lotus125
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Everything posted by lotus125
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After having finally tried China Chilcano, we returned to Ocopa tonight. I look forward to seeing how China Chilcano evolves, but right now Ocopa is better. Indeed, this was the best of three meals I've had there. Chef Delgado has added a number of new menu items and expanded/created a dessert menu. (On an earlier trip, there was one dessert, which then disappeared). He seems intent on slowly adding more ambitious menu items. We started with a classic ceviche that was perfectly fine, but was eclipsed by several other dishes. A dish of heavily roasted carrots with quinoa was phenomenal -- bright lime on the quinoa, nice spice, and a number of Peruvian flavors that I'm just learning about. (For the poster who asked about vegetarian options, this one should not be missed). A Peruvian take on pea risotto with scallops was stellar. The risotto was unusually rich and bright at the same time, leaving my companion and me to debate whether this was coming from a queso fresco, aji amarillo, or some other magic ingredient. A grilled scallop dish was solid. Our other favorite savory item was a grilled calamari. The calamari was so soft as to almost take on a fudge-like texture. Bites in which we also got tiny tear drop tomatoes had the perfect burst of acid. (The one shortcoming of the dish may be that bites without needed a bit more acid. Perhaps more tomatoes would do it). We split a dessert that was a modernist take on white chocolate, pineapple, and a Peruvian fruit called guanabana. The dessert was great. The ingredients were transformed into a number of textures, including meringue and powder. I often think that chefs like molecular tricks in desserts just to show that they know the tricks. But here I thought that the textures really added to the dish. The food here continues to improve. I can't wait to see what the chef does next.- 26 replies
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Sadly it's just tasting menu now, though they sometimes seem amenable to requests. The restaurant is still terrific, and with many small, light plates, the tasting menu feels less daunting than many others. Definitely worth a return trip.
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I really want to like Iron Gate more than I do. I've had the regular tasting menu and the seven fishes menu they were doing in December. On both occasions, the food was enjoyable, save a few minor technical errors here and there (e.g., an overcooked piece of fish and some undersalting). But no dish rose to the level of my craving more. The front room / bar is one of the most beautiful restaurant spaces in DC. The back room and patio are cozy and lovely. The wine list is nice. I just wish the food were a quarter-notch better.
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I saw Mama Rouge on an Eater list today. I was just curious if folks have been in the past few months?
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I went with some skepticism after a few bad reviews, but I was pleasantly surprised. The food was more interesting than I'd assumed (i.e., more interesting than traditional bistro food, such as Le Diplomate) and quite good. A kind of deconstructed crabcake (crab, soft cooked egg, mustard) with a maybe-pickled salsify and pine nut butter was interesting and delicious. So was a sweet and sour eggplant with middle eastern flavors -- yogurt and sumac. A lemon-saffron pasta with bottarga, squid, and arugula was light and tasty. (The waitress helpfully raised the question whether we would prefer a half order, which it turns out was plenty large). A skate dish (substituted for cod, of which they'd run out), with padron peppers, romesco, and a white bean puree was delicious (though oddly plated with five or six pieces of skate wing and padron peppers placed atop each).
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How does the bar 3-course work? Is there a set menu, or can you order 3 courses off the regular menu?
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Dining in San Francisco
lotus125 replied to ustreetguy's topic in San Francisco Restaurants and Dining
On the non-tasting menu front, I strongly recommend Bar Tartine. Also fun are Nopalito (Mexican food) and Swann Oyster Depot (wait in line to eat at a counter, mostly raw bar). I've loved the Mission Chinese in NYC, but SF is its home. (Intense flavors, hipser/fusion Chinese food). Cotogna is nice for Cal/Ital but not as SF-specific. I hear great things about AQ, Rich Table, Nopa, and State Bird Provisions, but I haven't been yet. If you're inclined to try tasting menus and money is no object, I had an amazing meal at Saison (I thought clearly better than Coi, Sons and Daughters, or Atelier Crenn). Benu is an interesting option as well -- I thought the highs were amazing, but too many dishes were not. -
Has anyone been to Restaurant Eve since it revamped? I have a friend coming to town, who I've taken to Komi before, and I'm trying to think up another DC gem to try. Is Eve going strong again?
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I finally tried Fiola Mare. The short version is that although (as many have noted here) it is pricey and on the formal side, the food was extremely good. The Frutti De Mare platted came with interesting dipping sauces and contained a nice assortment. A crudo of bay scallops with black truffle was delicious and truffley. Crudo of hamachi with lime, ginger, and seabeans was light, creative, and delicious. Still good but not as great as the other starters was a peekytoe crab with roasted tomatoes and yuzu (great use of yuzu) and a burrata with pesto and a vegetable salad (certainly lovely but in need of a bit more salt). We had various pastas (which are fortunately available in half portions). The table consensus was that the best pasta was a smoked potato gnocchi with scallops, peas, and fava -- a mix of smoke and bright spring flavors. I think the second best pasta (loosely defined) was a squid ink risotto with cod tripe (seriously), sea beans, and some other assorted seafood. I would rank third (but still strong) a bucatini with prawns, sea urchin, and espellette. The urchin was subtle but present in the sauce. The prawns were large. The chef's famous lobster ravioli with ginger led to divergent opinions. Several of us (myself included) thought that it was good but felt like it needed another note. One person loved it. It was suggested that the dish would make a good appetizer but that after a few bites you want a new flavor. Dessert was a bit weaker but solid. Baba al rhum was very good. A lemon/coconut/yuzu tort was a bit flat.
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I recently had dinner at Ashby -- my first time back since Tarver King left. Before I describe the meal, an important caveat: I was there on Valentines Day. I know that Valentines can be tough on a kitchen, and I've had some really disappointing meals on VDay (which this was not). So I take my own experience with a grain of a salt. Specifically with regard to Valentines Day, two quick comments -- one praise, one criticism. The praise is that they did not price gouge. The menu was shorter than the normal tasting, but also *less* expensive. Kudos to them. The small criticism is that I wish I'd known in advance that there would be a special VDay menu. I booked about a month out and was not told of this plan (the website listed a "holiday" menu left over from Christmas). Onto the meal: My brief summary (with the Valentines caveat) is that the food was good but not quite as good as my last meal, when the prior chef was there. As always, the room was lovely and the service good. In particular, Neal was great about our bringing wine. We started with a carrot soup with a dollop of cumin foam in the center (substituted for a meatier soup). The soup itself was great. The cumin foam added a good flavor, but I think would have been better as a drizzle across the soup. On its own, the foam was just cumin-y, so it only worked when stirred around. (And it was also slightly over whipped). Next was pickled beet salad, horseradish-beet espuma, blood orange, juniper crumble. Very good. Unfortunately the entrees were weaker. I had seared salmon, granny smith apple, celeriac, walnuts, dill-buttermilk vinaigrette -- a play on salmon with waldorf salad. The salmon itself was not terrific, and the salad was bland. My date initially ordered a vegetarian sunchoke dish, but apparently they were burnt, and our server came over to apologize and offer another vegetarian option. (They also took $40 off the check which was extremely nice). The replacement was potatoes and mushrooms (I think chanterelles) over an arugula or watercress sauce. Sauce was nice, but the dish was otherwise flat. They served carrots and parsnips on the side that were rather bland and unremarkable. One dessert was blue cheesecake, beet foam, rosemary shortbread. I loved the use of blue cheese and other savory flavors. The texture was a bit off. The other was apple, fuji financier cake, some kind of sorbet (not the cheddar ice cream on the online menu) and apple brandy foam. This was very good. As I sad, an enjoyable meal but not the same level as our last one. Especially because it was Valentines Day, however, I'm looking forward to going back.
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I had yet another great meal at Rose's. I'm sad that the spouts came off the menu already, but the chicken fried oysters, crawfish, and a langostine special were welcome additions. I'm curious to hear people's thoughts about the waits. The other week, by 7 they were done taking names. When I went on Saturday, by 5:45 they quoted me a 3-4 hour wait for a two-top. (It ended up being only 2-hours, which led to a harried scramble back from across town). I was told that people have started lining up before they open. I suppose I have three questions about this. First, although I really love Rose's, I'm really wrestling with whether it's worth lining up or a 3+ hour wait. I'll periodically do it for Little Serow, but that food is far more unusual. Rose's is really good, but I'm not sure if I'm floored enough to be exited about an all-night wait. Thoughts? Second, any good ideas for customers' dealing with those waits. The upstairs bar is nice but small and, I'm not sure I want to drink for 3+ hours before dinner. Other favorite places nearby to hang out? Third, are there good solutions on the restaurant's end? Should they have an online system for giving names? Raise prices? Take reservations? I look forward to people's thoughts.
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I tried the newly-opened Catch 15. The menu looked pretty unfocused, but it is close to a friend's office and takes reservations, so we figured we'd give it a try. It was profoundly mediocre. We sampled about 10 dishes and all were a solid "eh." I wouldn't ordinarily even post, but because it's new, I figured that I'd pass along word: don't bother.
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- Downtown
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I normally love Mintwood. Unfortunately, I had a very different experience from Barbara. When I made a reservation, I was not told that they'd extended RW and were only doing an RW menu. To be fair, their RW menu covered much of their menu but was missing my favorite -- the beet mountain pie. More importantly, though, it was just a different restaurant. They were turning over tables very quickly, and the food was below par. Several dishes were dramatically underseasoned or had other big technical flaws. It felt like the chef went on vacation and the kitchen's b-team was just mass producing dishes without tasting them. Because I've had many good meals there before, I'll certainly return. But this leaves me wary of going anywhere around restaurant week, and I lost some respect for the Mintwood team.
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Thank you both. I sadly discovered it just before Tarver King left. I'll have to try it again under the new chef (and try Tarver's new place).
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Has anyone been since the new chef started?
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Has anyone been since Tarver King came? How is it? Any suggestions of nice inns nearby? Thanks!
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Rose's is terrific. I've been four times since they opened. Gorgeous and warm space. Friendly service. Creative but homey food. I wish I lived next door!
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I went with a large group and had a pretty disappointing meal. First the high points: Everyone loved the biscuits. I thought the fish and chips were excellent. After that, it was hit and miss, at best. The cole slaw was strong. The mashed potatoes and mac and cheese were disappointing (entirely undersalted, but even adding salt only helped so much). Chicken got ok but not very good reviews. The donuts were a mixed bag. And service was not good. The place has great potential, but the meal was really disappointing.
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Bill is a gem. I think he's been there for years; has just transitioned into the som job.
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Sorry about that. ISI is the company that makes the ubiquitous whipped cream canisters that chefs use to make foams. http://www.isi.com/us/culinary They are most often "charged" (pressurized with) nitrous oxide, but can also be charged with carbon dioxide like a soda siphon. Depending on what goes in the canister, chefs can use different chemicals (and sometimes vary temperatures) to create different consistency foams. (And by charging a batter, they can create very airy cakes!).
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We tried Rose's tonight and really enjoyed it. The space is gorgeous. The service terrific. The food is difficult to shoe-horn into a single cuisine but, to varying degrees, it was interesting and very good. Some of my favorites were oysters with a dark and stormy granita; a vegetarian sausage with lychee and habenero (also had coconut foam and thai basil i think -- great thai flavors); popcorn soup (really tastes like pureed movie popcorn, put into an isi, with lobster); and spaghetti with strawberry and ricotta (great use of onion in it -- really worked). I also liked the caramelized cauliflower, eggplant, and shrimp with rice grits. Had two cocktails that were good.
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I went to Ripple with a group this week. It continues to be strong but higher variance than in the old days. One huge improvement is the beverage program. Ripple used to have interesting-sounding cocktails that often disappoint. Now, the list seems focused on twists on the classics. We sampled three, and they were all good. (And the wine by the glass program remains very good). In terms of food, excellent items included Spice-roasted beets with smoked egg, frozen yogurt, and pickled radish; Sweet corn soup with smoked mussels; and perhaps the table favorite was Spinach tortellini with hon-shimeji mushrooms, garrotxa, and pine nuts. We also enjoyed crispy rappahannock oysters with yuzu shiso, sour gherkin, and pickled radish, but the yuzu and shiso got lost, and one person's fried oyster had some bits of shell in it. Several dishes were unfortunately weaker: Carrot cavatelli with lobster, oyster mushrooms, and fava beans was one of the most disappointing pastas I've had at Ripple. The dish was fine, but I barely tasted carrot or favas. It tasted like an Italian pasta dish with a ton of shellfish (and there was a bit of acid or garlic that nudged it towards an almost-Chinese flavor). Well below the great pastas I've had at Ripple. Dukkah crusted tilefish with eggplant and roasted heirloom tomatoes was a nice idea, but just didn't work. And seared duck breast was unfortunately overcooked and cut with the grain, making it tough. We split two desserts that were very good. The star was basil pound cake, with sweet corn ice cream and cayenne cashew brittle was great. The basil was subtle but came through. The corn ice cream was surprising, even by standards of corn ice cream; it was not very sweet, and had bits of fresh corn. We were hoping to get ice cream sandwiches but were told that they are only served at the bar. Given that they make the ice cream sandwiches, I don't quite understand why they aren't served on the menu too.
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That is sad. What a talented chef. I wonder where he will go next.
