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Rovers2000

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About Rovers2000

  • Birthday 08/16/1982

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    Ballston

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  1. I never met Joe in person - but he was beyond generous in sharing his perspectives from his (incredibly varied) travels. When my wife and I visited Verona he took the time to personalize some suggestions based on our itinerary. I'll have to pop a Quintarelli or Dal Forno in his honor over the holidays.
  2. Apologize if this isn't the right place for it - but it was the best I could connect logically... As I've been entertaining at home a lot more - I wanted to see if any of the dinner party hosts on this site have a menu creation software that they use? I've been creating by hand menu cards which gets tedious so I'm trying to think through what sort of software (and even printer) would be useful on this moving forward particularly as the Christmas holiday is on the horizon. Would love any recommendations and / or thoughts
  3. I would second Rooster and Owl - I've eaten there twice and both times have been exemplary. Shoto happens to be under my office, so I've been there - the quality is excellent as is the service. But I struggle to match the price point with the food. It also is a little heavy on the "scene" for me in terms of its atmosphere. I've also enjoyed sitting at the bar solo and dining at Centrolina. I've found their wine list to be interesting and their menu constantly changing with the season.
  4. The soft shell crab with orange agrodulce that I enjoyed last night was a top three soft shell crab preparation that I’ve ever had - just wonderfully prepared and the flavors really jumped off the plate.
  5. It looks like they've posted the menu on their website: Dinner will be $125 per person exclusive of beverage, tax and 22% service fee (in lieu of tipping). Optional beverage pairings will be available for an additional $80 per person. We’ll have lovely bouquets from Darling & Daughters available for pre-order. If you purchase a bouquet it will be at your table when you arrive. Riffs on Steakhouse Favorites // Valentine’s Menu caviar service $120 supplement (must be pre-ordered when reservation is made) 30g of ossetra caviar, housemade yukon gold potato chips, creme fraiche with chives, hard boiled egg and chopped onions Starters shrimp cocktail // oysters eggplant & cocktail sauce // onion ring (vegetarian option) Main Event grilled strip steak & sauces // blooming shroomin & sauces // deviled crab (pick one for the table) wedge salad frites creamed kale Dessert key lime tartlet chocolate lava cake
  6. We've stayed at the Boar's Head and would agree with Eric's assessment above (though for us, its been a number of years so my perspective there is dated). If you're willing to go a little farther outside of Charlottesville (closer to DC) we stayed at the Inn at Willow Grove. The private Cabins were really wonderful places to stay and allow you to be as self contained as you'd like to be.
  7. I went last night and agree with the commentary above re the pappardelle and the lobster risotto. Also enjoyed the squash blossoms. Corkage is $35.
  8. What started as a project to put in an outdoor kitchen turned into an outdoor kitchen, new patio, replacing the deck with a three season room, and installing an outdoor fire pit area. As I said above we used BOWA and if I had to start over again, I’d make the exact same choice. Jim Harris, Mick Spring and Ethan Boudreau were a tremendous team to work with and it felt like a true partnership. Did it take longer than I’d anticipated from start to finish? Yes. But given the world we live in right now I think that’s going to be the norm for any of these types of projects. You do pay a premium for BOWA, however their work (and that of their subs - particularly the guys from Prestige on the carpentry and paint side) was impeccable and in my mind it was a premium worth paying. In the outdoor kitchen I ended up prioritizing lots of counter space and forgoing a traditional gas grill in favor of the Big Green Egg and a Gozney Dome Pizza Oven. We built in storage for pizza peels etc as well as an open space to stack wood for both ovens (as well as wood for the wood burning fireplace in the 3 seasons room).
  9. Visited for the first time last night - we sat outside under the covered tent looking out towards the garden - and we'll return as I thought it was wonderful. A couple things regarding the space outdoors: Given it was a warm evening, I was really impressed with the setup they had inside the tent. They had 6-8 fans positioned in the rafters of the tent, which were set to create a very mild cross-breeze which created a great temperature without being distracting in any way We had a 715 reservation and it was beautiful watching the sun go down. Genuinely one of the prettiest settings I've experienced dining out in DC. In terms of the food: I'm unsure if its the giant garden they have set up and apparently get some of their produce from - but I thought everything was well done and even the simple mesculin salad (dressed with a really nice vinaigrette) was well composed My wife had the trio of salmon (caviar, smoked, rillettes) and I the escargot - both were excellent For entrees I had the lobster in sauternes sauce and my wife had the parmesan crusted halibut. I felt the lobster dish was far superior, the slightly sweet sauce going nicely with the lobster. The halibut was fine and my wife enjoyed it but she admitted that she'd probably venture into something more interesting next time The wine list was small, but we enjoyed a nice chardonnay with the meal. I meant to inquire if they allow corkage but forgot I would also call out how nicely (leisurely) the meal was paced out - it was wonderful to just sit outside in such a beautiful setting and hang out with my wife kid free As we moved out to Great Falls last June - I'd wanted to try Chez Franois simply as its up the road from my home. I'm really glad we did and I'll be returning, particularly in the fall as I would imagine the setting will only get better with some autumn colors.
  10. Thanks for checking it out - as this is at the ground floor of the office I work in, I'm looking forward to hitting it up when I'm downtown next.
  11. Appreciate the advice. I interviewed a number of folks, including Case and BOWA and ended up going with BOWA for a number of reasons. Signed the contract yesterday so I'm looking forward to the design process.
  12. As I perused the above - I wanted to see if anyone had a specific contractor they'd recommend. While my current kitchen (we moved into our new Great Falls home in June) is fine and a big step up from what I've had previously - I'm in the very early (i.e. planning) stages of scoping out a project that largely entails ripping off the current deck, replacing it with a "3 seasons room", adding an outdoor kitchen and redoing the exterior patio. The first contractor I'm meeting with is Case Design but I'm struggling to dig up reliable recommendations on others to engage. As the outdoor kitchen is a substantial component of it - I think I can fit it into the kitchen remodel page
  13. This is a good point. I've done a couple of "big" 16' pies and they're pretty tricky once you start getting near the top end of the capacity of the oven. I scorched a couple crusts early on until I figured out how to really work the oven on the temp side. My MO has been to get the floor of the oven up in the 750-800 degree range, launch the pie and throttle the internal flame down significantly to "set" the crust. Then I push the heat back up and "spin" the pie around to finish it. That said - my advice to anyone looking to take the plunge would be to go with the 16. Its big enough that I feel like I can crank out what I need but still compact enough that I pack it up and store it in our garage until its time for its next use. The device has saved me a decent amount of money as I'd strongly considered building a "true" pizza oven when I build my outdoor kitchen...now I think this is probably good enough.
  14. We’ve been using ours weekly for over 6 months and aside from some confusion re: how to turn the heat inside the oven down (you turn the dial “up” strangely) I’ve been beyond pleased with the koda 16. I’ve also enjoyed using it to finish sous vide steaks and to roast Brussels sprouts and other vegetables at high heat. I guess ymmv.
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