kirite

Sorry if I missed this, but has Sou' Wester hired a new chef?

Where in the hell is Don Rockwell?

He was first runner up and Miss Congeniality.

I don't remember if this is the only restaurant in the hotel, but things like this are not good signs. Domaso in Rosslyn "phased down" like this also, before eventually closing (with the Hotel Palomar being sold).

There is a bar and a lounge which offers a "slimmed down" version of the dinner menu. Harth is the only restaurant in the hotel.

Tried to have dinner here tonight but were told that "for business reasons" Sunday dinner is no longer served. Will this be the next hotel restaurant in Tyson's to go belly up?

The branch in Mclean shut down a few months ago. No great loss, the chain has been going down hill for years

Unfortunately, it's going to be replaced by a Chicken Out.

To the Washington Nationals who have brought post-season play to the city for the first time since 1933.

I have a fake phone number I use at CVS and a few other stores.

Clicking on one of Tim Carman's Facebook updates today, I got a "take it or leave it" Social Reader page - I left it.

Washingtonian, as a magazine, is so completely devoid of substance that it's not worth me having to remember which email address I registered with.

You mean that you don't find the current "Hair" issue intellectually challenging? It has become even worse, if that's possible.

To our fallen diplomats in Libya.

We would like to stay at a B&B in VA or MD that has sleek modern furniture, lots of glass, and a contemporary vibe. A place that doesn't feel like George Washington slept there. Thanks.

We had a great dinner at Bistro Vivant on Thursday but ordered different things. Artichoke app, pepper and anchovies app, arctic char and sea bass mains, mango sorbet and stewed cherries with vanilla ice cream. We would order all of these again. The owner stopped by to chat. He told us that he regularly trolls the Dupont FM for the freshest and tastiest. He has a licence application to sell vin par le bouteille retail. Ericandblueboy's description of the interior is spot on. I would only add that the bar is rather large and set back from the tables, and the chalkboard with speicials is a nice touch.

We had dinner here on Sunday, and it was very good. The figs and serrano ham app was an unusual but delicious pairing. The grilled octopus was a bit disappointing because it was a bit rubbery. Entrees were great. Coquille St. Jacques with grape tomatoes and kalamata olives had four enormous scallops grilled to melt in the mouth. The wild saumon was placed on a watercress coulis speckled with red pepper strips, grape tomatoes, and tiny bits of mushroom. The foursome next to us was French. That says something.

Does this place have a bar? I need to find a place in Mclean to meet someone for a drink and thought it might be nice to try someone new.

Thanks

Yes.

What are the most interesting vegetarian apps and mains? We going there for dinner tomorrow.

Raaga deserves more love. We had dinner there recently with a Groupon and found the North Indian cooking a welcome change from the fire and spices of the South. Cubes of cottage cheese were delicate and delicious. Small pieces of Chicken Tikka in a sublte sauce were ever so tender. But the place was almost empty on a Thursday evening.

Apparently recent renovations did not help. From Nostos facebook page yesterday:

After a week of noise reducing renovations and maintenance work we have reopened! We are less noisy...We are freshly painted...We are rejuvenated...And we are looking forward to seeing you!

When a restaurant has stone walls, low ceilings, large windows, and no tablecloths, it's hard to make it quieter. It's a beautiful space, and the food is really excellent, but it's still incredibly LOUD.

I ate here tonight with a group of six and we had no qualms with the food at all. The branzino was very fresh and flavorful. I had the lamb shank with orzo, which was tender and well seasoned. We also enjoyed a number of the mezze including the fish roe, which was probably the best. The spanakopita was good if not exciting. Our issue with Nostos was the noise. We were at a round table of six and I could basically only talk to the person on either side of me. It really detracted from the enjoyment of the food. We spoke to the owner after dinner and he told us that they are taking steps to address the noise issues. If you care about conversing with your dining partners, I would suggest calling before dining here to see if they have made any changes.

I had the grilled octopus tonight for the first time in quite a while. The presentation has changed. It now is served in a long narrow, shallow bowl, cut into little pieces and served on a bed of hummus, sliced red onions, and parsley. It was even better than before.

But godawful noise continues to plague this place. They obviously have not taken any steps to address the problem. The next time we go we're going to bring ear plugs.

Glad you had a great experience there, hungryprof! this is exactly the kind of thing I love Don's guide for.

We're regulars at Minh's - I was sure I'd written something in this thread, but apparently not. This is invariably where I take my parents when they're visiting and they're always happy. We order in from them frequently, though we like eating there too and the service is always friendly and usually pretty good (we haven't been in the back room more than once).

To start, the fried spring rolls at Minh's are an exception to the flavorless ones you may get elsewhere. They're extremely good -- I usually resist them other places, but can't resist them at Minh's. Our favorite starter, however, is yam cakes -- these are cakes made of fried bits of yam with whole shrimp (in the shell) on top. The only time I actually eat the shell is when we get this dish - it's thin and crisp and doesn't feel like eating shell. You wrap the cakes in big lettuce leaves along with herbs (I think cilantro and basil), and dip them in a sauce (might be fish sauce, clearly it's been too long since we've been). It's delicious, and something I've never seen at another Vietnamese restaurant. The pho is not the star at Minh's, though my son likes it fine (he gets the pho #2, don't recall what cut of meat that is, but it's the thin barely cooked one that gets more cooked by the broth). I get young coconut juice to drink.

Main dishes: I tend to get the grilled shrimp on vermicelli, with various herbs and another light sauce to pour over. Sometimes the grilled pork (you can get half pork, half spring rolls, if you don't get them as an appetizer). The coconut mint scallops were excellent. My husband likes the five-spice chicken. I keep meaning to try the crepe. My dad has gotten various fish things and been quite happy. And they are very kid-friendly -- we used to go when the kiddo was young and they were great with him (and he likes their coconut ice cream and chocolate ice cream).

We went there for the first time tonight and were really anticipating some very good food. Unfortunately, we were mostly disappointed. The chicken and cabbage app was OK, but much of the chicken was tough and the dressing was bland. The app sampler was slightly better, but the shrimp were encased in a thick deep fried batter, and the rice paper rolls had some surprisingly tough innards. Onto the mains. The grilled scallops in coconut sauce was meh. Scallops were sparse and not grilled and the sauce was very heavy and undistinguished. The carmelized catfish was the best thing that we ordered--piping hot and cooked melt in your mouth--but it suffered from a certain sameness. A wider variety of vegetables would have made it more interesting.

I confess that I can't imagine Jean-Georges not having a dress code. A New York Times 4-star French place?

I also think that we as a nation should default more towards dressing well. I am old enough, I suppose, to be a fogey, but I've never heard anyone complain about a dress code who wasn't obviously underdressed on general principle (possible exception: the jayandstacy as related above).

C'mon, people! Let's try to make America a more beautiful place.

Also -- and this will mark me as a true reactionary -- something about a decent jacket and maybe even a necktie does tend to draw out the better manners in all of us.

Yes! We have become a more brutal society in many ways. We've also become more obese, and I suspect that sloppy clothing covers lots of fat bellies.

In case the words above aren't enough to sway you to try to make the next barbeque at the Sou'wester, here are some pics. Weather was perfect. Service was perfect as well. Note that there are no pics of the hush puppies, because we ate them before we thought to grab my phone to shoot a pic.

The lawn, grill, and the staff getting ready to serve the salads.

Potted ham salad

Grilled caesar salad

Blackened redfish (changed from the bluefish originally promised, which was fine with me.)

Grilled cornish hen

Strawberry shortcake

Sou'wester s'mores

I wish we were eating like this tonight.

We had dinner outside tonight. Beautiful setting. Not too hot. Comfortable table. Tasteful landscaping.

Our market vegetable salad was very disappointing. Some of the mesclun had turned black, the grape tomatoes were inedible, and the white balsamic dressing was tasteless. There were two highlights--the smoked tomato jam served with the grilled North Carolina shrimp and the gently fried tiny eggplant in the crispy fairytale eggplant. We booked our reservation with Savored. We've dined here at least a half dozen times, and this evening's meal was disappointing. Have they found a successor to Eddie Moran yet?

Service has always been good at Capri. And you're right, not everything is good, but there're lots of good stuff for a place in McLean. I know McLean is no foodie destination but it's always good to know where we can go in our backyard in a pinch.

Service has always been good at Capri. And you're right, not everything is good, but there're lots of good stuff for a place in McLean. I know McLean is no foodie destination but it's always good to know where we can go in our backyard in a pinch.

Service has always been good at Capri. And you're right, not everything is good, but there're lots of good stuff for a place in McLean. I know McLean is no foodie destination but it's always good to know where we can go in our backyard in a pinch.

We had planned to go to Raaga tonight, but the storms drove us to nearby Cafe Oggi. The bread was tasteless and cold. But my avocado/tomato salad with balsamic and olive oil was quite decent-avocado creamy and tomato acceptable. Plus One had the seafood stew which was decent but had too much really chewy calamari. I had the spaghetti with baby clams in red sauce. It was very good--not overcooked and not overly salty. Unlike Capri, Cafe Oggi does not offer whole wheat pasta. The website falsely promises a special weekend menu. Service was excellent, and it was so quiet that conversation was "easy." Overall, Capri was slightly better.

Bravo! Everyone should venture out on a limb!

We went to Capri tonight and were pleasantly surprised. The Caesar and green salads were just OK, but the lobster ravioli and cappelini primavera with whole wheat pasta in a very tasty tomato sauce were both outstanding. Service was superb, and the place had a nice warm vibe. Interestingly, it started to fill up around 8:30--just about the time when McLean rolls up the sidewalks.

Mine took significantly less time last week...and the week before that.

Orso 2.0 (3.0?) is fantastic. It's piling on, but most dishes are fantastic. A friend's daughter got a white pizza (I forgot the name) which was too heavy (for her) on the sliced garlic and there was dissention around our table on whether the gnocchi were too soft. The majority of us said they were great, but others preferred a denser, more rustic version. Otherwise, we haven't hit a clunker.

We were even lucky enough to shoot the shit with Will as we left through the garage last week. Nice guy. Very personable. Very affable. Note to all: don't let him drive your car. He has a beat-up Jeep for a reason

We don't eat pizza, but his small plates are great, and you can snag a reservation on Savored.

Not a recommendation but a challenge. Check out either Cafe Oggi or Assaggi Osteria in downtown McLean. I've never been to Cafe Oggi and only been to Assaggi Osteria once, although I've been to the Assaggi in Bethesda twice. One Italian joint we do like in McLean is Capri - they do a decent job with the branzino. It's generally true that McLean doesn't offer much but if no one ever tries the local restaurants, then we'll never know if they're any good.

I've tried Cafe Oggi twice since the beginning of the year and was really underwhelmed. But someone told me that it has a new chef. Have not been able to verify. I'll try it again as well as AO and Capri. Challenge accepted.

Are there any really good Italian restaurants in Northern Virginia? Not pizza places. Thanks.

Haven't you heard? We're a second-tier city.

Thus Spake Spike (cue the pipe organ).

The well done beef tibs this evening were indeed the weak link, but everything else was at least good, including the veggie sampler. As I noted in the dining guide, the raw kitfo (spicy) was wonderful, the injera is available with teff (something that is happily becoming more common in the DC area of late), and St George (at a refreshingly low 4.5% alcohol) is an underrated lager, albeit a bit pricey at $6. I'm not saying Meaza is mind-blowing; merely that I had it rated way too low - it's a very solid Ethiopian restaurant.

Could someone recommend a couple of not too spicy vegetarian entrees?

We ordered (1) beet salad, (2) vichyssoise (special), (3) escargots, (4) shishito pepper and anchovy, (5) grilled langostino (special), (6) fried artichoke, (7) shrimp in garlic, (8) goat cheese croquettes, (8) mussels, (9) big charcuterie platter, (10) clams gratinee (special), (11) salmon terrine, (12) zucchini blossoms stuffed with cheese, and (13) seared scallops.

...

As long as they keep the menu interesting and the cooking stays at the current level, this place will easily stay on the top of the heap in McLean/Tysons/Vienna. Note: It's not swanky. People in McLean aren't particularly hip anyway so I'm not sure that's an issue. The clientele seems to skew old. Nostos is a much better looking restaurant.

We had a great dinner at Bistro Vivant on Thursday but ordered different things. Artichoke app, pepper and anchovies app, arctic char and sea bass mains, mango sorbet and stewed cherries with vanilla ice cream. We would order all of these again. The owner stopped by to chat. He told us that he regularly trolls the Dupont FM for the freshest and tastiest. He has a licence application to sell vin par le bouteille retail. Ericandblueboy's description of the interior is spot on. I would only add that the bar is rather large and set back from the tables, and the chalkboard with speicials is a nice touch.