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

Glad he decided against a children's cocktail bar, because that would be awkward. 

Thomas Foolery

I thought the paragraph below was pretty interesting. what do other people think of it? Also, what did people think of Sietsema's review? i frankly was dissapointed, I think the place deserves higher than 2 stars.

This next generation has undeniably produced better, more exciting food than its predecessors, but an air of self-congratulation, of Westerners taking a humble cuisine and upgrading it, lingers. Contrary to the breathless blog posts, the ethno-culinarians haven't invented a new form; they've taken an old form and reconceived it for the masses, serving mysterious and spicy dishes in low-affect settings where, in the case of Little Serow, you can nod along to twangy roots music as young servers in hipster glasses talk about how awesome the larb is. The Thai joint down the street also makes a pretty mean larb, but you don't get the retro-cool music and no one waits an hour to get in.

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.

Grill Room

Duke's Grocery

If I had to guess - and this is just a guess - I would think they might have counted three floors instead of two (I suspect there's an entire bottom floor that's used for storage or prepping), and multiplied the square footage by the dimensions of the building, then multiplied again by three, but again, that's just a guess. Great American Restaurants Group is known for "booth-only" seating, and I have never in my life felt crowded at one of their restaurants - Sweetwater Tavern in Merrifield, for example, is #100 on that list, and I can assure you it is *huge* - cavernous, even - but with the exception of the bar, has only booth seating, so you never feel crowded when you're dining there. It's also on one floor, so you can see just how vast it is (it has a very high ceiling, making it look even bigger) - Mike's is listed as being about twice that big, and doesn't seem like it because it twists and turns, but with multiple floors, who knows? Mike's used to be, and still may be, the flagship of this restaurant group's locations in terms of size and revenues - it may not be 44,000 square feet (I looked at a few places on that list, including The Hamilton, and didn't see any other restaurant listed as being that large), but it is formidably large. (Note also: the number given - 44,049 - is evenly divisible by 3: resulting in 14,683. Each floor (including my hypothetical bottom storage and prep floor) would need to be 100' x 146.83' to achieve that figure - is that the case? Perhaps.)

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.

Mike's American *is* that big - at least revenue-wise - and you're correct! It's 44,000 square feet (which I believe is the largest square footage in the DC area), and it's as high as it is wide.

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.

Thip Khao

Cool!

(May I safely assume you're glad you took on the project?)

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.

- The decor is both hip and functional. Can be tough to get a seat during busy times but the wall decor (large 'abstract' coffee splatters on art paper labeled with the varietal and roaster) is genius.

thanks

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.

Can someone name me another restaurant in town serving Cacciucco? ($13) 

Posto

with all due respect, $18-$24 for half dozen oysters just crazy. And congrats on the opening!

I don't see how a 9,000-square-foot restaurant can support these prices

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.

Photography in food writing is lazy - it's for people who can't put a thought into words. Alexandre Gauthier, chef at La Grenouillière, and Gilles Goujon, chef at the Michelin three-star L'Auberge du Vieux Puits - agree. Vive la France, et Cocorico!

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.

Maybe he hates Brooklyn because the food's not free.

Replacing Tippy's Tacos and directly "borrowing" from Medium-Rare - note the "$18.82 pricing" for steak-frites and salad, and the "super secret sauce."

they're not "borrowing" anything from Medium-Rare that Medium-Rare didn't "borrow" from L'Entrecote.

I believe you, but Matt and I had two happy hour pizzas at the bar here last year (after Pilla arrived, but no guarantee he was even there), and they were not at all special. That said, he made pizza before my very eyes at 7th Hill that was very good, so he's already proven himself to me on an individual level.

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.

They, and many others, need a proofreader.

(attn. Le DIplomat: couscous is one word)

attn: it's Le Diplomate

One thing I've learned on a micro scale over the past decade: people will seize on your every word, and when you're cranking out review after review, you've got to be ever-mindful.

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.)

It offers a remarkable tasting experience ... to be sipped, savored and like all the top bourbons, never diluted or served on ice.

The idea that "all the top bourbons" should never be diluted is... unorthodox.

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.

Quill, the bar at The Jefferson

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.

Extra Bonus Points need to be awarded for crafting THIS list, and the pricing, in Montgomery County. That takes real commitment, from both a wine and business standpoint.

They're in DC - about 50 feet away from having a MUCH worse list

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.