brian

"The bar is sunny and pleasant, with a huge picture window looking out onto the street, and with only 10 high-backed stools at the polished wooden counter, it's intimate, especially when diners are waiting for tables on weekends."

i wish them the best of luck, how in the world they plan on paying DC rents, selling 4 dollar cupcakes is beyond me, They would have been better going to NYC for the same rent and a gazillion more people walking by night and day. Get em quick , they be gone in a flash.

Even though DC retail rents are high (and Conn. Ave. around Dupont has some of the highest), Manhattan retail rents are typically 2-4 times higher. And Krispy Kreme seems to be doing fine selling for less than $4 right across the street...

aka the "Hip Eclipse" - someone/thing that is doing something very well and has a small fanbase and is "hip" eventually becomes eclipsed by its growing popularity via word of mouth/praise and eventually finds itself the subject of derision and cries of "overrated."

Could be nothing having to do with its growing popularity - I've eaten there three times in the past two months and had one meal I raved about, one that was just bad and one that was perfectly fine but nowhere close to the best one. Since I can relate to the posts singing its praises and the ones that walk away scratching their heads I think it's just inconsistent.

Interesting. I wonder with all the lobby shop and law firm kitchens in town (not all of them have kitchens, but some of the big ones do) if an enterprising baker could lease time to bake when the kitchens are dark. Could probably get a rate if you allocated some tasty bread to the senior partners each day...

Even law firms with big kitchens aren't set up with the kind of equipment needed to bake bread. The upswing is that anyone opening a bakery that catered breakfasts and lunches around there would make a mint off those firms. The numbers being discussed here are a bit inflated - you could open a space the size of Breadline in Penn Quarter for about $15k a month in rent, $10k or even lower if it were set up more as a commercial operation on a 2nd floor or basement.

Anyone been here around happy hour time? Do they have any kind of food or drink deals?

They've got pretty great specialty cocktails for $5.95 - check the bar review tab on the Post page: click

I didn't care for the sidebar piece on the couple visiting CityZen - it seemed to be more related to a journalist's perspective than a diner's by emphasizing what details they could remember about the meal instead of how much they enjoyed the experience.

I think it depends on the class of restaurant. I can't imagine I would want it as much if I was paying a ton of money for a special occasion.

As two top spacing gets tighter and you can often be closer to the person next to you than across from you (Sonoma, Cashion's, Nooshi, everywhere in NYC), sometimes eating at a normal banquette can feel like a communal table. Last year at a dinner at mas farmhouse I'm pretty sure the people at the communal table (including myself) were spaced farther away from other couples than those at the regular two tops.

All that AND Tom Brown heading up the cocktail program... this place should be a gem.

There's a great interview with Il Fornaio president Mike Beatrice in this month's Pizza Today (#1 magazine of the pizza industry!) that includes the following...

Beatrice says another point that distinguishes Il Fornaio is that its menu changes seasonally to reflect nature's growing cycle. "In Italy, they cook with what's in season, and that's how we try to run our menus," he explains. "If fresh tomatoes aren't in season, you're probably not going to see them on our menu. If artichokes and eggplant are in season, you'll see them in our dishes. Certain times of year a swordfish's flavor is not as good, so we're not going to have a swordfish at that time. If you use what's in season, you get the best flavors. When we say we're fresh, we're in-season fresh. That's what the Italians do, and that's what I tell people is our difference. No one else does that."

That rule is strictly adhered to, even in the case of top-selling items. If an ingredient isn't at its yearly peak, Il Fornaio will find other dishes with which to make money. Take this example:

"We have a Caprese salad, and it's a big seller, but we don't have it on the menu all the time," says Beatrice. "Is it available, will (the chefs) make it for you? Yes, they will, but they don't really want to because the tomatoes aren't the best flavor. They don't want somebody to get a mushy tomato with no flavor. We offer you an alternative dish that is in season, and we try to be very strict with that."

I think it's also fair to note that the awards received by Il Fornaio by Wine Spectator are their "Award of Excellence", also held by all Morton's and Ruth's Chris steakhouses and awarded without a site visit. They haven't received any accolades from the New Yorker - they were only mentioned in a fascinating Malcolm Gladwell article on an industrial food r&d company.

I'd second the Ritz Georgetown, but I'd suggest sitting in the lobby rather than the bar - the room is nicer, there's a piano, a fieplace, and you still get full drink service.

Off The Record at the Hay Adams is still killer - much more spacious than Round Robin at the Willard.

That Going Out Gurus article was unbelieveably depressing, and full disclosure, I have never been to Temperance Hall, but it is beyond me why someone would want to DESTROY the historic character of such an establishment and to turn it into a completely faceless and terrible, terrible bar.

Though it's my favorite bar in DC, I feel compelled to mention that its 'historic character' is less than two years old. And even though I'm worried about the changes I think it's a bit hasty to assume it will be turned into a 'completely faceless and terrible, terrible bar'.

Hopefully they don't get rid of the rye whiskey when the Wonderland folks do the makeover.

What would really be mind-boggling is a restaurant with a terrific view AND terrific food.

I'd imagine the W will put the restaurant on the ground floor - that rooftop space is far more valuble as a bar or suites than it is for dining. Even so, that view across the street to the Treasury isn't so shabby.

Anybody seen Carpano Antica Formula vermouth for sale in DC or the nearby 'burbs lately? I've looked for it at MacArthur's a couple of times recently and they don't have any.

They had it at Bell two days ago.

My understanding is that, in Virginia, you need to serve food to serve alcohol. Good luck finding a helpful person at the ABC - you'll get much more valuble information by talking to an attorney that works in licensing in that area.

Coincidentally, I picked up dinner at the Dupont Circle branch on my way home tonight and it was the best I've had there recently. Though the bread was somewhat underdone, it remained pliant instead of being dry and brittle by the time it got to me, and the rice held up well even without the benefit of the usual pat of butter. The kubideh was truly a standout this evening - instead of being tasty but overcooked as usual, it was juicy throughout. I didn't recognize anyone there but service and prep times seemed to be faster than usual - perhaps some of McLean's top squad was filling in

Another fire at Alberto's this morning - let's hope they're not closed for 6 months this time around.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...nav=hcmoduletmv

from Linda Roth's monthly The Latest Dish...

In August, acclaimed "bar chef" Derek Brown plans to open Splash, a daiquiri bar in Adams Morgan on 18th Street in the spot that used to be Santa Rosa Seafood Restaurant. Splash combines the best of Fat Tuesday and Hooters – casually themed with curious décor and décolletage. His partner is the former alcoholic beverage regulation administration auditor, D`maz Lumukanda.

American Flatbread is a Vermont-based pizza company that stresses using local, regional and organic ingredients in all of its products. Its frozen pizzas are sold in Whole Foods and gourmet grocers nationally.

I hate web sites that launch music immediately, and I could not turn the music off on this. There was an option to turn it off, but since it froze my browser, there was nothing I could do about the music while waiting to see if it resolved itself.

Hotels are particularly problematic in that they want the restaurant to appeal to gourmands as well as the clientele that is staying in the hotel, who are likely not to be very knowledgable about food. This is why you don't see many avant garde restaurants in hotels.

And that's why, in Maestro's case, the Ritz-Carlton at Tyson's operates a steak house in the hotel in addition to Maestro.

And Michel is doing the same as them. As famous as he is as a chef, he is not the chef of Michel Richard Citronelle. He is the owner.

Should we refer to him as Owner Richard instead of Chef Richard?

(as an aside, I've always hated the "Chef So-and-so" construction - we don't refer to "Sommelier Slater" or "Server Jones". Even worse is the use of "Chef" as a name rather than a noun or adjective. "Chef has prepared..." sounds so much more precious and pompous than "The chef has prepared...". You'd certainly never say "Let me go get Manager".)

Campari & soda.

I've been making myself a summery drink lately of Aperol on the rocks with 1/2oz almond syrup and 1/4oz lemon juice.

So, Agraria's applied for a license at the new IMF building (Penn Ave bet. 19th & 20th)...

I wonder how adventurous the typical customer orders were during OPENING WEEKEND at 2 Amy's?