brian

Why the outrage over the name of the doughnut shop and the calls for them to change it?

Cool "Disco" Dan is an absolute legend in the graffiti scene, and to anyone who's spent much time around DC in the 80s and 90s. He's a real person, he's alive, and he's not well-off. Some of the people writing the outraged comments DO know Dan.

This isn't about people in DC not wanting to have any fun, this is about someone opening a shop and capitalizing on the name of a living person without any thought of involving or compensating that person. They could have hired Dan to do the graffiti work in the shop. They could have tried to get his blessing before naming it. They did neither.

Could I open a place called Don Rocks Rockfish Grill, without consulting with Don or approaching him about it? Sure. Would most people who go there know who Don is? No. Could it be an homage to Don with no ill will intended? Sure. Would it still be an incredibly shitty thing to do? Absolutely.

that was quick, and predictable:

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/youngandhungry/2013/01/31/cool-disco-donut-changes-name-to-zekes-d-c-donuts/

The guy running this is running a scam - charging $100 for a meaningless card people won't recognize or care about. He knows it's worthless but making the entire concept as objectionable as he has and then sending cards to the press is accomplishing exactly what he wants it to, he's getting publicity for it and a few suckers will read about it and get cards. 99.999% of people know it's worthless and gross, but doing stories on it or even linking to it helps get it attention and put it in front of that .001% who might fall for something like this.

But again, it's not like there's a terrific deli on every other corner in Manhattan or Brooklyn nowadays, notwithstanding the enormous density of population in those places. But hell, for me, living in Kalorama Triangle, I don't have to travel to another part of town just to find a deli, I have to travel to another part of town for a decent supermarket. And I live in Ward 1, the most densely populated part of Washington, an area that approaches Paris's density level. None of this has anything to do with the Height of Buildings Act.

You're right, residential density isn't the critical factor - although Brooklyn has nearly 60% more residents than Manhattan, it has far fewer Jewish delis. The lion's share of a deli's sales happen around lunchtime, and mapping the delis in NY finds a close correlation to the daytime population density of the city rather than the residential density. While DC's Ward 1 has about the same residential population density as Brooklyn, DC's downtown doesn't come anywhere near Manhattan's daytime density.

I think Stachowski's Market's fantastic success is due to the fact that it's not as limited as a Jewish deli - they're a butcher/grocer/charcutier with wholesale and retail operations and they serve as a deli on the side.

while we finish up the restaurant we're hosting a pop-up dinner at the Living Social space January 18th & 19th:

https://www.livingsocial.com/events/575728-daikaya-pop-up-dinner

Bar Snacks

Cocktail
O-du Fashon: Redemption Rye, Dolin Sweet Vermouth, Bing Cherry Syrup, and Ginseng Bitters

Mushimono -- Steamed
Chawanmushi
Steamed Egg and Dashi Custard

Namamono -- Cold and Raw
Kaki Kaki Su
Oysters, Persimmon, and Persimmon Vinegar

Agemono -- Fried
Korokke
Creamy Corn and Crab Croquette

Takimono -- Simmered
Buta Kakuni
Slow-Cooked Pork Belly with a Soft Egg
OR
Yasai Nimono
Simmered Pot of Seasonal Vegetables

Gohanmono -- Rice Bowl
Takikomigohan
Japanese Rice Cooked in Broth with Mushrooms and Other Vegetables

Dessert
Purin
Japanese Vanilla Flan

hope to see some of you there!

Let's be realistic and say there's a 0% chance that there will be any change in height restrictions in downtown DC in the next few decades. And in the event that height restrictions are lifted in select other parts of the city, surely putting more housing and offices in DC will cause less traffic than putting offices in DC and housing in Loudon County.

DC's apartment vacancy rates are much lower than Maryland and Virginia's, indicating greater demand for residential units in the city than the suburbs. DC also has the lowest vacancy rate for office space of any market in the nation, and again it's lower than MD and VA. This area has some of the fastest growing suburbs in the nation and allowing higher density in the city will allow businesses and people to locate where they actually want to.

The reason all the office buildings in DC are so uniform and uninteresting is BECAUSE of the height limit and building codes, which provide incentive for every developer to maximize the building envelope without providing setbacks or public areas. I guarantee any changes to DC's skyline will be less noticeable from the National Mall than Rossyln's skyline is. Right now there are multiple overlapping agencies charged with preserving the architectural and urban character of the city (HPRB, NCPC, Committee of 100, etc.) and those will continue to have an overwhelmingly strong voice - but none of them are structured in a way that take into account the economic, social, and regional impacts of their decisions.

For those concerned about parking, the 28A bus from West Falls Church metro or the 3B bus from East Falls Church have stops very close to Spacebar.

If you like this place and want it to stick around you might want to rethink posting its neighborhood, a photo of the building, and a photo of the apartment door.

Don't hate The Hamilton for not being able to pull this off. I believe that they tried, but surely they had a built-in failure limit in their opening business plan.

I think this was a failure in execution rather than planning - the Diner's been open 24 hours for years and it seems to work fine. I went to The Hamilton several times between 2 and 5am and it was pretty clear the 24-hour service was an afterthought.

Only one room was kept open for late night dining, and it was a pretty formal room with tablecloths and no bar. From an operation standpoint I'm sure it was easier to keep staff and patrons out of areas with liquor after last call, but from a customer standpoint not having a bar area or more flexible seating was a bummer. On weekdays most people out during those hours work in the service industry, and The Hamilton wasn't someplace that was comfortable to go alone and sit at a table with mediocre at best service, and it wasn't someplace that was easy for groups to congregate.

There are plenty of exceptions to any sweeping generalization made about what "DC people" are like, and businesses that realize that will be successful. But they won't work without a lot of consideration of what their target audience is and what their preferences are, and The Hamilton clearly placed operational ease beyond customer's wishes, and their business didn't reach its potential because of it.

The major grocery chains are having their asses handed to them without a jot of government intervention, all because some genius grossed out the world with pictures of pink slime.

...

Job well done, marketers, strategists, or whoever was responsible for inventing the term, taking the picture, and accusing the grocery store Fat Cats of being guilty by complacency.

Without a single tax dollar spent.

The term 'pink slime' was coined by Gerald Zirnstein in a USDA memo, and he and fellow USDA scientist Carl Custer warned against its use. They were overruled by higher ups and he later left the agency over it, but I think it's very much worth pointing out that the crusade against this was originated by employees of a US government agency funded by our tax dollars.

Don't you think that going from Piratz Tavern to Corporate Bar was going from one bad idea to another?

I still think the places that are quietly laughing all the way to the bank are places like Circa. Although I have absolutely no knowledge of Circa's ownership, business model, etc., every single time I walk by one it is crowded.

Remember that line in "When Harry Met Sally," where the older woman said, "I'll have what she's having?"

Circa. Bistro du Coin. Lauriol Plaza. Sweetwater Tavern. I could probably rattle off 100 more (Flippin' Pizza just came to mind). Places that don't give a whit about this website, or quality, or cuisine, or much of anything else other than making fistfuls of dollars. Hell, I can even think of a few places (two leap to mind, and I guarantee they aren't the two you'd first think of) that *do* care about this website and are using it to their advantage, financially (and why wouldn't they? It takes mere minutes and costs nothing). And I guarantee they're making a fortune.

Well anyway, *I* care about quality, for whatever that's worth, although quality seems to have very little to do with Piratz Tavern or Corporate Bar. I wish the owners well - I'd rather something individual and quirky succeeds than have yet another generic institution open up. If people can go play pirate and have a good time for a few hours, well, why not?

Circa has always stuck me as a place for people who really miss the experience of eating in an anonymous upscale cafe in an airport terminal concourse and wish they could have that same thing at home.

I think there are an unfortunate number of places like that (Circa, Logan Tavern, Chef Geoff's, Clyde's, etc.) which are nominally independent (but all with multiple locations!) but bland beyond belief. They're trying to pretty much be an Applebee's - broad menu, reasonable prices, nothing offputting to most people - for people who wouldn't go to Applebee's and they're succeeding.

That said, I ate at Applebee's and Buca di Beppo while visiting my grandparents in Georgia a few weeks ago and had pretty good experiences at both. And I go to Clyde's quite a bit.

This project is still very much happening, as happens so often it's held up in permitting at the moment. I'm the architect.

To a large extent, it's simple transportation. A fine dining restaurant in the Virginia suburbs is easier to get to for people in Virginia, but it's harder to reach for most people in DC and Maryland.

Places like L'Auberge and The Inn at Little Washington succeed in part because what they offer in setting can't be found in the city - if a restaurant doesn't have the central location or population density that places downtown have, it needs to counter that with other qualities.

I've always been underwhelmed by the food at these places, to the point where they are all redundant (short smoked salmon anyone?) and it's difficult to find something worth eating on the menu. I've been to at least six of them, they are almost always crowded and overly noisy, and finding something to eat other than short smoked salmon on cloyingly sweet salad or too salty drunken ribeye is difficult.

Some people have a soft spot for the GAR chain. I personally find them appalling. First, they are uniformly too noisy for a pleasant meal with conversation. Second, I swear there's a trained monkey in the kitchen of each one of them, with one hand in a bucket of sun-dried cranberries and the other hand in a bucket of salt, making sure that each dish that comes out of the kitchen gets one or both flung at it to excess. Third, the creativity of menus are cringe-worthy -- must I have short-smoked salmon on every menu and all over it, and must I have those vapid garlic mashed potatoes as my side for every entree?

More than happy to tilt with you on this one. I have had many horrific meals at GAR establishments, and have seen the Sysco truck parked at all of them throughout the mornings. And in the case of Mike's and Sweetwater, the kitchens are somewhat on display. Never saw the trained monkey flinging sun-dried cranberries or salt at any of the dishes coming out of the kitchen, but they sure taste like he's back there.

I find this restaurant group to be atrocious. The same basic boring menu at every restaurant, with salads that can't exist without sundried cranberries (yuk!), short smoked salmon (whatever that is) all over every menu, the same unimaginative redskin mashed potatoes for every side dish, a sandwich menu that doesn't have a sandwich worth ordering and far too much salt on every entree.

It seems like you have a very legitimate complaint about how the Great American Restaurant Group keeps pushing out the same items with little variation.

Will they be able to execute the prosciutto and egg sandwich at breakfast, then the duck carbonara at lunch, then the porchetta sandwich at lunch, then the niman ranch pork chop at dinner, then the ramen at 2:00 AM

Based on my last experience there I can confirm that they won't be able to execute a decent bowl of ramen at 2:00 AM.

I'm excited about it - I don't have high expectations for the food but they always make a good burger and it'll be a four star restaurant at 4am, at least compared to The Diner.

Given the kitchen's abilities and the rest of the lunch menu, you'd be a fool to order a burger. But you'd be a very happy fool indeed, as it's one of the very best I've had in the city.

It's quite possible he could be attending the November 5th event in a fair amount of pain, with surgery to follow shortly afterwards.

I'd certainly imagine the event will cause Pepin a lot of pain - Guy Fieri and Paula Deen will be doing demos there.

Really I'm not questioning the scheduling or Pepin's commitments, just Citronelle's use of the phrases "immediate" and "unable to make it to Washington DC".

We are very sorry to inform you that Jacques Pepin has had to cancel the luncheon scheduled with Michel Richard at Citronelle on November 18. Unfortunately, Jacques needs to have immediate hip replacement surgery and he will be unable to make it to Washington, DC. At this time, we do not have a future date for this luncheon, but you will be the first to know if rescheduling becomes possible.

We thank you for your interest in Michel Richard Citronelle and Jacques Pepin, and are very sorry for any disappointment and inconvenience this may cause.

FYI: Jacques Pepin will still be attending the Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Show on Saturday, November 5 at the Washington Convention Center. For tickets and further information on that event visit http://www.metrocooking.com/index.php/dc.

I would suggest that the way he expressively described the interior of the restaurant did much more for their talent and credibility than listing their name and phone number as you did. I am sure they are extemely happy with his prose.

I doubt the international firm that already designs for Cirque Du Soleil and Nobu is going to have their credibility boosted by a mention in a First Bite column. It just seems that if you're going to the trouble of saying "West Elm didn't dress the tasteful joint", you may as well say who did.

From today's First Bite on Bobby's Burger Palace (http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/restaurants/bobbys-burger-palace,1213663/critic-review.html):

...the interior of the city's latest addition to the ground-beef scene gives a friend and me plenty to amuse ourselves: counters with more curves than Mae West, striped overhead lights that suggest taffy being pulled and gorgeous outsize photographs of onions, tomatoes and potatoes. West Elm didn't dress the tasteful joint, but it could have.

(...) I'm charmed by the look of the place.

(...) The only thing we want after eating here is the number of the set dresser.

Tom,

As a quick google search shows, the restaurant was designed by Rockwell Group. They can be reached at 212-463-0334. For as much of the column as you spent writing about the design, it would have been really easy to credit them.

The ramen noodles should be eaten pretty quickly to avoid becoming soggy, which is difficult to do with extra noodles. Typically additional noodles should be ordered after the bowl of ramen has been served, so that they can be added to the remaining noodle-less broth as soon as they're delivered to the table rather than overcrowding the bowl or getting cold on the plate.

It's great to have Ren's back, and I'm not the only one who feels that way - when I went this afternoon there was a pretty consistent 15-minute wait. The new space is slightly less cramped and less oddly laid out than the old location, but it actually has a few less seats. The kitchen wasn't cranking out the ramen as fast as most places, but it seems like they have plenty of back of house space and I'm sure they'll speed up as the staff acclimates.

The tonshio ramen was as good as it was in the old location - this is possibly the best ramen on the east coast, and was even better than some of the ramen places in Tokyo. As before, the roast pork is on the dry side (though not as much today), but the stewed pork add on is luscious. Worth the trip despite the long metro ride to Wheaton, and I'll probably be back within the week.

This concept makes more intuitive sense to me at 14th and Q than a Buddakan.

Yup - both in terms of concept and size.