dinoue

On 9/2/2016 at 8:39 PM, Genevieve said:

I had seen some early posts mention meals at Kinship taking three hours. Are they always that long? I very much want to go (preferably while they still have soft-shells on the menu, but I couldn't get there last week and probably not next week), but three hours is going to be difficult, especially if I want to get someone to join me.

I think it may have some to do with how much you order, and I'm sure if you told them of any time restrictions, they could speed it up a little. I think last time we were there it was just over 2 hours.

3 hours ago, jdc said:

It won't let me edit my post, so I'll just chime in quickly. I won't judge too firmly either way because it was a soft opening by invitation, but I do think it will be a welcome addition to the area - a bit more casual and perhaps undercutting Copper Canyon around the corner, with a broad and somewhat interesting menu. 

...

As I said, not that exciting, but still a welcome addition to that Downtown Silver Spring/Ellsworth Plaza area that is somewhat of a dining desert compared to what one would find on Georgia and east.

Nearly anything should be an upgrade on Copper Canyon.

Every once in a while they get called out by the Takoma neighborhood listserve for noise and unruly patrons. That then sparks the debate about who is really a DC native and gets to complain about things. ie Takoma Station was there before you came to the area....

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The Director oversees and leads food service operations, which include:

• Planning and preparation of meals in accordance with dietary needs of medically vulnerable homeless adults, in coordination with medical staff
• Supervision of kitchen staff and volunteers
• Supervision of dining room service operations and volunteers
• Coordinating with volunteer individuals and groups in meal preparation and service
• Budget management
• Developing and implementing kitchen and dining room policies and procedures that promote safety, hospitality, and good health

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On 7/1/2016 at 3:08 PM, CapitalGourmand said:

After tasting my friend's ramen, and allowing him to sample mind, we agreed that while each broth was respectable, we felt a little underwhelmed. I took a moment to ponder my  indifference, and I concluded that it came down to a matter of personal taste. I prefer the strong, rich flavors of Sapporo-style tonkotsu ramen. For those in search of something less intense, Bantam King may be what you're looking for.

Just to note that tonkotsu style is from Fukuoka/Hakata, in Kyushu, opposite end of the country from Sapporo which is typically either shoyu or miso style broth. 

My wife's family lives in Fukuoka and my father grew up in Hokkaido, where Sapporo is, though he was several hours from Sapporo.

On 6/24/2016 at 10:15 AM, eatruneat said:

As evidenced by my several posts on this thread, I have been to Sushi Capitol many many times. I am not sure when, but Sushi Capitol stopped serving omakase servings individually a while ago. I think it is because of how busy the place is between the counter, the tables, and the take out orders. I am disappointed in this turn of events, especially because even when it is not quite busy they are still serving the omakase on plates. Still, that is something I can deal with given the quality of the sushi and the $50 price tag.

On the issue of pre-sliced fish, I have never seen that at Sushi Capitol regardless of how busy it is. Except for one or two times, I have always sat at the counter in order to stare at the fish and observe the chefs. 

That's really quite disappointing for anyone sitting at the counter. Having been on the other side of the counter preparing the sushi, it isn't that much of a time saver to serve someone at the counter everything at once, especially at a restaurant the size of Sushi Capitol and with a menu as limited as theirs. It's been a while, but I think there were two sushi chefs which means that in addition to the counter each one is responsible for maybe two or three tables and take out orders. They probably are doing takeout more than the restaurant I worked, but we also had around 60 seats plus the tatami room(s) in addition to the counter all covered by three chefs, of varying ability. If someone at the bar ordered a set meal, we would do that as a set meal, but otherwise, everything was done one or two pieces at a time. Why bother with a sushi bar if you don't get the benefit of immediately made sushi? Might as well take it out and make everything in the kitchen and add a couple more tables.

We've always sat at the table and the omakase does come out on one plate. The picture above does not look like an omakase assortment though. Usually has the things like uni, toro, and ama ebi or botan ebi.  I think we usually get around 9-12 pieces. If sitting at the counter, it definitely should not come out on a plate, but piece by piece. I've never seen pre-cut fish behind the counter, and would not go back if I had. That would be a disqualifier for me at any sushi place that wanted to be taken seriously.

Just now, Bart said:

Thanks!  What's the crunchy looking stuff to the right of the egg?

That's the chicken fried morels. That was definitely preferred by the kids, and myself, over the unfried ones.

8 minutes ago, DanielK said:

Don't know how old your kids are, so that could be a factor, but based on the current menu, you ordered 4 starters and 4 entrees, so not out of line from the volume of food they normally recommend.

4 and 7 so they obviously would not be eating as much as an adult, though sometimes they do eat more than I expect. And that would be the other challenge with the Kinship menu, it's not always fully clear what is an appetizer and what is an entree. Sometimes the cost can be an indicator, 10's vs 20's, but even then, some entrees are also more substantial than others.

39 minutes ago, Bart said:

Nice review!   The morel/pea/ham/soft boiled egg dish sounds amazing.  Now that my peas are finally coming in, I may have to attempt to make this dish* this weekend, with frozen morels I found earlier this spring.  (* = I may have to beg my wife to attempt this dish).   Any chance you took a photo?

Thanks again for the review.

Oh yeah, I want to be one of your kids!

We're done with having any more kids. :-) Here's a pic.

Went Sunday evening to celebrate our anniversary. Arrived a little late due to traffic from a conference at the convention center and the shuttle buses clogging the street, and also occupying all the street parking we would have otherwise been able to park in on a Sunday evening in DC. We were seated quickly at the first table on the left as you enter the dining room which we quickly noticed is much louder than sitting in one of the booths which seem to dampen the noise. It wasn't excessively loud, but there was definitely more energy, and a different experience from our first time eating there.

First thing we noticed was the menu was very different from the one online. It has since been updated online. We had a lot of trouble deciding and so ended up getting 8 dishes: tuna, redfish, softshell, halibut, lamb, morels, lobster and foie gras.

First out were the Softshell, morels, and lobster (the one repeat dish from our last visit) Of the three, the fricassee of morel mushrooms was the favorite for both my wife and me. The components just balanced so well with the earthiness of the mushrooms brightness of the peas, saltiness of the ham and creaminess of the soft boiled egg. Our son liked taking his piece of egg and putting the components in it and making an egg bowl to eat everything together. The softshell was good, but nothing especially great. Plus the crab itself was a little cooled off temperature wise. None of our dishes was especially hot, but this one in particular since fried, would have been nicer a few degrees hotter/fresher from the kitchen. The amount of radishes also seemed a little out of balance with the amount of crab. I also am not crazy about the practice of mincing things up so tiny. I understand it is great technique to cut them up so uniformly small, but it's also harder to scoop them up. The lobster remained the favorite of the kids and no different from my memories of the last visit.

Next were the fish courses. Like Pat above, the halibut was definitely our favorite. Perfectly cooked fish with perfect accompaniments on the plate. This was the inspiration for my attempt at searing some fish on Tuesday night, which did not come close to this, but defintely got us into a groove for craving more fish. Thankfully, asparagus is one thing neither kid likes. The tuna tataki was the most interesting dish with the dashi broth in gelatin form. The kids loved the shiso tempura and have requested we include that the next time we make tempura at home. The redfish jambalaya was good, but the flavors just seemed out of place with the rest of the dishes in this course. I think I ate the most of this as it was not as popular with the rest of the family. Overall, one thought I had while eating the various fish dishes was the parallels with the recently shuttered Crane and Turtle, which should not be surprising at all. 

At this point we were pretty comfortably full, but still had two more dishes coming. Our eyes had definitely been bigger than our stomachs. Some help from the waitstaff would have been helpful as she exhorted us to order all eight dishes with no suggestion that it might be too much. We suspected it might, but this is where guidance from the waitstaff would have been appreciated. 

The last two dishes were the richest, lamb and foie gras. The lamb was cooked perfectly and the carrots surrounding the cous cous and lamb were absolutely beautiful and tasted as good as they looked. The foie gras was rich thoguh the onions were a little overpowering and as full as we were at this point left largely untouched. Conversation with my son about the foie gras was, Me: Try this Son: I don't want to Me: Eat it, did you like it? Son: No I don't like that Me: Are you sure? Do you want more? Son: I don't like it (Again but this time nodding his head yes as he takes another bigger bite as it is offered.) It is amazing how as children, they make up their minds visually before trying it, but after trying it, can quickly change their minds.

In spite of all this we did order a dessert for the table with the chocolate nougat. This was a nice collection of chocolate items with the tart creme fraiche to balance it out. They also brought out two drinks for our anniversary which was very nice and refreshing and palate cleansing, especially after the heavy last courses. I thought she said they were mimosas, which they were not really, and looking at the drink menu, I think they were the Sicilian Spritz mocktails.

We also had a bottle of Donnhoff Riesling which went well with pretty much all the dishes well, especially with our fish heavy ordering.

Overall a great dinner experience with just the few drawbacks of too much food and sometimes food not being as hot as I would have liked. Perhaps things not getting done at exactly the same time and sitting at the pass while the other dishes caught up. Also, our water went unfilled several times through the night, which for the adults was not a problem since we had our wine as well, but for the kids who didn't have another drink, sometimes involved swapping water glasses with slower drinkers. All the staff were good at wishing us a happy anniversary and me a happy father's day as well. Not perfect, but worth the splurge.

I actually disagree on the direct drive recommendation. As long as the belt is in good condition, a belt drive is better at isolating the motor noise from the platter and the record on it. I currently use a circa 1970 Thorens belt drive turntable so you can absolutely use an older turntable and get good results. I think direct drives are better for DJ'ing because the record gets to speed quicker than a belt, and maintains speed when scratching or mixing. That said, there are a lot of good products out there for under $500 now. The Record Exchange in Silver Spring sells vinyl and sometimes has used turntables in stock, but I have never talked to staff there about technical stuff regarding my turntable. There's a TV repair place in Kensington that is really old school and I would guess they might do turntable repairs there, but no place to eat there as well. As for picking up some vinyl, go to garage sales or buy online. As much as I like to romanticize flipping through records when I was in high school, the markup now on used vinyl from retail stores is way too much.

Technically "moving" to Dulles. Guess I need to find somewhere else to get hot dogs from both my child hood homes of Chicago and Cincinnati in the same place.

Had my death and taxes call to serve one day/one trial jury duty which meant the opportunity to enjoy a nice quiet lunch someplace without the kids. So of course  I went to a restaurant where the kids probably would have been totally fine eating at, and enjoyed a lot of foods on the menu.

Got the three course lunch special with the addition of the duck tongue anticuchos. I am very glad I got that add-on as it was by far the best dish I had. Never knew duck tongue was so richly decadent and just melted in my mouth. Had  nice little kick to it as well.

The three courses were Ok, but nothing great about them. The chicken shiu mai were nice, but kind of like a slight variation on traditional Chinese siu mai. Perhaps with a little bolder Latin influence, it might make it more worth doing this over what would be much cheaper siu mai at one of the last remaining Chinese restaurants a block or two up north of here.  I also broke my rule about never getting spicy tuna rolls figuring this should be a place that specializes in that type of sushi. It was a good roll and not made with tuna on its last legs and needing the spice to mask bad flavors. The crispy quinoa was good, and produced the same effect tempura bits would adding a nice crunch. Again, I would have liked to see some more heat on this.The suspira limena for dessert was good, of course I have no point of reference as to what to expect on this dish. What was unusual was the amount of time it took to get the dessert course. The other three dishes came out within 30 minutes to the point where all three plates were at my table at the same time as the siu mai plate was being cleared as the last dish was being brought. Then I waited over 20 minutes for dessert.

I would like to try a wider variety of dishes and was constrained by what was available on the lunch menu. The dishes are definitely interesting twists on traditional Asian dishes through a Peruvian lens, just wish the Peruvian influences were more pronounced. Also the service needs to be better as when the judge gives you an hour for lunch, the lunch better not take a full hour.

Ate with two other families tonight and food still good and very affordable. The one thing to note is that they no longer have the watery avocado sauce for the chips and now serve them with soupy refried beans. Chorizo torta was huge and kids all loved their free rice, beans, and chicken.

Met another family for dinner here the other night, and since there aren't any reviews in a while feel obligated to post. Since the last time we ate here, probably a couple years, they have changed the crust. It is now more doughy and thicker so no longer the soggy centers which defintiely were a problem previously, but the crust also lack the nice crispness that was what I liked about them most. Toppings are still good and the combinations interesting.

Like Pete's Pacci's carries the tradition of really expensive pizza for Silver Spring. There are other places, but these are probably the only two I have found worth getting as opposed to making my own at home, but too expensive to make it a regular outing.

Made a one night trip to redeem our son's free summer PreK pass to Busch Gardens/Water Country so made a couple stops for food outside Busch Gardens. The night we arrived we pretty much went straight to Peter Chang's after grabbing a coupon book at the hotel for 10% off. Started very well with both the fired pork belly and fried fish. Basically the same dish with fish and prok belly, but I love both and each varies from the other enough to make it worth getting. The mains were a contrast in disappointment. The flounder was prepared well, but definitely not the freshest fish. It was still on this side of being OK, but I could definitely smell the beginnings of its decline. My wife said she didn't sense anything and no one got sick. The bok choy was good, but what was disappointing was that it was the only vegetable available. No other greens such as watercress or snow pea shoots, or even chinese broccoli. Dinner was OK, but not what we have come to expect from our meals here based on several other visits.

After a long day at Busch Gardens, we took a chance on a late dinner at Blue Talon hoping there would be no meltdowns. Started with the charcuterie plate which was a big help in getting our son happy. Came with a nice variety of items, all very good. He also got a half order of the chicken and mushroom crepes which I really liked, but he was a little surprised because it was baked, which was different from crepes he had previously, and therefore initially "not good." He warmed up to it and did eventually eat about half, which was fine since he had eaten the charcuterie.

Wife and daughter split the salmon which was really nice and a good light dinner just before the drive back home. I unfortunately opted for the meatloaf which was a delicious, but much heavier meal. Should note that after the waiter had sold me on getting the short ribs, they ran out of the short ribs just as I was ordering.

The highlight of the meal I think was the hot chocolate. The kids were a little cold after a somewhat rainy day at Busch Gardens so we got them hot chocolate, which they drank about half and left the rest for us to finish. This was the best hot chocolate I have had with rich dark chocolate flavor. It was rich enough that it could be a full dessert. 

We were also grateful that they got us in and out within just over an hour both for kids impending potential for a meltdown and our desire to get on the road, which we mentioned to the waiter upon sitting down when he asked if we had been before.

Tried this for the first time in between picking up kids from school and returning for an evening event as it was pretty convenient to get to. This is definitely going to be a part of our regular rotation. First, we've been pretty regular at Urban Butcher, which is just a few blocks from where we live. This is not too much further the other way down GA Ave., though not walking distance. The biggest drawback for SSB is lack of liquor license, though I'm not that big a drinker so definitely not a major deficiency.

First, the $16 meat board is an amazing deal, especially when compared to what you get at UB for their butcher board for over twice the price. Best was clearly the duck prosciutto. The salami was quickly gobbled up by my son as he proclaimed it his new favorite restaurant.

The brisket sandwich was also a hit with a nice sauce that was not overpowering and let the meat still show through. We also got the "meat cone" just because the kids like the idea of getting a cone of meat, kind of like an ice cream cone. Comparitively speaking, not as good a deal as the butcher board, but it did have some pate in it which was important to my son.

The lack of alcohol was made up for with the house made lemonade soda. Just wish this had set up in one of the storefronts a little further up GA Ave instead of where it is.

Tried Macon for the first time after a few previous attempts and unavailability of a table. This just isn't a neighborhood we think to go to for dinner on a regular basis, but had something at the Chevy Chase Community Center.

In short, the dinner was a little disappointing. Started out promising with pickled cauliflower which was really nice. on the food however, portions tended to be pretty small and expensive. I tried to make a meal of three "snacks" and and starters. I ordered the shrimp and grits, fired okra, and fried oysters. The oysters were the best of these three. An appropriate number for the dish, I think it was 6, for $12. They were cooked perfectly, but I suspect they had sat at the pass waiting for the okra because they were a little lukewarm, and not the nice blazing hot  I like my fired oysters to be when I bite into the first one at least.

The okra was nice except cut up into small pieces and fired. It makes for awkward eating when they are provided with a dipping sauce, but are too small to dip. The biggest problem with this dish was the salt. I think I still taste the salt 2 hours later.

The shrimp and grits came with two large prawns on top of cheddar cheese grits which was really good, but I detected no andouille sausage on the plate as described in the menu, which I looked at later to order some more food. One of the things I had to order more of was a side of grits as my son ate most of the grits that came with the shrimp and wanted more. 

As  I look a the menu online, I also note that the cheese plank is listed as having city ham, I don't recall if that was on the menu we ordered from, but there was definitely no ham on the plate/plank.

My wife's fish was really nice, but also a pretty small portion of fish on top of the salad. The crust on the fish was perfect and seasoning was done well on this dish. Definitely the highlight of the meal.

Kids Mac on cheese was good and came with the fingerling potatoes. Those were really good, because who wouldn't like fried whole fingerling potatoes, but again, imo ruined by way too much salt. Surprisingly, the fired chicken was not overly salty and our daughter inhaled both pieces almost before I could get a small taste. Another gripe about portion sizes, the side of fingerling potatoes was quite generous. The asparagus consisted of perhaps 5 small spears. And we wonder why kids don't eat vegetables? It's because we don't give them any.

As  I was not nearly full from the three small dishes I got, I added an order of the fried green tomatoes with crab salad. This was probably the one dish I would say was worth its price. The crisp fired tomatoes provided a nice base on which the crab salad sat on, and a fairly generous serving of crab. 

The food was good, but if I'm going to spend $121 just on food with no drinks, there shouldn't be the problems of oversalting or missing elements noted on the menu.

Same menu as the previous weekend. Plus a lot of off menu items. Our family had never eaten so much in one meal as we tried to get all of our favorites and some of the specials. Going to miss this restaurant a lot.

I told my wife about our discussion on this board about what constitutes "good" service, and my belief that it's best when you never want for anything, but don't notice the wheels turning all around you.  That is exactly what we experienced last night.  Everyone was warm and relaxed, and allowed us to enjoy our time together without injecting themselves into the evening to generate some kind of "experience" or whatever.  As Don and others have noted, while not "cheap," the menu at Kinship is set up in such a way that I can see myself heading back many times without breaking the bank.  I think I'll follow in Bart's footsteps and head back very, very soon.

I think it was a testament to the service that we spent a nearly 3 hour meal there with our kids, and everything went smoothly. We didn't realize how long we had been there until we were leaving.

Thank you both for these important, candid essays. I didn't realize Sushi Taro had gotten *this* expensive.

It used to be they had three kaiseki menus, ranging from about $80-90 one was sushi-based, one was kitchen-based, and the third was more of a mix, if I'm recalling correctly.

Has anything justified the $30-40 increase in price in the main dining room?

Even at those prices, and even as the best Japanese restaurant in town (which it surely was), I was uncomfortable ranking Sushi Taro above Italic, but I can tell you that I was *sorely* tempted to raise their ranking for quite awhile, and one more visit in the "outstanding" range would have done it; I just never got around to making that visit.

Sushi Taro is one of about 3-4 restaurants that are "in danger" of being raised to Bold - are any of you flat-out saying that you think it shouldn't be? A couple other places are mere formalities, and I already know they will be, but Sushi Taro has truly been on the fence, never quite getting over the hump in my mind, but coming *damned* close.

I've not gotten the kaiseki in a while. Last time we went for dinner just ordered a la carte, though have had the sushi tasting at the table within the past year. On the website, the options are for sushi or kaiseki for $80 and turtle or surf and turf for additional upcharges. Drink pairings add around $45-$65 to the price.

I think the kaiseki is one of the best table meals one can get for that price. I remember when Makoto was something like $50 for their dinner when we first moved to DC, and that was definitely a great deal. Likewise, their sushi tasting includes a fish selection that is on par with what you can expect in Tokyo. Where it may fall flat is if the nigiri technique is not up to Japanese standards as it was in my lunch visit the other day. At a minimum, the nigiri should at least be the same size for the different pieces and the maki should not be bursting out at the seams while the rice is packed too tightly.

I think that the omakase counter is absolutely one of the greatest meals one can get in DC and I would go so far as to say it can be at the level of transcendent. It is well worth the base increase to $120 - $130 and the additional upcharge that  we always incur for additional sushi. As I noted in my review of a NYC place I went to a couple weeks ago, Sushi Taro blows them out of the water with regard to variety and quality of fish. It's not going to have the creativity of innovative garnishes on the nigiri, but Chef Kitayama (we've never seated with Chef Yamazaki) will serve authentic Japanese style sushi on par with what you will get at a quality place in Tokyo.

I would generally think Sushi Taro is worthy of the italics for the main dining room, though the inconsistency I experienced with the sushi could be an argument against it, though on the other hand, the cost of that lunch was not as high as a dinner, and lunch is more of a high volume meal. Sushi Taro now has strong competition from Ogawa for sushi, and Seki on cooked foods which are both nearby and direct competition and points of comparison. I think Ogawa is the better deal right now for sushi, though Seki is fairly close in price, but I prefer the more casual feel to Seki over the more formal setting of Taro, especially since we're dining with kids usually.

In my opinion though the omakase counter should definitely be bold. It would be similar to how you have Al Dente and Roberto's 8.

Don, I'm talking specifically about the omakase counter, and not the various tasting menus they offer in the main dining room.  And I'm also talking about value.  I've had middling to pretty good experiences with the regular menu, but they always felt overpriced -- proportionally -- to the omakase counter, where the quality of ingredients, attention to detail, and overall impact of the meal are that much higher.   What you get for ~$160 per person blows away any of the $125 menus in the main dining room.

I agree mostly. I don't think the prices are that out of scale with what you get, it's just that the counter meals are so much more of a value that it makes the dining room meals seem a poor value. Unfortunately I'm not about to bring the kids back for the omakase counter so there are times we need to eat at a table.

As for a reason for much of the different, I'm pretty sure that the sushi prepared for the tables is made by someone in the kitchen, not Chef Yamazaki or Kitayama, so the quality is not going to be as good as what you get at the chef's counter. Clearly they put some of the dishes for the dining room omakase dinners together, but they do not depart from the counter long enough to be doing the sushi, and certainly not long enough to be doing any sushi for regular orders.

Nile Restaurant at the corner of Kalmia, Georgia, and Eastern, on the DC side of Silver Spring has a market on the other side which I have actually never gone into. I think it's under same ownership. Could try them, or any of the number of other Ethiopian markets in Downtown Silver Spring as previously noted.

Ate for lunch last Friday. Got there at noon and it was moderately busy, by the time we left around 1:30 it was packed, including the bar.

Lunch is a fantastic deal for consideration of what you get. I had the tokujo sushi which for $38 gets you ten pieces of premium nigiri including toro, uni, ikura, and ama ebi. Also includes some more interesting things like kohada. Also includes a negi toro maki. While the quality of the fish was exceptional, the quality of the preparation was disappointing. The rice was different sizes on the nigiri so some pieces had a huge amount of rice while others were more to my preference with a small amount. The maki was bursting because there was too much rice, and finally, the nori had gotten soggy as well. That contrasted with my meal last week in NYC when the handroll came to the table the nori was still incredibly crisp. I certainly don't expect it to be that crisp for table service, but this had been clearly sitting around after being rolled for at least a few minutes.

The variety and quality of fish makes this worth it, but the unevenness of the sushi was a let down, especially when compared to what one can expect when eating at the counter, or even the times I have gotten the sushi tasting for dinner seated at a table.