Jump to content

brian

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    328

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    6

 Content Type 

Everything posted by brian

  1. brian
    I'm willing to listen to anyone ready to argue that the new office building going up on that site is an aesthetic or artistic improvement on Pei's church
  2. brian
    Thomas Foolery
  3. brian
    I think the reality of what's happening is much more interesting than the classic upscaling and westernization of dishes. In many ways, the new wave of southeast asian restaurants with stonger flavors in urban markets - Pok Pok, Pig & Khao, little serow, Night + Market, etc. - have opened new doors for operators who otherwise might have opened more americanized restaurants. Soi 38 wouldn't serve the food it does if little serow hadn't demonstrated a market demand for it. And there certainly is an hour wait for dinner at Thip Khao, and my guess is that it's mostly people who had been trekking out to Bangkok Golden a couple times a year but will be at Thip Khao monthly. As far as "upgrading" a humble cuisine "for the masses", again it's more complicated. There's whole lobster lobster pad thai on the menu at Mango Tree, a Bangkok-based chain, but no foie gras bla rah at little serow. I can take my mom to dinner at Thai Taste by Kob or Bangkok Golden where she can get an "upgrade" to salmon and mild spicing, but not little serow where she'll only have the option of spicy snakehead. Thankfully, the bottom line is that we're getting better food that more closely reflects regional cuisine from a bunch of different operators, and I can't think of a downside to that as long as the rising tide lifts all boat noodles.
  4. brian
    Grill Room
  5. brian
    Duke's Grocery
  6. brian
    Going way down the rabbit hole on this one, but looking at the building on google maps I get an approximate floorplate size of 82'x76', good for 6,232sf per floor. It's possible they have a basement, but it would be very rare for a pad site to be built with anything underground and the raised entrance isn't that high. In any case it's a good bet that it's under 20k sf. I generally consider anything over 10k sf a very large restaurant, and over 15k feels mammoth.
  7. brian
    I know the link says it's 44,000 square feet, but it's not. Or if it is, it's spectacularly inefficient. 300 seats in 44k sf is a Per Se level of kitchen size and table density, and the same list shows Old Ebbitt at 508 seats in 25k sf and Jackson's in Reston at 280 seats in 11k sf.
  8. brian
    Thip Khao
  9. brian
    A couple weeks of ramen & izakaya research in Tokyo with that team was, by a wide margin, the best work trip I've ever taken. And Daikaya would have have been a far different restaurant without it.
  10. brian
    thanks
  11. brian
    It's possible to get a table without any wait at every single restaurant in DC that doesn't take reservations by picking your dining time carefully. Late dinners early in the week usually work best.
  12. brian
    Posto
  13. brian
    Same oyster pricing as Le Diplomate ($18.50 for a half dozen 'assorted', $24 for a half dozen Belon). It's expensive, but there's certainly precedent for a huge restaurant in DC supporting those prices.
  14. brian
    Photography in food writing may be lazy but that's a bit leading - you've structured your argument around the act of creative writing with food as the subject. It's a valid (and enjoyable) approach, but for some people the goal may be more about communicating their experience and photos can be a means to an end. While a great writeup of a meal can present the art of both the restaurant and the author, it's heavily dependent on the author's writing ability. I'd rather see a set of photos than an essay from someone who's a great photographer but a poor writer, just as I wish good food critics would stop posting their terrible cellphone food photos on social media.
  15. brian
    Maybe he hates Brooklyn because the food's not free.
  16. brian
    they're not "borrowing" anything from Medium-Rare that Medium-Rare didn't "borrow" from L'Entrecote.
  17. brian
    Time to try it again - the pizzas have steadily improved in his time there and have really hit their stride in the past couple months. I had one last week that was at least the equal of anything Anthony made at 7th Hill.
  18. brian
    attn: it's Le Diplomate
  19. brian
    I'd cut him some slack on this had he not said "like ALL the top bourbons, NEVER diluted or served on ice." - when you give people recommendations on how and what to drink for a living, you know damn well those words don't leave any wiggle room. Pappy 23 is bottled at 95.6 proof and whether to drink it neat, with a few drops of water, or cut by a substantial amount is a matter of preference. But some other high end bourbons are bottled at 120 proof or higher (Willett bottles a couple 17-year expressions at 145 proof), and to suggest those should never be cut is just foolish. (I'm guessing Parker's list of "all the top bourbons" consists of Pappy 23, 20, and 15.)
  20. brian
    The idea that "all the top bourbons" should never be diluted is... unorthodox.
  21. brian
    That story is misleading - Sam is not at the Clyde's-owned Hamilton restaurant/concert venue at 14th & F, he's at 14K restaurant at the Hamilton Crowne Plaza hotel at 14th & K.
  22. brian
    Quill, the bar at The Jefferson
  23. brian
    That whole review is right on - Room 11 is one of those places that does everything better than they need to be for a neighborhood spot, making it worth a trip across the city.
  24. brian
    They're in DC - about 50 feet away from having a MUCH worse list
  25. brian
    I suggest eating the noodles first - they're at their best when first served, and the broth heats the egg and roast pork within a couple of minutes.
×
×
  • Create New...