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lotus125

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Everything posted by lotus125

  1. lotus125
    Agree on the carrots. FYI, the porgy is great. And for another pescatarian option, the mushroom entree can be done without the chicken skins.
  2. lotus125
    We went to the soft open (full disclosure: food was comped). The place has huge potential. The space is gorgeous. The service is great, save a few hiccups that are to be expected on day -1 of a new restaurant. And the food was generally delicious and interesting. I'll post a more detailed review once I've eaten there again.
  3. lotus125
    Hong Kong Pearl is solid. For a much less traditional experience, have you tried Maketto's dim sum?
  4. lotus125
    I'll do a longer combined writeup of a few meals at Kinship soon. But there is one thing worth noting about the chocolate chip cookie dough souffle for the table: It's not really for the table -- unless you are dining alone or just want a small, sweet bite to finish. It's labeled as for the table and costs $24. But it's an entirely normal-size souffle; I think a bit smaller than the ones at Fiola Mare. It has two quenelles of ice cream on the side. Indeed, since souffles are mostly air, it's an especially odd dessert to call for the table. Very tasty. But quite surprising and a bit of a rip off compared to the rest of Kinship's price point.
  5. lotus125
    There's a lovely bar and little front lounge. Dry Furmint / Tokaji is really interesting. At its driest, it has a sweet nose but tastes bone dry. Ever have "Y" d'Yquem? But it sometimes has a mildly honeyed taste and some residual sugar -- more like semi-dry Vouvray.
  6. lotus125
    JoshNE, just FYI, I've heard that the Ocopa chef is now at China Chilcano.
  7. lotus125
    After reading a glowing review on Tyler Cowen's blog, I had extremely high hopes. Unfortunately my dinner was mostly just "OK," and we left a bit unsatisfied. After a confused conversation with the server about how many items to order (more below on service), we ordered two "planches," two small plates, and one large plate for the table. One planche was a mix of vegetable items: The highlight was curried cucumber. Eggplant-tomato ratatouille was pretty good. Shishito peppers were as expected, though perhaps a bit undersalted. Celery root pastrami could have used more pastrami flavors. The other planche was a seafood assortment: The mussels escabeche were very good -- certainly the best bite of food of the night. Fluke ceviche was tasty. Smoke blue catfish rilletes tasted like any ok-but-not-great smoked fish salad. Sweet and sour prawns with fennel confit and citrus glaze was too much sweet, not enough sour. The prawns were large, mildly underseasoned, and just tasted of sweet, orange glaze. This was the worst dish of the night. Escargot with puff pastry and garlic bechamel was better. My dining companion noted that the puff pastry was either undercooked or soggy in places. But the dish was otherwise very tasty. We split the "small" bouillabaisse. They did a good a job solving the all-too-common problem of fish being overcooked in bouillabaisse. I assume that they cooked each fish component separately then combined with the larger bowl of broth at the end. But I just wanted more flavor. It needed salt. It lacked the strong garlic flavor you usually find in bouillabaisse (or its accompaniments). The other wrinkle was service. It's calling itself a popup, so easy enough to excuse the service, but: Our server was hard to communicate with. She didn't understand some of our questions. And some of her explanations were hard to follow. This led to a who's-on-first back and forth about how many dishes to get. She also curiously told us that in the category of entrees for 2-4 people, the smaller bouillabaisse was for 1. (Fortunately we went with the small, which was easily for 2). She gave next to no detail on various items. (We listened in to the waiter talking at the next table to learn more) She often just tossed items onto the table, e.g., place settings left haphazardly and an upside down menu. Other servers seemed better, though we were not the only ones who couldn't track down a server to order additional drinks. I'll certainly come back. But i think it needs time to come into its own. (And I may wait for the menu to turn over a bit).
  8. lotus125
    The online menu seems rather out of date. Has anyone been recently? Is the menu turning towards Fall flavors?
  9. lotus125
    Don't miss the cauliflower blanc-manger, tabbouleh. It's a brilliant dish -- the beet mountain pie of Convivial.
  10. lotus125
    I totally agree with JoshNE,
  11. lotus125
    A Yelp reviewer reports that Ancora is not reopening.
  12. lotus125
    This has become one of my favorite DC-area places. What a tremendous loss. RJ, I really hope that you reopen in another location.
  13. lotus125
    I think their wine pairings have always been great. But I'm confident that the current team would not leave your glass empty if you wanted it filled. The pairings are often interesting and the pours (and top offs) generous. Give them another try.
  14. lotus125
    I agree with Deac. The food is as great as ever, but I think there are fewer small bites than there used to be. I also miss the full-sized pasta course and the plated cheeses they used to do as a pre-dessert.
  15. lotus125
    Any recent visits to Table? I'm curious about how the new chef is doing.
  16. lotus125
    Ocopa is in a league of its own on H Street -- many tricks, almost all great.
  17. lotus125
    This is absolutely not a knock on RJ and concededly a slight detour off topic, but just a general comment: I really like when restaurants keep their menus updated. We can know when there are new things to try. And we can decide where we want to eat tonight by looking at what is actually being cooked. I gather that restaurants have different philosophies on this. RJ's usually seem pretty up to date. Fiola Mare does a brilliant job with this; they change their menu daily and update their website to match. (On multiple occasions, my girlfriend and I have been drawn to a post-work dinner at Fiola Mare just because we glanced at the menu and it called to us). In contrast, for quite awhile, Ocopa hardly ever updated their online menu. I never know if the menu has turned over until I decide that it's been a little while and I'll go again. (I notice that this may now be changing at Ocopa).
  18. lotus125
    Made a reservation and went last night -- just in case we wouldn't have another chance. Excellent as always. Place seemed very busy. Great smoked tuna dip and fried green tomatoes with pimento cheese. Great soft shell crabs with succotash. Solid (but not as great) salmon with yogurt, smoked cucumber, and pea hush puppies: Salmon was perfectly cooked -- crispy skin but rare on inside. Smoked cucumber didn't taste smokey. If the dish were plated differently, i.e. more overlap of the ingredients so that the yogurt was on everything, it would have had more punch. (A bit more salt would have helped too). Side/small plate of grilled apricots was a tasty salad with excellent tarragon, almond pesto underneath.
  19. lotus125
    Flight is an underappreciated gem. The wine list is quite extensive, very well priced, and full of interesting and unusual options. They have an extensive by the glass list (around 40 or so wines), which is probably the longest and most comprehensive in DC. They have many thematic flights, good bottles in the $40-$60 range (and some above that), and some slightly higher end bottles (around $100-$200) available to taste by Coravin. While I haven't eaten there in awhile, the food I've had was quite good.
  20. lotus125
    Any recent experiences here?
  21. lotus125
    After a very good, early meal here, I've been back twice and had varied experiences. The place has a great vibe. The wine list is interesting. And the desserts I've had have all been great. (Make sure to get the plated cheese!) I've had much more mixed experiences with the rest of the food. I loved the hamachi and tuna tataki on my first visit. But on subsequent visits, the tuna tataki sauce was less smokey and a bit gritty; and the hamachi sauce tasted too mayonaisey. I found the banh xeo (vietemese vegetable crepe) to be dull -- the kind of thing that would be an impressive vegetarian dish at a dinner party. The katafi wrapped fluke was very tasty, but the fish was a bit dry -- a combination of being slightly overcooked and there not being much of the delicious sauce on the plate. I've enjoyed the scallop and salmon items that are on the menu, but was not wowed at all. I have high hopes for the this place. And I'm encouraged by Astrid's, DMVdining's, and Mark's reviews. But, unfortunately, my last two visits were not as good as theirs.
  22. lotus125
    We recently tried the new location, having been to the Richmond and Fredericksburg locations a few times. We got most of the standard go-tos -- bubble pancake, dry fry eggplant, and bamboo fish (we let the mapo tofu go, to try on another trip). All were very good, though I thought the eggplant was a bit weaker than I recalled from past trips --not as much seasoning. We tried two new (to us) dishes, which were great successes. One (for those looking for entrees) was flounder with eggplant and pickled peppers; great acid, plenty of spice but bearable. Perhaps our favorite, however, was the grandma's noodles appetizer. These deceptively simple noodles appeared dry, with a bit of oil, vinegar, and soy pooled below, and some chili dusted on top. This was a truly elegant dish, with subtle floral notes and delicate acid, up against the simple palate of dry noodles.
  23. lotus125
    These aren't standard scallion pancakes, but they are a standard Chang item. And yes, they are served with a curry sauce.
  24. lotus125
    Fiola Mare hasn't gotten a lot of attention on this Board, so I just wanted to put in a quick post. I've had a number of recent dinners here that were very good. Strong appetizers (e.g., prosciutto made with swordfish, and clever preparations of burrata). Excellent pastas. Very well done simple grilled fish. Good desserts and cocktail program. I also appreciate that they change their menu often. It's certainly not cheap, but it is putting out very good food.
  25. lotus125
    I hate to dissent from the recent dissent, but I just had a very good meal there. One so-so appetizer special; a very good salmon tartare; good mussels as always; and two excellent entrees -- smokey swordfish and whole branzino. The prices are high and the food has some variance. But Blacksalt is still able to put out great food. I hope that they read this board and focus on consistency.
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