Andelman

Hm. Sounds like I'm the only going there...

Not the only one....I've been twice in the last 2 weeks to eat at the bar. Enjoyed some of those new Steve cocktails as well, especially his take on the Martinez. I see myself spending a lot more time here now that we are moving to the hood' next week...

Yes...and I hate you. Toodles!

Right back at you, slim.

Saying that a restaurant name is bad is very much like hating on a child's name...you can think it, but don't say it (or post online about it.)

Not sure if you were referring to me, but my post was not meant as a stab at the name Lyon Hall. I was just saying that I thought Old Trophy Shop was a cool name (seeing how I will always remember that space as Dan Kain). I agree with what you said, as coming up with a name for one's business ain't easy (believe me, we havethought about changing our name NUMEROUS times..)

Artisan Confections (1/2 of ACKC! I wonder if they'll bring the cocoa bar? Dunno if thats AC or KC)

PLEASE, PLEASE do not confuse Artisan Confections with ACKC. We have nothing to do with them and they are completely different and separate business!!!

It really is like comparing apples and oranges.

I think I like the "Old Trophy Shop" better than "Lyon Hall" for the name of said restaurant...

I heard it was going to be a dinner only joint (which makes sense for the area).

Not germane to any of the contestants on the show, but my wife immediately thought of Johnny Monis' caesar salad poppers that we had about this time last year at Komi. Wow, those were good.

Yeah...we just ate at Komi the other night and that was one of our favorite dishes.

^Along the same lines, Chef Hubert's line about Spike during the quickfire was hilarious! I think Michael Chiarello is starting to look and sound like the Godfather, though. Next week will definitely be interesting....Btw, was anyone else wondering if the "chocolate" used was really vegan? I guess because Chef Art didn't specify, I became a bit curious...

Was there chocolate in that dish? I thought is was just strawberries, "ice cream", and a brittle thing.

Even so, why wouldn't the chocolate be considered vegan? There are no animal products in dark chocolate. However, she did say she was allergic to soy, so if there was any lecithin in the chocolate, well.....

I would love to see Hubert Keller stab Spike in the eye with a honing steel, then Rick Bayless does a reverse roundhouse kick to drive it all the way in and out the other side. Michael Chiarello then pushes him into the mixing bowl of a Hobart fitted with a dough hook. "We don't KNEAD that kind of douchebaggery here!" says Anita Lo as she pulls out his liver with her bare hands, and then the chefs take their turns relishing the still warm organ with whoops and hollers of sheer victory.

Also, they all shit in his hat or something.

The story would be complete if they then cooked said liver "sous-vide" with a warm compote of huckleberries and a bacon foam and finally serving it to the 3 judges for critique....

It looks like next weeks show will bring back some of the reality show "bite" to Top Chef Masters (ugh.). All I saw was a clip of former contestant Dale yelling at Michael Chiarello. What a douchebag that guy was.

I'm officially declaring bacon used in conjunction with desserts both trite and just plain gross. There are minor exceptions, but not many.

Ditto.

I finally tried Mo's Bacon Bar by Vosges. Ummm, not a fan.

A few administrative announcements...

First and foremost, the big news of the day is that we are moving our shop to a new location in Clarendon. We will be in the Zoso Flats building which is at 1025 N. Fillmore St. It is about 1 1/2 blocks off of Clarendon Blvd, just down the street from Harrys Tap Room and Le Pain Quotidien. It is turning out to be a great building with American Flatbread and Bakeshop DC as neighbors. There may also be another food/drink establishment in the building as well. We are really excited for the move, as this gives us an opportunity to build out a shop from the ground up and to be in a much better retail/pedestrian location. The other bonus is that there are about 50 FREE parking spots in the building for the retail tenants and we are only 2 blocks from the Clarendon metro. We hired a great architect/designer in Griz Dwight, who was responsible for such restaurants as Proof, PS7, Blacksalt, Redwood, and many others. Our space is still somewhat small, but we will have a larger retail area than we currently have. We are building a nice case to house our chocolates and will be added a bunch of other chocolate items as well. Also, we will maintain more "retail" hours, in that we will be open until 8 PM (Tues-Sat) and open for most of the day on Sundays. Anyway, there will more info to come in the future. We are hoping (knock on wood) to be open in early November, just in time for the holidays.

Also, we are having our annual August sale again this year. Everything in the shop is 10% off (in-store sales only) for the whole month, as long as your purchase is $10 or more. So please come in and say hello. We have been using our summer to experiment with new products and bon-bons, so yu never know what we moght have when you come in.

And finally, we just signed up on TWITTER. You can follow us at ArtisanShop. We will be providing updates about the new space, new flavors, and general chocolate related nonsense.

So, I think that is officially the longest post I have ever written. Many thanks for your support over the years and we are really excited for our next step.

-Jason

There were lots of people there, and tons stopping by from the neighborhood to check it out. I can tell this is going to be a happening place. Click below for me at my best.

I hope it is going to be a happening place, as they are going to be my new neighbors! We are relocating our shop into the Zoso building also, right next to Bakeshop. I have been over there on a daily basis, and it looks like the American Flatbread buildout is coming along pretty quickly. I imagine they will open sometime in October.

Dan, I will be sure to contact you when it is time to tile my floor.

Okay, how about suggestions more on the upscale side? My wife is coming into town for a bit under a week so we want to go out. I'm checking out Wild Honey and Arbutus suggested upthread and they look interesting, but looking for a few more options. I'm staying in the Covent Garden, Tottenham Court Road, Trafalgar Square area but most things Tube accessible are fair game. Most of the ideas on the thread are a couple years old so not sure how applicable they are.

I'll do what I can to fill up the thread with updates over the next couple months

We also ate at Wild Honey when were there in May. It is pretty good. Prices were decent, but I wasn't really blown away by any of the dishes. We also ate at Amaya which I found to be a bit overpriced for basically upscale Indian tapas. We are really into small plates, tapas, etc, but for some reason the Indian style tapas missed the mark. However, the service was very good and the space is quite nice.

I'll be in London for the near future, let's call it the next four months or so. Any ideas of places to eat? I've gotten some great suggestions for "nice" restaurants from this thread that I'll definitely follow up on. What I'm really looking for are every day kinds of places that nevertheless are notable, or at least decent. Work is near the Totenham Court Tube (one stop east of Oxford Circus). At nights I'm currently across from Green Park (just wish I had a view of Buckingham Palace!) but soon will be staying just north of the east end of Hyde Park though certainly willing to travel about the city as long as its reasonably convenient.

Pret and Eat have been good for lunch so far but would like to branch out a bit. There appears to be a Wagamama near work, so I'll almost certainly hit that up in a couple days for lunch. Any other ideas or general places to hit up?

We were in london a few months ago and had lunch at The Golden Hind, which was kind of near Covent Garden. Really good fish and chips in a casual (but not grimy) setting. We were there on a Friday afternoon and it seemed like a popular lunch joint. We also had relly good tapas at Dehesa, which was on the west end of Soho. Maybe not a lunch spot, but certainly a good place for a quick bite in the evening. It too seemed fairly popular. Enjoy.

The 7/18 class is now full.

Maybe we can set up another DR class for later in the summer (if folks are interested)......

Thanks,

J

We have 2 spots available in our intro chocolate class this Saturday at 5 PM. (due to a cancellation). The class runs from 5-7 PM and the cost is $65/pp.

It is a lot of fun and you go home with a whole bunch of chocolate. If anyone is interested, please call me at 703-239-0616, or email at jason@artisanconfections.com

Thanks,

J

"LOCATION: Zoso Flats Bldg"

Awesome!

I heard a rumor that there some other awesome places opening up in that building as well.

Thanks for all the suggestions. As it turns out, we ended up having a "picnic" at the zoo.

I tried Blacksalt and Slavin and Sons to get some soft shells (I figured I would just make my own sandwich at home), but they were all out.

Oh well.

Does anyone know where I can get a good soft shell sandwich for lunch tomorrow (Sunday)? Would like to stay in the general DC Metro area.

I am going to be with the whole family (kids age 5 and 2), so nothing fancy. Just your basic pan-fried soft shell on bread.

Many Thanks

All were delicious, with the Bourbon Vanilla being the star of the show despite not tasting too strongly of bourbon.

Just FYI, the reason it probably didn't taste like Bourbon is because there is no actual "bourbon" in it. "Bourbon Vanilla" is just a variety of vanilla bean, kinda like saying "Tahitian Vanilla Bean".

I agree gelato prices are kind of high, but I would much rather pay $4.50 for a cup of gelato rather than $4.50 for a scoop of Cold Stone Creamery ice cream or any of those tangy frozen yogurt things. We tried this place at the original location in Fells Point and were really happy with the product.

I have to say, I quite enjoyed last nights Top Chef Masters. It is nice to see them just cooking, without all the reality show drama and bs.

The fries I had last night at Granville Moore's were pretty damn good. In fact, every batch of fries I have had there has been pretty solid.

I also really like the fries at Eventide.

Why not have Surfas ship it to you? Their prices are much lower than anywhere else, and even adding in shipping costs-- you save yourself the time and gas money it would take to track it down.

We use Valrhona cocoa powder here at the shop. If you would like to buy some, we would be happy to sell it to you with a very minimal markup. It would be like $10/lb. It wont be in a fancy tin or anything, just a bag.

That's because you haven't asked for the Chinese menu, Jason!

Well, we usually just get carryout from OG, as my family tends to like the basics. However, if that is an invitation for you to guide me through the Chinese menu, well, I'm game...

We like Thai Noy. While not the best Thai food I have ever had, it is very good for a neighborhood type joint. I equate it to the Chinese-American food they have at Oriental Gourmet in Lee-Harrison Shopping Center, if that makes any sense....