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jayandstacey

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Everything posted by jayandstacey

  1. jayandstacey
    You'll be fine with your son. And they aren't in a position to turn people away because they don't fit a profile. We went once with our neighbors and their kids - 4 grade schoolers. No problems. One nice thing is that the seating is divided into a number of smaller rooms so there's less risk of collateral damage to every diner. I don;t know about your lunch question but the sunsets are a nice touch (and not always available at lunch) Edit - I'd also add that Comus has the room to space the tables. We've taken our kids to Dino's and had a successful time as Dino's is very accomodating - BUT - the tables are also very close together. So the kids being quietly cranky still made us worried as people we're sitting only a foot or two away. Comus is generally much roomier and it seems they won't seat people right next to you if they can help it. Enjoy.
  2. jayandstacey
    Bassett's sits at the corner of Fisher Ave (aka White's Ferry Road, aka Rte 107) and Elgin Rd (aka Rte 109) in the middle of the old part of Poolesville. If you've driven through there, it is at the intersection where the old town hall building appears to sit in the road. If you are coming from Virginia via White's Ferry, this will pretty much be the first business you'll pass on the Maryland side other than the ferry itself. The restaurant is in a building that looks like it might have been a house at one time. The front has a three-season porch that is inches from the road, making for some nice "watching the world go by" on a clear day. The decor is country casual, leaning toward hunt-clubby. The clientelle are many of the local horse folks, Poolesville residents and those out on bike rides. I've been a few times for dinner and I'd say it falls between Baugher's or Hershey's (nicer looking and better food than those) and Monocacy Crossing (not quite there). The menu combines some country dishes like fried chicken and calves liver with more adventurous fare like kabobs and turkey burgers. My recent visit was for brunch and despite feeling under the weather, the trip was well worth it. My wife got the Eggs Chesapeake ($18), made with crab cakes covering either side of an english muffin topped with poached eggs. This was fabulous - the cakes tasted bright and seasoned but not too heavily - which sometimes happens and overpowers the eggs. I enjoyed the Country Breakfast ($10) with the highlight being the sausage links. I tend to like strongly seasoned sausage, especially sage. This sausage had a really nice, mellow flavor that was well below my norm and surprisingly I loved it. My kids each got omeletes ($9) that were good values though I prefer my eggs a little less cooked. The iced tea was really, really fresh and the side potatoes were nice and oniony. Adult orders come with champagne/mimosa after 10am. Worth driving a long way to visit? Probably not on its own merit. But if you're taking a leisurely drive across the ferry from Virginia, or out Route 28 from Rockville, what a nice way to spend an hour or two in a town that seems much farther away than it really is.
  3. jayandstacey
    24 Hours after I posted this, the show "Bar Rescue" pointed out this exact thing as a problem in the bar they were rescuing, and the host made the same semi-joke I made here. Glad I'm not alone on this
  4. jayandstacey
    We wanted Italian. We didn't want Maggianios/Macaroni Grill/Olive Garden or that place with the trees growing out of the roof. We were also dressed from an afternoon with horses - so we didn't want a fancy place either. Zio's did us right. The toughest thing is the decor. Think wallpaper borders and really poor lighting (note to restaurateurs - please don't combine "can" lights that are built into the ceiling and ceiling fans below them. The result is a strobe effect that had be wishing I'd begin to seize...). The food was pretty decent. The pizza is bready and the crust is relatively thick - not oily like the Pizza Hut it visually resembles. The pizza is fresh tasting without having to wipe your hands with each bite. I enjoyed the Fettucini Zio Giovanni; a really nice 'blush' sauce (cream and red sauce) with bits of sausage and tomato. The calamari appetizer was cooked lightly and was an ample portion, as large as we've ever had. Service was excellent. This is no Dino's. I just wish we had more New Jersey-ish red sauce places in MoCo - simple, nieghborhood places that serve a decent pasta and aren't too fancy. Zio's isn't that either. But it'll do in a pinch.
  5. jayandstacey
    Yeah, that makes sense. I suppose not allowing the tenant to stay is itself the breach. Seems the damages could be anywhere between minimal moving costs and the revenue/profit of the restaurant for the next 10 years. I'm surprised they don't find a solution, like developing part of the property and making a space for the restaurant to move into with the new building. I mean, successful tenants are the goal of the landlord, right?
  6. jayandstacey
    That all makes sense - can I assume that in a typical lease for this situation, if there's an option to extend, it is SOLELY the tenant's option? Regardless of the formula used to calculate the rent for the option period - to landlords give tenants the chance to walk away...but not give themselves the same chance?
  7. jayandstacey
    I have no background in commercial leasing - but do in other contracts. Are such extensions typically written as the sole right of the lessee to extend, and the only question is if the rent can be raised? If so - yeah, more power to Mr. Tracy. An inflection point in a lease isn't the time when the lessor can exit, if they have no termination rights in the agreement at that point. In my world (which has nothing to do with commercial real estate) optional extensions are almost always either mutually agreed - or automatic unless one party steps in and terminates. I can see where upon establishing a business who's very floor is reliant on the lease - the lessee would want the sole discretion to extend, and would probably get it. The owner shouldn't have allowed 20+ years in the first place. So yeah, more power to Chef Tracy if that's so. Either way, it seems the contract should be pretty plainly interpreted.
  8. jayandstacey
    (funny side note: My wife was driving out I-70 into western MD and I used my phone to pull up DR.com and see if there were any recommendations in the area. I read one review that mentioned two places and one of them seemed right up my alley. So we decided to go there. Only later did I discover - I had written the review long ago. I had forgotten about the restauarant name - and thus it didn't seem familiar. And on the phone in the car, I wasn't really focused on who wrote the review. "Thanks past self!")
  9. jayandstacey
    I actually don't hate such people per se - simply because it has the tendancy, in the long run, to backfire. And it always highlights those who live like that. My wife once said that she hated to see confederate flags - I responded that while I disagree with the symbolism of the flag, it actually serves as a nice "scarlet letter" to let me know who to avoid in business or personal matters. (note that this goes back to my "foist" rule - which is to say that I don't care about someones beliefs and would never ask but if they insist on foisting those beliefs upon me, then I will consider and possibly act on them. If one drives their plumbing truck around with a big confederate flag on it, well... I appreciate that plumber's right to their opinion but I won't ever give them my business.) I only know the details as presented in the article. Based on those alone, I'd say their suit has little chance of winning anything - that while they might have gotten something, they'll end up with nothing. More importantly, the next landlord will probably be at least careful, if not downright strict, with their next lease. Or they buy their own building.
  10. jayandstacey
    I'm with ya on the "get more cash" part. But if the extensions require mutual agreement - well, there isn't mutual agreement. And isn't the owner within their rights to not extend if they don't want to? Put another way, let's say Chef Geoff's failed tomorrow. Would the owner have rights to go after the restaurant for losses on the lease extensions that never happened? As for the stalling tactics - I don't negotiate or otherwise waste my time on things I know I won't accept. Just because the restaurant forwarded various offers doesn't mean the owner has any obligation to act upon, let alone accept, any of them.
  11. jayandstacey
    Automated Japanese Restaurant without waiters. (well, McDonald's doesn't have waiters either...) I guess it is a bit like the old Automat Restaurant. (What an unexpected treat!)
  12. jayandstacey
    Maybe I don't fully understand your premise - but I don't think restaurants apply economic principles to generate intangibles for guests. Rather, they do so to drive guest behavior. Simply put, the current lineup of such offers (happy hour, lower priced lunch, early bird specials) is designed to drive the consumer to consider coming to the restaurant at an off-peak time. The premise is almost always "same great experience at a lower price" or nearly so. This assumes two things: 1. There's never an "increase" in price, rather there's always a regular price at peak times that is discounted variably. 2. The restaurant is already crowded at the peak times and wants to build on that base. And they want to do so without compromising the experience at those peak hours (or, they would just pack people in, moving tables closer together or something like that.) While I can imagine a restaurant messing this up somehow, I'm not sure I see much downside for the diner. You want to eat at a popular place on a Friday night at 7pm? That's top dollar. Are you willing to visit on a Tuesday at 3pm? They'll have a great deal waiting for you...and if is really, really is a good deal - the place might be just as full as on a Friday night.
  13. jayandstacey
    Funny Dry 85 Promo with Brian Bolter / ex-WTTG. Good stuff: http://vimeo.com/76836483
  14. jayandstacey
    Well that place is crazy. Like a carnival funhouse that serves meat. Zowie!
  15. jayandstacey
    The hard part is keeping the black rectangle over your eyes.
  16. jayandstacey
    I'd emphasize, as pointed out by the powers that be, that I am only 1/2 hour away and THAT drive is worth it. There are excellent restaurants south of me (including downtown and most of Virginia) that aren't worth it due to traffic and distance. This is a shame - I wish I could live in multiple places. I don't. I would agree with those who say it isn't a destination restaurant. It isn't. When we go - we make a snap decision and jump in the car. It is opportunitistic, which is possible thanks to our proximity.
  17. jayandstacey
    Well, OK, I'd say my merits are not well defined. I list three and they are subjective in nature. I don't know of a word for "subjectively unique" - maybe there is one? I'd agree that unique is objective - there is only one - and I didn't wish to convey that. Would "unique to my knowledge and subjective criteria" be better? I'd love to find another restaurant that meets my criteria in my area, which would preclude further use of the word "unique" when I describe Family Meal. I strongly suspect there are other such places, thus another cloud on the word unique and thus my qualifier. Yet...I can only name one. Thus I chose a 'soft' unique. "One....so far as I know but I don't (and will never) know all..." How can I improve? What words do I suggst I use instead of "pretty unique" to convey my precise intent and meaning in this instance?
  18. jayandstacey
    I'd agree. I'd also say that's what makes it unique, and worth (for us) the 1/2 hour drive to go. We pass four other diners on the way, because those other four diners do things the way that too many diners do these days - mainly selling frozen, boring foods. I have two kids, I've never been to Volt and I'm not looking for that experience. I find Family Meal to be a great balance of casual diner-style eating, food with some thought behind it and a staff that is friendly and very well trained. On those merits I find it pretty unique, at least relative to what I can access easily from the MoCo area and thus worth the stretch.
  19. jayandstacey
    The show's host has said many times that he believes any theme can succeed if well executed. I believe he would agree with you. His attempt was not to save a pirate's theme place, rather to save the business interests of the owners - which was the purpose of Piratz reaching out to the show's producers in the first place. Most of the episodes of that show result in only tweaks to the owner's original concept. Radical changes are introduced only when the host believes the owners aren't capable of making their original concept a success. That was the case here - he saw the owners/employees using the pirate theme as a crutch/excuse, not as a way to profitability (which comes primarily from satisfied customers). BTW, there's a very successful, high volume restaurant in Myrtle Beach with a pirate theme called Key West Grill. Their food is edible and serves as evidence that you are right - there's nothing wrong with a pirate theme per se.
  20. jayandstacey
    And I'd say he ducks the question as it doesn't make sense. The restaurant business, and maybe more so the bar business, is made on reputation and word-of-mouth. You've got to have something memorable, unique, etc. This one is pure contradiction...maybe like Quench as a name for a place to go eat. Heck - it has us talking about the name despite the bar only existing with that name for what...a few days?!? Taffer was well known in the bar industry long before his show. Consulting wise, he doesn't do anything outrageous. He does focus on the one thing that bar owners notoriously lack - solid business approaches and the basic blocking and tackling of operating a successful bar. Like or hate him, I don't know of another show on TV that could teach more to a bar/restaurant owner about getting up tomorrow and making more money. The chef shows all seem to revolve around making better food or having a better kitchen, while Taffer is about operations and ringing the register.
  21. jayandstacey
    He often talks about how he's often fixing the people first, then the bar. And he also mentioned how this was the worst episode. So I believe it was an attempt to hand to the owner a new start, a completely opposite approach. As for the wisdom of the name - I have no problem with it. I've worked in about 200 bars (yes, literally) and so long as the name doesn't misrepresent (ie, it says sports but then is not) - then it can work. And if it gets people talking, then even better. And I've seen successful places that catered to the young professional looking for a grown-up outing without velvet ropes and VIP rooms. Corporate Bar would not have failed based solely on the name.
  22. jayandstacey
    Family Meal in Frederick reports free chicken pot pie fritters w/ Govt ID, per their Facebook wall/page/feed/post/blog/whatever.
  23. jayandstacey
    Mr. Ledo? Maybe Ronald McDonald. Or maybe the vivacious Olive Garden.
  24. jayandstacey
    Tonight is my wife's birthday. I volunteered "let's go out!" and she said "Absolutely - Tom and Ray's." We went, sat at the counter, and she ordered a grilled cheese sandwich. She's a teacher at the high school down the street and two of the bus boys are her students. There were maybe 3 other people in the place. They brought out the grilled cheese, holding it together. It had a single lit candle and we all sang Happy Birthday. The boys mentioned (as boys might) that they wished she had ordered a burger as it is more cake-shaped. Our kids topped off their dessert with jimmies, because that's just what you do. It was a great meal. Truly. Yet I don't think putting it in a Tom & Ray's thread would do it justice. It seems more appropriate here.
  25. jayandstacey
    Interesting. For some it is shopping, for others watching TV or just eating. But dining has an unreal pull on me. I don't have your backstory...I can't imagine. I do have my ups and downs though. And a decent/favorite restaurant will celebrate the ups and mitigate the downs. Quite amazing really and self-perpetuating. As I eat at new places and try new things...and eat familiar things executed very well - I find more and more that my own cooking is an exercise in disappointment. In the effort exerted, in the taste, in the overall experience. Last night's stuffed cabbage I made had undercooked quinoa, undercooked cabbage, bad red sauce and really lame cheese on top. Yet even if I go to a chain restaurant, I almost always get a dish that is designed to taste good and is executed quickly by someone who knows what they are doing. The more I eat out, the worse my own cooking seems. Combine this with being treated like a valued guest (even McDonald's generally will have a clean table waiting for me) and of course the addictive quality of the food itself...dining out is, for me, a drug habit that I can't seem to kick. Therapy? Sure, when I feel the need for therapy. Mostly it is just much better than the alternative in almost every way.
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