DaRiv18

Meanwhile, here's a fun recipe to try out -- Angostura shortage be damned.

First Go Round Fizz

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.

Looks like this place is very close to opening. One preview is up, and the menu is available.

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.

I know they will butterfly the fillet and cook it WD.

Thanks Marshall! I suggested this to my best friend's mom, but she ended up going for the salmon special

Why would you take someone to Ray's who wants their meat cooked until grey?

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.

Are you concerned about the dairy component going off from bacterial growth?

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

4. Server was experienced, with intimate knowledge of

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.

My relatives in West Virginia drink that, too.

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

Oh no, my willingness to compromise has created board tension!

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!

Does anyone know where I can buy blueberry flavoring for a drink? DeKuyper makes a blueberry flavor, so I will hit a couple of VA liquor stores tonight, but I was wondering if anyone has a go-to for flavorings/extracts of the fruity variety. Monin makes a syrup, are those sold at stores? I have a jug of Wegmans blueberry juice, but I don't know if it will taste good and I thought I should explore my options. I need to buy local, need the drink for this Friday night.

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.

While finding a really spot-on Buffalo style wing would be super, I am open to alternate sauces but the wing itself needs to stand up on it's own.

Mad for Chicken is similar to buffalo wings.

Nothing against MfC, but they are in no way similar to Buffalo wings.

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.

Keep in mind anything meant to "improve" the wings automatically disqualifies them -- fancy sauces, finishing them on the grill, whatever. We're looking for sheer deep-fried, belly-burning goodness. . . We want to feel bad about ourselves in the morning.

Oh yeah, all that too.

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

I agree that it was a harsh reaction and completely over the top given the source. However, I thought Sietsema should have taken more responsibility for posting it in the first place. Reading both the chats and the tweets made me feel like I was watching a school girl start a rumor and then feign disbelief with her buddies in the lunch room when it hit the fan.

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:

Tom Sietsema: Wow. She drank from your companion's GLASS, at the TABLE? That's just wrong. Good thing you didn't complain about anything on your PLATE, huh?

And to those of you who think it may have been a hoax, well, Sietsema has something to tell ya:

Did it really happen? Right now, I'm not certain. *Could* it have happened? Well, I've witnessed similar incidents elsewhere before, and last week's post had an air of reality: the chatter wasn't hateful, for instance, and had a sense of humor about what he or she said they saw. "We still had a good time," the chatter concluded.

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:

the chef/owner of PS 7's . . is well within his rights to terminate the group based on a customer complaint, particularly one that would have a much broader (negative) impact on his business. He would have opened himself up to more risk had he done something like try and guess which waitress fit the general description described by the patron and only dismissed one.

Three cheers for Restaurant Week.

Dumb question here, but what was so bad about sipping the drink at the table?

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.

Or vermouth in the gin.

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?

If I know that an establishment mistreats its employees, I will choose to spend my money elsewhere. This is in no way hypocrisy . . . If you can't grasp this concept, there's nothing I can do to help.

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.

More power to all of you folks with small children and babies.....I prefer to eat later, generally, anyway, so I end up avoiding dining at the same time most parents with kids/small children do as a matter of course. Not saying some/most/all kids are ill-behaved or noisy or annoying, just there's that chance. That chance, for me, that can ruin a dining experience.

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.

We have taken our 6 month year old out to Central, Bibiana and RTS. Each time we enjoyed ourselves as if it were a "regular" dinner. At Central, our daughter was quite the attraction, many people stopped by our lounge table to pinch her cheeks! We also sat in the lounge area at Bibiana.

For whatever reason, I feel that the dimmer the lights at a restaurant are, the less comfortable I feel having my infant there.