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Well if you're listening... I would second darkstar's post above after my own experience. Efficiency to the point of coldness is off putting. The food was satisfying but the overall experience was lacking. Hard to get mad given the price points, and it is certainly a full meal, but as someone who doesn't live in the neighborhood it's the kind place I won't be back to unless other's insist. At least not for a while. (on the plus side, my last two trips to BGR have been the best I've ever had there. service and food have really stepped up there.)

I hope no one invested in dark mahogany futures

If ever, it is sporadic. That's why I was asking where people get theirs.

Bumping on account of today's Washingtonian blog post. Brisketheads: are these the places you pick up your product? Is $5/lb at Wegman's as good as I can get? I want to play with smoking briskets (and not the lean cut obviously) but it would be easier to justify if I'm not making a $50 mistake every time...

The November Van Winkle shipment seems to have trickled into parts of Maryland but I haven't heard anything about any of the DC retailers receiving things.

Ink in the NYT can do wonders for a restaurant (so can a visit from Guy and his cameras, but such is life). This much ink for a restaurant hit piece doesn't seem to do anyone any good. His groupies are still going to visit... haters gone hate and all that. Sysyco food, merch, name recognition, and house brewed beer should give the joint a fighting chance to stay afloat off the tourists. Everyone else will stay away. I must be getting old. I'd rather see the column space be used for saying something nice about a deserving restaurant in a city full of them.

Ever bought a 6-pack in one of the Verizon Center suites? That makes the hotel price sound like a bargain. I've never been to any of the DHA locations in the area - do they really not have anything on tap that is not already available in bottles?

The expansion is complete. There is now a second room connected to the original dining area. By day it operates as "Kafe Bohem" doing the cafe/coffee shop thing. At night it turns into an additional dining room. I had not eaten at BB since early into their opening. If last night is any indication they are slowly but surely moving in the right direction. My chicken schnitzel was hot, crispy, and properly seasoned. I'm not sure why they felt the need to garnish it (and the potato salad it came with) with a creamy mayo sauce but whatever. A similarly rich cream sauce was a moat for an appetizer of three pierogies that are doughier than my preference but as I understand it's proper for the style of food they're aiming for here. The food might be a work in progress here but the drink list is really well done - there are a lot of twists of traditional cocktails using fairly unconventional (but proper for the restaurant) ingredients. The Becherovka Old Fashioned and the Absinthe Gin Fizz are both great 'training wheels' cocktails for people curious in either liquor.

Another option is to contribute on the MurrayAid website. You can also see the list of establishments throwing similar affairs. The Passenger is in pretty good company.

I am posting this from my phone so I apologize for the lack of links, but... Noted Seattle-area bartender Murray Stenson is of poor health with a heart condition, and as a Restaurant Employee, he is without health insurance to cover his needed procedure. After a week of spontaneous donations from concerned individuals, the fundraising drives have started across the country. Tomorrow The Passenger will be donating 10% of all sales and all tips to the cause. If you are having a post work drink (or multiple) you should absolutely consider coming here.

The side order of summer squash, green goddess, chorizo, smoked almonds we had last night was a revelation, and at $5 it felt like highway robbery. In DC you could charge 2x that at any small plates joint and still have people going bonkers over it. Just a really great side. Similarly, the pistachio cream pie with marshmallow cream and pineapple sherbert gave me one of those ratatouille childhood flashback moments despite being way cheffier than anything my house ever saw. The goat cheese gratin still is (1) underseasoned and (2) not a gratin. it's a bland slightly goat-y mac and cheese, which doesn't even make sense since there is another (yellow, Tillamook) mac and cheese on the menu. If people drive from DC hoping for a Volt-level meal they're going to be inevitably disappointed here. It's not trying to be high end and service is at the level you should expect of the high school kids working the floor. But with the right perspective this is a great stop for upscale diner style food in large portions at reasonable prices. If you're in the neighborhood, it's absolutely worth the stop.

These two are perfect for each other.

Oh god. You have no idea. Thanks for the fun and detailed post. Now I'm homesick!

After making 18 pounds of sausage this last weekend, KitchenAid, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down. Can anyone recommend a sausage stuffer that moves at a faster clip than 1 inch/minute?

The amount of shrimp and oysters in the fried seafood po boys we got were just ridiculous - basically a seafood platter with some bread. It was to the point where I almost questioned where that seafood is coming from. If it wasn't the former Louisiana Seafood Exchange I probably would have asked. There are plenty of places closer, but I was happy to have randomly been in that neck of the woods.

I'm curious about this too. I've gone to a few shows at Black Cat on Sunday night and I've seen the aftermath of Masa 14 and El Centro's bottomless brunches. People are going hard.

From the yelp site: Only a shimmering smorgasbord of stuff that'll change your life: Nifty new friends, über-local gatherings, invites to fun (and free!) parties at least once a month, and a shiny profile badge. Most importantly, you'll join the ranks of some of the most influential tastemakers on the site and in your city. Desperately seeking schwag? You'll have first dibs on everything from Yelp sunglasses and lip balm to sweatbands and temporary tattoos. Represent! WHERE IS MY DON ROCKWELL LIP BALM.

They've altered the service so that if you're eating in servers will offer to collect your meal tickets and present you with a check at your table - no more pile up at the front register unless you choose to check out that way or you're doing take out.

Sounds like it might have been a doberge cake. Co-sign on that ginger iced coffee. It's a great idea and perfect in this weather.

Best meal I had last weekend was at Cochon and it wasn't particularly close. The fried oyster and meat pie was like a surf-and-turf nacogdoches meat pie, or (if that doesn't make sense) a fried spicy empanada. We were fighting over it at the table. Paneed pork cheeks with roasted corn grits & tomato salad was a nice small plate with nicely prepared meat but just killer electric red creole tomatoes. As meat-centric as things were, when veg was involved it was really great summer produce throughout. Roast goat stuffed biscuit was texturally a little gooey in the middle from the meat and gravy, like how the bottom of a pot pie can get a little soggy - personally I dig that but not everyone at the table liked it as much. Fried rabbit livers with pepper jelly on toast came with some peppery greens and made for a nice balanced bite of food. The livers were oddly not as liver-y as you might expect. Even the adverse dug in. We were comped an oyster roast that was significant for the size of the summer oysters but not much different from the other grilled oysters you see around town. We were also sent over some fried alligator with chili garlic aoli. Seemed like it would be a callout for the tourists but it was well cooked (not rubbery at all). The fry station at cochon has their game tight. Mushroom salad with deep fried beef jerky & lemon vinaigrette came with a stronger citrus bend than was expected but it was nicely refreshing after the weight of all the aps. Deep fried beef jerky should be a topping on more things. Rabbit and dumplings for the table was a beautiful plate of homestyle food. Big ass drop dumplings over a slow brown gravy stew of veg and rabbit. Smoked brisket was solid but not spectacular - I actually liked the horseradish potato salad it came with more. Maybe the best shrimp and eggplant dressing in the city. Fantastic roasted corn. Dessert was ok - would have rather had another cocktail. Oh and Butcher still makes the best muffalatta in the city. Crabby Jack's is still comically overstuffing their seafood poboys. If you have the means to get out there go. Their roast duck poboy continues to be a sloppy, nasty pleasure too. There's a Camelia Grill in the quarter now which is weird. I had settled on the eggs benedict po boy at Stanley as the hangover cure of choice in that neck of the woods, but something about whizzing an omelette in a blender before tossing it on the flat top does wonders. It saved my life last weekend. Oh, and if you have the chance - New Orleans Ice Cream Company has a limited release pint of cafe au lait ice cream with beignet pieces and powdered sugar swirl. It's worth popping in the grocery to see if they have it.

Frankly I've considered starting a blog simply to let some of these media events cover some of my dining out. I actually checked last week to see if www.initforthecomps.com was still available (oddly enough it is - I guess there's not much market for honesty). From the people that I know and have met who have done it, many like writing and appreciate having the outlet, at least at the start. Once you're in the PR churn though if you want those free meals you can't exactly be critical, and you're also getting their best swing in an attempt to impress. At least the bloggers get something out of it. If you can explain to me the yelpers writing 2000 word screeds you're a smarter person than I am.

So there is absolutely no confusion, after peeking in my head in twice on weekends I can confirm that at least on Fri-Sat this place is basically McFaddens Shaw. Consider accordingly whether that is an endorsement or a warning.

Hell, I've been served a 'shrimp po boy' in an establishment that shall go unnamed on brioche - that was my get a rope moment. The level of variety on the NOPBS menu leaves me with tempered expectations right out the gate. To do all those things well would be damn impressive even in NOLA, and their location will likely have them doing high volume.

If this means longer hours and being open weekends then hallelujah. 11-3 M-F is no way to go through life. I will miss playing "guess who is the Fox News employee" while waiting for the food though.

Walla Walla *scans over posts* Marcus Whitman... check. K Vintners... check. L'Ecole... check. Saffron... check. Seriously people, follow the posts above and you will have a hell of a weekend. Walla Walla is surprisingly charming, you will drink as well as you hope, and will eat better than you'll reasonably expect. The bounty of the farms (and rivers) east of the cascades is fantastic, especially in the summer. The only real things I'd add to what's above is to note that the downtown farmer's market is near the Marcus Whitman, runs saturday/sunday every weekend and is worth a stroll for lunch. If you don't want that much interaction though, a great way to recover from a long night is a sweet onion sausage and bag of jalapeno Tim's Cascade from Onion World.