to some insipid chain restaurant and spending pretty much the same money as we would at Ray's! BTW, my best friend's dad LOVED his hanger steak, as did my wife and myself (as usual). While best friend's mom may not recognize beef quality (I'll play along with you on this stipulation), she certainly recognizes value, and we all had a really good time. Pat is right, I did make reservations, there wasn't too much time to change course, AND I was deadset against changing course for mediocre asian-fusion whatever. Sidenote, I was railroaded into getting the $5 Argentine malbec by said best friend mom, and ended up feeling that she had done me a huge favor.

I'm taking my best friend's parents to RTS tonight. I figured it was a "safe" choice and they definitely like steak, but I now recall that 1) she likes her steaks medium well - well done, and 2) RTS's menu says there are certain cuts they won't cook to those temps. Anyone know offhand which steaks are available for her? I want to manage her expectations before we get there. I know this isn't a hard-core foodie question but thanks for helping me play host.

Yes, that was my main concern. I take it that Bailey's can also be left out? It is 17%. Thanks for your answer lperry!

This has been addressed in the Castries thread, but . . . does this peanut-butter cream liqueur really need no refrigeration? It says it should be refrigerated on the bottle. If something goes bad in 2 years unrefrigerated (as creator in the Castries thread says), well, that makes me wonder. Thought someone with a better science background than me might ease my mind.

Well, this Monday IS the day after Valentine's Day. One person's holiday is another person's 4th consecutive shift. I agree with the $25, ie 7+ 9+9 This is as far as I got on that point, before I immediately began considering whether "your Momma" or "my dick" best finished that sentence.

Chantal once made a Chartreuse Swizzle for me that I thought was outstanding. It packs a punch, so that might help your fundraising efforts! I agree that Gina's Sun and Sand is very brunch-friendly. However, a root-beer rimmed glass might be logistically difficult for your brunch. You should consider hiring one of the bartenders in DC's Guild to service your event. They can make your drinks and offer a cool, appropriate signature recipe. I'm sure there's someone available.

And I think Dale DeGroff says it's a Catskill Mountains favorite as well.

Eh, I'm the one being ornery, no need for you to apologize. Maybe I was too dismissive of the mystique that is the Buffalo wing, always seemed to be just a waste of napkins to me. Never really had true Buffalo wings before, so I'll shut up and try them. Thanks for the recipe suggestions, I'll buy some margarine tonight . . .

Sorry, got confused as to what question I should pay attention to here!

What are you trying to make? I can't imagine that DeKuyper is better than anything that would take 30 minutes for you to make with fresh blueberries and other locally available ingredients.

I was attempting to answer within the parameters of the original question. I agree that MfC is in no way similar to Buffalo wings, except that they are made with similar Buffalo wings chicken and are similarly a spicy dish, if ordered so. Oh yeah, all that too.

The Green Turtle has decent wings. Mad for Chicken is similar to buffalo wings.

The more I digest this, the more I agree with lggl's post. Sure, we don't know the diner's identity, but not only did Sietsma choose that particular comment (out of hundreds, probably) to answer, but he co-signs the complaint with this gem: And to those of you who think it may have been a hoax, well, Sietsema has something to tell ya: And I'm sure the chatter is still having a good time, especially if they're following this thread. Without knowing him personally, I can see why Peter Smith was put in a tough position. Sure, he fired the waitresses the next day after the chat, but it looks like he did alot more due diligence than Sietsema did here. I don't hear any calls to boycott Sietsema's chats, but that would be my first choice if I were upset about this episode. After all, I understand Smith's wife is a lawyer, who probably knows someone who provided similar advice as this: Three cheers for Restaurant Week.

The chatter strongly insinuates that the waitress was already drunk before sipping the drink. It's a more serious charge than what you're focusing on.

I'm getting PMs from those who are upset with me. I'd be happy to buy them a drink at Gina's bar to smooth it over. I'm sorry if I offended your sensibilities, but you're talking about impacting people's livelihoods here.

I'm more apt to argue with the minuscule proportions you allude to in your martini than with the rest of your post. I will say that I don't think the owner should "never be responsible" for this action. I just think confronting the owner with your displeasure is one way to 1) express your opinion in an appropriate manner and 2) not affect the other employee's livelihood. This entire episode is just crazy. Is there any fact that is undisputed? So now the owner mistreats his employees? Sounds like this was an isolated incident, that started out as legitimately addressing an alleged massive service breakdown. Now, there is a chance that I won't go back to PS7s based on this fallout . . . if the few employees that I do know there walk away. In the meantime, who knows what the hell happened.

Those who will never visit PS7's again based on the owner's willingness to fire multiple suspects are hypocrites. When you don't visit a restaurant, you take money out of not only the owner's pockets, but also out of the pockets of the waitstaff that you claim you support. You are effectively firing the waitstaff and bartenders, too. So that's a rock I wouldn't throw, unless you plan to stand outside PS7s and hand $20s to the servers as they come and go.

Found out that 2 Amy's prohibits infants in the upstairs dining room, FWIW.

We tend to eat later, to minimize annoying a larger group of intolerant dining neighbors. If our child cries, we take her for a walk outside. Other classes of annoying diners (cell-phone talkers, those who don't answer their cell phone rings, those being intentionally socially unacceptable, and loud drunks) rarely remove themselves.