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My fourish-word review: This place is ridiculous*. (* = in the best possible way) My much longer question: How is it possible that, on a Friday night, with all that action up and down U Street, the first-floor "dining room" at Oohhs and Aahhs was exactly half-empty? Which is really saying something, since there are all of four seats at the counter. There wasn't a ton of to-go traffic, either -- maybe eight orders during the 45 minutes it took Diner X and I to work through those Costco-sized servings of greens, mac & cheese, cornbread, fried chicken, gravy-drenched turkey meatloaf and what may be the world's greatest yams. Granted, we got there at 9. But still. There should've been a line out the door. I mean, if people can line up eight deep at Cake Love ...

Which reminds me of the time a friend took a deep whiff of 83 Beaucastel CDP and said: "Mmmmmmm, poop." (We haven't done a Rhone tasting with him since, needless to say.)

I'm like an addict, fiending for a taste. Going to Al Tiramisu tonight to see what Luigi Diotaiuti can do. Wondering who else in The District is using them in the kitchen at the moment. (How are they this season, anyway?)

You know, that's an interesting point. Maybe I'm looking for the wrong things at the markets. What are some of the in-season stars at the moment? And yeah, California olives -- feh. There's a damn good reason most of them wind up in cans.

Restaurant Gary Danko has never excited me, so this comparison doesn't mean much to me. Now, if you can find me a better meal here than the white-truffle dinner I had in early December in El Dorado Hills, Calif., where the ex-Valentino executive chef Angelo Auriana is working his magic in the kitchen at Masque -- well, you win the prize. But it ain't gonna happen. That's not even the point, though. I'm not trying to make this a here-versus-there iron cage death match in which restaurants, wine lists, maitre'ds, servers, dishware, sconces, banquettes, carpets, etc, are pitted against each other. My comments about the ingredients lacking at CityZen vis-a-vis French Laundry were just that: Comments about the ingredients lacking at CityZen vis-a-vis French Laundry. OK, so they included an accompanying whine about me not loving the produce here. But no need to defend the DC dining scene! Really. I do like it here. (Mostly.) What's not to love about living within crawling distance of Corduroy, which has quickly become a fave for me?

Ah, but it IS so! I've been to the Dupont and Penn Quarter farmer's markets, as well as various grocery stores recommended on this and other boards, and I've bought countless pounds of countless producethingys from countless growers/sources. And I consistently find myself saying, "There's no place like home." (Actually, what I usually say is: "Damn, this doesn't even come close." But same difference.) I did find some great bi-color corn, and I'm loving the apples. Especially the W.Va honey krisps. But the summer produce? Bzzzzzzt. And unfortunately, I'm one of those summer-produce people. (Alas, I wouldn't know/care about the cheese comparisons, as I'm not a Dear Dairy kinda guy. Go figure.)

Eastern Shore? Nope. Westmoreland Farms? Nope. Shadow of the Blue Ridge? Nope. All I know is that a guy who should have access to the best stuff available says he's been disappointed by what he's found so far, at least vis-a-vis what was available to him in Califorina. And I've been badly disappointed by the produce that's available to me, Joe Consumer, who dosn't really have the time/wherewithal to drive forever just to find a nice piece of summer stonefruit or the perfect heirloom tomato. Overstatement on my part? Yeah, maybe. But hey, Hyperbolic is my middle name.* (* or so I'm saying for the purposes of this post.) Let's look at this another way: If you can get the very, very, very best seasonal produce that's available locally, where will your meals be better -- here, or in Northern California?

Worst part about dining at CityZen? Trying to get a damn cab to take you home!! The Mandarin Oriental is squarely in the heart of D.C.'s No-Man's Land. Even if the restaurant calls for a cab on your behalf, it can still take forever for a taxi to show up. (On the other hand: That little butter roll box they bring to the table ... wow.) Qualitatively speaking, the thing that I found most disappointing about CityZen was that the quality of the ingredients wasn't quite what I'd hope for/expect from a Thomas Keller disciple. At French Laundry, it seems like just about everything on the plate has a Best of Breed-ness about it, from the rabbits and fish and foie and butter to, of course, the produce, which is consistently, breathtakingly great. At CityZen, none of the ingredients jumped out; they were good, for sure, but not great. But, then, Eric Zeibold isn't wholly to blame on that front. As a recent transplant from the West Coast myself, I have to say that the hardest thing about moving to this area is realizing that this ain't exactly the cradle of agriculture. Eric pretty much said the same thing when he came out to chat at the end of our meal. He talked at length, in fact, about the difficulty in foraging great produce around here. (He'd just sent back an entire shipment of peaches, if I recall correctly, explaining to the supplier that they weren't even close to the ripeness and quality he was looking for.) I do hope he can land some great sources, because the guy can clearly cook.