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DaRiv18

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Everything posted by DaRiv18

  1. The Sun and Sand: Rootbeer crust, fresh orange, Brugal, and vanilla. Sounds like a play on the Blood and Sand (suddenly the most popular classic cocktail on local menus nowadays) which also uses orange juice but is an equal parts cocktail. I think they only used a couple drops of vanilla; that and the rootbeer-sugared crust make for compelling aromatics. If I had to guess, I'd say the recipe is 1.5 oz Brugal rum, 1.5 oz orange juice, and the vanilla. It's definitely not sickeningly sweet. In fact, I find the regular Blood and Sand to be a bit sweeter, without the sugared rim. I'm sure if you requested just a half-crusted glass to cut back on the sugar, that they would do it.
  2. Music to my ears! If you can't find any in your regular haunts, that's ok. PM me when you're free to go out some weekday night and we can grab a drink somewhere. I'd like to hear your take on NYC's scene.
  3. I will only send it back if I feel the dish/drink is not what the Chef intended the dish/drink to be. Of course, that is a judgment call often, but still a narrow one. I won't send food back if I just didn't like it (assuming there is no issues with freshness). It's only fair to pay for your life's explorations, and I value the process of defining my own personal tastes. What I eat and what I choose to eat is a large part of who I am. Discovering my limits of culinary preferences always exhilarates me. And I love discovering the limits of others. For example, when I talk food with a vegan, both sides usually bring about a very informed and lively perspective. Oftentimes, vegans have exceptions to the rule (one may eat honey, eg) and certainly most are very sensitive to the production of foodstuff. However, I once worked with a certain vegan. I looked forward to talking to her, because how many people do you really identify with in the office? Imagine my horror when the opening small-talk revealed that veganism was just the first constraint on her diet. The second was that she wouldn't eat most vegetables! The subsequent months bore this out: every lunch, she would microwave a Amy's bean and rice burrito and be chomp away, perfectly happy. No alcohol, no caffeine. The kicker: she insisted that she loved food! I finally told her one day that I didn't consider her a vegan -- it was just her handy label to hide the fact that she did not like food. Yes, I am awful and judgmental, and I will probably be deep-fried in Hell for calling out her core deficiency. She said she'd rather never hear from me again, and I agreed, with the condition that she would chew with less projection in our office. I'm reasonable.
  4. Zora is right; if you are beginning to stock your bar, you should start there. For example, Campari is often on sale for $18. You can check their weekly specials on the website, I see Plymouth is $18 right now. They will ship their stock to whatever location you want to pick up, as long as it is in their system somewhere. Sounds like you're a good candidate to try Pikeville's Supreme, the last of the Maryland-style ryes ($9). But Joe at Ace Beverages will put the soul into your home bar. Joe helped me track down several bottle of Marie Brizard's line recently, which are hard to obtain right now. (BTW, I will make it worth your while if you can bring down a bottle of Apry from NYC!) It's the only place I've seen for Laird's Apple Brandy BIB ($19ish). Sure, there are other places to find forgotten bottles on the bottom shelf or clearance bin, and both Schneider's and Bell's carry CAF (for starters). But Joe is the only retailer that I ever see out at these cocktail joints consistently, and he really enjoys what he does. A tremendous resource to the District's cocktail scene.
  5. Last night stopped by and tried a crusta style cocktail with a rootbeer sugared rim. Just terrific! The name escapes me, but easily found on the menu.
  6. This post continues my observations of POV's resources. I still offer no perspective on the cocktailing experience, but will *finally* do that in a later post. Their setup is distinctive enough to chat about. POV Setup I judge a sushi bar to a large degree simply by looking at its case. Is fish stored as whole as possible, maximizing its freshness by minimizing its surface area? Or do the chefs pre-cut for volume nigiri orders, creating a prior restraint on any future sashimi expressions? Do the chefs avoid placing salmon skin in direct contact with any flesh, thereby discoloring its meat? Do they use decorations of citrus, fresh parsley, or other herbs to deodorize the case? Are the layers of the tamago thin and neatly stacked (as to create a dense omelette), or are any burnt, wrinkled, or bubbly? POV's mise-en-place invites a similar scrutiny: its core ingredients rest on crushed ice atop the sushi bar. Lemons & limes & oranges, fresh eggs, and mint bunches? Of course. Bottles of Dolin vermouths and select specialty liqueurs? Check. Character actors for the menu, including fresh pineapple, grapefruit, ginger, and tomatoes? Ouch, they remain offstage, unrecognized, to the detriment of the display. BUT -- what I see is fresh produce and new-to-market spirits. Looks promising. Stop the show! Playing diva to this ensemble is a pair of 25-pound blocks of ice. These oversized beauties stand center stage, side by side, suggesting a glistening bosom. Here is the soul of the bar, artesian ice, offered nowhere else in the city. This specialty is often created similarly to tamago, ie layer by layer, using degassed water to ensure clarity. This is POV's claim to fame, ice in five varieties. That doesn't included shaved ice, which I predict will arrive in the long-term. Check out this video for an exhaustive walk-thru of their ice program. The first kind, the ice spear, is made exactly as we make it at home, molded in Tovolo trays with ordinary filtered water. Two others (cubed and crushed) come from the renowned Kold-Draft machine, the gold standard for any serious cocktail joint. The bartenders sculpt the remaining two types directly from the block ice. My favorite is the cracked ice. The bartenders chop and chip these chunks until one jagged piece is shaped snugly for your rocks glass. Sipping an Appleton 21 over this mini-glacier makes you feel as if you have arrived in life, indeed. But the final ice, the sphere, is certain to impress your friends. Unfortunately, in recent weeks, management has initiated the batching of these ice spheres in the kitchen to handle the volume crowds. And I've never seen (or heard) chipped ice used for shaking, either, as advertised. Kold-Draft does the heavy lifting in that area. Worse, not all spheres are made with the clear block ice. Some are products of filtered tap water, frozen without layers. This ice doesn't freeze fast enough before absorbing (and dissolving) air, culminating in a mere mass of translucency. So yes, I have gotten some hazy spheres before. You'll likely get a clear sphere if you ask your bartender with polite discretion, but still, for shame that it isn't standard issue! Refrigerated Spirits POV refrigerates most of its spirits (and its entire speed bar, from what I can tell). Since the bartenders work with chilled spirits, super-cold ice, and pre-chilled glassware, there is precious little water dilution that would result in the ubiquitous swollen cocktail. Their coupe glasses measure a mere 4.5 ounces, but these may be the stiffest drinks in town (not necessarily a virtue). Order Vera's Swizzle over crushed ice; even after 15 minutes, the ice has hardly melted, leaving the flavor profile intact. Food Menu The food is nice. Watermelon and goat cheese salad ($10), or Maryland crab salad over heirloom tomatoes ($14) are tasty light choices. The tilefish tempura ($12) is served with a chili sauce, and shares well. BLT with avocado ($10) is delicious; the petite filet ($19) is ordinary. I don't care for the tuna burger ($16), but those who eat slices of gari simultaneously with their maguro might. Final Thoughts While many authorities maintain that water dilution is best when working with room temperature spirits, POV represents a newer school of thought: working with colder materials increases the bartender's control of water dilution. Seeing this new school in action here in Washington DC is really exciting! I'm a bit tired after getting all geeked out here, so I'll post my experience another day. (Bottom line: perfectly fine drinks, but I guess this place really is only 3 months old after all. But there's much promise.) Can't wait to hear about yours!
  7. I've imbibed at the W Hotel several times now, so I'll lay out the layout. . . I'll post later on the menu/off-menu experiences I've had. But this place is a complicated venue to navigate. Lobby Bar The lobby is a perfectly fine place to relax. The bar itself has about 10 stools, and always has a spectacular floral arrangement reaching 14 feet upwards. Table service is comfortable and leisurely. Choose from an assortment of games (chess, checkers, etc.) to pass the time as you sip cocktails and/or munch on snacks. Pick a table near the windows, and away from the hallway, to avoid the long lines to the elevator that can hover over you. I.E. If you're headed to the rooftop, there will be AT LEAST one line to the elevator here in the lobby. Only 7 may fit into the elevator (and even then the hopper has asked folks to step off if the weight limit has been reached), so inevitably you'll wait to get upstairs. Rooftop Bars Once on the rooftop, you instantly understand why all of those lines downstairs are necessary. Few views (if any) in DC surpass those from the W's rooftop, and the upstairs would be a complete zoo if there wasn't some sort of crowd control. As it is, I have yet to feel claustrophobic upstairs. The tables are spaced nicely (remember the horrific seating of the Hotel Washington?). The sun sets just over the White House, and I don't tire of watching Washington's skyline at night. This rooftop is the W's timeless competitive advantage over any other club or restaurant in the city. There are two rooftop bars: a small one (no seating) at the corner of the building, and a shotgun one that seats about 10 at the other end. As you stand in the rooftop corner, the Washington Monument dares you to reach out and touch it. The shotgun bar runs parallel to the Treasury Building, and may be the most crowded area in the W Hotel. POV Lounge Now we're cooking with gas. This indoor lounge on the rooftop is just gaudy sick. Floor to ceiling windows allow for a panoramic view of the south, hard to believe that the Hotel Washington had it bricked up for years before. Most of the tables are reservation only. On the weekends a live jazz band adds to the ambiance. The room's centerpiece is the "sushi bar", styled after those of high-end Japanese restaurants. Here the bartenders shake, stir and muddle behind the elevated bar in the dim light. Seating consists of 12 10 zebra-striped armchairs, at a bar that doubles as a lamp (a very bright one) by nightfall. It's a bit awkward to have the bartenders tower over you, albeit from several feet back, but they reward your curious interest with exploratory suggestions. When sitting so low, it is downright impossible to see all the bottles behind this bar, and the menu tells precious little of this shop's range of inventory. Still, there are PLENTY of cool toys here, including a copper ice sphere mold (one of 7 kinds of ice). If the W Hotel is a sea of people-watching, power-mingling, vodka-drinking, weekend-clubbing folly, the sushi bar is an island of cocktail-crafting giddiness. Lines and Access Making a reservation is definitely the safest way to go. I swung by last Sunday at 3:30pm only to be told that rooftop access was closed to walk-ins. During the weekdays, I get upstairs solo no problem. On Friday and Saturday nights, lines form outside for those without reservations ("TWRs"). Once inside the lobby, there is another line for TWRs to get to the rooftop. Finally, there is a line for the one rooftop elevator that most everyone must suffer. An annoying production, but IMO necessary, as observed above. Atmosphere Although there is decent food, a restaurant it is not. Definitely a bar. More than that, it's one of those "THE place to be" bars. The clientele is an odd mix of: tourists, politicians, celebrities, professionals, and business meetings. Didn't see too many interns or cocktail enthusiasts. It's generally an older crowd that is less interested in innovation, and more apt to opt for wine or beer (only available bottled). It's generally a crowd who has never heard of Sasha Petraske. On the surface, a place that purports to cater to the sophisticated, but mainly attracts the pretentious (Yours Truly included in his weaker moments). But, the staff is friendly enough to chat with me if I can't get a conversation going with a random customer. Closing Thoughts I'm not a big fan of the speakeasy model, nor any model that requires a complicated access protocol. I don't do reservations, Open Table, or anything past calling to make sure a restaurant is open that day, or that late. That said, there is a payoff at POV if you can bear jumping thru its hoops. I'll save my thoughts of the menu for a later time (bottom line: I like the enthusiasm and often the execution), but thought I'd kick off this thread.
  8. Although I can do this at home somewhat, I have never had a professionally prepared 3 egg french omelette. The kind that is creamy in the inside, not dry. I don't really need any fillings, just something to compare to make sure I'm getting the texture right. Not really looking for a neighborhood western omelette place (have enjoyed lots of those already), just a beautiful classic omelette. Many thanks for your suggestions.
  9. The suspects listed above capture most of it, I would also add Bibiana (Italian restaurant/wine bar) which just opened. Tom makes a mean watermelon shrub. He's there except on Mondays. If you're taking the Bolt Bus from NYC, Bibiana and PS7s are the nearest restaurants. Tom is more trained in the classics, Gina's recipes are fun, tasty, and very approachable. Since you are focusing on variable pricing for a build-you-own Manhattan, I would think that might happen at Bourbon (Adams Morgan) or Central. Maybe Tabard Inn, but more probably Room 11 (although calling it a cocktail lounge is stretching it). Seriously doubt at PX. Mondays, I would hit Proof. Wednesdays or Thursdays, I would hit Tabard Inn. Central, PX, Gibson, Room 11, Bourbon Steak, the W Hotel: it really doesn't matter what day you go, there is always a consistent approach to cocktails, IMO. If you want to see a beautiful selection of brandies (including piscos and grappas), try SOVA (although not sure what their level of bartending is now). Finally, Founding Farmers reportedly has a strong bar program, although the food has been disparaged soundly.
  10. What was the Bastille Day menu? Unfortunately, I had to miss this day but we've always loved their menu. Two years ago it was a killer Coq au Vin. Last year they did a shrimp entree (etouffee?) which was wonderful. Next year for sure!!!
  11. Thanks Grover. We had a pretty open mind ordering it, and thought it would be really really good. I think we were presented with about 25-30 oz of pre-cooked eatable beef. It wasn't marinated. Nothing really special about it though, but certainly not offensive. Fresh beef cooked at our table by the waitress. It is definitely just pieces of steak. Probably the safest choice on the menu for Americans who are dragged to the restaurant by their friends.
  12. We went on Saturday night and ordered this. The assorted BBQ is $60 as on the menu says its for 2 people. It was a good piece of meat, I wouldn't say it was the most exciting dish though. The ribs weren't marinated for us . . . the ribeye and filet were very good. We started with the seafood pancake. I liked the crispy texture, but agree that there is very little seafood. $15. One 22 oz Sapporo: $10. My impression is that there are better deals around, but it is a very comfortable and clean environment. Great ventilation, you won't smell like your meal once you leave.
  13. We went there for the first time last night. I noticed that they had 3 soft shell crabs on the menu, so I asked the waiter which was his fave. Turns out there was a 4th dish that he recommended: SSC in a tamarind sauce. Usually I find Asian chefs use a heavy hand with tamarind, but I threw caution to the wind and ordered them. Very nice, the sauce was honeyed and just a touch of black liquorice.
  14. Last night we sat at the bar. Started with the deviled eggs and the grilled calamari. Both nice, both in the same pesto-ish sauce. Will revisit the calamari. For dinner, the arctic char and the grilled trout. Very nice entrees at $16-17. Also shared a side of fried green tomatoes - yummy! I will say that despite getting 2 apps and 2 entrees and a side, we were still fairly hungry. Now the prices are right and the portions are such that I should aspire to be content with them, but this is almost a tapas joint. Nothing wrong with that, but I had different expectations for comfort food. The chicken pot pie that I saw coming out looked very substantial, though. The bar offers something I haven't seen before: $29 punchbowls! There were 3 recipes that I recall, and I believe I tried at least one of them at HTM (Government Punch or somesuch?). I would definitely like to return with 2 other drinkers next time and give it a go, or perhaps just see if anyone else at the bar is willing to chip in. Or at least pretend to be in my party as I drink the entire vessel myself . . . As it were, I settled for a Jupiter Cocktail in a very nice coupe glass, and enjoyed myself. Service was friendly and attentive. I don't think it's second nature for last night's staff to make these classic cocktails, but what I saw encouraged me that they would get up to speed very very soon. If I were to change something: my wife and I were not totally comfortable in the bar chairs. The bar itself is beautiful and custom-made, but the chairs are too high -- our thighs have no room underneath the bar. The chairs actually pair well with the bar tables behind us, which are taller than the bar.
  15. I find the cracker, with all the cheese on it and so buttery, to be at least as rich as the tartare itself. No problems eating the tartare alone for me, although I always get the app portion. Someone next to me at the bar once had the rabbit tartare there, that looked scrumptious. Did try the buffalo tartare at Granville Moore's. Tasty, but the presentation could use major improvement.
  16. SOVA is a great spot for cocktails if you are looking for a chill night out. Derek has designed a very diverse menu in keeping with the grape theme. The lists runs from the crowd-friendly Red Lion (G'Vine Gin, Grand Marnier, Orange Juice, Lemon Juice, kinda like a lemondrop) to the serious Coffee Cocktail (Ramos Pinto Ruby Port, St. Remy XO Brandy, Sugar, and a raw egg). Jamie shakes harder than any other craft bartender I've seen in DC, creating the silkiest of foamy textures. Not unlike a properly made microfroth on a latte. He's very knowledgeable about his product, features daily specials of his own (the Campfire Margarita is nice, featuring mezcal and ginger liqueur), and is a good guy to chat up. Check it out. I've definitely learned alot about grappa and pisco here, which I understand aren't readily available elsewhere in the District.
  17. I too was there Saturday night. As usual, it was excellent. Soft shell crab is in a ratatouille sauce that is superb. I tried the rabbit for the first time -- won't be the last. Served with spatzle and carrots. I got to meet Chef after the meal and I asked him what his favorite vegetable on the menu is. He said: the carrots! We love Central and the service and food quality is always consistent. A great value. I will say that I would probably not take any of my vegetarian friends there, not much for them besides the house salad. But I have never been disappointed there.
  18. I live in that neighborhood. It's the perfect place for a speakeasy, there's already a viable nightclub ("Muse") on the block. Also, the Buddha Bar is coming to 5th and Mass Ave, so that is another destination bar in the area. There are very involved residents on that block though, so some Rules and Regulations, similar to what Milk & Honey in New York requires might be in order to preserve the peace, order, and quiet. Otherwise, I don't think it will do well as, say, a jumbo slice operation.
  19. Tried the falafel. Agree it's not their best showing. IMO the lamb and beef is much much better. Now must try the chicken! There is some inconsistency as to which bread they use. Sometimes it is the pita, others it is the ciabatta. The pita is much better.
  20. I've eaten here 3 times now. Nothing revelational, but very very decent sandwiches at $6 a pop. Lamb and beef, lamb & beef & feta, or chicken doner. Haven't tried the falafel yet. Hopefully it does well.
  21. Lily and I went last night, had the live shrimp, sno peas, dry scallop fried rice, and the sweet and sour pork chops. Live shrimp (1/2 pound $16) were great. Very tender. I ate the shell and all, maybe will try the head next time :-). Fried rice ($13) was also very good. As were the snow peas ($16). Lily was disappointed with this dish ($14). She claims this is supposed to be a fairly complicated dish in which the sauce is pretty thick and sticks onto the chops. Instead, our dish was swimming in the sauce. Tender? Yes. Crunchy? Decidedly no. Utterly delicious? I thought it was fine, but Lily has had better, IHO. I should note that the waitress had recommended to us the salted pork chops instead. We had our heart set on sweet and sour instead. Maybe there was a different cook there last night. But, we would certainly go back. I've been there several times, I just always ordered off the American menu and got decent food. These seafood dishes were really good!
  22. Interesting, it looks like they are comparable to the Marie Brizard standard of quality?
  23. Has anyone had the Uni Shooter at Sushi-Ko? I am reading Gary and Mardee Regan's "New Classic Cocktails" and the only DC based cocktail is this off-the-menu item.
  24. Hiya, Dave here. I live in the District and am really excited by all of the great restaurants in the area. In the past, I have really enjoyed getting to know sushi, espressos, and wine. In the past year, I've been really interested in cocktails. DC is an exciting place for cocktails, I have been impressed by the bartenders in the area. My fiance and I also really enjoy seafood and dim sum, and find ourselves driving out of the District to Virginia alot for outstanding Vietnamese and Korean food in Falls Church/Annandale. We do eat out in the District, but find the service to be uneven amongst the same tiered restaurants -- so we end up sticking with our favorites (2 Amy's, Rasika, Granville Moore's and Central) rather than search out new expensive restaurants. I also love film and sports and my two cats. Thanks for your time.
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