lotus125

I was excited to hear that Chef Frank Ruta opened a new restaurant. I very much liked Palena the couple of times that I went. I've tried all of Chef Ruta's restaurants since, with varied reactions. The one in Georgetown at the Capella Hotel was delicious and beautiful but super expensive. The one at 16th/M was a bit underwhelming. I like Annabelle, but I wish it were a bit more laid back and less expensive. I understand that Rosedale is trying to fit a more casual and less expensive model, perhaps reviving something like the front room at Palena. Appetizers are mostly in the $15-$20 range, with pastas and pizzas in the low to mid 20s and proteins in the 30s and 40s. The wine list has a lot of variety, with most bottles coming in under $100 and quite a few well below that. The restaurant interior is very nice. Although housed in a nondescript office or apartment building on Connecticut Avenue, the dining room buildout includes a large open kitchen, lots of wood accents, and just enough pops of color. And in contrast to several recently-opened restaurants, the noise levels were fine, i.e., no difficulty having a conversation with my tablemate. Unfortunately, we had a ton of service glitches. After a somm or manager took our wine order, our waitress seems to have just assumed that he'd taken our food order. He had not. After we waited for quite awhile and nursed our wine, our waitress then introduced herself, answered menu questions, and took the order. We then had a 20+ minute lag after appetizers. We kept trying to get someone's attention but couldn't catch anyone's eye. We finally flagged down a host who was seating a nearby table, and he then told us he'd find our server. It looks like they entirely forgot to fire our entrees. Surprising for a restaurant opened by a group that has great staff and can presumably bring experienced servers over. But the restaurant is fairly new, and I trust that service will improve. We enjoyed the food, but it didn't quite live up to some of Chef Ruta's prior work. Potato and smoked cheddar croquettes were delicious, served with a mayo and sambal. If I had my druthers, the mashed potato interior would have been more salted. And I'd have loved more smoked cheddar. But that's just a matter of preference. A brassicas salad was a cold salad mostly made of up raw or al dente cauliflower, with a few cooked bits of cauliflower as well. It had a delightful dressing that perhaps included chili oil. My partner was surprised that it was served cold rather than room temperature. I liked the temperature, though I could see including more cooked cauliflower to balance the very al dente bits. Butternut Ravioli was quite tasty but needed salt. And what was described as "black trumpet" was a dark mash on the dish that added some contrast but was not notably mushroomy. The tidal basin pizza was described as having clams, fennel, and smoked ricotta. To the extent that there was fennel, it was a stringy topping that, in better spots, tasted like fried onions but on much of the pizza was just burnt. I don't recall any notable smokey taste in the cheese. The crust was fine but nothing of note. A grilled trout was very well cooked and quite tasty. For dessert, a poached pair was entirely non-descript, but the accompanying creme fresh or sour cream ice cream was very good. The apple pie ice cream with cheddar crumble was ok, but without much if any cheddar taste. I'm glad to have tried Rosedale and to have another decent option in that area. I wouldn't rush back any time soon. But particularly given the stellar team, I'm cautiously optimistic that it will improve. I'll give it at least few months and will return.

We tried the newly-opened La' Shukran -- the new restaurant / bar / lounge from Chef Michael Rafidi and William Simons (of Albi and Yellow), and Radovan Jankovic. The short version: Excellent food. Very good beverage, service, and atmosphere except . . . the music was WAY TOO LOUD. We arrived for an early reservation and started looking around for the entrance. For those who go to the restaurant, the inclusion of "Alley" in the address is significant. By the street address (minus the word "alley") is what looks a bit like a big, heavy metal door. But the door doesn't open. (The restaurant is up a flight of stairs. I wonder if that might be a service entrance with an elevator. I meant to ask and forgot.) The entrance is on an alley that is behind the building and runs parallel to the street. There is a sign by the front address, but we initially missed it until someone else pointed it out. Perhaps making it more prominent would be helpful. The entrance is up a long flight of stairs. (I assume and hope that there's an accessible entrance and elevator somewhere.) People were lined up on the stairs for several minutes as they waited to talk to a hostess. The restaurant has a walk-in bar and roof deck, and it seems like the back up was more about taking names and estimating waits for those spaces than it was any delay in seating people with reservations. But this led to some confusion from people lined up on the staircase about whether everyone should be in line or people with reservations should go to the top. (The social consensus ended up being that everyone should wait in the single line. But there was at least one snippy exchange when a pair walked past the line without asking if everyone there was waiting to give a name. One person explained that there is a line. The possible line cutters announced they had a reservation. Several people in the line said they did too. The now apparent line cutters asked what time other people's reservations were, apparently suggesting that because their reservation was 10 minutes ago, they should walk to the top. Others said that they were in the same boat, and the confirmed line cutters got on line.) I'm not sure how the restaurant should address this, but it's a small issue worth thinking about. The confusion was odd. And it's not great to wait on line for more than a couple of minutes when you have a reservation, particularly when the line is on a long staircase. There's probably not room up top to shuffle people without reservations into a waiting area and prevent a backup on the staircase. They could try having two lines -- one for reservations and one for walk-ins -- and perhaps using a sign or having a staff member direct traffic. Or, as is the case at Death & Co., Amazonia, and some other places with stairway entrances, they could try to set up a host stand at the bottom of the stairs to take names from walk-ins. Once we got to the top of the line, we were quickly seated. With the exception of the music volume, discussed below, the vibe is really nice. I don't have the decorative vocabulary to name the style. But picture brightly colored booths and rugs, fringe-lined lamps, checkered tile floors, and actually reasonable lighting. It may read to some as a little contrived (cf. Le Diplomate), but we liked it. Everyone received a cocktail menu. (We've noticed that in many restaurants, there's just one cocktail menu on the table. Fine for very standard cocktails, but mildly annoying when everyone has to read the cocktail descriptions. Presumably a single menu also slows down drink orders and table turns.) There's a category of Arak cocktails (a middle-eastern, anise / licorice flavored liquor) and a category of other, middle-eastern inspired cocktails. Drinks ranged from very good to great. There's also a terrific wine list. Like Albi, it includes a lot of natural wines and other unusual choices. But for those who prefer, there are some more classic options. And wines cover a range of prices. The staff was very helpful in navigating both the cocktail list and wine list. Service was also otherwise great. Despite being the restaurant's third full day (with two more days of soft opening before that), our server knew the menu well. He responded to a few dietary restrictions by flagging an unlisted ingredient in one dish and flagging modifications that could be done for other dishes. He flagged when an order included one fewer pieces than people at the table, and he asked if wanted an extra. Water glasses were constantly refilled. Our server came back frequently enough to be helpful, but it never felt intrusive. When one diner asked if the "Moroccan mint" also contains tea, he said that it does (a bit of green tea) but immediately offered to prepare just plain mint. All very well done. The food was excellent. A melon salad drew heat from chili oil and a light, smoky flavor from smoked feta. The falafel was accompanied by trout roe and surprisingly stuffed with what seemed like cheese (though, per the menu, might have been yogurt?), yielding table consensus that they were like terrific, elevated mozzarella sticks. Although good, people were surprised by the proportions on the sesame baguette and smoked labne: lots of (very good) baguette and just a bit of labne. I think it's meant to be more like a bread with accompanying butter than a labne delivery vehicle. Tuna kibbeh naya drew comments that ranged from good to great; it read to some as delicious and meaty and to others (disclosure: not me) as just a tad too simple. Hummus with smoky escargot was terrific and one of the table favorites. Those who ate the sweet and sour sweetbread thought it was among the less successful dishes, commenting that the mustard glaze overpowered the dish. A vegetarian version of the burnt eggplant dumplings was another table favorite, bathed in a delicious broth and surrounded by preserved tomatoes. The rockfish with chermoula was itself solid, but the accompanying broth and other ingredients (I think potatoes and beans) were great. A side salad slightly divided the table: all agreed it was good, but some really liked it a lot and others thought it was not as exceptional as several other dishes. The triple cooked batata are basically like large, deli fries, accompanies by a fantastic bernaise-based sauce (picture bright mayonnaise). Foie gras with beignets drew varied comments. Everyone loved the beignets (which would be great on the dessert menu, by the way). Those who ate the foie liked it but split on whether it paired well with the excellent accompanying beignets. For dessert, the knafeh was delicious and exceedingly cheesy (I think they said it has mozzarella in it?). Despite a table debate when ordering about whether a mahalabiya sundae would be boring, all agreed that it was terrific. Madelines slightly divided the table, but within a spectrum of solid to very good. Small bites were tasty, though we wished that we could order specific ones rather than the pre-set assortment. As flagged, the big issue is the music volume. When we first walked in, we noticed the loud music and asked if perhaps we could sit on the patio instead. We were told that the patio has the same music volume and that there's an hour wait for the patio, so we took our seats. From an Instagram post, we now wonder if they also just serve drinks on the patio; one of us thinks that the hostess said something like that but we missed it while all standing under a speaker. At the table, we had to raise our voices to talk, and those not next to each other occasionally missed what was said. And, unfortunately, the music got louder as the night went on. To be clear, the issue was not acoustics. During certain songs or between songs, it sounded like a standard, slightly loud restaurant. I suspect that some on this board (and Tom Sietsema) might find that louder than they'd like, but it was nothing out of the norm. We also liked the music itself. It read like middle-eastern disco, with a sometimes techno vibe (again, I'm lacking the vocabulary here). We found ourselves bopping along. In the moments that songs naturally dropped in volume, it was really nice. But wow, the volume. All four of us (in our early to mid-40s, without any other notable signs of hearing loss) kept hoping that they'd turn down the volume just a bit. At least one person said their ears hurt. I'm not sure how accurate these are, but someone tried two different online decibel meters on her phone, and they both read around 110 decibels, describing this as "nightclub" or "subway." After we left, several people said their ears were ringing a bit. We wondered what will happen when Tom Sietsema comes in. He's recognized at virtually every restaurant. Given the excellent front of house team here, there's no way this will be an exception. And he famously complains about dining rooms being too loud. (I vaguely recall his docking Tail Up Goat when it first opened for its acoustics. And he now brings a decibel meter and notes the noise level at the bottom of his reviews.) Will they turn down the volume when they inevitably spot him? Will he just categorize this as a bar or nightclub with restaurant-worthy food? Or will he write a long review about noise run amok? After dessert, although we wanted another drink, several people said they needed to escape the noise. On our way out, we poked our heads onto the patio, and it was notably quieter (and otherwise lovely!) We went to a nearby restaurant and ordered a bottle of wine. There was significant discussion of whether, when, and how we'd return. Thinking (perhaps mistakenly) that they serve dinner on the roof patio, all agreed that they'd come early, give a name, and eat on the patio. I think one person said that she couldn't bear to eat in the dining room unless or until she learned that they had lowered the music volume a bit. Others said that they'd return but perhaps only in pairs where they could sit closer and hoping that reviews might encourage the restaurant to take down the volume.

We tried Dogon. Short version: Very good food, with small plates notably better than large plates. Slightly underwhelming drinks. So so service. Atmosphere not our taste. First, the food. The menu is divided into "Small Share," "Large Share," and "Bread." We tried four of the Small Shares and liked them all. The Piri Piri Salad was an avocado stuffed with tomato and some other fruit; very light and bright. Everyone liked it a lot. Same with a toro dish, the name of which I don't recall. People were slightly divided on the Hoe Crab, which is basically a crab dish (with flavors and other ingredients that I don't recall) with small hoe cakes on the side. In my view, the crab was really good and the hoe cakes just ok. The Carrot Tigua brought up the rear. Too much char and lacking in brightness. But solid. At this point in the meal, we were pretty impressed. We tried both breads. The Corn Bread was great, though the accompanying Shiro Butter was just ok. The Coco Bread was itself just ok -- rolls with nice texture but lacking a notable coco (coconut) flavor. But the accompanying sorghum butter was great. We then tried three Large Shares. The Steamed Branzino was the table winner. Rich sauce and good use of okra and callalloo (a Caribbean green). Braised Cabbage was just ok. Surprisingly small for a "large plate." And the cabbage itself was pretty soft, missing out on a chance for char and other texture. Everyone found the Lobster Escovitch to be disappointing. Basically just a split grilled lobster with peppers and onions. Some bites of the lobster were a bit fishy. The cooking was fine but inconsistent, with some parts of the lobster overcooked. And despite the kitchen's excellent sauce abilities, the dish was a bit bland. The portion sizes are not huge, despite the apparent intention to share. We had four small plates, three large plates, and two breads -- more than our waitress suggested we order. We were hungry at the end. And, as discussed below, we also wanted more drinks at the end. So we went to another restaurant for a round of cocktails and snacks. Drinks were a bit underwhelming. This seems like an area that they can easily fix. The list includes many low or non-alcoholic options, though we did not try any of them. The Astronomer and Fly Away were our favorites. The Sorrel Rickey was not great. Nothing else jumped out at us, and we decided to forgo a second round and get wine. The wine list is not super expensive. But not particularly interesting. Our server (discussed below) told us that there is no somm. But she sent over someone else in front of house who seemed to know the list reasonably well, and he was quite helpful. Service was just ok. Hopefully this is just new restaurant hiccups. Our server was nice and obviously trying. But she had a hard time describing some of the menu items and was hard to flag down. All of the dishes are meant for sharing. But we had to keep requesting serving utensils. And when our waitress finally brought utensils for our three large plates, she brought just a single spoon. (We asked for more, and she eventually came back with others.) Also surprising was that they didn't bring new sharing plates between courses. It also took quite awhile to flag down our waitress about ordering more drinks and then for her to send over someone who knew the wine list. We likely would have had several bottles if that had been faster. Instead, we ordered one bottle and drank most of it after we had finished all of our food. I hope that this will improve as the restaurant finds its feet. Unfortunately, the atmosphere is just not to our taste. It's on the dark and clubby side. And it's sufficiently loud that we had to keep raising our voices. Much of the noise is just loud music. I know that some people like that vibe. But not our thing. In case it's relevant, we are all in our early to mid-40s. So perhaps noise bothers us more than some others. But this is notably louder than lots of other restaurants. I hope that they at least try lowering the music volume.

What a pity. Bar Spero was really good. And unlike so many other places, not cookie cutter. I feared this outcome whenever I saw the cavernous dining room empty on a weekday, when they experimented with brunch, and when they rolled out a tasting menu. I'd hoped that this was baked into the business plan and that they had a great lease deal that would let them survive without being full. This is really disappointing. I wonder if it's a bit of wrong place (both DC and the giant downtown space) and wrong time. I hope that Chef Spero will open/reopen a similar sort of restaurant but perhaps in a smaller space where it could survive with fewer covers. Reverie is great. But Bar Spero scratche(d/s) a very different itch!

Just bumping this up as the board has gotten a little bit more active. I'm still not sure how to think about using inKind credit.

And 2Amys has also opened a sidewalk eatery out front.

Sorry to veer away from the Bar del Monte discussion (which is great, btw; echoing everything that jca and Marty said). But is it true that there haven't been new members in years?? This Board is great. It's also slowed down -- I think starting in the pandemic? I realize that we're all to blame for not posting more. But here's hoping that we can get new blood.

FWIW, the thing that mothers me most about Pascual is their often loud dining room. They now have a lovely patio that is far quieter.

I just miss the smoked catfish fried rice (in case anyone on the ChiKo team reads DR).

Pascual opened a few weeks ago. https://www.pascualdc.com/ It's a Mexican restaurant by the team that runs Lutece (one of my favorites in DC). Despite some occasional new restaurant hiccups, it's strong right out of the gate. Definitely not cookie cutter Mexican food. The menu is interesting and includes a lot of vegetable dishes. All very well executed. My only big nit is the dessert menu. In my view, the desserts at Lutece are the best in DC -- conceptually interesting and perfectly executed. Given that incredible pastry talent, I expected Pascual to have great desserts too. But, unfortunately, the desserts at Pascual are a bit dull and far less delicious than the savory dishes. I'm hoping that once the restaurant hits its stride, that will change.

We attempted to go to Philotimo but were unsuccessful: Tock showed availability, but the moment that reservation was within 30 minutes, it disappeared with a message that Tock won't book within 30 minutes. No problem, we'll call. But the phone kept going to an automated system that said the office is closed. (We tried various iterations of typing "0" or entering "front desk," but no luck.) So we decided to swing by. The person at the host stand seemed perplexed by a walkin, and someone else came over to say "we're full." No suggestion that we could wait, eat at the bar, or similar. Oh well, it happens. On our way out, just to be helpful, we flagged that the phone was going directly to voicemail. With no sense of apology, they drying noted "the phone in broken." Oh well. We then drove to Padaek and had a very good dinner. I'm not holding it against them. But hardly a model of front of house. Here's hoping that our next attempt is more successful and that the food is worth the effort!

In the last few months, three upscale Greek restaurants opened (or reopened) in DC: Philotimo (reopened downtown, from Chef Nicholas Stefanelli); Limani (by the Wharf); and Balos (by Dupont). Has anyone tried any (or hopefully many) of them? I haven't seen any reviews. It'd be nice to have something like Nostos but ideally a mix of closer to DC proper, less expensive, and/or a bit more innovative.

Thanks Don. I'd love to hear more detail about your meal there.

Apologies if this isn't the board for this question, but I didn't see another good fit, and I'm particularly interested in thoughts from people in the DC-area restaurant industry. There's a now-common service/app/restaurant funding company called inKind. Basically (I think), the company fronts cash to restaurants and then sells restaurant credit, often at a discount (the more credit you buy, the greater the discount). When diners eat at participating restaurants, they pay the bill through the app; the tip (or service charge) goes on the diner's credit card while the rest off the bill comes out of inKind credit. Since many DC (and I assume other) restaurants participate, I assume that restaurants like the funding model to get upfront cash and that it may drive traffic. But how do restaurants experience a diner's use of the app? Is it good to pay down the credit? Or does it deprive the restaurant of cashflow, i.e., a large check takes credit off the books but doesn't directly put money into the bank account? If people with inKind accounts want to be considerate to restaurants, should they use inKind sometimes but just pay by credit card other times? Or does it not matter? I'm hoping that some of the industry folks who post here might have thoughts. Thanks!

Apologies if I missed a thread that already exists about Xiquet. Has anyone been?